DP observation.....

[grace girl]

Since I started taking my lantus in the am I've learned that I have the dreaded dp! So, like everything else I watch everything like crazy looking for trends, etc. Well, I've found one, and I wondered if anyone else had noticed the same.
I tend to need 8 hours of sleep a night. If I get 8 hours I need no alarm clock, I will always wake up. I've been like this since I was a teenager. However, due to life in general, I often have nights where I get 6 or 7 hours. I've noticed that when I get the full 8 hours, the dp rise is lower....likewise, the nights I get 6 or 7 hours, the rise is about 30 points higher.
Having seen this I'm now making a serious effort to get the full 8 every night, and the trend I saw is holding true.
Anyone else have a thought on this? Just thought I'd throw it out there.

[caryj]

When you wake up after 6 or 7 hours you might be in the middle of your DP and irregular things could occur.

I know that my body continues in DP mode until about 7.5 hours after I fall asleep. Reguardless of when I wake up, my body's internal clock has DP and my insulin must accomidate it. Thus, every day I have the same DP bolus setting of .2/hr higher for 3 hours. Even if I sleep in, or wake up insanely early to catch a flight my body's horomones act the same way. I guess in such a respect, I am lucky to have one period of time during the day that my body is incredibly predictible.

[Cyborg]

My DP kicks off when I awake, so I have to set an increased basal about 2-3 hours before I wake. Then, I have to make sure I wake up on time to kick off the DP. I can always go back to bed once it starts...

With regards to the Lantus and DP, perhaps if you split your dose into 2 parts, part at night and the rest in the morning, you might see a difference.

[Scratch]

I've recently made a switch to MDI using NPH and R insulins, and have a doctor's appointment next week. I've been working on taking down my numbers, notes about what I eat, and have pretty well honed in on my basal dose which comes to about 26.5 units of NPH split between morning after waking up, and a little after 10PM at night.

I seem to have some DP issues, although some of what I thought was that happened early on because I wasn't taking enough basal.

Anyhow, I definitely want to talk to the doc about using Lantus for basal, but have also been thinking that for handling the DP, my best option may be dosing with Lantus in the AM, then a dose of NPH at around 10PM. Does that make sense? It should both help flatten out my basal during the daytime since I won't be getting an afternoon NPH peak, and perhaps even improve the basal handling of the DP if the Lantus goes for a full 24 hours at its level baseline. Because I think my NPH doesn't go for a full 24 hours, and if my morning NPH has been dying out overnight, that would contribute to my basal diminishing some at the onset of DP.

Does that make sense, or even better, does anyone else try using a split dose of basal with Lantus in the AM and NPH in the PM?

[grace girl]

My DP kicks off when I awake, so I have to set an increased basal about 2-3 hours before I wake. Then, I have to make sure I wake up on time to kick off the DP. I can always go back to bed once it starts...

With regards to the Lantus and DP, perhaps if you split your dose into 2 parts, part at night and the rest in the morning, you might see a difference.

splitting the lantus is the next thing on the agenda. The endo wanted to do it when I come in to see her in November, but I've decided why wait? She saw that I've obviously got a dp problem, but she also suspects that the lantus is running out.....which I find amazing since I spent weeks trying to get the previous endo to see that and he thought I was dreaming. I'm going to call her this week and go ahead and get this done. I know splitting it will mean yet again more weeks of fine-tuning and I'd rather get it over with before the holidays kick in.

[Cyborg]

For me, Lantus did not last 24 hours. So splitting your dose may help in more ways...