i need advice please

my boy rollie was diagnosed about 2 months ago. we started vetsulin. at first it seemed to work. then we kept upping his dose until we hit 9u twice a day! then something happened and he did not need as much. backed him down to six. his preshot numbers were 400's but on the six he got down to 31 which scared me but the vet seemed to think it was alright since he was acting ok. since then i backed it down to 4.5 u but preshot remained in 400's. It did get him down to 142 at +5 but was told that was too big of a drop. I have been trying the 3 doses a day for about a week now. started at 2u tid. preshot came down to 300's and mid numbers were 200's. have upped it to 3 tid and today is 3d day. did a curve this morning. preshot was 437 (!), +2 416, +309, +4 268, +5 326, +6 267. missed +7. His preshot number this afternoon was 362 which is better than this morning. I don't seem to be making much progress at all. I am thinking about going back to the 12 hour schedule? Any suggestions?

 

It sounds like the dose was increased too quickly by too much and has made your kitty's BG numbers erratic. Too much insulin can look like too little because there are processes in your kitty's body that mobilize glucose from the liver where it's stored as glycogen. The purpose if to prop up the BG against the "threat" of hypo that a too large dose creates.. It's a protective mechanism and we refer to it here as bouncing.

Dosing three times a day isn't sustainable for most people and you have to monitor BG constantly to be sure a dose can be given. Every 12 hour dosing is much more manageable.

It's great that you have home testing as part of your routine and are doing preshot tests as well as others. Would you be willing to set up the spreadsheet we use here and input all your data? We can offer better advice if we can see the whole picture. Holler if you need help with it.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

 

ok i have done that. only the first day is the 12 hour. the rest are on 8 hr which i tried to use the 12 hour format so maybe hard to understand? I tried to say the link as your instructions showed on my signature but not sure that it worked or how to share the file?

 

well it doesn't appear i can find the spreadsheet now or open it

 

You may need to set the permissions on the file as that others can see it.

That is really a huge dose. What kind of food are you feeding?

 

ok - i have a spreadsheet going that is on the 8 hour cycle. i am trying it on my signature now. the first day was 12 hour. I think it's a big dose too! I am feeding weruva paw lickin chicken and for a treat chewy and stella's freeze dried chicken. it seems like he does well for awhile and then preshot numbers are high. he isn't acting funny or anything. in fact if i didn't know he had a problem i wouldn't suspect it. he's racing around and playing etc.

 

I can see your SS. To enter BID doses you might have to put extra info in the cell at the appropriate time.

 

Are you planning to continue TID dosing?

 

i am not seeing a big advantage to tid? should i go back to 12 hour and start from scratch? if so, what dose should i start at? i am just puzzled with the high preshot numbers.......how do i get them down. Just did +4 and we got down to 178! first blue since starting the tid.

 

BID dosing is a lot easier to fit into your schedule. Three units TID is what you've been giving recently, right? That would be two doses of 4.5 u which is quite high.

The high preshot numbers are likely from bouncing caused by too much insulin. It's hard to know for sure. If you want to try BID dosing but start at a lower dose for safety maybe try 3 u BID. That might not be enough but you don't have to stay long at that dose. We usually recommend 3 cycles at a dose or if you need to see more of its effect, up to 3 days. We also recommend increasing by no more than 0.25 u at a time.

This forum is quite small so it would be a good idea to post on the main health forum as well where more people will see your message.

@JanetNJ is experienced with Vetsulin.

 

thank you!! tonight i am seeing the best numbers i have in awhile. i am supposed to give him a shot at 9 but will test to see where he is at and i am thinking if he's halfway decent i may skip the last shot tonight and start the bid tomorrow morning....

 

i did post on main forum but no one has responded. after seeing a few decent numbers last night, this morning he is way high. i am going to start the bid today. i am really at a loss here.

 

Replied on your other thread

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/vetsulin-advice.174324/#post-1911897