What do you do for Insulin while you sleep?

[drewgolden]

So here's my deal.

I take Humalog + Humulin R at each meal to cover what I am about to eat.

And at night, I take a nice shot of Humulin L to cover myself while I sleep.

This regime has worked for me for, oh, almost 20 years.

My glyco hemoglobens are normally 6 or less.

And I have been very happy and problem free.

NOW I FIND OUT that lilly has dumped Humulin L and stated that a nominal amount of their clients use L.

So my question to you all is this:

What is your regime, and what do you do while you sleep?????

Is everyone pumping? Are needles passe?

Am I a dinosaur?

What gives? What do I do about the L crisis?

drew

[Cinnabon]

Hey there Drew...
Sorry to hear about this problem w/ your insulin.
Well I am a pumper, but not too long ago I was on NPH as my Basal -while I sleep-insulin.I HATED that. I have heard great things about people who use Lantus. Have you talked to your Endo about this?
If you dont mind me asking, my are you on both R and Humalog?

[JediSkipdogg]

I would recommend Lantus for you. I have not heard many, if any, complaints about it. I too second cinnabon on why are you taking both R and Humalog?

[jen_slc]

No, you're not a dinosaur! I am still on multiple daily injections with good old vials and syringes, even after trying the pump. I say do whatever works for you!

In terms of intermediate insulins, I think you're left with NPH, which doesn't seem to work so well in most people. What about Novo Nordisk's lente? Novolin L? Or did they discontinue it too? If you want, you could switch to a long-acting insulin, rather than intermediate-acting, like Lantus or Levemir. They last 18-24 hours so theoretically you only need 1 shot/day (though many of us Lantus/Levemir users split our doses into 2 shots for better coverage).

Don't worry, there are other options out there! :smile:

[BriOnH]

I would recommend Lantus for you. I have not heard many, if any, complaints about it.

:dito: Lantus works really really well for me. I look forward to fasting on Sundays (until dinner) knowing my sugar is pretty much constant the whole day.

[rzrbks]

MDI for me too.

I switched several years ago from Humalog to Novolog so that I can use the Induo

http://www.diabetesforums.com/showthread.php?t=3519

for my Bolus. I use Lantus for my Basal.

[gettingby]

Lantus/Humalog gal here. Works well for me.

[sydneya]

If you are a dinosaur, so am I. I use needles. I take Lantus and it works for me. I use Novolog before meals and Lantus at 9 p.m. It is suppose to last 24 hours but you know how that goes--suppose to does not always.

[valc3]

Lantus/Humalog for me to. It's working well.

[drewgolden]

If you dont mind me asking, my are you on both R and Humalog?

Crazy I guess....

Actually, when Humalog came out I was enthralled by it. I studied the absorbtion curves and was worried that it was consumed 'too fast.' In fact, if you look at some slower digesting / sugar releasing foods, the Humalog is gone and you would get a back end spike in your sugars.

I was very familiar with the action of Regular. But the problem with regular came at mealtime. I work in the field as a consultant quite a bit, so the whole eating out / ordering in a restraunt / when to take a shot thing becomes quite a problem.

With Humalog, when the food hits the table the needle hits my leg and I can begin eating. I find there is little spike in my sugars as I eat. But without the Regular, the Humalog is too quickly consumed and I have a back end spike.

When I mix 'a correct amount of regular' based on what is on the table, I can control the instant sugar/fast acting reaction with the longer term/takes a half hour to an hour and a half to digest syndrome.

This is a thearapy I came up with on my own at a time when there was little on what to do. I had doctors scratching their heads over the fact I was not taking "set dosages at set times" and was instead freelancing it.

But I realised when I first studied up on the disease that while a few hours one day of high sugars may not seem too bad, those hours add up over thirty or fourty years. Your blood vessles do not deal well with glucose flowing freely through them. So I set about to find the ultimate 'mix' with the goals of shoot when I need to, eat what I want (within reason; Drew passes on the cake and other simple sugars.)

When I was first diagnosed, there was NPH and Regular and I was very lucky that Lilly had recently released recumbanant DNA insulins that were more, em, natural. NPH with it's 12 or so hour release became a major issue (overlapping issues.) And I had found some studies that linked the "stuff" that makes the NPH slow release with some heart attack issues - so I jumped ship to L and (about the same time, Humalog came out) and so I decided to add Humalog to the mix.

I have not worked with (horror/shock) specialists in Diabetes because quite frankly I found the medicine/therapys at the time of my diagnosis to be horrendously wrong. Forced to take particular amounts of insulin regardless of what you are doing? These were people making decisions who did not have the disease!

I am exuberantly happy with the Humalog and Regular mix. During the day, I have had fantastic results. My live has been lived to a glyco hemoglobin of a 6 - and that is a number I have consistently heald throughout the 20 years. And without the NPH I have had few insulin reactions.

L is going away; and so I am reluctantly going to have to go back to NPH at night. I hate like heck to mess with something that has worked for me so well over the years.

And at the same time, I wonder if I am behind the times. If Lilly states that so few of us use L; then what are we using? If I have been managing my life to a 6 with L at night, what can I be doing better?

As I turn 40; I do not need glasses and have perfect vision. I have absolutly no symptoms of the disease other than the frequent injections and testing (finger tips look a tad dotted.) I want to live forever - and I want to be healthy.

If I manage to a 6 on this regieme and so few others are on the same, then what am I doing wrong? Or is this unconventional medicine of mine a strange case, and I should continue to reject convention?

I am gravely disturbed over Lilly's dumping "L" along with their reasoning why.

And I hate like **** that I have to change what I feel has been working reasonably well for me.

drew

[KickStart101]

I know what you mean since I am in the same boat. I have never
been on NPH, but I have heard too many horror testimonials. There-
fore, I shall have to go on Lantus when my Lente runs out by next
Nov/Dec./o6, and try to adapt it to my system as best I can. No
other feasible choice for me that I can see so far. I am not interested
in the pump yet 'til I see one that suits me. Good Luck in your decisions
Drew.