Chloe switched to Lantus today

Her BG was in the blues the past few days and it was 79 this morning. I waited until she finished eating and gave her 1 unit. The vet had prescribed 2 units, but I didn't want to start so high, especially on a 79. I'm nervous.

 

Good luck with your switch to Lantus, hope this is a good move for you and Chloe.

 

Roberta, I suggest you read the yellow stickies and post a brief introduction. These "guys" will help you, and get you started. This form is always busy. Prozinc tends to quiet down after a certain hour.
Remember, if it doesn't work out you can always come back to Prozinc.

We will miss you & Chloe. Good luck!!

 

Welcome, Roberta and Chloe. I had a hard time emotionally making the switch from Prozinc to Levemir, but I am so glad I did. It's a learning curve, though, that's for sure. Definitely, read the stickies and you'll want to test frequently, especially at first, to see how she reacts to Lantus.

 

Hi There and welcome to L & L . Please get a +1 as this is the lowest you have shot. Hopefully, you are around today to monitor her since it is a new insulin to her. So glad that you did not shoot the 2 units since you don't have a lot of daytime data in the last 11 days to know what her nadir is.

 

Welcome. Sure hope you get a test soon. For me lantus kicked in at +2-3.

 

Welcome to the L & L ISG!
I echo the other's comments... hope you're testing early and often until you see where Chloe is headed.

While we "shoot low to stay low", we advise those new to Lantus to post and ask for advice when faced with a preshot number of 150 or less. Just like all the groups, we do not advise shooting low until you have the data to support your decision.

Please post and keep your ss updated throughout the day as others will likely be checking to see if all is well.

ETA: Some cats show a marked response to Lantus some time within the first 3 cycles. Please test accordingly.

 

I just peeked at your SS and looks like she bounced up from that green start today. Glad you are keeping an eye on her being new to Lantus. Like Jill said some kitties show a marked response when they first switch to Lantus.

 

Good luck on lantus.
ECID but Chuck can see action as soon as +2 but usually really starts dropping at +5 or +6.

 

I thought Lantus is a 'depot' insulin and didn't think I would see results after the first injection.?

 

?

 

ECID = Every Cat Is Different

 

It is a depot insulin, but sometimes some kitties have a remarkable reaction when first starting it. Always best to be on the side of caution.

 

Steph, I'm not sure I'm drawing the correct dose on the u-100 syringes. The first number is 5 with 4 notches before, so I only go to the first notch for 1 unit, right? It seems so little.

 

You are using u100 syringes, right? Can't use the prozinc syringes.
Normally, the lines on the right side are the whole unit marks. And the lines on the left are half unit marks. The top line that goes across the top is zero.
You want to draw up to the first line on the right.
It does seem like a lot less. I had to get used to the smaller amount too.

 

If you scroll down through the responses on this thread, you'll find a pic with the two syringe labels (half unit and whole unit) with the amounts labeled.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/learning-to-inject-insulin-and-its-not-going-well.68273/

 

Welcome, Roberta and Chloe!

Hope you like the switch, Chloe is looking good already, I hope things even out a bit for her with Lantus.

I agree with others, get a +1 or +2 so you can see how this cycle is going to go, many cats go lower at night. A little extra investment now means a lot less frustration later because when you know how low the dose is going, you can find the magic dose sooner.

 

Thank you everyone. I'm worried that Chloe dropped so low last night and this morning. I'm holding off giving her insulin. She's eating a lot and also I gave her some RC glycobalance dry food I had left over. She's eating that now. I'm going to test again in a few minutes, but she's still crying.
She just tested at 224 at +2, so I gave her 1 unit of Lantus at 7:25 am.

 

When you see a number like that before +6, you should plan to test again in an hour or give a snack of her regular food or medium carb food and test again in an hour (30 minutes if she's under 50).
Normally lantus doesn't get the rise at the end of the cycle like prozinc. It's possible she surfed in the 50-60 range all night.
Test again at +4 to see if she's going down yet. If so, I would do a curve to see if it shows a nadir.

