Bella BG journey part 5

Wow, pmps 381, big jump, wonder why

 

This Andy


This is Abby
I think they like their grass I stopped and got them, of course bella looked at it like it was scary spiders lol

 

Cute babies you have! Great idea for inside kits!
Aren’t kitties just the greatest?! I love that rug... been looking for a brown & grey rug for my living room. Changing colors a bit.

 

They are, keep me thinking of ways to make them happy lol lol, I got to feeling bad they can’t go outside so I brought the grass to them lol

 

Who the heck knows?! Keep the s0.5 u for now.

 

So sweet!!

 

wow 482 this am still stayed with s0.5

 

It’s hard to know if this is from bouncing because he went low overnight or not. Here’s what I suggest: lower the dose to 0.25 u tonight and keep it through tomorrow. Will you be home one day on the weekend to do a curve? It’s more testing but needed at this point.

 

Yes, I’m wondering if maybe I did a fur shot, I don’t think I ever have, hard to tell now, yes I will be home all weekend, thank God

 

I've been thinking more about this. It's possible that because there's more guesswork in drawing up a skinny dose there might have been a little dose to dose variation. With as hard acting an insulin as Novolin and at the tiny dose you're giving even little variation can have a significant effect. It'll be easier to eyeball 0.25 u because you have visual guidelines on the syringe barrel to look at. Aim to be as consistent dose to dose as you can.

 

Another thing you can try to improve dose consistency is to draw up a "sample" syringe with colored water. The unfortunate thing about these syringes is that the markings aren't always consistent from syringe to syringe, so even getting good at eyeballing units of 0.25U relative to the lines isn't necessarily going to give you the same dose each time. It's not such a big deal with larger doses, but when you get down in the sub-0.5U range, it can really matter!

 

It definitely gets harder, it takes me several time putting it in syringe before I’m pretty sure I got it right

 

Nan's suggestion to make up a reference syringe with coloured water is a good one.

 

Would some look at threat my first hypo, that poor kitty has really high BG and I don’t want to give any wrong info, name is lovemyboogie

 

+8.5 414

 

Bouncing like crazy today I think. FYI - you'll have to manually colour code that 414 to red on your SS. It's showing as blue right now. Try 0.25 u tonight and tomorrow.

 

Yeah I saw blue, changed to red and did .25u

 

I see that black this AM. Try to get a curve done today. Those numbers should help in deciding what to do next.

 

208 +2.5 went way down

 

hmmm.... Assuming that neither that nor the 542 was a bad strip (did you re-test?), that is indeed a big drop! I think this is another opportunity to try the snack-feeding strategy and tap the brakes a bit.

 

Yes, I agree with Nan. Give a couple of teaspoons of his regular low carb food. Keep up the curving today. More pokes than you'd like but the data is very important right now.

 

I was wondering if the first one was wrong but didn’t think about it till I saw second, will give snack, thanks

 

Is it a good idea if BG is taken and it’s super high or super low to retake just to be sure?

 

Yes. Any time you get a number that seems out of place, especially very low, do a retest.

 

Did you give Bella a little snack?

 

Yes, just took 155

 

Sorry he went under bed after he ate, had to move bed to get him

 

I'm glad you're persevering with the curve as hard as it is. It's the only way to know where to go next.

 

I’m trying, it may not always seem like it lol but I try and do everything you ask me and I appreciate it, does he need more snacks?

 

I don't think he needs another snack. He's near nadir and in a very safe BG range. Keep up the curve though. Just feed his normal meals now whenever they are usually given. I certainly know you're trying and I know it's stressful.

 

When does nadir happen

 

What the heck, +7 323

 

Bella, are you trying to paint your very own rainbow today???

 

That’s what I’m thinking! can the cause be the stress over me doing a curve today and sometimes having to get him out from under bed and track him down and the sticking and sticking and sticking cause the rise

 

I doubt it could be stress causing swings like this. It looks like he's on the upswing of a bounce right now, either from the swan-dive he took this morning going from AMPS to +2.5 or (less likely) an even lower number at +3 or +4. He's held blue numbers for several hours on other days, so I don't think just getting to blue would cause such a rapid rebound.

