any one know of a site that has a list of basal insulin’s, also looking for a list of “meal time” insulins.
thanks in advance,
david
There are two brands of basal insulin Lantus & Levemir.
More choices in rapid acting bolus (meal insulin)–Novolog, Humolog, Apridra. These are the names in the US & they have diifferent names in different countries.
There’s also Humulin R (also called Regular) for people who need a slower action & longer duration than fast acting insulin analog.
Also NPH, an older insulin version.
Pretty much what she said. For more detail: Insulin Types
Here is a different chart comparing insulin types. I only looked at the onset times of the fast acting between here & what Kiva posted. This has an onset time of 20 minutes for Apidra, 10-20 for Novolog and 15 for Humalog and hers has 15 minutes for all 3 fast acting. Apidra seems to take about 20 minutes to kick in for me and I know a bunch of other people that say the same thing. Some people seem to think Apidra is super fast. It isn’t really but is very consistent in how it acts.
thanks guys/gals, the info you’ve provided is exactly what i was looking for.
Kelly that’s disappointing to hear. I was thinking of asking my endo to switch me to apidra because I thought it was faster acting than humalog. I’m spiking too high pp before coming down to where I should be even if I pre-bolus.
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It does work faster for some people. The only way you will know how it works for you is by trying it., If you were interested in it, I would still try it. I do think that Apidra works more consistently than Humalog did for me. You might still have to pre-bolus, but it might work better on the spikes. Maybe ask if he has some samples for you try before you actually switch.
This page from webmd is out of date. It still lists Lente and UltraLente which were discontinued in 7/2005. And although NPH (listed as Novolin N and Humulin N) is said to be an intermediate, historically it was used as a basal insulin. I still use NPH (as do some others here) and actually it seems to work fine for me. Some people find the NPH has much greater variability and can cause hypos.
The timing of the fast acting is still more accurate than the other page that was posted BSC. I have seen the same basic information in regard to the timing for those three listed elsewhere - I didn’t have the other places bookmarked.
You are correct. I actually find that John Walsh has a really good explanation of rapid insulin actions at his site (and in his books) although he really just focuses on Humalog and Novolog. He also notes that Novolog has a more rapid action than Humalog (and that Humalog is heat sensitive).
I have seen a bunch of people say that Novolog starts a little faster than Humalog does. I will be anxious to see if Dr. B includes an Apidra discussion in the new edition of his book.
What I like about the Apidra is the short duration - done within 3 hours. The other insulins I used, worked for 4 hours, sometimes longer.
Good idea on the samples, I think I will. Thanks!
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Hi jrtpup. Re Apidra. On both MDI and in the pump,I find that Apidra begins to work for me in about five minutes, prevents spikes and handles corrections quickly. Novalog works much more slowly for me, drives me crazy. I wear my pump on weekends and special occasions – I find Novalog to be too slow in the pump as well. I believe Apidra is more temperature sensitive than Novalog however, so in the worst month of summer I have switched to Novalog. Samples are a great idea.