Counting Cycles and Fur Shot - Start Over?

Hi,

We increased Emmy's Lantus a few days ago to 2.5u. I was going to give it six cycles before I did a curve but I'm pretty sure tonight's shot was a complete miss.

Do I start counting the cycles over again since this will disrupt the pattern, depot, etc.? I think we will be working our way back up to 3u but I want to give the 2.5u a chance.

Thank you.
Judy&Emmy

 

We generally increase by 0.25 units at a time (eyeballed), so we don't miss a good dose.
Why did you drop previously?

 

We started at 3u then the first real curve I was able to do, Emmy's BG dropped to 49/50. I was told to call if it dropped below 90 and when I called they wanted to see her. The vet on duty (not mine) recommended dropping to 2u. Did a curve at 2u, BG never really moved. My vet reviewed SS and recommended increase to 2.5u.

I spoke to her about the idea of a .25u increase and she said she had heard that people tried it but she didn't believe it was practical to actually eyeball such a dose. I agree with her. I am having enough trouble eying .5u. The only time Emmy's BG has been good was on 3u.

 

You can use calipers to measure the dose and that is reliable and repeatable.
Syringes, by the way, often are variable in where the lines are printed. Some can be off as much as half a unit.
I'd stick with the 2.5 units for now, since you are using the AlphaTrak meter. Speaking of that, could you make that all capitals in your signature and maybe note it on your spreadsheet at the top in a strong color?
For safety, we use 68 mg/dL as the lower limit of glucose levels on the AlphaTrak where below that, we start intervening with high carb gravy or Karo syrup.

 

Thanks, I wasn't going to change her dose, I wanted to know if I count a cycle with a missed shot in the six cycles (which I read somewhere as being the minimum # of cycles for a new dose before doing a curve).

In Gilda Radner's voice, never mind.

 

Yes, I believe you are supposed to start over.
Both the Tight Regulation and Start Low, Go Slow protocols are posted in the Lantus/Levemir forum. Each has criteria for dose adjustments.
Since you've got your spreadsheet up and running, if you'd like, you could start posting there, to get more specific feedback on using Lantus.