? 7/27, Jack 553@AMPS, Do I start with same dose as prozinc?

Daddy Jack's Mommy (GA)

Daddy Jack's Mommy (GA)

Member Since 2019
Jack will be switching from prozinc to levemir as soon as I can get a vet app't, hopefully on Friday. He's currently on 5U and although I see some blues (never greens) between doses, his preshot numbers are in the 3, 4 and 500s. (He was in the 500's again this AM, but it's not yet on my SS.) My question is - Once I switch to levemir, do I lower the dose?
Also, should I be buying the flexpens? All new to me as I buy prozinc in vials.
I'm looking forward to being a part of such a supportive and active forum!
 
Tagging @tiffmaxee and @Wendy&Neko to help you.

I know that when switching from Prozinc to Lantus you switch at the same dose or slightly lower and when switching from Lantus to Levemir you switch at 70% of the Lantus dose. I don't know if my extension of that logic, you switch from Prozinc to Levemir at 70% of the Prozinc dose !

Levemir you can buy the flexpens. I am not in the US, but I know that a lot of people buy their Lantus (and Levemir?) online from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada for much cheaper!
 
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Bandit's Mom said:
Tagging @tiffmaxee and @Wendy&Neko to help you.

I know that when switching from Prozinc to Lantus you switch at the same dose or slightly lower and when switching from Lantus to Levemir you switch at 70% of the Lantus dose. I don't know if my extension of that logic, you switch from Prozinc to Levemir at 70% of the Prozinc dose !

Levemir you can buy the flexpens. I am not in the US, but I know that a lot of people by their Lantus (and Levemir?) online from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada for much cheaper!
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Thanks Bhooma. I'll be ordering from Mark's. I was just curious to know about the dosing.
 
tiffmaxee said:
I believe when switching from prozinc to lev the dose will be slightly less or the same as the prozinc dose just like with lantus. You don’t want to go much less or it takes too long to get to the right dose. I hope Wendy will confirm.
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Thank you. I'm so looking forward to switching. The dose just isn't holding for the whole cycle.
 
With both Lev and Lantus we look at how the existing dose is doing at the current insulin. As long as you can monitor closely the first couple cycles, you could switch to 5 units. I hope Levemir gives you much better duration. I got flat blue the second Lev cycles, loved it ever since.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
With both Lev and Lantus we look at how the existing dose is doing at the current insulin. As long as you can monitor closely the first couple cycles, you could switch to 5 units. I hope Levemir gives you much better duration. I got flat blue the second Lev cycles, loved it ever since.
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Thanks Wendy. I'll make sure that I switch when I have a couple of days with him. I have 2 weeks vacation in August, so that helps!
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
@Bandit's Mom, @Wendy&Neko or @tiffmaxee
Flextouch or penfills? In my original post I asked about ordering flexpens and Bhooma confirmed. (Thanks Bhooma!) So flextouch is what I want and NOT penfills. Is that right?
Sorry about my confusion with this.
~Carolyn
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Sorry for the confusion, Carolyn. I was just confirming the brand name of the Levemir pen i.e. Levemir Flexpen. If you get the pen cartridges for cheaper, you should go for it.
I don't get Levemir penfills/cartridges here in India. Only the Flexpens.

ETA: It looks like Flexpens are called Flextouch in North America.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Sorry for the confusion, Carolyn. I was just confirming the brand name of the Levemir pen i.e. Levemir Flexpen. If you get the pen cartridges for cheaper, you should go for it.
I don't get Levemir penfills/cartridges here in India. Only the Flexpens.

ETA: It looks like Flexpens are called Flextouch in North America.
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Thank you Bhooma!
 
