After reading some other people using Apidra, Talking to my doctor and talking to an educator I’ve officially moved from Novolog to Apidra.
My insulin usage was up to 125 units a day (including a 1.25 basal), and no those aren’t daily eating of cake and cream. I find that i’ve been very resistant to Novolog/Humalog. My Doc and Educator said that since the Apidra is a different molecular composition that it might be more effective and that switching to Apidra might be good for my sensitivity.
So i switched yesterday, started at 50% of my basal, Correction factor, Carb factor.
My blood sugar’s rocked yesterday. in the 90-110 marks. Today they’re doing just as well. I had to up my basal to .75 but i moved my Correction factor up so i take less insulin to move my blood sugars down. Still rocking my blood sugars!
I think one thing I absolutely love is that the Apidra doesn’t seem to have the tail effect that Novolog/Humalog has. So in 3 hours anything I gave myself will be gone, not 4-6 hours nope, 3-4 hours. No tail whiplash for me!
From my readings not everyone has this type of reaction. But have other people noticed needing less Apidra then Humalog/Novolog? My sister (also a diabetic) uses very low rates, a 300 reservoir will last her 7 days. She doesn’t seem to have any resistance to insulin what so ever. But let me know if you’ve had the same reaction or a different reaction.
Hi Bruce,
I am glad you have some insulin that is working for you. When i was placed on insulin my doctor started me on Novolog also. It really didn’t work for me either. We had to keep increasing it and still didn’t get the coverage I needed. My doctor told me that there are a lot of other medicatuions just like this example In short, he said nothing works for everyone. So he tried me on Humalog and we had a winner. You start out and keep tweaking a little bit here a little bit there and catch your own time peaks and it’s a good match. I am glad you have a good match.
I’ve tried all of the rapid-acting analogs, and I my own assessment was that Novolog was a complete dud; it was no faster than Regular (yet twice as expensive) and lasted about the same amount of time – I hated using it, even if it was a “preferred” brand with my insurance. For me, Humalog was the fastest, but Apidra falls somewhere in between (I currently use Apidra). I did not find a huge difference in dosage requirements, only the speed in which it worked, but as with everything and diabetes, YMMV (your mileage may vary), so consider it a good thing. I would mention that some people find that periodically switching between different analogs is beneficial. Apparently, because its not truly insulin, the body develops an immune reaction to it, therefore it stops working as effectively, thus the need for larger doses. But a switch to another one for a few weeks, and you may find your Novolog dosages are back to a more normalized level.
I did great on R, then seem to have developed antibodies after adding NPH and ended up having to abandon it. I was completely unable to make Humalog work–it gave me highs followed by lows no matter when I injected, and the more I used it, the worse it got.
Novolog works perfectly if I inject right before I eat.
Interestingly, I recently heard from someone diagnosed with MODY who had the identical response to Humalog.
So my advice to people would be that if one insulin doesn’t work well, try a different one. I also advise everyone to give R (Humulin/Novolin) a try, as it can work really well. But not NPH! I am really hoping I’ll recover my ability to use R, as Novolog does seem to make it much easier to gain weight than R did. I don’t know if it is the insulin or the fact that I can eat on impulse. Probably the latter.
I used Apidra and my basal is Lantus (one shot/day). Before I was under Novorapid (novolog). With Apidra I’m sure that it works more faster. My blood sugar moves down and I think that 2 hours after the shot all is done. And I used less Apidra than Novolog for instance before meal I used 6 novolog, no I use 3 or 4 units of Apidra. But Since a week I made a change I count all my carbs and the ratio I:Carbs that I learnt from the help of Tudiabetes and others Americans diabetics. Hope you’re well. Brigitte
Alright, I’m happy/sad? to report that I’ve moved off of Apidra and back to Novolog. I found that not only was i using the same amount but that the Apidra peaked for me at about 3 hours, so i’d have 3 hours of highs followed by a horrible low. I was on it for 2 months I think I gave it a fair shake, but alas it’s not for me. Plus it was twice the copay as Novolog.
I was on Humalog for years and seemed to develop some resistance to it. I switched from using a pump + Humalog to Levemir (for basal insulin) + Humalog (injections for meals) for about a month. I just went back on the pump and things seem to be improved. We’ll see how it goes. Part of my problem was that I needed a lot more insulin in the morning than I was delivering, and would get high, which makes me more insulin resistant. I tried Novolog and didn’t really like it but didn’t give it a fair shake either.
Good advice … if one insulin isn’t working, try another. There is no benefit to being brand loyal these days, so switch freely until you find a mix that works best for you!!
