Sarah
Welcome to Lantus Land. We don't inject air into the vials or the solostar pens; it isn't necessary to do that. You might want to check into the pens; they are much cheaper in the long run unless your kitty turns out to be a high doser. Sometimes you can buy one 3-ml pen from an outpatient hospital pharmacy. I am not able to here so I buy the 5-pack of 3-ml pens at Costco. They run about $200 but I don't toss away as much as the vial which is 10 mls and runs a little over $100. Some folks have been able to use almost all of the pen before the juice gets wonky. Some change them every 28 days.
I do not hold the syringe under the skin for ten seconds before I push the plunger. I insert the needle...making sure I am in the skin and not in the hair.....then I press the plunger. I usually do count to ten before I pull the syringe out but I keep the plunger pressed in as I remove the syringe or else you can lose a drop being sucked back into the syringe from loss of pressure on the plunger. I also remove the syringe very slowly so if there is a tiny drop on the end of the needle, it stay in her skin.
I'm assuming you are home testing since you have a SS for Trouble? We find this is critical in managing FD.
I know you are new to Lantus and you have alot to catch up on but we recommend that you read all the stickys as soon as you can. I've given you the direct links below:
1.
New to the Group: this has a TON of valuable information and covers most of what you need to know to get started.
2.
Tight Regulation Protocol: this gives the protocol we follow in LL to get our kitties regulated. It gives info on starting the dose, increasing the dose, decreasing the dose, how much, etc.
3.
Info, Proper Handling, and Storage of Lantus: this will provide you additional info to what I gave you in the initial paragraphs regarding handling, storing lantus.
4.
Lantus Shed: Lantus works very differently from PZI; it builds up a shed under the skin. The shed must fill before you start to see a change in numbers. That is why we hold increases for 3-5 days....to allow the shed to fill. This is a difficult, but very important concept regarding lantus and levemir.
5.
Data Ready to Shoot Lower Numbers: we recommend that newbies not shoot numbers below 150 until you have enough data to know how your kitty will react. This is also very important. As a summary of it, I would say the first time you get a number around 150 at preshot, do not feed your kitty, post the number and ask for help. Between the east coasters and west coasters, there's someone on line almost 24/7.
We also rely heavily on Spreadsheets. We have some amazing folks when it comes to making dosing recommendations but they have to be able to look at kitty's SS and see what's been happening. We have found that it is a rare vet that really understands lantus and dosing; most just put the cat on a dose bid and tell you to come back in a few weeks. We've had a lot of kitties hypo on those instructions. I'm glad to see you have a SS going.
Lastly....the other really important thing is to have a hypo kit ready. It should include LOTS of test strips, HC and MC foods, karo, etc. It is discussed in the first sticky I gave you. You don't want to have to run out to the pharmacy in the middle of the night to get supplies.
We're here to help...we have a massive amount of experience in LL...some incredible folks and a real sense of family. So bring on the questions!
