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Levemir 50 units.

G

gusto

Member
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10
I am up to close to 50 units of levemir per day as my background insulin.

Was diagnosed type 1 in 2011, do calorie counting etc and take novorapid as my fast acting insulin

I weigh about 90kg

My bs is constantly in the teens but I am not keen on taking 50 units of background insulin.

Anyone think 50 units is excessive?
 
What is your BMI and Carb intake? 50 iu seems quite a lot but it will depend on your circumstances and diet. BS constantly in the teens is not a good thing and suggests that you may not have your levels quite right.
 
gusto said:
Bmi is 27 or something

No idea what my carb intake is.
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I take it that you don't carb count and haven't been on a DAFNE course?

First thing I would do is talk to your Diabetic consultant about your issues. It appears that you need some help with stabilisation.

I'd also ask for DAFNE education, although there is an on-line alternative (http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/) that will help you to understand carb counting and how that affects your insulin and blood glucose levels.

In the meantime, with a BMI at 27, are you an athletic person or is it that you have put on a little too much weight. If it's the latter, most T1s find that losing weight helps to improve insulin sensitivity and it will reduce the amount you need to take.

I do think you need to check your diet first though, as high teen BS is bad, and this is only likely to be being achieved with quite a high carb intake. Can you describe your diet and the amount of insulin you take to go with meals?
 
I can see where this is going.
I do carb count and I am pretty good at judging foods. Not trained in dafne but done carb counting course.

I used to cycle A LOT and that kept my insulin dependency down. Circumstances prevailed in the last couple of years that curbed this activity.

Looks like I need to get back on the bike and reduce carb intake.
 
gusto said:
I can see where this is going.
I do carb count and I am pretty good at judging foods. Not trained in dafne but done carb counting course.

I used to cycle A LOT and that kept my insulin dependency down. Circumstances prevailed in the last couple of years that curbed this activity.

Looks like I need to get back on the bike and reduce carb intake.
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I'd say so. If you are still injecting at rates that are similar to those you used to use when you had a very different physical activity profile, it's unsurprising that it's not quite working. It also suggests that the amount of insulin you are using to bolus is not reflective of the carbs you are eating.

It's an unfortunate circle that you can only really break by doing one of the options you have available differently. As a very basic comparison, on a relatively high carb (~250g per day) diet, I required 45u on Lantus and roughly 15u of Novorapid per bolus. Having massively reduced this to mostly less than 50g of carbs per day, and lost ten kilos I've dropped to around 25u of Lantus (which I am still adjusting) and 2-3u of Novorapid per meal.
 
Hi. Yes, 50 units is very high. I take 12 units per day with a weight of 61Kg. It looks like you do need to reduce your carb intake a bit. Think carbs not calories. We have all been trained to worry about calories when trying to diet but that is not helpful. Carbs are the danger not calories from fat etc. We have all been subjected to marketing by the food industry who love us to buy highly profitable carbs so they keep quiet about them :)
 
I have been doing a weights programme as well to boost muscle mass as I didn't want to lose too much weight too quickly, but as the trainers say, 90% of getting abs is done in the kitchen. I am eating 2000 calories per day, just with much lower carbs, and it makes a huge difference. Even on weeks where I am not doing the gym work, the weight still reduces.
 
I briefly switched from lantus to levemir a few years ago and needed nearly twice as much insulin (and still couldn't get my bg levels under control), my DSN warned me at the time that people using levemir as a background insulin usually inject a third more than when they were using lantus.

Losing weight helps with insulin resistance so you may want to keep your weight down,you could also discuss with your gp or consultant about going on Metformin as this also helps with insulin resistance.
 
gusto said:
I am up to close to 50 units of levemir per day as my background insulin.

Was diagnosed type 1 in 2011, do calorie counting etc and take novorapid as my fast acting insulin

I weigh about 90kg

My bs is constantly in the teens but I am not keen on taking 50 units of background insulin.

Anyone think 50 units is excessive?
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Hi gusto, I weigh nearly 57 kilo's and take 11 units of Levemir before bed, NovoRapid with meals. I do think carb counting is the way to go. Make an appointment with your diabetes clinic or DSN and hopefully you can go on a carb counting course, I did and it was very beneficial, a real eye opener too. My ratio is 10 carbs = 1 unit, but that does depend on whether I am very active or less active, (normally the latter is in the early evening)
Good luck and I hope you can find some changes in your diabetes management, that will be more positive for you.

All the best RRB :)
 
I have done carb counting.

I have also recently changed onto levemir. I was taking 30 units of lantus previously.

Cheers for all the info.
 
gusto said:
I have done carb counting.

I have also recently changed onto levemir. I was taking 30 units of lantus previously.

Cheers for all the info.
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Quite a leap then
.
There's also a new basal insulin that just came on the market last year called Tresiba, if you changed from lantus due to having difficulty with that insulin then it might be worth asking about your diabetes team about Tresiba.
 
Took 5 units off my levemir. Will see what happens in a few days.
Then take another 5 off.
Carb intake also reduced.
 
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