Questions from a new user?!

Sara-Jane

Sara-Jane

Member
Hello fellow Lantus users! My cat Evie will be transitioning to Lantus from Prozinc soon. I have convinced my vet. I’m trying to do all the reading and research I can. But would appreciate some advise !
Evie has been on Prozinc for 7 months now and some days it works great - most days hardly at all. We have played with her dosing a bit from 0.5 units to 0.75 units . She has had some very low numbers (2.8, 3s and 4s mmol/L) I am in canada - which has made me uncomfortable so have never increased her doseage anymore than that. Anyhow! Hoping Lantus will give us more regulation , more consistent curves, and most important help her feel better! I know it is a depot insulin and regular doseage is important. I would appreciate any other advise as I transition her over . I will be getting the U-100 needles as I know the U-40 won’t work. Do I continue with her regular dose in Lantus ? (She’s currently 0.5 units for BG 13 or lower, 0.75 for BG 13 or higher usually. I prefer a start low go slow approach.
Thank you from a worried cat mom !
 
Welcome to LLB. I took a quick look at your spreadsheet and it’s actually not bad at all. Please use US numbers when posting. With SLGS you will hold each dose for 7 days. Reductions are taken starting with the next cycle if the bg falls under 90. That becomes the new dose for 7 days unless another reduction is earned by falling under 90 again. The dose is evaluated every 7 days. If the nadirs are over 90-150 you hold the dose. If over you increase by .25. The 0.5 fat brought the bg under 90 so I would probably start with .50 of lantus.

Our methods don’t use a sliding scale. We dose based upon nadirs, how low it takes your cat. If the preshot number is lower than usual, stall, don’t feed and recheck in 20-30 minutes to see if the bg is then high enough to shoot the full dose. If not rising or going lower you can either shoot a one time reduced dose or skip depending upon your comfort level. Shoot over 200 always. Meter variance is 20% so we would have told you to shoot a full dose with the 198. Gradually lower the no shot/reduced dose until you eventually will shoot anything over 90.

Lantus is a depot insulin so each dose can be influenced by the previous shot. So if you shoot lower that cycle will likely be the same for the first half as it would be if you shot a full dose. The next cycle or next few cycles might be effected by the lower dose.

Add SLGS to your signature. When you start lantus leave some space between the Prozinc rising and starting lantus in the spreadsheet and write started lantus.

Have questions? Just ask. We are here to help.
 
Sara-Jane said:
I will be getting the U-100 needles
Click to expand...
Hi be sure you get the U-100 syringes with the half unit markings
Hopefully you can get them in any pharmacy in Canada
Like tiffmaxee ( Elise ) said when you start lantus above the date you start put a blank line above the date and type Lantus Started and highlight it any color so it stands and where you have Prozinc on your SS up top left Hand side type Lantus as of and the Date and add it also to your signature :cat:
@Sara-Jane
bd-ultra-fine-syringes-half-unit-31g-8mm-310cc.jpg



You can read all the yellow stickys here about Lantus
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-levemir-biosimilars.9/
 
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tiffmaxee said:
Welcome to LLB. I took a quick look at your spreadsheet and it’s actually not bad at all. Please use US numbers when posting. With SLGS you will hold each dose for 7 days. Reductions are taken starting with the next cycle if the bg falls under 90. That becomes the new dose for 7 days unless another reduction is earned by falling under 90 again. The dose is evaluated every 7 days. If the nadirs are over 90-150 you hold the dose. If over you increase by .25. The 0.5 fat brought the bg under 90 so I would probably start with .50 of lantus.

Our methods don’t use a sliding scale. We dose based upon nadirs, how low it takes your cat. If the preshot number is lower than usual, stall, don’t feed and recheck in 20-30 minutes to see if the bg is then high enough to shoot the full dose. If not rising or going lower you can either shoot a one time reduced dose or skip depending upon your comfort level. Shoot over 200 always. Meter variance is 20% so we would have told you to shoot a full dose with the 198. Gradually lower the no shot/reduced dose until you eventually will shoot anything over 90.

Lantus is a depot insulin so each dose can be influenced by the previous shot. So if you shoot lower that cycle will likely be the same for the first half as it would be if you shot a full dose. The next cycle or next few cycles might be effected by the lower dose.

Add SLGS to your signature. When you start lantus leave some space between the Prozinc rising and starting lantus in the spreadsheet and write started lantus.

Have questions? Just ask. We are here to help.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I do have a quick question. Reading all about Lantus.. what is the typical nadir? I see we want to achieve a nadir at +6 hours but an ‘active’ nadir can sometimes occur at +8? I worry a lot about hypos with my girl, and unfortunately I do work during the day. Although she has timed feeders and I have a cat camera I have been able to flex my schedule most days so I am home with her in the morning until +4/+5 giving me a good idea what’s going on with her cycle and knowing that I’m comfortable to leave her. Prozinc always peaked for her at +6… will this change significantly with Lantus?
 
Nadirs vary from cat to cat and cycle to cycle unfortunately. Most cats develop somewhat of a pattern. Max would onset between +2.5-3. If a lot lower I knew to feed or leave out mc if I left the house. The auto feeder will keep her safe. You will get an idea as to possible nadir with Lantus once the depot is built. That takes 5-7 days.
 
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