 

I am not too familiar with Prozinc so I don't know exactly how things differ on that insulin from Lantus, but I do know some things are a bit different. Forgive me if I'm giving info you know already because it applies to both insulins.

Lantus is not about the preshots. They factor in to the big picture, yes, but dosing decisions are made mostly by how low the insulin is taking the cat. You'll want to get some more tests in to find out where her nadir is. If you aren't already familiar, read the stickies and learn the concepts of: onset, nadir, overlap, duration, and carryover. It will help you a lot when trying to figure out what's going on with Chloe on Lantus.

You'll want to read the stickies up top to see which dosing method works for your life (TR or SLGS), however, if there is any dry food in the picture, the choice is made for you and it's SLGS. TR can only be followed with wet food, it's a safety issue.

Seeing a 56 can be jarring, especially on your first day, but it is not a number you would need to desperately raise (below 50, yes). Especially if you were going to skip a shot you wouldn't want to send her higher by bringing that number up. She could have gone below 50 last night, but that is when you would raise the number, it doesn't work and isn't necessary after the fact. I would heed others recommendations that you test frequently when switching. It looks like Chloe did have a marked reaction to Lantus, it looks like it might be a very good thing for Chloe, but the only way to keep her safe is to monitor what is going on.

If you delayed the shot by 2 hours, you'll need to shoot tonight 12 hours from the shot time (7:25 pm). Lantus isn't an in and out insulin and works best, especially when you're new to using it, when you shoot consistenly (time and amount). You can work back to your original shot time by shaving off 15 minutes each shot over a few days (so 7:10 pm tonight 6:55 am tomorrow morning, etc.) until you get back. Alternatively, you can shoot 30 minutes early once a day until you get back (6:55 tonight, 6:55 tomorrow morning, 6:25 tomorrow night, 6:25 the next morning, etc.).

If you can change your SS to reflect you shot 2 hours late, it will help you and others to see what happened, trust me, you'll reference it later and want to know you shot late there or else the numbers won't make sense. You can do this by stacking the numbers in the AMPS cell (56 +12, 226 +14). If you shot 2 hours late, your +2 hasn't happened yet, it would be 2 hours after the shot (at +16).

Dry food can stay in the system a lot longer than wet food, but there's no telling exactly how long. Since you shot a food influenced number, you still want to keep tabs on her today as she could drop back down when the dry food wears off.

Ask all the questions you need to, we are here to help.

 

Great advice from Stacy, Roberta. Please do follow what these knowledgeable people suggest. Lantus is a totally different thing and you need to learn how it works to get the best results for Chloe. She's had a rough go of it and this is a great opportunity to get her under better control to ward off another DKA.

 

I usually post things like that in the comments. I don't understand how to do it the way you say. I always count from when I give the shot. I just count the cells and don't let the plusses confuse me. I record all times in the comments. It shows as a small triangle in the upper right-hand corner.

 

what do you mean by that?

 

I will do this. I just need to get the shot time back to 6:25 am before I start work on Monday. Thank you.

 

Here's an example, look at 12/10 and 12/12. The +1, +2, etc. let us all be on the same page regardless of shot time and it's easy to visually reference what numbers came how many hours after the shot time.

 

In and out means you shoot it and it goes away after a length of time, say 8 or 10 hours, Lantus and Levemir are depot insulins, so even though one shot's duration may wane, the insulin isn't out of their system because it's a depot insulin, each shot builds upon the last and there is a reserve tank of insulin in their body at all times if you shoot consistently. Even if you were to skip a shot, you would still see some effects of the insulin because of the depot.

 

Roberta, it sounds like @Stacy & Asia are giving you great advice, and don't be afraid to ask questions. All of us in Prozinc-land are rooting for you & Chloe! Change is scary and it can be difficult to learn a new way of doing things.

I actually really like the sound of the depot insulin. It was actually something I may have had to consider pending my cat still needed insulin after my vial.