*anyone Have Answers...*

[FeelinGreat]

I am type 1 as you know but i'm only taking insulin once in the morning at 35 units and once at night with 16 units. In the morning i'm doing fine but sometimes getting to low (45 - 70's) but as the day progresses on I feel like I shouldn't eat anything b/c it's gonna spike up... so my ? is this... does the insulin work all day long in my body when I eat? Any explanations?

[camjen1]

What insulin are you taking in the morning and at night? If you're taking Lantus then if you eat you should be bolusing for the amount of carbs you're eating. The bolus should be with short acting insulin such as Novolog or Humalog.

[Funnygrl]

Honestly, 2 shots a day doesn't work too well for most people, and as your pancreas dies off more and more you'll see this to be true more and more.

[Oradev]

You should check with doctor about these issues. Usually, you need a basal insulin (Lantus, NPH) and a bolus insulin (Regular, Humalog, Novolog). The basal insulin keeps your fasting numbers down so that if you skipped a meal your sugar would remain constant. The fast acting insulin is used at mealtimes to cover you meal. It spikes around 2 - 4 hours, and then literally drops off the face of the earth.

[SueM]

Sounds as if the op is on a premix.

[Gary_W]

I remember when I started at this game 11 odd year back they put me on 2 shots a day. Draw up the slow and fast acting stuff in the same syringe.

The idea (as it was sold to me) was that the fast acting stuff in the AM injection covered breakfast and the slow acting stuff covered lunch. The second injection of the day has the fast action covering dinner and the slow acting keeping you steady through the night.

The problem with this is that basal insulin (the slow stuff) is nowhere near as predictable at covering a meal as rapid acting, especially if you like to keep some level of flexibility in your day. A system where you give 1 or 2 shots per day of basal insulin and then inject every time you eat is what most non-pumping insulin users here do. I guess that your doctors want to break you in gently in terms of the number of injections you take, and in terms of pointing you in the right direction it has clearly improved your health. Looking into a basal / bolus system will certainly help you in the long run IMO.

Gary

[xMenace]

This is the most complete insulin duration page I can find. Nevermind that dogs have better information than people :( Canine's with Diabetes Mellitus - Information on Insulin (http://www.caninediabetes.org/cdinsulin.html)

[grace girl]

If you're taking mixed insulin the roller coaster of highs and lows is part of the ride. I was on it for 4 years, and I personally think you'd do better if they put you on a basal insulin and bolus insulin instead of mixed. I'm not convinced that a type 1 can ever achieve decent control with mixed insulin.