Q: How effective is lantus insulin? Is it safe to change over to this from Human mixtard for a person who has been a type 2 diabetic since 25 years and not achieving a good blood sugar control? Is it a good idea to start this now? The person is 55 years old. Right now she is on 18 units Human mixtard before breakfast and Pioz after lunch and 12 units before dinner human mixtard. Please suggest the best combination to achieve good sugar control?

A:Lantus insulin in the only 24 hour working insulin. It is given only sub-cutaneously. It controls basal blood-sugar levels i.e. pre-meal values. It has no role to control rise in blood glucose that occurs after meal intake. Lantus is ideal when take along with oral diabetic drugs. Mixtard is a combination of short acting and long acting insulin and covers both pre and post meal blood sugar. Lantus cant replace mixtard & vise–versa , both have different roles. Since your diabetic is over 25 years old, mixtard is better combination. The dose of this insulin (mixtard) may be titrated to achieve blood sugar target.