lantus & humalog question

[fedup]

wow.. what a month.. I was first maxed out on oral meds.. then started lantus.. I got lots of lows in the mornings.. and high after eating breakfast .. but the high was after cereal,fruit and milk - a fairly high carb breakfast..
so my lantus has been changed from before bed to mornings and she added humalog for am and before dinner.. stopped all oral meds except for Actos.. she mentioned that my test show insulin production is low..
I have wanted to take byetta from the start.. and she said it wouldnt help.. am I mistaken.. but I thought I read that byetta could help your cells release insulin??
any thoughts ? anyone else have this problem?:(

[fedup]

wow.. what a month.. I was first maxed out on oral meds.. then started lantus.. I got lots of lows in the mornings.. and high after eating breakfast .. but the high was after cereal,fruit and milk - a fairly high carb breakfast..
so my lantus has been changed from before bed to mornings and she added humalog for am and before dinner.. stopped all oral meds except for Actos.. she mentioned that my test show insulin production is low..
I have wanted to take byetta from the start.. and she said it wouldnt help.. am I mistaken.. but I thought I read that byetta could help your cells release insulin??
any thoughts ? anyone else have this problem?:(

another thing since taking Lantus.. my BP went from 116 69 to 130 80 :eek:

[karen]

The blood pressure thing could be your anxiety from using a new medication and how it is going to effect you and your bgs.

When I was on lantus I split the dose and took every 12 hours, with humalog to cover my carbs.

I do know someone that kept taking their metamorphin(sp) after switching to insulin to help them have less insulin resistance.

Karen

[lilituc]

If your beta cell function is lower than normal, then Byetta is not advised, no. The oral meds that increase insulin production are not advised, either. There are two reasons: first, if you do not have normal beta cell function, the meds will probably will not allow you to make enough insulin. Second, pushing failing beta cells to make more insulin could burn them out completely. Then you would have to worry about DKA, just like Type 1s.

I feel like I have to ask - have you been tested for antibodies? Is it possible you're Type 1? It seems like a short time to become insulin dependent.

[fedup]

yeah... that thought came to me.. I was only diagnosed in 2003 - started out with one oral med.. then 2.. then 3 - it was never great control.. then all of a sudden meds stopped working.. its now looking like I need humalog 3 times a day.. since after lunch I have a high reading..
after reading postings.. wondering if splitting lantus would help my morning readings? so far morning readings since changing my lantus to am and only taking 8 - have been higher.. sometimes close to 200 ... as far as I know I was never tested for antibodies... although my daughter (ex-paramedic) said since I have arthritis so bad in hands.. she was wondering if I should have had tests

[slipperyelm]

Seems like you are already aware that you might not have the post breakfast high if you eat a lower carbohydrate breakfast. What hapens if you do that? Are you eating the highish carb breakfast trying to bring up your prebreakfast lows?

When you changed the time of your Lantus to morning instead of night what happened?

Did you start with a very low level of Lantus while fasting to see what amount of Lantus is best for you?

Also, I'm not understanding what your daughter means about arthritis and testing. Is there a suggestion that your arthritis is relted to diabetes--pancrease and joints both being degraded by the same antigen?

[fedup]

If I do eat lower carb breakfast.. it is lower.. but I am thinking that the pre-breakfast injection should take care of the carbs (cereal, a little fruit, and no fat milk)
When I changed lantus to morning from evening.. my morning lows stopped (they were 60-80s) but I also decreased lantus from 10 to 8)
My daughrer is concerned about the antibodies and autoimmune - I am not sure.. she was taling to her endo who was concerned about the arthritis.. my endo didnt even blink when I mentioned the pain I had in my hands.. and my finger joints are swollen and disfigured.. and one finger I cant bend anymore.. I am in my sixties... and have OLD hands!!

[slipperyelm]

Ah, okay. Well then it sounds like you are on the right track with getting everything balanced for blood sugar control. Am I understanding that correctly?

I do know that both Type 1 diabetes and arthritis can in commmon antigen-antibody (immune effect), but I had never heard a link between the two as possibly being separate manifestations of the same immune origin--- the same virus, bacteria, or auto-immunity....I am just starting to pay more attention to issues of arthritis because I seem to be developing it in my hips in the last couple years. In fact, it was just 8 days ago that I first noticed it in my left hip.:( Previously, it had been right hip only.

I recall that in the years before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had a funny stiffness to my knuckles in the morning only. But once I got my BG down that went away and has never returned. There had been an occasional burning feeling in my thumb and forefinger, and that, too went away when I got BG down.

You know, I think I'll start a separate thread on arthritis/diabetes connection.

[fedup]

I am trying on the balancing of BS... its so frustrating..
since I dont know anything about insulin.. I am getting instructions from my endo.. and then she says see me in 3 weeks.. as most everyone knows.. they are too busy.. and your next Dr appointment is not 3 weeks ... its 4-5 weeks!!
I am not supposed to think or assume on my own when it comes to the dosages.. just go by her instructions