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Splitting Lantus dose?

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
H

heasandford

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Does anyone split their basal insulin? I have always had mine before bed (a variable time, I know). How does the DSN decide how to split and why? there is such a wealth of experience in here, look forward to your replies
 
I've never split mine as I'm on a pretty low dose, but I know there are people here who do. The advantages are in being able to get better 24 hour coverage, and also to get a bigger dose at times when you are most resistant. So if you are most resistant in the morning you would take the larger proportion of your total dose then. People also do it to make night hypos less likely. I believe the normal way to start is to split 50:50 12 hours apart and then do basal tests to determine how far out or close this is to keeping levels steady. 🙂
 
Like you, I used to take my lantus before bedtime. I found I had to take quite a bit of humalog before tea to keep my BGs down in the evening, which tended to make me hypo late evening or in the night.

The DSN spotted the problem and suggested first of all swapping the lantus to the morning to see if my waking BGs went up, which they did and then split it.

I think we did about a 60/40 split to start with but I've adjusted it a couple of times since. The overall lantus dose is higher meaning my humalog is lower, which is what she wanted also.

Rob
 
Hi, I used to have my Lantus in the morning but with limited success. Recently finding myself in hospital, the diabetic team came round and suggested switching to Levemir and splitting the dose. I have 8u in the morning and 5 at night. Seems much better so might be worth trying a split dose of Lantus and seeing if it works for you.
 
When I was on MDI I split my dose because I had such different needs during day and night. I would take 4u before bed and 14u in the morning.

I started out splitting 50/50, did some basal testing, and worked out what I needed when 🙂
 
I've tried both morning injection and split dose of Lantus to combat overnight hypos. I have found that a morning injection seems to be the best bet for me (my split doses became quite small, so they didn't last as long).

Lantus's 3day lag before properly settling into a new dose makes me interested to consider Levemir. I'll discuss that with my clinic at annual review in a month or two.

Good luck with your experiments!
M
 
I am on day 5 of my split Lantus experiment, following increasingly regular night time hypos. I used to take 28 units before bed and am currently trying 10 before bed, 16 in the morning.
Early indications are good, with evening meal bolus reduced and good night's sleep for the last 3 nights 🙂
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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