I switched from Humalog to Novolog because the Humalog gave me a burning sensation at it went in through my pump. It’s a lot better now on Novolog!
I think it depends on how you personally react to it. I used pretty much the same ratio with both Novalog & Humalog, but with Humalog, I would always go low like 3.5 to 4 hours afterwards. It had this weird second peak for me, so you’ll just have to play around with it, but it shouldn’t give you too many problems.
Hey…I am not to familiar with how to use the forums but hopefull by the time I get back here this afternoon I can find something out too. Do a research on the difference, type something like > the difference between novalog and humalog< more than likely one is genetic. I am in a real pickle here myself, my insurance quit paying for Victoza, it went from $40.00 a month to $190 and thats not happening with my pocket book. Suddenly the insurance companies are just pooping out on us. I am like, what to do? I am presently back to taking 4 a day glyaburide metphormin and so far no januvia pill, but none of these pills are working, I told my doctor I am not paying my income to have meds. So right now I dont know what to do and I have never taken insulin, my father took both, humalog and novalog. He is no longer with me. I was wondering, can you shoot me a price on these meds? because I have not idea what the endo will do and its quite apparent the ins will only cover generic.
Thank you.
Gary…what is this stuff? my insurance quit paying on the Victoza, it went from $40 a month for 3 pens and is now $190 a month, not happening. I am not living to pay for meds only. I am presently back to 4 glyaburide metphormins without the januvia. My sugars run very high, I only weight about 127 lb and well it just doesnt matter on the weight deal. What is this medicine your talking about? I am so sick of paying for doctors. I eat right most of the time but with no success and I dont know what the deal is. The Victoza was helping but like everything else it to stops working. I am just curious as to what your trying to explain here, the R/NPH ?? what is that? is it a needle pen, shot?
Thank Greg…things are not good now with my diabeties, although my blood test were soaring, go figure, all was good now…no Victozs and the pills arent working at ll. My A1C was 7 the last visit and I practically starved to keep it there.
Karlye…
Can you enlighten me more about this pump? is it something you wear all the time? isnt that uncomfortable in your clothes? I wear dresses to church and I just cant imagine trying to hide a device somewhere under my clothes or anywhere for that matter. Is the needle pinned in your somewhere? Is this a choice with your meds or do you have to have it. I am going to do some research on it a bit, my insurance quit paying for my Victoza, they upped it from $40 to 190 and thats not happening. Ok thank you
Jedidiah
Hi, delilah. I’m by no means an expert on all of this, but if you have Type 1, you probably should be on insulin. The old, relatively inexpensive insulins are Regular and NPH, which don’t work as well as the newer ones for most people, but are enormously better than trying to get along on orals. When I started on insulin some 16 years ago, only R and NPH were available, and they made all the difference in the world for me. You should be able to find out what your insurance will pay for the different types of insulins, with prescriptions of course. My best.
Well thank you for your answer here, I was just looking up the r and nph, I still not to sure of it all, yes I need to be on insulin of some sorts, I just only have done the victoza pen in my stomach and it would leave knots and bruising always. I dont know what to do, its messed up right now. I do tend to over eat my veggies and meats but its like, geezz, you cannot eat anything else, and I do the apple cidar vinegar, its like all this stuff works for a time then quits.
I hope the needles dont leave bruising and knots, I am beside myself here on what to do. I have had many issues with sicknesses over the years and well, the doctor bills are a killer. My sugar was only 7 this last time but man I like to starve to death to get that number, but get this, my over all blood test were excellent, I cant figure it out.
Its all so depressing waking up with high numbers and going to bed with high numbers…It was this week we found out about the insurance not covering Victoza so I had to stop it.
Thanks Trudy, any help is good help.
