just a quick survey, i know everyone could vary on this, but just curious.
when i started pumping, my CDE set my active insulin time to 6 hours. not that i dont trust her but when i asked her how did she came up with such number, she said that, that is just the usual setting. while i am so curios about it, especially that I am on Apidra and knowing that Apidra kicks right in after bolusing, I went to visit another forum online and most of them on Apidra said they have their active insulin time to 4 hours…
I know all the literature says that we should all set our active insulin duration to longer than 4-6 hours, but Apidra is certainly faster. While on a Paradigm for the last four years, I varied between 3 and 4 hour active insulin time with Apidra (I think I started Apidra three years ago). Either seemed to work fine. My current pump (a Cozmo) has the ability to set it for 3 and a half hours, which seems to be a closer match for me. I would venture to say that 6 is way too long. My suggestion is to consult the documentation (particularly the graphs) that comes with every bottle of Apidra and compares it to naturally occurring insulin. It might also be on their website.
With any insulin, even Apidra, post-prandial spikes are lessened by taking it 20-30 minutes before your meal. My educator was telling me yesterday that we’re too easygoing with our fast-acting insulins - that CGMS technology has allowed us to see that insulin is still slower to respond that we think. I find that taking it at least 20 minutes before a meal and an active duration of less than 4 hours keeps me the most level.
Check out the presentation here, which shows how different pumps calculate the active insulin. It might help inform your decision.
I don’t use Apidra. I have my Cozmo set for 4 hours with Humalog and that seems right…
Hope that you get some responses from Apidra users as well! 6 hours strikes me as too long. perhaps check if you think you are seeing any drop after 4 hours… I doubt that you are.