@Bandit's Mom @tiffmaxee @Wendy&Neko
My vet finally agreed to let me switch from prozinc to levemir. I'm so relieved because I wasn't sure that he would. He's old school and was so hesitant. He spoke with colleagues who agreed to the switch. However, both of them said to begin with a starting dose of 1U and hold for 7 days, then do a curve and adjust from there. I'm somewhat conflicted here. I know that my vet knows very little about FD, thus the reason why he would have told me that pre shot testing is unnecessary and that maybe Jack will eventually only need one shot a day. Oh really? That aside, I don't want to completely disregard his advice because I need him to work with me, as he has so far, and I don't want him to see me totally ignore him. He leaves me to do as I want with Jack even though we don't agree. Would it be ridiculous for me for me to start with 1U and increase accordingly? What do you think?
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
Would it be ridiculous for me for me to start with 1U and increase accordingly? What do you think?
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Simple answer - yes, ridiculous. Been there, done that myself. My girl was on 5 units of Caninsulin when I finally managed to convince her vet I wanted a different insulin, and we started at 1 unit. It took me over three months to get back to 5 units (she needed more), and Neko was in higher number the entire time. I was extremely lucky she was not ketone prone. Some vets, maybe one your vet consulted, think that Levemir is stronger than Lantus. It is - in dogs. Tip, cats are not dogs. I kept my same vet and worked with her, just not on the dosing. That was my domain.
 
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Wendy&Neko said:
Simple answer - yes, ridiculous. Been there, done that myself. My girl was on 5 units of Caninsulin when I finally managed to convince her I wanted a different insulin, and we started at 1 unit. It took me over three months to get back to 5 units (she needed more), and Neko was in higher number the entire time. I was extremely lucky she was not ketone prone. Some vets, maybe one your vet consulted, think that Levemir is stronger than Lantus. It is - in dogs. Tip, cats are not dogs. I kept my same vet and worked with her, just not on the dosing. That was my domain.
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Nope. I can't go through that again. I'm so happy that he's out of the 600s.
Thanks Wendy.
 
Yep definitely go with 5u bid.

Welcome to our little family here. We are glad to see you and Jack. If you haven’t read our Posting Guidelines, please take a minute to as we post differently here than in the PZ forum.

I’m wondering if Jack has some IAA? Could be his health issues but we had another kitty whose BG just popped way up out of nowhere. He had developed heart issues and IAA.
 
Marje and Gracie said:
Yep definitely go with 5u bid.

Welcome to our little family here. We are glad to see you and Jack. If you haven’t read our Posting Guidelines, please take a minute to as we post differently here than in the PZ forum.

I’m wondering if Jack has some IAA? Could be his health issues but we had another kitty whose BG just popped way up out of nowhere. He had developed heart issues and IAA.
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Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm happy to be in this group now. I'm frustrated with Jack's high numbers, but relieved to know I can get support, and offer support to others as well.
I have no idea what's going on with Jack's numbers. I raised his dose to 5.5U and last night's PS was 569 and his AMPS was 573. He's still urinating like crazy! I'm hoping the switch to Levemir will improve his BG, but I'm thinking that I may need to have him tested for a high dose condition. I dread ever needing to take him out of the house. He's a mess in the carrier and car. It's actually pretty frightening. But I feel like I'll need to know what's going on if his need for more and more insulin continues.

I'll familiarize myself with the guidelines. I told Jack that we're going to be starting a new adventure together. We're ready!
 
Daddy Jack's Mommy said:
Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm happy to be in this group now. I'm frustrated with Jack's high numbers, but relieved to know I can get support, and offer support to others as well.
I have no idea what's going on with Jack's numbers. I raised his dose to 5.5U and last night's PS was 569 and his AMPS was 573. He's still urinating like crazy! I'm hoping the switch to Levemir will improve his BG, but I'm thinking that I may need to have him tested for a high dose condition. I dread ever needing to take him out of the house. He's a mess in the carrier and car. It's actually pretty frightening. But I feel like I'll need to know what's going on if his need for more and more insulin continues.

I'll familiarize myself with the guidelines. I told Jack that we're going to be starting a new adventure together. We're ready!
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Yes, we will help you and Jack! We have alot of experience in high dose scenarios whether it’s glucose toxicity, steroids, IAA, acro, etc.
 
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