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Humalog Advise

R

rabdcd

Active Member
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25
Ladies and Gents

I'm currently working in Seoul where the medical is out of this world and the doctors actually take their faces away from the computer to talk to you anyway my latest 3 month sugar was 7.4 which is higher than the 6 and below they look for in Korea. My last 4 test have all be 7 or there about so the doctor has prescribed me 50/50 Humalog I didn't really want this but he insisted so as of tomorrow I'll give it a go

With my current system I take Lantus twice a day and Apidra when eating as you all know the Apidra can be adjusted to suit the meal your about to eat so I'm a bit concerned about the effect or Humalog and what to expect i.e currently I take 30 units of Lantus to cover my back ground I need that 30 units but I might only take 8 units of Apidra in a day depending on what I'm eating or exercise I take and don't understand how Humalog can deliver me enough back ground without injecting big doses of Humalog and then eating food I don't want or being hypo constantly

If anybody has any experience with Humalog good or bad please share with me your thoughts

Robert
 
Hi,

I used Humalog for a number of years with Lantus.

Humalog is a short acting insulin which would work in the same way as your Apidra. I have been changed to Apidra from Humalog. I didn't get any problems when injecting Humalog or have any problems with it in general.

Hope you get on ok

Josie
 
Hi

Humalog Mix 50/50 is a biphasic (twice daily insulin) and is clear in colour. It contains slow acting and fast acting insulin in one and releases its action on bg levels over a 10-12hr time period. It's not like basal/bolus where you match insulin to the carb that you eat. Instead you just eat a set amount of carb about 6 times a day (br, snack, lunch, snack, eve meal, bed) and then by testing your bg levels you then alter the amount of carb that you eat. Initially until you are able to work out exactly how much carb you need to eat so that your bg levels stay within desired ranges you will need to test about 6 times a day. Once you've got your carb intake sorted out you can then probably drop the bg testing down to 4 times a day.

I used Humalog Mix 20/80 for many years and found that unless I overate carb at a particular meal time, my bg levels stayed more or less stable. I had a good consultant though and he prescribed me Humalog fast acting bolus to use on those occasions so I was able to go out for pub lunches and eat more carb that I would normally do and still have some sort of decent control by giving myself 1 or 2u of Humalog bolus to give the Humalog Mix a bit of a boost. Apidra could also be used in this way (if you still have some) but you would need to be very careful and definately monitor your bg levels just in case you find yourself going hypo.

Not sure if you will find twice daily insulin restrictive on the amount of carb you would like but it's fairly easy to get used to and by eating regularly you never feel hungry.
 
I used to be on Humalog (Switched to novorapid because it's even faster acting!0 and it's not really any different. I would change it to the food I am eating, but not tooo high, and it would be absolutely fine.

:D
 
Thanks for all the reply's

Let me ask a different question which might seem silly but the silly questions never get asked assuming my carb\insulin ratio is 1-10

I get up in the morning and my sugar is 4.5 (an then I woke up :D ) I am going to eat a breakfast with 120 grams of carb do I take 12 units or 24 units of Humalog 50\50?

I still have Apidra and its good to know if I am on the high side after a meal I can take a shot and for sure I will test ofter and record until I get it mastered either that or back to Lantus and Apidra

Thanks Robert
 
rabdcd said:
Thanks for all the reply's

Let me ask a different question which might seem silly but the silly questions never get asked assuming my carb\insulin ratio is 1-10

I get up in the morning and my sugar is 4.5 (an then I woke up :D ) I am going to eat a breakfast with 120 grams of carb do I take 12 units or 24 units of Humalog 50\50?

I still have Apidra and its good to know if I am on the high side after a meal I can take a shot and for sure I will test ofter and record until I get it mastered either that or back to Lantus and Apidra

Thanks Robert
Click to expand...

Hi

Humalog Mix 50/50 is not like orginary Humalog so you wont be able to use the carb ratio of 1u:10g carb. It takes about 2hrs after Humalog Mix has been injected for it to start lowering bg levels so if you eat 120g carb in one go you will go extremely high. I am unable to tell you what amount of Humalog Mix you need to inject but when I used it I ate no more than 20g carb at breakfast and then ate 10g snack mid morning, 30g carb lunch, 10g mid afternoon snack, 40g eve meal and then 15g before going to bed. In other words I fed my insulin some carb throughout the day so that I was able to stabilise its action on my bg levels.

I think you need to talk to your doctor again and get him to explain it all better and ask him how much Humalog Mix 50/50 you need to inject in the morning based on the amount of carb you need to eat to keep your weight stable. The amounts of carb that I ate were based on keeping my body weight stable in relation to my height. I am only 5ft 2ins and when using Humalog 20/80 my body weight stayed stable at 8.5 stone.
 
Hello

The 120g of carbs was just a figure pulled out of the air, I normally try to keep my carbs as low as possible with my biggest dose of them for breakfast. The doctor told the diabetic nurse to explain how to use the insulin but I was in a hurry to get back to work and though was can she tell me I've been sticking a needle in myself for a long time so it was only when I got home in the evening and started to read about what this insulin does did the questions start. Thank goodness there is alway a helping hand on this site.

I know its way to early to judge the new insulin but I don't think it will suit my lifestyle and this is anything but flexible. Doc said I should have 3 injections per day, this morning my sugar was 7.2 I had breakfast which was roughly 45 grams of carbs and thinking OK 5 units for fast and 5 for long I took 10 units I them went to the gym where I first stated to hypo since then I've not taken a drop of the stuff and I'm still getting hypo

I"ll be back on the phone on Monday morning to the doctor

Thanks again Robert
 
Hi

I'm not a bit surprised to find out you have gone hypo. Obviously 10u of the mix for 45g carb was too much insulin. You do really need to see yr DSN about how much carb you need to eat at different times of the day and how much insulin you need to inject. A lot of stuff is trial and error so all you can do is keep testing your bg levels until you see the doc. I would not inject anymore of the mix now until late this afternoon when your bg levels start to rise up because the 10u has worn off.

I have a feeling that your doc in Korea thinks that Humalog Mix can be injected 3 times a day when you eat your main meals. This is possible as many things can go with insulin regimes but again you will to get more guidance about this.

I don't really know why the doc changed you anyway. Maybe he doesn't think that you know how to adjust your carb ratios properly according to what your bg levels are and that you are not correcting properly?
 
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