Thank you Lynne, yes, please keep me updated about how it continues to work (or not work) for you too. How long have you been trying levemir? So weird to me how much this seems to vary for different people.
Good luck to you too!
If you are having nighttime lows, Jessica, you might try lowering your basal by one unit and then sitting with the new dose for a couple days and seeing how it works. You shouldnât be going low during the night with the right dose of basal (unless you have bolus active in your sustem when you go to bed). Another option is if you take one dose (you never said which you are using now) at night, it might be peaking during the night, so you could try taking it in the morning instead.
I am actually on dexcom now- I bought one, so I am basically always on it- it gives me so much insight into what my blood sugars do throughout the day. Like last night, I could see how much it jumped up and down in the night. I highly recommend it! Not going to do the pump though- too much of a step for me, just hoping to get the right combo of insulins.
Hi Zoe,
I am on 2 shots a day- I think it could be correct about the bolus. I did take one somewhat later in the night to counteract dinner. I am going to try lowering the basal a little bit too. Another strange thing- I feel really tingly now, since starting levemir. Is this something that happens?
Iâm not aware of the tingly symptom. I only get that (mouth and lips) if Iâm low. If it continues, you might want to ask your doctor (or perhaps someone else on here will have had that symptom).
Some people (especially children) seem to go right to the pump, but to me itâs good to learn how your body reacts, test out diet, learn carb counting, I:C ratios, ISF, etc, etc first. I was on MDIâs for a little less than 2 years before I went on the pump. I would have done it sooner though but I was fixed in thinking I didnât âneedâ it. (Decent A1C, have lots of time for MDIâs, etc) and had to shift to thinking I wanted it! Very happy now, but the learning curve was a lot and I wouldnât have wanted to do it when I was just learning all that other stuff.
Could you provide some more information how you apply your levemir right now: injection times and dosage?
Of course you can. I think the lower the dosage of Levemir the lower the spike. Thus by splitting the dosage you will experience half of the spike. This makes it more steady for you and so I would recommend:
3.5 units at 9:30pm and 3 units at 9:30am. I do not expect that you will go low in the afternoon but if this does happen you can still make adjustments e.g. reduce the 9:30am shot to 2 units (so you will end up with a lower total daily dose). For example I use 8 units at 8am and 7 units at 10pm (to prevent lows at night).
Confusing is that you woke up with 146 at 6am. But it is possible that you just went too low at night and the 146 is just the result of a counter regulation => stronger dawn reaction. This is possible because right now you have stronger physical reactions to lows it seems.
Hi Holger,
I inject at around 8:30 am and 8:00 pm aplit doses, 7 and 7.
I was feeling like it was fluctuating too much (thought the weight loss was nice) and I kept getting tingling SO after some thought, decided to switch back to lantus. Not sure that was a good idea though- was stable but much higher than expected today. UGH. So frustrating. Also, don;t know if it is bad that I keep switching back and forth. What do you think? Should I stick to one?
NO bolus?? WOW I am SOOO jealous. I am also extremely low carb for the most part- today the ONLY thing I ate was 3 hard boiled egg whites and I was still high the entire day (and exercised for an hour, took 2 units of bolus and 7 units of lantus). Fluctuated around 180 all day. Super frustrating! Yeah, I went back to lantus but it does not seem to heave helped. I think I am higher than normal. I don;t know if should go back to levemir or try to stick with lantus again.
I think you went a bit higher either from some carbs or normal night time hormone fluctuations. I think that is normal (and 146 sounds pretty good to me!)
hi!
My wake up #s with levemir were pretty high about 190 or so. I tried it for about 5 days, then switched back to lantus this morning. I hear you about the rollercoaster. It is kind of awful and tough to just be normal. I did get drops in middle of night with levemir. Last night I got to 70, had a handful of blueberries, then spiked to 195 at about 2 am until the morning.
Yes, I think basal insulin should keep us stable, but maybe it is a dosage issue, switching issue? I am not really sure. Of course other things have an affect too- stress, sickness, hormones, etc. so hard to know.
the tingling is the weirdest part. I still have it and haven;t been on levemir for about 10 hours so not sure about that
It is in my hands and feet and not when I am low.
afraid it is neuropathyâŚ
and yes, would be nice!!!
one more question, when were you diagnosed? maybe you are âhoneymooningâ?
