Am I mad? (Insulin debate)

[lionrampant]

I've been reading. Lots. And that's never a good idea when it comes to diabetes. You start to question the efficacy of your treatment, and the safety of it. I've been reading about animal insulins (i.e. pork).

Currently as you may have gathered from other threads I'm on NovoRapid and Levemir. I managed a 1.8% reduction in my HbA1c over the course of three months this summer. But... something just isn't right. Ever since I switched to the basal-bolus regime back in 2004 I've just not felt right. I'm convinced (and managed to convince a board of lecturers) that I goosed the first half of my fourth year at uni due to the sudden instability in my diabetes thanks to my first attempt at a BB regime.

I've swung from NovoRapid to Actrapid/Humulin S (when the hospital had a spat with Novo for doing away with Actrapid) and then back to Novo. On the whole, my control has improved in the last year thanks to a final combination of NovoRapid and Levemir... but when I read about the differences experienced by other people who went from "analog" insulin to animal insulins, I see myself in their stories.

I honestly can't remember the last time (other than when I was hypo, or about 8 years old) that I felt hungry-hungry. I can't remember the last time I felt like actually "doing" anything with any great passion for more than five minutes. I can't remember the last time I didn't just want to lie in bed in the morning even after eight hours sleep.

Now my the question is this - has anyone here have any experience with animal vs. human vs. analog insulins, and if so what side do you come down on?

 

[LittleSue]

I was on animal insulin (pretty sure I had beef as well as pork) for the first 12-14 years. When 'human' came in I was pressured to switch, which was a total nightmare both in terms of diabetes control and quality of life. Not simply change/loss of hypo symptoms or feeling off-colour, but big personality changes including a violent temper. DSNs very dismissive of problems. After a battle got switched back to pork (apparently fewer people had problems with pork compared to beef) and the side-effects of 'human' all settled. Still not good control but at least I got back some quality of life, hypo awareness etc.

When Lantus and Humalog came along, I was doubtful after previous experience. Agreed to try them on strict understanding I could return to pork at the first sign of trouble. Happily though, with analogs no hint of the side-effects I had with 'human', control improved somewhat but for me Lantus didn't do what I was promised (elimination of night hypos). Two years ago I switched to Levemir, and best control so far. Levemir certainly keeps my bs more stable than other basals and no nasty side-effects.

So I'd come down in favour of analog, but if I any doubts I'd want to revert to pork, but that's just my personal experience and my body. If Lantus was the only analog basal I might think differently though. I was surprised to get on well with Levemir, just shows even if you've had bad experience with human or analog, keep an open mind. If what you're on doesn't suit, try something else but on the basis you can switch back if it doesn't help.

 

[Trinkwasser]

Now my the question is this - has anyone here have any experience with animal vs. human vs. analog insulins, and if so what side do you come down on?

Not personally, but it would appear that while a large proportion of people do better on Lantus/Levemir, a small but significant percentage do rather badly.

The newsgroup is little used these days but you might ask the question on alt.support.diabetes.uk or do a Google Groups search looking particularly for postings by Fester, Beav and Dave T, all of who switched back to animal insulins and gained better control.