Hello from NH

Hello everyone! Tiger was diagnosed as diabetic on 8/17/18 so I'm joining later than I should have, been getting info from google searches, just recently found this site.

I'm getting to the party late as Tigger seems to be going into remission, which is what I'm trying to learn about. It's been a long, stressful, anxiety filled 4 months learning and dealing with diabetes, as many of you know.

A quick synopsis of me and Tigger's journey.

The first thing I did was change from dry to low carb wet food, Fancy Feast Classic Pate, and 10 days later brought Tiggy back to the vet for a BG check (I didn't have a meter yet) but his BG was still in the mid 400's. I left Tiggy with the vet and they started Prozinc that day, 1u and monitored him. They found his BG sunk very low and stayed low, they recommended only 1 shot per day.

The next day I gave him his morning shot and by noon he seemed to have symptoms of mild hypo, I got scared and skipped the next days shot & brought him back to the vet, his BG was 277. Resumed insulin the next day, but same issue. Skipped the next day, talked to the vet and decided to drop to .5u, which I did the following day with similar results. At this point I got so scared that I stopped insulin for a week as Tigger seemed so healthy with out the stuff. I then tried again with .25u shots, first once a day and soon after, twice a day. I bought a meter, but initially needed someone to help me do a check, so I didn't check much. I did a curve and we upped dosage to .5u. In fact we kept upping until we got to 2u in November, on that curve was the first time I got readings below 200 at his nadir, but his peak BG levels actually got higher, into the 500's. It was very confusing and discouraging.

By this time Tigger was comfortable enough that I could do BG tests by myself. I did a second curve at 2u in the beginning of Dec. and his numbers were much lower, peaks in the 300's and nadir below 100. Now I had to be careful of overdosing so I began checking his BG frequently, and I began seeing stray numbers that were very low, too low to give a 2u shot. Not knowing what to do, I skipped the shot the first 2 times it happened and he rebounded back the 300 & 400's by the time of the next shot. After this I began to reduce the dosage on low pre-shot readings.

December 14 was the last day he got a 2u shot, I've been reducing doses by .25u. Last night his pre-shot reading was 114, I skipped the shot. This morning his pre-shot reading was 200, so I dropped his current .5u dose to .25. I checked his BG three hours later and it had dropped to 81.

I'm not sure how to proceed, but based on today's readings I don't want to shot if his pre-shot reading is below 200. I don't think I can do a smaller dose than .25u, should I postpone a shot say 4 or 6 hours?

Anyhow that's were I'm at now. I wish I had found this site a few months ago, nothing beats real life experience. I don't know all the lingo and abbreviations that are used here. I don't have any confidence in my vet, when I told her Tigger's BG levels were dropping she said to just keep him at 1.5u and stop checking his blood so much. Thank God I didn't listen to her.

 

Welcome Don and Tigger. I'm glad you found FDMB too, and better late than never. Just a couple of suggestions to start with:
Edit your signature (congrats on getting that already done!!!) to reflect that Tigger is eating the low carb FF classics, diagnosis date and his weight, it you know it.
Set up the spreadsheet and plug in the BG numbers you have. That's going to give advising members a grid that will contain all the insulin injection dates/dosage, as well as the BG data. It's easier to view the data this way than to try to read it in a post. I realize that you probably have alot of data written down, so please at least give the last month or so, if you can right now. Then fill in the rest at a later date.
Here is a link on getting that set up: SPREADSHEET INSTRUCTIONS
And a link to understanding the spreadsheet grid: GRID
Then please post in the Main Health forum: MAIN The Health forum is where more members are going to see your questions and concerns, and be able to start giving you some input going forward. This Welcome forum is mainly just to introduce yourself and say "Hello", and is not usually used to provide advice.
Personally, wouldn't it be wonderful if Tigger is approaching remission? Fingers and paws crossed, in any eventuality, you are in the right place for experienced, knowledgeable advice and support.

 

Great advice from Idjits mom. I am going to tag @Rachel and @Kris & Teasel who both are familiar with Prozinc and they will be able to help you

 

Thanks Idjits Mom, I made the updates, my SS link doesn't look right, but it works.
Thanks, Bron.

 

Hi Don! Sounds like you've been on quite a roller coaster. I'm sure we can help you figure out what's going on with Tigger and get some good dosing going for you. Right now, I can't see your SS...it says access denied. You may need to change the "Permissions" so we can see it. Go to the top right where it says "Share" and click...a new box will come up....Look at the very bottom right of that box for "Advanced" and click there .....then change it to "Anyone with the link" and "save".

I have to run out for a few minutes but I'll be back later on and I'll check in on you then and let you know what my thoughts are so far!

 

I can't see your SS because you have to share it so it can be seen by anyone with the link.

 

I shared the link but I'm getting an "error", spam like link or something, It says to contact a moderator.

edit- OK, It's working now.

 

First off great job fixing the spreadsheet. We can see it now.

As for the error you got, if you included a link to your spreadsheet in your message (not the link in your signature), that might have caused you problems. Take it out and try again. There has been some incredible spam attacks on this site and more safeguards were put into place to stop them. That however has also resulted in some newer folks having trouble posting. If there was no link or taking it out doesn't help, sign out of FDMB and sign back in. Try just a short sentence first and hopefully, we'll get you going again. Once you've posted a few times, the system will recognize you and no longer be a problem.

Right now, Tigger is looking good on that 0.25u dose. Looks like the half unit is definitely too high given the low pre-shot test last night and the nice start to today. I'd hold the 0.25u dose for 2 or 3 days as long as he doesn't go much lower and/or pre-shots allow you to give insulin and then see where he's at.

Hopefully Rachel and Kris will chime in with their thoughts.

 

Hey great job with the SS! We can see it properly now. Glad Linda popped by to let you know about the crazy spam attacks too...it's not you, we've just been trying to avoid the spamming (it would go on for pages and pages before we could shut it down).

So yes, obviously 0.5 is too high of a dose. I know you've been working your way down the scale. I wouldn't go any higher than 0.25 for the next few cycles no matter what number you get preshot (unless it's below 200). Maybe a consistent low dose will help to keep things stable and hopefully not drop too low. That 81 you got today at +3 wasn't too low but was concerning considering how early in the cycle it was...did you get any further tests after that?

If your preshot is under 200, you can stall without food for about 20-30 min and then retest to see if Tigger is rising. Sometimes they'll go up enough in that time that you can give a shot. If you can't do that or he doesn't come up, I'd probably skip the dose for now. As you get more data and have better understanding of Tigger's patterns, that can change, but for now, you don't want to risk it.

We're glad you've found us! If you'd like, please come post on the Prozinc forum: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/ . You'll get more eyes on your post there from others who use the same insulin and your post is more likely to get help that way.

 

Thanks Rachel. I didn't get any readings after the 81, I just got his PMPS which was 253, I'll stay with the .25u shots

 

So I just learned here on the site that I need to wait 2 hrs between feeding and the pre-shot readings, this might explain some strange readings and BG drops. I started this technique this morning.

 

Welcome! This is a great place for you to get help for Tigger. Lots and lots of knowledgable humans who love kitties and are so willing to help.

 

Thanks Julie!