Short acting/Long acting ???

[viranth]

So this weekend my eating scheduel got a bit mixed up. Got up from bed an hour later than normal (8am), so that kind of threw everything off.

Anyway, so now I ate at like 6-7pm, but then got hungry again before I went to bed. I ate a few slices of dark bread and set 1-2IE of Novorapid. Worked fine.

But then I wondered, since the Insulatard I take at night, is supposed to deal with my basal(?), and if the Novorapid lasts longer than the 4 hours it takes for the insulatard to start, do I get double the effect?

And what is the difference between long lasting and fast acting insulin? I haven't really gotten a good grasp on that. Is insulatard a lower dose than novorapid? Is one IE novorapid = 3-4 insulatard? (example).

[BlueSky]

Novorapid peaks at 1 hour and is just about all finished after three hours. There is some residual effect for another 2 hours, but it is minimal. Insulatard peaks at 6-10 hours and tails off after that. While there would be some overlap between Novorapid and insulatard injected at the same time, most of the Novorapid would be out of your system by the time the insulatard really gets going.

[Eddy]

But then I wondered, since the Insulatard I take at night, is supposed to deal with my basal(?), and if the Novorapid lasts longer than the 4 hours it takes for the insulatard to start, do I get double the effect?

And what is the difference between long lasting and fast acting insulin? I haven't really gotten a good grasp on that. Is insulatard a lower dose than novorapid? Is one IE novorapid = 3-4 insulatard? (example).


Long- or fast-acting refers to how quickly the insulin is absorbed. Think of melting an ice cube... in an oven (fast-acting), the ice cube (glucose) melts (is processed) faster.

Even when you don't eat, your body releases some glucose for you to stay alive. Certain organs need glucose to run properly. Your basal covers this slow "background" release.