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clearing things up about lantus...

S

sssmith0108

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I'm a type 1 diabetic, and I have always taken my lantus at night. I thought the reason for this was because when your body is dormant for an extended period of time, your blood sugar naturally rises, and thus taking lantus before falling asleep counteracts this. For this reason, at times I have taken my lantus later than usual (I shoot for 10 pm typically) in order to more correctly match when I fall asleep, if I am going to bed later than 10 or 11 pm. However, I have been reading that taking it at the same time consistently is more important, and that it is possible to take lantus in the morning as well. Were my original thoughts about blood sugar rising during sleep incorrect? If so, is it alright if I take lantus at night, and then go out with my friends afterwards, potentially not falling asleep until 2 am? Thank you for any help!
 
@sssmith0108 I''m on a pump so I don't use a long-acting insulin like Lantus, but I used to use a basal insulin years ago.

Basal insulin is a background insulin. Basal insulin covers us 24 hours a day and, hopefully, keeps our blood sugar in range even if we don't eat/bolus. So it works night and day - not just night. Some people take it at night, some take it in the morning.

So yes, you can take your Lantus at 10pm (or whatever time you choose on a consistent basis) and go out :) Keeping your basal injection at a similar time each day is a wise idea as it provides consistency.
 
Our bodies need a constant supply of glucose (energy), which is why it pushes out sugar 24/7. The basal insulin is there to allow the body to take in/ absorb the glucose in the blood into the cells to be used as energy or for later use.

If you have periods when you miss your basal (and bolus), you will see your BG slowly creep higher as the cells can't do anything with the glucose in the blood due to lack of insulin. If they require energy and can't take it from the sugar in the blood, they then turn to breaking down muscle and fat which is why undiagnosed diabetics lose weight. When the body breaks down itself this produces ketones (too much of these are the cause of DKA).

Basal can be taken at any time, morning or night, but consistently. I take my basal at 10:30 -11:00 each night. I was on Lantus initially and you can delay it a bit without any problems.
 
Although I'm a type 2, I'm on Lantus and I take mine once daily at 6pm as I found that it only seemed to last around 22 hours, so want it to cover the night rise in BG. I have an alarm set on my iPad to ensure I don't overlook it. Originally I was injecting at breakfast time, but since moving the time it has been more successful in controlling my levels.

So I feel you should inject at whatever time suits your body and your lifestyle. Doesn't matter when you do or your activity before or after, as long as you are consistent with the timing.


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sssmith0108 said:
However, I have been reading that taking it at the same time consistently is more important, and that it is possible to take lantus in the morning as well.
Click to expand...

You can take lantus anytime that suits you as long as you take it around the same time each day, I use to take my injection before bed then moved it to early morning before deciding to take it early evening which I settled on up until I moved to a pump.

Some people find that lantus doesn't last a full 24 hours, if your one then taking it on a morning may result in higher fasting bg levels when you wake on a morning.
 
Just with regards to safety, not that you suggest you want to do this in your post, but if you do decide to switch when you take your Lantus (i.e. you want to start taking it in the morning) you should gradually work back to that time. So for example, start taking it 30-60 minutes earlier each day. If you have vast differences in the times you've taken your basal insulin you could end up with two doses overlapping and risking hypos. I only say this because I was once told of a friend of a friend who decided to start taking it in the morning suddenly then had a seizure in the middle of the night. Not good!
 
When I was on lantus I used to take it at 5pm on the dot every day. This was useful because I had covered the 2/3 hour gap of no long acting insulin with fast acting after lunch, and also meant that my morning bg was better than when I was taking it in the morning (used to always rise slightly over night). Taking it at the same time each day makes this way easier as you know when you may be running out and can adjust to that, and routine is generally a simple way to keep bg in a good range!
 
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