I wrote a couple of days ago about my after dinner high levels. I spoke with the specialist yesterday even though this week the highest was 13.9 after dinner, ( went down from the highest reading of the last two weeks in March 15-18.7)he said since the other two levels during the day are fine, he knows I need a rapid insulin for the night, so he said if in May after the 3 monthly blood test result for the sugar it is still in the 8’s he will decide, if he leaves me on the lantus for the morning and put me on a different one at night to help with the dinner levels, so I will be on two different types of insulin twice a day or else he will totally switches me to another type of insulin, twice a day like he wanted to do in January but then told me to keep to the one I was ,when my educator faxed him my readings for the week after I called him which got much better. I called him( he asked me to ) a week earlier the levels at that time of the call were 15-17 after dinner.That is why the switch. When she called him he had already sent me the prescription for the new insulin, but he told me not to start the new insulin yet. I prefer to be on the same insulin the twice daily if he must change, not two different type of insulin in a day .But he still increased the current dosage of the iantus yesterday. I started in November with 14 units, in February increased to 18 units and yesterday he increased me to 22 units and to call him in 3 weeks time.Can anyone please tell me what is the highest he can increase the daily dosage of the untis? Thanks and have a nice weekend to all.
I was taking a single daily injection of 40 units.
Thanks Anthony for your reply. I will know in 3 weeks time what my specialist say.Are youstill on lantus now?
Not at the moment, on levemir to see if it helps with weight loss so far the answer is no. since the Lantus is a fair bit cheaper I will probably return to it.
Good luck with the weight loss\levemir. Here lantus and the other insulins are all the same price as far as I know. Have a nice weekend.
Hi N.B.,
Lantus can be taken at much higher doses than 22 units.
Why do object to taking two different types of insulin? Since your post meal numbers are quite high, your doctor is correct in suggesting a rapid acting insulin before dinner.
Lantus is basal insulin to keep your BG level throughout the day (between meals), hopefully. As a Type 2, increasing your Lantus may help your highs. But, if it doesn’t rapid acting is the way to go.
Before switching to the pump I was taking 90 units of Lantus a day. I took 1/2 in am and 1/2 in pm.
I take 42 units of Lantus at night before bedtime, and 10 units of Novolog 3 times a day before each meal.,good luck with getting yours under control
Many people with Type 2 diabetes need as much as 100 units a day.
Lantus only lowers your fasting blood sugar. It is too slow to keep carbs you eat at meal time from causing a huge spike. Fast acting meal time insulin will do that, but to use it properly, you need to learn how much carbohydrate is in your food and how much carbohydrate 1 unit of insulin will cover. If you don’t educate yourself about how these insulins work, you won’t be able to get tight control and risk hypos.
Many doctors assume patients won’t educate themselves so they prescribe doses low enough to avoid hypos, but also low enough to avoid safe blood sugar levels.
N.B. To answer your question, there is no upper limit to how much insulin a person can take. It is dependent upon blood glucose control. Lantus is a 24 hour, no peak insulin that just gives you a nice even baseline to help control blood glucose levels. When food is eaten or when blood glucose levels are high, a rapid acting insulin may be taken to correct the high BG or to help process the carbohydrates in a meal so the sugar may leave you blood stream and get into the cells where it can give you the energy you need. It isn’t about how much insulin you take but about how well your blood glucose is controlled to avoid the long term effects of diabetes. Hope this helps.
My supervisor at work says he takes 90 in the AM and more later…not sure how much, but the guy is 6’6’’.
This is true. even much much more would be needed with an ADA type of high carb diet.
Dear Jenny.
Do you know of any corelation between the nb units of insulin per kg of body weight per day and the BMI of diabetics. I would suppose that the people needing massive amounts of insulin are also massively overweight. Again it is not 100% clear what the causality is. Does insulin resistance cause massive weight gain or massive weight gain cause insulin resistance or is it a close feedback loop with no simple causality?
What would you do if you were highly insulin resistant based on what you have read? Inject as much insulin as to kep the BG as close to the normal range as posible? Or inject as little as posible to avoid gaining even more weight?
In the meantime I take 62 units of Lantus in the evening and about 40 units of Novolog during the day. I calculate the Novolog amounts for meals (carbs), and correction doses with a 110 target BG.
HI all,
I had my specialist’s appointment on Friday and he said though from the previous blood test three months ago, when the sugar test was 8.9 this recent one is 7.8, he still would like it lower. During this blood test I had fasted 9 hours for the cholesterol test. So he said to increase from 24 untis to 26 untis daily ( hopefully this will help with the after dinner levels) and if after two weeks it is still high I add another 2 units bringing the total units to 28 . But he stressed out that he does not want me to go on more than 28 units daily lantus . Maybe for everyone it is different because I read that you can go on more than that. He said if all is ok with the levels I see him in four months otherwise I phone him earlier if they are still high. Before breakfast and before lunch the levels are good only the 2 hours after food at night is not always good the levels. I want to thank all those who answered my query about the increase in lantus.
I know one person who takes 150 units at night plus humalog at meals, 1:1 insulin to carb ratio. They used to take 200 units of lantus.
I take 50u of lantus in the morning and then humalog on a 1-15 unit to carb (grams) ratio for meals. But then again I’m type one 
my doc started me out on 15 units of lantus and i’ve been playing with the numbers myself to get the best results, especially when I exercise because it drops my BG super fast, my endo trusts me to stay educated and when I see him he always asks me if I have any ideas pertaining to my treatment. He’s pretty much the best doc anyone could ask for 
There is an interesting article about type 2s and insulin with sliding scales you might want to discuss with your doctor. http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2008/07/31/5851/type-2-diabetes-…
I take 2 shots of lantus of 35 units each. You should have a fast acting insulin before meals
Before my pump I was taking 180 units a day. 90 in the morn and 90 at night. My Dr. had me raise my dosage up 5 units every week, but it still was doing no good. Levemir did nothing either.