I’m seeing a lot of similarity between my body’s use of Novolog and what @Michel has posted about how it lasts/activates in his son’s system. Seems about 45 minutes for prebolusing and it seems to last 5+ hours for me. IOB matters more for Novolog than it did for Humalog, at least for how Humalog performed for me in the last few years.
I did have two drinks Thursday night. With Humalog, I wouldn’t have needed to turn down my overnight basal for that. With Novolog, I needed a juice box at 4AM and had to lower my basal by 50% for a few hours. That was a new experience. Interesting to see that difference.
I believe I’m seeing hormone induced insulin resistance starting up, which makes sense timeline wise for me. Despite being a bit bold with some corrections, a hot shower, and a tiny bit of extra basal last night, my bg drifted to and hovered at 170 all night. I’m going to try +5% basal today with some beefed up meal boluses and see how that does. Novolog seems to overcome hormone insulin resistance more effectively than Humalog for me, so I’ll start small.
The nice thing about using injections a lot of the time now for boluses is it helps reduce the odds that my pump site is going bad on me. I’m glad that my anal retentive observations over the years are helping my sanity in this moment so that I’m not chasing down all the possible reasons I had a stuck flat line at 170 all night when none of the dosing/eating/exercise conditions would have warranted that. Hopefully this stuff helps someone else eventually, too.
My body seems to have acclimated to Novolog. The first week I was on it, my body was super sensitive to it. This was particularly noticeable since I was in my most insulin resistant week hormone-wise and needed no extra insulin to handle the hormones. That is not true this month, though.
I’ve been on Novolog for over a month now and find it to be behaving similarly to Humalog in efficacy. My sites are much happier on Novolog, though.
I’m loving me some quiet hormone time. Fewer fingersticks. More accurate Dexcom (typically) when I’m not spiking and dipping as much.
Just an update on Novolog since I’m in my second month of using it now.
-My pump sites continue to look much better than when I podded with Humalog.
-Novolog and I get along well so long as I respect its tail.
-Stacking insulin matters more in my body with Novolog than it did with Humalog. Showering with stacked insulin is a bad idea for me.
-I still inject Novolog for most of my meal boluses. I am only seeing welts from injections on my abdomen now…which has always been pretty sensitive. My legs are not welting anymore like they were initially. Not sure what to ascribe that to.
Being more serious, and recognizing this is an older topic: I’m on MDI, using Novolog/Lantus currently. According to my Endo, I’m pretty responsive to insulin (IC 1:15 per Endo, though I think it’s more about 1:14/1:13). I requested my Endo’s input on a 1/2 unit pen to better dose for meals “between” full units. She didn’t seem to know what was available for that, came up with the Humalog Jr pen. I found that and the NovoPen Echo. Endo says “no real difference” but seems willing to go either way. From my reading here on FUD, there seems a preference for Novolog (more responsive, less action time). QUESTIONS: 1) Am I reading from you all right? Better to stay on Novolog, vice Humalog, or am I seeing what I want? 2) I’ve also been considering going on Omnipod (fully covered). I often forget to log insulin shots and have to re-create the timeline later in the day. I have great TIR (80% +), but tend to “wander” high (160-180+)/borderline low (75 -) 3-4 hours post meals, trying to correct between 160-180 and would like to have better control, vice the roller coaster. I thought a pump would be helpful on both counts; Endo says its too much effort, year+ to refine/learn, too much effort for the potential gain. I’d appreciate your all’s input. How long to learn Omnipod? Worth the effort or am I being too much Type A control for T1D?
There IS a lot to learn but being able to adjust basal rates for activities or illness is really helpful. (And there are several threads on FUD on this topic.) You still need backup means of providing short- and long-acting insulins in the event of pump problems or if you’re traveling or having surgery. Pumpers have posted many reviews of current pump offerings as has Healthline and some of the other D websites. John Walsh’s book Pumping Insulin is an excellent resource, too.
@CatLady Thanks! Particularly for the book ref. I’ve done quite a bit (too much?) of research here and elsewhere. Recs for pumping seem ubiquitous, even for relatively low dosers, but also don’t want to screw up a good thing in hopes of perfection (no, sadly, not for a suddenly working pancreas, I’m slowly accepting T1D is for the duration).
For MDI, Humalog and NovoLog are pretty much the same. The big difference can be if you are on a pump. There are a lot of references about how Humalog breaks down and becomes less effective in a pump sooner than NovoLog.
