122...Do I give insulin?

Orion is at 122 tonight. Do I give insulin? Spreadsheet below.

 

I wouldn't. It's better to be on the safe side.

 

Kind of what I was thinking. I don't think he's predictable enough at this point to even give a reduced dose. Overall his numbers have gone down, but they still vary too much. Plus I'm going to bed in an hour or so and won't be able to observe him.

 

I think you might want to go down to 2.25U

You're getting too many PS's that are too low for you to feel comfortable shooting and that's a pretty good indicator that the dose is a little too high

 

I have actually wondered that. So glad you said something. He's been under 100 a few times. Maybe if I lower the dose just a hair there would be less variety in his numbers? I will try that with his morning shot. Decided to skip it tonight.

 

Do you think you can give 2.25 using U-40 syringes? (unless you have the U-40 syringes with half unit markings)

You might want to get some U100 syringes and use the conversion chart....it makes giving those smaller doses a lot easier

 

Good idea, Angela.

Not only is that 122 very low for a preshot (it's a normal number...), but it's also the lowest number that you've seen in that particular insulin cycle... For all you know the number may continue to drop....
Even after having a cat on insulin for over 9 years I still usually make sure that his blood glucose is definitely rising (without being influenced by food) before giving insulin.

Your kitty's numbers are very interesting...
It may be that the dose is too high and that is why you're getting some preshots that are too low to shoot. This is not at all uncommon. And reducing the dose may even things out.
Or it may be that the dose is too high and that this is manifesting in low numbers and subsequent 'bounces' up to higher numbers. (This can be tricky because sometimes a caregiver may give insulin based on a high preshot number, only to have the insulin kick in just as the cat's body is dropping out of a bounce. This can cause the numbers to drop steeply.)
It may also be the case that Orion's pancreas is now producing more insulin of it's own, and is able to extend the cycle (by sort of 'picking up the ball and running with it' for a while).
The ability of cats to 'recover' from diabetes can make things very interesting....

I'd suggest reducing the dose, and also trying to snag a few more mid-cycle tests if you can.
Are you posting on the Prozinc forum also? Folks there can help you with advice on dose adjustments.

Eliz

 

I've reduced his dose to 2 units and the bouncing has stopped. I'm going to try to get some more mid-cycle numbers this week. While he's been more flat the last 2 days, his numbers are still high, no? Perhaps 2.25 would be perfect. It's just hard to eyeball it on the syringe. I do my best even with the 2.5 but it's a guess at best.

 

Orion was loudly whining and then hurled in the living room. It took me a moment to translate this to "Check my blood sugar!" A quick checked revealed a number of 39. I grabbed the Karo and here is my shirt after I got some in him. He is a pistol! After some high carb kibble he gave me a 67. Headed in the right direction.

 

10 min later he's at 216. Is this normal or too big of a jump?

 

That will be the effect of the Karo - has he had any food?

 

Yes, he had some higher carb dry food. He's napping now.

 

Can you get some more tests in? Karo wears off quite quickly and you need to know he is rising in response to the food.

 

He's at 149 now.

 

Angela....you should probably start a new thread.....this one is a week old and unless someone is tagged in it, they may not see that there's new information

Where are you in his cycle? How long since his AM shot?

You want to keep testing every 30 minutes after high carb or Karo for at least an hour...as long as he's coming up, get 1 more test in an hour later...if he's still doing OK at that point, you can relax, but you want to reset that "2 hour" clock every time he has to have more high carb/Karo to bring him back above 50

 

ok - can you test again in 20-30 mins? Also can you update his spreadsheet? I am in a different time zone so unsure where you are in the cycle.