1/19 - New Member: Question About Lantus

[CalicoEvie]

Hi all! I'm Evie's mom. She's estimated to be at least 10 but she could be older. She was diagnosed with diabetes about a week ago.

My question is about using the Lantus Solostar. I noticed after attaching the needle and dialing to my cat's dose (1 unit), but before pressing the button, small beads of insulin started to form on the needle tip. I called the pharmacist because this happened Saturday and I couldn't contact my vet, and he said that wasn't normal and I must have received a defective pen. I might not have explained it well to him. I also consulted my nurse friend and she said the small dribbling of insulin should be for priming purposes. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi Evie's mom. None of us use the pens only for the reason you can only adjust the dose by whole units. We buy the U-100 syringes with the half unit markings because we adjust the doses by 0.25units at a time. These syringes make it easier to do that.
U100, 3/10 ml, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings

You would want the ones on the left

• 
  
  
  • Full and half-unit syringe scales:

You can read all the yellow stickys here about Lantus and you will see some suggestions on what syringes you can get. You can even get them on Amazon without a vets script

You can order the U-100 syringes with half unit markings from Amazon without a doctors script
https://www.amazon.com/UltiCare-31-Gauge-Veterinary-Insulin-Syringes/dp/B009LTE0DO
Just keep asking questions
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-levemir-biosimilars.9/
She's a beautiful kitty


Just take the cap off the pen and use a U100 syringes and pull the insulin out of the pen! You will see a small gray rubber stopper, insert the syringe there

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

We don't recommend using the special pen tips for a couple of reasons. The first is because it limits you to doing increases by whole units. We do increases in 0.25 unit increments. A tiny increase or decrease in dose can make a huge difference in a cat! When using the 'dial a dose", the only choice you have if 1U isn't enough is to go to 2U which is a 100% increase in dose. That's like a human going from 30U to 60U! There's some "in between" doses to try first!

Also, we want the lantus to last as long as possible, which means keeping it in the fridge but when using the pen needles, you're not supposed to keep it in the fridge because it can cause the mechanism to give too much or too little.

Lastly, the instructions on using the pens say you're supposed to prime it each time by wasting 2U (so you set the dial-a-dose to 2U and then shoot it into the trash). That means wasting 4U every day. You'd be throwing away a lot more than you'd be using!

By using regular insulin syringes and pulling the dose out of the pen, you can keep it in the fridge and use every drop out of each pen. It also allows you to give smaller increment doses, like 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75. You just pull the cap off the pen and there's a rubber stopper like you'd see on a vial. You just insert the syringe needle into the pen and pull out the amount you need.

If you live in the US, you can get 3/10ml, 31 gauge insulin syringes with half unit marks from Walmart for $12.58/100 (a lot cheaper than the pen needles too!). You want one of these (the only difference is the length of the needle. Some are 8mm and other is 6mm and either one works fine!)

I believe that the blue box now offers either 6mm or 8mm. You just want to make sure you get the one with the purple stripe.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

but before pressing the button, small beads of insulin started to form on the needle tip.

Did you have the refrigerated? If yes I suspect the drop is due to pen warming up when outs the fridge. The manufacturer says to not refrigerate an in-use pen. The temperature cycling can cause inaccuracy in the dial-a-dose dose. As others have said, use a syringe to draw the insulin out and keep the pen in the fridge except when drawing out the insulin.

 

[CalicoEvie]

Did you have the refrigerated? If yes I suspect the drop is due to pen warming up when outs the fridge. The manufacturer says to not refrigerate an in-use pen. The temperature cycling can cause inaccuracy in the dial-a-dose dose. As others have said, use a syringe to draw the insulin out and keep the pen in the fridge except when drawing out the insulin.

Oh yes I had it refrigerated because my vet told me I needed to to make it keep longer.. I didn't know that could cause issues while it's in use. Thanks!

 

[CalicoEvie]

Hi Evie's mom. None of us use the pens only for the reason you can only adjust the dose by whole units. We buy the U-100 syringes with the half unit markings because we adjust the doses by 0.25units at a time. These syringes make it easier to do that.
U100, 3/10 ml, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings

You would want the ones on the left

• 
  
  
  • Full and half-unit syringe scales:

You can read all the yellow stickys here about Lantus and you will see some suggestions on what syringes you can get. You can even get them on Amazon without a vets script

You can order the U-100 syringes with half unit markings from Amazon without a doctors script
https://www.amazon.com/UltiCare-31-Gauge-Veterinary-Insulin-Syringes/dp/B009LTE0DO
Just keep asking questions
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-levemir-biosimilars.9/
She's a beautiful kitty


Just take the cap off the pen and use a U100 syringes and pull the insulin out of the pen! You will see a small gray rubber stopper, insert the syringe there

Thank you so much for the information!

 

[CalicoEvie]

We don't recommend using the special pen tips for a couple of reasons. The first is because it limits you to doing increases by whole units. We do increases in 0.25 unit increments. A tiny increase or decrease in dose can make a huge difference in a cat! When using the 'dial a dose", the only choice you have if 1U isn't enough is to go to 2U which is a 100% increase in dose. That's like a human going from 30U to 60U! There's some "in between" doses to try first!

Also, we want the lantus to last as long as possible, which means keeping it in the fridge but when using the pen needles, you're not supposed to keep it in the fridge because it can cause the mechanism to give too much or too little.

Lastly, the instructions on using the pens say you're supposed to prime it each time by wasting 2U (so you set the dial-a-dose to 2U and then shoot it into the trash). That means wasting 4U every day. You'd be throwing away a lot more than you'd be using!

By using regular insulin syringes and pulling the dose out of the pen, you can keep it in the fridge and use every drop out of each pen. It also allows you to give smaller increment doses, like 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75. You just pull the cap off the pen and there's a rubber stopper like you'd see on a vial. You just insert the syringe needle into the pen and pull out the amount you need.

If you live in the US, you can get 3/10ml, 31 gauge insulin syringes with half unit marks from Walmart for $12.58/100 (a lot cheaper than the pen needles too!). You want one of these (the only difference is the length of the needle. Some are 8mm and other is 6mm and either one works fine!)
View attachment 72461

I believe that the blue box now offers either 6mm or 8mm. You just want to make sure you get the one with the purple stripe.

Oh, I didn't even think about how much I'd be wasting. Thanks for the info!

 

[squeem3]

Never ask a pharmacist questions about using a medicine for a cat / pet. They won't have a clue. It's best to ask the vet, or here on FDMB until you can get a hold of the vet.

Use insulin syringes with any insulin pen. A pharmacist won't know anything about this and some vets don't either. There are various brands of insulin syringes you can buy. The Relion is popular and it seems to be only sold at WalMart. Whatever brand works for you and you can afford and can find at a store pharmacy as well as online will work. You want U100 3/10 cc with half unit markings. 31 gauge 5/16 inch needles are ideal but that's mostly user preference. You may or may not need a prescription from the vet to buy insulin syringes at a pharmacy. It depends on state law if you live in the US. There are many places to buy insulin syringes online with no prescription or just by providing a phone number of the vet for confirmation: Amazon, Chewy, (Human) diabetic supply web sites, etc.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Your mileage may vary on pharmacists. Back when I first got Lantus for Neko, the pharmacist knew more than my vet about Lantus and which syringes to use. She had a lot of kitty clients. . She even suggested I not get a vial but go with cartridges (pen refills) instead. She knew her stuff.