Types of insulin?

[fern]

I use novolog only now. I am interested in learning more about the different types of insulin though.

That one doctor gives a recipe on how to make insulin from pigs but i am told pig insulin is inferior to the modern insulins and is unhealthy for people.

Does anyone have experience with insulin made from a pig? It seems to me that it should be the opposite...!

My thyroid med comes directly from a pig and is superior to any pharma chemical drug.

[knobster]

There are quite a few different types of insulin on the market now. Rapid acting, intermediate acting, long acting and even mixed. According to my wife's doctor, only rapid acting insulin (Novolog, Humolog) are to be used in insulin pumps. The types of insulin made from animals is no longer manufactured in the US but could be imported. Concerns regarding infection and allergic reactions are some of the reasons animal insulin is no long made here in the US.

[Watchman]

Wife uses Lantus, a slow acting nighttime insulin. Though it is labeled nighttime her MD said she could take it in the morning if she wanted.

[Toepopper]

My insulin type has changed several times over the years. Started off taking a mixed insulin known as 70/30, one injection before each meal. After several years and as the disease progressed my doctor changed to Novolog before each meal. I started having extreme lows, glucose level fell to 40 once when I was out in the woods cutting firewood, got dizzy, light headed, started panting like a dog. I chugged down an emergency regular soda to bring up the glucose level. Told my doctor about this episode and several others so he changed my insulin to Lantus. I take one shot in the late evening and this has eliminated the lows so I can once again do physical work without crashing. I am supposed to take a shot of Novolog fast acting before each meal but I no longer eat meals, just a couple mouthfuls of food at a time so my numbers don't skyrocket. This approach lets me stop taking as many shots of the fast acting. It says in the drug information sheet included with Lantus insulin that Lantus causes weight gain. I have cut my food intake down to nothing and have lost a few pounds over the years but insulin and high blood pressure meds work against weight loss so I have gotten use to always being hungry and feeling weak from lack of food.

[fern]

Before i got the pump, i used pens of lantus and novolog. Lantus morns and nights and novolog for meals. Like you Toepopper, i could not regulate and had my highest highs and lowest lows on that program. Did it for a year until my doctor put me on an artificial pancreas pump with the constant glucose monitoring. What a relief! I was taking ten units of lantus morns and nights plus that sliding scale of novolog. It never worked for me. With the pump, i now average between 10 and 35 units of novolog a day but still fight low sugar.

Does everyone get that phantom high in the mornings?

Does anyone use the continuous glucose sensor? I really do not like the version i have that works with my pump. I hope to get a dexcom sensor this year. They are amazingly accurate! Toepopper...you may want to look into one. They carry the highest rating in accuracy and cost much less than others. What ease you have with that ability to monitor constantly and get warnings when sugar is rising or falling with settings you can determine. Plus with the dexcom, you can set it to alert up to six other people to ensure there are no low sugar issues when you are working or alone for any reason.

I would truly like to find out about the pig insulin. Does anyone know an older diabetic that may have been on it back when it was the norm?

[fern]

http://www.diabeticconnect.com/diabetes ... ve-learned

http://www.iddt.org/news/animal-insulin ... ckhardt-uk

Somewhere...i have that recipe and directions to make your own insulin from pig pancreas. It just means we would all need to raise pigs. I dont like pigs but i will keep them if it means having the ability to stay alive. I must research pigs now to find the easiest type to raise that dont get huge but still have nice big pancreases! Yuck...i dread trying this out but will do my best to see if it is possible.

Does anyone else have that doctors recipe and directions or do i need to start digging to find it? I sent it to you, Toepopper, many moons ago...long before i was made a diabetic. Perhaps you still have it?

I have read as much as i could find on pig insulin today and i called a couple canadian pharmacies. I may talk to my doctor to see if i could try some of this insulin to see how i do with it. A lot of what i read today was very positive saying people gained weight and had other side effects from the manmade insulins and they had no issues on the natural insulins other than they work slower so you must adjust to that. Several people were successfully using the natural insulin in their pumps too. Although that plays no part in a fallen world as pumps will be long gone.

Also...long ago i had the link to the place to buy the old type of glucose testing comparing your blood to the color chart. It was all inexpensive but we should be stocking up on those items too. I dont know about you all but i can no longer tell the difference between high and low sugar since i now get hot flushes, brain function losses, and shaky with anything under 40 or over 250.

[Toepopper]

I remember you sending me that pig insulin manufacturing information but I am using a new computer now so that tid bit is gone. My old computer, well, I did a "retrieval" on it and it wiped the memory clean so I lost everything even though it claimed my files and pictures would be saved. I had a lot of valuable information on that computer and POOF, in an instant its all gone. I get my insulin from the V.A. and its made in Denmark but there is no information printed on the box that gives the process involved in making it or what ingredients it contains. I remember insulin being made from pig parts but that was even before my time and I am an old timer. As for raising pigs, they are hard to control and keep penned up, they can push their snout under a fence and tear it up, then wiggle their way through and escape. They will then proceed to go on a walkabout and root up your veggies and lawn looking for grubs and worms but they always come back at dinner time expecting you to feed them. Its not worth the effort to raise them for meat or processing insulin from hog organs. That ordeal is way beyond my capacity but I foresee a black market industry for insulin of any type in a total melt down scenario with people selling it in the alleys and cornfields.

[fern]

I just hope one of those alleys is near each of us!

Those are the very reasons i dont like pigs plus they chase horses and make messes of anything possible if they get out. But too...according to several books i read they get rid of things you like to get rid of?!

Actually there is an impossible recipe to make insulin on dr bones and nurse whoevers website but the one i had was easier. Like you, my old computer is gone but i used to use a backup external drive. I just need to find it in hopes that recipe is there. I believe i got it from another dr that actually preferred bovine pancreas to be used. That makes more sense to me since having beef is handy if you have the grassland to feed them n meadows to grow hay.

I have about fifty storage containers to go thru to attempt to find it so i will get back to this topic at some future point.

The doctor that wrote Armageddan Medicine...i believe she had a recipe too you could get under certain circumstances. Although she recommends the umbilical cord stem cells.