Insulin and being ill

[New-journey]

Hi all, I was put on Lyumjev a few months ago and the three times I have been ill, it doesn't seem to work. I literally need 10 times as much insulin and I am still high. I have a stomach bug now and I am taking so much insulin and through the night as well. This never happened when I had Covid and on a different insulin.
Anyone else ever had this? I am going to contact my consultant tomorrow as well.

 

[Robin]

Hi all, I was put on Lyumjev a few months ago and the three times I have been ill, it doesn't seem to work. I literally need 10 times as much insulin and I am still high. I have a stomach bug now and I am taking so much insulin and through the night as well. This never happened when I had Covid and on a different insulin.
Anyone else ever had this? I am going to contact my consultant tomorrow as well.

I haven’t seen anything specific to Lyumjev on here, but people who take Fiasp, which is another faster insulin, have tended to report that when their blood glucose is high, the insulin doesn’t work as well (or at all) and they need a lot more to have any effect.

 

[New-journey]

I haven’t seen anything specific to Lyumjev on here, but people who take Fiasp, which is another faster insulin, have tended to report that when their blood glucose is high, the insulin doesn’t work as well (or at all) and they need a lot more to have any effect.

Thanks, that is very helpful. Which rapid are you on? I think I will ask for a slower acting one but one which brings me down when I am ill

 

[mashedupmatt]

Agree with @Robin regarding Fiasp (which I'm on) - when levels are high it doesn't work so well - had a throat infection over Christmas (great timing!) and struggled to get my levels below 10 for about 5 days and was regularly spiking to 18 despite increasing doses (which is unusual for me, as generally my management is very good) - once the infection had gone they returned to normal - it must have something to do with the nature and severity of the illness/infection I reckon (but I'm not a doctor!) - Novorapid was better for me when ill, but prefer the Fiasp for it's faster profile and it only lasts about 3hrs (for me - everyone is different) reducing the risk of hypos - sorry, I can't offer any experience of Lyumjev

 

[Inka]

Stomach bugs are awful with Type 1 @New-journey I hope yours goes soon. I’d personally never use one of those supposedly ultra-fast insulins and one of the reasons is that they often ‘don’t work’ with higher blood sugars.

Humalog is very good but they ditched their reuseable half unit pen, and it has a kick in the tail. At the moment I’m using Novorapid and find it excellent. The ‘slowness’ - ie needing to bolus in advance of eating is balanced by the fact it actually works with high sugars. That’s what you sacrifice for the very fast insulins like Fiasp and Lyumjev and I simply don’t think it’s worth it. I like Novorapid a lot. It works well in in all situations and it’s reliable.

 

[dannybgoode]

I like Novorapid a lot. It works well in in all situations and it’s reliable.

Yes, whilst I'm very much a newcomer to insulin etc I find I can control my BG very well with Novorapid.

Dosing is predictable for me for a given carb load and corrections have a very consistent effect whether I'm trying to bring a pre-bed 8 down a bit or a pre-tea 13 into range together with my 'main' dose for the meal.

 

[Robin]

Thanks, that is very helpful. Which rapid are you on? I think I will ask for a slower acting one but one which brings me down when I am ill

I'm on Novorapid. I had a bad stomach bug just over a year ago, when my levels were all over the place, and it seemed to work OK (ie, it did what I was expecting it to do, in terms of lowering me).
I do hope you feel better soon, stomach bugs are dire!

 

[Tom1982]

Hi all, I was put on Lyumjev a few months ago and the three times I have been ill, it doesn't seem to work. I literally need 10 times as much insulin and I am still high. I have a stomach bug now and I am taking so much insulin and through the night as well. This never happened when I had Covid and on a different insulin.
Anyone else ever had this? I am going to contact my consultant tomorrow as well.

My daughter uses Fiasp and it’s definitely like water when she running high! Needs an awful lot more to come down, that’s why we dread the stomach bugs at school.

 

[New-journey]

My daughter uses Fiasp and it’s definitely like water when she running high! Needs an awful lot more to come down, that’s why we dread the stomach bugs at school.

Thanks for replying, I really feel for you and must be so hard with all the bugs at school.

 

[New-journey]

I'm on Novorapid. I had a bad stomach bug just over a year ago, when my levels were all over the place, and it seemed to work OK (ie, it did what I was expecting it to do, in terms of lowering me).
I do hope you feel better soon, stomach bugs are dire!

