Why Am I Using Ozempic
Ozempic is medication used alongside diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes. Ozempic is not used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. You doctor may prescribe Ozempic to be used in addition to other diabetes medications, such as metformin or insulin.
Ozempic is also approved to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death in adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease.
Treating An Overdose Of Rapid
How you treat an overdose will depend on how quickly you realise the error.
If the insulin was administered more than 20 minutes ago, act quickly and take a good source of fast-acting carbohydrate immediately, such as glucose tablets or a very sugary drink. Follow this up with sufficient slower-absorbed carbohydrate, such as bread, to prevent hypoglycemia occurring later.
If you realise an error has been made within 20 minutes of injecting, you may not need to take sugar but you should have carbohydrate that will get absorbed relatively quickly. Avoid having fatty foods, if possible, as fat tends to slow down how quickly the carbohydrate acts.
It is common to need 10g of carbohydrate to counteract each unit of insulin. Its generally safer to have too much than too little carbohydrate when treating an overdose of insulin.
Test your blood glucose levels regularly and be on the lookout for symptoms of a hypo. If you feel hypo symptoms, or think you feel them, perform a blood test.
If the overdose is a large overdose, take carbohydrate first and then call your health team or out- of-hours service for advice.
Where Do I Inject The Insulin
Insulin is injected just under the skin. Your doctor or his or her office staff will show you how and where to give an insulin injection. The usual places to inject insulin are the upper arm, the front and side parts of the thighs, and the abdomen. Dont inject insulin closer than 2 inches from your belly button.
To keep your skin from thickening, try not to inject the insulin in the same place over and over. Instead, rotate injection places.
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How To Take Long
Usually, you inject long-acting insulin once a day to keep your blood sugar levels steady. You use a needle or pen device to give yourself the injection. Be sure to inject your long-acting insulin at the same time every day to avoid lags in insulin coverage or stacking your insulin doses. Stacking means taking your doses too close together, causing their activity to overlap.
Your doctor might recommend adding short-acting insulin before a meal to prevent a blood sugar spike after you eat.
If you change brands of long-acting insulin, you may need a different dose. Talk to your doctor if you change brands of any insulin.
As with any medicine you take, insulin injections can cause side effects.
One possible side effect is low blood sugar . Symptoms of low blood sugar
Insulin Analogs Are Now Replacing Human Insulin In The Us
Insulins are categorized by differences in onset, peak, duration, concentration, and route of delivery.
Human Insulin and Insulin Analogs are available for insulin replacement therapy. Insulins also are classified by the timing of their action in your body specifically, how quickly they start to act, when they have a maximal effect and how long they act.Insulin analogs have been developed because human insulins have limitations when injected under the skin. In high concentrations, such as in a vial or cartridge, human clumps together. This clumping causes slow and unpredictable absorption from the subcutaneous tissue and a dose-dependent duration of action . In contrast, insulin analogs have a more predictable duration of action. The rapid acting insulin analogs work more quickly, and the long acting insulin analogs last longer and have a more even, peakless effect.
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When To Use Short
Short-acting insulins are generally recommended for people who take 3 or more injections per day. Since they have a fast onset and shorter duration of action than other types of insulins. The most common side effects that affect less than 1% of users include hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. And allergic reactions such as swelling and itching at the injection site, weight gain, skin problems such as redness and irritation at the injected site, and testicular pain. Non-diabetics should take note though that while insulin injections will raise your blood glucose levels they also lower your ketones .
You should only use this type of insulin as needed, such as if youre having a meal thats higher in carbohydrate content than usual. Your doctor will let you know how much to take based on your current dose of long-acting insulin. If you miss a dose or use too much, you could go into diabetic ketoacidosis , which is dangerous for your health.
If you need to inject quickly before eating, try using an insulin pen instead of injections with syringes.
What Is The Role Of Long
Long-acting insulins used in the United States include insulin glargine and insulin detemir . Insulin glargine has no peak and produces a relatively stable level lasting more than 24 hours. In some cases, it can produce a stable basal serum insulin concentration with a single daily injection, though patients requiring lower doses typically are given twice-daily injections. Insulin detemir has a duration of action that may be substantially shorter than that of insulin glargine but longer than those of intermediate-acting insulins.
Toujeo 300 U/mL is a newer dosage strength and form of insulin glargine than Lantus 100 U/mL, having been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in February 2016. Compared with those of Lantus 100 U/mL, the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles of Toujeo are more stable and prolonged the duration of action exceeds 24 hours. Clinical trials showed comparable glycemic control between Lantus and Toujeo, although the trials noted the need for higher daily basal insulin doses with Toujeo. The risk for nocturnal hypoglycemia was lower with Toujeo in insulin-experienced patients with type 2 diabetes, but this was not the case for insulin-naïve patients with type 1 DM or for patients with type 2 DM.