What is cpeptide?? never heard of that.
I think it is good that you are careful with your numbers, will help you in the long run, for sure.
I hate it too. I am still trying to figure out this lantus v levemir thing. Went back to levemir today and it has been a decent day except that I am still tingling all over. So strange to me.
I have been diabetic for almost 20 years. I honeymooned for a while and it was so nice. One shot a day for a couple years. And that was when it was NPH and R (mixed in one syringe). very different time for diabetes.
My A1C is horrible- I think 8.2, that is why I got the dexcom and I am trying different insulins. I would ideally like to be between 80 and 120 all the time (and wake up to that too), but it is tough.
I hate high sugars too- they make me feel irritated with everyone and exhausted. Plus it is what leads to the horrible complications.
Also, if you do bolus, I HIGHLY recommend apidra- I just switched to it from humalog and it is so much better (no debate for that switch for me, fortunately)
why dont u pump? for 20 years i was MDI, but now love the pump and dont have to worry about taking 2 shots of Lantus anymore,âŚi would always forget to take one of the shots, along with all the Apidra shots for foodâŚit is much easier, in my opinion, now that i am pumpingâŚit is so easy to connect and disconnect the pump no matter what you are doingâŚi do bikram yoga with the pump and the dexcom, and nobody would even know that i am wearing itâŚi keep my insulin site on one of my rear cheeks, so it is hiddenâŚand it is easy to disconnect if i want to go swimmingâŚi see you have had type1 for some time like me, i wish i would have tried the pump for a month from my doc, just to see, because it is really easy to use
Donât know â started on Lantus and it seems to be working well enough. One thing about being a woman is you need to know how to adjust your basal doses depending on the time of the month. Right now I seem to be in a tough period because I suspect Iâm having crazy hormone fluctuations, hopefully to be confirmed by tests at the obgyn in the next week or so. That makes controlling blood sugar difficult â i.e. you never know when itâs going to shoot high or low â no matter what kind of basal insulin youâre on. Ultimately, you need to know your own body, test as often as you think you need to, and adjust from there. Iâm on MDI, but if youâre on the pump this might be easier to trackâŚ
Will write more later Lynne, but I decided for good to go back to lantus- levemir is starting to cause welts (never got that with lantus). With all this back and forth, it is actually good to have a solid reason to take one or the other.
So final verdict- lantus and apidra!
Your A1c is not âhorrible.â It isnât great, but not horrible. Asking about a c-peptide? That is a marker for how much insulin you still naturally produce. That is the sort of thing that becoming an âexpertâ will help with. And that is what I would encourage you to do. Learn all this stuff. Become your own âexpert.â Figure out how to tightly manage your blood sugar.
I really think you would benefit from the books âUsing Insulinâ by Walsh and âThink Like a Pancreasâ by Scheiner. We are never too old to learn something new, and believe me, I am old.
How are you doing with carb counting? Have you done anything with advanced carb counting? Gary Scheiner has a book âUltimate Carb Counting.â You can intensify you insulin management, you could take the courses at Type1University.
You could consider some dietary changes, a low carb diet has helped many tighten up control, some T1s have achieved A1cs below 5% using Bernsteinâs âDiabetes Solution.â Or you could learn about the Total Available Glucose System here at tudiabetes.
Your efforts to find a better basal may well really help. But I guess I wanted to offer you a range of other things you could do to improve your blood sugar control. You can do this, I would like you to feel empowered to do it and be successful. I see no reason that you canât get your A1c below 7% this year. Perhaps you will even be one of us who can do even better.
Just a quick update- I settled my whole debate and have had the best sugars that I have had in quite a while. Have not gone above 150 in the last 3 days (which is big for me). Lantus and apidra seem to work best. I guess from looking at all the thoughts/comments, people just vary. Yes, levemir made me lose a little weight, but that is not a big deal for me (I fluctuate between 100 and 108, depending on the dayâŚ). I really, really appreciate all the thoughts and support. It meant so much to me!
Glad you found the combination that works for you, Jessica!