Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Terry on December 31, 2011 at 11:41am

Good question. I look forward to reading the comments. I haven't used Regular insulin since 1996. Like many here, I'm hoping for new insulins with a shorter onset, faster peak, and shorter duration.

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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on December 31, 2011 at 11:53am

I was dx'd about 6 months before Humalog came out and started on just NPH, I think, once a day. Is that even possible? I was definitely honeymooning so maybe I didn't need basal coverage at night. I believe that NPH was the only long lasting insulin then, in 1993. How did people even get through the night?

After maybe a couple of months they started me on R and that stuff was such a nightmare. I think the NPH peaks were a little softer somehow but R would always knock me on my ass at that 5.5 hour mark. I think that may have been when I started gaining weight... trying to feed that freaking Regular.

When Humalog came out, I felt like I had been cured, at least for a minute. lol It is so, so much better, though. Can you imagine if we were all still having to use R? Ack! I have to remember this when I start feeling sorry for myself. I could have been stuck with R... lol

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Permalink Reply by Terry on December 31, 2011 at 1:11pm

Back in 1984, I too started on one dose of NPH per day. I then moved to two NPH injections per day and added regular for meals.

There were other long acting insulins before 1993. I briefly used Lente, once per day, for my background insulin before I finally started on a pump in 1987. With Lente, I had some mind numbing lows at the 24 hour mark. I can't know for sure but I attributed the lows to the complex addition of the Lente with Regular.

I agree with you. The modern insulins are much improved over the older Regular formulation.

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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on January 2, 2012 at 6:59pm

Right! I forgot all about Lente and Ultra-lente. Cripes.

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Permalink Reply by Brock G on January 1, 2012 at 8:59pm

NPH was the only choice when I was Dx. The peaks were never the same from bottle to bottle. It would cause major lows during the night and even during the day. One of the reason why a person may still be using regular insulin is because of the price. I think it may only be about 18$ a bottle with out insurance. Lantus and Novalog with out a script is over a 100$.

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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on January 2, 2012 at 7:00pm

I didn't realize that R was *that* cheap. Wow! A full on bargain if it doesn't kill you. I can imagine using it part time if I was really broke, though.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on December 31, 2011 at 11:58am

I used R and N until 2008 as I was "fine, I don't need to do anything different..." LOL. I think R may have some utility for pizza/ pasta/ cheese fries due to the different curve that deploys kind of in line w/ that sort of stuff...

I don't miss it.

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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on December 31, 2011 at 12:23pm

I just read your bio (very interesting! makes me want to start Tae kwon do!) and that means 24 years on R and N! Wow! I do see where it could be helpful with the dreaded pizza.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on December 31, 2011 at 12:47pm

I liked martial arts a lot and I think that making progress in that (which is sort of inevitable...if you keep at it and work hard...) helped me realize that I could put a bit more energy into "sparring" with diabetes and get good results there. I stopped when I moved and switched to running. The flip side of R/N is the "rollercoastering" was constant and, when I took the pump classes, either the doc or the MiniMedSalesNurse made the point that N had only a 53% chance of "peaking" when it was supposed to, giving it a much wider range and, perhaps, explaining a lot of the anomalies in numbers I experienced over the years? I used it for a weekend when my pump blew up last summer on the Saturday of the 3 day fourth of July weekend and I was too lazy to bother going to get an Rx for lantus. It wasn't as bad as I thought but I think I took a lot and ate a lot to "be careful"?

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Permalink Reply by Gary on December 31, 2011 at 12:29pm

I use R regularly. The drawback is its peak time being around 2hrs so its not as convenient as humalog but it lowers your sugar over a longer period which could be good or bad depending on whats going on. The big advantage is its much cheaper and can be bought without a prescription. If your hanging around the house or at work and you know when your eating its a fine substitute for the others but if your out and about its more challenging. In the end we need beta cell replacement therapy or a truly smart insulin that works when we need it and not when we don't. BTW I still use NPH for my night dose.

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Permalink Reply by rubidoux on December 31, 2011 at 12:44pm

Ahhhh. Yeah, I thought I remembered you don't need an Rx. If something happens to my insurance, I'll have to remember this.

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Permalink Reply by Annie on January 1, 2012 at 7:35pm

Gary, do you use the same carb:insulin ratio when you use regular? Do you do anything different when you use Regular vs Humalog/Novolog? Hopefully this doesn't sound like a dumb question but I'm new to this anyway :) Thanks!

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