7/24 Michelangelo AMPS 129, +6/66, +9/61

Previous Condo.

Michelangelo is still doing so darn freaking fantastic on Levemir that it makes me want to cry tears of joy. Still hasn't topped 300 since the end of May (and even then, it was a paltry 301 that if I retested, I might have gotten a number under 300). I was reading back through my "newbie" posts today as I sometimes do to remind myself how far I've come and I can't get over how much I struggled for the first few months trying to get him "regulated" on Lantus until I finally said, "enough!" and just decided to follow TR but not get frustrated by his continual "bouncing." That helped alleviate the stress of it all, but Mikey still never ended up "regulated" on Lantus. All those times I doubted myself and wondered if I were doing something "wrong" when it was simply because Lantus was the wrong insulin for him. ohmygod_smile

On that note, I have a Levemir question. I know there are some differences between Levemir and Lantus, for instance, you can pre-fill Levemir syringes because of its neutral pH. I know that Levemir is also a lot more forgiving with SID doses vs. BID (usually for kitties heading to remission). But what I'm wanting to know now is can I shoot a late dose (maybe reduced) for a PM shot and then shoot his AM at his regular time or is that courting disaster? I have my annual review coming up next week with all my coworkers and boss coming in from out of town and we always have a dinner night, which means I won't be home till after his regular shot time on that night. I've been trying to train up my little second cousin who moved out here a few months ago (you can see on his spreadsheet where she successfully gave him two possible fur shots). She's deathly afraid of needles, including the lancet pen (where you can't even see the lancet), but she's willing to do it for me to help overcome her fear. Even still, I don't want her having to drive all the way to my house to give another fur shot ( :lol: ) if she doesn't have to.

And now it's Henry-story time. The little punk now has a second family! :YMSIGH: One of my neighbors and his family who have never owned cats pretty much got adopted by Henry when he came strolling into their house one day. They love him to death and he loves them. Every night, around 9:30, my doorbell rings and it's my neighbor bringing Henry home for the night. :lol: Since Henry is wearing Mikey's collar that says, "I'm diabetic!" they even went out of their way and researched foods appropriate for diabetic cats. My neighbor (who is also named Henry) told me that he tried feeding my Henry some of the Fancy Feast that he had read online was good for diabetics but Henry turned his nose up at it. So, I ended up handing over a handful of the Friskies SD and some lids for him and explained about mixing it with water and adding some parmesan cheese on top. Basically, I now have shared custody of my cat! :lol: :lol: Henry is such a needy little love-bug that I'm surprisingly not too bothered by this turn of events because I've always felt like I just can't give him enough of the loving that he's looking for. I also no longer have to wait up at night for him to come home any more because my neighbor now brings him home to me! Plus, with another set of eyes on him, it makes me feel more comfortable about him roaming about outside. And they get a cat they don't have to really take care of. Win-win for everyone involved, especially Henry! :thumbup

 

Re: 7/24 Michelangelo AMPS 129, +6/66

Great story about Henry and great that M is doing so good on lev

Cant answer your question, just a note about the prefilling syringe with levemir. I dont know if you have read the response i got from novo nordisk who produce levemir about prefilling syringe. If not read it in the levemir group. They basically have few concerns about prefilling the levemir, but some concerns about the syringes when prefilling.

 

Re: 7/24 Michelangelo AMPS 129, +6/66

Yep you sure can just reduce the dose a little. It's how I do time changes.

Henry sounds like my Max the first. He was my cat in name only he thought he belonged to several families. One for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner and back to me for a warm soft bed to sleep in. Lol. When he got sick once and I had to keep him in for a week they even sent him flowers and get well cards!!

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 7/24 Michelangelo AMPS 129, +6/66

Thanks, you guys! I am thrilled to know about being able to shoot reduced doses for shot time issues because now I'm feeling a lot better about next week.

I first found out about Henry's second family at the beginning of this month when I locked Henry in the house for a week after he got a bath at the vet's because he laid down in something sticky and then because of the 4th of July fireworks. I got a phone call from my neighbor-Henry asking me if everything was all right because they hadn't seen Henry in a few days. At first I was worried that Henry was being a bother to the neighbors, but it turns out they all love him. Neighbor-Henry even tells me about the other neighbors and their cats and how my Henry gets along great with the outdoor cats and even has a best cat friend he runs around with. :lol: He's leading a double life!

 

We just had a massive power outage at work (the whole block was down) so I got to come home early to finish working from home the rest of the day. It's nice to see Mikey surfing the 60s still. :mrgreen:

 

Wow, the change to lev is really doing wonders for your kitty. It makes me again think about making the switch if I can figure out when to shoot that fits into my life. Congrats on how well Michelangelo is doing.

 

Your Henry story is fabulous and too funny!!!

Hooray for Mikey and Levemir. I am so glad we switched. Alska is so much better on it and Mikey's ss is fantastic!!

 

Elise

You are already shooting Lantus, you shoot Levemir on the same schedule. 12/12 Levemir is a depot insulin just like Lantus.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

I know it's a 12 hour but the nadir is so much later.

 

glad M is doing btr! what a wonderful henry story! so many cats have no1 and he has 2 families. yay henry. maybe in the future those folks will save a life, rescue a kitty of their own.
one question...why does H wear the diabetic collar? i need 1 of those.

 

I had the AC running in the house yesterday so Henry didn't have an "escape" opportunity till around 5 PM. When Neighbor-Henry brought him home last night, he asked if I wouldn't mind letting Henry out a bit earlier in the day because they like having him around. :lol:

Pam, Henry has Mikey's "diabetic" collar because he's manage to lose quite a few collars/tags already and I got tired of spending the money on his collars so I just gave him Mikey's unused collar (he's too skittish to wander anywhere). I actually kinda like him having that collar because I'm always worried someone might steal him (yes, Henry is that awesome of a cat) and I'd rather make them think twice before taking him. nailbite_smile

 

ok...gotcha! ah, to have ur neighbors!

 

Yeah, but for me, that makes things easier. Mikey used to have early nadirs or late nadirs that would go into the next cycle or even double nadirs while on Lantus. That always made me nervous shooting low pre-shots because I never knew how his cycle would trend and would get stuck testing at all hours of the night or skipping shots if I wasn't going to be around to test.

With Levemir, I have no problem shooting pretty much any pre-shot because I know he's got at least 4 hours before onset on Levemir so that give his numbers plenty of time to stop dropping. Plus, his dose remains steady whereas with the Lantus, I was constantly having to increase the dose till he'd go on a hunger strike for a day or two and then his dose would usually drop by ~1u and slowly start increasing again. I was constantly having to adjust his dose and never saw consistency. One week, a dose would take him too low. The next, that same dose would be too little. It was exhausting!

 

henry sounds like such a sweetheart!!!
question. do you think that levemir is better than
lantus?

 

For us, absolutely YES! Levemir is indubitably better than Lantus. That being said, "the best insulin is the one that works for your cat." Just don't spend a year and a half on an insulin that doesn't seem to be working well like I did. ;-)