Lantus to Levemir dosing conversion

[Villovigo]

Hey there,

As the title indicates, I was wondering if anyone could share their experience when going from Lantus to Levemir in regards to the dosing conversation aspect?

I personally use a small amount of Lantus that is being taken every 12th hour - 10 units in the morning, followed by 1.5 units in the evening. Even with my small dosage in the evening, I tend to drop low during the night, and attempts of further reducing it to 1 unit causes the blood sugar to raise instead.
I have tried to use Tresiba, however, as someone who works out a lot, I did not find the insulin appealing in regards to the adjustment part taking days to react, in case I had to lower or enhance the dosage.

Now, I know this is a topic I'd have to have with my diabetes doctor before switching, but still I am curious as to what you guys have experienced in regards to Levemir, and if you had to take the same amount of basal insulin or whether or not you have to increase or decrease the dosage?

 

[urbanracer]

I swapped from Abasaglar (a biosimilar Lantus product) to Levemir last year and initially at one for one in terms of units.

Over the next few weeks I found that I needed more Levemir (than Abasaglar ) but it definitely allows me to keep my levels flatter.

 

[DunePlodder]

Several years ago I changed to Levemir from Lantus & found I needed a lot more.
Like @urbanracer, once I found the correct dosage Levemir was a big improvement over Lantus.

 

[scotteric]

Hey there,

As the title indicates, I was wondering if anyone could share their experience when going from Lantus to Levemir in regards to the dosing conversation aspect?

I personally use a small amount of Lantus that is being taken every 12th hour - 10 units in the morning, followed by 1.5 units in the evening. Even with my small dosage in the evening, I tend to drop low during the night, and attempts of further reducing it to 1 unit causes the blood sugar to raise instead.
I have tried to use Tresiba, however, as someone who works out a lot, I did not find the insulin appealing in regards to the adjustment part taking days to react, in case I had to lower or enhance the dosage.

Now, I know this is a topic I'd have to have with my diabetes doctor before switching, but still I am curious as to what you guys have experienced in regards to Levemir, and if you had to take the same amount of basal insulin or whether or not you have to increase or decrease the dosage?

There isn't a formula unfortunately, it's different for everyone. One known difference though is that Lantus generally lasts longer than Levemir at smaller doses, so you might find yourself giving a more even split instead of a lot in the morning and only a little at night. Personally I find it lasts 10-12 hours at smaller doses, so if I take 9-10 units in the morning I will need to take the same amount or more at night, as the morning dose will be next to useless 12 hours later. What I like about Levemir is that it is very responsive to changes in dose and the effect doesn't linger, so you can take more certain nights when you've eaten a big meal for example, and need more insulin over night to help with the digestion, and less on other nights when you don't need as much insulin. Same goes for during the day, you could take less in the morning on the weekend and more for stressful work/school days for example.