Embarking on Lantus

marisofigia

marisofigia

Member Since 2020
Hello all,

Posting for the first time in the Lantus Insulin Support Group; mods please feel free to move my thread elsewhere if needed.

It's been quite a ride for Maya (female, 12 years old) and me.
She first started showing what we now know were diabetes symptoms back in April 2020.
Following a misdiagnosis, she was eventually diagnosed with diabetes in August 2020.
We began with changing her food, then started her on Caninsulin. There was a miscommunication regarding dosing (first vet visited did not specify that U-40 syringes were needed for the prescribed dose), so it took a while for her to get stabilized.
In December Maya was diagnosed with EPI. She's been taking her enzymes and doing better ever since.

I'm writing because tomorrow I plan on starting her on Lantus for the first time. The transition was highly recommended by several forum members, especially since Maya has had a few hypo episodes (see spreadsheet in the signature below).
Her current vet suggested that I start with 1 unit on a U-100 syringe every 12 hours. I checked the sticky note in the forum here and calculated that since she is 3,8 kg she should start at 0,95. So, that's about right.
The only thing that concerns me is that a couple of months ago Maya was just 3 kg, and she has changed her Caninsulin dosage many times due to the mishap with the syringes that I mentioned above.
I guess I wanted to hear from you before administering the first dose tomorrow.

Of course, I will continue to monitor her with my hypo kit at hand!
 
Hello Marisofi and welcome to the Lantus forum!

I am sorry you've had such a hard few months and I hope it will only get better from here.

Have you read about the 2 dosing methods we follow here? Am linking it below:
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...-low-go-slow-slgs-tight-regulation-tr.210110/
If you are feeding Maya low carb wet food, you can follow TR - that will enable you to get Maya to her optimal dose quickly.

I presume you know that with Lantus, you use u-100 syringes. These are the syringes that our other members in Greece use. They have half unit markings and make it easy to dose in multiples of 0.25 units.
https://pharmacygreek.com/bd-micro-...-9nbTJ3ZYqH9P1ReMTyd8usYAYfbdnZ3xvXmhe0ETZodk

I will also tag @Melita & Chnoudi and @Xara Kakarantza who are also in Greece, in case you need any help with info on syringes, cat food etc.

When switching to Lantus we take into consideration the dosage of the last insulin given. I'm going to tag some senior folks to help you with this:

@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Marje and Gracie
@Wendy&Neko

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you want. Welcome again! :-)
Bhooma
 
Hello @Marisofi !! Welcome to the group! You 've found the best place for diabetes treatment, so don't worry for anything!! :cat::cat:
Do you live in Athens? If yes, there is "Harmanis" shop in Ag.Constantinou str, Metaxourgeio, where you can find the syringes with half marks! They are doing deliveries too...
Send me an inbox if you want more informations!!!;)
 
Welcome to the LB&L Forum Marisofi!

There's a lot to learn here - so please - just take your time and try to read as much as you can - and many folks will share their opinions and recommendations with you for ideas/suggestions and the like to help you along on this journey. It can be a bit overwhelming at first...so just hang tough and we'll all be here.

Have you posted in one of the other forums prior to this? If so, could you copy/paste that url into your condo (aka post) for today?

If not, that's ok too! Here's a stickie about formatting, etc. for your posts - it'll help to read this and update your title so that folks will know all the info at a glance about your daily posting. https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/posting-guidelines-please-read.231511/

Have a great day :)
 
Hi! We have recently moved over to lantus after many skydives with prozinc. We ar still struggling with finding the right dose... but we have almost no crazy skydiving! So here is hoping it would reduce your stress with hypos!
 
@Bandit's Mom thank you for the warm welcome and for introducing me around. Maya is primarily eating low carb wet food. I must admit that I have other cats in the house who eat low carb dry food, and once in a while Maya will sneak past me and take a bite...

@Melita & Chnoudi Efxaristo! I do live in Athens, I've sent you a message now :)

@Sue and Luci Thanks for welcoming me! I have posted three threads in the Feline Health Main Forum. All links are in my original post here.

@Hercule's mum *fingers crossed* All the best to Hercules!
 
Hello and welcome aboard. I too did the Caninsulin to Lantus switch with my girl. I made the mistake (vet's suggestion) of starting back at 1 unit when she had been at been at 5 units Caninsulin. Took me months to get back to where I should have started. Lesson learned.

When you switch insulins, you are not "starting from new" so the calculations for starting dose aren't relevant. When you switch, we take the dose of the current insulin into consideration. Since you saw some sub 50 numbers on 3.25 units of Caninsulin, I would back it off to 3.0 units. Provided of course that you can monitor closely the first few cycles.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome aboard. I too did the Caninsulin to Lantus switch with my girl. I made the mistake (vet's suggestion) of starting back at 1 unit when she had been at been at 5 units Caninsulin. Took me months to get back to where I should have started. Lesson learned.

When you switch insulins, you are not "starting from new" so the calculations for starting dose aren't relevant. When you switch, we take the dose of the current insulin into consideration. Since you saw some sub 50 numbers on 3.25 units of Caninsulin, I would back it off to 3.0 units. Provided of course that you can monitor closely the first few cycles.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for this! I see that @tiffmaxee also agrees.
 
Hello everyone! It's been a busy couple of days, as you'll see on the spreadsheet. I tried to measure as often as possible.

My initial reaction is, thank God I listened to you and not the vet! Maya has been consistently hitting around 300s with the 3 unit dose, imagine how bad things would have been if I had started her on the 1 unit, as suggested by the vet... Now I'm thinking that I probably should increase dosage...
 
We usually hold the dose for a minimum of 6 cycles but given that you could have started on 3.25 I think you are fine to increase. From now on don’t increase sooner than cycles and post like you just did today for dosing advice if in doubt. Good luck with the increase.
 
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