Thanks, it's not fun but think if I can manage my levels I would feel better. I am going to change back to Novorapid I think.

 

[New-journey]

Yes, whilst I'm very much a newcomer to insulin etc I find I can control my BG very well with Novorapid.

Dosing is predictable for me for a given carb load and corrections have a very consistent effect whether I'm trying to bring a pre-bed 8 down a bit or a pre-tea 13 into range together with my 'main' dose for the meal.

Thanks, that is very helpful.

 

[New-journey]

Stomach bugs are awful with Type 1 @New-journey I hope yours goes soon. I’d personally never use one of those supposedly ultra-fast insulins and one of the reasons is that they often ‘don’t work’ with higher blood sugars.

Humalog is very good but they ditched their reuseable half unit pen, and it has a kick in the tail. At the moment I’m using Novorapid and find it excellent. The ‘slowness’ - ie needing to bolus in advance of eating is balanced by the fact it actually works with high sugars. That’s what you sacrifice for the very fast insulins like Fiasp and Lyumjev and I simply don’t think it’s worth it. I like Novorapid a lot. It works well in in all situations and it’s reliable.

Thanks, I appreciate you sharing your experience with me. I will ask to go to Humalog or Novorapid as I am not happy with the ultra fast insulins. I used to have very good numbers and now I am all over the place and feeling very panicky which is new for me.

 

[New-journey]

Agree with @Robin regarding Fiasp (which I'm on) - when levels are high it doesn't work so well - had a throat infection over Christmas (great timing!) and struggled to get my levels below 10 for about 5 days and was regularly spiking to 18 despite increasing doses (which is unusual for me, as generally my management is very good) - once the infection had gone they returned to normal - it must have something to do with the nature and severity of the illness/infection I reckon (but I'm not a doctor!) - Novorapid was better for me when ill, but prefer the Fiasp for it's faster profile and it only lasts about 3hrs (for me - everyone is different) reducing the risk of hypos - sorry, I can't offer any experience of Lyumjev

Thanks for sharing with me and how horrible to be ill over Christmas. I think Lyumejv is very like Fiasp but I found Fiasp was very good at the beginning but then stopped being effective. I will try Novorapid again I think.

 

[rebrascora]

It took me 2x3 month (very frustrating) trials of Fiasp before I got brave enough to make it work for me. That involved getting pretty heavy handed with it at times. I would not go back to Novo(not so)Rapid now as I am very confident with the Fiasp and there was a lot of frustration involved with the NR being so not Rapid at all.

Which basal insulin are you using? Just wondering if you have considered increasing that to manage your levels when ill rather than just relying on the Lyumjev. I find I can be injecting as many as 10-15 extra units of Fiasp a day to fire fight high levels when an increase of 2 units in my basal insulin (Levemir) will sort it out. Not saying you should increase your basal by 2 units because I don't know what sort of dose you are on but about 10% increase is usually recommended if you are constantly needing to correct with your fast acting insulin. So if you were on 10units of basal, then a change of 1unit might be enough or 1.5 if you were on 15 units, that sort of thing. Obviously you have to be on the alert to reduce it again when the illness is over, but can be a lot less frustrating than trying to firefight high levels with fast acting insulin.

 

[Flower]

Hi @New-journey I’m sorry to hear you’re poorly & your insulin isn’t doing much to help,

I’ve been using Lyumjev for 7 months now & haven’t noticed a decrease in its efficiency with high glucose & illness. I had Covid in November & flu in January & it carried on working well without a need for higher doses.

I hope you can soon get back to using an insulin that works well for you. I was surprised how much better I felt using Lyumjev, it is definitely a very individual thing how insulin works with us or causes issues.

I hope you’re soon feeling better

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I get the feeling that Fiasp and Lyumjev work brilliantly for some people and not at all well for others @New-journey

Some can find workarounds, and make it work for them, but there are a few of us who were much happier moving back (to NovoRapid in my case) when I was getting some very strange and inpredictable behaviour from the new ultra-fast insulins. I seemed to get an adverse reaction to the extra juice they add to Aspart to make it faster.

