@pyratepete – you’re not a bore at all, sounds like you’re really going through the mill at the minute.
I’m use lantus and humalog and I don’t seem to have any problems with the lantus (I put in 39 units of lantus at about 7.30pm and about 7-12 units of humalog for meals depending on time of day and what I’m eating).
Obviously no one can tell you the magic formula to get it to work for you – but I’ve noticed a few things with lantus:
1. It’s definitely not even over 24 hours. For me it peaks after about 4 hours, stays relatively even and then tails off after about 20 hours.
2. It takes about three days for any changes in dosages to actually make any difference. Therefore if I adjust it, I adjust it from x to y then keep it at y for three days to see what happens.
Also some people swear by splitting their dose – half in the morning and half in the evening. I did this for a while but then stopped doing it because it didn’t seem to make much difference! Also some people get on better with levemir (and vice versa). I’ve never really used levemir, but I bet some other people on the forums will have done.
In your position, I would probably try making smallish adjustments to doses and then record everything (insulin, carb intake, etc.) that happens (bloody tedious I know) to see if you can establish a pattern of what’s going on. I would carry on trying to get hold of a specialist nurse (do you have a hospital clinic you go to who might help?) – just keep ringing them, don’t wait for them to call you back! GPs are pretty much useless in helping with fine-tuning doses!
Anyway, don’t stress too much (that itself can completely screw up your levels!) and let us know how you get on.