Unit of insulin

[byu barry]

What is the volume of 1 unit of insulin? Is it a CC, a micro CC, or what? Also, how much does one unit of insulin lower a type 1s blood sugar? (ml/dl please)

[lelggren]

What is the volume of 1 unit of insulin? Is it a CC, a micro CC, or what? Also, how much does one unit of insulin lower a type 1s blood sugar? (ml/dl please)

I'm not sure what the volume of 1 unit of insulin is. But, I do know that 1 cc is 100 units, so I basically just don't feel like doing the math....lol But, that should give you an idea.

As far as how much 1 unit will lower bg's, that is different for each person. Mine is 30. There are some people that are even at a 50 for their sensitivity. Your endo can calculate it for you if you ask.

[lgvincent]

It seems 40 units of U-40 made up one CC when I was a child, as well as 80 units of U-80, but I could be wrong. I do know that 100 units of what we are using now (U-100?) make up 1 CC.

I guess the number of calories a unit will burn depends on the situation and the person. I've had one unit of Humalog to drop my blood sugar by as much as 100 mg/dL while at other times I've had 4 units to drop it by about 10 mg/dL.

[seacomp]

Your endo can calculate it for you if you ask.
But, first you have to do the experimenting and testing to get the data; the endo can't calculate that number out of thin air. It depends on your insulin resistance, your body mass, etc.
The range I've heard is between 25 to 50, but unusually small or large people may fall outside this range.
Of course, we are assuming here that this measurement is for when the BG is already stable (not being influenced by previous insulin or absorption of food) and not too far from normal. If your BG was very high, say 500, this ratio would not work in reducing the BG a set amount; it would take more insulin, but it would be meaningful if your BG was only 150.

[lelggren]

But, first you have to do the experimenting and testing to get the data; the endo can't calculate that number out of thin air. It depends on your insulin resistance, your body mass, etc.
The range I've heard is between 25 to 50, but unusually small or large people may fall outside this range.
Of course, we are assuming here that this measurement is for when the BG is already stable (not being influenced by previous insulin or absorption of food) and not too far from normal. If your BG was very high, say 500, this ratio would not work in reducing the BG a set amount; it would take more insulin, but it would be meaningful if your BG was only 150.

Good point! :biggrin: I was just meaning according to my insulin pump setting. It is set at 30 for sensitivity. There are certainly other factors that play in there, but for at least an idea of what a person would be at, they could ask their dr to do the math.

[byu barry]

Actually I do not take insulin. I was just curious. I see you guys talking about units of insulin and I didn't know how much a unit was.

The body weight makes a lot of sense but insulin seems to be pretty powerful stuff.

[seacomp]

but insulin seems to be pretty powerful stuff.
The U-100 mentioned above is the common (for US) insulin and the 100 means that it is diluted at a ratio of 100 to 1.

[Erin]

Yeah, U-100 insulin is pretty much the standard these days. I don't know if they even market U-50 or other concentrations now. I know they sell stuff you can use to dilute U-100 insulin to a U-50 concentration (for cats and small children mostly)

In any case the number after the U- is how many units of that concentration of insulin go into one CC. So with standard U-100 insulin a unit is 1/100 of a CC.

1 unit will bring my Bg down approximately 40 mg/dl but that depends on the person.

[Funnygrl]

Actually I do not take insulin. I was just curious. I see you guys talking about units of insulin and I didn't know how much a unit was.

The body weight makes a lot of sense but insulin seems to be pretty powerful stuff.
Yeah, it is. But the amazing part is the different things it does to different people. I know 1 unit will drop me 50mg/dL, while other people, they would need 10 to do the same.

A unit of insulin is like a drop. I'll take a pic and post it once my batteries charge for my camera.

[dws]

U-100 insulin means that 1 cc/ml (either one you want they are both the same) contains 100 units of insulin..... a 10 ml/cc vial has 1000 units.

1.0 unit of U-100 insulin will drop my glucose by 100 mg/dl
0.5 unit --------------------------------------50 mg/dl
0.1 unit -------------------------------------- 10 mg/dl

I don't think they still make U-50 insulin, but they do produce U-500

don

[JediSkipdogg]

U-100 insulin means that 1 cc/ml (either one you want they are both the same) contains 100 units of insulin..... a 10 ml/cc vial has 1000 units.

1.0 unit of U-100 insulin will drop my glucose by 100 mg/dl
0.5 unit --------------------------------------50 mg/dl
0.1 unit -------------------------------------- 10 mg/dl

I don't think they still make U-50 insulin, but they do produce U-500

don

However the U-500 is currently not prescribable by the general public and I don't even think hospitals can get it yet. I do know though that when a company creates the implantable insulin pump, they plan on using U-400 or 500 since it acts much faster and is much more potent. Therefore one would need less of it and have less time between needing to have thier implanted pump refilled.

[byu barry]

Pretty interesting...Thanks for the education. Now, if I could beg your indulgence one more time.

I understand that insulin is administered into fatty areas. Is this because of the rate of delivery or some other reason. Also, what would happen if insulin was injected directly into the vein/artery?

[Funnygrl]

Pretty interesting...Thanks for the education. Now, if I could beg your indulgence one more time.

I understand that insulin is administered into fatty areas. Is this because of the rate of delivery or some other reason. Also, what would happen if insulin was injected directly into the vein/artery?
Fatty areas are least painful to inject into, and by injecting into fat every time it causes a more consistant absorption rate.

Injecting into a vein or artery would cause the insulin to work faster and likely cause low blood sugar.

[psilocybin]

iheard that there is different absorbtion depending on where u inject...example: injecting in your thighs would have slower absorbtion than injecting into your stomach.... i dont know if this is true or not

[seacomp]

Injecting into a vein or artery would cause the insulin to work faster and likely cause low blood sugar.
That's not too big a deal with the fast-acting insulin most/many of us take prior to a meal, since insulin is meant to cover the meal you are about to eat. The timing is just off some.
But it can also happen with the long-term basal insulin, which can be a real problem. This insulin is meant to last a full day and Zap! you get it all at once.
Basal insulin is often taken in large doses since it's meant to last either a day or half a day and often is not taken around meal times.
While, it is easy to nick a vein, the areas into which most peole inject have only small veins which it are difficult to inject into by accident.

[dws]

Fatty areas will give a more even absorptsion. Inject into a artery will have a much faster effect.
don

[Erin]

Not to mention we inject ourselves 2-5 times a day, if we were mainlining the insulin we'd have crazy track marks! Think of the worst junkie movie you've ever seen and multiply that by like a thousand. We would need to be on an IV or something to minimize scarring.

It's much safer, and easier to live with, either a pump infusion site or MDI into the subcutaneous fat. (not to mention the slower absorption enables us to time the insulin and the food correctly)

[Funnygrl]

http://www.diabetesforums.com/gallery/files/1/1/2/5/Picture010.jpg

There it is. One unit.

Found in the gallary here: http://www.diabetesforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=231

[Funnygrl]

Not to mention we inject ourselves 2-5 times a day, if we were mainlining the insulin we'd have crazy track marks! Think of the worst junkie movie you've ever seen and multiply that by like a thousand. We would need to be on an IV or something to minimize scarring.

It's much safer, and easier to live with, either a pump infusion site or MDI into the subcutaneous fat. (not to mention the slower absorption enables us to time the insulin and the food correctly)
2 to 5? I think I'm averaging 7 right now! Yeah, major marks if we were mainlining.

[UpNorth]

If NR is injected IV it is out of the system in less than 10 minutes... think it was 7 minutes or something :1eye::dontknow: