changing levemir from pm to am

[rainbow fish]

Hi any opinions / experiences would be valued please. I currently take levemir in one dose at around 8pm and would find it a lot more convenient to take it at 8am, when I am generally at home (rather than carrying it around all day in the heat for example)

I can imagine that with this dawn effect of higher levels in the morning it might not be a good idea to be relying on the last drops of levemir in the morning when the BGL is higher, but then again it seems to be effective for my evening meal at the moment which is usually around an hour before I inject.

So if i was to do it, should I maybe take a half dose one evening and then start with the full dose the next morning, or would I be better to take it an hour earlier every day for 12 days until I get to my morning time? Will consult with the Dr of course but he is still on hols for a few more weeks.
thanks in anticipation
bruce

 

[Geoff]

Hi Bruce, I use levemir and have found that to get the best control, you need to take it as a split dose, generally around 12 hours apart. The first time you change your injection timing, for a rough estimate just divide the number of units of Levemir you take by how long you get good control for, in most people this is only 10-14 hours, then adjust your dosage. Example you normally take 12 units at 8pm, and get 14 hours control, you want to change to 8am, so divide 12 units by 14 hours= 0.85 x12 hours =10.28 units, round this down to 10 units.

This is a rough way of working it out, and every one is different, so I make no claim that this will work the same for you. Also levemir being a basal insulin has no effect of when you eat or what you eat, it only controls your rising bs levels when you do not eat.

 

[rainbow fish]

thanks guys
yes, I remembered that the levemir doesn't work directly on meals but I'm guessing that when I take the one dose at 8pm and am still getting good readings in the afternoon and at dinner time, the dose is working adequately over 24 hours. However, I might go a bit crazy with the testing again and see whats going on throughout the day Maybe if I'm getting close to 24 hours from it, later at night is the more sensible option.... Hmmm, have become reasonably blase about my daily injection but the stress levels are challenged by the idea of 2!! Will start learning the formula for splitting however!
thanks again for the information and support.

 

[loopy-loo]

Hi there,

I use levemir as my basal insulin (novorapid for bolus) and have excellent control of my bg's with it. It is very predictable and I always wake up with a level of around 4. However I do split my dose, I take 6 units at 1am and 5 units at 1pm, there is no particular reason for this, it just fits in my daily routine and as I said, my bg's level remain fairly constant throughout the day using this regime.

Surely just one extra injection with all the others and finger prick tests is no great shakes! Especially if you gain excellent control. :lol: