Toujeo insulin

I'll tag a few member who use this insulin and may help @richyb @qe5rt @Lynz84

At my annual review in January, my consultant wanted me to change from Humalin I to Toujeo, but I refused, as I find 2 injections per day more flexible, especially when working night shifts, plus it is only available in disposable pens, which I refuse to use, on environmental grounds. It is also much more expensive, so the NHS and environment would be paying more fot something I didn't want.

Hi there I am using touj(eo. been on it for about 5months. Before that I was on Humulin insulin though this I found to be not good for my control (type 1 for 50yrs).
The Toujeo is a long acting insulin that is claimed to last up to 36 hrs. This is normally taken once daily at roughly the same time (within a max of 3hours). I take this but also have my short acting insulin with my meals ( i take humalog 200) using the normal carb counting ratio regime.
The Toujeo I take is 300 strengh, what this means is that only a third of the normal insulin volume goes into the body. This improved insulin injection sites. Once the correct dose is found it is quite good with me. Night time (sleeping) is very good and hypos are rare or non existant. Day time is good once the correct dose is found. Only trouble I have found is I can get it near perfect for a few weeks then something changes and I have to adjust dosage again but this alway's has happened with me.
It takes 3 or 4 days to fully see the differences the adjustments has made. This is because the 36 hr Toujeo overlaps each day's dose

I switched from Lantus to Toujeo and i'm much more stable during day and night. I've had morning highs for as long as i can remember, now with Toujeo they're either lower or it's a perfect value. First real test should be end of next month when they take my Hba1c but i'm positive it will have dropped. Also experience much less night time hypos now than i used to. Overall i'm really happy with the change. An extra thing i noticed is no more unexplainable highs which i did have on Lantus. On the subject of injection sites i don't notice much of a difference, but it's usually the Novorapid that does the most damage as you only take your long lasting once a day as opposed to the Novo several times a day. Only thing that made a big difference on that front was lowering the needle length.

I have just been prescribed this, I was on levemir. I have had huge night time hypos and I am not waking so tonight I am using this. I hope it will eliminate my night time hypos and stabilise my sugar.

Cumberland said:

Consultant switched me from Humilin I to Toujeo

She explained to me it was more concentrated, I just wondered if anyone was using it and what they thought of it

Until today I had never heard of it

Thanks in advance

Cumbs

Click to expand...

Yes I am on Toujeo and KwikPen Humalog 200 I have been on it for about 2 months they are more
concentrated but they are not bringing my counts down as I thought so still plodding on with it,
Toujeo is the long acting insulin and the KwikPen Humalog 200 is the fast acting insulin I have a
appointment with my diabetic nurse next week so I will see how I get on.
Cumbernauld Glasgow

Been on Toujeo now 2 weeks this Friday. 1st week was a nightmare sugar in high 20's anyway the last week has been better. The last two morning I have woken with low sugar, today it was 7. Looking at my Libre sugar dipped to 2.4 at 1 then my liver kicked out some glucose and it went up to 15 before gradually coming down to 7 when waking. I feel like I have been a few rounds in boxing ring. I went on Toujeo to prevent night time hypos it's clearly not helping that. I will continue with it and hopefully find the right balance but it's not easy. Hope your all ok.

Cumberland said:

Consultant switched me from Humilin I to Toujeo

She explained to me it was more concentrated, I just wondered if anyone was using it and what they thought of it

Until today I had never heard of it

Thanks in advance

Cumbs

Click to expand...

Cumberland said:

Consultant switched me from Humilin I to Toujeo

She explained to me it was more concentrated, I just wondered if anyone was using it and what they thought of it

Until today I had never heard of it

Thanks in advance

Cumbs

Click to expand...

Hello

I was switched to this while pregnant. I jave just changed back to Levemir. I have been having hypos every night whilst taking Toujeo leaving me with readings between 15 and 26 every morning. It also doesn't help with my sugar levels during the day. It has been like this since having the baby 5 months ago. So glad to be back on Levemir. I don't rate Toujeo. Also heard whispers that my clinic will stop prescribing it going forward after research etc due to bad reactions

Hi to All,
A Newbie to the forums. I am the carer for my wife who is officially T2 for about 6 years. Originally on Metformin SR which worked until they messed up her other drugs and damaged her kidneys. Other tablets did not really work, so put on Toujeo about 3months ago plus a low carb diet. I injected her in the morning and gradually sorted the dose, via several hypos. HbA1c went from 102 to 51. Excellent, as it means she can now have her cataract done. But the blood sugar does seem to go up to 9 to 12 2hrs after meals, so not the best control I think. Any comments?

BenE said:

Hi to All,
A Newbie to the forums. I am the carer for my wife who is officially T2 for about 6 years. Originally on Metformin SR which worked until they messed up her other drugs and damaged her kidneys. Other tablets did not really work, so put on Toujeo about 3months ago plus a low carb diet. I injected her in the morning and gradually sorted the dose, via several hypos. HbA1c went from 102 to 51. Excellent, as it means she can now have her cataract done. But the blood sugar does seem to go up to 9 to 12 2hrs after meals, so not the best control I think. Any comments?

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Hi BenE, Toujeo is a basal insulin. This means it regulates a stable insulin output over 24 hours. It's not designed to cover insulin needs for meals, this requires a different kind of insulin. Your wife may be in need of additional rapid-acting insulin such as NovoRapid to deal with the spikes, especially as she is on a low carb diet. (Proteins and fats can still rise bloodsugars.)

I want to add my own experience to this topic. I've been on Toujeo for 7 months now. After dropping gliclazide from my medication and using NovoRapid instead, I had to adjust my TJ dosage by upping it 2 units. I've had no issues with it whatsoever, don't get hypos from it and no problems with the injection sites. My only problems are related to non-diabetic things such as stress and insomnia, but that is not something that I can blame the insulin for.

I have just been prescribed this, from youtube video people say its a gimmick, the hospitals are trying to push the use as the company is going down the pan. An if you read the instructions that come with it, it says 44% of people have to take eventually more toujeo then lantus, I don't know that why I'm here. see video at the end of teh day i guess if it works for you then it works if not go back to lantus

From what I have read Toujeo is designed to replace Lantus. However a newer more interesting insulin is Lixilan which combines Lantus and Lixisenatide which gives better control of post prandial readings. http://www.pharmatimes.com/news/eu_approval_for_sanofis_diabetes_combo_1184525 Worth also considering!

I mentioned this drug to my Consultant the other week and he didn't switch on until I explained more! He said it wouldn';t came much difference to me as I am a slim person .....

@flashgordon12345 - The reason that Sanofi had to introduce Toujeo was that Lantus has reached the end of its patent, which means that biosimilar competitors could join the market. Basaglar is this insulin. The idea is that biosimilars should be cheaper, so companies opt to produce a new or modified version of their own product in order to continue to make profits. That's what Toujeo is in this context.

In terms of its performance in the field, it appears to have better variance and fewer hypos than Lantus/NPH, but those are Sanofi run trials.

@asparagusp, I'm not sure that I'd call that insulin. It's clearly a dual-factor concoction using insulin and a GLP-1 incretin , meaning that aside from adding insulin, it also reduces the production of Glucagon and stimulates Beta cells.

tim2000s said:

@asparagusp, I'm not sure that I'd call that insulin. It's clearly a dual-factor concoction using insulin and a GLP-1 incretin , meaning that aside from adding insulin, it also reduces the production of Glucagon and stimulates Beta cells.

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Indeed but maybe better than taking Lantus and Gliclazide? So a USP for Sanofi?