Consistently high numbers

I am home today and checking Simon's BG every 3 hours - and it remains well over 400 each time. The first time I checked him, just before 7 am he was close to 600. He ate pretty well (wet food, all protein - I don't think food is the problem) but is acting a little lethargic. He is currently on 2u Vetsulin, but I have ordered the Lantus. That probably will not arrive until later next week, but in the meantime I am afraid he is going downhill. Has anyone else experienced consistently high numbers for a spell?

Also, I am having difficulty finding out what the abbreviations in this forum mean (such as "+2"). Is there a glossary somewhere I can refer to? I spent some time looking but no luck.

Thank you for any help you could offer!

 

If you peek at Panic's spreadsheet in my signature on May 31st you'll see I had the exact problem on Vetsulin as you're describing. It's hard to say without data what's actually going on with Simon but in my cat's case she had too high a dose which was causing constant bouncing (a phenomenon where BG dropping too fast or too low will make the body skyrocket up in glucose to protect itself). Makes it look like consistently high BG.

+2 refers to it being 2 hours after administering insulin. We use this method because many of us have different time zones and it's easier to see how many hours have passed since shot-time.

 

We need to get you recording your test results on our spreadsheet. Have you seen the instructions on Getting the FDMB spreadsheet?

If you need help with it, feel free to contact me by PM. Just click on my name and choose "start a conversation" so I can get some info I'd need

 

Hi Karrie I have seen in your previous posts some members have asked you to fill in your signature with how many units of vetsulin your kitty is getting rather than asking you again or searching through your posts. Also I see you were asked to set up a spreadsheet so members can see what's going on so they can offer you some advice
I'm sorry I don't know how to set up the spreadsheet for you, someone did it for me, you can definitely ask for someone to set it up for you
You may want to start a new thread something like this
Need help with setting up spreadsheet
Yes it's confusing in the beginning with the spreadsheet
but it's really easy you would have the dates on the left hand side
Then next to that would say AMPS - this means am pre shot the first test you do in the morning
Same think with PMPS that's toward the right the first test you do in the evening
when you test him through the day +2 means you tested him 2 hours since you gave him the shot you would put that number in the +2 square same with +3, +4, +5 etc
You will also see on our spreadsheets they are color coded you can look at mine or any other members.
Please ask someone to set up a spreadsheet for you so we can help your kitty
Also I see someone said 2 units of vetsulin looks like a high dose to start a kitty on
If it ever needs to be increased we increase by 0.25 units depending on the BG
I hope this helps you understand some things a little better

 

Thank you so much for your reply - what you said does make sense and our vet suggested the possibility of that happening, but kept his Vetsulin dose at 2U. It looks like your kitty was getting 4 units for a while, did your vet advise that or did you adjust based on his BG? Reason I ask is that our vet (as much as we love her) does not have much experience with diabetes in her practice. That is concerning, but someone on here stated that many vets don't which is why this forum is so valuable.

Also I appreciate the explanation of the "+" sign. One more; what does AMPS and PMPS stand for?

I'm in a mild panic mode right now as I feel like I'm slowly losing him.

 

@Chris & China (GA) hey Chris I am not that good with explaining things to members
lol I just posted something for her as you can see, trying to help her
Thanks for offering to set it up for her @Chris & China (GA)

 

It does, thanks Diane. I just reached out to Chris for some help getting a spreadsheet set up.

 

@KarrieK hey Karrie I think you were referring to Panic being on 4 units of insulin.
When you want to reply back to some you do this example after your last word you write put a space then put the @symbol and the persons name that's on their picture
When you start to type it , the names will usually come up and just tap on it
Example @Diane Tyler's Mom

 

Thank you. I'll learn this all eventually!

 

Hi Karrie. Welcome to FDMB.

AMPS = am (morning) pre-shot. This is your glucometer test reading that you take prior to giving your kittie insulin in the morning.

PMPS= pm (evening) pre-shot. This is your test reading number that you take prior to giving insulin in the evening.

This link may be useful to you.

And this link is a glossary of the terms used on this board.

 

@Judy and Freckles thank you!! That link is exactly what I was looking for. Now I need to bookmark it somehow so I can refer back til I get used to the lingo.

 

@KarrieK you did it correctly tagging Judy yeah

 

Nope, much as I love my vet she definitely didn't know much about feline diabetes. She had bumped up her dose to 5 units and was recommending 3 shots a day before I stepped in and requested a new insulin instead. That particularly bad day on my spreadsheet was actually when I asked for advice here and Mr.Worfmens Mom (Linda, a senior poster here) suggested lowering the dose. My vet basically takes a backseat now and I send her my BG testing weekly, she hasn't physically seen my cat since June!