Splitting Levemir dose

[Mrsc85]

Hi all, just asking for a bit guidance really. I have experiencing dawn phenomenon for some time now and it is a constant battle to keep my morning BG in normal range. My diabetic nurse has recommended that I split my levemir dose. I current take 12 units in the morning and 12 before bed (I don't think this is enough). What I didn't ask the nurse was what am I trying to achieve by splitting the dose? Should I see lower morning BG results if my levemir units are correct. Should I be increasing it slowly until I see an improvement? Sorry for all the questions, I am still relatively new to this and feel a little out of my depth!

 

[Juicyj]

Hi all, just asking for a bit guidance really. I have experiencing dawn phenomenon for some time now and it is a constant battle to keep my morning BG in normal range. My diabetic nurse has recommended that I split my levemir dose. I current take 12 units in the morning and 12 before bed (I don't think this is enough). What I didn't ask the nurse was what am I trying to achieve by splitting the dose? Should I see lower morning BG results if my levemir units are correct. Should I be increasing it slowly until I see an improvement? Sorry for all the questions, I am still relatively new to this and feel a little out of my depth!

Splitting your basal can help as by taking 2 doses split equally apart covers your needs if your dose is running out over a 24 hour period which would explain the reason behind running high in the morning, this is what I did until I went onto tresiba.

Your doses can still alter though so starting on a 50/50 split is a good idea but may change to say 60/40, just keep monitoring and be aware that it may need tweaking.

This should bring your morning levels down though

 

[nestegg]

I have been on a split dose of Levemir for about 5 years now. It has worked really well for me. I have 10 units in the morning and 6 1/2 at night

 

[andi140373]

Before swapping to a pump, I used to split my levemir dose to prevent me waking up high due to dawn phenomenon. I was on 12 in the morning and 18 at night. Advice was that it should be split if daytime and night time needs differed from each other.

 

[richyb]

I was on it for years and was on a split dose of 16 in morning and 6 at night. If I woke up in the morning to high or low levels I would simply adjust the night time dose.
my doses though did seem to vary as they still do on toujeo about every couple of months. I also injected my morning bolus and basal before breakfast

 

[Latedecember1963]

The diabetes consultant advised me at my last appointment to split my Levemir dose (10/10 units) rather than one shot of 20. I had been having lots of low BGs in the middle of the night and he wanted to prevent those. Now I rarely have a low BG at night. This worked for me, but I was having low, not high, BGs.

 

[tim2000s]

Current NICE guidance is that Levemir is the preferred long acting insulin and that it should be done as a split dose.

 

[Propertyoflife]

I was put on a split levemir dose initially equal 12 and 12 morning and night but this has now changed to 16 in the morning and 14 at night. It has been increased to combat high bs in the morning, however u am still finding I am getting really high readings in the morning (generally 16-19). Nurse has said she us reluctant t increase the evening dosage due to the risk of hypos during the night.

It's far from perfect but my morning readings (poor as they are) are better now than they were on 1 dose of Lantus.

 

[GBS_82_]

I had the same problem. I was taking 23 units of levemir in the morning and waking up a bit on the high side. Now I take 17 in the morning and 6 at night and it works perfectly.

My very experienced T1 friend has told me that the reality is, you don't need the same level of basal at different times of the day. She said that she needs none in the afternoons and I think this is similar for me. She now manages this by having a pump. For me, I just take very little bolus with my lunch time meal.

 

[lukeeggy]

I take one dose at night, never been told to split before.

So since my jump from 5.5 to 11.5 on Thursday (14 units), it looked like to big of a gap to be not enough insulin considering I usually take 10/12.

So last night I took 8 these were the readings

10:30 - 6.5
1:00 - 7
4:00 - 8
7:00 - 9
8:15 - 10.5

I am at a complete loss. Could I have a dodgy batch of Levemir, A jump from 10/12 normal to over 14 out of the blue seems too much to take on?

 

[novorapidboi26]

The thing about the Dawn Phenomenon is that an increased bedtime dose of basal wont actually tame it......but a split is definitely going in the right direction to getting the waking numbers down..

 

[novorapidboi26]

So last night I took 8 these were the readings

10:30 - 6.5
1:00 - 7
4:00 - 8
7:00 - 9
8:15 - 10.5

You would need to repeat that test with the 8 units to confirm the same is taking place but it looks like the 8 is just a tad too little....

+/- 2 mmol is an acceptable tolerance on injections....

 

[lukeeggy]

You would need to repeat that test with the 8 units to confirm the same is taking place but it looks like the 8 is just a tad too little....

+/- 2 mmol is an acceptable tolerance on injections....

My old dose was 10/12, I switched to 14 the other day and had my worst spike yet and went down to 8 last night to see if I was going low. And as you can see the results are still the same. I might try a new batch of levemir tonight