Another Update On Blackie & Mary's Visit Yesterday :)

Mary, from Garland, came over yesterday afternoon, and visited with me for about 3 hours. We had a nice visit, and she's a wonderful lady. She gave me a whole bunch of information (I'm still trying to take it all in LOL), and even visited with some of my cats who weren't too chicken to come and see her. A couple of my cats (Bubba, and Groucho), decided that they liked her. She provided me with all of the necessary equipment for hometesting (again.. thank you so very much, Mary! *HUGS*), and even showed me how to work the unit, etc. We practice tested on Bubba (poor baby), and he was good. BG was 97 at around almost 3:00 p.m. Next, was the patient. I had to search for her, and found her under hubby's tool cabinet in the back room. Managed to get her somewhat accustomed to Mary being there (she wanted to bolt, but I was determined to find out what her BG level was), and took the test. Hers also read 97. This was taken 3 hours PMPS. Mary left at about 4:30, and at that time I went out to feed my horse, and take care of the other 2 outdoor animals. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay up past 11:00 p.m. last night to test Blackie, but I did this morning.

AMPS:

140, 8 units

+1 (didnt' test)
+2 220

I'm writing these down and will be showing the numbers to the vet's this Sat. I'll test Blackie again throughout the day. I think I'm getting the hang of this.

 

Congratulations!!

but yes, please try to get some more tests today and keep an eye on her if you can. that 140 is a high normal number really, normal being between 60-150 depending on who you talk to so in the beginning, we'd advise people to not even shoot on that number just yet. gotta run to work but will try to peek in once i get there

 

Is that 8 units in a U-40 syringe or 8 units using the conversion chart and a U-100 syringe?

 

Hope, that's 8 units in a U-40 syringe. I haven't quite got the nerve to use a U-100 syringe yet. The reason being is because I feel like it's more in a U-100, but it's the same amount, right? Just converted.

 

Here is the conversion chart........http://felinediabetes.com/insulin-conve ... ........It would end up being 20 units in a U-100 syringe.

Keep an eye out on those numbers with the amount of insulin you are giving. I have never used Prozinc but 8 units U-40 still seems awfully high to me.

 

Congrats on learning to home test!

More numbers at different times of day would be great -- to build a curve to see Blackie's response to insulin.

8 units is a pretty high dose, but some cats do need more insulin than others.

My first diabetic cat, Norton, was such a cat -- after coming here to FDMB with his dose at 13 units BID, we found out that he had a condition called Acromegaly that caused him to need lots of insulin.

Probably no one has mentioned this to you yet, but for a cat to be getting 8 units twice per day and not going HYPO is pretty unusual.

The Blood Sugar (BG) numbers that you've posted so far look like good healthy numbers -- as if Blackie is indeed responding well to the dose.

If/when you change the food to low carb canned food --- his dose may need to drop a LOT, and pretty quickly. So it would be a good idea to become comfortable with the ear pricks / testing before making big diet changes.

When we changed Norton to low carb canned food -- his dose changed from 13u BID to 8u BID.

There are sticky posts at the top of the High Dose Insulin Support Group that give more information about Acromegaly, IAA and Cushings - the three most common "High Dose" conditions. Acromegaly and IAA are diagnosed with a blood test -- the only lab in North America that does these tests is at Michigan State University. Cushings is harder to diagnose, so no one easy test is available.

One study done in the UK found that 17% of diabetic cats tested positive for Acromegaly. A more recent study found as many as one in three.

 

Great job on the testing, Angela! I am happy that you are getting the hang of it so quickly! It was wonderful meeting you and your crew yesterday, and don't hesitate to call me if you are feeling over-stressed, frightened, or confused. I'll do my best to "talk you down"

Do you recall that we spoke about choosing a no shoot/reduced dose number? Well, I'd have to say that in my opinion, 140 is definitely a no shoot/reduced dose number. It is only slightly higher than a non-diabetic number, (60-120), and in many cases, could actually be considered as a high normal number. Many vets call anything under 180-200 a no shoot number for insulins such as Vetsulin, and Humilin N. I am not sure what the no shoot number for ProZink is, though.

You will want to catch as many of her numbers as you can today so that you can see how the 8 unit dose is affecting Blackie throughout the day. Different cats peak at different times on their insulin, so only experience and frequent testing will show you where her nadir point is. Also, you can do regular tests on the half hour if you need to - like if you are going to have to go to bed and cannot make it to the next whole hour. Just add a .5 after the hour. ie: If you are shooting at 6AM and then again 6PM, 10:30PM at night would be +4.5 after the PMPS.

The test we did on her yesterday, where we got the 97, was a +9 as it was nine hours after her AM shot.

Please keep us updated today on how well you, and Blackie are doing.

~M