Lets say your insulin pump breaks, what’s your ‘go to’ backup basal for manual injection?
If you are on MI, feel free to post your preferred basal.
Who picks what basal you use? Do you tell the Doc what you feel comfortable with or do they simply assign you on?
I run Omnipod 5 on my cell phone. I have two OP5 controllers as backups. So if my phone dies I would just use one of those along with my backup Dexcom receiver to dumb pump until I bought a new phone.
My CDE and endo told me how much to use the first month of insulin. After that it’s all been me without any input whatsoever.
My back up is a box of Lantus SoloStar pens in the fridge, 10 bags of syringes and of course the vials of Novalog.
My endo is not only willing to prescribe the Lantus, he is in agreement that it is a better choice for temporary use than Tresiba. It is easier to go back to the pump.
I also used Lantus to boost my basal when I was receiving a steroid during chemo.
Somewhere in the bowels of FuD there is my experience with Chemo/steroids and managing BG.
Here it is. It does get off topic on various tangents that are sort of related.
My first choice is Levemir, but they don’t make it anymore. I still have some, so I would use what’s left.
My second choice would be Lantus.
I have a back-up pump; it’s the same model as my primary pump. If I need to go MDI for whatever reason, I would choose Tresiba for its time-flexibility. A box of 5 Degludec (biosimilar Tresiba) pens in the fridge with a 1/27 expiration date would fill that need. If I usually take a once daily dose in the evening and I forget, I found that if I take the missed dose the next morning, my BG control remains good.
My preferred local hospital, however has Lantus only, on its formulary. I have no experience with Lantus but I worry that it may not last me a full 24 hours. For MDI readers who use Lantus, does is last you a full day? Anyone taking 2x/day of Lantus?
For those of you who are long-term pumpers, have you rehearsed going on MDI?
I’ve got some old expired Lantus that I am saving for an unplanned or emergency pump break if needed. In case I find myself planning ahead for a pump break someday I’ve got a prescription for Lantus vials that I could kick into gear. I tried some of the old expired Lantus a few years ago and it still seemed to work well. Dosage will be a guessing game though.
I thought I had an old box of Lantus in the fridge, but turns out I don’t. I guess I should get it refilled, in the highly unlikely event that all at the same time my phone dies, my PDM dies, and Insulet can’t courier me a new PDM same day or early the next. And if the world’s in that bad a state, I suspect having long-acting insulin would be the least of my concerns.
@Terry, last time I was on MDI, a decade ago, I took Lantus twice a day. I liked it, but I gather some of the newer long-actings work much better at keeping BG stable.