When is the best time to administer Humalog insulin?
Humalog should be injected within 15 minutes before eating a meal or immediately after eating a meal. Humalog is a rapid-acting insulin that is used to help control blood sugar in people with diabetes. Insulin is most commonly administered as a subcutaneous (under the skin) injection.
Humalog is a brand name for insulin lispro, a rapid-acting insulin. It is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adults and children ages three years and older with diabetes mellitus.
Insulin is dosed in units. The exact dose to inject is determined by several factors, including your current blood sugar and how many grams of carbohydrate are being eaten. One risk of insulin injections is having your blood sugar drop too low (called hypoglycemia). This can happen when a person eats less than he or she planned. Rapid-acting insulins, like Humalog, can be administered immediately after eating, so you know how many grams of carbohydrates have actually been eaten.
Insulin is a hormone that helps your body to use the sugar (carbohydrates) from food for energy. In healthy individuals, insulin is made and stored in the pancreas. It is normally released by the pancreas in response to rising blood sugar levels. Individuals with diabetes mellitus don't make any or enough insulin of their own, so they must give themselves insulin.
There are different types of insulins. One way they differ is by their time profile: how rapidly they start to work, when their peak effects occur and how long their effects last.
Insulins are categorized as:
- Rapid acting
- Short acting
- Intermediate acting
- Long acting
- Ultra-long acting
Most individuals with diabetes need to use more than one kind of insulin each day to achieve the best control of their blood sugar.
- Insulin is often self-administered by individual subcutaneous injections either by drawing the insulin up into a syringe from a vial or by using a prefilled pen. All the insulin types may be given this way. Injection sites are rotated and include the abdomen, thigh, upper arm or buttocks.
- Some people use an insulin pump, which delivers the insulin subcutaneously but as a continuous infusion.
- In a medically supervised setting, such as a hospital, insulin may also be given as an intravenous (IV) infusion.
Humalog may be delivered all three ways.
Related questions
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Humalog. November 2019. Available at: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2019/020563s196s198s199,205747s022s025s026lbl.pdf. [Accessed July 3, 2021].
- American Diabetes Association. Diabetes. Available at: https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes. [Accessed July 7, 2021].
Read next
What type of insulin is Humalog?
Humalog (insulin lispro) is a fast-acting insulin. It begins working to lower blood sugar levels about 15 minutes after injection, reaches a peak in about 1 hour, and continues to work for 2 to 4 hours. Humalog helps to control the blood sugar spikes that may occur during mealtime. It is used within 15 minutes before eating or right after eating a meal. Continue reading
Toujeo vs Lantus - What's the difference between them?
Both Toujeo and Lantus are long-acting insulins that contain glargine, however Toujeo is more concentrated containing 300 units per mL of glargine, compared to Lantus’s 100 units per mL. When you take this into account the cost of Toujeo and Lantus works out approximately the same (real cost value $30.76/mL for Toujeo compared with $30.23/mL for Lantus). Continue reading
Is Trulicity a form of insulin?
Trulicity is not a form of insulin, it mimics the effects of GLP-1 a naturally occurring hormone that stimulates insulin secretion. Trulicity is only suitable for people with type 2 diabetes who still have functioning insulin-producing cells in their pancreas. Continue reading
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