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Can human AND animal insulin be used together??

J

janabelle

Well-Known Member
Messages
816
Location
London
Dislikes
Lack of choice of insulin for newly diagnosed patients.
Dog owners who let their dogs poop in the street-a hazard for most, but worse if you're visually impaired!
Having RP
Hi, seeing my doctor tomorrow to get off Lantus and hopefully on to a long-acting animal insulin. I feel, as humalogue is kinda straight in and out of my system within hours, I might still like to take that as my short-acting. Is this the case, and can pork/beef insulin be taken safely in conjunction with an analogue insulin?
Urgent info needed please.
Justine
 
My son uses both.

He uses Levemir for basal, novorapid for fast acting carbs and correction doses and pork hypurin for protein, high fat meals and low glycaemic carbs.

He has no problems at all.
 
Hi Sarah,

We started off with human actrapid but when novonordisk discontinued it we decided to continue the only cartridge form of actrapid available which was the pork version. It is possible to use just novo but we are so used to using both now we have just continued. Eg pizza, lasagne and chicken caesar salad are all better covered with a longer acting insulin.

The older pork and beef insulins were less purified than the current versions. It is never possible to know exactly what the future holds. We do know that excellent meal control of blood sugars prevents cardiovascular complications later and we are doing the best we can with what we have.

I noticed your diabetes longevity and freedom from complications. I am very impressed. Any tips you can give me for my son?
 
Wise words Sarah. I only attend the diabeteic clinic so my care is not in the hands of my GP, who I trust less than my consultant. It's a horrible way to think, but it's survival. You live and learn, and us diabetics living with the condition are the only real experts on our very individual condition. Us sharing information is vitally important. I am surprised today to find that human insulatard by Novo Nordisk and now Actrapid are no longer being made-and many animal insulins have been discontinued. It seems to me that people with diabetes are soon going to have no choice about the type of insulin they take, despite the negative effects that some experience-that's scary. The newer "analogue" insulins seem to be the only ones that Health Professionals appear to be recommending to a lot of patients-why? While they may be the answer for some- it's a bad experience for others,as this forum shows. Who is really making these decisions, is it the Government or the drug companies, or is something more sinister going on??? This lack of choice is something that wories we a great deal, expecially after reading this forum and other articles on the web. Does anyone else have the same concerns or has my Lantus made me paraniod??
Justine
 
Hi Sarah and Sofaraway,

Sarah, I thought you were going to tell me not to use animal insulin ! I think you are right about avoiding hospitals if you can. I am encouraging Steven to make sure he has his monitoring off pat.
Hbaic every quarter + summer kidneys /autumn biochem and thyroid/winter feet/spring eyes. We do alternate visits to hospital and GP. His last hbaic was 6.0 and I'm hoping for a little lower next time. You are always chasing a moving target with a teenager though.

I met a much older diabetic man last week. He is 79 and has had type one since he was 11. He has no complications but since starting human insulin has lost his hypo warnings which is a big problem. He can't stand the diabetologist but after the age of 70 it is apparently necessary to attend a clinic every six months or you will lose your driving licence.

Sofaraway, I know you can get vial actrapid but the cartridge version has run out. We still have 13 vials in the fridge. We had thought that it would last well beyond it's expiry date but we found the potency got less about six months after expiry date (and it was exquisitely stored I can tell you). I have to say the pork hypurin in the autopen is absolutely fine.
 
Hi everyone
Found out that it is safe to take Humalog and my pork long-acting-so that is what I am doing, until I get the dose of the Hypurin Isophane right anyway. Ive always loved the action of Humalog-does exactly what it says on the tin(vial actually!). I'll keep on it for a bit till things are more stable. I took a very small dose of Hypurin Isophane this morn, good job too - been below 10 most of day, that's a good start. If my suspicions are correct, I think it will take a few days for the Lantus to clear from my system completely.
Felt better today-more awake!
Thanks Sarah, I'm gonna follow ur advice and split the dose.
Justine
 
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