Insulin

What type of insulin does everyone use?

I've just changed from Novorapid to Apidra and it's not going well.
Right now the apidra is working way too fast (I think!) it's finished doing it's stuff within 2 hours and leaves me with high bg levels. I recon (maybe I recon too much that could be the main problem ), that my bg spike after eating comes after my insulin spike. Is that even possible?

Anyway, I came off the Novorapid cos my 2 hour levels were above the recomended level (2mmols of where you start), but I think I might go back on it. I quite liked it, knew how long it lasted and if I was likely to hypo.

Doug's on Novorapid and Levemir........But don't ask me what they do, I just pick up the 'scripts

I'm a very lucky girl, I get to use animal insulin, human stuff ruined my life, and I was conned by the powers that be stating that animal insulin didn't exist anymore - thank goodness for pigs.

I'm interested how it 'ruined' your life Junglegirl..... what did it do to you?

Best wishes

Nick

Hi Nick, sorry for the long delay in replying. How did human insulin ruin my life .. where do I start, at the beginning, sit down put your feet up whilst I get on my soap box.
Like thousands of other diabetics I had been diagnosed and treated with animal insulin. Although my life as a teenage diabetic was not full of joy, the insulin at least did its job. Then along came human insulin, with all the bright lights and the push and shove that went with it. I was about 20 when I was pushed on to it, with a report that animal insulin was being discontinued and that human insulin would be best because it had been cultured to be as close to human insulin as possible. I even remember asking how it was cultured only to be told that the manufacturing process was too complicated to explain and that human insulin would cause less side effects.
2 hours after taking my first injection I knew it wasn't for me, after all it was the only thing I had changed, not according to the local diabetic team I reported to at the hospital. I just didn't feel right (hard to explain). The next day I rang the hospital and asked to be put back on animal insulin as I didn't feel right. I was immediately told to give it more time as I couldn't possibly know that 'I wasn't right' at such an early stage in the switch in medication. I was then told that animal insulin had been withdrawn and that no-one would prescribe it to me anymore. being young (and foolish) I believed them.
I suffered my first hypo 2 days later, this was so severe that the attending doctor and paramedics believed that I'd had a stroke. I was robbed of all function, like locked in syndrome, I was aware but couldn't move/talk/respond. I was admitted to hospital, of course my blood sugar climbed and I was back to normal - how weird, everyone in the hospital said, off you go that was a one off - if only that was true.
From then on in my life was hell, I knew it was the insulin, I lost all warning signs of hypo's, back then you didn't have the blood sugar meters you have now, you were on a wing and a pray, testing your water was worse than useless as of course that only showed what had happened, not what was happening.
My moods altered, I suffered bouts of being depressed, or on better days, not so depressed, I fought to keep myself going day after day, whilst complaining loudly that I believed human insulin to be the cause. I could swing from being happy to being viciously nasty in the blink of an eye. No one in the medical profession listened to me. I was told I was psychotic, that i was a troubled woman, that I was fixated, that I was wrong, that I had to put up and shut up, that I was nuts. One consultant even refused to see me as a patient, unless I accepted that he was right and I was talking nonsense. After that I drifted away from the medical professional completely (we are talking about 2 years before I gave up on trying to make them listen to me and help me).
I would be walking along one minute and the next be on the floor out cold, no warning signs, I also started fit during my hypos. If I got lucky and someone was home with me, I might suddenly get aggressive, sometimes this would alert family members that my sugar was low and they would try to help me, I would get very aggressive, and abusive, and I have, in my time, hurt people trying to help me. I have no memory of those hypo's they are like blackouts in my life. I have been told I had the strength of 10 when I was lashing out and fighting.
I was scared all the time, eventually with the dawn of blood testing machines, I managed to run my sugar levels high, never leaving the house if they weren't above 10, as they could drop so quickly and put me and others in danger. I lived my life like this for over 20 years. My family have been through hell with me, my mood swings enough to make enemies out of many friends. My husband bless him stayed with me, I have no idea how, my son has seen a side of me that he should never have witnessed. I lost all interest in the sexual side of my marriage, my sex drive disappearing within weeks of starting human insulin. I started suffering from severe migraines (which I'd never had before) but always had following a hypo - these sometimes lasted for days.
Slowly more and more people started reporting the bad things that happened to them, things started appearing in newspapers about human insulin, the internet was a god send. Eventually after a pretty horrific hypo, i which I fitted and smashed my head, I'd had enough and went back to my GP with the insulin, put it on his desk and said I was never going to take another syringe full of the stuff. Thankfully my GP was very good and said that he would prefer me to go under the care of the hospital - I was against this, but he rang whilst I was in with him, he put the consultant on speaker phone and asked if he would be willing to see me and monitor my change back to animal insulin. The consultant told my GP that he wouldn't, stated that he thought I was mad and probably clinically depressed to think such a thing would be a good move. The consultant went on to say that I probably had 'other issues' going on that was making me so stupid. Can you believe that was only about 7 years ago? As I refused to take human insulin, my GP said he would try to help me as best he could but that he was a specialist. He prescribed animal insulin that day and i have never looked back. My mood swings stopped within 24 hours, my warning signs were back within 2 days. No more dropping down hypo's, no more migraines, I was back to being a person with diabetes, not a person with the debilitating side effects of human insulin.
It so angers me that patients are not offered alternatives to human insulin. There is only one outlet in the UK still making animal insulin, and I swear if they every have to close, I will die rather than take human or even analogue insulin.
I only wish I had more fighting spirit way back when I was put on that stuff, my life would have been so different. because of he ignorance of some medical staff, even today, you are told that animal insulin doesn't exist, or that you are crazy to even be taking it. Too many problems (in some people) are linked to human insulin. I mean for goodness sake it was made from genetically modified corn and only tested on a few hundred people, some of those with type 2 (not type 1). It was rushed out uncharted, and not fully tested and for years those people with side effects like me were treated like lepers (and probably still are). As for analogue insulin I won't touch it. As the medical profession wouldn't listen to me for 20 years I no longer listen to them - how bad is that, but to this day, I won't take medicines they recommend, I tried statins, only to find within a week my memory was failing and even now I can't find words I want - I'm a secretary for goodness sake, even after coming off those horrible things, I never got my memory back fully nor can I find words I want. Even now statins are up there with the great good of things to take - not all people benefit form them and suffer the consequences of medication that is not 'doing' for them.
Sorry the whole subject of the medical profession and 'human' insulin makes my blood boil - it ruined my life and all because no-one would listen.
There is no medical evidence that 'human insulin' does a better job than animal insulin. If you ask me, it all boils down to money.
If anyone wants to know more about human-v-animal the IDDT website is a good place to start.
Apologies for the length of this post
Take care

