Hi All, I ran across this old 2005 article at DiabetesHealth.com I thought this section was interesting:
Take Symlin as you start eating the main part of your meal. Symlin seems to produce its satiety effect within 10 to 15 minutes after injection, although each patient’s response may vary. If the meal starts with an appetizer or soup and salad, the patient can consider waiting until the main course is served. This recommendation comes from feedback given during the clinical trials. If Symlin is taken too early and the pre-meal insulin dose has already been given, the risk of after-meal hypoglycemia may go up.
I take Symlin 15 minutes before my meal, despite what the literature says. I find that way I experience the feeling of fullness while I’m eating and therefore eat less (I want to lose a little weight). I haven’t had any problems with hypos. The timing of Symlin is the one thing I’ve figured out for sure for myself, I’m still working on the insulin timing.
I agree with both your posts. I see a lot of people go by blood sugar. What I find best is to take the Symilin 5-10 minutes before eating and bolus after I eat because with the Symilin, I tend to eat less and not finish. If my bs is high before I eat, since I am on a pump I will take a correction bolus and then bolus after the meal
I said above I hadn’t really settled on my insulin dosing with Symlin yet, but I am, in fact, moving more and more away from dosing later. ALL the literature (as well as people on here) say you will go low if you dose too soon, but that just hasn’t been my experience. When I’m high before eating I find that unless I do my correction and the bolus before the meal I will stay high or go higher. But even without being high I’ve been using 0/100% combo boluses done right before the meal and am even experimenting carefully with regular (non-combo) doses done before. I’ve had very very few lows so far.
I realize part of the reason to bolus after is to know what you actually eat, but I’m finding I’m starting to know how much to reduce my regular servings due to reduced appetite, and if I still leave some behind it isn’t enough to make me low. I think some of the advice might be over-cautious, but I’ll let you know after more experimenting! Like I said, figuring the Symlin dosing was the easy part for me! It’s the insulin dosing that’s hard, but when it works (more often than it doesn’t work, but not enough yet), it’s amazing! Nearly flatline blood sugars at 50% of the insulin I previously used! I love this drug!
I’m so horrible about remembering to dose symlin before I eat. I find that once I start eating or just after a meal it prompts my memory that I should have dosed. Then, I guess its too late?
sigh its not the only thing I forget these days. I recently told my husband that I might think about tattoing my name on my wrist before I start forgetting that.
The Symlin literature advises dosing Symlin right before eating or just after beginning, so I still think it would work if you remember it once you start. You just won’t get the full effect of the fullness.
I wouldn’t do it after the meal because you don’t want to run into the next meal dose.
