anyone used novomix

[kath_uk]

well on monday im off to the hospital to see my specialist nurse she is going to show me how to inject my self. i have been put on novomix anyone no of it or tryed that particular insulin, all i no is that i have to have it twice a day. is there any side affects and will it really work? hope someone can tell me kath_uk

[HeatherP]

I may be wrong, but I think Novomix is probably one of the pre-mixed insulins that contains both long acting and short acting.

I've used the 70/30 and didn't care much for it. Check your sugars frequently, and if you are having trouble insist on buying the insulins separately and mixing them yourself.

You'll get used to the shots - it's becomes no biggie pretty quickly.

[MarkMunday]

Kath,

I wouldn't use Noivomix, simply because it is not the best choice for T1 diabetes. But, by all accounts, it is a good product and should work well for you.

Novomix 30 is a premixed analogue coktail. Which means that it is a mixture of two different insulins - one short-acting and the other long-acting. The idea is that the short-acting insulin covers the meal before which you inject it it. And the long-acting insulin covers your phisiological insulin requirement between meals. Novomix 30 contains 30% Novorapid. So it starts working after 10-20 minutes. The other 70% is a "longer acting analogue", presumably NPH.

Injecting it before your morning and evening meals should keep your post-meal blood sugars in check. You may find that a carby lunch causes a blood sugar spike, as action of the morning shot will be tailing off. But you should be able to manage this simply by restricting high GI carbs at lunch time.

I would suggest testing 1, 2 and three hours after meals to get a feel of how this insulin is working for you. And you will be able to identify patterns more easily if you get into a regular routine of eating and avoid excessive exercise, at least to start with.

Cheers,

Mark;)

[kath_uk]

mark many thanks for those details i am very greatful for your response thank you so much take care kath_uk

[DeusXM]

A few years ago it used to be called Mixtard. Generally NHS policy is for those who have only just started taking injections to start out on Novomix because it is only two injections a day - if you've only just started injecting, the thought of at least four jabs a day can be a bit disconcerting.

As Mark has pointed out, the number after the name refers to the percentage of fast-acting (bolus) insulin, and from that you can infer the percentage of the long-acting (basal) insulin. I used to be on a 30/70 mix in the morning and a 50/50 mix in the evening.

Side-effects are the same as for what might happen if you took either Novorapid or Insulatard and are neglible.

As for control....well, it does lower blood sugar, I'll give it that. However it's a very inflexible regime and to be honest if you're a T1 it's really not ideal at all. However since you've posted it in this forum I'm assuming you're a T2 and will be taking this to augment your own natural insulin load. Therefore I can't really judge how effective this will be for your control.

If you find this routine inflexible then there is another system called MDI (Multiple Daily Injections). With this, you take the basal and bolus insulins separately. You have a standard basal insulin which acts throughout the day (typically Lantus, Levemir, Insulatard or Humalin), and then when you eat you take an additional bolus insulin (usually Novorapid or Humalog). This gives you far more flexibility and excellent control - indeed this system can get the same results as using an insulin pump and is actually more flexible. However it does also mean more injections.

I'd go with the Novomix for a couple of months until you get used to the jabs. If you find it works for you then obviously stick with it. If however you want more control and flexibility, and don't mind more jabs, then after those couple of months you may want to enquire about the possibility of going on an MDI routine.

[kath_uk]

deusXM THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY ALSO FOR YOUR GOOD ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN MOST HELPFUL ONLY JUST STARTED TAKEING THIS NOVOMIX30 SO ITS ALL NEW TO ME IM HOPEING IT WILL ALL WORK OUT MANY THANKS ONCE AGAIN KATH_UK