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Lantus vs Levemir

F

Froobes

Well-Known Member
Messages
48
Just a quick one, any of you Type 1's out there got pros and cons for both of these insulins? I'm currently on Levemir but the consultant at the hospital is trying to push me to go for Lantus as I tend to have high readings in a morning no matter how I adjust my dose. I'm a little skeptical as for the most part I've heard a lot of apprehension regarding switching.
 
Hmmm, it is an individual thing...but I was changed from lantus to levimir to help with highs in the morning. Assume you have tried changing your doses and timing if yiour doses etc? For me, lantus seemed to run out too fast....am now on the pump...and that is far better than both levimir and lantus. For me, levimir was the better insulin though.
 
Just wanted to mention that there are other longish acting insulins, such as Humalin I, although may be best used as 2 doses in 24 hours. However, many people seem to need to split doses of Lantus or Levemir anyway. Humalin I is much cheaper than either Lantus or Levemir.
 
Yeah i've adjusted the dose at night, I've tried splitting it at night and in the morning, I've tried just doing it in the morning and nothing seems to stop the peaks. I've just read something on Lantus that says there is a possible cancer link?! :shock: More put off than ever now. My bm's are fine the rest of the time, just the morning I have an issue with.
 
Hi Froobes,

Persinally I wouldn't recommend Lantus to my worst enemy, as it can cause dreadful side-effects.
As Copepod says there are other long-acting insulins available besides lantus and Levemir, why don't you ask your doctor about alternatives if you're apprehensive about Lantus. Medium/Long-acting synthetic human and animal varieties which work equally well for many people, with less or no side-effects.
Not sure about the Lantus/cancer link, but there's a heap of comments at the bottom of this page about associated side-effects. http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/lantus-ins ... ncer-4614/
Jus
 
Froobes,

I've been on Lantus since its introduction in the UK, in fairness since the moment I changed to lantus my control improved greatly and my highs and lows were less frequent than before. I did try once changing over to levemir and found that my control became erratic despite splitting the dose to morning and night, after 6 weeks I decided to go back to lantus and a once a day injection.

There was a scare about cancer and lantus last year although the manufacturers flatly denied the allegations, I do have a few issues myself about lantus and its side effects but good control is paramount to me and I am willing to put up with these for now.

Why not try changing over and see if your readings improve, at the end of the day if you are not happy then you can always swap back to levemir or ask your dsn for a alternative insulin to try.

Nigel
 
Wow, after reading a lot of those comments I'm not entirely sure I'd be comfotable changing over. Thanks for the input Nigel, I would've liked to have given Lantus a go but I'm still very undecided and perhaps swayed a little more to stay on Levemir for the sake of all those complications. Especially as I only get highs in a morning. I'm going on the DAFNE course next month so might bring it up there.
 
Hi Froobes,
Im pleased that reading that has put you off changing to Lantus.
I regret that I was ever introduced to it, it poisoned me, and I worry about what permanent damage it's done to me. There are plenty of better tried , tested and more importantly safe alternatives, it's not worth being a human gineau pig.
Best of luck with the Daphne course
Jus
 
Lantus has been an absolute godsend.

My control on it is fabuolus, and i have absolutely no issues with it, as do most people on it.
Do the DAFNE course, and hopefully that will help. If that doesn't, i'd try switching, you can always swtich back.

Hope the course helps
 
My daughter was on lantus and we changed to levemir.The worst thing we ever did always high on a morning,very rarely below 10 during the day.She was on 41 units at the age of 11.We've now changed back to lantus her readings are so much better.
 
I was on Lantus first and changed to Levemir. I prefer Levemir, although not a pure comparison because on Lantus I hadn't done DAFNE.
The longer duration of Lantus is marketed as an advantage, but may be counterproductive if you need different basal doses in the day compared with the night. You could end up choosing between being high one half of the 24 hours, or being hypo the other half. Although DAFNE can help correct highs/lows, it works best if your basal is set right. That is, not having your basal artificially low/high and doing constant corrections for highs/lows at regular times.
In your shoes I'd try DAFNE first, then if necessary try another insulin. You'll gain from the feeling of freedom from doing DAFNE anyway. If all else fails consider a pump so you can set the basal rate to change when you need it to avoid the morning highs.
 
