Insulin Stopped Working?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)
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Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)

Hey all, this was just posted on PZI:
I asked that it be posted here as well, but he/she is not online at the moment....

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=56786

Content of post: by "catman31"
I am knew to this forum. My kitty was diagnosed with diabetes a month ago. He spent a week at the vets. He did go back for a glucose test curve and all seemed well. But his insulin dosage was increased. He was on PZI. He became very ill and from what I have read on line, I believe that he became "hypo". I took him back to the vet and he has been there 4 days now. The vet asked me if I had dropped the insulin or left it out of the frig. I assured the vet that I had not. The vet said that the insulin was not working. So they opened a new bottle of the same insulin and this morning called and says that it is not working. They are switching him to human insulin NPH. Does anyone know of cases where insulin stopped working?
Click to expand...

Any thoughts?
Carl
 
number one you have to home test, period. number two, try a new vet....stopped working? bizarre. also, do research on insulins. i had to ask my vet for the insulin i wanted. he wasnt much help on advising what kind- i got that info here. you have to test him yourself regularly. the vet cant do the job you can.
Also, I had no luck with that new PZI.
 
Ask about Lantus or Levemir; NPH is likely not going to last long enough...


Short acting insulins are usually designated by the letter R (Humalin R, Novalin R) they are never used alone, typically they are given as a bolus at Preshot to bring the BG down quickly in the first few hours of the cycle before the basal insulin (a long acting) begins to take effect. This is used by high dose cats with conditions like Acro or insulin resistant antibodies. It may also be used in an inpatient setting to manage a cat with ketoacidosis.

Intermediate insulins (Lente) are insulins like Vetsulin (Caninsulin) and NPH, some of the human insulins have N in thier name (Humalin N) although some vets are still prescribing them they are becoming less used. Espcially since Vetsulin has been taken off the market in many countries. The more successes with long acting insulins have encouraged many vets to avoid these once typical insulins. Many are however still used with good results in dogs with diabetes (dogs have a metabolism more like humans and these insulins work much longer for them) the animal approved insulin (Vetsulin, in Europe/Canada sold as Caninsulin) was made primarily for dogs.

Long-acting insulins are the synthetic analogs such as Lantus and Levemir. PZI and Prozinc are simular to these however thier duration is often somewhat shorter putting them "in between" intermediate and long-acting. Several other long acting insulins are no longer manufactured (Ultratard, Humalin U)
 
Carl -

If the cat had an episode of hypoglycemia, then it wouldn't be a matter of not enough insulin. Low BG is usually resolved fairly quickly. If the vet thinks the cat's insulin isn't working, then DKA is more likely the issue.

It may be that the cat wasn't getting enough insulin and the dose needs to be raised.

I would also wonder about the possibility of insulin resistance (insulin auto antibodies). There is a test for insulin auto antibodies. The blood needs to be sent to Michigan State University. It's the only place that does the lab work.
 
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