Humalog and Lantus insulin pens

Hi, I’m not type 2, but used to take injections before I got a pump. Has your doctor mentioned bolusing before meals according to the number of carbs?

@grrranny I have 51 years experience with diabetes. I have gone from Type 1, to a pancreas transplant, to Type 2. I am currently using a continual glucose monitor and an insulin pump. Before that I used Humalog and Lantus pens. I was doing about 12 finger sticks a day and what was called MDI (multiple daily injections). This was so that my Dr. and I could figure out a pattern of insulin needs throughout the day. For awhile I ate the same things and quantities so we had a consistent picture (boring!). We determined my basal insulin needs and established the Lantus dose. We figured out how much mealtime bolus was needed. It came down to an insulin : carbohydrates ratio. I think this is what @celia16 is referring to. It can be tricky at first to get the hang of but once you get used to it you can customize your Humalog mealtime dose to exactly what you need. You add up the grams of carbohydrate and do the math ratio for your dose. There were similar equations to calculate a correction bolus to deal with high blood sugar and also to get the appropriate amount of carbohydrate to raise low blood sugar without overtreating & inevitably spiking the blood sugar. What I have found is that there is no such thing as “one size fits all”. The more you and your provider can customize your treatment, the better. Have you thought of a CGM? It is very useful in conjunction with a pump. Otherwise Humalog and Lantus are great.

@celia16 Doctor only gave me a very conservative sliding scale to start, and I've adjusted that as I've gone along and have found the need to increase the insulin units. Now working on trying to inject it more in advance of mealtimes, instead of trying to play "catch up".

@cehunt57 Yes, I do have a Freestyle Libre 3+ CGM, and it's a tremendous help with doing mealtime corrections. I don't see how anyone using insulin can manage without one.

@grrranny , my endocrinologist has always helped me determine what my insulin carb ratio is. It changes over time. I count my carbs in the meal and bolus accordingly. There are some blood meters that will provide your BG, then allow you to insert the carb number and it will tell you how many units of insulin to take, using your individualized insulin/car ratio. I used one before my pump. I might see if your doctor can assist or refer you to a Certified Diabetes Educator. They are helpful too.

I don’t bolus 30 minutes before meals, though I am advised that is recommended. Supposedly it takes 30 minutes for bolus to kick in. I usually take mine 5 minutes ahead, Still, my a1c has been very good since getting a pump. MDI makes things very challenging imo.