Almost 70 living in Thailand for more than 18 years. Diagnosed with Type 1 just 2 years ago and the Thai doctors say because my pancreas has given up and died.
I have been using HUMULIN 70/30 since then taking 44 units in the morning and 22 in the evening.
I am currently on a touring holiday with my wife and accidentally dropped a bottle of my insulin which instantly smashed spilling it’s contents. It is extremely difficult for me to locate a supplier at home, but away from there is almost impossible due to Thai Regulations.
So, I finally found a pharmacist who could get some for me which would be a different make BUT, she assured me, comparable with my HUMULIN.
When I collected it (at 3 times the cost of my regular pharmacy back home) it was in a similar bottle but called MIXTARD 30 HM.
My question is – does any member know if I should take the same amount (44 + 22 units) of the MIXTARD 30 as I do of my HUMULIN 70/30?
@peterf hi Peter. You should ask the pharmacy to help you with converting dosage. The documents online suggest it’s the same - but you never said if you were taking U100 or some other strength.
Test more and see and remember- you can always take a little more medicine
First of all Joe, thanks for answering.
Can I just say that the Pharmacist was kind enough to source the insulin for me and all she could say was that she had been told by her supplier it was the same as my regular HUMULIN 70/30
I’m not sure what U100 means but I gave all the box info in my original post.In Thailand they still use the sugar levels of normal being 90 - 110 and there is always a language barrier. Two years ago I was admitted to ICU with a reading of 756 and rising. They thought it was my heart at first then tested again and saved me in the nick of time – my wife says.
So, I will heed your advice and try it when I return home on Tuesday and nearer my doctor/pharmacy. Better I do it there than on the road.
Yes I’m fine thanks Joe as we are back home with access to my reserve supply of HUMULIN.
Unfortunately, yours is the only response to my original posting, not that yours wasn’t appreciated. My next step will be to ask at the private hospital who originally prescribed the insulin as I’m due back next month for my annual going over when I also have an ECG and and all my other internals checked over. I found out recently that liver, kidneys etc.need to work extra hard if the pancreas has failed.
May I asked where you are? I’ve not been back to the UK for 17 years but have corresponded with a nice Scottish lady in the UK diabetes about my condition.
I’m a yank, in the states. New Jersey to be more accurate. I travel the world setting up laboratories and factories. I find myself in Europe as well as Singapore and a bunch of spots here and on the west coast. I have a large lab going up near the Francis Cricks institute in downtown London (Near St. Pancras Station) so I’ll be there this summer.
I know that there is a 97% chance your insulin bottle will break if you drop it in a hotel! I always have a spare.
this web site isn’t really set up to be an emergency help line, it is more of a forum of non-professional opinions. Sorry you didn’t get any more support but our community is largely in the US and we don’t see much in medicine or medical devices from outside our borders. 70/30 is available here but most long time type 1 diabetics are using a basal insulin (such as Lantus) and then a fast acting shot every meal. The other popular treatment here is the insulin pump. I used NPH (the 70% part of your 70/30) for years but it was hard to predict and I did better with a basal insulin and better yet with a pump.
Luckily I did have a spare which will run out tomorrow so I didn’t need the new one after all. I’m only interested as it cost me so much (3 times my own brand).so I would like to use it.
I have a few American friends here in NE Thailand who were based in Nakhon Phanom or near Khon Kaen during your little dispute with Vietnam. I also have an Australian pal who was there later. I didn’t know the French (who never win anything) were there before the Americans until I watched ‘The Quiet American’. My older sister married a Parisienne (also in Pharmaceuticals) whose father was a spy for the Germans. She has lived in Ottawa for the past 45 years.
I drove through New York State from Canada in 1978 then up to New England and Boston before returning to Canada. Been there 3 times but the severe winters knocked me out. I was meant to visit a girl from Iowa in 1974 when over there but got snowed in.
Traveled through most of Europe and now Asia and have no bucket list as I also had 3 weeks in the old USSR in 1986. Visited 7 of the 15 old Soviet States. Paid for myself and later with family for all my travels except for 8 months in Northern Ireland in 1977. Her Majesty’s Government paid for that and still pay my 2 pensions here – fortunately; but no Obama Care I’m afraid.
So many online contradictions about Type 1. There’s an American doctor with Type 1 who says it’s OK to eat ice-cream. Use the smallest bowl with smallest spoon – WHAT? Then there guys who stick on a patch before eating a variety of apple then 2 hours later the sugar rush has gone. After 2 years, I eat more carefully obviously trying to avoid sugar and MSG – difficult in Asia. But, If I want an apple then I have one with some cheese and thoroughly enjoy it. However, I have gone down from 123 kg to 96. Which is around 60 pounds…
Sorry for rambling on and thanks for all the info Joe and enjoy Europe which I don’t miss in the slightest – except for my 3 daughters.
@peterf Peter your travels are fascinating I bet we could tip a few over some stories. My Brother married a girl from the Philippines and he’s been that way a few times for family reunions, I’ve only been to China; Shanghai and Hangzhou and now a new trade war has begun those factories may end up vacant.
I don’t know much about a patch for apples, but I can tell you that Ice cream is a monster when you only have fast acting insulin. I don’t care what kind of spoon you use. the reason is always the same… apples, rice, some cereals absorb VERY fast and so your blood sugar goes way up, then if you inject more insulin… your blood sugar is zero by the next meal.
Ice cream (same diabetic food-group as pizza) has tons of fat, so the blood sugar rise is very very slow… can take 4-6 hours to completely absorb. If you take fast acting insulin with ice cream your blood sugar plummets, making you drink sugar to try to stay alive… then of course you go to sleep and wake up to a 6 million. The one thing I liked about NPH is because it peaks almost the same as carbs in pizza.
truth-be-told you can eat anything you want if you figure out how to use insulin. Sometimes it’s easier to just take the same insulin and eat to control blood sugar but sometimes it’s not. this is a personal choice. I did teach myself how to eat ice cream and how to drink beer, but it takes patience and it took me a programmable pump. The finesse is always trying to get the sugar and the insulin to peak at the same time and at the same magnitude.