New to community and question, Bonglixan Glargine

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Ben_619

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Hello all,

My name is Ben and I have an 11 year old Bengal Tortie named Sage. My mom gifted her to me when she was 3 months old, she got her from a breeder looking for unique Bengal patterns. She has been free feeding her entire life with canned food here and there and treats everyday. She maxed out at 13 lbs at her heaviest; I saw that she was a bit overweight last year, 13lbs, in August, so I decided to cut back the amount of treats I was giving her from 5 or 6 twice a day to 1 broken in half twice a day. I noticed she had a little bit of weight so I assumed it had worked.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, she became inseparably clingy to me which is not her nature, she would not let me leave her for a second without screaming at me, which worried me. I got a vet appointment at the local community clinic, which gives vet care for less money. They ran blood work on her and everything came back great except her BG levels.

She was diagnosed on 9/10 with diabetes, her original BG test was 450. they prescribed Vetsulin however after lots of research on this wonderful forum I decided I wanted to switch her to Lantus, this was before I started Vetsulin. When I took her back to get a demonstration on how to give the insulin (her bg level was 330 I switched to lower carb foods fancy feast) , the community vet agreed that Lantus was a better option but refused to give me a prescription because she wanted me to I try out the Vetsulin first. So far sage has had 4 doses 1u each, but I want to switch her to Lantus because it feels like the right thing to do.

I live close to the US / Mexican border so I had a friend of mine who lives there go and pick up some Glargine for me there, 40 USD however, it's a generic brand called Bonglixan. The pharmacist said it was the same thing and the box confirms this. I was wondering if anyone has any information about this and if it will be okay to give to my baby girl.

Also, they have the Lantus solostar pens but I'm confused, are they reusable or are they one time use only? The pharmacist said it's a one time use. I was under the impression you could use it multiple times until it ran or they expired.

Also, I bought both the alphatrak3 and the relion meters, I tested her for the first time with both with the same drop of blood. The Alphatrak3 was 200 points higher than the relion was. I'm worried because I am unsure which meter is more accurate. I want to do a curve at home but I'm unsure which reader is accurate. The Alphatrak3 seems to fluctuate a lot, yesterday her bg was 320 before I gave her the Vetsulin and after her 1u, 2 hours later it was 550. I'm worried I may have a defective unit or not doing it properly. I calibrated the Alphatrak3 before I took the first reading yesterday.

Thanks for your time, this is definitely stressful! I just want my baby to feel better.
 
Hi Ben and Sage and welcome to the forum.
I have not heard of Bonglixan insulin. Are you able to get a photo of the container it is in so we can see the writing?
The Lantus solostar pens can be used in conjunction with syringes and they are used more than once. If they sell pens, they should have the boxes of 5 refills of Lantus which is what we use. They are in vials and are boxed in 5 vials. Ask about those as well and try and get a photo with the information us to see.
Lantus is a much better insulin to use persevere with that.
The pet meters and human meters do read a bit differently. We recommend the human meters as they are just as good and are much cheaper to run. And our dosing methods are based on the human meters. So you need to choose one and stick with it otherwise it will drive you crazy.

Is the food you are feeding low carb.. A lot is canned food is high carb.
I would recommend you set up a spreadsheet and a signature so we can help you with testing and dosing.
Info how to do that Here
If you use Lantus the syringes you will need are U100, 3/10ml, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings.
And make sure you set up a hypo kit in case of low numbers. Info in the link I gave you.
Keep asking questions
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Ben and Sage and welcome to the forum.
I have not heard of Bonglixan insulin. Are you able to get a photo of the container it is in so we can see the writing?
The Lantus solostar pens can be used in conjunction with syringes and they are used more than once. If they sell pens, they should have the boxes of 5 refills of Lantus which is what we use. They are in vials and are boxed in 5 vials. Ask about those as well and try and get a photo with the information us to see.
Lantus is a much better insulin to use persevere with that.
The pet meters and human meters do read a bit differently. We recommend the human meters as they are just as good and are much cheaper to run. And our dosing methods are based on the human meters. So you need to choose one and stick with it otherwise it will drive you crazy.

