LOW BG this a.m. Did Not give insulin yet-What should I do?

Woa! confused_cat Contour reads 76 ReliOn Ultima 85 Either way its low. (Last night's 8:30 read was Contour 292 & ReliOn 317). I did not give him an injection this a.m.yet. He's eaten and I will test him again shortly.

I'm changing to ReliOn for $ reasons. Spent yesterday comparing the meters and at first the ReliOn was over a hundred points different (the very first reading I did on it). Thought I'd made a bad decision. But later the difference decreased and this morning it was only 9 points different. Used my last Contour strip on this morning's reading. So I think its OK to go with the change. Its a $ thing. It's alot less $ for the strips. I notice some of you use the ReliOn glucometer so thought OK to change meters. It easier for me to use it too. Still haven't figured out how to get to the Contour's memory but no problem with ReliOn.

What do I do about his injection?

Question: About control solutions...are they brand specific? Can I use the Contour Control solution with the ReliOn?

I will read all the stickys today. I'm a fitness coach and I'm out the door early in the a.m. many times and not back till late many times, get home in between often but will try to get better about the 12/12 timing. If I don't make it, what should I do? Decrease the dose and stay on schedule? I pray he goes into remission and we don't even have to do insulin anymore. He eats ONLY canned food now and I put a little extra water in it too. I am thrilled to see it doesn't have to be the most expensive out there cause that makes it quite doable! He's alert, happy and hungry but that ravenously hungry all day long "feeling" is noticeably gone.

Thank you so much for your help.

Cee & Gandy

 

I'm new and cannot answer your question, but you should probably say which insulin your cat is on.

 

Thanks. That's Lantus at 2.5 U. Just tested again and BG is 74 (ReliOn which was 85 at 8:15 this a.m.)
I will not give insulin at this point and wonder if I should gives some carbs or just monitor closely, every 2 hours.

Cee & Gandolf

 

Am I correct in assuming he is at the end of the 12 hr cycle???

I'd be wondering where he was at nadir !!!

I'm not a Lantus user anymore but I sure wouldn't give any insulin at that #. My rule is no shot under 200 and just wait until his #'s come up but the down side to that is, depending on how long it takes, you are off the 12/12 schedule. If you can't be around tho it's best to not give any and deal with the higher #'s later ... at least that's what I would do.

The control solution bottle will tell you what meter/strips you can use it on. I use OTU so I have no real experience with either brands.

 

Actually 70-80s is a very desirable BG -- it's not too low. It's actually a bit higher than what a non-diabetic runs (50s or 60s).

What you don't want to do is give food, especially high carb food, that will raise the BG, then shoot based on the food-elevated BG. Ultimately what you want is a dose that you can consistently and safely shoot on. If you will be home to test today mid-cycle, I would shoot a reduced dose, and keep a very close eye on the cat.

How much to give? First I want to know if the BG you gave is the BG after the cat ate (since he ate already) or before. If it's the BG after he ate, I'd give either a token dose like 1u (if no one will be home) or perhaps 2u. If the cat's BG went too low, then the cat's likely to have elevated BG later since the liver may well dump extra glucose in a panicky attempt to bring the BG up. Missing a dose on top of that can caused elevated BG for a couple cycles after.

laur

 

If you are new to FD, I would suggest you not shoot unless he is 150 or higher. Also, given the vet started him at 2U, and then bumped him to 2.5U based on not much BG history, I would suggest you start over at 1U.

But, it could be that he already is needing less insulin. Might even be going into remission. It happens. I suggest you test him maybe every 3 hours (if you can).

Cats with working pancreases will get a lower BG number about 2-3 hours after eating. So you might do a food test. Test his BG level, feed him low-carb food, and retest in 2-3 hours. If he is the same or lower, you have some pancreatic activity and need to be careful with giving any insulin.

 

i would suggest you take this question overto the lantus room. i find it's a trickier insulin than the others...peeps don't generally NOT shoot so much as perhaps reduce dose.
NOT shooting is not advised.

 

Looking at your spreadsheet, I suggest not shooting at all. You don't have enough data from testing to make the decision to shoot a low number. You have only been shooting for a few days or so according to the spreadsheet. Many people can shoot low numbers, but they have been shooting and testing for a very long time and know what their kitties do when they shoot low on lantus. Once you've been at this for a longer time and have been testing and documenting for a good while, then the decision to shoot and what to shoot is an easier decision based on the history. It's one of those things that comes over time on lantus an having collected the data.

For now, based on your spreadsheet, I suggest not shooting and I agree that food test is a good idea to see how your kitty comes down or not on the food.

It's a very nice number that you have! A lovely non diabetic number. It's not the worst problem to have!!

If you read the lantus stickies on the lantus forum, they give you information on shooting issues when you're presented with low numbers.

 

Regarding your question about control solutions. Each meter has it's own control solution that has a specific control range. Ingredients are pretty much the same in the solution, but I'm guessing they vary the amount by brand. I have never known one to be interchangable with another.

To get the Relion control solution you'd need to call customer service. I haven't called myself, so I don't know if there's a shipping charge or some fee for the control solution.

 

Personally, I have not found control solutions necessary.

My husband and I are not diabetic, and the control solution just gives you a liquid in the "normal" range. We use our own blood as a control solution.

Do read all the Lantus sticky notes because you need to become "data-ready to shoot lower numbers"

My two diabetic cats are well regulated on a tiny amount of insulin, and with much experience (data-ready!), our kitties blood sugar is usually between 85 and 125 at shot time -- they get their shots and we leave food out 24 hours per day. If below 85, we give a reduced dose -- though it is hard to measure below their 0.25u normal dose.

They do still need insulin, because if we skip the shot, they are up close to 200 by the next shot time.

 

Given ECID (every cat is different), I've shot below 150, however, I'm also monitoring, and I've made the mistake of increasing her dose by a drop on a low #'. However, with that said, I have kept on the testing every hour and have given her a small amount of food to soften the drop, and she got down to 80. Today's she started out at 142, and I kept the dose to a fat 4.75u. For now. If she goes up above 150, or even into the 200 #'s this evening, I'll aim for the skinny 5.0u again. She's very close to those greens, and gave me some greens 2 days ago after the PMPS shot.

I'm not an expert here. You could try the "chicken shot", and reduce the dose to 2.00u on a # under 150.

There are others here that are more experienced than I am about this sort of thing. I'm still learning myself.

I wish you good luck, and good #'s.