We are into holidays and I have decided to

[sweetlife]

Try Humalog for my daughter from today,she is using Novorapid and having a nice control after I joined this forum and started calculating carb,i:c etc..credit goes to DF and its great members.
What I feel is we must try different things to see which suits best to our body,no harm in it hence today I brought one disposable pen of Humalog and giving shot(she takes by herself actually)to her,shall post detailed results in comming days.Generally here in India people stick to old dose with old insulin for years and that thing I really hate,why not to take max benifits and see which suits best to you?Am I right?

[Subby]

Could be worth a go. Most people will not see much difference between the two, from what I've learnt. For a select few (like me) it could work worse, or better, than the novorapid. (worse in my case, not as effective and caused daily nausia, over a few weeks). But you never know til you try.

[sweetlife]

Subby
Person like you always keep me going I tell you and this I boost I only got the day I joined this community.
Now my first reading after change,her pre lunch was 223,carb intac was 60G I calculated roughly,put all data into Bolus excel sheet with a target BS of 130 and and answer was 11 unit Lispro,I gave her 10 and not 11 coz this was her first ever shot of Lispro(Humalog),checked her BS after 3 hours and it was at 131!!
She just woke up and I asked her sweety do you feel anything wrong?Answer was papa let me have some eatables first!She was hungry gave me only one kiss and gone to dining room.
Will post more results in due corse of time.

[owlyn]

If you are getting good results with what you are currently using, there is no reason to change. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[sweetlife]

Yes agree but there is always tomorrow and who knows there may be a better insulin for her body which not tested yet,thanks owlyn for your nice advise.Just we want to see how this workout else we already have spare cartride of Novo in our freeze.
If you are getting good results with what you are currently using, there is no reason to change. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[matingara]

Sweetlife,

i have been reading all of your posts but i do not think i have responded to any of them.

You are doing a fantastic thing for/with your daughter.

My daughter is 22 years old. I have become diabetic at age 53. She is paying attention because she knows there might be a genetic link. That is all i can do as a parent - share the information with her. she may never need it.

i have just started to use insulin. though my pancreas is still OK it was struggling and i was consuming almost no carbs. i asked my Doctor to prescribe insulin. i am pretty sure if i had not asked i would still be on oral meds and having an "acceptable" A1C. that is not good enough for me though.

what you are doing is admirable. your little girl will have an incredible knowledge of how to manage things and she will thank you a million times over for the time and love you have invested in her.

peace.

-- Joel.

[sweetlife]

Dear Matingara
Thx for warm words,I am oblidged.Even sometime parents too need some boost up!
What I am doing is my duty,its not her fault that she turned diabetic,there must be something in me or my wife that made her diabetic-a jean factor perhaps,I think that way.Her courage is very high,when she started Insulin on April 21st 08 I gave her a demo how to inject a syringe into stomach,let me tell you I was very much afraid to do that practical on my stomach at that time,my hands were shaking almost!That is why I developed huge respect for those humans who take shots,its not easy but God gave them courage to take this as a part of their daily life.You people are super humans and yes I declare this without any second thought.
I was not like what I am now,my daughter's diabetes changed my life,I take it in a good spirit.
Have learnt many things from this forum,shall remain thankful to this wonderful community till my last breath.Tx and merry xmas to you and yours.

[sweetlife]

Her TDD went down by 5 units in these 2 days I had to change her I:C ratio from 7.5 to 8.5 still her TDD gone down,Nice surprise for us!she feels very good and say that Dad I love this(Lispro).Will post more observations and discuss with members in comming days.

[sweetlife]

Now time for an update:-
Our experence shows that NR brings BS down faster in first 2 hours BUT good BS control is seen in Humalog than NR,her TDD now down by almost 5 to 6 units and old problem of high BS before dinner is almost solved!! Thanks to Humalog mostly.
But one important thing I found which I must share with you guys and gals.
Forgot the name of member but he suggested me in other thread not to refrigerate Insulin once it is in use hence I decided not to put opened pen in freeze door and decided to keep it in room temp.
In winter outside temp is around 12*C here in India,we dicided a small dark corner in kitchen near the water source the best cool place to put pens of Lantus and Humalog,now my observations--------
*From next day her BS started going UP and Crazy,I in the begining could not understand what it happened and continued Humalog's disposable pen which I bought for a test till 90 units remained inside the pen,then I fed up and put a new cartridge of N.R(which she used to take before xmas holidays)and started using it.
*After 4-5 days her BS never came down,I kept increasing her bolus does and at one time her TDD climbed to 65 units almost!Her weekly BS avg shoot upto 295!!Then Suddenly I realisted is it due to non effectiveness of Insulin stored at room temp??????
*Since last 2 days I started to do what I was doing before xmas holidays and.........
Her BS started going down! Today her prelunch was 113 and her predinner was 160,again TDD came down to 55-56 units from 65 units.I have now decided that I shall never ever store Insulin at room temp,no way our room temp was above 28*C,it was cooler due to winter but I have no idea why Insulin fail to conduct its corse,hope this feedback helps.
Best regards from
Sweetlife.

