Levemir v lantus

squirrel

Well-Known Member
Messages
51
I am currently using levemir but have problems with insulin at tea, i need more than double the fast acting insulin than recomended, i have been told this maybe due to the levemir only lasting around 20 hours so i may be put on lantus, any advice helpful please.
 

totsy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,041
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
liars, animal cruelty
hi,
i think most people take levemir twice daily and its becoming more common in those using lantus,
i still use lantus once daily but if it didnt last 24hrs my diabetic nurse advised me to split the dose :D
 

Fujifilm

Well-Known Member
Messages
241
I was on Lantus for years and it caused me loads of problems, and I know others hate it. I switched to Levemir which was not much better but to be fare I only gave it four weeks but it was enough.

I am now on Porcine and its the business :D :D :D :D

My advice for what its worth is before going onto Lantus try and split the Levemir, I was on 32 units and had 16 at 10:30pm ish and 16 at 10:30am ish and it worked better than taking it in one go. I also use the same split with the Porcine. If the only problem you have with Levemir is that balance problem I would tend to stick with it rather than risk the Lantus.

Best to check with your doctor before doing it unless you are confident in managing it.

I find the change to Porcine has worked wonders, much better control, and I feel so much better. Might be worth looking into. :mrgreen:
.
 

squirrel

Well-Known Member
Messages
51
Hi, its the person in charge of my dieabetes that is suggesting to change to lantus but she wants me to try my butt as an injection site first as my thighs are slightly lumpy. Anyway i have always took a lot more fast acting insulin after tea so it probably is running out, she never suggest splitting it just said lantus if garunteed to last 24 hours. Ive never heard of Porcine what is it?
 

janabelle

Well-Known Member
Messages
816
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, Porcine, or Hypurin Porcine Insulin is insulin derived from a pig. There are 2 varieties of animal insulin available, beef and pork. both varieties are available in long-acting and short-acting. They come in pen-cartridge or vial form.
I changed to Hypurin Porcine a year and a half ago, and it's the best insulin I've been on, and wish I'd been offered it at diagnosis. I'd been on synthetic "human" insulin since diagnosis in 89, and was changed to Lantus in 2004, and told it was the way forward for diabetes. I can assure you that for many people Lantus is not the 24 hour flat-profile it claims to be. I, like Fujifilm, had a hellish time on lantus-4 years of it! I had lousy blood-sugar control, it was unpredictable, and didn't seem to work some days. Aside from that it made me so ill, I was constantly exhausted and in pain; it ruined my life- that's no exaggeration, I am not an isolated case.
I always wonder why doctors are only prescribing Lantus or Levemir, when there are plenty of other long-acting insulins available- Novo-Nordisk (who manufacture Levemir) and Sanofi Aventis (Lantus) are out to corner the insulin market, whatever the cost to patients. The result is less choice of treatment for patients generally, but especially for those experiencing problems with synthetic, or analogue insulins.
If you're interested in looking further into animal insulins or alternatives to the 2 "L"s, there's a good website that will give you loads of info http://www.iddtinternational.org/
Just because one insuln suits one person, it will not suit everyone; we are all different. It's the same with reactions to any drug or medication.
You should do your own research and make an informed choice about what insulin you decide to change to, but ultimately it should be your choice.
Let us know how you get on.
Jus
 

fergus

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,439
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi squirrel,

In my time I've used porcine, Lantus and at the moment Levemir. In my experience I've found no difference between them, although others clearly have.
What I would say is that neither Lantus nor Levemir is guaranteed to last 24 hours. Levemir for example can last for as little as 18 hours in some people and there seems to be considerable variance in its activity period from person to person.
For what it's worth, I met NovoNordisk's UK CEO at a function over a year ago. I asked him whether he thought it should be prescribed as a once daily basal dose and his answer was no, better coverage is possible for all users if they split their doses. The same is very probably true of Lantus and I found it much more controllable if split into separate doses.

All the best,

fergus
 

janabelle

Well-Known Member
Messages
816
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 Fergus,
Hope you had a good Christmas, same to everyone on the forum!!
That's very important info you got about Levemir,from Novo's CEO, did he say whether they would make this knowledge known to the public, by way of changing the chart that shows the 24 hour profile? On the Diabetes UK guide to insulins, both Lantus and Levemir show a flat 24 profile.
Begs the question what is the point of them? They were both marketed at 24 hour insulins; if that's not true then they probably are no more effective than the previous "human" synthetic insulins.

Be interested to know what Lantus dose you were on, Fergus. I recently uncovered a diary from 2006. I had been on Lantus a year and a half by then and kept the diary because I was really ill-only found it few weeks ago, and it makes interesting reading. I've noticed from my entries, that the days when I was at my worst I was on larger doses of lantus-44 units. I had upped it from 38 as my BG was higher on previous days. When I came off Lantus in May 08, I was on 28 units, and had forgotten that I'd been on such a large dose previously. Saying that, it didn't seem to matter what dose I was on, control was always erratic. :?

I'd really like to know why I was so ill and had such bad control on it, and if I had any confidence in Sanofi Aventis' honesty I would contact them directly. But previous communication with them has led me to believe they are aware of concerns like mine, but reluctant to admit it. I do wonder , especially after reading my diary, if it side-effects are dose related, and that's why some people don't experience probs with it. Be interested to know what you think.
Jus :)
 

fergus

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,439
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi Jus, Christmas was good thanks. I hope you enjoyed it too.
As I recall (it was over a year ago and right now I'm not even sure what day of the week it is), his position was that there was huge pressure from the healthcare side to provide a genuine 24 hour basal insulin. The technology always lags behind the aspiration. It's relatively easy to put a graph together showing a 24 hour activity profile together, provided you select your evidence carefully. Let's call it the Ancel Keys principle? As I said, and as he confirmed, there's a lot of variance in activity depending on the individual.
What I do remember is his enthusiasm about forthcominging basal insulins with much longer profiles, with the ultimate aim of producing a 7 day basal!!!!
You could well be right about larger basal doses bringing associated health problems. I'm certain that insulin levels are inversely proportional to good health, weight and life expectancy. A few years back I was using 22 units of Lantus per day in a single dose. Over time, I reduced that to 8 units, split into 4 in the evening and 4 the following morning. On Levemir now the doses and splits are the same.
All the best,

fergus