Is the food you are feeding low carb.. A lot is canned food is high carb.
I would recommend you set up a spreadsheet and a signature so we can help you with testing and dosing.
Info how to do that Here
If you use Lantus the syringes you will need are U100, 3/10ml, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings.
And make sure you set up a hypo kit in case of low numbers. Info in the link I gave you.
Keep asking questions
Click to expand...


Hey!

Thanks for the response!

I was confused and accidentally posted this in two places, this one included my small introduction on the other thread, @Wendy&Neko gracious found a paper on bonglixan glargine compared to Lantus which the bottom line read:

"These results provide the basis to validate BNG as a proposed biosimilar according to Mexican regulatory guidelines."

I'm not sure how to upload a photo but here is the photo of the container:

https://imgur.com/a/NKrKGSA

Here is the Lantus solostar they had:

https://imgur.com/a/6FY2RZs

As for the difference in reading, excuse my ignorance here I'm new to this but, 200 point difference seems to be quite significant.

I have a hypokit set up as I was terrified about that, my mom is hypoglycemic so I know how dangerous they can be.

I'm feeding her fancy feast flaked fish and shrimp, I believe it was about 3 carbs. It's been a battle getting her to adjust, I just st bought a blender and blended the food for her as she liked to lick the food and eat the small bits but not the larger chunks. She seems to do better with it blending, plus I can sneak more water into it.

I will work on getting the spreadsheet and signature set up.

Thanks again for your response!
 
The Alphatrak reads quite a bit higher than the human meter in high numbers, but the two types of meters register a lot closer as you get closer to normal blood sugar numbers.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
The Alphatrak reads quite a bit higher than the human meter in high numbers, but the two types of meters register a lot closer as you get closer to normal blood sugar numbers.
Click to expand...

Yesterday, when I tested with the Alphatrak3 she was 320 but after I gave her the Vetsulin two hours later she was at 550, +4 she was 370 is that normal for Alphatrak3? Or is her BG just out of whack? I plan to do a curve with her later in the week when I have more time. She had a meal 30 minutes prior to the injection.

I also plan to switch to Glargine sometime in the near future, I'm hesitant on the Bonglixan as Mexican regulations for bio similars aren't as strict as US and EU. I may go to a separate vet to get a script for it or just get the single pens from Mexico. GoodRx has a good coupon for Lantus rn.

I'm going to set up spreadsheet tomorrow once I get more in the rhythm of testing and injections and decide which meter I'm going to continue using.
 
I need to see your spreadsheet to answer your question on the numbers, but I cannot access it. You need to click the Share button on the top right of the spreadsheet and set it to "anyone with the link".

Are you using just one type of meter or both? Your signature says both, but should just say what the current one is. We strongly recommend picking one meter and sticking to it. Swapping between meters can drive you crazy!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I need to see your spreadsheet to answer your question on the numbers, but I cannot access it. You need to click the Share button on the top right of the spreadsheet and set it to "anyone with the link".

Are you using just one type of meter or both? Your signature says both, but should just say what the current one is. We strongly recommend picking one meter and sticking to it. Swapping between meters can drive you crazy!
Click to expand...


I was using Alphatrak3 at first but I was in the process of using both yesterday, just to see how close they were, today in the morning I used both and they were 1 point different so, I will go ahead and switch to only using the ReliOn as I have reflected on my spreadsheet.

My bad if the spreadsheet is private, I will adjust that.

Thanks again !
 
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In the US there are two biosimular insulins to Lantus. They are Semglee and Basaglar. If your prescription is for insulin glargine they may fill it with one of these. I have used both Lantus and Semglee. I did not notice any differences in how they managed my cat's glucose levels.
 
There are also other manufacturers of generic glargines besides the biosimilars mentioned above. Mylan brand and Biocon Biologics make two of them that I know of.
 
Thanks for those suggestions! The issue I am having is getting my vet to write me a prescription because she wants to test out Vetsulin first, but I wish to use Glargine, hence why I was trying to get it out of the country where I don't need a prescription, plus it's cheaper!

I wanted to see if anyone had any information on the Bonglixan, there really isn't much to go on with the exception of the one article that I read. Where, as stated, it's met bio similarity in Mexican regulations.

If I could get a prescription for Lantus, GoodRx has a coupon for it for 35 dollars for a 5 pack of pens.
 
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