Advice needed on splitting Lantus to 2x per 24 hrs

[Catcount]

HI, I'm currently on 30 units of Lantus a day and Novalet bolus as needed. I read on some threads that people split their daily Lantus shot into 2, am and pm and maybe do without the bolus.

Would love to hear of any experiences before I try this out for myself

Thanks
Catcount

[liz32]

the only reason people split their dose is becuase some find it doesn't last the full 24 hours. this was the case with me and I split it at morning and night. the bigger amount during the night (to help with dp) and the smaller during the day as I'm active and don't need so much.
liz

[Alice]

I have taken Lantus as one dose and as a split (with good results). I'm currently back on one as I find it difficult to check the fasting basal rate on a split dose. Or I should say, less confusing.

In my case (type 1) I would not be eliminating any Humalog bolus injections due to splitting my Lantus.

Right now I'm staying on one dose since I seem to be getting good numbers. I think splitting helped with some low mornings I was getting and with PMS.

I also think coverage depends on whatever vial you are using.

[dbc]

HI, I'm currently on 30 units of Lantus a day and Novalet bolus as needed. I read on some threads that people split their daily Lantus shot into 2, am and pm and maybe do without the bolus.

Would love to hear of any experiences before I try this out for myself



Ideally, whether you do without the bolus or not should be entirely independant of the timing and dose of the Lantus - but that is in a world where your pancreas is predictably producing no insulin...

In the real world, where I am right now, it's not so clear cut. I'm on 8U Lantus/day, up to now no bolus. Three weeks ago I decided to split the Lantus as I figured from testing that one dose per day is not lasting a full 24 hours (I was taking the Lantus at bedtime, and have seen evening numbers creeping up). Is it working? Not sure, there hasn't been a huge change to the evening numbers, but maybe it's too soon to tell.

Have just seen the endo, & he thinks the evening high trends are more probably due to my pancreas finally giving up, so is recommending I start bolusing for the evening meal. (The evening meal is normally my highest carb meal of the day)

Trying to second guess my pancreas is getting to be a bit frustrating!

[Catcount]

dbc, your and your endo's comments make sense to me. Authough I have only split for the last 3 days, I have found that without the Bolus the pm high evenning numbers havent changed significantly. I guess the solution is one of the following, more Lantus and no bolus, split the more Lantus and no bolus or go back to what I was doing, which is where your Endo is comming from. I'll go for a little longer "experimenting" and see which one works out for the best.

Thanks for your input

Catcount

[Alice]

Remember that a bolus is food related. Basal is your body's basic chemical requirement to keep glucose regulated. So, they are apples & oranges to a point. (Yes, both will affect food, but not to the extent if basal is correctly balanced)
Clear as mud?

[xMenace]

Remember that a bolus is food related. Basal is your body's basic chemical requirement to keep glucose regulated. So, they are apples & oranges to a point. (Yes, both will affect food, but not to the extent if basal is correctly balanced)
Clear as mud?

Short term insulin can be used to suppliment basals, particularly for that DP when your middle-of-the-night numbers tend to drop. You need to do some vigilant basal testing to be comfortable with this concept.

[dbc]

Remember that a bolus is food related. Basal is your body's basic chemical requirement to keep glucose regulated. So, they are apples & oranges to a point. (Yes, both will affect food, but not to the extent if basal is correctly balanced)
Clear as mud?

Yes - and it seems from what I've read here and other places that it's important to get the basal dose in the ballpark - too little and you'll run higher than is comfortable for long term good control, too much and you end up feeding the insulin and end up gaining weight - althoug in my case that might be a good thing :)