Switching from ProZinc to Lantus SoloStar

[Don J Quixote-Star]

Hello !

I am a 9 yr old Siamese diagnosed with diabetes a two weeks ago.

For the last two weeks, I have been receiving 3 units of ProZinc twice a day (at 12 hour intervals).
I will run out of ProZinc in about a week.

My human (or at least he claims to be) will be switching me to Lantus SoloStar before the ProZinc
runs out, but he does not know how to covert a ProZinc unit to a Lantus SoloStar unit.

How many units of SolarStar does it take to equal 1 unit of ProZinc ; or phrased alternately,
How many units of SolarStar are equivalent to 3 units of ProZinc ?

Thanks !
Don J Quixote-Star

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The dosing between Lantus and ProZinc isn't equivalent - they have different concentrations and require different syringes. ProZinc is a U40 insulin (40 units per mL) whereas Lantus is a U100 (100 units per mL) insulin. You will need to buy U100 syringes (they have an orange cap) in order to dose Lantus properly. We recommend:

• U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings are the best to use for drawing Lantus or Levemir from vials, cartridges, and pens. BD, CarePoint Vet, Monoject, GNP, UltiCare Vet Rx, Sure Comfort, and ReliOn are just some of the brands available in the US with half unit markings. Needle gauge and length is your preference Syringes come in ½ inch or 5/16 inch needle lengths. Needle gauges are 29, 30 or 31 (31 being the thinnest)

When switching from ProZinc to Lantus, you can keep the same dose of Lantus. So is your cat is getting 3u of ProZinc (using a U40 syringe) you can switch to 3u of Lantus (using a U100 syringe). Some people opt to start out at a slight lower dose when switching insulin.

 

[BJM]

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[Don J Quixote-Star]

Thank you so much for your quick reply, but I am still confused for two reasons:
1. As to equivalency:
(a) You first said that: "The dosing between Lantus and ProZinc isn't equivalent - they have different concentrations"; and
(b) Then you said that :"So if your cat is getting 3u of ProZinc (using a U40 syringe) you can switch to 3u of Lantus (using a U100 syringe).

My question is: If the dosing between Lantus SolarStar and ProZinc isn't equivalent, how does 3u of Lantus equal 3u of ProZinc ?

2. As to the "delivery system" of Lantus SolarStar, my human hasn't bought it yet and we have never seen one, but his understanding (or lack thereof)
is that Lantus SolarStar comes in a pen and that no syringe is necessary. Is that incorrect ?

P.S. My human is 73, not in good health, and is half senile.

 

[Madrona and Leda (GA)]

Thank you so much for your quick reply, but I am still confused for two reasons:
1. As to equivalency:
(a) You first said that: "The dosing between Lantus and ProZinc isn't equivalent - they have different concentrations"; and
(b) Then you said that :"So if your cat is getting 3u of ProZinc (using a U40 syringe) you can switch to 3u of Lantus (using a U100 syringe).

My question is: If the dosing between Lantus SolarStar and ProZinc isn't equivalent, how does 3u of Lantus equal 3u of ProZinc ?

2. As to the "delivery system" of Lantus SolarStar, my human hasn't bought it yet and we have never seen one, but his understanding (or lack thereof)
is that Lantus SolarStar comes in a pen and that no syringe is necessary. Is that incorrect ?

P.S. My human is 73, not in good health, and is half senile.

The concentration of the two insulins is different--so you'd be giving the same number of units, but not the same amount of liquid--that's why the different syringes are necessary.

As far as I am aware the pens are normally used to fill syringes because most of them only measure in full units (which works for adult humans, but not so well for kitties).

Hope that helps.

 

[Don J Quixote-Star]

Thanks for the post, but I don't think what you said is correct. I've watched a couple of
YouTube videos and it appears that the Lantus SolarStar is, itself, a syringe holding 300 units
of insulin. The "delivery system" contained within the Lantus SolarStar enables one to dial
in the units of insulin given in a single shot from 2 units to 80 units. The Lantus SolarStar comes with
a number of screw on (or snap on) needles that one changes with every shot.

Rather than using a syringe with one permanent needle (that cannot be changed), "filling" the syringe with one dose,
and disposing and replacing it with a new one for each shot, the Lantus SolarStar is a syringe containining many shots
with a disposable screw on (or snap on) needle that one changes each time.

Here is the URL for one of the Videos I watched:

Thanks for your input and good luck !

 

[Madrona and Leda (GA)]

The "delivery system" contained within the Lantus SolarStar enables one to dial
in the units of insulin given in a single shot from 2 units to 80 units

Yes, the pen can deliver in whole units, but most people here are using finer dosing--typically in 0.25 units, so they use the cartridge in the pen to fill a U100 syringe. However, if you are dosing in whole units, the pen would indeed be more accurate.

Best of luck.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

The "delivery system" contained within the Lantus SolarStar enables one to dial
in the units of insulin given in a single shot from 2 units to 80 units. The Lantus SolarStar comes with
a number of screw on (or snap on) needles that one changes with every shot.

You are correct, but those pens are designed for those pesky hoomins who take huge amounts of insulin. They are started at like 25 units per day and go up several whole units at a time

Us kitties are tiny little souls that only require tiny little dose changes. We only get changes in .25 unit increments. Going from 1 unit to 2 units is too big of an increase for us, so we have to use regular insulin syringes to pull the dose out of the pens

Another thing....3 units is a HUGE dose for a kitty that was just diagnosed!! We usually start at .5 to 1 unit and then home test with a human blood glucose meter to see how well the cat is responding.

Too much insulin can actually look like too little!! If you give too much insulin, it can force the blood glucose too low and then the liver releases stored sugar and hormones to bring the BG back up quickly...we call it "bouncing".

ProZinc is actually one of the insulins that generally work well for cats and 2 weeks really isn't enough time to know if it will work for you.

If you will get a blood glucose meter (If you live in the US, WalMart has the Relion Confirm and Micro meters that a lot of us really like and are affordable) and start home testing, you may find that you need to lower the dose instead of switching insulins

We can help teach your human how to test!