I inject 22 units of Lantus every morning around 6-6:30. I have noticed it doesn’t last the full 24 hours.
I find that before dinner it wears off and the rest of the evening gets worse. I’m not sure how to split my
dose and I am concerned if I take the second half at bedtime I’ll end up crashing. Any suggestions?
Linda
I have split my dose before. It worked well, and I even decreased my totals taken. My doctors were letting me make changes at the time. If you are worried, take less for your evening dose.
But, the last time my doc changed my lantus usage, she had me switch from morning to night because of elevated numbers during and after dinnertime.
prior to pumping, I split my dose to 15 in the morning, 15 at night
Thanks Jessica,
I think I’ll try 75% AM and 25% at dinner.
Hi Cynthia,
I’m going to try a split of 75% am and 25% at dinner,and see how that goes. I worry about change but if that
works and I don’t chase any lows. I’ll try a 50/50 split. Thanks
Hi Bec
I am going to try your split dosage, but with the 25% remainder at dinner instead of bedtime.
I worry so much about lows. Thanks
I split my dose, but I do it the opposite way due to a serious case of DP, so I take 75% at 8pm and 25% at 8am.
Hi Joile,
Thanks for the reply. I have had several mornings of dp as well. I go bed at a fasting of 160 and have been
waking up betweeen 200-210, not good. I have been a type 1 for only a year now. Last aic was 7 and I’m
sure I’ve gone up to an 8. I sill do not have the best control but I am working my way through this. I see my endo
next month so I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about. Thanks, Linda
This is a very interesting question. I’ll make note of this forum as well. I just started Lantus last Thursday so am anxious to see my numbers go down. I am taking 20 iu at night along with Humalog 3 times a day. I was on Byetta and pills prior for years but in hte last 2 months my numbers were steady around 280-450. So this is a new change for me. Thank you for the Lantus Question and Answers.
Before my son went onto the pump we also split lantus. Our Dr said that although Lantus is advertized as 24 hour insulin it does wear off. We took the majority of the dosage in the evenings and a small dose in the morning. (The doctor said that if Bg is high by dinner the following evening one should take a small dose in the mornings as well.)
Hello All,
I am sure this forum is gonna get alot of different answers. and its quite interesting. I use Lantus also and started splitting my dose 50-50. Half at bedime and half at breakfast. I really couldnt tell a difference. Lantus has helped to bring my am fasting down to the 118-120s. Anyway, I went to the TCOYD conference in Amarillo last Saturday and had the opportunity to speak with some great endos. The answers I got from them were all pretty much the same, I was told not to split the dose of Lantus and to take it at bedtime. I was told Lantus was designed to decrease the am fastings and to cover everything between meals, but not meals. That is why you use a fast acting Insulin to cover meals. The Lantus is slowly dispersed in an even steady flow over 18 to 24 hours depending on the person. I was told that if the am fastings were not at the level that is desired that you should increase the dosage by 1 0r 2 units i think it was every 5 days or so(you have to give it time to correct) until you acheive your am fasting. They said in some patients that Lantus works in decreasing the BG’s all around. I guess It just depends on the level of your diabetes. So I dunna no Lucy, what is right or what is wrong. I have went back to taking mine at bedtime and have now increased to 36 units and my am fastings are getting there with a little better BG’s before meals. Soooooo…whadda we do? I am certainly confused!
I do this all the time. I found that (at the time) 8 units was too much during the day, but would not last the full 24 hours. So to increase I did 4 in the morning and 5 at night. Eventually this increased to be 3 in the day and 6 at night, as I find for some reason I need less basal during the day, and way more at night.
As long as it’s about 12 hours apart, I find that splitting not only lets you get more control , but you can safely use more at one time or another as needed. This is funny, since my Endo was the one who recommended doing it this way, and it really helped.
Hope this helps!
Lane
In my case, I started with a bedtime shot of Lantus, and it worked for a couple of years. Then my fastings were getting higher and higher.
I switched to Levemir, and my fastings improved immensely. The one bedtime shot was working then I noticed my predinner bg was getting higher and higher.
I switched to 2 shots of Levemir (12U at bed; 6U in morning). For the most part, it works…for now that is.
Peter
Yea,
Lantus was supposed to be a one shot a day wonder. That totally did not work for me. I started with one shot in the evening as directed. But I was getting sudden drop like a rock lows about two hours after and nighttime lows scare the hell out of me so I switched to mornings. Then I was dropping like a rock around 10 or 11 am, when I was a t work… Also a no go… So I thought I would try splitting to take the edge off and that has worked like a charm. Of course my endo was skeptical at first, but after some time and the same kinds of problems with other patients he is now a fan of splitting the dose…
Ivan!
Thanks for the info, I have heard Levemir has better coverage than Lantus. I guess I’ll need to start my own
split and hopefully won’t spark any lows.
Hi Ivan,
It sounds like splitting my dose is the way to go. Lows scare me as well. I take 22 units am but like I said
the effects wear off by dinner 6 or so. I heard Levemir lasts longer so I may talk to my endo about switching
if the Lantus split doesn’t work. All I need to do is work out a good split. Thanks Linda
Join the club. I’ve been on Lantus a number of years. I had to learn, right away, like everyone else, that it didn’t last 24 hours whether I took it at night or took it in the morning. I experienced lows at 5 hours after injection and then highs from 16 hours on.
I settled on 2/3 at 7 am and 1/3 at 10 pm. I set my alarm for 7 am, & take it immediately. I take humalog for carbs at mealtimes or snacks.
The routine keeps my tests round the clock in a tight target. If I am below 100 at bedtime, I take a 2-3 gm cracker with cheese on top. A nice boring routine. Once a good working basal amount is figured, stick with it.
I’m another split doser. Don’t care what pharm reps & doctors say (& docs get their info from pharm reps anyway), Lantus never lasted 24 hours for me either. My fasting numbers were too high with one dose in the morning. First endo kept raising the dose which resulted in lows during the day, but still high fasting numbers.
Once I started taking two doses, numbers were much better. Changing to Levemir gave me even better control. I take basal immediately before going to bed & first thing in the morning. I’m also taking less basal in two doses than I was when taking one dose.
Lantus or Levemir–doesn’t deliver a steady, continuous dose. There are still peaks & valleys, but they’re just slower.
I had to split my Lantus because I would go low in the afternoon and then would skyrocket in the early morning. I had better control after splitting it.
I split my Lantus right from the beginning, 12 hours apart. It works Good.