Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice!

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Melanie and Eeyore

Melanie and Eeyore

Member Since 2014
Hello!

My sweet Eeyore, I got him when I was 8 and am now 24, was recently diagnosed with Diabetes. After a consultation with Dr. Pierson we did a few days of testing, then started insulin (Lantus). Eeyore started off with flying colors on a fairly low dose, in my opinion, and then took a turn for the worse. I know we are still new in the game but Dr. Pierson stressed with me to not higher his dosage too quickly. I tried to hold off a day and a half and he just kept throwing high numbers. I just want to know how to get the hang of when to know when I should change his dosage. He started on 0.75 and just tonight we (my husband and I) gave him 1.00 unit. I am a nurse and have experience in the medical field but I will say that his last 48 hours of glucose readings have concerned me. Of course, as you all relate he has been my baby practically my whole life! I am trying to stay calm and be reasonable but he started out so good I'm trying to understand what went wrong! I think I linked our google docs chart to my signature.

Thank you for your help!
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Hi Melanie!

welcome to you and Eeyore! Glad to meet you guys!

There are occasions when high numbers do not mean that you need more insulin. You're seeing one of them right now. We would've told you to hold the 0.5u dose because of those great numbers you saw on the 21st. I'd take him back down to 0.5u in the morning and then hold it there.

what you're seeing in the high numbers is called a "bounce." it's a reaction to those green numbers and it will pass.

Take a look at this post - it's found near the bottom of the New to the Group yellow starred sticky New Dose Wonkiness. The first post is about how we can sometimes see higher blood sugar numbers when we increase the dose. The second post is about bouncing.

Lantus works best with consistency and slow adjustments. Unless you catch a blood sugar number less than 50, you'll want to hold the dose at 0.5u for at least 6 cycles. try to ignore the high numbers - it's part of it. When you change the dose it's can kind of rock the boat, sometimes causing wonky numbers.

I hope you'll post here daily so we can get to know you both. We'll help you figure out when to change the dose and when to hold it.

glad to meet you. keep asking questions and we'll keep answering! btw, we're all volunteers, not vets, but we live with FD 24/7.
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

you're very welcome! there's a lot to learn at the beginning but it gets infinitely easier.

looks like you've mastered the hang of home-testing. congrats!

edited to add:

I wanted to also point you to the yellow starred stickies at the top of this forum, right above where everyone posts. They are full of great information and you'll end up reading them many times. The New to the Group sticky is a great place for you to start. Since you've just begun, I want to especially point you to this oneLantus & Levemir; Info, handling & storage. Above halfway down the page there is a video on how to draw insulin from both a vial and a pen. It's important to not contaminate your insulin, so it's worth watching to make sure you know how to do this. Your syringes have a lubricant inside and you don't want it to get into the insulin.

The other thing i wanted to especially mention is regarding how Lantus works. It is a depot type of insulin, meaning that when you inject it, it forms a precipitate in the body and slow-releases. There is a link on the sticky i linked above about caring for the insulin that tells how it works. There is also an excellent pdf slightly farther down "management of diabetic cats.pdf" that's very helpful to read.

anyway, not to overwhelm you, i just want to encourage you to read through those posts. you won't remember it all the first time (or 5 times) but it will answer a lot of questions.
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Hi Melanie:

Just want to add my welcome to you and Eyeore (great name!). When your beloved kitty is first diagnosed, it's very scary, and caring for a kitty with FD can be overwhelming, but you came to the right place. There are a lot of people here who have been there and done that and are willing to help you through it. Some of us (like me), don't give dosing advice, but we provide moral support and share anecdotes about or own experiences. Some are very knowledgeable and experienced and can guide you through just about any problem. All of us love our kitties and care about the other board members and their babies. Don't ever be afraid to ask a question - there are no dumb questions. You will find someone here almost around the clock if you need help. So keep reading all the great info on the stickies, and post your questions, and we'll all be here to help you and Eyeore on you FD journey. :-D
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

I also want to add our "Welcome" to the pile! A diabetes diagnosis can be overwhelming at first, but everyone here is very generous with their knowledge and support. Ask as many questions as you need and we'll do our best to help you help Eeyore. Once again, welcome aboard!
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Welcome Eeyore and Melanie :-D
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Welcome to Lantus Land!

In addition to some of the points that Julie mentioned, I noticed that you shot early one evening. With kitties, Lantus requires q12 dosing. Unlike with insulin (other than Levemir), trying to stick with the every 12-hour schedule is important. Because Lantus is long-acting and because of the action of the depot, an early shot acts like a dose increase whereas a late shot acts like a dose reduction. In addition, any time you change the dose or time, it has an effect on the depot and can potentially cause wonky numbers. There are times when shooting early or late can be used at a strategic advantage but for now, it's best to do what you can to stick with a 12-hour schedule.

FWIW, it also takes 5 - 7 days for the depot to form. You may not see any dramatic change until you either have a "full" depot or you get to what is a good dose for Eeyore. The other important point to remember with Lantus is that your dose adjustments are made based on the nadir, not on your pre-shot values and you are already seeing some nadirs that are under 200.
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Hi Melanie & Eeyore and welcome to Lantus Land. Ask all the questions you need to. You will get lots of support here.

Ella & Rusty

P.s. Eeyore was my favorite character in Winnie the Pooh when I was a little girl.
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Welcome Melanie and Eeyore,

I was just staring at your chart and see that Eeyore is capable of dropping a lot during a cycle.
Those reds could very well be bounces from Eeyore having greens and even blue numbers. Try not to react to seeing the reds and increasing the dose.
I know it's hard not to do that.

You've already got some good advise about dose.


I just wanted to welcome you to the forum.
 
Re: Eeyore new to Diabetes and Lantus, could use some advice

Sienne and Gabby,

That day that we shot early was because we had to get Eeyore's insulin shots on a different time schedule. I am currently out of town (my mother is having her kidney removed) and my husband who is in the air force is caring for Eeyore. He has to leave for work early in the morning so we had to change E's doses to match. Dr. Lisa Pierson said it would be ok for us to overlap that one time. We had lowered it to .50 from .75 because he had those great nadir numbers and we were still over lapped a little.
Thank you so much for the advice! We are now just keeping him at the same dose and hoping all the number bouncing will level off.
 
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