Getting ready to make the switch

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Amanda

Amanda

Member Since 2010
Well I had planned on meeting with my vet today to discuss our numbers and make the switch off vetsulin to lantus. She is on vacation until next Thursday. ohmygod_smile So I guess I have an extra week to do more research and get things together!

I've been doing a lot of reading but wanted to clarify a few things....

The lantus solostar pens- obviously these are made for people to inject directly from the pen. How does it work for those of us using our own seperate syringes and drawing from the pen rather than shooting from it?

Kazi is currently on .25 units bid (thats 2x a day if I am getting the terminology right!) so we aren't going through a lot of insulin. Everyone is saying it is more economical in the long run to do the pens because they last longer. I feel kind of silly asking this...but how is the shelf life longer?

I also remember seeing a coupon for lantus posted here but the link I saved in my favorites no longer loads. Anyone know if that offer is still currently going on? I thought for some reason it ended on the 25th of April.

Thanks in advance!

-Amanda
 
well I will try to answer some of your questions if I can ...

For the solar star pens, on one end there is a cap, take that off and you will see a rubber stopper. Simply put your syringe needle in there, draw up what you need, put the cap back on and thats it.

Most people use the solarstar pens for 28 days, some people use them longer because their cats numbers don't rise at that point. Some people wait for their numbers to go up before switching. We almost always switch out at 28 days because mocha is not one of those cats!

Yes, there was a coupon on here for 25.00 off, but I'm not sure if that expired or not. Maybe check the supply closet forum?

I hope that helps!
 
Welcome to Lantus Land (LL)

I was preparing to write a response but I see that Devon covered your questions already! I just looked in the Supply Closet for the coupon and it's not there. You may need to do a search in order to find the coupon. I do have a copy of it at home and I'll check and edit this note if there's an expiration date.

Since you have the week to do your research, you will be spending quality time if you read the sticky notes at the top of the Board. They contain a wealth of information about how we dose Lantus, the care of the insulin, the kinds of syringes you will need, our slang, posting conventions, etc. Make sure to check the links that are embedded in those sticky notes as well.

Please continue to ask questions. The front end of this learning curve is overwhelming. To make it even more challenging, what you've learned while using Vetsulin will not be terribly helpful nor applicable to using Lantus. It's an entirely different insulin with dosing based on the nadir vs. on pre-shot BG levels. Read the posts (condos) on the Board and look at our spreadsheets (SS). It's a great way to learn!

And again, welcome to both you and Kazi.
 
Amanda said:
Everyone is saying it is more economical in the long run to do the pens because they last longer. I feel kind of silly asking this...but how is the shelf life longer?
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The shelf life isn't really longer, but the quantity of each pen is much less (3 ml. vs. 10 ml.) so after 28 days if your insulin seems like it's losing potency, there is less waste tossing what's left of a 3 ml. cartridge or pen than a 10 ml. vial. You can get a lot more milage out of the pens then the vial. You get 15 ml. in one order of the pens, so that's 50% more, so it does cost a little more but you have the potential for less waste.

Not sure where you're located - maybe there's someone in your area you could buy a pen or cartridge from or vice versa.
 
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