Switched from Novolog to Humalog....Wow!

Due to more health insurance issues, my 16 year old son’s Novolog Rx was denied and Humolog offered instead. I was planning on fighting this but I am currently fighting other healthcare issues so I talked with my son and we decided he would give Humolog a try. He has been on Novolog for 6 years and has pretty high blood sugars most of the day as he eats constantly and is often delayed when bolusing etc. etc. Common teenage stuff. However, within a day of him being on Humolog, we noticed that he was in range a lot more and then we had three nights where he went low and needed a juice box. So it appears that he is a lot more sensitive to Humolog than to Novolog. I know many of you will say they essentially act the same, which is true, but they are different drugs and for some reason, my son’s body is responding a heck of a lot better to the Humolog than the Novolog. I am thrilled. Is there a scientific explanation for this? Do you start to become less sensitive to an insulin after years on it? For the first time in years I am decreasing my son’s basal, not increasing it. I am hoping this will last a while and not be short-lived!!!

Glad it’s working, but for me the 2 insulins are totally interchangeable. I don’t care which one I’m prescribed. As long as his bg’s (or CGM) are being monitored through the day, if it’s a short-lived improvement, you’ll catch any changes before they become a problem.

I have a teen too and have noticed that once we use the same insulin for a long period of time it seems not to work as effectively. We switched from Apidra to Novolog about 2 months ago and his bgs are doing awesome.

We noticed the same thing 5 years ago when we switched from Humalog to Apidra.

I’ve never noticed a difference. I’ve used both interchangeably, not a ton, but if The pharmacy didn’t have one in stock, I’d get the other. But I know others have mentioned better results with one or the other. And that’s fabulous!!!

I have a horrible allergy to Humalog. Unfortunately my HMO decided not to cover Novolog. Sigh. For me, the Humalog ended up requiring more and more all the time, which made my allergy even worse. Best of luck to him and hopefully all will be well.

I’ve switched back and forth a few times and find little difference, other than Humalog seems to start working slightly earlier for me.

I prefer the Novolog pens, though. I got used to the click for each unit when injecting as assurance that I’m injecting the correct amount, even though I always make sure to have the right amount dialed in.

The subject heading is confusing… should be Switched from Novolog to Humalog.

Good point. I’ll edit it and let the OP know.