Get well soon

 

[New-journey]

It took me 2x3 month (very frustrating) trials of Fiasp before I got brave enough to make it work for me. That involved getting pretty heavy handed with it at times. I would not go back to Novo(not so)Rapid now as I am very confident with the Fiasp and there was a lot of frustration involved with the NR being so not Rapid at all.

Which basal insulin are you using? Just wondering if you have considered increasing that to manage your levels when ill rather than just relying on the Lyumjev. I find I can be injecting as many as 10-15 extra units of Fiasp a day to fire fight high levels when an increase of 2 units in my basal insulin (Levemir) will sort it out. Not saying you should increase your basal by 2 units because I don't know what sort of dose you are on but about 10% increase is usually recommended if you are constantly needing to correct with your fast acting insulin. So if you were on 10units of basal, then a change of 1unit might be enough or 1.5 if you were on 15 units, that sort of thing. Obviously you have to be on the alert to reduce it again when the illness is over, but can be a lot less frustrating than trying to firefight high levels with fast acting insulin.

Thanks and I am glad it is working for you. I have tried everything and increasing my lantus does not help. I have now made a decision to go back to novorapid and hope I go back to the good control I had.

 

[New-journey]

Hi @New-journey I’m sorry to hear you’re poorly & your insulin isn’t doing much to help,

I’ve been using Lyumjev for 7 months now & haven’t noticed a decrease in its efficiency with high glucose & illness. I had Covid in November & flu in January & it carried on working well without a need for higher doses.

I hope you can soon get back to using an insulin that works well for you. I was surprised how much better I felt using Lyumjev, it is definitely a very individual thing how insulin works with us or causes issues.

I hope you’re soon feeling better

Hi Flower, thanks so much for replying. I am very happy for you it is working and that you feel better. I feel disappointed that I will stop as in some ways it works well but the downside is too much for me. It is scary enough having type one without extra challenges!

I am sorry to hear you have had to endure Covid and flu, hoping the rest of your year you are well. Thanks

 

[New-journey]

I get the feeling that Fiasp and Lyumjev work brilliantly for some people and not at all well for others @New-journey

Some can find workarounds, and make it work for them, but there are a few of us who were much happier moving back (to NovoRapid in my case) when I was getting some very strange and inpredictable behaviour from the new ultra-fast insulins. I seemed to get an adverse reaction to the extra juice they add to Aspart to make it faster.

Get well soon

Thanks Mike for replying and it helps for me to know I am not the only one! Can I ask what your adverse reactions were? Ever since I started, my Lantus has been unstable, so I have had to take extra rapid insulin in the night despite going to bed on a good number. I have made a appointment to speak to a nurse today and hope to go back to NovoRapid asap. I am feeling so relieved to have asked and get the validation and support, it was beginning to affect my mental heath as I was so discouraged!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks Mike for replying and it helps for me to know I am not the only one! Can I ask what your adverse reactions were? Ever since I started, my Lantus has been unstable, so I have had to take extra rapid insulin in the night despite going to bed on a good number. I have made a appointment to speak to a nurse today and hope to go back to NovoRapid asap. I am feeling so relieved to have asked and get the validation and support, it was beginning to affect my mental heath as I was so discouraged!

Sorry to hear the insulins you are on seem to be messing you about a bit

It was Fiasp I tried - Initially it was noticeably quicker than NR, and I needed to change my dose strategies / prebolus timings to take account for the forward weighting of the insulin (pharmacologically these insulins have the same overall duration, but the added special sauce front-loads the insulin so much more of it acts in the initial 0-2 hrs)

After a few weeks I had to start upping my ratios (other users and bloggers had mentioned this was a thing, so I wasn’t unduly worried).

By about the middle of the second vial (I had an initial order of three vials to try) ratios were continuing to rise, my bolus timings had reverted back to NR ones, it wasn’t acting any quicker for me any more. I was getting stinging when bolusing and red / angry sites. It was also occasionally ‘disappearing’ and not apparently acting at all. By the third vial I’d decided to call it a day, carried on experimenting a bit, but there were no speed benefits, I was resistant to it, it was unpredictable for me, and my body was obviously struggling with it with the angry sites and stinging/itching.

Returned to NotVeryRapid, and sluggish, but reliable normality restored.

Your Lantus doesn’t sound right. Have you been adjusting the dose? When do you take it?