9/5 How to measure tiny doses?

I know I saw a video or pictures somewhere here that gave a demonstration of measuring small doses, but now I can't find them. My vet told me that it's impossible to measure .25; she said nothing comes out. I went home and measured .25 and a small drop came out. I'm putting Tootoo back on .25 units tomorrow and from there will likely continue to reduce, so I want to practice with the tiny amounts. Can someone remind me where I can find those pictures or video that I saw? Thank you much!

Debbie

 

I'm not sure which videos you are referring to, but the process for drawing the dose would be the same regardless of the size of the dose. Why are you starting him on insulin again? Based on his spreadsheet he seems to be doing really well without insulin.

 

I agree with Nancy, especially since you just got him completely off the dry!

 

Hi Debbie,

Here are my FDMB bookmarks on small dosing. These were really helpful when I was doing .25 and 0.1 doses for Sammy.

Steve's pictures of small doses with BD needles.
Sheila's pictures on how to measure a small dose consistently.
Wendy's pictures of small doses.

I also found that using a caliper made it much easier to gain consistency when measuring a tiny dose. Here are some links in case you're interested.

Marje's pictures of dosing with calipers.
Great discussion on how to use calipers to measure doses.

 

Thanks! The consensus in the responses to my earlier posts, based on tight regulation protocol, was that I took him off a wee bit too soon - that his numbers should be lower to really call him OTJ. The advice was back to .25, then .1 for awhile. I'm inclined to agree. I'd originally taken him off because of a bout with pancreatitis, at which time the vet said he was in remission. Her instructions were to put him back on if he starts reading above 150. Well, since then I think he's read twice at 153, once at 164. Then last night he went from 93 to 149 this morning. So I'll do the tiny amounts and see if I can keep him in the green or very low blue. He's been two days with totally no dry. Also, if it makes a difference, the dry was Purina DM, which is a relatively low carb dry that I was giving him while he had pancreatitis just to get him to eat. He had been off dry completely for over a month prior.

Nancy and Barb, yours are the first opinions other than vet's that he is in remission. Thanks! It confirms that I definitely won't have to give him much for long.

Tokoyokitty, thanks for the links. I'll check them out!

Debbie

 

hi debbie. i took a quick look at tootoo's spreadsheet. it appears tootoo has a sputtering pancreas and could be close to going off the juice!

as stated in the TR Protocol for lantus and levemir users:

"Try to go from 0.25 IU to a drop before stopping the insulin completely. Reducing the dose too quickly generally does not work: most cats do not go into remission with fast reductions." http://www.tillydiabetes.net/en_6_protocol2.htm

i understand what you're attempting to do by restarting insulin. you want to pull down those blue AM & PM BG numbers with tiny doses of insulin so tootoo will stay under 100 overall. in addition to administering microdoses, you might want to try feeding a snack or mini-meal at +8 or +9. i don't know if anyone has mentioned this method to you. oftentimes feeding a small amount is just enough to stimulate the pancreas into producing it's own insulin when kitty is at the point where tootoo is in this sugar dance.

be sure to monitor...

good luck!

 

Thanks Jill! The small feeding idea is a good one, the problem I have is that four days a week I'm gone for 12 hours. I did give him .25 this a.m. Haven't updated spreadsheet, but tested 67 at +2 and 83 at +4. I'm home today and the next two days so I can test frequently. I always get nervous shooting on the mornings before I leave for the day and sometimes end up giving none at all or a greatly reduced dose. But if I get a good idea what's happening these three days, it should be ok. So excited for him to really be OTJ, even though he has been off it for several days prior to today. I do want to see a little bit lower numbers for the two weeks with no juice before we celebrate. :smile: He's so happy to be fussed over again. I think he knows exactly what we're doing. :lol: