I know there was a discussion on this topic recently, but when I search I find everything but.
So many of you report more stability on Levemir. I'm doing ok, but tend to have to change my basal dose every couple weeks so I thought I'd switch. If I remember the other discussion some people said their doses stay the same and other said they needed more Levemir, but nobody needed less Levemir than Lantus?
I currently take 6 in the morning and 7 at night of Lantus and thought if the above is correct, I'd start with the same regimen and see how I do?
With the potency I think the manufacturers used NPH as an orientation. Thus Lantus and Levemir try to get near NPH to make the transition as smooth as possible. To me the switch from NPH to Levemir was 1:1 for example. But the problem is that Lantus and Levemir use a very different approach. As a result you can be slightly wrong in both directions when transfering the dosage 1:1. It is also likely that it will work without problems as I have heard from others.
For the transition I would really recommend a weekend. Test every 2 hours at day and every 3 to 4 hours at night. This way you can be sure you will not run into problems. It is really helpful you are on a splitted Lantus dosage right now. So you do not have to change your injection pattern.
I recently switched from Lantus to Levemir. I frankly haven’t seen much difference - don’t think it is more stable for me. I have found I need to take more Levemir. I’m working my way up - I started by using the same amount.
I ran out of lantus and switched my 25 units at 6 am and 25 units at 6 pm for the same amount of levemir and my BG skyrocketted. I went back to lantus. Next time I will try 35 levemir for 25 lantus. Also at my dose the levemir is much more expensive. I could not say if the levemir made it more stable because the BG were so much higher.
i’ve been stable with both, but i switched to lantus because levemir was leaving some swelling with each injection. i took 13 units of levemir, and after some trial and error settled on 10 units of lantus.
Yes, I see how that would greatly add to the cost, Anthony; I’m only on 13 units daily so even if it’s more Levemir, it won’t be significant cost-wise.
Thanks, Dan; we’re close in dose, so that gives me a good idea of the difference to expect.
Zoe, I switched from Lantus to Levemir because the Lantus worked poorly for me; for instance, it have me a constant low level headache. I know this is different from others, but I need less Levemir than Lantus, also less Levemir than the basal programmed into my pump. I found out what I needed the same as others mentioned, 1:1, and test a lot. Thank goodness I can’t think of any reason to ever go back to Lantus. (I am on the pump part time because I don’t have enough sites for full time, fast acting is Apidra for both MDI and pump.)
Thanks, Trudy. Yes, even though the majority seem to need more Levemir, it’s good to hear from those who need less as well so I will be cautious and test a lot when I switch. I still have one Lantus pen so I’m going to switch when that’s gone. I wouldn’t say Lantus works poorly for me, just that I seem to have to tweak my dose every couple months and I wanted to see if Levemir could make that unnecessary. I actually have some mild headaches which I notice because I so usually get headaches only very rarely. I was chalking it up to allergies, but it will be interesting to see if that changes on Levemir.
My Lantus & Levemir doses were the same. I took Lantus in split doses (to help prevent afternoon Lantus lows). I use Levemir the same as you with one dose before bed & another upon waking. Same dose, too! I need slightly more ovenight.
I’ll be sure and test more frequently to see how I do.