Taking Long And Short Acting Insulin

My husband has been taking Lantus for the past three weeks.  He came home from the hospital yesterday after having surgery - a trach.  While in the hospital he caught pneumonia and was given steroids for that.  The steroids caused his blood sugars to rise to over 400.  The doctors prescribed a short acting insulin to be taken on a sliding scale along with taking the Lantus daily.  Our schedule was thrown off today by  a visiting nurse and he fell behind on taking his insulin.  His sugar was just over 300.  Can he take both insulins at the same time or does he need to space them apart?

[Anita Ramsetty, MD]

Hello,
Lantus is most often taken as well as short-acting insulin. It does not act as immediately as the shorter acting ones, so they can in fact even be taken at the same time.