Lantus help?

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Sarah and Baby

Sarah and Baby

Member Since 2011
Lori and Tom suggested that I post on this board for Lantus help, because you guys are more easy going.

I have a really messed up schedule, there is no way that I can shoot my kitty every twelve hours all the time. For example, today I am working 7am-11pm. I am getting my room mate to shoot her today but there is just no way that I can ask someone else to shoot my kitty 3 or more times duing the week. My work schedule is all over the place.

I am still working on getting her regulated, and my numbers have been kind of all over the board. I don't know if that's because of the odd shooting schedule. If you check out my spreadsheet, you will get a better idea of where my numbers have been and how my schedule has been. I put the time of the doses in the note section of the spreadsheet. Thanks for any advice you give me. Any advice telling me I HAVE to do it on a schedule is not going to be helpful as I simply cannot do that. I'm sorry.
 
Morning Sarah,

No real advice this morning, but I'm sure either Sheila or Vicki or one of the other wonderful ladies will have an idea for you. Ladies, do you think ''split dosing' might work for Sarah and her Baby? I know I have seen a thread on it somewhere around here, but since I have never done it, I don't feel confident in advising on it, but I know it can be used to delay the nadir on days when a 12/12 is impossible to keep.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang.
 
Hi Sarah,

I'm new here too so no advise but you may want to look at Peggy & Mickey's ss. She works different shifts and the amazing ladies here figured out a shooting schedule to fit her changing shifts and it is working really well for her. I'm sure they can do the same for you.

Hang on, they should be by a little later.

Oh and welcome to our little group.

Robin
 
Hi Sarah,

I'm still trying to figure all of this out too...but I had to do split dosing a few times because of vacation days. Vicky and Sheila are great at helping to figure out doses. I'm sure they will be able to help, and are understanding that we all can't be home every 12 hours.

I do believe though that if you shoot at 7am then can't shoot until 11pm, but have to shoot at 7am again the next morning, your 11pm dose should be decreased. You can see how I had to do a bunch of changes around 7/6 on Jack's spreadsheet. My posts from around that time also explain a lot of the reasoning behind the changes and doses.

I'm sure they can explain it better and come up with something that will work for you. I know it's so stressful, but you're doing a great job. Good luck and welcome!!
 
I think Vicky (Vicky & Gandolf) has used split-dosing quite successfully for situations similar to yours. I'm sure she'll have some advice to offer that can help you work out a satisfactory shooting schedule.

Lana
 
Hi Sarah. Is Baby newly diagnosed? All is see in the spreadsheet are this month's numbers. So, I am wondering first of all about her starting dose and the impact of the elimination of dry food a few weeks ago. We usually suggest starting lev at .5u bid, and I would think lantus would be also started there. Then doses are systematically raised every 5 days or so based on getting a curve done after the settle time (3-7 days, but 5 usually works). Does she have any other health issues or has she had ketones or DKA?

When you have an inconsistent schedule dose changes may need to be made even more slowly as every change in shot schedule impacts the numbers and you have to learn what is a dose effect and what is a schedule change effect.

Is your work schedule always changing or is there a "set" rotation that you follow? For instance, Peggy and Mickey has a schedule that changes shifts, but on a somewhat regular cycle. I can't tell from just the shot times what you are dealing with. Can you post your work schedule? Include the times from start to end when you are gone from home. Something like:

Monday - 8am - 7 pm
Tues - 10a - 9 pm

or Mon-Wed 8am - 7pm, Thursday off, Fri/Sat 10am - 9 pm, Sunday off

From that we could possible figure out a shot schedule that would work. It would probably include split dosing and reduced dosing to either extend or shorten the cycle, respectively. Vicky does this every week so she is a better person to figure it out than I am. I have only learned by observing her and helping Peggy.

Oh, and welcome to lev. We will help you do your best for Baby given your life. While a "perfect" 12/12 schedule is the focus, life (jobs) does happen and you have to work around it.
 
Hi Sarah,
I'm going to wait until we get a little more info like Sheila asked before making suggestions. Unfortunately there is no good remedy for shots needing to be 16 hours apart.

Are you uncomfortable with having a roommate give the shots? If they can be taught to home test, and can call you with the results, I think that would be an ideal situation. Maybe you can strike a deal with them if they can help you? Do their share of the housework once or twice a week?

