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What's the best time of day to take my Lantus?

Eireannn

Well-Known Member
Messages
81
Location
Southport
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Tomatoes, yuck
I've been having a problem with my blood sugars around dinner time. I take my lantus before I go to bed but the times are always different. Sometimes I'll be tired around 8 and take it and other times I'll go to bed at 10 and take it then. I notice that 2 hours after dinner, my bloods will spike up to around 12-13mmol and then the insulin I take doesn't work. Is this because the lantus wears off under 24 hours? And if so, should I take it before breakfast instead or will it wear off during the night and affect my blood sugar?? I'm so confused, please help!
 
Hi @Eireannn

Lantus is a once a day insulin, you should take in evening. I used to have same issue as you with timing so moved to taking it around 6pm each day (with dinner), all before I moved to a pump.

Your post dinner spike could be because your not taking enough short acting, or your not taking it early enough before your meal.
Try taking it 20mins before your meal.

You don't mention what your pre dinner glucose reading are ?.
 

My predinner glucose readings are different all the time. I used to have perfect control so maybe my honeymoon period has ended as my bloods are constantly high after meals even though I'm taking the right amount of insulin. I even changed it to times by 8 instead of 10.

Another question, are you supposed to take it before your last meal of the day or before bed?
 
I never split-dosed my lantus but some people do as they find it doesn't provide a full 24 coverage, maybe discuss this with your DSN if things don't improve, alternatively ask if you can be prescribed Tresiba as this basal insulin lasts up to 42 hours but is still taken once a day.

As for timings, like you I use to take my basal dose before bed @Eireannn , I then moved it to the morning before moving it to a early evening time-slot (6-7pm) where it stayed right up to moving to a insulin pump.
 
Your basal insulin should have almost nothing to do with what and when you eat. In a perfect world, your basal insulin would allow you to stay at a specific number for the entire day if you didn't eat.

It is your bolus insulin that counters the food you eat and/or helps you correct for high blood sugars.

Honestly, I'm not convinced that you need to take your basal insulin at EXACTLY the same time every day. I take mine usually somewhere between 7-9 in the evening and have no issues as long as I take it at some point within that time window.
 
Eireannn said:
my bloods are constantly high after meals even though I'm taking the right amount of insulin.
Click to expand...

The right amount of insulin is whatever works to keep your blood sugar where you want them to be.

If you're consistently high two hours after dinner that does suggest it's a lack of bolus that might be the issue so yo might need to look at your dinner time insulin:carb ratio and also the timing of the bolus.

Lantus doesn't last 24 hours, more like 14-18 I think. You might be running out of basal in the evening so you could look at splitting your dose. Maybe do some basal testing to try and work out what's going on with your basal coverage. That'll help you work out whether it's basal or bolus causing problems.

I used to take lantus when I was going to bed, so the timing moved depending on when I got into bed, then I split it and took it at bed time and on waking (also variable timings). Then I switched to levemir (which works better with a split cos it lasts 12 hours) until I started pumping.
 
I take 13Lantus morning between 7am and 10am....and 6Lantus evening between 7pm and 10pm..... 1 dose lantus doesn't seem to work for me so i take 2/3 morning and 1/3 evening....I'd say split your lantus dose and inject it 12 hours apart in the fractions 2/3morning and 1/3evening
 
Lantus seems alot better than levemir..... I usually mix my lantus before injecting so that the contents are evened out in the liquid. DONT SHAKE!! just roll it between your palms turn it upside down and roll again for about 3times.
 
1 dose lantus doesn't cover 24 hours and there's a greater chance of hypo's that's what iv experienced and if not mixed correctly as I stated above then more chance of undesirable Blood sugar levels
 
And the moment I split my lantus dose I had to increase it as well for example I was taking 1 dose of 13/day but after the split I am taking 13 morning and 6 evening.
 
Lantus is not once a day insulin from my experience.


Edited by a mod
 
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@jonniey splitting lantus in the proportions you describe and increasing it on the split might be the doses that work for you, but that doesn't mean it will work for OP.

@Eireannn if you're trying to consider whether you need adjustments to basal do a basal test and discuss alterations with your DSN
 
Hi @Eireannn

It does sound like your bolus, meal dosage needs adjusting.

As your new to all this, are you happy with carb counting and been on a course yet ? (Dafne, Bertie.....).

Although @jonniey is right that you can split Lantus, it should be done under supervision, I'd also tried this myself before moving to a pump. As a new IDD I would not recommend you try this without some guidance and I'd not mentioned it earlier as did not want to confuse you .
 

If your pre-dinner readings are higher than the level your trying to obtain - for instance say its 6. then when dosing for your meal you need to also dose extra to bring down your BG's to your chosen level. For instance my goal is always 5 so if I'm higher than 5 I dose extra on top of the meal to also correct. For me I've worked out that 1 unit of insulin reduces my BG readings by about 2.3. So if I was say 7.3 before a meal I'd add an extra unit of insulin above the amount I'd need for my meal carbs.

I also dose may be between 20 & 50% insulin in advance of my meal depending upon what I'm eating, mostly between 20-30 mins, but if my BG is high say over 10 I might dose 45 mins in advance, then the rest with the meal.

Hope this has not confused you too much ;-), of course this was all before moving to a pump.
 
Thank you for the feedback everyone, as I'm new to this I'm completely baffled and confused lol. I'll speak to the diabetic nurse when I next see her and talk to her about splitting doses and everything else.
Because I was on a family visit when sent to hospital, they had to let me out the day after because I was going home so I learnt about carb-counting on my first day and managed to work out how much insulin to take for my meal there. Me and my mum got used to it and the corrections that were needed too. I was told that 1 unit brought me down by 4, but maybe that's changed now, I don't know? Anyway, thank you everyone.
 

I know its a worry, it took me years to work this out in the 1970's. It will take some time to get the hang of it all so don't worry if at first its confusing as it will all drop into place.

Ask your DSN to get you and your mum onto a carb counting course and when your ready also ask them to help you work out what your correction dose it, 1 unit for 4 is the standard they tell everyone on day 1 to use but we are all different, use that for now until you know any different.

The best bit of advice I can give is always try to take control and don't let diabetes control what you do .
 
Although Lantus was originally designed to be a 24-hour insulin (I did the human trials for it) I've found that most people, myself included, have a split dose morning and evening. The main point is that you take it at the same time each day, and if you do decide to take it with your evening meal, make sure you do not do both injections (basal and bolus) in the same spot. Take one in your stomach, one in your leg, or one on the left side, one on the right. One other major thing that I must mention, if you do decide to split your dosage, make sure you consult with your GP or DSN before making any changes.

Good luck
 
When I tried splitting doses I hypo'd all day and that was on just one unit.

Definitely talk to your DSN and if you do try it please test often.
 
If you hypo on split doses logically it means your basal was too much also you must get the ratio right. Split dose 50/50 didn't work for me now I take 69/31 to be exact.
 
Here in the us we don't have half dose pens so difficult to split 1 unit. I take 1-2 at night. I during the day and I hypo. I just stick to the night dose and use novolog during the days
 
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