Archive for the ‘Insulin Information’ Category

Lantus, Not Lantis (Learning to Spell)

Monday, November 30th, 2009

OK, I’ve been taking Lantus for like 2 years now, and just noticed it’s spelled Lantus, not Lantis. Nothing like running a Diabetes blog and not knowing how to spell the names of diabetic medications. So, since I obviously don’t know enough about the product to even know how it’s name’s spelled, I decided to read the instructions that came in the box.

Have you ever read one of the instruction manuals that comes in a box of insulin? Well, Don’t! The thing is 4 pages of like number 1 font, singles spaced. But, it was sort of interesting reading and there were a couple of things I noticed, that I didn’t know before. So, I’m going to share them here, for those of you who haven’t read the directions that come in the box.

  • Lantus isn’t supposed to be mixed with anything when injected, including another insulin. I’ve been taking mine, mixed with my nightly dose of Humalog, for 2 years now. I wonder if my Lantus dose will go down if I take it by itself. (If it makes a noticeable difference, at $100 per bottle, that will be worth the extra needle.)
  • I didn’t know how to spell “Basal”, as in “Basal Rate”, which is the dose of long lasting insulin needed to keep your blood sugar normal throughout the day, without food. Or, it’s the underlying drip dose you get with an insulin pump that keeps your blood glucose levels at a normal rate throughout the day.

There was more, of course, but it was all I could do to read that much without falling asleep…

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what happens to a type 1 diabetic if they dont take insulin for 1 week?

Monday, November 16th, 2009

OK, that question keeps showing up in my log files for this site, so I’m going to answer it because it scares the hell out of me that anyone would be asking it. The answer is: If a type 1 diabetic doesn’t take his or her insulin for a week, then they will die. As a matter of fact, they will die way before the week is up. A type 1 diabetic who doesn’t take their insulin will die after just a day or three, especially if they eat more than just protein and fat. If they eat carbs, they’re going to be dead even quicker.

While you’d think that a type 1 diabetic could last awhile if they didn’t eat anything, or just ate meat and fat, that’s just not true. A type 1 diabetic, just like everyone else, needs insulin to move the sugar in the body into the cells so that your brain and muscles can work. So, even if you’re not eating anything, you still need insulin so that your cells can use the energy that your body provides from fat stores. For example; I need 60 units of insulin a day just to keep my body working, and that’s just my basil rate, I need more if I eat anything.

On the first day that the diabetic doesn’t have insulin, he or she is going to feel nauseous, sweating and have a really bad headache. The headache is from their blood getting thicker and thicker. It will get so thick that it will start popping the smaller blood vessels in the head and eyes. After their blood sugar gets over 600, they will start going into a coma, and if they don’t receive treatment quickly, they will experience brain death from lack of nutrients and oxygen, followed by clinical death. All of this can happen in a day, or just a few hours, depending on the diabetic and how brittle they are and how many carbs they had to eat.

All I can tell you is that if you’re a diabetic, make sure you keep a couple weeks worth of insulin around at all times, and ALWAYS take your blood glucose and insulin kit with you wherever you go. Something as simple as forgetting your insulin kit when having lunch with a friend, then having a flat tire on the way home and forgetting your cell phone, could kill you.

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Insulin Prescriptions

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Here’s a question for all of you type 1 diabetics out there. When do type 1 diabetics get to quit taking insulin? I bet you didn’t know there was a time, I bet you thought that you would have to take insulin until the day you died, or at least up until a couple of days before you died. Guess what? You’re right, as a type 1 diabetic, if you don’t take your insulin, you will go into a diabetic coma and die.

I mention these facts because the people at my stupid medical insurance company don’t know that, and niether does my Doctor. When my Doctor writes my prescription for insulin, it’s only good for a year, and if I don’t go back and get it redone, my pharmacy won’t give me any insulin, and even if they did, my insurance company won’t pay for it. At over $100 per bottle, I sure as heck don’t want to have to pay for it out of my own pocket… especially since I already pay $18,000.00 per year for medical insurance for a family of 5.

On that note, I think I’m going to go see if I can find a coupon or offer or something for a bottle of free insulin…. I’m sure at the kind of money that Lilly and whatever that other company is… Novo I think, make off a bottle of insulin, they’re willing to give away a free bottle to pull you away from their competitor.

Drop by in the next day or so if you want to see if I found any diabetic freebies.

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Lantis vs. NPH

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

When I was taking NPH, I would take 30 units in the morning, 30 units at lunch, 30 units at dinner time and 60 units when I went to bed. That’s 150 units a day of NPH. The NPH was just for the basal rate, and I then would take boluses of Humalog at each meal to cover the food I ate. At that time, I was also taking 1 unit of insulin for each 2 grams of carbs I was eating, so a cup of milk, which is about 12 cabs, would need 6 units of insulin to control the rise in blood sugar.

Over the last few years, I’ve increased my muscle mass, decreased my carb intake and actually had my body become more sensitive to insulin. I don’t weigh any less than I did, but my body seams to be working better. I now take 45 units of Lantis per day and am down to 1 unit of Humalog per 4 carbs. When I started with Lantis, it took more than 60 units per day to maintain an even blood sugar, without eating of course, for 24 hours. I can now do with 35-40 units on days when I ski, and 45-50 on normal days.

My insulin pump is now set to deliver around 42 units of Humalog in a 24 hour period, so the Lantis is pretty close. I don’t like to use the pump very much though, because I still have to put 300 units of insulin into the same hole over 3 days, and that still gives you really nasty infections.

What types of insulin are the rest of you using?

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