Saturday, February 28, 2009

Insulin Question?

Is there a difference in Humalog and Novolog?


When Kacey was in the hospital, she was on Novolog. The vial of insulin we were sent home with was Novolog but when we got her prescription filled, it was for Humalog (Kwik pens). When I was doing some research of pump supplies with our insurance company, I looked at the price of Humalog vs. Novolog. We pay $50 for Humalog but if she was on Novolog it would only be $15!! Thats a HUGE difference and so I was wondering why she went from Novolog to Humalog to start with? They are both fast acting insulin, so why would she be on one and then get a prescription for another? I'm going to fax a note to her CDE when I fax blood sugars on Monday and ask why but I was just wondering if anyone knew if there was a difference?

Now I'm beginning to wonder about Lantus vs. Levimer?

We've been paying these high co-pays for the last 7 months and we probably could have been paying less!

8 comments:

Amy said...

Good question- have wondered about the differences myself. Jada has Novolog and Lantus.

Anonymous said...

I take Novolog and Lantus and have relatively low co-pays for each (15)

Anonymous said...

From what I understand, Novolog and Humalog are essentially the same thing and can be substituted for each other easily.

Lantus and Levemir are both long-acting, but slightly different. It was recommended to me that if I switched to Levemir, to split my dose.

For example, if I normally take 16 units of basal insulin, I would take 8 units at 7am and 8 units and 7pm.

It's been awhile since I've thought about Lantus vs. Levemir, so hopefully my info is correct and that helps you out.

Wendy said...

As I understand it, Novolog and Humalog can be interchanged...not sure about the Levemir.

Addy was dx and started on NPH/Regular (BLECH!!!! Not to offend anyone, but it was terrible.) We switched to Lantus/Novolog several weeks later and she's been on Novolog ever since.

Anonymous said...

I have no idea. Tristan has always had Novolog and Lantus. When he switch to the pump, we continued with Novolog. He was never given anything else. Sorry I can't help more.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

At our last visit Riley's endo asked if we were on NovoLog or Humalog. I told her Novo and she said that was good. It was more helpful with sugars that were bouncing around (which Riley's sugars had been doing at the time). I'm not really sure what that means.

At diagnosis, Riley was on NovoLog and Lantus. When he went to the pump we continued with NovoLog. He's never used Humalog.

Ronda said...

Lantus has to be given separately - not mixed. It crystalizes when it is injected. Levemir we are allowed to mix, but changes the fast acting into more of a regular insulin. My daughter is on Novolog and Levemir.

Karen said...

I got the impression from my endo that different people's bodies absorb the different types of insulin differently. Some have more stable blood sugars on Novolog, some do better with Humalog. (I could be wrong on this, but it's what I think I remember his discussing with me years ago.) I was switched to another short acting insulin called Apidra, and that one seems to work best for me.