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anybody had succeeded in getting high conc insulin

J

jimbro4

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Hi I am a type 2 diagnosed june 2000 I have been on various insulins since 2001 My dosage is 450 units Levemir am +35 units Novo- rapid, lunch time 10<15 units novo rapide,evening meal 35 units novo rapide, bedtime 150 units Levemir this requires a total of 14 injection sites per day and while nobody can accuse me of being small, to find that number of fresh injection sites each day is a pain.
I have read about a Lilley pharmaceutical product, 500mu insulin ie x5 normal concentration my local area health (Lincolnshire) don't seem to want to prescribe it, even though it is reputed to be 25%+ cheaper per unit than the 100mu levimir . Does any body know about or use this product? If you do use it how did you persuade your health authority to prescribe it
 
Your insulin totals seem huge.

What's your diet like? Do you exercise?

I'm fairly new to this whole subject but increasing your dose/strength without other changes would mean you keep going up in dose.
 
Wow, they are high doses! Sounds like a higher concentration of insulin would be a good idea.
 
Wow they are high doses, I thought when I was having 34/34 of my levimer before I dropped my doses down to 24/22 was high, id definitely talk to your drs about it.


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U500 insulin isn't licensed in the UK. It can be prescribed though on a 'named patient basis' and there are places that do so.
If you look on the internet you will find that a lot of the info about it's use in the UK comes from Leicester where I found this paper explaining it's use in the management of severe insulin resistance; lot's of bullet points for doctors that could be of use.

http://www.leicestershirediabetes.org.u ... e%2009.pdf

However by chance I also came open the Lincolnshire joint formulary. U500 is on that list but it is red listed.* It says that it is only to be prescribed by a specialist diabetic consultant.

http://www.lincolnshirejointformulary.n ... ionID=A100

* I found the definition of red listing (which is not really very helpful)
This will signify that a product has been approved for use within secondary or tertiary care, or by a primary care hosted specialist service only and should not be routinely prescribed in primary care. RED drugs may be used within ULHT or LPFT subject to approval for use within each trust. ULHT and LPFT reserve the right to determine whether or not RED drugs will be used within their trusts. RED classification does not automatically signify that a drug will be available within secondary/tertiary care. (ULHT united Lincolnshire health trust LPFT:Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust)
 
Thank-you all for your interest and particularly to pheonix for the links they were useful. I started asking for and making the case for the u500 last year I involved my MP (who thinks acting as a post box is sufficient) I have my annual consultant trip coming up so I thought I would go prepared this time. My impression is that the real argument over whether it is supplied or not is whose budget the cost can be set against ie. the GP or the Hospital ( I am not sure if that is a fair summation perhaps someone in the know can enlighten me).
In reply to other comments
My diet is minimal and boring
Exercise restricted desk bound work and hip replacement on the fairly close horizon.
I believe the very high volumes are caused by insulin resistance.
 
Hi,

I have started 2 days ago on the u500 as I have high insulin resistance. The effect has been amazing. Normal insulin was not touching it at all and my HbA1c was 96 recently. I was regularly having bg readings in the 20's and 30's and was reluctant to just keep upping my insulin.
Woke up this morning and bg was 4.4 (felt a bit shaky as these normal readings are taking a bit of getting used to) but all my readings have been under 12 with this so am feeling fantastic to have finally found something that seems to be working for me.
I have had this prescribed by my Diabetic Consultant who says she can do it on a 'named patient' only basis and I have to email her for prescriptions and it is sent to my surgery from the hospital. Getting used to using an actual needle rather than a pen but small price to pay.
Wondered how you had got on with your consultant appointment and whether you had managed to get this prescribed?
 
I am glad to hear someone got insulin 500 and that it has proved useful Lincolnshire even stopped supplying the 500 to existing users who went into hospital for other reasons, if they found because of the illness involved they were able to reduce insulin for their stay then they were put onto insulin 100 on their release. They have however started prescribing "TRESIBA" 200 to me via my GP my useage has dropped tremendously my current useage is 240 units am plus 35units Novo Rapid 5<10 units novo rapid lunch time 35units novo rapid evening meal and 55units Tresiba last thing it keeps my average B.S. around 7 I have also started loosing abit of weight (long may that last). I do not understand the reluctance to use all the various strenghths available If the people signing off on the various meds were the users the thought of the shere volume of medication and the number of injections required to administer it, would Ifeel, concentrate their minds. As the research I have been able to do also suggests it is cheaper I understand the reluctance even less. I assume in time my sensitivity to "Tresiba" 200 will decrease and I will find myself injecting greater and greater quantities of this one so it may be useful to have the more concentrated version in reserve. Meanwhile I am pleased to hear your consultant and area has seen the light and that it would seem to be doing the job. Good Luck
 
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