? Lantus peak? Trying to time it for vet visit tomorrow (for high BG levels.

[lovemycat444]

Hi, I just read the Lantus, Levemir info stickies. I couldn't find the amount of hours it takes for Lantus to reach it's time of being most effective. I want to try to time the Lantus peak with a vet visit tomorrow for my cat bc he is going to have full bloodwork, and fructosamine testing. He's had very high blood glucose levels and has been hiding and drinking way too much water. The full blood work, It's very very expensive and above all I want to do anything I can so the testing is the most accurate. Thank you so much.

 

[tiffmaxee]

When I first started giving Lantus my vet said to come in 6 hours after injection. The nadir, lowest point in the cycle which I think you mean by peak, cN vary from cst to cat and cycle to cycle with the same cat. For most it’s usually +5-7. Testing at home will help you figure it out.

 

[lovemycat444]

Thank you so much. I don't understand the +5-7 does that mean for most cats the lowest point in the cycle is around the 5 - 7 th hour after the Lantus was first given? Also nadir, the lowest point does that mean when the Lantus being long acting is at it's most effective, hence the blood sugar is the lowest then? Thank you !!

 

[Beck and Philly]

Thank you so much. I don't understand the +5-7 does that mean for most cats the lowest point in the cycle is around the 5 - 7 th hour after the Lantus was first given? Also nadir, the lowest point does that mean when the Lantus being long acting is at it's most effective, hence the blood sugar is the lowest then? Thank you !!

Yes. The +2, +3, etc are the hours after you last gave your kitty insulin. Since people here are in all different time zones, doing it that way makes it easier than giving actual times on the clock.

The nadir is the lowest point your cat's glucose number gets before it starts climbing again. Lantus dose amounts are figured by nadir rather than where they are when we give insulin. Every cat's nadir comes at a different time, but a good starting place to look for it is in hours +5, +6, and +7.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Yes. Sorry for not explaining better. The nadir is when the bg is at the lowest point in a cycle. It varies. My boy loved to drop at night which is pretty common. That’s why it’s suggested to get evening tests. Are you planning to get a meter and test at home? It’s highly recommended as shooting blind can be dangerous. When Max started insulin I said I wasn’t going to test at home. My vet had me coming to him every few days. I got a human Relion meter from Walmart just in case and brought it to one of our vet visits. Soon my vet handed me the needle and after seeing Max had dropped to I believe it was 60, I became a testaholic.

 

[Gill & George]

Just wanted you to bear this in mind, many cats will test higher BG at the vets office than they do at home. Stress can pushes the BG numbers up. As an example George, even now that he is in remission will have an increasee in BG of approx 100, so if he is 60 at home he will measure 160 at the vets and drop back down to his normal BG once he is home and settled down. That's one of the reasons why glucose curves done at the vet office are so unreliable, their numbers will often run significantly higher than they do at home. My vet actually recommended I run glucose curves at home as this would give a more accurate picture.


The fructosamine test should not be affected by this stress hyperglycaemia. However, if you do start home testing, and I would strongly recommend that you do, you would not need to run a fructosamine as you can monitor BG for yourself with a meter. I used a human meter, because it was much cheaper for strips and the strips were easier to get hold of if I was running short on them for some reason.