If anyone is up tonight, my bg is 400 and I took 15 mg of insulin Lantus for the first time today. I am worried to go to sleep as my blood sugar goes higher while sleeping. Should I inject a small number of units tonight before sleeping?
Thanks!!
Sorry this probably missed you before you went to sleep. If you took additional Lantus it would still be hours before it did anything. So although your blood sugar is still way high you should be on the road to lowering it. Check per your doctors instructions about increasing your Lantus dose tomorrow.
Hi Brian
Thanks I took8 units at 1030 and my bg was 300 this morning. Took 20 units this morning. Have huge head ache rare for me. Took 2 Aleve.
Thanks so much I hope I am on the road to an 80-90 soon. What would an average daily dose of lantus be? Just curious??
Do you leave yours out of fridge? Was told 28 days ok once opened I put the rest in fridge in side door afraid it will freeze have had some things freeze. Temp says 37 which is recommended.
Buying a house nearby and can’t wait to be a homeowner again house won’t be built for 4 or so months but looking forward to it. Hope my new stainless steel fridge does not freeze my insulin! ?
It will take some time to find the right dose of Lantus. If I recall you had been on insulin previously. With a blood sugar 300-400 mg/dl you will probably need a dose “at least” at the level you used previously. Do you remember how much you took?
You took a total of 23 units (15+8) yesterday. Lantus reaches a peak in about 6 hours so you should see what effect it has by noon or so. At that time you can consider whether you are on track. It would be best to call in to your doctor to make sure that you are not increasing your dose too aggressively.
Everyone has a different basal dosing need, depends on how big you are and how insulin resistant. Someone who is small and insulin resistant might only take 5-10 units. Someone large and insulin resistant (like me) might take more than 50 units.
Once opened, keep you Lantus pen at room temperature. It should be injected at room temperature. You can keep you Lantus at the top of the fridge (in the butter compartment) and that will minimize the chance of freezing.
ps. And as @Terry4 suggested, you should have ketostix to check for ketones if your blood sugar is way high. If you have a way high blood sugar and high ketones you need to go to the ER.
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You should ask your doctor about getting on fast-acting insulin to go with your long-lasting insulin. Humolog/Novolog would be prime candidates to deal with these intermittent highs.
With a cautionary note: basal insulin is the foundation for everything else. That needs to be dialed in correctly first. Otherwise you can get into a never ending tail-chasing mode trying to get the mealtime insulin figured out.
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dialed in meaning what range? 80-140 or after meals what number? I was at 105 todAY!!!
Hi Brian they fixed my account. I was at 105 today!!! But after eating I was at 270…long day and stress with my granddaughter’s parents. think it shot up my bg. I am now appointed guardian by court. seeking this as permanent. definitely affected my bg today…what is a good range to be in for fasting and throughout day before adding a bolus? I see endo on Nov 3 so I am taking lots of reading to bring my meter in. Feeling so much better, Thanks!
I’m glad we got your membership straightened out. You may actually end up finding out that your basal needs are lower than you think, maybe 10-15 units. And I have to tell you a basal insulin is likely not going to be sufficient to control your blood sugar all the time. Meals and stress like you have been going through will raise your blood sugar.
Every gram of carbs you eat will raise your blood sugar by 5-10 mg/dl. This means if you eat a meal with 50g of carbs your blood sugar will rise 250-500 mg/dl. Maybe you still have some insulin production going, but that is a huge blood sugar surge. You can raise your basal insulin levels to try to counteract these surges at mealtimes, but that is not the best way to deal with it. Until you see your endo and hopefully get some rapid mealtime insulin you will likely find the best way to avoid after meal highs (which can often linger for hours) is to eat a low carb diet. Keep your meals as low carb as possible and that will reduce the after meals surges in blood sugars.
ps. But understand, that showing logs that your blood sugars are too high after meals is key to having your endo decide to start you a rapid insulin. So low what you eat so you can demonstrate that you need a rapid insulin
I did not know the 5-10 mg from grams of carb! Omg!
Do you think mail order pharmacy insulin is ok? I can get trisba and others for a 105 max payment for a 90-day supply.
This morning 220 fasting. I forgot metformin. I don’t even want to take it anymore after 17 years burnout do you take it?
Back to work now! Thanks!!
You need rapid-acting insulin to correct those highs, the sooner the better!
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I have been very happy with mail order fulfillment of my insulin. My mail order pharmacy gets serviced by Caremark and they take special care with the package, it is Styrofoam inside a large box and inside the Styrofoam is generally four cold packs that almost always arrive still totally frozen solid. In addition, shipment from Caremark has accelerated, I usually get the shipment in like 24 hours after it leaves Caremark.
And I still take metformin as part of Invokamet, a combination SGLT2 and metformin drug. After all the years I really don’t know how much the metformin helps me. I do know the SGLT2 works, it reduces my insulin by 20-30% and makes maintaining a good fasting blood sugar easier.
So you are taking the Invokana. I did for two years. The dehydration of my body was intense. I am feeling better off of it. I tried invokamet and my bg was higher than taking invokana and metformin as separate pills. Thanks again on insulin order I will ask for this after seeing endo on. Nov 3 I think my body was bloated or something with high sugar. Hard to describe the difference but I can feel a difference in my body with lower blood sugar
Not sure what type of “burnout” you are referring to, but if it’s the exhaustion of beta cells that often results from years of oral medication, metformin is NOT one of the culprits. Sulfonylureas and similar drugs work by stimulating the beta cells to overproduce, and long term use of them is what leads to the “burnout” people are talking about when they discuss oral meds. Metformin’s action is completely different. It does not work by driving the beta cells and is not part of that scenario.
i meant burnt out on swallowing metformin pills for 17 years and not sure it helps my numbers that much