Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
I take 80 units of Lantus daily, and the sheer quantity causes me to have pain when injected. Do you think I could take 40 units twice daily to help lessen the pain? My doctor doesn’t know so I am turning to you as a last resort.Answer
There's nothing wrong with splitting your Lantus into two injections per day. It will, of course, be a bit of hassle in terms of remembering to inject twice daily, and use extra syringes, but besides the benefit you mention, you may actually decrease the variability of the basal insulin effect.Be sure to discuss this with your doctor and decide with him/her whether to split into two equal doses (probably yes), and what times to take the two doses (approximately 12 hours apart would probably be best for most folks). Also, discuss whether to have a transition period for a few days (such as 80 once daily on Monday, then 70 and 10 on Tuesday, 60 and 20 on Wednesday, or whatever). Whatever is decided will be somewhat arbitrary, so check lots of blood sugars during the transition, and plan to transition during a relatively quiet time (not during a holiday week such as Thanksgiving, for example!).
