mixing symlin

[beleive]

finally got a doctor that is welling to give me symlin.Im on a insulin pump,approx. 2 units an hour basal,bolus is 1 to 6 ratio.Reading about symlin should help alot with my total daily insuling intake Im around 90-120.Heres the question why cant we mix it with insulin in the resorvoir?Has anybody tried this?Where good place to start out?

[Keezheekoni]

Most likely because you don't want the symlin floating around in your basal. Seems to me that would screw everything all up. You also wouldn't be able to accurately dose the symlin if it were mixed in with your insulin. Imagine giving yourself a bolus of 5 units novolog and then having the dose of symlin being 20mcg (or however it's measured)...how would you know how much of which you're getting?

[dgrilli]

Symlin reacts very promptly with injected asparte insulin in me.

I drop very fast with this stuff.

I have no idea why it works so fast but I have to be careful.

[Cyborg]

Symlin doesn't reduce my insulin requirements at all, but it does slow digestion. I always do a 50/50 combo bolus over 2 hours, but I bolus the same amount of insulin. YMMV

[Shotokan]

Here's what the drug company says about mixing insulin and Symlin:

Mixing SYMLIN and Insulin
The pharmacokinetic parameters of SYMLIN were altered when mixed with regular, NPH, and 70/30 premixed formulations of recombinant human insulin immediately prior to injection. Thus, SYMLIN and insulin should not be mixed and must be administered separately.

[Dee]

My doc took me off symlin by suggesting that I increase my basal rates. It worked, now on Insulin pump only. No needle worries and no nausea, no super drops in BG

[It Ain't Over]

I have a long history of bg spikes at irregular times. Some are due to my own mistakes of course, but most remain unexplained.
I have been using Symlin since it first came out. Found it to be remarkable in that I could level the rising bg's after meals and get an out of control hi under control fast.
So I tried mixing Novolog and Symlin in my pumps resovoir about two months ago. Started a 5%, went up to 10%.
Results are not bad at all. Have been able to lower the basal rates and my daily total use of insulin is down also. Was using a basal of .75 to .85, went down quickly to .60 -.75. Daily pump totals are at 24 to 27 units, down from 30- 34.
Average bg's read 138. Down from 144 when I made the change. Have not had lab tests since, so that is not confirmed, however the last as 6.9 and has trended up over the last year from 6.6.
Needed to make a change I guess. Maybe it does no good, but so far it is not harmful.

[Cyborg]

I tried mixing Novolog and Symlin in my pumps reservoir about two months ago.

Not a smart thing to do, IMO...

You could have simply increased your basal rates.