I used lantus for years and although it is supposed to last 24 hours and not peak. For me it lasted ~16 hours and had a peak which often times caused some precipitous drops in my blood sugar. I switched over to levemir and immediately liked how even my blood sugar stayed. I had been taking 30 units of lantus at night, with levemir I initially just split the dose and took 15 am 15 pm. But found I didn't need as much by the time I switched to a pump I was taking 10 units of levemir in the morning and 11 at night.
I have a nearly-full box of lancets that dates from some time in the 90s, don't know precisely when. Like you say, they're not exactly something I can sell, or donate to a thrift shop . . .
About your CGM, when it gives errors, try turning the sensor off and back on again. For me, this fixes it maybe 70-80% of the time. I regularly use each sensor for a month. And then I just take it out because I figure it's gross. :)
Yes, after many years with NPH, I used Lantus for about 10 years before switching to Levemir. I took split dose (morning and evening) Lantus just as I now take split dose Levemir. My experience with Lantus is that it lasted longer, but it didn't last 24 hours so I needed to take split-dose. Levemir lasts less time than Lantus, in fact a little less than 12 hours for me, so I see my BG start to rise as I approach the time for my evening shot. But the rise is predictable and only 20-40 points, so it is easy to correct for with a small bolus.
In contrast, I found Lantus more unpredictable. I never felt I could predict where my BG would be when I was using Lantus - every day seemed like a new adventure. To be fair that is at least in part because I tested less often and had not read the "Pumping Insulin"/"Think Like a Pancreas"/"Type 1 Diabetes by Hanas" books that explained how to actually manage T1 diabetes. But I believe that switching to Levemir helped to make my BG more predictable and has helped me to sustain a much lower A1c. And I was able to achieve this without radically changing my diet - I still eat from every food group and enjoy fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, cheese, nuts, eggs every day. Timing and portion size, and matching with insulin profile, is everything.
I am all about cost savings! I try to be the cheapest diabetic I can be. LOL. There are some things that I won't skimp on. There's a pic of what a syringe looks like after 1+ uses. Same goes for lancets (I KNOW we can all do better with that!)
1007-2328527271_5e2fd3f25e2432.jpg (66.2 KB)
That's after one use on what - a michelin tire? I think that's a marketing picture, to convince us to throw away syringes when its not really necessary. I've looked at my syringes with a jewelers loupe after twenty, thirty uses and the point is as sharp as it started out. But maybe I'm thin-skinned ;)
I work in health care and there is nothing healthy about reusing syringes. Just for the simple fact that the needle dulls & causes tissue damage is enough for me not to reuse. Some people have scarring/tissue damage & that does make the skin more difficult to penetrate.
Agree, Jag. My syringes are just as comfortable on the fifth or sixth use as on the first.
I must be using the wrong syringes because this is NOT the case for me at all.
Of course your experience may vary. My personal experience is that insulin syringe re-use is perfectly healthy (39 years and counting). This study seems to back it up LINK :
"A Prospective Study of the Hazards of Multiple Use of Disposable Syringes and Needles in Intensified Insulin Therapy" by R. Chlup, E. Marsalek, and W. Burns. Published in Diabetic Medicine. 7(7):624-7, 1990 Aug.
It covered about 560,000 injections.
"Each syringe was reused for 1 to 12 weeks; each needle for 4 to 200 injections (average 41) within 1 to 40 days (average 11.2). In a total of 560,000 of injections no relevant signs of infection could be found. In rare cases slight redness not exceeding 4 mm square could be seen at the injection sites."
They concluded their summary of the study with:
"Thus, the repeated use of syringes and needles in one diabetic patient may be recommended as a convenient and safe approach in insulin administration."
One thing I do -- although it probably has no direct bearing on this -- is clean the needle with a swab after each use. I do this to avoid introducing old, stale insulin into the vial the next time the needle is reinserted. There is a small but finite possibility of contaminating (and spoiling) the rest of the vial if old insulin is allowed to come in contact with new. (Bernstein, p. 272)
Well, the picture of the needle-point curled over certainly got my attention. But I don't often inject as I use an insulin pump. When I occasionally inject in response to ultra high BGs, I almost always reuse the syringe. So, I used my jeweler's eye-loupe to look at a few of my active syringes and found sharp needle points.
When I first was diagnosed, I used MDI and always reused syringes simply for the convenience and avoiding having to manage a large inventory of used sharps. The doctor's nurse always gave me the standard advice about use once and throw away. They rationalized that it was good antiseptic practice. I soon learned that their advice was overly cautious. After a few thousand shots and not one infection, I figured that one can't believe everything one hears from the medical professionals. It wasn't the last time I found their advice flawed!
I change lancet tips when they hurt. I often use the same tip for months. Lancet tips, at least the ones I use, are not nearly as delicate as syringe tips. They seem to stand up to repeated use.