Re: New Member too - question on changing to NPH

[danagirl]

Hi
Well I asked my vet again about changing over to NPH but was told there is enough Vetsylin around until April and they are researching the options more. I am still looking into the options I have at pharmacies around here. I am more interested in being proactive on this issue than waiting.

I went to the merry measure web site, it was great, very informative in a no stress manner.

I will keep you posted, thanks for the all the input

[BestBuddy]

If you are getting good results with Vetsulin I wouldn't worry about making a change until it was necessary.

If you do need to change then I would suggest that you push for NPH because there are already many dogs on it doing well and it seems to be a very good insulin as well for dogs.

There are enough stresses with having a diabetic pet that I would put the insulin change on the back burner until you need to make a decision.

Jenny

[danagirl]

Jenny,

Thanks for your post. It helped me put things in perspective.
She is doing well on the Vetsulin. I am assuming I will have to change sooner or later so I want to make it as easy as possible on her. I will definitely try to work with my vet to go to NPH since it does seem to be working for many dogs

[SamtheCorgi]

Originally Posted by k9diabetes

Hi Danagirl,

Welcome to the forum!

I copied your question to its own thread so folks can answer you directly.

The switchover usually involves a small reduction in units of insulin in each injection. I personally prefer starting NPH at 3/4 of the units of Vetsulin you were giving. Some might even suggest starting closer to the dose...

I guess Dana is a big dog. At 33 units, I would start NPH at at least 24-25 units - that's 75% of 33. And then monitor and raise it up as needed. Depending on if you home test, you might be able to start somewhat higher... 28-30. But I wouldn't personally do that without home blood glucose testing and careful monitoring the first couple of days.

Most dogs need about the same number of units but it varies from dog to dog.

I would just set aside your old syringes and not try to use them with NPH. That way you can just fill the new syringes to the proper mark to deliver the right number of units.

One nice thing about NPH is you have many many more syringe choices and smaller needles available. You can buy them where you buy the insulin, which you get from the pharmacy rather than from the vet.

You will need somewhat larger syringes than we used. We got by with 3/10cc syringes but they max out at 30 units so you would need 0.5cc syringes.

Natalie

Hi,
Trying to make sure I am understanding all the information. I read that Vetsulin is a DILUTED insulin and Novo N is more concentrated. But 1u of Vetsulin in a 40cc syringe is EQUAL to 2.5u in a 100cc syringe.

when I say EQUAL, that is in VOLUME only correct? not effectiveness. so if I were to be giving 15units of Vetsulin in a 40cc syringe an equal amount of Novolin N in the 100cc syringe would be (15x2.5) 37.5u ?? I think the flaw here in my thinking is that it only applies to Vetsulin and it is equal in VOLUME only. Is there any meaningful conversion of effectivity??? 15u of Vetsulin (40ccsyringe) is generally considered to be as EFFECTIVE as XXu of Novolin N (in the 100ccsyringe)? Make sense what I ask??

So when referencing above:
"The switchover usually involves a small reduction in units of insulin in each injection. I personally prefer starting NPH at 3/4 of the units of Vetsulin you were giving. Some might even suggest starting closer to the dose...

I guess Dana is a big dog. At 33 units, I would start NPH at at least 24-25 units - that's 75% of 33. And then monitor and raise it up as needed. Depending on if you home test, you might be able to start somewhat higher... 28-30. But I wouldn't personally do that without home blood glucose testing and careful monitoring the first couple of days.

Most dogs need about the same number of units but it varies from dog to dog."

I want to clearly understand the correlation. SO, If I were considering changing the 15u of Vetsulin (which wasn't controlling Sam's BG well to begin with) to Novo N what is the units of Novo N in 100syringe?? The specialist I am working with started us off at 7u of Novo N in the 100 syringe. I can understand being conservative, but it seems to do nothing and Sam's glucose is over 500 at times, not even readable on the meter!!! We are generating a curve, but I don't want Sam to suffer such HIGHS and wanting to learn more about what is a safe approach, avoiding hypo but narrowing in on healthier/lower BGs sooner.

So given the dilute vs concentrate and unit of measure difference, "Some might even suggest starting closer to the dose" What does that mean???
Closer to the equivalent volume?? so 1u of vetsulin is 2.5u of NovoN? but then how to account for the "dilute" versus "concentrate" factors between the two!!

Comments welcomed, confused!!! Thanks!!!