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lantus vs levemir

sklane11

Member
Messages
22
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone!

I've recently swapped from 34 lantus once a day to 18 units twice a day of levemir (have increased my overall dose to 36 units as am having problems!)

I eat low carb but am struggling to have the same control as I have with the lantus with the levemir and find myself running alot higher (around 10/11 mmol/l for most of the day - before on lantus I usually ran around 6 mmol/l when I ate low carb).

Am just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience? My nurse suggested swapping to levemir to help with exercise, but I haven't tried that yet!

Thanks
 
Are you taking any other insulin @sklane11?
 
Personally, I have only used levemir since I was only diagnosed type 1last year, but I did find I needed to fine tune tune the amount of units I take both in the morning and at night to achieve more stable bg levels. Speak to your diabetes nurse and suggest you think you need a slightly higher amount of units. I was advised to take slightly more at night than in the morning, but I expect it's hardly an exact thing and how everyone responds to any type of insulin will vaguely differ.
 
Lantus once before bed and Apidra before meals and for any corrections..so far so good.
 
sklane11 said:
I've recently swapped from 34 lantus once a day to 18 units twice a day of levemir (have increased my overall dose to 36 units as am having problems!)
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Hi @sklane11

Several years back I changed over from lantus to levemir, my DSN warned me that patients who do this usually expect to see a increase in their basal dose, this was certainly the case as before I moved back to lantus I was injecting nearly twice as much levemir than I was previously with lantus (and still couldn't get my bg levels under control).
 
sklane11 said:
Novorapid!
Click to expand...
Hi. Levemir is now the NICE preferred Basal insulin although there is little wrong with Lantus but for some unknown reason Levemir is preferred if you go to the gym. Are you carb-counting with the NovoRapid i.e. adjusting the dose for each meal to match the carbs?
 
Hi yep I carb count but for example even just eating a salad now (with no carbs) my blood sugars are starting to rise and I had to do 2 units of novorapid, whereas back in the lantus day no rapid would be needed and I'd have no rise. Just struggling to see the benefits and wondering if for some reason I'm better suited to Lantus?
 
Interesting to hear you had a similar experience! How long did you stay on Levemir for before moving back to Lantus? Before I swapped my DSN said if anything I was taking too much basal insulin - so am reluctant to keep taking more, but obviously will do so if I need it!
 

It was only a matter of weeks, maybe 6-8 before changing back.

Maybe your DSN is right about you taking too much basal before as you say you didn't have to bolus for a salad, the easiest way of getting the basal dose right is to do some basal tests, have a look at the following which explains how to conduct the test in different time frames:

http://www.salforddiabetescare.co.uk/index2.php?nav_id=1007

If your struggling with hypo's when exercising push for a pump, worth discussing it with your DSN/Consultant.
 
thankyou! that looks helpful am trying to contact the DSN to discuss further, talked about the possibility of a pump last time we met but there are a few things I need to do first (e.g. DAFNE course - which I REALLY want to do, the waiting list is just really long!). Thanks for the help
 

The DAFNE course is usually a prerequisite, but I'm sure if you can demonstrate that your carb counting skills are up to date they may overlook the fact that you've not done the course, some pumpers on the forum have never been on a carb counting course but managed to get approval & pump funding.

The following might be helpful as it's an on-line carb counting course which is similar to DAFNE, worth registering if you've not done so before:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

Best wishes.
 
Thanks yep i've registered for that before - to be honest all was find and going well before the change, but have just been struggling since!
 
I've never taken Lantus or Levemir so I can't comment on that, but I do agree with @noblehead that a basal test would be sensible. That way you can be sure your basal imsulin is at the correct amount and then concentrate on perfecting your meal boluses.

Each person with diabetes is different and we all eat varying amounts of carbs, but personally I find zero/minimal carb meals harder to balance than ones with a moderate amount of carbs. Once you've got your basal sorted, then you can experiment carefully with what works for you for particular meals, eg bolus amount and timing.
 
My BS control is Ok but could be better, typically my HBAC is around 75. I have been on Humalog before meals and Lantus, once a day before bed.

Saw the doctor at clinic a few weeks ago and she wants to move me onto 2 daily Levemir, and she is pushing to get me on DAFNE course, although she said it is now ADEPT course????

I do carb count taking around 200 units of carbs each day, but do litttle or no exercise save for some gentle walking at weekends

Got a letter in yesterday advising of an appointment with DSN, so will be interesting to see how this goes

I do tend to panic a lot when my BS falls below 5, maybe one of the reasons my BS are a little on the high side. Had to many bad experiences with hypos

In general, do people find Levemir twice a day is better than Lantus for control
 
I was on Levimer for quite a lot of years. my normal dose was 16 in the morning and 6 in the evening. I would adjust the daytime and nightime doses to suit my day basal and night basal results. If say I increased my night time amount it would affect me most in my before breakfast test.
This is what i was advised to do by my DSN and it seemed to work this way. Been taken off it now due to bad injection sites over many years.
Take care everyone is different and needs different levels/amounts
 
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