Lantus/Basaglar TR how do I monitor at night and get some sleep

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...229-4-230-6-228-9-230-11-186-pmps-147.201603/

Beta's been on Basaglar for 8 days and I need to get more continuous rest at night. I wanted to know how others monitor their kitties who are on tight regulation at night or when they aren't home without worrying all the time. Do I just check her pm bg at +2 or +3 and decide from there if I need to get a +6 reading based on that? I thought I could kind of predict from +2 or 3 but it seems like sometimes she'll have higher #s all day for a day or more, then drop during the next cycle. One night I didn't set my alarm to get up and happened to wake up at +7 and she was at 97, her lowest yet, which I hadn't predicted. That kind of scares me because what if she went really low. I do leave food out for her at night. Anyone with experience with this have suggestions for me?

 

Well, you set your alarm and get up to do the 30 second test and go back to bed For the reason you list, that’s why we get up once or twice during the night. I find if the BG number keeps going lower, then I set me alarm 1-2 hrs later until such time the numbers are higher and there’s no risk. It also depends on when your am/pm shot time is.....with Davidson it’s at 5:30 I get in at least 3 tests before I go to bed.

The more tests you have throughout each 12 Hr cycle the better it is for us to get info and be able to offer suggestions on dosing, etc. You’ll need to see what the nadir is, some are early othere’s later in the cycle and that determines testing times. It’s good to get at least 3 in an evening cycles.

 

Thanks Shawna. That's about what I figured. The first couple of nights I tried to stay up which was a disaster for me since I have chronic fatigue syndrome and need a ton of sleep. I will adjust I'm sure. I may try to move the shot time up a bit earlier. I hope Beta can go into remission, though she is on low dose steroids which is a risk. I'm hopeful since we caught it early due to home testing which I learned about on this site.

 

Hi there

There are some very good tips and info here

One thing that was a lifesaver for me was a programmable timed feeder. I would set it to dispense a mini meal at +4 and +8, around the clock; more often if needed.

I will add that by the time I got the feeder I knew BK well enough that I could count on him guiding his own cycle (eating to bring BG up)

Very important to "know thy cat"

 

I will print out the tips once I get more ink for my printer. I have an autofeeder but it only has one compartment that opens when she puts her microchipped head in there. I leave food in it overnight (3/4 can FFclassic) and she almost always eats it all. I'm not always sure if the amps is fasting if I don't get up and check the feeder, but her bg seems to rise when she goes too long without food. Whenever I left food in it during the day because I was gone a long time she never ate from it though. I think she just likes to sleep all day or else only wants to eat with me there. Maybe I should get her to eat from it all the time. She does have eating patterns that I've noted like eating more at night or starting to eat then going to the bathroom and coming back for "seconds". I am home mostly during the day, it's just that I want to get as much sleep as possible at night for my own health. Right now I've been feeding her if her bg was a bit lower, for her that's around 100-120, or was dropping so it wouldn't go too low. She's a good eater, but doesn't like to try any new foods. Thanks for the info.

 

I use a 5 compartment programmable timed feeder. So the way I handled making sure that BK did not eat his +8 meals at +11 (potentially inflating the PS number) was to place a treat of freeze dried chicken breast and program the feeder to offer it at +10.

 

Good luck with the shot time change - anything that works for you will work for our kitties...........no such thing as sleep in the FD world, a few winks here and there, but 8 hrs is not part of the program, LOL.

 

I think that will work better-to shoot at 5:30, so I'll move shot up by 30 min per day to get there. Then I'll be able to get a few bg tests in before bed and sleep a few hrs in a row. I don't like getting up early and the vet gave first shot at 8 am so that's why I am on the 8/8 schedule. But I'm used to getting up to feed her pretty early and then going back to sleep, so now I'll just have the alarm wake me instead of Beta meowing and pawing at the door (She can't sleep with me because I'm allergic especially when she sleeps in my face!- had cats first then allergy). Thanks so much for helping me out with the great suggestion. I'm just stressed out so need to do some yoga today. Beta likes yoga too, especially the downward cat. I tried to take a picture of her doing yoga on my mat but then she laid down to sleep there. Typical cat.