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Is every Type-1 on this forum on Lantus?

J

janabelle

Well-Known Member
Messages
816
Location
London
Dislikes
Lack of choice of insulin for newly diagnosed patients.
Dog owners who let their dogs poop in the street-a hazard for most, but worse if you're visually impaired!
Having RP
Hi everyone, fairly new to the forum,been on a couple of weeks. I am surprised at how many type-1s ,(except Sarah!), are on Lantus. I am interested what other people's experience on other long-acting insulins is. Also would love to hear anyone who's having a great experience with Lantus tell their story.
Thanks
Jus
 
Hi, i have been on Lantus for 7 years and have only good things to say about it. it was a turning point in my diabetes, because before i had a few problems with erratic control, high morning blood sugar levels. i was admitted to hospital by my father because i was constantly ill. they put me on lantus and since then, i have had perfect control!!!
 
Hi
I was on Lantus for a while before switching to Levemir. Lantus was an improvement over previous types. My sugars were more predictable, unfortunately predictably high in the day and predictably hypo at night, whatever time I injected (but a pattern at last!). Before doing DAFNE I was (wrongly) told the doctor wanted all DAFNE patients on Levemir, and that I could split Levemir into 2 doses but couldn't split Lantus. (My diabetes team are good at feeding back what works for other patients, maybe at the time they just didn't have any experience of splitting Lantus.) I changed to Levemir and later split the dose, with excellent results. I'd have no worries about going back to Lantus if needed, but Levemir works for me so no reason to change.
Sue
 
Been on Lantus for about 18 months, and like it( was previously on the 2 injection regime which was a nightmare). Like littlesue, I had problems going low at night and high during the day, and found that the best solution was to split the dose( one first thing in the morning and one just before dinner ) - and that seems to work for me.
 
Hi, I was on Lantus for just over 18 months. In that time I got my HbA1c down 6.0 on several occasions, but I found it a very aggressive insulin which even with regular basal testing, was causing me to go hypo on average three times a week. The other problems that I experienced with it was weight gain ( I put on eight kg's over the 18 months) and mood changes, I was very quick to fall out with people.

For the last 18 months I have been using levemir on a split dose system, my hypo's are on average two per month over the 18 month period, I have lost five of the eight Kg's of weight, and no more mood changes and my Hba1c is still no higher than 6.3. All in all, Levemir is a far better insulin than Lantus was for me.

My Endo told me that lantus was not designed to work as a split dose insulin, I have also read this some ware, that does not mean that it can not be used as such! But Levemir has a much smoother, flatter profile and is not so aggressive when it is split.
 
Hi all,
Sounds like some of u having same problem I did- with hypos. Levemir sounds gr8. Does anyone know what the difference is that makes it work so smoothly? I read that Lantus can sit under skin for up to 36 hours after injecting,and not small amounts either. I wonder if this is what varies BS contol day to day and causes unexpected hypos and hypers. sound like this doesn't happen with levemir, anyone know why?.
Jus
 
janabelle said:
Hi all,
Sounds like some of u having same problem I did- with hypos. Levemir sounds gr8. Does anyone know what the difference is that makes it work so smoothly? I read that Lantus can sit under skin for up to 36 hours after injecting,and not small amounts either. I wonder if this is what varies BS contol day to day and causes unexpected hypos and hypers. sound like this doesn't happen with levemir, anyone know why?.
Jus
Click to expand...

It does sit under the skin but I don't know if both Lantus and Levemir use the same method, maybe the carrier mechanisms work differently. The long duration of Lantus is an advantage for some (only once daily) but also a disadvantage. Because it lasts so long, if you need less at night than in the day (or vice versa), it's bound to cause hypos when you need less and/or highs when you need more. Dose changes also take longer to fully kick in. With Levemir the length of action is affected a lot by the dose (ie bigger doses last longer than small ones). A new meaning to the saying 'less is more' = less insulin means more injections!

When diagnosed in the 70s I was told in a 10 years time I'd probably only need to inject every few days. (Because of developments in insulin technology.) This did encourage me, but actually it would be far worse - no ability to adjust to changes in food intake, activity, illness, hormonal changes, etc.

Sue
 
I've been using Lantus for a number of years now. Initially, my main problem with it was in waking first thing with low blood sugar levels. They also had a tendency to rise unexpectedly, later in the day. For that reason I'm unconvinced that it has the 24 hour coverage that Lilly claim it has.

When I split my doses (5 units before bed, and 3 in the morning) I found immediately that the morning lows were gone, as were the higher readings later. I think a number of other people on the forum have benefitted from splitting their doses too.

All the best,

fergus
 
hello janabelle,
I find, just like fergus, that lantus works far better in split doses (am12,pm10).
There are a few people who find lantus makes them feel "groggy" compared
to other insulins, although I've not personally had any trouble with it.

Regards,
Timo.

I demand to know more about lantus!
 
Thanks Timo for the link-I'm inpressed! I'll print it and inspect it closer later. My husband's a scientist, he'll prob make more sense of it than me . The problem I had wasn't just hypos though, it was the awful unpredictability of them. Somedays it didnt seem to work effectively and other days it was over-working, then I'd be dangerously low all day-scary way to live. There seemed to be no pattern to it.
I've been diabetic 19 years so I'm no novice, but I'd never experienced anything like that. Don't think I'd ever consider taking it again-I changed to porcine isophane, and time will tell whether the problem was the lantus or my crazy hormones! Initial signs are good.
Thanks again Timo. :)
Jus
 
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