Switching time to take background insulin

[Jimmy2202]

Hi guys.

I think I might have asked this on here before, I’ve certainly spoke to my d team about the possibility of changing time taking Levemir from 10pm at night to 7am in the morning.

Reason being is I find I fall asleep in the evening quite often and miss taking it on a few occasions even if only by a couple hours.

Taking it in the morning with my morning coffee suits me far far better and I’ll never miss it this way.

I have been doing this for the last week or so, but I’ve noticed I’ve hypo’d a couple of times where as I normally don’t at all.

My question is due to me changing the time in which I take the Levemir, does this have any can of peak effect where I’m seeing it actually have a difference on how it impacts my levels?

Or does it not make a blind bit of difference?

Thanks in advance

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Slow acting insulins do have a curve of action, just like rapid insulins - and while they are generally much more level and ‘peakless’ there can still be a bit of a ‘bump’.

Additionally, depending on your dose and your weight it may or may not be lasting the full 24 hours.

There’s a graph of activity here which allows you to see, on average, how long Lev might be expected to last for you

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/levemir-activity-graph.97469/

Many people find it helpful to even this out by splitting their dose into 2 which can be taken approx 12 hours apart, and don’t have to be an even split, eg you can have more active during the day, and less at night… or you can reduce your morning dose on a particularly active day, but keep your night time dose the same.

The two doses would (most likely) overlap, so that the fading tail of one is picked up by the rising onset of the other, which sort of smooths things out a bit.

Though it does mean taking and remembering an extra jab!

 

[rebrascora]

I find with Levemir that when I take it makes a very significant difference. (I am currently taking 20 units in the morning and just 2 at night). I would suggest that injecting it as soon as you wake up and before you get out of bed will be more helpful (and just as easy to remember) than with your morning coffee, as your liver will start pumping out glucose as soon as you wake up or possibly even before, so you want to have that Levemir in there ASAP to deal with it. Your current night time dose will be dealing with this but if you don't inject until you are up and about on a morning, your levels will start to go high before the Levemir gets a chance to start working. If I am really active during the day I can often get away without taking my evening Levemir dose which is pretty small anyway, but I need to get my morning dose into me at the earliest opportunity to stop my levels rising in the morning.
I sometimes set an alarm to inject an hour before I need to get up (particularly if I had a late night and don't need to get up at my usual time), to allow the Levemir to get going before my liver starts to dump glucose due to Foot on the Floor or Dawn Phenomenon and then go back to sleep. You have to find what works for you and your lifestyle and your body and the only way is to experiment. The Levemir does seem to build to a slight peak of activity about 6-8 hours in for me and then gradually tails off.