• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.

Levemir

KAREN1

KAREN1

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi I Went To See Dietician On Friday And She Told Me That The Levemir Long Acting Insulin Which Lasts Approx 24 Hrs Brings Blood Sugar Down Slowly Which I Already Knew But Was She Concerned That My Night Readings Which Are High Are Coming Down Too Quickly During The Night. I Havent Had Any Night Hypo's That I Know Of. Before Bed They Can Range From 11 -15 And In The Morning Can Be As Low As 4 Or 5 Which I Thought Was Great But Apparently Not. Has Anyone Else Had The Same Trouble? Thanks
 
Is she saying that your levemir isnt lasting for the full 24 hours? Sorry if i have missunderstood! Bev
 
hi bev no she is saying that maybe it is too much at moment thinks it is the honeymoon period they keep telling me about.
 
Hi, Alex had this problem and we had to change his ratios for breakfast and dinner and increase his levemir by half a unit at night - has your nurse advised you what you should be doing to try to rectify it? Bev
 
I'd imagine the concern is that as levemir is your basal insulin it's purpose is to keep your blood glucose steady as it is to match the glucose your liver is giving out. I'm assuming that as you're on levemir you are also on a bolus (or fast acting) insulin too such as novorapid for example? So if you're on a basal bolus regime the desirable situation would be for the night readings to be lower (brought there by correct ratios with your bolus insulin) and then for the levemir to keep you steadily at that level, the concern now would be that it is dropping you by up to 10 so if you went to bed on target you would most likely go low at night.
Of course a lot of this is so difficult to achieve during the honeymoon period so you do need to make sure you're following the advice of your DSN/dietician before making any changes.
 
KAREN1 said:
Hi I Went To See Dietician On Friday And She Told Me That The Levemir Long Acting Insulin Which Lasts Approx 24 Hrs Brings Blood Sugar Down Slowly Which I Already Knew But Was She Concerned That My Night Readings Which Are High Are Coming Down Too Quickly During The Night. I Havent Had Any Night Hypo's That I Know Of. Before Bed They Can Range From 11 -15 And In The Morning Can Be As Low As 4 Or 5 Which I Thought Was Great But Apparently Not. Has Anyone Else Had The Same Trouble? Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi Karen,
Levemir is not ment to bring blood sugars down at all. It's a basal insulin and nothing else. IE it holds your blood sugar steady 24/7 without the need to eat.
Levemir was never marketed as a 24 hr insulin either. (Not sure if thats changed now)
Most people find that they have to have a split dose to get anything nr a thing called control.
 
Hi Karen,

I've been on Levemir for a good while now, after I was almost drinking Lantus and having no effect - and before anyone adds not literally!

Initially Levemir once every 24 hours wasn't 'lasting' for me, so I was switched to 12 hourly doses which has been great for me.

I'm slightly baffled by your dietician is giving you this advice, I'd have thought a discussion with your DSN would be the best place to start.
 
Hi David,

I was moved onto the split levemir last year. Things are better but only marginally so. It has helped a little but I am really struggling at times to see the results here. Especially with my morning blood sugars which, quite frankly are all over the show. Hvae never managed to have a whole week where my blood sugars in the morning (i.e. before breakfast) have been below 10 mmol/L for the whole week. Winds me up something terrible.

Tom H
 
Hi, im also on levimer and seem to be having the same problem, my doctor said he might change it to lantus as he recently changed me from humalog to novarapid!! I should really find out more about the insulin i am taking, i suppose i just trust what the doctor tells me. I dont really know what the difference is with them, i do understand the long acting to short though right enough.
 
I was swapped to levemir in the summer, I am now on a split dose 66u in the morning and 26u at night, and then my bolus inj of novorapid... I still can't get my sugars to stay at between 4 - 7 in the mornings regularly.. they seem to go all over the place. The other morning it was 20.8 and the next day it was 9.9.. my diabetic nurse is in contact with me every week.
 
Hi Thank You For Eveyones Reply Tonight My Bg Is 6 And Now I Am Really Worried That It May Half In The Night Any Thoughts? I Haven,t Managed To Speak To Dn Yet
 
Wouldn't it be so easy if we all responded the same way to all medications?

I am on Novarapid and Levemir and it seems to be a good combination, although 5 injections a day is a tad excessive, but hey ho.

One major upside of Levemir I recall is the fact it doesn't impact your weight gain so much i.e. you don't gain more.

