The Lantus website has an ad for their once daily insulin injection. Sounds wonderful. Has anybody tried it? Or is that one more thing I can't believe on the web?
Bea-
I used the solostar (it's just Lantus in a pen) when I did MDI (been on a pump for over 2 years now). Works just as well as Lantus in a vial :)
Side note: My endo in Rochester, NY was part of the team that created the solostar. He was a hoot!
Thanks. I am new at this (diagnosed a month ago). Once I get my BG to 70-110, I will ask my endo about this. I am using Humalog before meals, Lantus for bedtime.
I take Lantus, but I very quickly came to realize it doesn’t quite work a full 24 hours. So, I had to move to a split does of half in the morning and half at supper time. That gives me pretty good coverage. Then you also need all your mealtime blouses of short acting. It really doesn’t save me any shots. The benefit of Lantus is that it gives you a more consistent release of insulin rather than the peak that you would get with NPH. There may be some folks that find it works the full 24 hours. I didn’t find that to be the case for me.
i used it once a day and it worked well for me. i switched to levemir because the lantus injection site hurt and burned, but it kept me steady all day.
Hi,
I use a Lantus pen for once a day injections taken at breakfast time. I've never used Lantus any other way so I haven't got anything to compare it with. I find I get about 22 hours coverage and as Cinderfella says you get a consistent release profile. I have read that Lantus works best for women if it is taken as a split dose due to different hormones.
Regards,
Bruce
Don't believe that Lantus provides 24-hour basal coverage because it doesn't. If you use it, two injections work better. Lantus has been linked to weight gain. I hated Lantus. It's not level & has peaks, despite the claims. Lantus peaks caused me serious lows. Also disliked the acidic burn of injections & that it lost potency as it approached day 28. Best thing I did was switch to Levemir--no peaks or valleys, no sting & it stays potent for 6-8 weeks.
Lantus is a long-acting or background insulin and is one of only two of this kind; the other is Levemir. Yes, you can take it once a day though some people find it works better split in two. However, sorry to tell you this is only part of your insulin treatment, the background insulin. Once you are out of your honeymoon period you will also need to take fast acting insulin before your meals to keep your food from spiking your blood sugar too high. The fast acting insulins you can choose from are Apidra, Humalog and Novalog. This combination of long acting background insulin and fast acting mealtime insulin is called MDI and it tries to duplicate what a non-diabetic pancreas does naturally. I suggest the book Using Insulin by John Walsh.
Thanks everybody. I will discuss this with my endo. So far, what he has done for me has worked wonders. Humalog before meals, Lantus at bedtime. I can live with that. He also told me not to try to change my diet to try to match to insulin units, but to eat what I want and test and see how it goes. I am also one of the few (from what I read here) who needs to gain weight. I also will check out that John Walsh book.
FWIW - I was on Lantus for about 8 years and always only took it once a day. That's why I didn't do Levemir - I never got the timing down for 2 shots of long acting.