Length of usage: Lantus

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bagla555

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Hi All
Fairly new to feline diabetes {March 2010}. Using lantus insulin with Ringo. My vial is 2 months old now. Keeping it in the fridge, using syringes bid for only 2 days and cleaning the vial with alcohol before inserting syringe. How long can you keep using a vial of insulin? Thank you for relpies. Barb G.
 
Maybe a month tops, maybe longer. The only way you know if a bottle of Lantus is losing effectiveness is from any unusual wonky numbers from daily testing of your cat's blood glucose levels. Or if you see tiny white things floating inside the bottle.
 
Hi Barb,

Use it till you see a difference in #'s in Ringo. If you start getting higher #'s or if they start creeping up I'd get a new vial. I had a pen that lasted me a few months, others once a month. So it really depends on your cats #'s. Keep in mind that you should be around when you do open fresh lantus so you can spot check during the day. The new lantus could have more of a kick to it because its fresh.

Are you using a syringe more than once? The needles on a syringe are very fragile and using it just once dulls the end. And you don't want to contaminate your lantus either.

Good luck with Ringo and welcome.

jan and sara
 
I used my Lantus vial for four months. Her numbers were still good, but I felt 4 months was long enough. I just got a new vial. There was no cloudiness in the old bottle or strange bg #'s. The Pharmacist told me one month, but the Vet said as long as 4 months as long as kept refrigerated, etc.
 
The vial I had of Lantus was working for just over a month and then the numbers started to change, slowly slowly lousy numbers.
I got a package of 5-cartridges, just to see.
On the very first shot from the new cart, numbers improved.
Nov20 - Dec27 - pm shot obviously showed improvement.

If you are going to be using Lantus and are shooting a low dose, it is more cost effective to get a package that has 5 cartridges that are 3ml each instead of a 10ml vial. The cartridges that remain unopened and in the frig last till the expiry date on the package. As soon as you start using the cart or vial, the 28-day countdown begins.
 
I like the lantus solostar pens--they are a bit more expensive, but they have lasted a longer time for me & easy to use--
Longest I ever used one cartridge(pen) 40 days!!! that's amazing!
 
bagla555 said:
Hi All
Fairly new to feline diabetes {March 2010}. Using lantus insulin with Ringo. My vial is 2 months old now. Keeping it in the fridge, using syringes bid for only 2 days and cleaning the vial with alcohol before inserting syringe. How long can you keep using a vial of insulin? Thank you for relpies. Barb G.
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I just use a syringe one time so as not to contaminate the Lantus. I'm not sure I understood if you were using them for two days.
 
We used our vial for about 2.5 months. I switched right before going OTJ because I thought I was catching glimpses of floaties and I didn't want to risk losing a shot a remission because of bad insulin. We used the syringes twice -vet said to use until we could feel they weren't going in as easy, but we could tell she felt it when they went dull so I tossed after every morning shot and hubby took out new for the evening shots.
 
I don't know what syringes and needles that others are using but the BD ones I am using are clearly marked SINGLE USE SYRINGES.
Once used, the needle is dull and no longer sterile.
 
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