[colterwalker]

I've been experiencing problems with my lantus. I'm thinking maybe my body is becoming immune to it? I've been having really high blood sugar levels when I wake up in the morning.

[splix]

The first questions that poped into my mind was:

What and when do you eat before bed
What fast acting insulin do you take with it and how much?
When do you take your Lantus and how much?
High BG in the morning as my brother had during a long period was due to a bolus injection prior to bed to take down a high BG, but he clearly took to much and had a low during night and woke up with rebounds.

How long have you had high BG in the morning? It could be a result of a luring cold aswell.



The text here under is some cut from the web:

Dawn phenomenon.
The dawn phenomenon is the end result of a combination of natural body changes that occur during the sleep cycle and can be explained as follows. Your body has little need for insulin between about midnight and about 3:00 a.m. (a time when your body is sleeping most soundly). Any insulin taken in the evening causes blood sugar levels to drop sharply during this time. Then, between 3:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., your body starts churning out stored glucose (sugar) to prepare for the upcoming day as well as releases hormones that reduce the body’s sensitivity to insulin. All of these events happen as your bedtime insulin dose is also wearing off. These events, taken together, cause your body’s blood sugar levels to rise in the morning (at "dawn").

Somogyi effect.
A second cause of high blood sugar levels in the morning might be due to the Somogyi effect (named after the doctor who first wrote about it). This condition is also called "rebound hyperglycemia." Although the cascade of events and end result – high blood sugar levels in the morning – is the same as in the dawn phenomenon, the cause is more "man-made" (a result of poor diabetes management) in the Somogyi effect. There are two potential causes. In one scenario, your blood sugar may drop too low in the middle of the night and then your body releases hormones to raise the sugar levels. This could happen if you took too much insulin earlier or if you did not have enough of a bedtime snack.

[colterwalker]

Well I havn't changed my eating habits at all. Its been doing this for about a week now. The cold hypothesis came to mind because I was experiencing problems with my Humalog as well.

[splix]

May I ask how big a dose of Lantus you take and how long you have had diabetes?

I take 16 units before bed, switched from Lantus to Levemir. I changed due to getting NovoPen4 with pen fills and wanted to have the same pen and pen fills. As I use NovoRapid during day the same manufacture for longtime insulin is Levemir. Levemir is also weight neutral, larger doses of Lantus may get the body to add a little more fat.
The one thing I noticed is that I had to take a couple of units more of Levemir then Lantus. Lantus was more stable and potent then Levemir in my opinion in the beginning. Now that I've used Levemir a couple of months I've made the adaptations to when I take it and how, and now use the same amount of Levemir as I did Lantus.

[colterwalker]

I take 30 units of lantus. What do you mean adds more fat?

[colterwalker]

Oh and I've been diabetic for 4 years now

[splix]

Some diabetics gain a few pounds more with Lantus then Levemir users does for example, the effect increases with the amount taken. But 30 is still low in these studies, I think you have to take 50 units or more before you start to notice accordning to my diabetics nurse. Levemir is know to be what they call weight neutral, so even in quite large dose it's doesn't seem to make any difference.

30 units, have you tried to split them up? Take say 20 prior to bed and another 10 in the morning? That way you might get a more even uptake, some also say if you take bigger doses at once and in one injection, the body doesn't get the chance to take all up prior to the body’s defense destroying it.
If I take doses over 7-8 units I split them up and take them on 2 different places. I'm only on 16 units of Levemir before bed, but I take 8 units on both sides of the abdomen. I find that the effect is better with less insulin and has a more even spread over the day to come.

I used to take around 18-20 units before I begun to split them. My dad uses Lantus and takes 30 units, he also takes 20 at bed and 10 in the morning. I've asked him what happens if he swaps and take 10 to bed and 20 in the morning. If he does, he gets real low during the day and has to eat not to get hypo all the time. So, it also depends witch dose you take at what time, even if the total is the same for the whole day.
My guess is that if my dad tried what I do, he could use as low doses as 2 x 8 at night and another 8-10 in the morning. He has had diabetes since he was 16 (56 today) and he has never tried to experiment like this. I told my bother do to it and he got the same result as I do. He also cut doses when he begun to split them up.

[wylie]

I had the same problem and changed to take 18 units Lantus in the morning and 6 at night. That works much better for me but check with your doctor.