Allergic to Insulin??

[Pmerrill]

Hi @Tracie1212
I’ve read that one of the side effects is hyper sensitivity, perhaps you should speak to you DSN about it. I just take cetirizine hydrochloride which are your non prescription hay fever tablets. Hope you get it sorted.

All the best

Pete

 

[SimonCrox]

I'm going from memory here. But I don't think either Levemir nor Lantus are identical to human insulin molecules, as suggested above. These of course are long acting insulins. I think that Humulin, a short acting insulin by Lilly, is identical, made by cleaving a couple of things off of animal insulin. After that Lilly made Humulog, a faster/shorter acting version of Humulog but I'm not sure how they changed to molecule to accomplish that difference. I would think that one could inquire and find out what else in included in any insulin product besides the active insulin ingredient, that one may be "allergic" to.

Very true about the Humulin range from ELi Lilly; the original human insulins were made by chopping off the end 3 amino acids of pig insulin to give same amino acid sequence of a human insulin; but then it was found to be easier to get yeast (Novo-Nordisk) or E coli (Eli Lilly) to make human insulin for us - cannot remember how sanofi make theirs.

Levemir and degludec tresiba are human insulins with a fatty acid side chain added(plus other stuff with tresiba) to delay the absorption . Lantus has two end amino acids changed from human insulin to make it insoluble at human pH, soluble at slightly acid pH and aonther amino acid swapped halfway along to make it more robust.

the three rapid acting analogues have different amino acid sequences to human insuin- humalog must be fairly similar cos it has a similar molecular weight, but the others weight a lot differently.

An interesting topic

Best wishes

 

[Seacrow]

I'm allergic to Lantus and Levemir. My doctor believes I'm actually allergic to one of the ingredients that keep the insulin stable at an acid pH, so likely to be allergic to any long acting insulin. I don't know if it's related, but I'm also violently allergic to Victoza and Byetta, so if you are prescribed these be careful.

 

[TheBigNewt]

The box that the insulin pens come in lists all the ingredients in the injectable liquid and their concentration %. I looked at my generic Lantus box (called Basaglar) and there are 3 or 4 things mixed in with the insulin. One is sodium chloride. Some how I doubt many people are allergic to them, I suspect we encounter them elsewhere in higher concentrations. Maybe not sub-Q injections though.

 

[Pmerrill]

I'm allergic to Lantus and Levemir. My doctor believes I'm actually allergic to one of the ingredients that keep the insulin stable at an acid pH, so likely to be allergic to any long acting insulin. I don't know if it's related, but I'm also violently allergic to Victoza and Byetta, so if you are prescribed these be careful.

Hi @Seacrow,

Thanks for responding, what did you end up doing re basal insulin? Did you find one that you weren’t allergic to?

Many thanks

Pete

 

[GrantGam]

@Pmerrill,

One of our T1 members, @robert72, also has a Levemir allergy. I do believe that he switched from Levemir to Tresiba and has had no adverse reactions.

 

[Pmerrill]

@Pmerrill,

One of our T1 members, @robert72, also has a Levemir allergy. I do believe that he switched from Levemir to Tresiba and has had no adverse reactions.

Hi @GrantGam,

That's useful to know thank you, @robert72 it would be great if you could let me know what you were allergic to.

Thanks again

Pete

 

[robert72]

Hi @GrantGam,

That's useful to know thank you, @robert72 it would be great if you could let me know what you were allergic to.

Thanks again

Pete

Hi Pete

With Levemir, I basically came up in large red lumps at the injection site which lasted for a few days. I persevered for about 3 months but reverted back to Lantus and the reaction disappeared. I have since been on Tresiba for the last 3 or 4 years with no reactions either. Must have been something in Levemir. I note that some others here have had the same issue with it. I have been T1 for over 45 years and that's the only time I ever had a reaction to an insulin - I must have tried almost all insulins over that time

 

[Pmerrill]

Hi Pete

With Levemir, I basically came up in large red lumps at the injection site which lasted for a few days. I persevered for about 3 months but reverted back to Lantus and the reaction disappeared. I have since been on Tresiba for the last 3 or 4 years with no reactions either. Must have been something in Levemir. I note that some others here have had the same issue with it. I have been T1 for over 45 years and that's the only time I ever had a reaction to an insulin - I must have tried almost all insulins over that time

Many thanks @robert72, I seem to be allergic to both levemir and lantus, they do have some common ingredients. I’m waiting on an appointment with an allergy specialist to see exactly what it is in allergic to. In the meantime I’m continuing with lantus and putting up with the itching.

Thanks again

Pete

 

[Seacrow]

Hi @Seacrow,

Thanks for responding, what did you end up doing re basal insulin? Did you find one that you weren’t allergic to?

