A little background info…
I was on Lantus and Humolog a few months ago, and that seemed to be working ok for me. 10-15 units before meals and I was ok. But my new endo switched me from humolog to apidra and I find that I take 30 units and my GLs are still sky high. I was charting it for a while and found that with a gl of 173 before breakfast, I took 30 units of apidra, ate a hard boiled egg and a bagel and my GL went UP to 385. WHAT?!? This just seems outrageous.
I get very frustrated and give up. Apidra just does not seem to be working for me. One night I got so angry I just decided to take as much apidra as it would take to lower my level into the normal range. So before dinner I took 30 units and ate a salad. Lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, and ranch…THATS ALL I ATE. It took me 60 units to get my level into 118. This just dosn’t seem right. And I’m frustrated.
Is any one else having problems with apidra? Is anyone having success with Apidra? rips hair out
I have an endo appointment on thursday btw.
Did you get the vial of Apidra from your endo or from the pharmacy? I’d check the expiration date & even if it’s not expired, I’d take it back to the drug store (if you got it there) & ask them for a new vial from a different lot number. There’s got to be something wrong with the Apidra. It must not have be stored properly before you got it, expired, or just a bad bottle.
Man, is that frustrating! I’d be ripping my hair out & back on the Humolog pronto also. Did you doc mention why he changed it?
60 units to cover a salad is nuts! I’d be dead within 20 minutes if I took that much. Even if you’re resistant to Apidra, that’s a very high dose to have to so little of an effect.
Everyone’s ratios are different, of course, but I’ve never had a problem with Apridra. One unit brings me down 55-60 points & my I:C ratio is 1:12 for Apidra, though I use Humulin R for meals because of other problems. I use Apidra to correct highs & it works quickly for me.
My insulin:carb is 1:6 or 1:7 on Apidra and my correction sensitivity is 1 unit per 26 mg/dL. I switched from Humalog to Apidra when Apidra came out about 4-5 years ago. But like Gerri, I can’t IMAGINE taking 60 units at once. I’d be dead, too! I’m a pumper, so I don’t take any long-acting insulin, but most days I take in 60 units for the whole day (basal+meals combined!). I have nothing bad to say about Apidra for myself. I have used it in three different brands of pumps, used it in injections, and it lowers my blood sugar exactly as expected and covers my meals without a long tail afterward.
Sounds like you need to talk to your doc about switching back. Or perhaps you’ve got a bad vial. Whatever the case, it is NOT working for you.
I use the solostar pen. And the way my insurance company works is that you have to buy the medications from them and not from the pharmacy. So I truely have no idea where they came from, and I have THREE whole boxes of the pens sitting in my fridge already paid for. I think 5 or 6 pens come in a box. I’ll deffinately check the exp date though.
Maybe you should use another new pen & see what happens. Don’t take a large dose. There’s got to something wrong with the pen you used. Wouldn’t be the first time insulin had gone bad.
If that’s the reason I’m going to cry. LOL. WEEKS of frustration over it. HAHA I’ll keep yall updated though.
Very aggravating! Check the lot numbers on all the boxes also. If they’re all the same, have the insurance company replace them all. Raise hell with them, if you have to. You can’t take a chance using ineffective insulin & end up DKA.
Hoping it’s just that one pen, or that one box, but they still need to replace what’s gone bad.
I had a bad vial of insulin. It looked fine, wasn’t cloudy, but it didn’t work. Took it back to CVS & they checked all the lot numbers to find me a bottle that was different. They got me one from another store & told me they were sending them all back.
so I know this may sound retarded…but how do you know if you have DKA?
You’ll feel really sick. Nausea, vomiting, exhausted, unquenchable thirst & constant peeing. Like the flu, but worse. You’ll be severely dehydrated. Of course, your BG readings will be very high & you’ll have high ketones in your urine. Not trying to scare you, but DKA is nothing to mess around with & needs hospitalization. Your insurance company gives you any grief about replacing the Apidra you tell them that you could die from their bad insulin.
Understand how you feel. I’d be screaming like a mad woman. Let me know what happens.
Apidra did not work for me. I did not finish the whole trial bottle…my endo says like anything else…it just doesn’t work for seom peeps.
Same with me … grrrrrrr… two endos prescribed solostar and apidra … 45 units for the whole day for solostar and 25 units of apidra before meal and my sugra is alway 220 … but one time i had a hypo for a day same diet … I used to take humulin 70/ 30 and it was a lot better … problem is i have 2 months supply of this solostar and apidra …
By the way … its one month now since i have been using solostar and apidra … my doc had me started at 40 units solostar and 10 units apidra per meal … no improvement at all.
I inquired about Humalog Mix 25 …
If I were you… I’d be calling up your insurance PRONTO (or wherever you got that insulin from) and request them to replace the insulin that you have already paid for as there is something wrong with it. I agree with all comments above; that’s an extremly high dose to take… there’s gotta be something wrong with that insulin.
I am one of those people for whom Apidra is like shooting water…back to novalog I went post haste (and yes we tried more than one vial–just in case of) My endo says some peeps bodies just don’t like certain insulins
I do fine on Apidra. I like its quick action for corrections. I think you got some good advice about seeing if the insulin is bad. A couple comments: PLEASE don’t get desperate (though I understand feeling that way) and shoot twice your normal dose of insulin; that’s scary! Second, bagels to me are one of those impossible foods; I WILL go high on them with any normal bolus amount. (I used to love bagels but am not willing to risk injecting huge boluses just for a kind of food).
You should be able to pick up an emergency bottle at your local pharmacy. They shoud be able to call your prescription mail service provider and get the ok…
I am using Apidra since July …my A1C has come down by .2 from 6.9 to 6.7 and I credit Apidra . Presently working on lowering my basal rates …I do require less Apidra insulin ( by a small margin , I use about 21 u daily ) compared to using NovoRapid .
I was at a Diabetes related Breakfast meeting yesterday , Vancouver, Canada ; sat next to a pumper and for her Apidra did NOT work. We are all so different .Maybe you need to go back to " what works for you " .
I think the Apidra must be bad. Initially, we had to give my niece more Apidra (she pumps) than Novolog as basals, and more for correction. The first two days the Apidra seemed like it did not work for her (blood sugars were high). Once her body got used to it, she now uses about ten percent more Apidra for basals than she would need with Novolog. I am a firm believer of experience being your teacher. How your body reacts is individual. So if you replace the insulin and still see no improvement within about four days, I would go back to what works for you. And if it works for you but you seem to need an extraordinarily high dose, it’s up to you but I would not feel comfortable; too risky. Use whichever insulin works best for you and/or which you feel most comfortable with. My endo is not a huge fan of Apidra. It works well for my niece though I would not hesitate to change insulins if I experienced what you have after the initial adjustment period.
Another vote for the you have a bad batch theory! Like Gerri, I would be dead if I injected 60 units for a salad. There could have been issues shipping it or something also. I would call up whoever you ordered it from and let them know you have some bad insulin. I know I had some bad Apidra and Sanofit replaced it but I had to have a valid presciption on file with the pharmacy (which I did) before they would do that. Not sure how that stuff works with mail order.