PS:_ she did not take any unhealthy food during xmas holidays,just to let you all know.She was on normal diet which she takes since she found T1.

[Subby]

Interesting, Sweetlife. It is good to hear of people's experiences.

I wanted to add something that I found when going from one insulin to the other (Novorapid to Humalog, in this case). I found that it appeared to take a couple of days for my body to "adapt" to the differences of the insulin. In that time I felt certain side effects which generally went away in a few days (not all - Humalog continued to give me nausia, part of the reason I went back to Novorapid). Along with the side effects it did not seem to work all that well - ran high. After a few (maybe 3?) days, it seemed to be working more consistently and effectively, more like expected.

On returning to Novorapid a few weeks later I witnessed a similar time of adjustment.

I have nothing to back this up except my experience of it, assuming it may happen to others it may describe something of what happened as you switched between the two. Whether what was going on was primarily actually the room temp problem, or even a combination of the two, I can't say.

Take care, good to hear you made progress.

[sweetlife]

Subby
The first disposable pen of Humalog I took out from freeze and started keeping at room temp when it was approx say 70% used,this same pen which able to control her BS seemed not working and then I tried NR like I said above (which too failed at room temp).

[Subby]

It's interesting sweetlife, I asked my experienced, senior pharmacist today about this issue. He says (yep, note well this is now 3rd party knowledge) that the literature states that insulin should indeed be kept at room temperature once taken out, he stated 2 reasons given: one is the cold sting (which you might or might not get), and the other is that the ingredients are actually meant to work better at room temperature rather than at a colder temperature. How much this is a "big effect" is unclear, nonetheless being at room temperature is clinically seen to be better conditions than refrigerated.

It might be interesting to thoroughly ask your pharmacist next time you get insulin.

Considering this feedback, and the realms and realms of people who either pump (insulin not refrigerated for days on end), and people who use their pens without refrigeration, generally without problems, I'd have to say it seems your experience of apparent suddenly potency at room temperature was definitely anomalous.

Not at all to say it didn't happen, and thank you for relating your story. It might have happened that way, or the possibility has to be that something else was going on (such as the insulin a volatile/was a bad batch in the first place - I have had bad insulin straight from the pharmacist, before). I don't know. It seems common with all things diabetic for a variety of experiences outside the norm to crop up. Thanks for relating your experiences.

[sweetlife]

Subby
I take lot of care when I buy Insulin,infect I go to pharmasist with a thermocol icebox with me with a cooling pad inside,buy insulin and put unused insulin in freeze,this has become my habit.
Thx Subby,you are a great help to community,noted the 3rd party advise too.There is a clear cut advise on leaf inside the pack,store unused at 2 to 8 *C,opened below 28*C,nowhere pharma company writes to store it in open or at room temp,this atleast happens here no idea about other countries.

[Subby]

Note to all: do not act on this quote, refer to your own notes for your particular insulin/medication for advice.

For comparison, the notes that came with my Novorapid states:

The NovoRapid Penfill that you are using in your insulin delivery system, or that you are carrying as a spare, should not be kept in a refrigerator. You can use it up to 4 weeks below 30c after taking it out of the refrigerator. Discard Novorapid Penfill after 4 weeks even if there is still some NovoRapid left in it.

(bold already there)

Sweetlife, you know I'm not trying to argue with you for the sake of it, there is no win or lose in my mind, what is the prize is seeking knowledge for enlightenment and consideration. Personally, if I found that for some reason taking the insulin out of the fridge seemed to be a problem, I would probably stick with what worked at least for the time being, despite the medical notes.

[sweetlife]

Subby
I last night had a long chat on this with my wife,my daughter has a tendency of high BS during her exams she perhaps remains under stress during those days,my wife told me that she had unit tests i.e internal exams just after 31st of Dec,was this the reason why she remained high in those days?Only possible reason I find is this.
Parents this you all must note,from my kid's experence I can say that BS shoots up during or around examinations.
Will do another check with a new cartridge and post new observations here.