I was on Lantus, always low on a morning and sky high on an afternoon. Levemir was a no go as they said it wouldn't work for me. Put me back on Insulatard and it's a godesnd.

Also have you read this regarding Lantus:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/e626664l41812451/
 
I was on Lantus and I specifically asked my DSN if I could come off it and go on Levemir instead. The consultant was resistant to the idea.
Lantus may be great at controlling blood glucose levels, but for me the side effect of closing my eyes and falling asleep was a much greater problem. When I was on it, I could come in from work, sit on my bed to take my shoes off, then wake up three hours later and wonder where the time had gone! My sleep pattern still isn't back to normal, but I wonder whether that's the Levemir or whether it's just what Lantus has done to me.

Lantus = Avoid.
 
I had all-sorts of problems with Levemir and it just didn't seem to do the job I was having to inject upwards of 250 units a day to maintain ok control.. and I still had a huge DP issue.. my blood sugars could go from 5.0 at 3am to 16+ by 6am!.. I also saw a big increase in my blood pressure and with that much insulin in my system it was hell to not eat! I had many arguments with my GP who put it down to being resistant but as I kept pointing out to him my ratios for novo-rapid were quite normal...

Anyway's long story short I took a trip to the consultant at the hospital a month back and asked to be moved onto Insulatard.. so I have moved from 2 to 3 injections a day but I am now only having to inject 75 units a day so a mere 30% of what I was... and my DP is totally under control.. went to bed at 5.1 last night.. woke up at 5.4 this morning..

I think everyone is different but my suggestion is if you are unhappy with your insulin then certainly ask about changing it as a different insulin you may notice a massive difference!
 
Pneu said:
I had all-sorts of problems with Levemir and it just didn't seem to do the job I was having to inject upwards of 250 units a day to maintain ok control
Click to expand...

This seems to be common with Levemir, I know when I briefly changed over I was injecting a third more insulin than I was on Lantus.

Nigel
 
Seems like there's a very mixed view on lantus, liked by many and disliked by just as many!

When i was on lantus i could never seem to get it quite right, constantly upping then lowering. I never tried another Basal insulin such as levemir as i now just use novorapid with a pump.

I'm quite sure though that lantus was never for me though, lantus never made my control horrendous and i never had bad side affects, just think it didn't work as well with me.

i also found my DP impossible to deal with when using lantus, even though i spilt my doses.

If i were to go back to MDI i think i would prefer to try levemir over going back to lantus.
 
Have been diabetic for 30yrs now. Finally wound up on Lantus (80u) and Novolog (80u). Lantus prices just went through the ceiling so am considering Levemir (which is way less expensive), but the charts seem to indicate it takes a bit more (~15-20%). That true? And the graphjics earlier in this thread don't show the same absolutely horizontal efficacy line which is included in the Lantus box info sheet. What gives here? Thanks, Mack (monterey2@aol.com)
 
I'm firmly in the Levemir camp having discovered some interesting aspects of Lantus that caused me issues.

I injected Lantus twice daily to gain a level of stability anyway, and have continued to do so with Levemir. I've found that I have much better basal control with Levemir as it seems to release more smoothly than I was seeing with Lantus.

Some of my experiences are here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/thr...pefully-providing-some-lessons-learned.70039/

And here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/lantus-users.67760/

As others have said, Levemir caused them huge problem and Lantus was great, so it seems to be a bit of a horses for courses set-up.

So.... Lantus isn't a horizontal line either. I and many others discovered that after about 18 hours it was tailing off and required two shots. I've not found that I need any additional Levemir over the amount of Lantus I was using, and am better able to fine tune my insulin needs with Levemir doing two shots daily. As I said already, your mileage may vary!
 
They're two different brands, but they serve the same purpose (baseline insulin to control high blood sugars when not eating).
 
The best thing about the pump it takes only one kind of insulin which is the rapid insulin and when on pump u wil not use the long acting; levemir or lanus.. I'm just wondering why majority of ppl still use the insulin pen? Is it getting used to it and not wanting to change or something I'm not aware with..
 
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