Living with diabetes
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Humalog and Novolog insulin
As any of you who are on insulin may have figured out lots of insurance companies are now putting humalog insulin on the non-preferred drug list. What does this mean for people like us who are using humalog and wonder what switching might do to our control?
When I spoke to my endocrinologist about it, thinking I would just have him write a letter for medical exemption cause I don't want to screw any control up, he said that he's seen pretty much no difference in the two that they seem to act the same in studies he's read and in patients he has switched from humalog to novolog. I trust him and had him write a script for the novolog for when I need my fast acting insulin refilled.
Upon researching humalog, in an attempt to find out why it is going to non-preferred, I found a site that talks about both insulins, here.
It does say that the only reported difference in some cases is that novolog seems to act faster and sometimes the typical doses need to be cut in half as it seems to be stronger. This is under the section of "Differences between Humalog and Novolog."
So if, like me, you've had to change or are changing I hope this insight helps you out. I will keep an eye on my sugar levels and insulin intake when I do switch to novolog. So as not to bottom out too much.
When I spoke to my endocrinologist about it, thinking I would just have him write a letter for medical exemption cause I don't want to screw any control up, he said that he's seen pretty much no difference in the two that they seem to act the same in studies he's read and in patients he has switched from humalog to novolog. I trust him and had him write a script for the novolog for when I need my fast acting insulin refilled.
Upon researching humalog, in an attempt to find out why it is going to non-preferred, I found a site that talks about both insulins, here.
It does say that the only reported difference in some cases is that novolog seems to act faster and sometimes the typical doses need to be cut in half as it seems to be stronger. This is under the section of "Differences between Humalog and Novolog."
So if, like me, you've had to change or are changing I hope this insight helps you out. I will keep an eye on my sugar levels and insulin intake when I do switch to novolog. So as not to bottom out too much.
4 Comments:
My daughter, Rachel is 12 years old and was diagnosed with type 1 in May 2007. She uses the Animas 2020 pump and has always used Humalog. Today I picked up her prescriptions and the pharmacist had somehow filled Novolog instead. I caught the mistake and took it back for the Humalog and he seemed to make light of the error, but told me that pumpers tend to use Novolog more. I came home and did a search for Humalog vs. Novolog and that's where I found your blog with the link for comparison of the 2. I think I'll ask the Doc to change her to Novolog now that I know the differences. Rachel's BG is quite high lately, averaging well into the 200's and occasionally as high as 500's. She needs better control along with all the fine tuning we do on her pump settings. Thank you for sharing the information with people. I learned something from you today :)
Kristi,
I am glad you found this blog post and that it helped you out. I am not on an insulin pump and cannot speak for how changing will effect pump users. I will say that when I switched there was a week or two honeymoon period when my body was adjusting to the new insulin. My endo seemed to think that wouldn't happen with me. I'd had it happen when I changed insulin in the past so I was expecting it, but that does not mean it did not frustrate me when it happened. Basically, I'd have more lows than normal. I am not saying this will happen with your daughter, but keep an eye on it as I am sure you are doing. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Please ask any questions if you have them.
Thank you for the information. I will be asking my doctor to change me to novolog. Im hoping this will bring my A1C down to under 7.
Anon,
Good luck with the switch. I hope it all goes well.
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