When Is The Best Time To Give...

[Angel]

Hello eveyone

I give my son Lantus Glargine around 6:30pm every evening, just wondered what is the best time to be giving this. My son goes to bed between 8 - 9:30pm. and gets up around 7:30am.

Love Angel x

[D-Dad]

I believe there is a small peak after 6 hours (?) - which you may want to try to time with something....... some people split the dose (morning and night) to smooth it out. I believe the most important thing is to be consistant.

[Angel]

When you say a small peak, what do you mean.....that his BS drops?

He only has 5 - 6 units of Lantus, and for some reason he absolutly hates it, he says it burns, plus he doesn't like the very plain boring green Insulin pen. (I'm not keen on it myself actually, the slider confuses me, I always go to press the top then realise it's the Lantus.)

Angel x

[sam1nat2]

we were always told to give Lantus in the morning. My biggest fear was mixing up the lantus and humalog(which I did once, but thankfully caught it)

Sorry it is hard on him, I don't remember that.

[Amy C.]

When an insulin reaches its peak, the blood sugars are lower as insulin lowers blood sugar.

Peak is not the best word to use for Lantus as this suggests a up and then fairly quick down -- like Humalog acts. I like to use the analogy of a reaching a plateau of effectiveness.

Lantus takes about 4-6 hours after injection to reach its full effectiveness. This level is maintained at a plateau level until about 22-23 hours after the shot when the effectiveness then goes down. Your son may be experiencing slightly higher sugars from around 4:30 until around 9 pm. We countered this with extra Humalog at dinner. Your son may be experiencing lower sugars at around 11 PM. Test to find out.

When my son was taking nearly 30 units of Lantus a day, he had problems during the time when the Lantus was less effective that were hard to control. I did go to two shots of Lantus a day: one at 10 pm and the other at around 7 am. This was hard to keep track of and I gave it up and arranged for him to be on the pump. It worked really well, though. His A1c was the best ever.

Lantus does hurt when injected. Tips to reduce the discomfort: give the shot in a fatty area, like the buttocks all the time. My son found that Lantus in the stomach and legs really hurt. The other shots can be rotated. Allow the Lantus to warm up before injecting. Cold insulin stings a lot.

[Hollyb]

If the Lantus continues to bother him, you might ask your doc about Levemir. Similar profile (supposedly less of a peak, but less likely to last the full 24 hours), without the burning.

[Heather(CA)]

We have always given Seth his Lantus at the same time as dinner, usually between 6:30 and 8. It has always lasted the 24+ hours. :D If it's right, it only fluctuates the 40 points (usually less) that the endo says it should fluctuate. I could be wrong, but I think it's more stable in him (everyone is different) because I ALWAYS give his Lantus in the bootie.

From what I understand Lantus has a peek in about 20% of people. I have heard they take it in the morning or do a split dose to combat that problem. I would try giving it in the bootie before doing a split dose. Why give an extra shot IF yo don't have too...Some people do have to though.:(

If your asking this question because it doesn't seem to be lasting long enough, you can also try giving it later (around 8) so the dinner fastacting can help compensate ;) As long as he's not one of the 20% that has a peek of more than 40 points...

[kiwikid]

We used to give Rachels Lantus at 9pm for a couple of reasons.
1) She was usually asleep!!
It was the biggest injection of the day (still only 7 units) and I figured if I could give at least one injection without her knowing about it - it had to be good? Rachel was in on the decision to do it while she was sleeping - she preferred it then, and she still has her site changes done while sleeping.
2) If we had been out for the day we were usually home and settled by then. Any time earlier and we could have been out and about - we often have early starts here so 9pm was a good stable time.
3) It seemed to help with the dawn phenomenon. Rachel may have had a slight peak from the Lantus, but she always woke with really great numbers when on it. Now I have the pump basal rising around 5am to help.

I always gave the Lantus in Rachels upper thigh. We used a syringe, and I made sure the insulin was at body temperature by having it under my armpit (YUCK!!) for 5 mins before injecting. It seemed to help prevent the 'sting'.

Giving the Lantus at 9pm always seemed to leave a gap (around 7-10pm) between the old Lantus wearing off and the new Lantus kicking in . To help with that we used both Humalog and Regular for Rachels dinner time injection. It worked really well for us. :cwds:

[Mama Belle]

We used to give Rachels Lantus at 9pm for a couple of reasons.
1) She was usually asleep!!
It was the biggest injection of the day (still only 7 units) and I figured if I could give at least one injection without her knowing about it - it had to be good? Rachel was in on the decision to do it while she was sleeping - she preferred it then, and she still has her site changes done while sleeping.
2) If we had been out for the day we were usually home and settled by then. Any time earlier and we could have been out and about - we often have early starts here so 9pm was a good stable time.
3) It seemed to help with the dawn phenomenon. Rachel may have had a slight peak from the Lantus, but she always woke with really great numbers when on it. Now I have the pump basal rising around 5am to help.

I always gave the Lantus in Rachels upper thigh. We used a syringe, and I made sure the insulin was at body temperature by having it under my armpit (YUCK!!) for 5 mins before injecting. It seemed to help prevent the 'sting'.

Giving the Lantus at 9pm always seemed to leave a gap (around 7-10pm) between the old Lantus wearing off and the new Lantus kicking in . To help with that we used both Humalog and Regular for Rachels dinner time injection. It worked really well for us. :cwds:

Ditto, except ours was more like 10 pm. Our doc actually recommended a bedtime dose because it helped with morning blood sugars, and if my daughter started off the day high she was hosed for the rest of the day. We also did the shot after she was asleep because the burn really bothered her. One very important point ... always give lantus in a fatty area. When lantus is injected into muscle it acts like NPH! :eek: