Anyone switched to Lantus from another insulin?

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furballsmom

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I'm wondering about trying switching to Lantus to see if it would make Furball's numbers less erratic. She's been FD for over two years and has been on Vetsulin, ProZinc, and now BCP-PZI for over a year. A vet internal medicine specialist has suggested that I try switching to Lantus, but I've heard that it isn't as successful as a "rescue" insulin.

Has anyone here been on other insulins and later switched to Lantus and had good results?
 
I've switched a bunch of my cats over the years to the Ls (Lantus and Levemir). My cats do much better on them. I just switched Kiki from Levemir to Lantus and am finding she prefers that, whereas Tucker(GA) preferred Levemir. Guess it depends on the kitty :)

It is hard switching from PZI to Ls because you have to think differently, you don't base the dose on the preshot, you don't switch around the dose to accodomate the numbers, you really do need to stick with one dose, let it settle, see how it works for a bit and then make decisions on dose increases/decreases, unless you see some really low numbers, then I would decrease.

If it were my cat, I'd read the Lantus ISG stickies, maybe check some threads (they call them condos), see what you think.

What do you mean by "rescue" insulin? Just a guess, but does that mean it's not an insulin that you can shoot higher numbers with higher doses to bring the numbers down fast?
 
Thanks very much Jennifer. I will check out the stickies and "condos" you mention. The term "rescue" insulin was used by our vet when referring to an insulin that replaces another one that isn't working very well.

Furble's been having really erratic numbers for several months now on PZI and we've checked just about everything that could be wrong. A Spec feline pancreatitis test did diagnose some pancreatitis but recommendation with test results said to do no treatment for now and nothing else is out of normal range. I've been talking to a vet internal medicine specialist who has suggested switching to Lantus but I would like to know other peoples results with this before making a decision.

Do you stick with +12 dosing or have you ever gone to +10 dosing as is recommended by the TR protocol?

I will read more here. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
 
we switched from idexx's pzi to lantus after being on that pzi for approximately 3.5 years. idexx's pzi worked great for us and we only switched due to it's discontinuation. Mousie's been on Lantus now for a little over a year and she's doing just as well on it, probably even a little better as far as the numbers go. like this morning's preshot number was 121. :-D
 
Thank you Cindy. Again, this is encouraging. Mostly, that there don't seem to be any complications in making the switch. I gather you didn't want to try a compounded PZI like from BCP so went with Lantus instead.
 
Thanks Larry. All of this info is encouraging. It still seems kinda scary making the transition with several days in high numbers! Furble tends to do high numbers in the extreme anyway, so at 3 or more days, she would be in the outer atmosphere! She also has pancreatitis so that could complicate things. Still not sure what to do.
 
Merlyn was on insulin for only 11 months, but we tried PZI from Idexx first and he got wonky duration, wonky overlap.. He was at times lethargic after the shot and he would hide (NOT a hypo) and after around 4 months we switched to Lantus.

It was weird, from the first shot almost, he reacted differently to the lantus, there was no lethargy, or weirdness after the shot. I think his body liked the lantus better.

Truthfully he was a bit wonky on Lantus too but it was slightly more predictable and usually gave him a nice shallow curve.

We did lantus before the Rand Study/Storage shed etc stuff. But we did tight regulation of a sort.

Forgot to add... ECID!! Every Cat Is different.. you will not know if this is THE insulin until you try it.
 
Jake, my now 19-year old DSH, was on PZI for about three or four months after his initial diagnosis in July 2009 also with "erratic numbers." He was switched to Lantus in October of 2009, became regulated six months later, and went into remission about 10 days after that. He has not had any insulin since April 29, 2010 - over one year ago. I think that with Lantus it takes patience, but as far as viewing it different than PZI, I really did not see a difference in administration. I merely regarded Lantus as a long-lasting insulin as I was told PZI was. I did not know what a "shed" was until after Jake went into remission and while he was going through the process of remission, I never shot when his BG was less than 175 which meant that he sometimes got only one shot a day rather than two. I did not know until after the fact that my procedure is not recommended with Lantus use. So others on this list might object to what I am saying, but that is what worked for us.

Judy, Jake, & Civvie Boomer
 
sorry for the delay getting back to this, been gone for a long weekend. no, i didn't want to go with a compounded insulin. while i have seen some here have ok success with compounded insulins, i don't like the idea of it's possible inconsistencies myself so have stayed away from them. plus, at the time, there was an awesome coupon out for 5 free lantus solostar pens and come on, who wouldn't jump at $200+ worth of free insulin :-D
 
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