Many thanks

Pete

I ended up on a pump. I'm not allergic to the short term insulin, and the pump provides a basal by giving a tiny amount every few minutes. I did try antihistamines first, but the reaction just got worse and worse.

 

[Pmerrill]

I ended up on a pump. I'm not allergic to the short term insulin, and the pump provides a basal by giving a tiny amount every few minutes. I did try antihistamines first, but the reaction just got worse and worse.

@Seacrow, many thanks for the info.

 

[Postleneo]

Hi All,

I've recently started on insulin but only basal at the moment, I inject twice per day 3units each time. A few days after starting on Levemir I came out in a few hives and had really itchy soles of my feet, palms and inner ears. I assumed this was down to the insulin as nothing else in my life had changed. I also get indegestion regularly (feels like trapped wind in my chest) which I've never suffered with before. I stopped taking the insulin for about a week whilst trying to speak to a Dr about it and the reaction went away. After speaking to my DSN and then a Dr they agreed that I should try a different type. So I'm 3 weeks in to using Lantus and whilst the itching is not so bad I still get hives after injection (but a lot more than previous) and the indegestion, so again I suspect there's something I'm allergic to in that as well!!

Has anyone else experienced issues like this?

Look forward to hearing from you (hope I'm not unique)

Thanks in advance

Pete

Just a way out of the box thought... but do you use any type of alco prep wipes at the site of injection?... if so.. you may be allergic to the wipes and not the insulin?!... Dunno... just a thought

 

[Pmerrill]

Just a way out of the box thought... but do you use any type of alco prep wipes at the site of injection?... if so.. you may be allergic to the wipes and not the insulin?!... Dunno... just a thought

Hi @Postleneo,

no I don’t bother with wipes before injecting and the hives are all over so more of of systemic thing rather than local to injection site. Good thought though, thanks for offering it up.

Kind regards

Pete

 

[Karenchq]

Hi All,

I've recently started on insulin but only basal at the moment, I inject twice per day 3units each time. A few days after starting on Levemir I came out in a few hives and had really itchy soles of my feet, palms and inner ears. I assumed this was down to the insulin as nothing else in my life had changed. I also get indegestion regularly (feels like trapped wind in my chest) which I've never suffered with before. I stopped taking the insulin for about a week whilst trying to speak to a Dr about it and the reaction went away. After speaking to my DSN and then a Dr they agreed that I should try a different type. So I'm 3 weeks in to using Lantus and whilst the itching is not so bad I still get hives after injection (but a lot more than previous) and the indegestion, so again I suspect there's something I'm allergic to in that as well!!

Has anyone else experienced issues like this?

Look forward to hearing from you (hope I'm not unique)

Thanks in advance

Pete

I also had the same type of reaction when I first started on insulin. My elbows itched like crazy. After a few months this went away, so perhaps my body became accustomed to the insulin. I don't speak as any sort of expert, just want to acknowledge similar experience.

 

[Pmerrill]

I also had the same type of reaction when I first started on insulin. My elbows itched like crazy. After a few months this went away, so perhaps my body became accustomed to the insulin. I don't speak as any sort of expert, just want to acknowledge similar experience.

Thanks for sharing @Karenchq, glad to know it’s not just me

 

[michita]

I just saw an article in today's evening standard about a child with insulin allergy. Just FYI

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....d-with-lifechanging-implant-a3674536.html?amp

 

[Pmerrill]

Many thanks @michita an interesting article, how fantastic they found a solution for him.

Kind regards

Pete

 

[Pmerrill]

Hi All,

Thought I'd do a quick update on my "allergic reactions". Just before Christmas I saw a drug allergy specialist in the hospital and they did skin prick tests and intradermal tests on both levimir and lantus at 10% concentration and then full strength. Guess what no reaction!! So despite the fact that I've been having (and still continue to have) an allergic reaction since I started injecting insulin, it's not down to the insulin itself. My current diagnosis is Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria for which I now take 3 antihistamines a day (1fexofenadine in the morning and 2 loratadine in the evening). I've been taking those for a few weeks now and I had hoped that overtime these would stop the hives but I still seem to be getting them. Some days aren't too bad but at the weekend I had them to the extent that my face was covered in hives and a bit swollen and I felt pretty rotten.

I'm back on Lantus and have better BG control (save for a few excesses at Christmas), I need to keep taking the anti-histamines and they're going to get me back in to test any other insulins that I might need to take in the future to confirm that I'm not allergic to those.

So no answers really, the consultant thought that I'm likely to be reacting to the injections but not as a result of an allergy to the ingredients of the insulin itself. I'm not sure I completely understand it and why it's happening but hopefully in time it will stop.

I'll keep you updated as things progress.

Cheers all & Happy New Year

Pete