No, if you are type I you are dead without insulin…
Well thanks for the positive note there Laura, I do know this, I just called the hall and I am to call the pharmacy to find out exactly what is in network that I can afford, its the Obama law that passed is what they are saying that has executed the use of the drug I do need. The victoza, thanks Obama. I told the broad at the hall, look I am not waisting my doctors time while he prescribes another drug that my company wont cover, or only cover partially. Its a joke, so now they tell me to go through the pharmacy to see the in-network drugs I may be able to afford. Waking up to high sugars like 275 and going to bed with them is scaring the life out of me.
thank Laura for you reply
Are you Type II? Victoza is for type II as are oral meds…
"Victoza is used to treat type 2 diabetes (non-insulin dependent). This medication is not for treating type 1 diabetes.
That’s why Trudy’s comment struck me as a bit odd because no type I exists without insulin and Victoza is not prescribed for type I.
If you need insulin,
The older insulins are cheaper, the newer ones can be as much as $100 a vial.
If your insurance is denying you meds for your type II diabetes, you can often get your physician to write you a special authorization for what you are already on. Often they will consider it, but may put it at a higher co-pay.
Hi Laura, I guess these comments are kind of shorthand. Of course all Type 1’s have to have insulin or die. However, there are sometimes long honeymoons with late onset Type 1. My personal opinion, however, is the sooner onto insulin the better, but that’s just my opinion. When I was given orals after my incorrect dx of T2 (I was LADA/t1), they just made me sick. I felt human again when I went on insulin, and as I just said, at the time we had R and NPH. As a note, these insulins seem to cost the least from Walmart, but I’d sure hope there would be a doctor giving some help, instructions,…
I’m on an Animas Ping pump and love it. It offers better control since it gives you a little dose every few minutes and then when I eat I take enough to cover the carbs in my meal. When I run high I also correct the high by giving myself a bit more. The pump lets me know how much to take based on the calculations my doctor/certified diabetes educator came up with. I wear my pump in my bra or in a pocket if I’m wearing something with pockets. They make all sorts of stuff to conceal a pump/CGM. Depending on you pump you can have a tiny steel needle or a plastic canula or catheter in you that you change every 2-3 days. They have a delivery system that makes it easy to apply. As far as medications, I am on Novolog (insulin) and Metformin (oral meds). The metphormin has really stabilized my BS. The metformin is cheap under my insurance plan. Keep in mind that I am type 1 and it appears that Victoza is for people with type 2. I know that people with type 2 can also take Metformin which is also called Gluophage.
Karly
I agree, sounds like tho she is needing insulin (any kind being better than no kind at all!).
Walmart is a great resource for that, I think I even used to get insulin over there years back (before Novolog).
Delilah, is there any way you can get insulin? As Laura suggests, Walmart is a good resource if money/insurance is an issue. And yes, someone with slow-onset Type 1 diabetes can survive for a time without exogenous insulin, but it is really best to get on insulin and not waste time (and have extreme high blood sugar) with meds for Type 2 diabetes.
Well my doctor has me written down as type 1, but has said on several occasions that I may need to move over to the unsulin. I got a break in the action, he is giving me victoza until my next visit which is in November, I am going to carefully watch my sugars as I have not been on this for a week, not to mention the first time I took this stuff I thought I was going to die for about 4 hours but it passed. I just administered 0.6 I believe it is. I have to again build myself up to the amount needed. Well, I dont know if this is going to work or not, it did for a time anyway. So between now and the next two weeks if this stuff isnt working I guess I need to call and go back in. I am really tired of eating off and weird food just to enjoy life but thats the way it is and its like I venture once and everything spirals out of control. I’m still concerned but will see what happens this next two weeks. That is why I am trying to educate myself about the inuslin, as to be prepared, I am not sure the Victoza is going to work.
How I was doing this is…I would take the full amount of the pen in victoza, then at night if my sugar was 150 and above I would then take a glyaburide metphormin. I visited my doctor and my sugar was 8.5, he made me come back in 8 weeks and I managed to get it down to 7 even, I practically starved. I ate alot of salads and lots of sardines with crackers for lunch, < extra virgin oil, and basically had some kind of protein, veggie and starch for supper. I would either eat eggs or a bowl of cereal with a banana to sweeten it. Also, I would eat fruit. I just bought the Atkins protein drink with 1 net carb and 1 sugar, 160 calories, I just hope I can drink that too. You would think its fine but its like no matter what it stays high unless I eat very very little. I was 121 at my last doctor visit, I am back up to 127. I have been afflicted physically many times, not to drop a bomb on you all but here is the list.
