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oldie but a goodie

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fitfirst30

fitfirst30

New Member
Hi Guys

New to the forum have been a diabetic for 20 years only a good diabetic for about 8 of those 20, now working on improving.

Have just got the libre and loving it even if it does cost a bit.

I have a quick question I use lantus and was wondering when is the best time of day to use it, I eat quite late and so this causes my bloods to drop after insulin and I go low at about 01:00, and then take food to combat but then it spikes and I end up in the high teens, really want to get a good balance but is it better to take in the morning or at night?
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum. I'm on Lantus, and I also have a Libre. I've done a lot of experimenting with my Lantus since I got the Lobre, as it shows me exactly what's happening. I used to take my Lantus at 6pm, but I was worried about the drop that happens round about 11pm to midnight, just after I've gone to bed, which coincides with the body's natural rhythm of lowering BG towards 3am.
So I switched to morning, but found the Lantus starts running out at about 6am, exacerbating my already annoying Dawn Phenomenon.
I then switched to 11am, which got rid of the dawn spike and the late night drop, because I was awake at times when the Lantus wasn't playing fair, so could deal with it by adjusting Novorapid. Trouble was, 11am doesn't really fit well into my daily schedule, and I was either out and about, or just plain forgot!
So in the end, I reverted to 6pm, (which is when I eat my main meal, which doesn't help your problem of eating late) and make sure I go to bed on about 7-7.5, which averts an early hours hypo.
It's. ot ideal, but it's the 'best fit' I can manage.
Sorry, that was a very long answer to a quick question, but that's so often the case with Lantus!
 
More thoughts! The other problem I found I could overcome by careful monitoring with the Libre, was not overtreating a low figure. I only need 10carbs to raise my BG by 3, so I've got more confidence if I am too low to go to bed on, or wake with a hypo in the night, that I don't actually need as much carb as I was correcting with.
 
Thanks Robin

The truth is on weekdays I'm awake for 04:45/05:00 each morning for work so that change wouldn't necessarily affect me too much but i'd be worried about it at the weekends when I wake a little later (I get a lie in to 07:00 on Saturdays and Sundays whoop!). How easy was it to switch your times what sort of plan did you put in place...

Ant
 
yeah I tend to over compensate and get that spike and then have to react to that as well, its something I need to factor in and understand better 🙂
 
fitfirst30 said:
How easy was it to switch your times what sort of plan did you put in place...
Click to expand...
Bringing it forwards to morning, I did it over three days and brought it forward by three hours each day. Pushing it back to 11am, I just waited and gave myself an extra unit at breakfast. Returning it to 6pm, I just did it all in one, I.e. skipped the 11am one, and did it at 6pm, and covered with short acting in the meantime.
I've found the best plan for me is doing it when I can be most consistent with the time, which happens to be 6pm. Normally at home it's evening meal time and when I'm on holiday or something, and eating later, 6pm is still a time when I'm likely not to be out doing things.
 
If it helps Lantus has onset time of 1 - 2 hours. It does not peak much. It lasts up to 24 hours but as time goes by the action wears off.
 
Welcome to the forum!
I take Lantus too, I take mine every day at 10.30pm.
I eat around 6am in the morning, and my last meal is about 8-9pm in the evening. It seems to work fine at that time every day.
If I do sleep in later at the weekends, it doesn't seem to have that much of an effect, it stays pretty steady.
I am going to ask my consultant, when I see her next, if I can change my basal, as I am not happy with the few days it takes for a change in the Lantus dose to take affect. I often have to change my basal dose, and I find this really frustrating! Plus, it stings when I inject!
I'm hoping to get a Libre soon too 🙂
 
I wasn't aware that there was a delay in the dosage to take effect I just increased mine from 22 to 24. What other products are there as I thought Lantus was first in class?
 
Well, my consultant told me it takes 2-3 days for a dose change to be noticed. In me, it takes about 3 days for me to notices a change in my BG readings.
I'm going to ask her about Levemir, which I believe is a twice daily injection, but dose changes are immediate. And I'm hoping it will be less painful!
I think Levemir has superseded Lantus now? I may be wrong there, but I have that in my head for some reason!
 
Interesting just read up about it but it looks like it is comparable to lantus with no noticable differences except when injecting due to acidity so that could be what is causing your stinging...
 
Hello and welcome Fit from a T2 who's 20 months in. If I may ask, just out of interest, which one is you in the pic?
 
Cool glasses. I wear them too.
 
Been also looking at my fast acting insulin guys im on novorapid and have been for about 10 years now I usually have between 42-50 units a day and was reading about people who were taking upward of 200 units in a day, thats almost a pen a day and they were supposedly counting carbs and being a good diabetic.

Its kind of got me worried, whats everyone elses dosages like daily?

Any advice on alternatives or any alternatives in the pipeline?
 
fitfirst30 said:
Been also looking at my fast acting insulin guys im on novorapid and have been for about 10 years now I usually have between 42-50 units a day and was reading about people who were taking upward of 200 units in a day, thats almost a pen a day and they were supposedly counting carbs and being a good diabetic.

Its kind of got me worried, whats everyone elses dosages like daily?

Any advice on alternatives or any alternatives in the pipeline?
Click to expand...
Were the people on massive doses that you read about Type 1or Type2? If you throw insulin resistance into the mix, then yes, some poeple do have to take massive doses.
I tend to need a ratio of roughly 1unit novorapid to 10g of carbs, plus an extra unit in a morning to help me over the dawn phenomenon, and an extra unit with evening meal while the Lantus gets going, so 2 units in a morning if I have a protein breakfast, 4 if I have porridge, then 4-5 at other meals unless I have a pudding ( weekends!) in which case 6-7. That's on a moderately low carb diet of 50-100 carbs a day. I'm 9st 5 and would describe myself as 'moderately active' ie, I walk, horseride, do an hours exercise class and a load of gardening every week, but nothing really heavy.
But at the end of the day, you need what you need, and what's right for me, wouldn't be right for anyone else.
 
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