Type 1 Is there a better insulin than Novorapid?

[Catsymoo]

Hey,

I've been on Novorapid and Lantus since about 2014 I think. My hba1c have steadily gotten worse over time and now i have the Libre I'm noticing that Novorapid just seems really slow and erratic.

I am taking nortriptyline for pain, esomeprazole for gastritis and vitamins.


Sometimes novorapid drops my sugar levels too much and other times it does nothing at all and its really frustrating. The other night I had a cake that was 32g carbs, I took 3 units and my sugar level was the same within 1 hour which was basically meant I going to have a hypo once the novo peaked.

Last night around 11pm I was sat at 12mmol, and I was super hungry so I ate some fried mushrooms, 1 egg and miso soup. Blood sugar did not change by the time I slept about 2am. I took a unit for the protein in the egg.

I woke up on a 16 today which is a joke. I took 5 units, ate about 20g carbs and now I'm sat on a 19 where my novorapid has done nothing. My sugars were slowly climbing since about 6am to 12pm. (I wake up late due to being off work and on sedating painkillers).

I cannot seem to get control of my diabetes and I feel like garbage. I eat low carb meals and I bolus for my protein and i still cannot keep my levels in single figures. I struggle not to hit 20s every day. My sugars even hover around the 12-17 mark WITHOUT food and corrections and exercise! It's ridiculous and I just feel like I'm going to be dead before 40.

Whenever I increase my Lantus I end up dropping overnight which tells me my Lantus is already too high. (I take 36u per night)

 

[In Response]

I am sorry you are struggling with your diabetes at the moment. Erratic blood sugars certainly make us feel rubbish.

There are different insulins available but depends how you define "better" if it is worth changing.

Some find Lantus does not last a full 24 hours Tresiba lasts longer but is very inflexible if you need to change the dose - it can take 3 or 4 days to notice a change. Levemir is more flexible but needs to be taken twice s day.
Before changing your basal dose insulin, I recommend doing a basal test to confirm you have the correct insulin dose and how long it is lasting.

NovoRapid is sometimes called NovoSluggish because it can take a while to start working. There are newer fast acting insulins that act faster like Fiasp but many find it less stable
I find it important to remember we become insulin resistant at high BG levels. I need to double my correction ratio when correcting a level higher than 14 and it can take an hour for the correction to appear to take affect. For this reason, i avoid eating when my levels are higher than 10.


If your levels are above 10 most of the time, your insulin is fighting an uphill battle every time you eat.

You asked if there are "better" insulins. I think you need help with getting your levels down. It is possible with NovoRapid and Lantus.