WOW!!!

It's hard to believe that we're in the 21st century the way "patients" are often treated.

We've been really lucky since finding our new doctors - the treatment from my original one put me in a coma and half killed Doug.

He had trouble with Statins too - the new doctors stopped them.

I'm so glad that you're back in the land of the living - have you ever thought of writing a paper on your experiences? It's information that could be invaluable for a lot of people.

Hi Clare,

Lovely to hear from you. No I've never thought about writing it down, sadly it sounds like a horror story and would probably scare or even terrify many newly diagnosed diabetics.

Like you the medication put me in many a coma, it was never anyone else's fault but mine according to the medical profession, the very medical profession who would never take responsibility. Like I say I managed to slip their net for a long long time. never being sent for the annual check up or any review, never being called for anything. I started going to my doctor when I wanted to go (but only to my GP). I refuse hospital appointments point blank.

My new GP doesn't really like me, I never buckle down, I have my eyes screened but I've never had a flu jab, have never taken aspirin, never had a pneumonia jab. I check my own feet, keep tabs on my blood sugar levels etc. My GP also stamped my medical files with 'awkward patient' in big red letters. He argues with me, I argue back. He has come close to removing me from the patient list at the practice. All because I argue my corner.

Animal insulin put my life back together, there are so many people suffering side effects from human insulin, whose GP's and practice nurses are so badly informed that those poor people continue to suffer. In my eyes you have to be fit to be ill and you have to be well informed. Although there has been no link fully attributed,the dead in bed syndrome is something that lurks in the background.

My GP has recently talked me into taking blood pressure medication - I had very high bp. The side effects seems to be that my kidney's filtration rate is dropping, so I am now researching some more before I stop taking the medication. I would rather have high bp than screwed up kidneys. The last time I saw my GP I told him that I didn't want to live a long and miserable diabetic life being sustained on lots of meds, I figure I have paid the price and have over 30 years experience of living with this dreadful disease, its up to me if I want to live longer not him.

Then to cap it all the menopause hit - now hot flushes and sugar control do not go well together in my body, in fact they don't work well at all. I can have highs of 30 plus and then lows of 1 (I don't go comatose, I can treat myself) but I am now testing my blood up to 10 times a day. The resulting use in blood testing strips means that I have to buy a couple of boxes myself every month. My GP is good that way, with the strips, but I use so many they can't keep up with me. I can't have HRT for other reasons so for the last 2 years my sugar levels swing violently - shrugs .. I just have to cope.

Interestingly I did find, that for me Pycnogenol worked in connection with a small bleed I had at the back of one eye. It's well known for its properties and after taking this for the last 6 years I no longer have any sign of any bleed in my eye or any damage, so the doctors may think it doesn't work, but for me, it worked great.

The other strange thing (and I admit to being a cynic) though I do believe good control is essential, in my job I have become aware over the years of just how much the medical profession makes out of diabetics, believe me its astounding, I no longer believe I am a patient, but a cash-cow, hence my reluctance to swallow anything that is good for my health when it first becomes available!

All I can say is if you and Doug have problems opt for human insulin, give it a try (that's if your GP will prescribe it).

Hi Junglegirl,

Wow. What can I say?

I can't.

Bloody hell

I cannot believe the stuff you have had to endure. One day, just one day maybe the profession might just listen to some people who know their body's far better than they do.

I am so sorry to hear that you have been through it all.

Thanks for sharing it

Take care
Nick

Hi Nick,

You know, it's just been my life, I had nothing to compare it too at the time, so just took it to be normal - what can I say 'older and wiser' you bet!

To be honest I don't think I'm the only one whose had problems like this, it happens all the time to lots of people, and some people I am sure, have suffered much worse treatment at the hands of the medical profession over the years.

It is true what I say that as diabetics we are worth a fortune to the medical profession by way of drugs, medical checks, etc etc so I just think I'm a very good business asset to have in the early days and a very bad expensive asset to have the older I get.

This forum is a great place to vent, but I don't like to scare. If I can educate anyone, and get them to question the wisdom of what they are asked to do, then i think I've at least got people talking and questioning, which is brilliant.

J