Dosing Advice Needed: Just Starting on Lantus

Status
Not open for further replies.
Alredman

Alredman

Member Since 2015
I have a few questions. This will be my fist time giving Jerry his insulin shot. I know I need to test, feed and then shoot. Jerry had a insulin shot Lantus 0.5 units at 9:00 this morning after rushing him to the Vet because I got a reading of HI on my BG machine and as of right now his BG is 111.. When I feed him tonight at 9:00 if the reading is still 111 I'm assuming I do not give insulin. Do I wait awhile after feeding and test his BG to see if it has went up and at what number would I give the insulin? His numbers today has been 5:00 am before feeding 355. At 7:00 am to HI for machine to read!! After insulin at 3:30 it was 165... 5:30 pm today it's 111..
 
@Chris & China - If you're about, is there any chance you might stop by and help April? As you can see in April's signature the blood sugar problems arose after a steroid jab.
 
Hi April. Don't shoot if he's under 200. Hopefully someone with more Lantus experience will pop in soon with more info. Keep us posted if questions come up at testing time.
 
If your shot time is 9pm, then you don't want to feed anything after 7pm....We'll want to know what his Pre-shot is without the influence of food.

If he's under 200, stall, DON'T feed and post and ask for help....Make sure your subject line says something like "Stalling, need help!" so the people who scan the board will notice
 
One thing you can do is to get a +11 test. When it is time for his shot, before feeding, you can test again and compare that +11 to his +12 test to see if he is going up or down or staying about the same.
If he is below 200, at +11 and at +12, post the numbers.
If you are going to stall (wait to give the shot because his numbers are uncomfortable for you to shoot), then you don't want to feed him, as the food will elevate his numbers and then you can not tell if he was going down or up without the influence of the food he ate.
 
It will REALLY help if you'll get our spreadsheet up and put the test results you already have on it....The vet should have results they got while he was there too so you can fill in for the past few days (if you don't already know them)

Here are Instructions on setting up the spreadsheet

Our spreadsheet is every bit as valuable a tool as a good insulin and meter! We all will want to be able to see it when we're giving you advice in the future

If you have problems with it, let us know and we'll do our best to help!
 
We use the "+ system" here because we're all in different time zones....that just means +1 is 1 hour after the shot....+4 is 4 hours after a shot...+11 is 11 hours after a shot, etc.....
 
I will set up the spreadsheet. This is what I have today.
5:00 am pre feeding 365
7:00 after feeding to high to register on BG machine
Rushed to the vet and administered insulin at 9:00
12:00 after insulin it was 335
3:30 165
5:30 111
7:30 before feeding 91
 
He's doing really well if he's come down that much so quickly!! Hopefully once the steroid has fully cleared his system, he'll be able to be diet controlled!

It's a good idea to get a +11, so that means to test at 8pm tonight...that will help because when it's time to shoot, we'll know if he's continuing to go up and how fast

Remember, no food after 7pm and then at 9 you'll want to test/feed/shoot (all in about 5-10 minutes) unless he's under 200....if he's under 200, don't feed him and post for help
 
Wow, that's a great +11! Sorry, I know the lingo is confusing at first.

My cat had steroid-induced diabetes as well. She was on insulin for less than 3 weeks and then went into remission. Paws crossed that will happen for Jerry as well! He's doing great on just a little bit of insulin!
 
I think I'd plan on skipping tonight and see where he's at in the morning.

If he's gone from HI to 91 on .5 unit, he's doing REALLY well and I doubt if I'd try to push your luck tonight...most cats go lower on the PM cycle and since we don't have any data on Jerry, it's probably the safest thing to do.

The other option would be to continue stalling until he's obviously getting up near 200 and then feeding/shooting, but I'd give a smaller dose than .5...maybe .25. There are pictures of .25 on the "New to the group" sticky (down towards the bottom)

If you do skip tonight, you can also change your shot schedule (If you want to) tomorrow, which means if it would work better to have your shot times at (for example) 6am/6pm, then tomorrow morning you can safely change

Shooting earlier has it's benefits if it works with your schedule since it means you can usually get tests in later on the PM cycle without having to stay up past midnight, but if the 9am/9pm schedule works for you, that's fine too. Just make sure to take up any food by 7am (2 hours before Pre-shot time)
 
Thank you so much! I believe I will skip tonight I just don't feel comfortable at this point. 6 to 6 does work better for me. He is always up and ready to go at 6:00.. Today has been the first day in a week he has played. Walked around with his ball yelling at me to play. I was so excited I broke down in tears.
 
I am NOT a morning person, so when we first started, I figured, "well, ok...we'll shoot at 11/11".....after spending a few nights up until 5-6am because China was too low, I decided that maybe I could do morning after all...LOL

We changed to 6am/6pm so now I just get up, test/feed/shoot and most mornings can go back to sleep for a little while and then since we shoot at 6pm, it's no big deal for me to stay up until midnight (or later) if I have to

Has been a lot easier on us...although I still curse the alarm clock at 6am every once in awhile...lol
 
I'm just the opposite. I'm a morning person. Sometimes up between 4:30 and 5:00. Hopefully I can rest tonight. It's been a stressful 4 days.
 
Well without giving insulin, there's no chance for him to go too low, so hopefully you'll be able to relax a little tonight and get some rest. Trust me, we all understand how stressful this is and we've all been where you're at now!

I'd plan on getting a "before bed" test tonight and then start over in the morning! Get that spreadsheet up too if you can

Here's some information on Shooting and Handling low numbers to help guide you if you can't find help in the morning, but I think if he's over 200 in the morning, I'd try giving .25 and then see how he does

One thing to remember, while those HI numbers are scary for us to see, they're not deadly....it takes time for the high numbers to do any damage...we're talking months, not hours or days. It's the low numbers that can kill quickly but as long as you're home testing, we can almost always handle lows at home by giving just a little gravy from a "Gravy Lovers" food and continuing to test until they're back above 50
 
Thank you so much. I will get that spreadsheet going tomorrow. I'm also going to test or should I say do a curve on him tomorrow to see how his numbers look every two hours.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top