i was doing great with my lantus routine, but every few weeks i experience this lineup of terrible days! my sugar hangs in the high 100's-mid 200's and i cant seem to find the right way to tweak. I have found in the past that my sugars come down when i take smaller doses of lantus closer together. I have split my dose...10 at 6:00 am and 10 and 6:00 pm. this was working well for me...but 6 units in the am with a bit of apidra was working better. i am wondering if the split dose can be split even further...does anybody inject lantus 3 times daily? i use lantus pen and apidra pen. also use symlin at dinner and lunch.
It's been a while since I used it so don't quote me on this, but I believe you run the risk of insulin stacking if you double dip with slow, or even fast acting insulin in very rapid succession.
Sounds like a perfect question to ask an endo?
Is it possible that the few weeks pattern is in sync with your period? Due to hormonal changes this might be the case for you. If this is the case it would be helpful to identify the pattern / dependency between period and glucose levels. For this you need to document the start of the period and the start of the raise in glucose levels. This way you will find out when your hormones will starts to interfere. With this knowledge you could counter-act by starting to increase the basal dosage when this period begins. I would also recommend to stay on 2 shots and to just work with higher dosages then.
If you monitor frequently when doing it why not try if you think it may help you?
Hi andrea. At one time or another, I have successfully taken 3 shots daily of NPH, Levemir and Lantus. I definitely would start by dividing up the 3 shots to not exceed the total number of units you have been taking with 2 shots. Then it's just a matter of careful testing and tweaking.
yes that was my plan. how any hours apart were your doses. i am considering doing this after talking to my endo, and i was just curious about timing. my sugars seem to be fine during the day but a little high in the AM and high again before bed time.
I'm afraid my dosing is individual to me. I make some insulin (after 18 yrs.!) in the afternoon. I've been taking a nightly shot of Levemir at 9:30 PM which covers my dawn phenomenon; a small one in the morning when I get up; another small one around 2:30 PM. However, suddenly this week it's not working well, so I'm experimenting with taking 2 shots: my same nightly one and another around noon. I'm testing and tweaking! Good luck, I'm sure you and your endo will work out a schedule for you.
I was going to suggest the same thing. I tend to run higher during the week I ovulate. Then it starts coming down, but it sounds similar to your situation. Correcting all day, and still not getting as good of results. I found that increasing Lantus during those two shots daily, and also the need to correct some helped somewhat, but I could never get mine quite right. MDI does't work well for me, its either too much insulin or not enough...even a change in one unit drops me rapidly. Hoping now that I've switched to a pump I can fine tune those days much more accurately.
does anybody think that taking a larger dose at night and a smaller dose in the morning is helpful? i feel like i have so much insulin in me and i do not seem to be lowering very much at all.
Just a thought...
Are you eating enough, Andrea?
Not suggesting that you pig out either of course, but regular small snacks can often kick insulin reactions enough to actually lower your intake need...As haphazard as that logic may sound, it needs some carbs to react to.
When I have had to deal with high doses of prednisone, I have split 3 ways on the day of prednisone injection. And for the week after. However the doses are not equal ones.
I am experienced with Lantus very low dose at bedtime, and the 2 other splits are half and half to deal with daytime, the opposite of what you have been doing with your high at bedtime, low in the a.m. My rationale is that my body cells need very little all night. My target is 100 and these keep me within 5 of 100.
Before splitting 3 ways you need to know what the drop off point, in hours, is for your lantus in you during the daytime and when it peaks. I happen to peak at 7 hours and there is nada left that is discernible by 16 hours. With that in mind, it's easy for me to use 3 injections a day. What you can do depends entirely on how it operates in you. Know your peak. Know your duration of action.
i notice that my numbers rise dramatically around 3:00. up to 200. the rest of the day is somewhat stable.
No but it is probably a good idea.