Welcome to Lantus Land, Dan.
Let me see if I can convince you! First, you don't need to test every hour or even every couple of hours. Many of the people here work or are in school and not available to test as often as you may think. We do try to arrange our shot times to maximize testing, though. Most of us will get a test at shot times, before we leave for the day, when we walk in the door, and as often as is feasible during the cycles where we're home and over the weekends or holidays. The importance of these spot checks is due to Lantus dosing being based on the nadir, or lowest point, of the 12-hour insulin cycle. The nadir is usually somewhere near the middle of the cycle. Since the pre-shot tests are often the highest points of the cycle, if you try to base your dose on these numbers, you could easily overdose your cat.
Lantus also likes consistency. It is what's technically called a "depot" type of drug. What this means is that it builds a reservoir (we refer to this as a "shed") under the skin which gives Lantus is long duration and makes it a gentle quality. Every time you adjust a dose, it effects the shed. The more you alter doses or don't shoot a consistent dose at AM and PM, the more impact it has on the depot and numbers may suffer. The dosing protocol that we use, which is based on the research of Jacqui Rand, DVM and has been published in a top tier veterinary journal, clearly indicates that you need to administer a consistent dose at AM and PM.
If you are outside of the US, we do have a spreadsheet template that will automatically convert your BG numbers (mmol/L) to the numbers we use in the US (mg/dL). The instructions on setting up the
World spreadsheet template are in the Tech Center.
As the others have suggested, please read over the starred, sticky notes at the top of the Board, They will provide you with a great deal of information about Lantus, its dosing and the protocol we use, key concepts, and using this Board.
- Tight Regulation Protocol: This sticky contains the dosing protocol that we use here. There are also links to the more formal versions -- the Tilly Protocol developed by the counterpart of this group in German and the Queensland/Rand protocol developed by Jacqui Rand, DVM and published in one of the top vet journals.
- New to the Group: Everything you wanted to know about this forum and more. Info on our slang, FAQs, links to sites on feline nutrition and to food charts containing carb counts, how to do a curve and the components to look for, important aspects of diabetes such as ketones, DKA, and neuropathy, and most important, info on hypoglycemia.
- Handling Lantus: how to get the maximum use from your insulin and what to not do with it!
- Lantus depot/shed: This is an important concept for understanding how Lantus works.
- Becoming Data Ready: What data you need in order to be able to work toward remission or tight regulation.
Please let us know how we can help.