Hope you all get sorted soon, my morning readings are generally mid to high fives, so I am happy.
 
If you are finding that you drop overnight then until you get some advice from your DSN about reducing your basal dose then I would advise a bed time snack. Possibly you could check a couple of times during the night around 2-3am to check what happens during the night
 
squidge63 said:
I was swapped to levemir in the summer, I am now on a split dose 66u in the morning and 26u at night, and then my bolus inj of novorapid... I still can't get my sugars to stay at between 4 - 7 in the mornings regularly.. they seem to go all over the place. The other morning it was 20.8 and the next day it was 9.9.. my diabetic nurse is in contact with me every week.
Click to expand...

Hi

Can I just help with this one a bit please. Most diabetic people have a mid morning spike (ie two hours are breakfast insulin). This is sometimes impossible to deal with and change. Just to give you an example of what I mean, my daughter has always had a post breakfast spike in the 20's regardless of what she eats. She is on a pump which helps. She has to have an extremely high basal rate (background amount of insulin dribbling in hourly from the pump) compared to the rest of the day and this needs to start at 5 am to combat the 10.15 am spike so a full 5 hours earlier. Obviously on injections this is not possible.

It also depends on what level you start at and also what you eat, they all have factors.
 
KAREN1 said:
Hi I Went To See Dietician On Friday And She Told Me That The Levemir Long Acting Insulin Which Lasts Approx 24 Hrs Brings Blood Sugar Down Slowly Which I Already Knew But Was She Concerned That My Night Readings Which Are High Are Coming Down Too Quickly During The Night. I Havent Had Any Night Hypo's That I Know Of. Before Bed They Can Range From 11 -15 And In The Morning Can Be As Low As 4 Or 5 Which I Thought Was Great But Apparently Not. Has Anyone Else Had The Same Trouble? Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi Karen

The general rule of thumb is that Levemir only lasts in the body on average between 14 and 18 (maximum) hours and Lantus a bit longer at 18 to 22 (at a push) hours. It generally means adults and children have to spilt the Levemir. I have lots of friends that Levemir didn't work for but Lantus did and the other way around, so you could change.

I would also say that changing your Levemir injection to the morning could be a start. When my daughter was on Lantus we found that it worked well for the first 12 hours and she had many hypos in the early hours and alway woke up too low but it slowed down in the last 12 hours, so swapping to the morning was brilliant for my daughter.

The Levemir is supposed to an insulin without peaks and troughs so in essense keeping you stable throughout the period it works although again this isn't perfect. The way our doctor described it was that Lantus sits under the skin where you inject it and it releases throughout the day. However sometime it might release differently one day to the next which is why it is not perfect.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi Bev

No, not had one of those before, will have a look. Sorry. I did receive an email from you via the message board to my normal email address and so I have replied to you via your normal email address about an hour ago. Did you get that?
 
Adrienne said:
Hi

Can I just help with this one a bit please. Most diabetic people have a mid morning spike (ie two hours are breakfast insulin). This is sometimes impossible to deal with and change. Just to give you an example of what I mean, my daughter has always had a post breakfast spike in the 20's regardless of what she eats. She is on a pump which helps. She has to have an extremely high basal rate (background amount of insulin dribbling in hourly from the pump) compared to the rest of the day and this needs to start at 5 am to combat the 10.15 am spike so a full 5 hours earlier. Obviously on injections this is not possible.

It also depends on what level you start at and also what you eat, they all have factors.
Click to expand...


The 20.8 reading came out of the blue as I hadn't eaten anything that would have caused a jump like that... yesterday it was 7.5 in the morning and 6.1 today which my DSN was happy about. I have been drenched a couple of times in the early morning, so was wondering if I have been having a hypo in the early hours... Dont actually eat a great deal unless I am with friends as I cant be bothered cooking for one, and have lost interest in cooking, but know that I have to eat at somepoint in the day.. I see the dietician next week, maybe she can help me.

Thank you for your reply..
Dave :)
 
Hi Dave

You could be right, maybe that would explain the 20.8 as it could be a rebound from a hypo you didn't know about.

Have you ever had a CGMS fitted? All clinics should have one and everyone is entitled to have the use of one. You will be able to see downloaded graphs to see what is happening overnight. My daughter had one a couple of times when she was younger and both times they picked up nighttime hypos and I tested at night, but it was different times !! We changed insulins a few times because of those results. She now has the sensor pump which is the same as a CGMS bascially which is fabulous.

Good luck with the dietician.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top