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Are there preferred combinations of insulins?

K-ate

Member
I'm on lantus and humalog and have been for about 15 years but am now finding it very unpredictable; I've found a wealth of information on this site: far more than I've ever received from my nurse or doctor, and I'm amazed by the wide array of available insulins. I think I'm going to ask to change to levemir from lantus; however a lot of people seem to use this with novorapid rather than humalog: is there any reason for this?
 
Hi I'm probably not much help but it may be useful to know that I use levemir with novirapid like you said
 
K-ate said:
I think I'm going to ask to change to levemir from lantus; however a lot of people seem to use this with novorapid rather than humalog: is there any reason for this?
Click to expand...

Humalog has a slightly slower action than Novorapid so theoretically may be better for a more protein based meal than a more carby meal where Novorapid's more aggressive action would be a good choice.

Here is quite a handy guide to the different timings of the different insulins (although it is slightly out of date now):

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Documents/Magazines/Insulinwallchart.pdf

As to the combination with the basal I've not heard that being discussed anywhere.

I was on Lantus for a long time and then it just seemed to become pretty erratic. I split (half the old Lantus dose in the morning, half in the evening) Levemir and am pretty confident now that my background insulin is pretty much spot on. Unfortunately that means that any highs or lows are all down to me messing up doses...

Best

Dillinger
 
I've always gone along with my clinics recommendations with regards to insulins, have swapped and changed over the years but was on Lantus and Novorapid up until recently, not heard of any preference of which QA insulin works best with levemir as people use Novo, Apidra & Humalog, ask to change to Novorapid if you think it will work better with levemir, if you don't like it you can always swap back to Humalog.
 
I thought Humalog was the fastest of all ... Dr B says so, but he may be out of date. Does anyone know?
 
Thank you all for your input; really helpful to have knowledgeable people to talk about this with!
 
LucySW said:
I thought Humalog was the fastest of all ... Dr B says so, but he may be out of date. Does anyone know?
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Well the attached chart [by Dillinger] above shows Humalog having the same onset time as Novorapid but a faster time to peak. So it supports Humalog being faster acting, which is definitely what I've found.
 
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Spiker said:
Well the attached chart above shows Humalog having the same onset time as Novorapid but a faster time to peak. So it supports Humalog being faster acting, which is definitely what I've found.
Click to expand...

Would this be a chart produced by the Fellows of Unseen University, @Spiker ?

Where is it ?

I think that if a basal works for you, and you are used to its profile, there is no need to change for the sake of change. They all work pretty well together , even mixing different manufacturers despite what their selling bumpf may say

Signy
 

Hello! I use Levemir and Humalog, always been on humalog (different mixes) but the few type 1's I know all seem to use Novorapid and Levemir too!
 
Having moved around the country a bit it seems to depend on the preferences of your local hospital, what combination of basal and bolus insulins you get.
 
Spiker said:
Having moved around the country a bit it seems to depend on the preferences of your local hospital, what combination of basal and bolus insulins you get.
Click to expand...
( mutters darkly )...
And just how good the pharmaceutical reps are at their jobs Sanofi logo toaster, anyone ?

Signy
 
Hi. Yes, I'm amazed at the wdie range of insulins prescribed and although each has different timings etc most people can probably adjust to their particular insulin once they get used to it. Levemir and NovoRapid get mentioned a lot for those on Basal/Bolus and the latest DEC 2014 Diabetes pathways draft doc mentions Detemir (=Levemir) as the preferred Basal to start with
 
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