Just a thought.
 
Thanks for all the welcomes, everyone!

Baby has been diagnosed for about 3 months. I started the spreadsheet when I started testing her. I started out on humulin and then went to Lantus.

Baby did have ketones in her urine when she was first diagnosed. She had probably been having pretty bad blood sugars for 3 or more months before dx. I bought ketone testers but I am not sure how to use them yet.

My schedules are not set, I have a set schedule on my weekends but I pick up hours during the week. Here is my schedule for the next two weeks:

8/15: 7a-11a , 3p-9p
8/16-18: Out of town
8/19: 3:30-10:30 (driving home in the morning)
8/20: 11a-7p
8/21: 11a-7p
8/22: 6a-12n, 3p-9p
8/23: 6a-12n, 3p-9p
8/24: possibly off, maybe 7-3
8/25: off
8/26: 6a-3p
8/27: 3p-11p

LOL I know it's pretty terrible. Any ideas??

My room mate is very willing to test and shoot but he said he was unable to get a test from her today. I had told him to shoot her even if he didn't get a test because she has been running into the 300's most of the time. When I got home I tested her and she was 99 for the first time ever. GAH! LOL this is why. My mom is coming in to do all her tests and shots while i am away, but she doesn't live with me and i don't like to ask her to do it unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary because her schedule is pretty crazy too.

I hope this helps you help me. If you have any more questions, please shoot them my way!

Oh, I did not shoot her when she was 99. I am waiting to test in half hour.
 
OK, this gives us a couple days to put something together while you are away. This is doable, but we need to work on a better dose for her as well. Our methods work best with a good dose that has somewhat stabilized the BGs, although Peggy was able to get Mickey to better numbers by gradually raising the doses per Tilly. Unfortunately it's difficult to get tight regulation with changing shot schedules. So the goal is steadier numbers, not necessarily low numbers.

I assume that you will be returning home on days when you have a split work shift?

Just to forewarn you, we have used our split dosing technique with only Levemir so far. Baby would possibly be the first kitty to use it on Lantus. At least the way we are going to explain it. I'm not sure if anyone else has given you their take on how this works.

Also curious as to why you dropped back to 1U on the 31st? And another suggestion is to try to get more spot checks so we can see how low she's going during a cycle. It does not matter when you get tests really, if you come home and her shot time isn't for another 3 hours - get a test! The more varied the test times are, the better.

Hope this makes you feel better. I would love to, but can't spend anymore time on computer tonight to give you the run down on shot schedule now.
 
I wonder from today's numbers if 1u is too much. You have a bunch of 300+ PS numbers, but no spot checks in the middle of the cycle to say how low she is going. It might be good to drop to .75u while you are gone because no one will be around to observe her and she may go too low.

The ketostiks are easy to use. Just hold one under her urine stream, or dip in the puddle immediately after she pees and before it can sink in - the idea is to have fresh urine and enough of it to test (dip). Then you wait 15 seconds and compare the color to the color on the vial or in the instructions. You can also devise some way to collect urine, like putting plastic wrap over the litter so it doesn't sink in, hold a ladle under her to catch it, or use non clumping litter so it pools in the bottom.
 
Hi and welcome,

I must say you have a wackier schedule than I do.
LOL never saw such a schedule.

Most wonderful ladies, Shiela and Vicky made me an amazing shot schedule. I would have never figured it out if it weren't for them.
 
Peggy and Mickey said:
Hi and welcome,

I must say you have a wackier schedule than I do.
LOL never saw such a schedule.

Most wonderful ladies, Shiela and Vicky made me an amazing shot schedule. I would have never figured it out if it weren't for them.
Click to expand...

Mine can get interesting. I had to leave by 5:15AM last Sunday, which required getting Gandalf's shots back from 10PM on the prior Wed. to 5AM on Sunday.
 
Here's what I came up with for shot times. I am not going to list specific doses, just when to shoot them and if they are half or full doses. I'm sorry if giving shots in the middle of the night is not ideal, but it's going to be the best way to keep her as close to 12/12 schedule as possible. There is no rule that says shots have to be in the late morning or early evening.

