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Utter Doofus Needs Urgent Help

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galahad100

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2
Hi everyone,

My first post on the forum so go easy on me - although when you read what has happened then you may not be so kind! Believe me when I say that the wife has called me every name under the sun and then some....including some words that I believe are completely new to the human race...
I normally take novorapid during the day (3 times - each mealtime) and then levimir at night (one injection only). HOWEVER.....(and this is where the wife's name calling comes in), I'm currently in Turkey on the 1st day of a supposedly relaxing holiday. I have loads of levimir but I've gone and forgotten my novorapid and only have enough for a couple of days max. The local pharmacy have been very helpful but don't have any novorapid and have offered me novomix (which I've never tried before). I've looked it up on the web and it seems to be ok - inject every mealtime in the same way as I do at present with the novorapid. However is it safe to still take my levimir as well at nighttime? Or should I stick to the novomix alone? I'm only here for a week and am due back to the UK on Friday so I would only be using the novomix for around 3 days approximately. However I'm unsure about mixing it with levimir. Can anyone offer me any guidance? When you've all read this and thought "what a dozy ##****### - please bear in mind that I will have heard worse than that from my poor wife and kids!!! I'm using a wireless network at the moment but in addition to a completely useless memory, I also have the IT skills of cardboard so please be patient if advice is offered and I can't thank you straight away.

Cheers everyone.

Mark
 
Not sure I can help - though I agree with your wife (being a wife myself :lol: ) I also felt sorry for you.

Does your insurance cover medical? - can you see a doctor? are you on a package holiday can you speak to your holiday rep? - I am only on tabs mfor my diabetes but I wouldn't like to tinker with my meds like that without sound medical advice - there is a thread on here somewhere about something similar during the ash cloud debacle - I will see if I can find it for you and post the link - hope you get sorted soon!
 
galahad100 said:
Hi everyone,

My first post on the forum so go easy on me - although when you read what has happened then you may not be so kind! Believe me when I say that the wife has called me every name under the sun and then some....including some words that I believe are completely new to the human race...
I normally take novorapid during the day (3 times - each mealtime) and then levimir at night (one injection only). HOWEVER.....(and this is where the wife's name calling comes in), I'm currently in Turkey on the 1st day of a supposedly relaxing holiday. I have loads of levimir but I've gone and forgotten my novorapid and only have enough for a couple of days max. The local pharmacy have been very helpful but don't have any novorapid and have offered me novomix (which I've never tried before). I've looked it up on the web and it seems to be ok - inject every mealtime in the same way as I do at present with the novorapid. However is it safe to still take my levimir as well at nighttime? Or should I stick to the novomix alone? I'm only here for a week and am due back to the UK on Friday so I would only be using the novomix for around 3 days approximately. However I'm unsure about mixing it with levimir. Can anyone offer me any guidance? When you've all read this and thought "what a dozy ##****### - please bear in mind that I will have heard worse than that from my poor wife and kids!!! I'm using a wireless network at the moment but in addition to a completely useless memory, I also have the IT skills of cardboard so please be patient if advice is offered and I can't thank you straight away.

Cheers everyone.

Mark
Click to expand...

Hello Mark

Novomix is a biphasic insulin and is injected just twice a day and not before every meal. It releaases its action sort of slowly over a 10-12hr period and its effect on your bg levels is sorted by the amount of carb you eat at meal times. You wont have to use any Levemir while you use Novomix otherwise you are going to go very low overnight and have a bad hypo.

Unfortunately I cannot tell you how much to inject in the morning but when I used twice a day insulin I injected 22 units in the morning before breakfast and then 8 units about 6pm before eating eve meal and according to what my bg level was before bed, I had a snack. At the time I was eating about 150g carb per day divided over 5 or 6 meals. This might give you some idea of how to use twice day insulins. As always bg testing is the only way to find out how things are going for you, so test, test, test.
 
What a horrible problem.

IHS gives good info about the use of Novomix. If you decide to use it, don't attempt to use your long acting basal insulin.(and whilst I've been looking things up, CarbsRok has also given some good pointers.

Maybe your pharmacist has access to other rapid insulins that can be used in the same way as
Novorapid. Obviously even though they are similar, dosing may vary a bit so you'd have to be careful
rapid insulins
1) Novorapid is also known as Novolog and it's 'chemical' name is insulin aspart.
2)humalog made by Eli Lilly , chemical name lispro insulin
3) (less likely as fairly new ) Apidra, made by Sanofi Adventis, chemical name insulin glulisine

There are also the older fast acting insulins which may be more readily available,

Regular human insulin : Humulin R, Novolin R (the R is very important) or regular insulin from animal sources:

Humulin R, Novolin R : ( Onset, 0.5 - 1 hours.( Peak, 2.5 - 5 hours. Duration, 6-8 hours. Give 30-60 minutes prior to meal
I don't know enough about these insulins, obviously with a longer duration than the more modern ones, there is a potential to overlap doses.
These might help and there are members here that know far more about them but whatever you do us EXTREME CAUTION
http://diabetes.emedtv.com/humulin-r/humulin-r.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/regular-insulin-1

IF you do get regular insulin make certain that it is U-100 strength
 
My husband did the same a couple of years ago. luckily, in Spain we got the Actrapid he needed.
I would see a doctor to find out what is the nearest equivalent to your normal rapid acting.
Hana
 
Hi everyone,

Just managed to get back online for a few seconds. Fortunately I can't hear all the noise / nightlife around me due to the fact that the wife has completely destroyed my ear drums due to a new medical threat called "giving griefitus" - can be deadly apparently :shock:
Anyway just want to say thanks for all of the advice that's been given. It's truly and sincerely appreciated. I've never posted on here before (mainly due to male pride and wanting to avoid looking / sounding like an eejit - so typically when I NEED to post here for advice it ends up with me looking and sounding like a complete eejit. Ironic eh? Anyway, I will definitely follow up on all the advice given however and it's extremely handy knowing what the other names are for similar insulin to the novorapid that's currently sitting all alone in my fridge back in blighty.
Can't thank you all enough.

Many many thanks

Mark
 
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