I can't seem to get my 2 doses of AM/PM Levemir to work and endo has suggested we switch from Levemir to Lantus, gonna try a 1 shot PM dose of just Lantus, try and get a 'viable' basal amount before going on the pump again.
Has anyone done this and found it to work 'better'? I've never done 1 shot of basal except when first Dx and honeymooning. Guess I take a small AM dose of Levemir this morning and then gonna start with 12 units of Lantus tonight and just keep increasing that 1 dose Lantus until I get a good morning fasting number and it holds me throughout the next day, correct?
I have used Levemir and Lantus. Coming from NPH I was a big fan of Levemir. I took two shots per day which is recommendable to get a more even distribution of its activity. But with time I learned that at 3am the Levemir peak is just too high for me. So after three years on Levemir I switched to Lantus. Knowing that the 24 hour duration of Lantus is pure marketing I continued to use two shots. Despite of my endos warning that two shots might increase the risk of lows. To some degree this is true but I attribute it more to the unusual weather we had here (long winter, pretty hot summer). After one year I also tried to use only one shot but it was a disaster. It was as if the Lantus acted for just 17 hours for me. After four days I gave up and switched back to my usual two shot pattern. However I found that injecting Lantus just before sleeping has an advantage for the night. The gap in coverage is just around the time you inject. The Lantus then needs some time to have the full potential again. For me this seemed to prevent lows around 3am (the time of my highest sensitivity to insulin). On the other hand I needed small corrections before bed because the gap in coverage was just to big for me. In your situation I would start with one shot to see what happens. I hope the predecessor to Levemir called Degludec will finally bring an even 24 hour coverage.
ha! i didn't re-re-re-re-start it, yet...gonna wait. i'm very ambivalent about starting pump, my insulin sensitivity increases so much on pump, gonna just wait til i see pump nurse next week. i'm a 'scardie-cat', indeed. :). While I sit here at a nice 232 with a boatload of novolog on board. OH, give me a break with this...good grief, my patience has reached it's wits ends, i swear. ugh!
Oh, I thought you already had. Yes, I can hear you've been ambivalent about the pump, so perhaps it's better to wait and work through your thoughts on it. It sounds like if you could get a basal that worked for you you would be happy on MDI? There are many people on this board who have decided pumps are not for them for various reasons so don't let us pump cheerleaders put peer pressure on you..lol. I have to admit I started my pump because nearly all the women in my type 1 support group were on pumps and I felt left out...lol. But I'm happy with the decision.
thank you, Holger. I'm a hoping too. :) Levemir seems to not last long enough, peaks at odd hours, can't seem to tie the two doses together, IDK? We'll see. All trial and error, I suppose, at our expense, sometimes. Forever complicated, continually frustrated.
Hi Sarah,
I just started on a pump on Friday, but previous to that I went from Levemir to Lantus. It was fantastic - it made me a lot more stable, and while the 17hr (for me 19hr) thing is true, it gave me a far better flat line basal. I switched from a morning shot to an evening shot as I was waking up high, but I think I actually had a better response when I experimented with a morning dose of Lantus and just a small evening shot of Levemir to boost it…I don’t recommend this unless you know what you’re doing, or you’re just sick of 23 years of endo’s that won’t listen to what you tell them, and you want to sort it out for yourself
thanks! which pump, how are you liking it so far? how is your MDI regime compared to pump, have your rates, ratios changed a lot on pump? I started lantus (one shot) last night,think I need a little more, not sure how today will be, but..YES, i stayed flat all night long.
