Lantus overdose?

Hello dear people. I just did the first entries on my spreadsheet. My Vivaldi (7 years old male) was diagnosed last November 2017. Vet #1 prescribed Caninsulin 2 units per day. When we moved to a new city we visited a new vet, and by mutual decision went on Lantus. My cat is not getting any better, but thanks to all the information on the forum I think I have some ideas and a plan to improve the situation. Any comments on Vivaldi Spreadsheet will be welcome. Thanks to all.

 

Hello Vivaldi and his (human) bean!

Well, .. he is high...
Perhaps your vet didn't mention that Lantus is the "depot" style, a cumulative potency insulin?
It mean you are only going to see good results if you handle it as such: keep the doses 12 hours apart + take tests at "strategic" hours and do not feel free re:changing the dose as you have felt doing it with Caniunsulin - consistency and method are the key to use the fullest of long lasting Lantus.

I do not mean to criticize, or anything.!

Have you looked at a Sticky Note at the top of the Forum?

Check out one method of dosing - SLGL and another one, a protocol - "TR" - see which one might be best for your situation and post with any questions.

Your spreadsheet at the time shows that a lot of changes were maid simultaneously - the SIGNIFICANT dose change, dose skips, ets. - to be accurate in the current reading of things. Perhaps someone smarter can have a pick and to comment better.

Unless he dispays sighs of ill health, pain, nausea, etc - keep the dose and add some more night time tests. It's sucks. But it'll serve you well in the future. I use alarm on my cell.

 

Thanks for your reply. All the increases in dosage were with Lantus, following Vet #2 indication. Only used caninsulin during the first month, always at 2 units daily. The two days without insulin was a rebooting, as I thought he was too high too fast on Lantus. Starting again with minimum dose (2 u. daily). Will look at your suggestions on SLGL and "TR". Thank you again.

 

There's a lot of expertise over on the Lantus forum if you post there.

 

Hi and welcome!

First congratulations on home testing that alone is a great start,

And Just some thougts that came to mind after taking a look at your spreadsheet:
-You should always test before shooting to keep your kitty safe
- Lantus has to be given twice a day and the shoots have to be given every 12 hours (same dose every time) for it to really work properly .
- Doses have to be maintained for a number of cycles (12 hour periods) , depending on the protocol you decide to follow (6 to 14 cycles) to allow the depot they mentioned earlier to form, so that you can really see how one given dose is acting
-Since you are starting again I guess you could treat Vivaldi as he is new to Lantus so regardless of the protocol you choose I would suggest you keep the two units dose for at least a week even if he's still a little high and unless his glucose level goes under 90 then you will decrease the dose (ask in the forum if this happens) to allow his body to get used to Lantus and form the depot at the end of the week you can see how he's been doing and decide if he needs a dose adjustment

I also suggest you go to the Lantus forum check the yellow stickies and start asking all the questions you want in that forum there are very nice and experienced people there

 

Good morning. We are very happy today to report some stability in Vivaldi's numbers. We just had our 5th straight yellow reading on his AMPS test. It would seems that his 1.5 twice daily dose of Lantus is beginning to kick in. Thanks for your advice.

 

Is nice that you are already having some nice yellow numbers, have you decided what protocol you are going to follow?

On either case since he's just starting to see some yellow numbers and you raised from 1 to 1.5 kind of quickly I suggest you keep this dose for a couple of days more before adjusting his dose to give his body some time to get used to it

 

Would definitely keep this dose for a while. Thanks.

 

On the protocol. I have read the "SLGS" and "TR", and am following their general guidelines. I did jump to 1.5, because it is not very precise to measure 1/4 units even with the 1/2 u syringe, and mostly studying his initial reaction to dosage with the vet before I was doing home testing. Thanks for your input. It's encouraging to see your Babu-Chiri doing so well.

 

It's kind of tricky measuring 1/4 units you have to eyeball it a little bit (the 1/4 mark would be more o less between the 1 unit and 1 1/2 unit) , one thing you could do is more o less mesure it and mark it in a piece of paper so that you can measure the next time against the paper marks that way you have a very good approximation and you keep the dose consistent ( some people fill a syringe with colored water and compare their dose against the colored water syringe ) which is the most important thing or you could use a caliper to measure it too

This is a photo I took after measuring 0.25 units for example

 

Good day. Vivaldi is having light green low numbers recently. Four lows (36 to 45) in the last 4 day. Would welcome opinions regarding my two options: Should I keep the slow descent of insulin, 1/4 unit every 3 to 7 days?. Or should I drop insulin at an accelerated pace (maybe 1/5 or 1 unit at a time)? Please check the spreadsheet and give me some feedback. Thanks. PS: I have already read the "Handling low numbers" sticky note.

 

The folks in the Lantus Forum can give you the best advice on how to safely lower your doses. Please post a thread there.

 

Thank you. I did Post in the Lantus forum. Getting plenty of advise already. Thanks.