Help please from people who use Porcine insulin...

CarbsRok said:

With a pump no matter what type of insulin you use, you can set your basal (background insulin) by the hour or half hour. I only need 0.025 of a unit from 7 PM in the evening until midnight. This you can not do using MDI. All I do when setting my basal insulin is to start 2 hours before the dose is needed. So if I need an increase at 12 noon then I would set the basal at a higher rate from 10 AM. Bolus though you still need to bolus 30 mins before you eat.
I find it easier to have a snack before unplanned exercise as obviously not enough time for the basal reduction to work. If I know well in advance then fine a temp basal works wonders. Animal insulin has a longer duration than say Humalog or Apidra but most users still have to inject 20 or 30 mins before they eat.
Hope that helps

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Ah - thanks @CarbsRok! ....so it basically offers more flexibility still - just perhaps not *quite* as much as with the analogues, owing to the slower action.... is that right? Am I right in thinking it also makes it easier to get your nigh time doses right, with less risk of a hypo...?

anna29 said:

You feeling its kick like a mule ?
Levemir is gentle compared to the porcine insulin with
regards to the hypo symptoms .
Well - it is with me .

How are you getting on with it now .

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Yes @anna29 - I'm defo getting the kick - which I *MUCH* prefer over the gentle "warning" of Levemir! Yes, it's a stronger / more instant feeling; which isn't all that pleasant - but I'm terrified of hypos, so for me the insistance of the porcine is massively reassuring.... I also don't drop like a stone even when the warning kicks in - which is also massively reassuring.... with the Novorapid, if I even got the warning of a low number, I knew I had to act VERY fast or else the situation was going to get worse, very quickly.... with porcine, I know even if I'm a lower number, I'm not suddenly going to drop much lower.... so overall I can be a little calmer on it.

I also really really like that I can take my time eating again.... with the novorapid I felt I had to eat quickly before it kicked in - and would sometimes drop low before I'd finished eating... I naturally like to eat slowly, and have a break between my meal and any "dessert" I'm having (usually a couple of squares of chocolate, or some dried fruit) - I love that I can do that again with the porcine.

The only thing I've not completely ironed out are my morning numbers - but they're not *terrible* - just not 'ideal' either.... so that's still a work in progress - but all else is good, and overall I feel much, much better on porcine.... thanks for asking

CarbsRok said:

From reading other posters reports on using analogues in pumps I personally can not see any difference. You just have to understand how it works, and also know and understand how different food types affect you. The onset time is about the same it peeks at the two hour marks and tails off at about the 6 hour mark with a slight kick in the tail. Analogue users start their basal change at the hour and I change mine at the 2 hour. This does not in any way affect flexibility at all. A pump can be set at what ever rate you need day or night so yes as long as you get your basal right you should be able to reduce or remove night hypo's. It's unrealistic to say you wont hypo as all type 1's hypo at times. Sometimes for no apparent reason

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.... Ah yes, I guess I meant to say reduced risk of night hypos

- I know there's no magic guaranteed 'no hypo' insulin... Yet... We can but hope...

- and also interesting you mention the slight tail kick; I defo have that - but mine seems to happen at the 5hr mark... All useful stuff, thanks @CarbsRok


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