While you are gone, can they give her shots as late as 10:30AM & PM? I can tell you when to have them shoot to do that if you need me to.

8/19: 3:30-10:30 (driving home in the morning) Shoot full dose ASAP when you get home.
8/20: 11a-7p Shoot right before you have to leave (10:30 or so) and then 10:30PM full doses
8/21: 11a-7p 10:30AM full dose/10:30PM half dose then the other half dose 12:30AM on the 22nd. I know that means you have to get up, if you go to bed early.
8/22: 6a-12n, 3p-9p 12:30PM/12:30AM full dose each
8/23: 6a-12n, 3p-9p 12:30PM/12:30AM full dose each
8/24: possibly off, maybe 7-3 If you're off you can just stay with 12:30PM/12:30AM. If not, shoot ASAP when you get home. This is the only day I don't have a solution other than a late shot.
8/25: off If you weren't off, then shoot full dose each at 3:30 AM/3:30PM If you were off on the 24th, then on the 24th you should move the shot times later in the afternoon by splitting full dose in half and giving 1PM and 3PM to move her closer to 3:30.
8/26: 6a-3p 3:30 AM/3:30PM
8/27: 3p-11p 3:30AM/3:30PM

By the end of this work period you've pretty much moved her PM shot to an AM shot. I know the 3:30AM doses are not ideal. You can move them later by splitting the dose in half, give first half at 3:30AM then second half at 5:30AM or 6:30AM, if that helps your sleep time some. You should wait to do that until the 27th/AM of the 28th because if you do it earlier you wn't be there to give the 5:30 or 6:30 PM shot on the 27th.

Hope this makes some kind of sense for you. I am assuming it may take as long as half hour for you to get home after work.

Edit: Sorry, I reread this after you saw it and realized I forgot to finish a sentence! I also took out the part about percentages, because you don't need to reduce shot times any right now, just move them later.
 
Just for fun I started crunching those hours every which way I could to see if I could get anywhere with it. WOW!
I don't know how much travel time is involved. Like if you have to be in at 6am...what time do you leave?
FWIW....I often had to mess with an hour here or there and only mentioned it occasionally.

I did see an ability to shoot 6am and 7pm on 2 days...with 6am and 6pm on 3 days...2 days 6am and 9pm...and one sucky 6am to 11pm.

Sooooo, that is all I could get. And that is not allowing for travel time.
Did not know if the split schedule days allowed you to come home. If so...the 6am to 6pm works for 5days and the 6 to 7 on 2 days....still leaving that last day (3-11) a mess.

For me an hour late is not the biggest deal in the world. I think that would be doable.....but that darb 3-11 schedule gets it all messed up.

I wish I could work on the split doseing project but I just don't understand it.

Lori
 
Thank you so much for this schedule!!! i'm going to print it off and post it on my wall!!!

My mom is only able to do shots at 8am and 8pm. I was going to have her move the friday shot up to 9am.
 
Wow, Vicky you are amazing!

Sarah, good luck with all this. Just take things slow (dose changes) because of all the other changes that will effect things and make it harder to see what the dose is doing. Keeping good data in your spreadsheet will help you, and us, to figure things out later. That will be very important. Like - fill out the SS at least once a day. I tend to wait a week and dump all the numbers into Jeddie's at one sitting, but he is very steady in times, doses, numbers - nothing much of interest to record.
 
Sarah, I am not sure if anyone has given you these two links or not. It is suggested that you print these out and post them on your refrigerator. This is not to alarm you, but just so you or anyone watching Baby has the instructions handy just in case.

Were you able to get a ketone test yet?

Hypo Symptoms

Hypo Tool Box
 
Vicky I meant to say the same thing right after I posted and saw yours....WOW. But I got a phone call and forgot.
I spent a good 20 minutes just trying to get a schedule with 6 involved....of course impossible. You have quite the numerical genius in you!
 
lori and tom said:
Vicky I meant to say the same thing right after I posted and saw yours....WOW. But I got a phone call and forgot.
I spent a good 20 minutes just trying to get a schedule with 6 involved....of course impossible. You have quite the numerical genius in you!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Lori, but no genius about it. It comes from necessity of having to do something similar for Gandalf. And even that would not have been possible if it weren't for other long time members of the board who pointed me in the direction of split dosing.
 
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