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How much basal is normal?

nellycont

nellycont

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi there, my daughter 17 years, 163cms 60 kgrs, T1 for 7 years, takes daily (one injection) 27 units of Treshiba (degludec) for basal (plus 15-25 units of Novorapid aspart or actrapid for boluses). I was wondering if this amount of basal is normal.. I have no idea how much of insuline other young people usually take..
 
Everyone's basal needs vary, as your daughter is a teenager with raging hormones I'd expect her insulin needs would be higher than someone who is middle aged like myself.
 
Hiya, as Noble has said they vary from person to person, depending on size, metabolism, age, sex etc, there isn't a norm for taking insulin.

I am 43 and take 18 units of Tresiba a day, but this goes up around my period to 23 units as I'm more insulin resistant then.

As long as her control is good then this is the most important point to focus on ;)
 
It depends on the person, I started at 20 u. of basal and now I'm in 38 u. but I've reach 50 u. so don't worry, I'm her same age and I'm constantly changing the units!!
 
i'm on novorapid and levemir (levemir is my basal) i take 11 u of levemir in the morning and 6 at night. that being said i am very petite (5'0 and 99lbs) i'm 19 x
 
as has been stated already, I,m only on 11/12 units of Tresiba but that is all I need at the moment anyway
 
Yeah, it really depends. My basal TDD is roughly 20u of Levemir split into morning of 14 and evening of 6. I'm 92kg and 6'4...
 
I am 66kg and 165cm tall and take 14 or 15 units a day as basal. But I am much older than your daughter. I believe it is fairly normal for adolescents to need highish basal rates. If you think her insulin intake is too high, there are two questions: is she having many hypos, so she has to "feed the insulin"? Is she becoming plump or overweight? If either of those things are happening, you should talk to her DN about whether her insulin regime suits her.
 
I take only a very small amount of slow-acting insulin - primarily because I want to ensure that I have as liitle insulin as possible (only what's needed) in my system when I go to bed at night. And I eat accordingly, of course.

That's so simple, and it's so easy to arrange.

However I believe I'm very much an exception.
 
nellycont said:
Hi there, my daughter 17 years, 163cms 60 kgrs, T1 for 7 years, takes daily (one injection) 27 units of Treshiba (degludec) for basal (plus 15-25 units of Novorapid aspart or actrapid for boluses). I was wondering if this amount of basal is normal.. I have no idea how much of insuline other young people usually take..
Click to expand...

The amount your daughter takes will be "normal" for her if she is currently having no major issues with diabetes managment..
 
method of delivery makes a difference as well. Mine dropped by about 50% when going onto a pump. You also need to account for carbs in diet, low carb will be lower insulin, exercise, hormones as pointed out.

I'm on around 3.8U novorapid as basal and 3-4 U bolus, and that's just as "normal" as anyone else here
 
noblehead said:
Everyone's basal needs vary, as your daughter is a teenager with raging hormones I'd expect her insulin needs would be higher than someone who is middle aged like myself.
Click to expand...

Indeed! Hence the reason I'm very reserved about posting the amount of basal I dose on a thead with a topic like this.

I was once told a while back by an insulin dependant T2 that my basal was high..For him with his beta cells still working to a degree & on metformin too. possibly yes.?
We are not all clones living in a "controlled" environment.. ;)
 
Well I'm not young. ;) 172cm, 69kg and I take 13 units of Tresiba every morning.
 
I am 189cm 89kg 29 years old, been fit all my life (veteran), I inject 72units of lantus in the morning and take 15 - 40 units of novarapid depending on food.
 
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