I used to use regular short-acting insulin and would take multiple shots over a day as my blood glucose fluctuated. Now I take one shot and it lasts all day. How does that work?
In: 20
The long acting insulin has an affinity for itself, and forms insoluble hexamers at the injection site (at body pH). These hexamers slowly degrade into soluble dimers and monomers which enter the blood stream.
Long acting insulin molecules like each other very much and need a lot of convincing before your body can steal one away and use it for itself
Short acting insulin molecules hate each other and would gladly let themselves be stolen by your body to be used immediately
Injecting short acting insulin is like pouring a bit of water on the table. It gets everything wet, but you can soak it up with a paper towel easily. Injecting long acting insulin is like putting a big chunk of ice on the table. Over time it will slowly melt, so while it doesn’t get everything on the table wet immediately, it will keep releasing water for long time.
Type 1 diabetic here. The long acting, like lantus, keeps your sugar stable but won’t compensate for a sudden large amount of carbohydrates like fast acting insulin like humalog will. I can survive with just the long acting if I watch what I eat, but when I lost my insurance and only had short acting I wasn’t able to maintain and ended up with my blood turning acidic.
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