sorry if this discussion has been aired out here before, but here goes again ....
When I got dx'd last year (at 43 years old) with Type 1 I was put on MDI using Humalog and Lantus.
I had a lot of discomfort with them and I thought it was the Lantus so I got switched over to Novolog and Levimir. I've been with that combo for about a year.
Recently, I tried switching back to Lantus (see explanation in next paragraph), and just for grins I re-tried my Humalog, too. Well after about 2 weeks I had to stop the Humalog because it just seems too "rough" compared to the Novolog. It seems to come on stronger and faster ... I have to eat more to keep up with it. I switched back to Novalog and wrote a note to myself in my charts "Humalog sucks" in bold letters to remind me not to do that again.
My Lantus however is working out fine. I think I'll stay with that instead of Levimir. I split my Lantus 6 units a.m. and 4 units p.m.
I started to notice my Levimir drove me low at regular times of the mid-morning and the doc said the Levimir can peak (I had been splitting it) so he told me to try 3 shots of it instead of two in order to "hide" the peaks .... then I began to experinece another pattern low in the mid-afternoon, too!
So that's when I decided to try Lantus again and it's working out fine this time ....
She has only used Novolog and Lantus, and Novolog and Apidra in the pump. Novolog has a very long duration (about 5 hours for her) and was a real PITA. Endo wanted us to try Humalog because she thought Humalog would have less of a duration but we insisted on the Apidra and we are glad we did (3.5 hours usually, no tail). Lantus worked well for the four months we used it but it did sting.
I have found for myself that the Lilly insulins seem to do more damage to my subq and cause hard spots. The Squibb-Novo insulins have seemed to not do that for me. Just something I noticed on my own.
I used Humalog for years, both on MDI, and then in my pump. Then my insurance company arbitrarily switched to Novolog. I’ve had more problems with Novolog – clogging the tubing, and not acting fast enough. But I just have to use what I can get!
I haven’t switched around but I love the Lantus/Novolog combo. Question for people who split their Lantus dose - what’s the advantage/effect of doing a split dose as opposed to one dose? I currently take a single dose at bedtime and it seems to be working out ok, but I’m always looking for a better way.
I take lantus/humalog. Lantus doesn't really work 24 hours. It works a few hours short of that which means there a few hours where you don't have any insulin. If I take Lantus every morning, I make sure to exercise at night which keeps my sugars around 90 till morning. Lately I haven't been exercising at night so I take Lantus every night around 10pm. This means that when I eat my dinner around 7pm I just give a little extra insulin to cover for the fact that there isn't much or any lantus in my system anymore. Next time you open up a new lantus, read the folded insert inside, that's where I discovered the info about it's literal duration time.
That said, I don't like the inconvenience of taking it twice a day so I stick to my plan above and it works pretty well. My last A1c was 5.3% with a good standard deviation.
I have only used Lantis and novalog. I found that I have to take all of the lantis before supper and take the novolog at the same time. I agree the lantis does not work 24 hours. taking the lantis at the same time as novolog, I take a little more novolog than I would just for the meal because I think the lantis is running out. taking the lantis towards evening gives me much better bs readings in the morning.
lol