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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RuthW" data-source="post: 812503" data-attributes="member: 148713">When I was switched from Monotard to Insulatard many years ago, my control declined but I blamed myself. When I was switched from Insulatard to Lantus round about 2000, the DN said in passing, "Oh yes, it will be better because the absorption of Insulatard is very erratic." I was livid. I could have been spared many years of self-blaming had I known that all along.So, first point, it may be insulin itself, not the injection sites, which is the problem.When switching to Lantus, I was told,"It is very even. You can go to bed with it at 5mmol, and wake up at 5." For me there followed years of night-time hypos and anxiety, until the mass of diabetics on whom it was being "trialled" proved that is indeed the profile of Lantus for most people.In the last few years I found it was not working well at all for me. Sometimes it was as if I had no basal at all, judging by my blood sugars. I did various "experiments" on my lab rat (me) to work out what the problem was. A couple of times I simply switched to dividing the dose up into eight and injecting 2 units of Novorapid every three hours (which, at meal times, I combined with my bolus dose). I instantly achieved perfect blood sugars. At this point I went and asked for a pump, but they were not available in Turkey at the time because the pump manufacturers had no distribution agreements with anyone here.So I persevered with the Lantus. It was patchy to say the least. On yet another occasion I was having consistently high blood sugars even though I was watching my carbs like a hawk, exercising, etc, etc. I was testing at every opportunity. Then suddenly one day - perfect. That was the time I realized I had to stop always doing my Lantus in my thighs. The perfect day was the day I changed my injection site. So I switched the site for my Lantus. But I saw that it seemed to have quite a bad effect quite quickly on my new sites.So, finally, I managed to get a pump. Now I religiously rotate the site. So far I use my lower and upper abdomen and my hips and I want to use my bum and arms - that means attaching it one-handed, though and that takes a bit of practice with the set inserter, I got in a tangle a few times. I never leave it in the same place for more than three days. I just cannot afford to lose any more sites. I tend not to see big improvements by "resting" a site - at least so far. It is of great concern to me because I have had diabetes for nearly fifty years, and I am hoping to have it for another forty or so (cure would be best, but they promised me that about thirty years ago and I'm still waiting.....). I don't believe I've got forty more years' worth of sites.Do other people find that long-acting insulins affect their injection sites more than short-acting?</blockquote>

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