Insulin peak times different switching from MDI to Pump?

Hi everybody, I just switched from MDI to a Animas ping and love it so far. One major thing I have realized is my insulin seems to peak later on the pump verse MDI. While on shots it would peak at about an hour but now on the pump its like I will get two medium peaks one at about an hour and another at about 2 hours. Anyone else notice this. I dont know if its because with the pump your only on one type of insulin or what. oh I have a dexcom so I can see the trends. Just throwing this one out there, maybe its me? I also use humalog on shots and in the pump

Yeah, definitely. The onset of my plateaus are, generally, much more gradual than the peaky response that I used to get from MDI. Either way though, the changes do seem to come later.

How can that possibly be??? The medication is 100% identical. Only the tool for its delivery has changed.
Stuart

I don’t know about two peaks but I definitely have noticed going 20ish points higher than I used to. I know that I need to start taking it before I eat… I usually take it as I am eating for after, which is not good but I hate having to eat a certain amount because I injected already. I am still new to DM and my Animas pump so I haven’t gotten around to talking about these quicker insulin options (I used humalog for shots and pump also) but it is definitely something I want to talk about with my endo later. Having you changed your infusion sites to a different locations than shots? I am sure you know this, but your body absorbs it differently depending on the location. I noticed that this really affects me. I am limited to my sites because of this. Could your two peaks be based on your basal occurring every 20 minutes?

Definitely true if we were not for the use of 2 different insulins for basal and bolus for MDI.

I don’t think I was ever able to get my Lantus dosing correct for a proper basal. As a result, I think I was compensating for a screwy basal with bolus dosing and carbs. I do know that I was taking more short acting insulin for my premeal boluses so I imagine that the higher dosing of Novolog probably contributed more to the peakiness than the method of delivery.

So for me, I think just having a more consistent basal combined with lower doses of Novolog for boluses probably contribute more to a slower, more steady peak action with the pump. It has been a bit of an adjustment.

Interesting! I’ve only done MDI and if had to guess I would have said pumping would result in a faster peak. Maybe the constant infusion of insulin at one site causes a slight slowdown in absorption vs injections where you keep changing the site?

Maybe better to use Novolog/Apidra than Humalog to help offset?

I am definitely thinking about it!