Humalog seems stronger than usual.

[Austin Mini]

Opened a new box of five Humalog pen vials last week. I have had to reduce my dosage by one unit for meals as where I used to take four units I only need three now. Has anybody else experienced this?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Whenever meal doses and corrections start playing up and dropping me low I usually take it as a sign that my basal insulin needs taking down a notch.

 

[Amberzak]

Change in weather usually results in my need for insulin ratios to change.

 

[trophywench]

Yeah but usually I need less when it's hot - and accuse the weather of all sorts of things but being warmer - No !

Yes Austin - what Mike said, if it's been going on for a few days at least?

 

[Austin Mini]

My long lasting basal has been unchanged for nearly two yrs 14 units every night at 10pm. My breakfast Humalog has been 4 since forever now all I need is 3. Lunch and dinner time 5 but now 4. I dont mind as the less Humalog the better. I aim to have before every meal and before bed a reading of 5 to 6 which it now is but with less Humalog. I wondered if others were similar to me.

 

[trophywench]

Yes but as we've said - it's normally our Basal insulin we need to change. Why do you think Humalog is worse than Lantus for you?

I agree 'less insulin' is probably desirable when it's possible, but that's generally not specifically 'fast' or 'slow' AFAIK. So a decrease in overall consumption of it is lovely - I've cut mine by more than a third by going on a pump! But - it's all 'fast', same as other pumpers.

If you don't like Humalog for some reason, just tell em why and get em to change it to something else and try that instead!

 

[KookyCat]

That for me would also mean less basal insulin required, in my experience the strength of the insulin doesn't change, it's the strength of your reaction. When I took Lantus I needed less when it was very warm and weirdly less when it was very cold (no idea why). The biggest sign for me that I needed to go down a unit was what I called a flatline. I'd take the normal ratio for food but two hours after it would be exactly the same as the pre meal reading. That's not too much of a problem, but then if I ignored it I'd start to get hypos. That said, basal is always my problem, the bolus is very well behaved 🙂 On injections it may be less of an issue, providing you're not getting bigger spikes from the food at an earlier point. The rapid is meant to help iron out the peaks from food that a slow acting basal can't. So I could take more basal than I do now and still have great premeal numbers but I'd have a spike between times because I'd have to take less rapid. If I take less rapid then it only deals with some of the spike and the basal drips it back down. Since I'd prefer not to have the spike my management strategy is to down the basal and keep the ratios for rapid at the level that irons out the spike. So it depends on your management strategy I suppose, oh and how much slow release carb you eat too. If you like a lot of slow release food then the consequence of that is generally more basal insulin because your food is "dripping" into your blood stream, and then less rapid is needed to iron out the spike because the spike is smaller. BTW I'm totally jealous that your basal has been stable for 2 years, mine struggles to stay stable for 2 months 🙂

 

[Northerner]

As far as I know, the only way one lot of insulin might vary from another in strength is if it's been left out of the fridge too long and become less potent. Certainly, we'd all have incessant problems if the strength of the insulin varied with each batch 😱 I have heard of a case where a new batch of insulin kept in proper circumstances at home was reduced in potency whe used, but it seems that may have been because it became compromised before reaching the pharmacy i.e. not kept cool during the transportation from the factory - but again, that made it weaker, not stronger. There is a special strength of insulin, U500, which has 500 units per millilitre, as opposed to the standard U100 which we usually use and has 100 units per millilitre. Apparently there used to be a U40, but that was/is used by vets for animals 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think some are available (Tresiba??) in u200 Alan - partly so that people with high insulin resistance had a lower volume of fluid to inject I think.

 

[Annette]

Anyone else remember the days of (I think I am remembering the numbers right) U30? And maybe U60? You had to check you'd been given the right strength before using them just in case...And know how to change your numbers in case you wanted only had the wrong strength (This was quite a long time ago. Its only the long termers will remember)

 

[Matt Cycle]

Before my time Annette. 😉 Although I knew about the other strengths as the syringes stated U100 insulin only and my DSN at the time explained it to me.

 

[trophywench]

There is a version of Lantus again beginning with an L that is 300u/ml, there have always been 500u/ml insulins - there was a lady at Loughboriugh experimenting on creatures (not people) with an implanted reservoir - a real implantable pump, sensitive to BG changes, which used 500u/ml.

And Alan - us old uns actually used 20u/ml, 40u/ml and 80u/ml insulins daily - and they kept us alive and kicking for years and years!!

Mine was porcine - Welcome Foundation, 80u/ml Ultralente. Colour code shocking pink and lime green. Curiously they do actually go together well! Bright and cheerful, far more zingy then the boring orange of Novorapid. Their 40u/ml was Lente. I think (but it might have been another brand) that might have been blue and yellow, like a flat blue and a washed-out yellow - always looked a bit boring to me!