Almost kicked the bucket in 1990, viral pnuemonia, grout in foot, been numb in my right for-arm for almost two years now, left elbow area completely numb. Had bad case of tennis elbow for 4 months. Had a horrible spell with stomach 5 years ago, they never found out what it was. I just got over some weirdo fungus I picked up from the tanning bed and had contact dermatitis last year for 3 months from a tanning bed. I will never go back there again. I wear hand gloves and have for 15 years or I will wake up with numb hands. And, last but not least, I had Bells Palsy 3 times, one episode lasted 14 weeks. Ya…I trust the Lord though, if I didnt laugh I would cry and believe me, I do my share of that too.
I do stay active and clean houses, this is what I think has kept my diabetes at bay. So for the moment, the endo is putting me back on the Victoza but I am not paying for it at all, I think he is going to monitor it as I do and if its still workign maybe he has a plan. The amount went from $40.00 a month to $190 and thats not happening in my neck of the woods, I am burned out from working and exhausted most of the time, so I just exist. Sorry for the bummer note but my hope is the next two weeks things will clear up with this victoza but really…I dont know. In 1990, I was diagnosed with sugar diabetes, it was 800, thats right, 800. They couldnt get it down and the insulin was making me very ill. I told them to take me off the insulin, they did, I then was able to stand up and walk, and I could see clear again. My doctor back then said since I am not being affected not to worry about it. She said I would have problems with it when I was 40…I will be 49 and she is right, the last 8 years its here. It probably always was here. When the hospital said my sugar was 800, I thought about the Mary Tyler Moore deal, she too had the same issues.
Sorry so long…I just thought I would fill everyone in., ya…its been real…
Delilah, were you officially diagnosed type II in 1990 or type I?
At any rate, you need insulin and I dont see where your doctor is coming up with any other alternative, especially if you were diagnosed at 800?
You dont have a choice if you were coming up with numbers like that, and the insulin isnt going to hurt you it’s going to help you.
I’m sorry you have had to deal with so much but I hope you get the helps you need!
I dont know any type I anywhere who doesnt take insulin and who does take Victoza. Is there a possibility he had you as a different type?
I copied the info earlier from the product and it is not for type I.
Hi Sally…
So your using both? how is that? one for emergency to drop quick if the number is high and one to regulate? not sure.
No, I am not on insulin, although my doctor has brought it up that I may eventually need to switch and to be honest with you, if the victoza does not work then ya, something has to give and I cannot wait until November to see him. Its my understanding that the Victoza should work all day,. and I dont know what kind of readings I should be expecting after eating supper and checking my sugars like two in half hours later. They say to check before and two hours later, and mine may drop to 150 but not sure since I havent had it in my system all week or if it will work at all. My A1C was7 this last visit but…8 weeks prior it was 8.5 so he made me come back and I stayed on a very strict diet to do this. My numbers are never really the same or normal but my A1C will read fairly decent if I stay on that strict diet. Geeezzz, I want to eat some real food but cant. We all do…I wont because I am to scared to venture out and do that again.
Hey ya I have studied up on the Victoza, I ask the nurse again, what am I she said he has you listed ast type 2…but I keep thinking, then why isnt this medicine kicking in? the Victoza, it works but as a read out, like my A1C…he beleives on the average my sugar is staying at 145 somewhere there from my last A1C which was 3 weeks ago.
He is a well known endocronologist, popular and very good. So I called and even said, maybe I should be on unsulin, I need something because my numbers wont go down. The nurse talked to him and he said since the Victoza seemed to be working to stay on it and he will give me samples until my next visit. So I am to carefully monitor my sugars but to be honest with you…its like what should my levels be? I have never had decent levels unless its a freak thing. they hover around 140…if its low, like 90’s then I havent eaten for hours or missed a meal. Is it suppose to be 120 after two hours of eating? is that what everyone else is suppose to be? (scratching my head) I have a new meter and strips so thats not the issue.