
January 24, 2001
Insulin
Question from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England:
I inject Mixtard 20 using an insulin pen and later, I use Mixtard 30. Can you graph an illustration of the effectiveness of the quick/slow acting insulin in each case?
Answer:
It’s very difficult in general to draw a graph of the relative effectiveness of the quick/slow insulins when mixed as in the Mixtard because it varies and depends on the amount of mixture you inject, the site of the injection, and the time you wait before eating. In general, the fast-acting portion peaks earlier as you increase the relative amount of the fast component even the length of the mixture as a whole gets shorter (because the mixtures contains less of the slow component) and this rationale holds the same as you modify the ratio between the two components, slow and fast, as in Mixtard 20 or 30.
MS