Switch off Lantus if not needing insulin daily?

[Lisamstephan]

Hello! My 14 year old man has done about 6 weeks on Lantus. We have also tried PZI for two days. Snuggy is now at the point where he needs very little insulin and not every day. I posted the other day that he was getting very sick at .5 units of Lantus. I am attempting .15 units of Lantus each day. The thing is that some days he needs insulin and some days he does not. Too much insulin makes him very sick so I am being very careful. So here is my question, if he is not going to need insulin daily, should I switch to PZI? He has only been on insulin since June. I was reading the stickies about Lantus needing to build up in the body...

Lisa and Snuggyman

 

[Blue]

Hello! My 14 year old man has done about 6 weeks on Lantus. We have also tried PZI for two days. Snuggy is now at the point where he needs very little insulin and not every day. I posted the other day that he was getting very sick at .5 units of Lantus. I am attempting .15 units of Lantus each day. The thing is that some days he needs insulin and some days he does not. Too much insulin makes him very sick so I am being very careful. So here is my question, if he is not going to need insulin daily, should I switch to PZI? He has only been on insulin since June. I was reading the stickies about Lantus needing to build up in the body...

Lisa and Snuggyman

Can you please post his BG numbers from your testing - it's not possible to say much of anything without knowing what his numbers were when you gave him shots, and also what were his numbers mid cycle. How do you know that it is the insulin making him sick?? How are you deciding that some days he needs insulin?

If he does not need insulin, why would you switch to a different insulin?

ETA: how do you know your cat needs insulin at all now?

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

Hi Lisa,
I went back to your last thread and saw this:

Sorry I didn't respond promptly. I have a baby and a young child with significant special needs and sometimes I have trouble getting to a computer! I do have 1/2 unit marking syringes. I have attempted to give Snuggy 1/4 unit doses when he has tested high the last two days. I do not feel super confident about consistency yet. A friend who is a vet said maybe I could get pediatric U-100 syringes. Anyone try those?

Snuggy also had chronic pancreatitis. An acute flare is why he was in the hospital this last time when they noticed the somogyi effect because they monitored glucose every 2 hrs for 4 days. I am doing a low fat (for the pancreatitis) and low carb for the diabetes. He gets hills m/d, fancy feast elegant med shredded tuna and shredded chicken. His carbs are around 11%. I had him lower on carbs but that made the fat higher and caused the pancreatitis flare.

I have to move him 180 miles to our new home in two weeks. I am terrified he is going to have a set back from stress!

You are home testing right? Can you give us some of the numbers you've been seeing? Are you sure that the sickness you are seeing are not "pancreatitis" related rather than a side effect of the insulin? I know that you are trying to feed both low fat and low carbs, and I know from looking at the charts that it's hard to find both in one food. And if he has P-titis flares when you feed lower carbs (but higher fats), then that's a problem for sure. If you can give us some numbers, it'd be easier to try to figure this out.

Carl