7U decreased to what???

My Brogan Man is on 7u twice a day. Well today I've been doing a curve test..along with some help. Well he has had readings of 346, 244, 128, 73, 48, 35, 55, 77 and most recent at 3pm of 177. I understand that he needs less insulin but what should I be lookin at for an evening dose? He's on Novalin N. Please help!

 

Hello Mr. Brogan and mom!
Glad to see a post here... lets see what happens...
how is the spreadsheet coming?

 

I'm so new...like a few hrs ago new...so as of yet my spread sheet is a piece of notebook paper="ohbell, post: 1361748, member: 4287"]Hello Mr. Brogan and mom!
Glad to see a post here... lets see what happens...
how is the spreadsheet coming?
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Ok...I

 

The 35 reading means an automatic dose reduction. To what, I'm not sure just yet....

How did you guys reach the 7u? What dose did you start out at originally and when? How often did you increase and by how much?

 

Got here from 12 units twice a day...what the vet told us to give...

 

You guys started out at 12u?? How long ago was he diagnosed?

Does Brogan have anything else going on medically with him? Are you testing for ketones? I'm inclined to suggest you take him off insulin for a few days, switch his diet to low carb and get rid of all dry, and then see where his numbers are at. If they're still high, start with 1u only and proceed from there.

 

Not giving any "juice" tonight. Wish us luck!

 

Please let us know how it goes!

 

If you're going to try no insulin and a food switch, note that switching food may go best when done gradually 20-25% per day to avoid food refusals and GI upsets.
Also, if you're not giving insulin, please pick up some urine testing KetoStix or KetoDiaStix (or generic) from the pharmacy and test the urine religiously for ketones. Ketones form as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially fatal, expensive to treat complication of unregulated diabetes.

 

Welcome Tish and extra sweet Brogan!!

I know you've gotten a lot of advice over on Facebook, but wanted to welcome you to the message board as well! You'll find there there are lots of other sugarcat moms and dads here and soon you'll feel like a "member of the family"!

When you have a few minutes, please go ahead and start a spreadsheet. Here's the instructions and link to How to get the FDMB spreadsheet

The spreadsheet is every bit as important of a tool as the correct diet and insulin since it keeps track of how your sweet kitty is doing. If you have tests that you've already done, if you'd go ahead and put the numbers you have in, it will help going forward. If you have trouble with it, let us know! We have people who can start it for you!

While I'm glad you didn't shoot tonight (because of the high dose as well that 35 today that can make them more sensitive to insulin) it's important that you make some decisions soon on how you're going to continue to treat Brogan. I know you're going to be discussing it with his vet tomorrow. Hopefully your vet will agree to let you switch to one of the better insulins for cats...Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc.

You do need to be careful about not shooting though. Ketones develop quickly and can be very hard (and very expensive) to treat...and it's not always successful, so it'd be best for you to learn how to check for ketones. Here are some Urine Testing Tips to help you!

Be prepared though! If he agrees, there's likely to be some sticker shock on the price! Lantus is running over $200 for a vial of 10ml (over $400 for pens) and Levemir is about the same. ProZinc can be a little cheaper per vial, but the vial is only going to have 400 units instead of 1000 that a 10ml vial of the others will have, so the price ends up being about the same. The "L" insulins are human and can be bought at any pharmacy. They are also available in "Pens" (each pen will have 3ml) and are the better buy instead of the vials for most people since they will last until the expiration date on the box of 5 pens.

You can get Lantus and Levemir from Canada a LOT cheaper, but it's going to take about a week to get it shipped. The last post here will give you the info to where a lot of us are buying it now. Insulin from Canadian Pharmacies

There's lots of other information to share with you, but I don't want to overwhelm you too much!

Again, Welcome and if you have any questions, let us know! The people here are great about sharing their experience with new sugarmom's!