At least it seems that the bouncing he does is pretty short! (some kitties have bounces that last for days!)

 

+9 541

 

+11 599 Omg, do I give insulin now??? It’s so high

 

I've been out most of the day. He could be bouncing or it could be that this dose is too low for now. It could also be that he needs to stay at a dose longer or he'll get unsettled.

I had to ask myself what I would do if it was Teasel - I'd go back to 0.5 u for a couple of days. He had better numbers and no very low BGs on that dose. Teasel is more bouncy on a dose that's too low. That's where my reasoning is coming from. Are you game to try that? Don't worry about the blacks. Unless they persisted for many days they're no big deal.

Yes, it's hard to figure this part out ...

 

Yes I’m game, sorry I was in a panic that’s why I created the other thread

 

+3 310, is that enough for the day

 

Red is better than black.

 

I hope it’s a better day, those numbers yesterday were a nightmare, scared all day and I’m sure I was stressing him out, thank you

 

Is b12 good for cats, and if so human form and how much

 

Yes, blacks are scary to look at because they stand out so much on the SS. They're far scarier if they hang around day after day (and possibly cause ketones to build up) but Bella's don't. A single very low lime green is scary because it can mean a hypo and you have to take action right away to prop up the BG. If you can keep these things in perspective it can help to reduce your stress.

Another thing to keep in mind - you're using the human meter right now, aren't you? Those read lower. So far you haven't had any dark green numbers so even though the drop to blues on March 14 was concerning to your husband, Bella was actually in safe numbers. Last night I suggested you go back to 0.5 u and keep the dose for a few days to see if he'll settle down some. If he had dropped to lime green on this dose I wouldn't have suggested that. There's no magic key to all this - just try a dose, test, look at BGs at important parts of the curve and assess. If it doesn't work out well, try something else. That's what we've been doing.

 

It's recommended for kitties showing hind end neuropathy but can be given without that problem. One popular one is Zobaline and you can order it online. It's one tablet daily mixed in with food. It dissolves readily in water and is tasteless.
http://www.ilifelink.com/zobaline-for_diabetic_cats-3_mg_x_60_tablets.html

 

It’s my fault, yesterday I went back to cat meter cause I was taking it so many time and it required little blood, I will fix that right now, I’m so sorry, hard to remember everything but I know I need to fix it again I’m sorry, I was so into getting those tests I didn’t think about it
I just did an+3 and it was 121 and I have small snack

 

No problem. It's hard to think clearly when overwhelmed by stress. Today is a new day!

Was that a 121 on the pet meter or the human meter? Very big drop so a snack is needed. You won't want to read this but you should test again in an hour to watch how he drops. It won't be as many tests as yesterday but you need to track this. No stress or worry needed, just being proactive.

 

I did notice when I changed to pet ss the number colors stayed the same

 

Pet meter and snack will retest at 9am

 

They're all the same except for when lime green pops up. It'll show when BG is below 68 on the pet meter SS and when it's below 50 on the human meter SS.

Remember - no stress or anxiety allowed! You might see green and that's OK.

 

I have human b12 liquid can he have that I just want to give maybe it will help something, he is not showing signs yet but don’t ever want him to, maybe a preventative thing or not I don’t know lol just want what best for bella

 

You are a true Godsend and always make me smile

 

Here's something that will help: how about making a note on your human meter SS saying you're testing with the pet meter and numbers are on that SS. You can do the same on your pet meter SS if you switch back. That way I'll make sure to look at the right SS.

 

I don't know the dosage in the human liquid. Teasel doesn't have neuropathy but I give him B12 just in case and it can help energy levels too. I ordered Zobaline once from that website but the shipping cost was very high and it took a month to get to me. I now buy the human pills in the vitamins section of a drugstore. If you go that route, the best form of B12 to get is the methylcobalamin type (not the cyanocobalamin) in a dose of 1500 mcg or so. It's hard to find any higher than that (Zobaline is 3000 mcg = 3 mg). Check the label for any added sugar, etc. You'd have to check your liquid for that too, especially as carb sensitive as Bella is.

 

+4 101 gave another snack

 

Of course mine is the cyanocobalamin, will get the other

 

Pet meter?

Good call on the snack, and hopefully at +4 he's done dropping, but keep the hypo kit at the ready (high-carb food, karo). Bella may be trying to add another color to his rainbow! Green is good Bella, but stick to the dark green, OK?

 

Yes on pet meter now, I had ran out of strips and started back on pet meter yesterday, told him to make his rainbow just blue or dark green and leave it alone lol, he thinks I’m crazy

 

I always have my high carb on stand by, have a box with Honey, treats and hc food

 

Well. those are lovely numbers but we know that Novolin can pack quite a punch. What you're doing right now with snacks is called "steering with food". You won't be able to do that on work days so you might have to think about how Bella can get snacks while you're away from home.

I know you have test exhaustion after yesterday. Try for +6 and +8? If you're willing to go for it - get +5, +6, +7. The snacks are good but you need to know how low he'll go without them in preparation for being away at work. Are you willing to try that?

 

Whatever it takes for what’s best for him

 

Hurray for 180! No more snacks right now. Let's see what he does without them.

 

Lol I think he lowers it’s for snacks lol, he’s nuts

 

Crafty little devils, aren't they!

 

298. +6 wth

 

It's a bounce from the big drop this AM. No need to test any more until PMPS. Bella is a bouncy boy, Novolin is strong in its action and you're giving a very small dose so even slight deviations in dose measurement can have an effect. This isn't a criticism, just a fact. Stay the course at this dose.

Thinking ahead here: the strong action of Novolin can make these teeny tiny dose tweaks hard to do. If his data going forward suggests he'll need a little bit of insulin for quite a while then it might be time to think about that new vet and a trial of Lantus. No need to do anything right away.

 

This is me everyday, =
I will try and get him in as soon as I can, I feel so bad for him so so so bad, I HOPE he knows I’m trying and that I love him so so very much and trying to do what is best for him
Sorry having a pity party, it was looking so much better and I’ve done nothing diff

 

You're not doing anything wrong. No need to rush to the new vet if your finances won't allow it yet. Ask yourself every day if he seems to feel OK, is eating, acting normal, etc. That's really important because we can get too caught up in the numbers.

With FD you can do the same thing day in and day out and still have a rainbow spreadsheet - Teasel's is like that. I've learned to say to myself that I'm doing the best I can to keep him safe and not drive myself bonkers in the process. That's all we can expect of ourselves. Insulin is a potent hormone and is involved in a lot of complicated processes. A kitty's response to it can vary minute by minute, hour by hour and certainly day to day.

The advantage of Lantus over Novolin is that its action is much gentler and it's slower in onset. That can help some cats have flatter BG curves. Novolin is more like a hammer strike on the BG whereas Lantus is more like a finger tap - silly comparison but you get the idea ...

 

I've gone from this: with Teasel to this: in the two years since his diagnosis. I much prefer the second set of emojis. I got there by learning his responses, trying three insulins (ProZinc, Lantus and Levemir), seeing that he's still bouncy-ish but happier on Lev and here we are.

 

What’s the diff between levemir and lantus, you think lantis is better for bella right

 

They can have a similar action but more people use Lantus probably because there's a scientific study with data to support its use in getting cats into remission. Not all cats will go into remission, though. In fact most won't but they can achieve a good level of regulation. Giving tiny doses is easier because its action is gentle. Some people switch from Lantus to Levemir because Lantus can sting at high doses. Teasel just didn't feel 100% on Lantus so that's why I switched. He feels better on Levemir.

A good place to read a lot of info on these two insulins is in the yellow stickies at the top of the thread list on the Lantus forum.