Tresiba experiment

So, I got one pen. Still worth a try? At my current basal dose, this would last me just over a week. But my current basal dose is at a high, so it’s likely to go down at some point.

Would a week and ahalf or so be enough time to get an idea of whether it might work?

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Is your doc receptive to submitting an rx rather quickly if you ask for one? Or could you just start on it and simultaneously ask him to rx a supply such that it would be available before pen #1 ran out? (I don’t know how any of that stuff works in Canada) Even if you didn’t use any of it, a box of tresiba pens is a very nice insurance policy for a t1 diabetic to have sitting around

Or would he give you another pen to hold you over if you decided you wanted to do this longer term… while waiting on an rx… or can he give you a paper script that you can fill if you decide to?

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I think he’d provide a prescription quickly if I emailed him asking for one. He seemed skeptical that I’d be convinced to give up my pump, though. He says he knows someone who tried it (because of the hype) and went back to their pump. But he was open to my desire to try it.

I don’t know if a week and a half is enough time to give you the full experience and get the dose tuned in perfectly but it’s better than nothing, I think ideally you should have a method available to get more if you decide to trial it for longer than a week and a half, which i think would be optimal… BUT don’t use that as a reason to not start it, use it as a reason to make sure you have ability to get more

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Now the real question would be what basal to start at. Today my basal is 36 units. But a week ago it was 22 units. It’s likely to drop back down lower in a week or so. So I’m wondering if I should take an average or something.

I also need to talk to my pharmacy about getting Tresiba in, as it’s not something they have in stock.

I don’t know. If it were me I’d probably average how much basal you’ve pumped over the last entire month and start there. This is my concern with the short supply—- it’s going to take longer to figure out your optimal dose becaue you’re not sure where to start

Again I don’t know how it works in Canada but even herebin middle of nowhere Alaska where I live the pharmacy can have virtually any drug by the next day if they receive a script. If it were me I’d start today and also call the doc and have him rx some for a trial so you can actually evaluate it without this short deadline skewing the perspective—- then you can quit or continue it on Jens terms, instead of the pens

@Jen I agree with @Sam. A week may not be enough. When I switched to Tresiba from Toujeo I titrated it over the course of about a month.

I had been taking 36 units twice a day of Toujeo (total 72 units/day) which I knew was too much. And I ended up at 44 units of Tresiba once a day.

Dialing it in was not difficult, I just don’t like to move too fast with these changes because of other factors that could be at play unbeknownst to me.

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Okay, prescription for a couple months’ worth faxed to my pharmacy. I’ll start tonight with my current basal dose and pick up the prescription later this week.

I decided to give Insets another try,which I do periodically to see if I’m still allergic, and 24 hours later my Dexcom is just reading HIGH. Good time to take a pump vacation!

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NSAIDs ?

This is going to be a great experiment!

Nope. No unusual medications. And my meter agrees. I’m just allergic to Teflon or something else in the plastic infusion sets, so my body often “takes them out” within 24 hours.

Oh you mean infusion sets? I thought insets was an autocorrect and you were trying to say nsaids… haha silly me makes much more sense now

I’ll keep this thread updated with my experience, for those interested.

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I am certain there will be a lot of interest. Once upon a time in a far away place my starting on tresiba was one of the top non-doublets threads on a different forum:) and I think a lot of people will relate to your observations more than they do mine… so I think a lot of people will be watching it with great interest

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So…since Tresiba lasts 42 hours or something like that and doesn’t need to be taken at the same time each day… Rather than change infusion sets and wearing a new one for only a few hours, I might just take Tresiba when I get home (it’s 2pm) and then do my next dose tomorrow night.

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It’s super forgiving. There’d be no problem with taking it now and then not until tomorrow night… but… you already being super high when starting does make me a little concerned though, I’d expect even if you have a good starting dose to likely require a number of manual bolus corrections over the next day or two… it takes a couple days to reach full equilibrium

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Oh, well I’ll of course correct my high BG. But the thing is, there’s rarely going to be a time when I’m not high or low to start out with. So I figure just start, especially since my overnight BGs lately have been stable, so I know my current basal is good, which could change at any time…My BG has already come down to 16.2, so I think it’ll be coming into range fairly quickly.

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Yeah I mean some manual corrections might be necessary for The next couple days just solely due to the tresiba not being fully up to speed yet

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So, when I started on my pump, I was told not to correct until I was >17 mole/L so that we could get a really good idea of what the basal was doing and adjust accordingly. If I’m correcting for the first few days, how will I know if the dose is OK versus too low?

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I’d just try to refrain from making any determinations about whether you think your dose is too low until after 3 full days. Obviously if it’s way too much and causing crashes it would make sense to reduce it sooner…

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It sounds like tbis will be an issue regardless of what my stating BG is. So I’ll take the first dose, at my current basal, when I get home.

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