Basal and bolus

[Barbie3]

I have been changed to twice daily basal insulin. Can I take it at the same time as bolus injection or how long apart do they have to be please?

 

[Zhnyaka]

Yes, you can do it at the same time, but not in the same place so that the insulins can't mix.

 

[Deleted member 527103]

Yes, you can do it at the same time, but not in the same place so that the insulins can't mix.

I never heard anything about concern with insulins "mixing". Can you provide more information about this? How close together would the injections need to be to cause mixing?
I always injected in different places to avoid build up of scar tissue - just using different areas to avoid absorption problems.
I know some people use different areas because one area (e.g. buttocks) tends to absorb slower (used for basal) than another area used for bolus because it absorbs faster.

But definitely agree basal and bolus can be taken at the same time. It may make it easier to remember the basal if being taken with bolus.

 

[Zhnyaka]

I never heard anything about concern with insulins "mixing". Can you provide more information about this? How close together would the injections need to be to cause mixing?
I always injected in different places to avoid build up of scar tissue - just using different areas to avoid absorption problems.
I know some people use different areas because one area (e.g. buttocks) tends to absorb slower (used for basal) than another area used for bolus because it absorbs faster.

But definitely agree basal and bolus can be taken at the same time. It may make it easier to remember the basal if being taken with bolus.

I was told to step back 2 fingers from the previous place. You can't inject both bolus and basal through the insulin port at the same time, but people used to mix them into one syringe, but there was some kind of scheme, to be honest, I don't remember whether it's dangerous if basal to get into the bolus, or vice versa

 

[SimonP78]

I used to mix short and long acting in syringes, the process was short acting first then long acting as apparently any short acting that got into the long acting vial would have less of an effect. Apparently... though I'm not sure that really makes much sense/whether it really makes any odds. Certainly you'd not see it that way around as the long acting was cloudy and the short acting was clear.

One other side effect of mixing this way was that the two insulins were completely mixed if you injected once a day - typically I'd take 1/3 short to 2/3 long acting, whether this made any difference I don't know, especially as once I started doing evening injections too my dose proportions were reversed (and much smaller!) - I still did short then long, it just didn't look very uniform in the syringe.

I think I'd avoid the same place simply because it might hurt, though I do basal in my thigh and bolus in my tummy so I'd have to be quite mixed up to mix them up!