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levemir Question

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A

astbury1

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Am currently taking insultard only and soon I will be taking novorapid with meals I believe. However am not a fan of this insulin as it peaks, my blood sugars can drop fast, having to snack all the time even though lowered the units and generally I am scarred of hypos and can see it being even more of a nightmare adding meal time shots also.

I was looking at levemir and this seems to give you a more consistent stable background insulin and this to me sounds better. However I was wanting some peoples thoughts and experiences? Good? bad?

I was first looking at Lantus however this does not appear to be suitable for pregnancy and I would like to have a child in the near future.

The other query I have with Levemir as does anyone actually drink alcohol on this? It states you shouldn't however with Insultard I was told I could in moderation as long as I ate carbs before and after. Any problems?

Sorry for all the questions but it would be great to get experiences before I decide I want to push the consultant to swap me to this and then get it and realise it really isnt great!

Anyway I await your feedback!🙂
 
I didn't try Levemir myself, but I gather it is generally thought to be more 'biddable' than Lantus (which can lag for a day or three before changes in dose settle). Lev seems to have a shorter duration, and is often taken in 2 doses approx 12h apart. The advantage of this (despite added injection) is that you can have 2 different levels, more during the day/less at night or vice-versa.

Id be quite surprised if Lev reacted to alcohol. Obviously moderation/caution should be the approach as with any alcohol and insulin combo, but I've never heard Lev needs special attention where alcohol is concerned.
 
I used to use levimer pre pump, and hubby still uses it for his background insulin..

Levimer is actually once a day, but a lot of people find that splitting it into 2 injections enables them to adjust am&pm doses to cover a lot better.. You can actually have a slightly off set timing of the injections, just really depends what suits you best, most start with a even split of 12 hours..

But both levimer and lantus have similar problems for some people lasting effectively in the system for 24 hours, some chose to see if a change of injecting time works better before splitting, but if levimer splits a lot better than lantus even though the profiles suggest not!

As to using in pregnancy, actually none of the insulins even animal insulins are licensed for use during pregnancy, but that's because the necessary trials necessary to obtain a licence is considered unethical during pregnancy, so insulin is used unlicensed during this period.. But I don't think there is any major problems with any of the insulin while pregnant..

Has to drinking, well it doesn't seem to have done my hubby any harm, same as any other insulin, if you'll drinking alcohol, then yes you need to keep a close on on BG's same as you already doing with your currant insulin.

Another good thing about levimer, is that it doesn't seem to have the weight gain problems associated with lantus!

As to fear of hypo's etc while including Novorapid, is carb counting and extra BG checks to see how it's reacting with the carbs you'll eating, so you can adjust the carb-insulin ratios accordantly.. Should help to get you avoid hypo's as much as possible
 
When you say you've been looking at Levemir and it sounds better... better than what? Not Novorapid? Because you can't compare the two.
 
I have two injections of Levemir a day and find that it provides very stable background BGs. I've never had a problem with drinking alcohol whilst on Levemir.
 
astbury1 said:
Am currently taking insultard only and soon I will be taking novorapid with meals I believe. However am not a fan of this insulin as it peaks, my blood sugars can drop fast, having to snack all the time even though lowered the units and generally I am scarred of hypos and can see it being even more of a nightmare adding meal time shots also.

I was looking at levemir and this seems to give you a more consistent stable background insulin and this to me sounds better. However I was wanting some peoples thoughts and experiences? Good? bad?

Sorry for all the questions but it would be great to get experiences before I decide I want to push the consultant to swap me to this and then get it and realise it really isnt great!

Anyway I await your feedback!🙂
Click to expand...

Hi, you seem to be worried that because Novorapid works quickly, this will result in less stable blood sugars. In practice the opposite is the case. When we eat, our blood sugar shoots up rapidly so Novorapid more closely matches the body's needs for insulin than the slow acting insulin you're on at the moment. I'm not sure why you were only on Insulatard before - perhaps you had some residual production of natural insulin?

I first started on a very slow acting insulin and I had a nightmare trying to control my levels. I'm now on the pump, which means I have only short acting insulin, but it's delivered in very small amounts constantly to mimic the way the body does it naturally in a person without diabetes, and like most others on the pump I've found this gives much better control and far fewer and less serious hypos.

If you get your doses of Novorapid and Levemir right to match carb intake there should be no need to snack.

Good luck with it all, and make sure you ask all the questions of your doctor. If you need helo you can always come back here and someone will be ready to help!
 
I have been on both Levemir and Lantus and split both. Whilst Levemir may last 24 hours for some, it doesn't for everyone. It lasts around 16 hours for me, but I find it very responsive and if I need to tweak it I see the result right away, not in 3 days time as with Lantus.

Oh and I like a glass of wine with a meal - a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine 🙂 (Please note that doesn't apply to breakfast and lunch, LOL!)
 
I went onto Lantus when I first changed from Insulatard to MDI - think they started everyone in my DAFNE type course on this as it's just one background injection a day. It was ok for a year or so but eventualy I concluded that I needed different basal rates for day and night - I used to inject at 11pm, and if I woke up to a good level I would hypo all day, but if I reduced lantus by 1U (the smallest increment) I would wake up high.

So I swapped to levemir, and it has worked well for me, particularly the flexibility of 2 injections a day. I currently take 6U at 7.30am and 3.5U at 7.30 pm, but I have practically reversed this in the past.... my body seems to change according to the seasons! Also if I am going to have an active day, e.g. today I did a triathlon this morning, I reduce my morning levemir, to 4U today. Whereas lantus can take 3 days for a change in dose to tak effect, by which time the busy day has been and gone!

Can't comment on pregnancy aspects of your queries, but I've certainly had no problems with alcohol:D
 
Thanks all for your feedback! Sorry not replied sooner as been busy! I think am going to push for levermir as this sounds alot better than insultard for a background insulin. I like the idea that you can split and aso that you see the effects straight away where lantus appears not to do this!🙂
 
Go for it. Insulatard is not a good background insulin. I did a stage where I was taking it with bolus insulin and I was yo-yoing all over the place. You should hopefully find things much easier with Levemir.

Something to bear in mind though is there are a significant number of people for whom Levemir simply doesn't work. For instance, I take 30u of Lantus a day. When I tried Levemir, I was taking something like 70u of Levemir and having to do correction shots with Novorapid every 2 hours just to stay under 12mmol/l. Hopefully this won't happen to you, but if it does, Lantus is also a good option as it has a flat action profile.
 
Thaks Deusx. I will bear that in mind! Cant wait have a more consistent blood sugar instead of the yo yoing!🙂
 
I am also on Levemir ,and don't have a bad word to say about it........

Its designed to last for 12-18 hours, so twice a day, not heard of anyone on a single dose if it.....

The split allow more flexibility as you can cater for the AM portion and PM portion independently, also dose change effects happen straight away....

Everyone reacts differently so the best thing to do it give it a bash......:D
 
I'm also on Levemir and find it really useful. I tend to peak in the mornings no matter what I try and find that a split dose works well for me, I take a larger dose in the evening than the morning and I think I have an overlap of doses early morning which helps keep my sugars at a more reasonable (nowhere near perfect) level. As for alcohol..... well it's never stopped me!
 
Hi all well from all your advice I have spoken to the nurse and they are looking to put me on levemir and novorapid. Little scared of giving myself the wrong dose of novorapid and carb counting but would be good to be able to eat when I want and hopefully not panic about having to snack all the time to stop lows! Thanks to all for your help. Am sure I will on this forum again asking some more MDI questions!🙄
 
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