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Limiting Yourself To Aerobic Forms Of Exercise
Any and all exercise is good for your health, stresses Port. Aerobic exercise is great for your heart and your waistline, for example. Weight-lifting and other muscle-strengthening exercises have a role to play, too, she says. “Performing resistance exercise regularly helps to build and maintain lean muscle mass, which in turn improves sensitivity to all types of insulin,” Port explains. Luckily, you don’t even have to join a gym or lift heavy weights to get great benefits. Strengthen muscles at home with push-ups, hand weights, or simply walking up and down a flight of stairs repeatedly.
What Is Basal Insulin
Insulin is produced by the beta cells inyour pancreas. Normally, the pancreas produces a steady amount of insulinduring the day, whether you are sleeping or awake. This is called basalinsulin. After you eat, your pancreatic beta cells produce a burst of insulin,called bolus insulin.
When you have diabetes, your pancreaticbeta cells no longer produce enough basal and/or bolus insulin. For thisreason, you need to use long-acting insulin to replacethe basal insulin, and short-acting mealtime insulin to replace your bolusinsulin.
Both long and ultra-long-acting insulinshave chemical modifications that allow them to release into your bloodstream ata steady rate to mimic basal insulin. These modifications include changes toamino acids, which are the building blocks of all proteins including insulin.
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Is Your Insulin Doing All It Can
For many people with type 2 diabetes, insulin therapy is a must. The pancreas either doesnt make enough insulin, or the body doesnt respond well to the insulin it does produce. Injecting insulin can help the body better use glucose in the blood or store it for later use, keeping your blood sugar in a healthy range and helping to prevent serious health problems.
Generally, as the disease progresses, most patients with type 2 diabetes will end up on insulin at some point, explains Jesse Vander Heide, a certified diabetes educator at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Factors that contribute to the decision to start insulin include how a person cares for their diabetes, their particular genetic makeup, and the course of their own disease.
If your doctor prescribes insulin to help you manage type 2 diabetes, he or she will work with you to determine the type of insulin and insulin delivery method thats best for you. There are different types of insulin available and they vary in how fast they start to work, when they peak, and how long they last.
Generally, people with type 2 diabetes need half their insulin as basal insulin, which helps control blood glucose levels overnight and between meals, and half as bolus insulin, which helps prevent a rise in blood sugar following meals.
How Can I Keep My Blood Sugar Level From Getting Too High Or Too Low
You need to check your blood sugar level regularly using a blood glucose monitor. Your doctor or his or her office staff can teach you how to use the monitor. Youll need to write down each measurement and show this record to your doctor. He or she will use this information to decide how much insulin is right for you.
Blood sugar measurements can vary depending on your lifestyle. Stress levels, how often you exercise, and how fast your body absorbs food can affect measurements. Hormonal changes related to puberty, menstrual cycles, and pregnancy can, too. Illness, traveling, or a change in your routine may mean that you have to monitor your blood sugar level more often.
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Do I Need To Monitor My Blood Sugar Level
Yes. Monitoring and controlling your blood sugar is key to preventing the complications of diabetes. If you dont already monitor your blood sugar level, you will need to learn how. Checking your blood sugar involves pricking your finger to get a small drop of blood that you put on a test strip. You can read the results yourself or insert the strip into a machine called an electronic glucose meter. The results will tell you whether your blood sugar is in a healthy range. Your doctor will give you additional information about monitoring your blood sugar.
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Comparing And Contrasting Long
If your doctor has told you that you needlong-acting insulin, you may be overwhelmed with the number of productsavailable. Although many brand name long-acting insulins are advertised on TVand in print, they represent only three main insulin products. The three mainlong-acting insulins that are available in the United States are insulinglargine , insulin degludec andinsulin detemir .
In this article, we will explore thesimilarities and differences between the long-acting insulins to help give youa better idea of what to expect.
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Take Insulin As Soon As Possible
As the heading suggests, its best to take your insulin as soon as possible, but there are some caveats.
If you simply forgot to pre-bolus for a meal, and youre still within a 30-minute window of eating, you should count carbohydrates and bolus for the meal like you would regularly do.
If youve eaten more than a half-hour ago, its best to treat the high blood sugar you have, instead of trying to count carbohydrates that are now being digested. This helps prevent unnecessary hypoglycemia if you take too much insulin.
If youve missed a dose of your long-acting insulin, its best to call your Endocrinologist right away to determine how much of the remaining dose you should take, based on how much time has passed since your typical time of administration, etc., unless its within a window of an hour or so of your normal dose.
If thats the case, you can most likely proceed as normal .
