Has anyone switched from Levemir to Lantus? If so, why?

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Pumbaa

Pumbaa

Member Since 2012
There have been a lot of interesting posts discussing the merits of both Lantus and Levemir, and why some people have switched from Lantus to Levemir, but I don't recall anyone saying that they switched from Levemir to Lantus.

If you have done this, I would love to hear your input on why you did this, and what changes you saw in your kitty.

I know ECID, and I would love to smooth out Pumbaa's bounces and dives, but don't know that the Lantus is to blame for these bounces and dives, and don't know that the later onset of Levemir would work for me, but I am very open minded about doing what is best for my little guy!

Thank you in advance!

Suze
 
I'm kind of in shock that no one posted that they had switched from Levemir to Lantus. I know that a few of us are interested in these stories, as much as we were interested in the stories about switching from Lantus to Levemir.

ECID, so please share your history, since some of us are questioning if Lantus is the right insulin for our kitties.

Thank you in advance,

Suze
 
There are a couple of people that I can think of off the top of my head that have switched from Lev to Lantus. I don't think they are currently posting. However, given that Lev is only recently been aggressively marketed for humans in the U.S. and does not have a veterinary indication, it is unlikely that many vets will have started cats on Lev. It is clearly gaining in popularity but it is hard to know if FDMB members switch to Lev because they learn about it here. If anyone in the Lev group keeps track, you may have a clearer sense of Lev's popularity if you know what insulin cats were on prior to starting Lev. While Lantus may be more familiar to vets, there are members here who have gone to their vets and asked to switch to Lantus and the vets are unfamiliar with it. I suspect this is even more the case with Lev.
 
Thank you for the input, Sienne!

I just found it interesting that many have switched from Lantus to Levemir, but I haven't seen any stating the opposite. Again, ECID, so I was looking for reasons that people switched in the other direction.

It makes sense that vets aren't prescribing Levemir from the beginning, and so more people are switching to it, rather than having started on it.

Suze
 
Pumbaa said:
It makes sense that vets aren't prescribing Levemir from the beginning, and so more people are switching to it, rather than having started on it.

Suze
Click to expand...

I would imagine, when Lantus first got popular with the vet community, that they noticed the same sort of thing....people switching from the old insulins to Lantus, but not vice versa. The study that resulted in the protocol used here included both Lantus and Lev kitties (about 3 Lantus cats to each Lev cat), and the remission rates were almost indentical (84% vs. 82% for kitties just starting insulin).
I know that I had a conversation with my vet at some point and mentioned Lantus and Levemir, and she looked at me like I was speaking Greek....then she said, "Oh, you mean glargine and detemir?" To her, that's what they are called (not the "name brands").

I wonder if in the "human" diabetes world, if the same sort of ratio of Lantus users vs. Lev users exists as it does with kitties on the board.

Carl
 
Carl & Bob in SC said:
I wonder if in the "human" diabetes world, if the same sort of ratio of Lantus users vs. Lev users exists as it does with kitties on the board.

Carl
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Good question, Carl, and good post about the history of Levemir vs. Lantus.

I mean, we all know that some vets are still prescribing Caninsulin for FD cats these days. *sigh*

I have learned so much here, and still have so much more to learn!

Thank you for your input!

Suze
 
Hi Carl,

As a human diabetic and a patient at the Joslin Diabetic Clinic since I live close to Boston, I think I can answer your question about Lantus and Levemir. Lantus is prescribed more frequently in the human population. I requested Levemir and was told that the experience tended to be that more insulin was needed to achieve the same control. Often Levemir is dosed bid in humans, while Lantus is sid.

Just my two cents.

Claudia
 
Earlier this year an infrequent member posted in Lev ISG about switching from Lev to Lantus because a friend had offered them 5 pens of Lantus. I had to find the time to look it up, which is why I haven't answered this question sooner. I'm not sure what happened with that, they no longer post here.

I am also trying to find the one person I recall who had used Lantus and wasn't happy with the results so switched to Levemir and wasn't happy with the results on it either, so went back to Lantus. That was maybe a year ago?

In that case I think it was a matter of not learning how to manage either insulin, because if managed well, either insulin would help most cats.
 
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