[Guest]

This I still don't quite understand...this dose-splitting and being covered for 24 hours. Let me explain:

Let's say I have a car that needs to go 30 miles, but when I put a gallon of gas into the car...it always runs out of gas in 25 miles. Someone suggests that if I want to go the full 30 miles I should put a half gallon of gas into the car...then at 15 miles, put another half gallon in. Somehow this person thinks that they can get around the universal law that you can't get something for nothing. My car will only go 25 miles on one gallon of gas...no matter how I feed it the gasoline!

The same has to apply in trying to split dosages in order to get them to last 24 hours. Yes, you'll have insulin in your body...but not the dosage that you require when one of the stacks reaches that less-than-24-hour period. Lemme 'splain:

Let's say you do 20 units of Lantus once a day and that 20 units only lasts you 20 hours. That it's lasting you for only 20 hours has nothing to do with the dosage amount; it only lasts 20 hours, regardless. Now, you change that regimen to 10 units at 12AM and 10 units at 12PM. What you are doing is called stacking. Your trying to overlap 10 units with another 10 units thinking in mathematical terms that the 10 + 10 units will equal 20 units of coverage minute-to-minute in 24 hours. It doesn't.

Remember...the Lantus only works for 20 hours...something you can't ignore. There's a gap in there where the 10 units you injected at 12AM wears out at 10PM that night. The same with the 10 units you injected at 12PM...that dosage wears out at 10AM in the morning. Between those two times, 10AM to 12PM...and 10PM to 12AM...you're only getting the benefit of 10 units of insulin. Given, it's better than zero insulin...but it's still not what your regimen calls for.

Now, if you injected 10 units of insulin every 10 hours...then yes, the stacks would overlap at the exact time they were needed. But then...you could just inject 20 units every 20 hours and reach the same results...eliminating the waist of a second needle.

I would propose that to get the benefit of double-dipping that one switch to Levimir...which supports this type of regimen up front.

Thoughts?

 

[Adjitater]

This I still don't quite understand...this dose-splitting and being covered for 24 hours. Let me explain:

Let's say I have a car that needs to go 30 miles, but when I put a gallon of gas into the car...it always runs out of gas in 25 miles. Someone suggests that if I want to go the full 30 miles I should put a half gallon of gas into the car...then at 15 miles, put another half gallon in. Somehow this person thinks that they can get around the universal law that you can't get something for nothing. My car will only go 25 miles on one gallon of gas...no matter how I feed it the gasoline!

The same has to apply in trying to split dosages in order to get them to last 24 hours. Yes, you'll have insulin in your body...but not the dosage that you require when one of the stacks reaches that less-than-24-hour period. Lemme 'splain:

Let's say you do 20 units of Lantus once a day and that 20 units only lasts you 20 hours. That it's lasting you for only 20 hours has nothing to do with the dosage amount; it only lasts 20 hours, regardless. Now, you change that regimen to 10 units at 12AM and 10 units at 12PM. What you are doing is called stacking. Your trying to overlap 10 units with another 10 units thinking in mathematical terms that the 10 + 10 units will equal 20 units of coverage minute-to-minute in 24 hours. It doesn't.

Remember...the Lantus only works for 20 hours...something you can't ignore. There's a gap in there where the 10 units you injected at 12AM wears out at 10PM that night. The same with the 10 units you injected at 12PM...that dosage wears out at 10AM in the morning. Between those two times, 10AM to 12PM...and 10PM to 12AM...you're only getting the benefit of 10 units of insulin. Given, it's better than zero insulin...but it's still not what your regimen calls for.

Now, if you injected 10 units of insulin every 10 hours...then yes, the stacks would overlap at the exact time they were needed. But then...you could just inject 20 units every 20 hours and reach the same results...eliminating the waist of a second needle.

I would propose that to get the benefit of double-dipping that one switch to Levimir...which supports this type of regimen up front.

Thoughts?

You might as well say why don't we all just go back to taking NPH. People like lantus because it is a flat insulin with no peaks. Some do do better by double dipping and splittint their dose. For me none of them will work real well as my basal needs change too much throughout the day. It changes almost 1 unit per hour over 24 hours. So I say if splitting works for you doit I can see where you are coming from and how it works better over a longer period of time. So you all keep doing what you do if it works for you.

 

[Jen]

I, in fact, have split my Levemir into 3 doses at 8 hour intervals: I've found over the years that 1) Levemir's duration of action is about 9 hours for me and 2) I need a lot more at night than I do in during the day. So I do 12u at midnight, 8u at around 7 a.m. (should be 8 a.m., but that's not convenient) and 3u at 4 p.m. This schedule really flattened out some unexpected highs I was having in the evening and helps me deal with DP.

Jen

 

[goldengirl]

I do not split my Lantus dose. But, I see why some do. As Jen noted, one's need for insulin isn't necessarily flat. And, it's effectiveness isn't flat, there is a small peak & then it tapers off.

Good basal testing is important to know what works for you. I haven't done that b/c so far, I'm able to keep decent BG management with one dose in the morning. To begin with, I was taking it at night & having great FBG readings, but I was fighting evening highs, both before & after dinner. Taking it in the morning gives me OK FBG readings, but it tends to keep my BG readings good through the evening. Works for me!

 

[Guest]

Taking it in the morning gives me OK FBG readings, but it tends to keep my BG readings good through the evening. Works for me!

I also was given instructions to take my Lantus "at bedtime". I'm a TV "snacker". I realize that Lantus doesn't cover meals...but I also found that injecting in the morning worked better for me than injecting at night. It was also "more" convenient. I do a FBG when I get up in the morning...might as well do my insulin as well and get the whole thing out of the way.

Works for me, too!

 

[Jen]

Hey - I hadn't noticed your photo before. Love the salt n peppa beard! No doubt a sign of great widsom.

Jen

 

[Shanny]

I agree, Jen . . . thanks for the real thing, B-man . . . the caricature is cute, but this is better.

 

[Guest]

Strange, the silver didn't start coming in until after my 60th birthday (8 years ago)..which is when I think I became a card-carrying diabetic. My club brothers noticed it right off...started calling me the "Vanilla Gorilla".