What Type Of Insulin Is Best For My Diabetes
Your doctor will work with you to prescribe the type of insulin that’s best for you and your diabetes. Making that choice will depend on many things, including:
- How you respond to insulin.
- Lifestyle choices. The type of food you eat, how much alcohol you drink, or how much exercise you get will all affect how your body uses insulin.
- Your willingness to give yourself multiple injections per day
- Your age
- Your goals for managing your blood sugar
Your doctor may prescribe more than one type. You might need to take insulin more than once daily, to space your doses throughout the day, or to add other medicines.
Afrezza, a rapid-acting inhaled insulin, is FDA-approved for use before meals for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The drug peaks in your blood in about 15-20 minutes and it clears your body in 2-3 hours. It must be used along with long-acting insulin in people with type 1 diabetes.
The chart below lists the types of injectable insulin with details about onset , peak and duration . These three things may vary. The final column offers some insight into the “coverage” provided by the different insulin types in relation to mealtime.
| Type of Insulin & Brand Names | Onset |
| 30 min.-2 1/2 hours | 16-20 hours |
| *Premixed insulins combine specific amounts of intermediate-acting and short-acting insulin in one bottle or insulin pen. |
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Are There Any Insulin Products That Last Longer Than Long
Yes. There are 2 ultra-long-acting insulin products that are availableToujeo and Tresiba.
The ultra-long-acting insulin, Toujeo, was approved by the FDA in February 2015. Toujeo will begin working within 6 hours of injecting and last for 36 hours with no peak.
The ultra-long-acting insulin, Tresiba, was approved by the FDA in September 2015. Tresiba will begin working within 1 hour of injecting and last at least 42 hours with no peak.
Posted on December 4, 2014 by DiabetesDigest.com Staff in Blogs, Diabetes Digest
If you take insulin and struggle to manage high and low blood glucose numbers, one reason may be the timing of your injections. Coordinating when you take your insulin with the timing of your meals, your physical activity, and other parts of your diabetes care plan can help. Here are some tips to help you time your insulin just right.
Take insulin at regularly scheduled times. The more often you are able to take your insulin at the same time each day, the easier it becomes to keep your blood glucose in control. This isnt always easy. If you want a more flexible insulin plan, talk with your health care provider about taking more injections, using a long-acting and rapid-acting insulin plan, using an insulin pen or switching to an insulin pump.
Eat at about the same times each day. Doing so also makes it easier to manage your blood glucose.
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MEDICATIONS
How Much Insulin Should I Take For Low Blood Sugar
Insulin will lower your blood sugar. If your blood sugar is already low, you shouldnt inject more insulin.
Signs that your blood sugar is too low include sweating, dizziness, blurred vision, and significant fatigue. If this happens, try to consume rapid-acting carbohydrates, like sugared sodas, fruit juice, or glucose tablets, to get your blood sugar levels back up quickly.
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What Is Different About Insulin Lispro
Insulin lispro is a new type of insulin. It starts working sooner than other insulin types. It also reaches peak activity faster and goes away sooner. Insulin lispro helps keep your blood sugar level from going too high after you eat. To keep your blood sugar level steady, your doctor will probably prescribe either a longer-acting insulin or another drug for you to take each day in addition to the insulin lispro.
If you need to mix insulin lispro with a longer-acting insulin, it’s best that you mix insulin lispro only with Humulin U or Humulin N, which are brand names for certain longer-acting insulins. Insulin lispro should always be drawn into the syringe first. This will keep the longer-acting insulin from getting into the insulin lispro bottle.
Monitoring Your Blood Glucose And Ketone Levels
If you have missed an injection, it is important that you monitor your blood glucose levels more regularly than usual over the next 24 hours to prevent blood glucose levels from going either too high or too low.
If you have type 1 diabetes , or have type 2 diabetes and produce very little of your own insulin, be prepared to test your blood or urine for ketones if your blood glucose levels rise above 15 mmol/l.
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Should Insulin Be Taken On An Empty Stomach
Take insulin, but dont eat: Rapid-acting and short-acting insulin injections should be taken just before or with meals. Your blood sugar rises after meals. Taking rapid-acting or short-acting insulin without eating could lower your sugar to a dangerous level. Inject insulin in an arm or leg just before exercise .
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General Recommendations On The Best Time To Take Tresiba
To get started, Tresiba is a basal long-acting insulin. This means that it works steadily for an extended time.
Tresiba is unlike many other long-acting insulins, as it works for as long as 42 hours after administration.
Long-acting insulin is designed to work similarly to how your pancreas usually produces insulin.
Most insulins that fall under this category are taken once daily to control blood sugar levels. Tresiba is also recommended to be taken once daily, but it has more flexibility compared to other insulins.
The flexibility with Tresiba is due to its long duration of action.
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