Beau - 11/12 - switching to Lantus tonight?

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alicia.1771

alicia.1771

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Hey folks,

It's us again. Haven't posted in a while because work kind of took over my life :( I'm barely making it home every night to make his shot times.

I have not been able to get Beau regulated on ProZinc for the last 4 months since diagnosis. There are some good days but almost always followed by bad days. He would throw me some really nice numbers once in a while then they disappear into thin air. He's numbers have been high and flattish for the past 3 days and I have no idea what's going on. We are running towards the end of our first bottle of ProZinc (maybe 20% left?) and I'm thinking it's possible the insulin is losing its potency? For the last few days he also seemed to mind the shots by giving me a gentle bite on the arm as I inject. The insulin solution looks clear before rolling and I always use a new needle so really don't know what's causing his discomfort lately. I rotate injection sites between left and right as well as general locations.

I had really hoped ProZinc will work for us but so far it has not. So I finally made a call and asked the vet to call in a prescription for Lantus. I just returned from Costco and am now contemplating whether to start Lantus tonight or tomorrow depending on his PMPS# and how ready I feel. It's a very scary thing going from one insulin to another especially when the two insulin works so differently. I've read and re-read the stickies several times but still feel not quite ready to actually go through with it...I remember reading someone recently also switched from ProZinc to Lantus? Anyone know who that might be and maybe I can get some advise for the transition?

Another thing is the vet said to start at 2U BID, which I think it's a bit high. I might start with just 0.5U or 1U BID to see how his body reacts to the insulin. Need to go back and re-read the parts on how to draw insulin out of the pens...I will also post a thread on Lantus forum, but it seems to be a very busy place and kind of intimidating...
 
Oh my goodness, I can feel the frustration just by looking at your SS! I am having the same problem as you are. We have good numbers and then they are replaced by crappy numbers for a few days and then good numbers, then crappy numbers and on and on. I even got a new bottle of ProZinc recently and I haven't seen that much of a difference.

I've been contemplating a switch to Lantus or Levemir too but I haven't had the guts to go through with it yet, so good for you for making the first step and getting it! It is intimidating! I haven't been able to get Lucky regulated either and it it's been 5 months for us.

Good luck with the Lantus! I'll be looking for your posts to see how it's going because I'm curious how it works out!
 
Alicia,
I seem to remember somebody switching, but can't remember who.... I'll look in LL and see if anyone looks familiar and let you know.

A few people have said that LL is "intimidating". I think that's because there's like 100 new posts a day! But there are a whole lot of lantus users, and they all make a daily "convo", so I guess that's logical. I have dealt with several of the long-time users when I need help in Health with Lantus questions, and they have always been really quick to help, and really seem like great people, just like in PZI. Maybe not so much "intimidating" as just a little bit overwhelming compare to PZI?

It is a whole different world using Lantus vs. PZI, since it works so differently, but I think you'll get the hang of it quickly. They have a great deal of sticky threads, which is great. I just have found it hard to find exactly the information I am looking for if I need to "look something up", but I always end up finding it in one of the sticky threads. I've become quite good at using the "forum search" function of the board, which helps me out a lot.

I really wish you all the luck in the world with the switch, for you and especially for Beau. I hope you see great results and that the lantus dance will be a shorter one than the PZ one has been. Don't be a stranger, and keep in mind that now you will know how two different insulins work, which helps you, and can be helpful to anyone you happen to advise in the future. All knowledge about diabetes is wonderful to have.

Carl
 
Hi all4mymarine - yeah, it's not easy when you try all you can think of and your kitty is still not getting better. I was getting really frustrated with the ups and downs with ProZinc but I wanted to give it a fair chance. There are times when I felt a breakthrough is close by but then he would go into steep bounces and then flat. It took a good 2 months of contemplating before I had the courage to ask for a prescription for Lantus. Even with the Lantus on hand I still hesitated because of all the unknown and another steep learning curve ahead. I almost chickened out tonight because I felt I'm not "ready" to switch, that I didn't know enough to be prepared to handle the new insulin. But looking at Beau and seeing his dandruff coming back and high flat numbers I know he is not getting better and I had to do something! So I went ahead and shot his first Lantus dose tonight. It sure indeed was quite different. The solution seemed a bit thick inside the syringe and since I can't pull back and forth like I did with ProZinc I ended up with an air bubble I couldn't get ride of no matter how hard I flicked the syringe or pull the plunger up/down. So not sure how accurate the 1u was tonight. What made it worse is that after the injection when I pull out the syringe there was a big drop of insulin on the tip of the needle! So I ended up sticking him again to get that drop in...poor kitty...Anyway, I hope Beau will respond to Lantus better than he did with Prozinc. And I hope you will have better regulation with Lucky in the near future. Good luck to us both!

Hi Carl - it's been a while! How's everything going? You are always so good with words. Yeah, it wasn't really "intimidating" as it was "overwhelming" when I sneak a peek at the Lantus forum. It just seem so easy to get lost in there. I too hope Beau will do better on Lantus as we go on this new journey.
 
Good luck with thte Lantus
I switched from Lantus to Prozince, so I am familiar with Lantus
I would not start with 2 units, please start with one
and with Lantus you have to pick a dose and hold for a few days
It is not forgiving like prozince where you can shoot 1.5 in the morining and 1.8 at night
you should pick one dose and stick with it for a few days....
dont be intimidated by the site, there is a certain protocol, just follow it and you will be fine
dont for get you can always come back here for help also!
Good luck and I really hope you see good results with it!
 
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