High there and experiences with Lantus/Levemir

[Pitzi-NC]

Hi (not high!) people, I guess I'm always away when things are good. Been a good 2 years that I haven't posted here, so firstly hello to everyone :)

Last I was here, I was on Lantus/Apidra.

This worked very well for about 3 years, although the Lantus wouldn't cover the 24 hours, and I had to split it in 50/50 dosis over 12 hours. I started off at 22 units/ twice a day. Over the period that I've been using Lantus, I had to progressively reduce dosage to 18u/twice daily.

Until about 6 months ago it went well, then the war with Lantus somehow started. It would either slowly bring me down all day, which meant constant snacks/sips of juice/sweet stuff, or it would simply rocket up. The same started happening at night, which was previously 100%, although the nightly problem was more lows than high, especially early morning lows.

Also, urination became a problem, most probably due to having to drink sweet things to keep my sugar up. I tried going down to 18/16 and then 16/16, but in both cases after about 8-9 hours, my sugar would rocket up at quite a rate. The other problem was that 3 hours after the Lantus injection, with clockwork precision, I would start getting low. Lastly, since I do a bit og gym work, since Lantus started giving me trouble, I was not doing well at Gym and I would go low very easily, even when starting gym work relatively high (8mmol or so)

My doctor decided to put me on Levimir since Monday, and my sugar is much better controlled (although keeping it at 18u/twice a day it tends to creep up, so I had to increase the dosage over Lantus).

Only problem is, and don't laugh at this as unbeliavable as it may sound, it's definetely true, I am totally lethargic, almost powerless and in a constant depressed mood ever since starting to use the Levemir.

Have I become addicted to Lantus? Or was Lantus giving me a high? I was full of energy most of the time when I wasn't low with Lantus.:confused:

[JJM335]

[QUOTE=Pitzi-NC;354410
Until about 6 months ago it went well, then the war with Lantus somehow started. It would either slowly bring me down all day, which meant constant snacks/sips of juice/sweet stuff, or it would simply rocket up. The same started happening at night, which was previously 100%, although the nightly problem was more lows than high, especially early morning lows.
[/QUOTE]

Your experience with Lantus sounds depressingly familiar. The "standard explanation" of a basal-bolus regime is that you should be able to adjust your basal (Lantus) dose until it just matches your basal requirements - a bit too much and your BG will slowly drift down, a bit too little and it will slowly drift up, just right and it will hold steady.

My experience was that it didn't quite work as advertised. A bit too much and I would drift down at certain times of the day (sometimes less of a drift and more of a plummet). Reduce the Lantus by as little as 2 units and I could stop the drift, but at other times of the day my BG would go up like a rocket.

My take on this is that if you reach a point where you don't have enough basal insulin, you don't "drift up", your BG goes haywire. Obviously if you don't have a flat basal requirement, you are never going to find the correct Lantus dose. In my case part of the problem was that I like to exercise regularly - it sounds as if you may be in the same situation.

I tried Levemir but I couldn't get it to work at all with me. I am starting on a pump in 5 days.

Joel

[Pitzi-NC]

Your experience with Lantus sounds depressingly familiar. The "standard explanation" of a basal-bolus regime is that you should be able to adjust your basal (Lantus) dose until it just matches your basal requirements - a bit too much and your BG will slowly drift down, a bit too little and it will slowly drift up, just right and it will hold steady.

My experience was that it didn't quite work as advertised. A bit too much and I would drift down at certain times of the day (sometimes less of a drift and more of a plummet). Reduce the Lantus by as little as 2 units and I could stop the drift, but at other times of the day my BG would go up like a rocket.

My take on this is that if you reach a point where you don't have enough basal insulin, you don't "drift up", your BG goes haywire. Obviously if you don't have a flat basal requirement, you are never going to find the correct Lantus dose. In my case part of the problem was that I like to exercise regularly - it sounds as if you may be in the same situation.

I tried Levemir but I couldn't get it to work at all with me. I am starting on a pump in 5 days.

JoelSounds very similar to what I have.

As for Levemir, im still battling to get the dose right. Increased my evening dose to 20 units last night (up from 18) and I woke up 3 times and tested overnight, it kept stable at 5.5mmol right up to about 3am, then I woke up at 7 on 9.8mmol.

[JJM335]

As for Levemir, im still battling to get the dose right. Increased my evening dose to 20 units last night (up from 18) and I woke up 3 times and tested overnight, it kept stable at 5.5mmol right up to about 3am, then I woke up at 7 on 9.8mmol.

I can see the advantages of Levemir - because it's not a "24 hour" insulin you should in theory be able to run different basals at night and during the day - useful if you are very active or into regular exercise. However it still won't deal with DP.

Joel