Help with setting basal dosage needed please

[Lisa Parker]

Having had a lot of night time hypos, my hospital recommended splitting the dose I took( 16 units Lantus ) into two 8s.I am now waking up to readings which are in double figures. Is there any other way of splitting the doses?
Could anyone also tell me how long Humalog remains in my system? I have been told anything from 40 minutes to over 5 hours! depending on who I speak to.Have had type 1 for over 20 years but finding it really difficult to get into my target range as I am getting older (65 years) although my last hospital blood test showed Hb 8.9.My new target is to get it down into 7s.Of course more insulin then means more weight gain!

 

[novorapidboi26]

After the initial split of Lantus, you need to test the doses independently.....so start with the evening..........keep increasing that 8 until you hold steady.....then test the daytime Lantus and do the same....you may find the daytime 8 goes down, but it might go up...

you may find you need more overnight than during the day its just that up until the split you would never have been aware of it....

 

[Radders]

Having had a lot of night time hypos, my hospital recommended splitting the dose I took( 16 units Lantus ) into two 8s.I am now waking up to readings which are in double figures. Is there any other way of splitting the doses?
Could anyone also tell me how long Humalog remains in my system? I have been told anything from 40 minutes to over 5 hours! depending on who I speak to.Have had type 1 for over 20 years but finding it really difficult to get into my target range as I am getting older (65 years) although my last hospital blood test showed Hb 8.9.My new target is to get it down into 7s.Of course more insulin then means more weight gain!

I found Humalog had a very long tail for me, sometimes as much as six hours! I also recall Lantus having a longer than 24 hour profile so splitting made it very difficult to work out what was going on because the two doses overlapped so much. I switched to Levermir and got better results splitting that as it has a shorter and more predictable profile for me.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Having had a lot of night time hypos, my hospital recommended splitting the dose I took( 16 units Lantus ) into two 8s.I am now waking up to readings which are in double figures. Is there any other way of splitting the doses?
Could anyone also tell me how long Humalog remains in my system? I have been told anything from 40 minutes to over 5 hours! depending on who I speak to.Have had type 1 for over 20 years but finding it really difficult to get into my target range as I am getting older (65 years) although my last hospital blood test showed Hb 8.9.My new target is to get it down into 7s.Of course more insulin then means more weight gain!

Humalog lasts about 5 hours. Most people need to bolus between 15 - 30 mins before a meal.
As your hospital team so helpfully suggested you split the dose why haven't they overseen the split and advised you how to proceed if you ran into problems.
More insulin doesn't mean more weight gain, you need what you need. I's the amount of food that goes in that causes the weight gain

 

[Lisa Parker]

I should be going to hospital within the next couple of months.Thanks for all the advice-much appreciated.

 

[Ljc]

I should be going to hospital within the next couple of months.Thanks for all the advice-much appreciated.

Hi. I don't think you should wait that long for some advise, do you have a number or email you could contact one of your team on now rather than waiting for your next appointment.
I agree with Pumper Sue. As your hospital team so helpfully suggested you split th dose why haven't they overseen the split and advised you how to proceed if you ran into problems.
It seems to me they have left you in the lurch.

 

[Lisa Parker]

Yes I have.I will send an email.Thanks

 

[trophywench]

The 1u for 10g bolus advice is suspect for starters - unless it's accompanied by 'that's the standard starting dose we suggest - but yours may be more or it may be less - there's no way of telling until you try it and keep testing your BG to see what works and what doesn't!'

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hi Lisa I think you need to change your thread title as it's the basal not the bolus you are asking about.

How are you getting on now?

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Several people here have found that splitting Lantus is a really bad idea, Lisa - can't think why they have advised you to do that rather than putting you onto a different basal which works better split. Lantus gets more unstable if you have smaller doses of it so it's not really suitable for splitting (it was a disaster for me when I tried). Can you ask your DSN why they haven't suggested you change to Levemir or Tresiba instead? - one of these might suit you better. Tresiba is more stable than Lantus, and Levemir more suitable for splitting.

Also, have you tried testing during the night since you started splitting the Lantus (ideally at around 3am)? You may find you are still hypo-ing in the night, but getting high readings in the mornings because your body is pumping out glucose to cope with these, and overdoing it.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

I've never been on Lantus but I'm on split doses of Levermir which appears (at the mo lol!) to work well for me. I used to be on one dose of Toujeo and sufferred 3am hypos and high day bgs.

 

[Lisa Parker]

I seem to be having some success with increasing my split dosage of Lantus up to 9 units for each dose from 8 units.However it is still early days.Emailed my DN who also wants to know how things are going.Fingers crossed.