I’ve been on Humalog since I was diagnosed 20 years ago and it’s all I’ve ever used in my pump. Recently, I’ve been experiencing nothing but highs no matter how often I check and correct. I’m calling to make an appointment with an endocrinologist tomorrow, but my gut is telling me that the Humalog just isn’t working with my body anymore.
Has anyone else experienced this before? What was the outcome?
This is such a bummer. I’ve had absorption problems myself, so I can somewhat relate. I hope it improves for you. A few questions that will help others members, help you…
Edited to remove are you on a pump, I see that you are now!
Have you changed injection/pump sites?
Have you changed vials?
Are you able to get a vial of Novolog? Try it and see if the problem goes away. For most people they are interchangeable or the differences are minor enough to adjust to.
I cannot use Humalog due to severe allergy, but when I tried it I ran into a person who was in on the actual trials. She said this can and does happen to people and they need to try Novolog (and maybe Apidra?) It did happen to me, and I was barely on for any length of time before I started becoming allergic. I dont think the two issues were related tho…
I also did have absorption issues when I was on Humalog when I was younger. My dr switched me over to Novolog and I’ve been using it ever since. Never really had any issues with it, after making adjustments when I was diagnosed with kidney failure (eat smaller meals now, so I just use a sliding scale, depending on how much and what I’m eating).
contact your pharmacy for an exchange. It is possible that you have a spoiled batch. This can occur with mail order, and in person pharmacy’s. It is summer and my first thought is always do i have a batch or spoiled batch. It is an outside chance, but possible.
I was put on Humalog when I was first diagnosed 22 years ago. It didn’t work well for me. I ran very high as well. They switched me to Novalog after 3 months and I was on that for almost all of my 22 years. Then my insurance made me go to Humalog. I ran over 250 for 6 months fighting with the insurance company to get back to Novalog. Finally gave up and switched to another insurance company. Then I found the Novalog wasn’t working like it used too. I tried Apidra and it was better. Not as good as the Novalog before I had to discontinue it. But is was better but my numbers post meal were really high. I switched to Fiasp and it does work very well and fast but I think I have overused the injection sites and have found that sometimes I need to inject/correct/inject many times to get the insulin to work. Now I don’t wait 4 hours to correct. Just 2 but this does have other problems as well. I have wondered the same thing. If the body will stop accepting an insulin formulation after a period of time.
Like Rphil2 said - contact the pharmacy and swap them out. I had two vials last week that were bad and did nothing. Swapped them out and right back to normal. From what I understand (just from reading) Humalog will not just suddenly “quit” - it happens over time for some people.
This just happened to me. Tried a different brand and my TDD is cut in half. Thankfully I have Dexcom to help me make quick adjustments as needed to pump settings. I guess I’m just allergic to Humalog now? 
@Sheepdogs I’m guessing here, but I don’t think it’s so much an allergy, it’s possible what is blended with the insulin and/or our body just decides we can’t absorb that particular insulin. It seems to happen off and on to some. But usually if it’s an allergy, you get sick in some various way. I wouldn’t discount it’s an allergy though.
The other thing is Humalog fairly notoriously will not work in pods in some people, it can happen right away or years later. You switch insulins and you’re fine.
Thanks for replying Marie20. I’m still titrating down the basal rates. It’s so bizarre! Glad I found the new insulin. Was a fluke that I did.
Edit: asked my doctor why my body needs less of the new aspart biosimilar vs Humalog and was blown off by them. Told they don’t know it’s just me and furthermore all the research shows the rapid insulins are all the same. They don’t believe in what I’m experiencing. I wear a cgm and a pump, the data doesn’t lie. I can’t fake this stuff. Wondering if this person is on big Pharma payroll given their closed mind and patriarchal attitude of “shut up and do what you’re told.” 