Hi Lynne. Sorry, not everyone. However, it is very common to do better with two shots of Lantus rather than one. It is even more common to do better with two shots of Levemir. (I described how I reacted to peaks as an individual.) No question that every individual reacts differently to the different types of insulin–I mentioned that I need three shots of all types of basal on MDI.
i was on the pump for about 4 years. my a1cs are actually better on shots and as a jogger i really enjoy the freedom. although the omni pod was tubeless, i still found so many problems and a large amount of anxiety since it had failed on me so many times. i will return to the pump one day, but for now i am on a mission to master shots! i am flirting with the idea of levemir though. i have heard great things. i take lantus, apidra, and symlin.
that is very true. and after every bad phase seems to come a good one. trying new things always leads me down a good track and teaches me a little more about myself and D. thanks for the advice!
For something like this, I’d be hesitant to switch without a doctor’s advice. Assuming you take Lantus once every 24 hours, you’d either be doubling-up for a 12-hour period or going insulin-free for 12 hours (depending on when you take your first evening dose). Usually, with any type of transition onto, off of, or schedule changing with Lantus, you want a shorter long-acting insulin, like NPH, to get you through the 12-hour “hump”. That’s what I used when I went from a 1x/day to a split 2x/day regimin, and again when I transitioned off Lantus entirely to start with a pump. Your doc will probably give you a sample vial of NPH to help through the transition.
Whenever you deal with something that could affect you for 24 hours into the future (which you can’t later “undo”), you need to be very careful.
Andrea, I’ve always injected Lantus before bedtime, so I have never experienced the transition first-hand. The transition is probably not going to be that big of a deal, but to be safe, I suggest that you make the transition after discussing it with your endo. Maybe just a phone call to your endo’s office tomorrow will be all you need to do.
if you’re concerned about this, i’d push forward an hour a day for about 2 weeks or until you find a time of day when your numbers are consistently better. i think it’s pretty low-risk as far as these things go, and it would be an interesting science experiment and you might discover some interesting trends.
Andrea,
I had the exact same issue as you. I currently take lantus in the morning and used to find that my BG was starting to climb a bit by morning, if I went to bed on target at 6 mmol/l (108 mg/ dl) I would usually wake up around 10 mmol/l (180). I tried a bunch of things, like splitting shots, I even gave Levemir a try, but neither worked very well. Lantus has a bit of a peak around the 2.5 hr mark for me, so I don’t consider it safe for me to take before bed as I prefer to be awake when it it transitioning between yesterday and todays’s shot in case it sends me low. I decided to take a very small NPH shot before bed and this is working amazingly well, I usually take 2u NPH before bed and I wake up with the same BG value that I go to bed with. This is a very simple but effective fix, start with 1u, if you still wake up high then keep raising the dose by 1u until you have hit your target. I have briefly used NPH as a basal insulin and it is terrible, but its peak seems to fit the gap between yesterday’s and today’s lantus shot very well. I would suggest trying this first before switching to Levemir or evening Lantus shots, as it will involve very little change to your current routine.
I agree with you Lynn. This self-management without proper instruction seems ridiculous. I can’t believe that so many people are having so many problems without appropriate medical care! What happens as we age and are too muddled to figure this out? What happens to the learning disabled who have difficulty reading? What happens to all those who do not possess the cognitive skills to treat themselves correctly. This truly is nuts!