lowered insulin, correct move?

A few days ago, Chinkers bgs took a nose dive, which is how he does it, out of the blue, no warnings. If I wouldn't have been home I know for sure he would have gone lower than bg-54 at +4 and that was with his
normal food fed to him when I noticed how low his bgs was at +3:30 bg 55. This is how his numbers went for the day, amps 370, +3:30 bg55, +3:45 bg86, +4 bg54, +4:15 bg59, +4:30 bg57, +4:45 bg73, +5:15 bg99, +6:30 bg166, +8:30 bg336, +12 bg420. I already lowered his insulin by.25, was that the correct thing to do? I don't understand why he nose dive into the green bgs all of the sudden & then go back into the higher numbers for a few wks & then nose dives again. Is it normal for a cat to nose dive every couple wks? Is there anything I can do to improve whats going on?

 

Hi Marcia.

From the +1 and +2 data you have gathered (admittedly not much), I don’t see any evidence to support that he went lower there, although it was quite a dive from 370!

He then bounced really high again to that 420 preshot. Some cats dive and bounce. My cat likes to dive early sometimes too.

To reduce or not depends on the dosing strategy you are using. With TR, 54 is an acceptable number and you would not reduce unless he goes below 50. With SLGS, when you start, you would reduce anytime you see a number under 90. Have you read the stickies on them and considered which one fits better for you?

As far as the diving and bouncing goes, it should lessen the longer stretch of time your cat spends in lower numbers. He is not used to them and that’s why the bounce happens. To improve it, you would decide TR or SLGS and follow the guidelines until you arrive a dose that works for him and go from there. The more blues and greens on his SS, the more he will become accustomed to that feeling normal, and hopefully, the less he will bounce. The diving is something you have to put in your knowledge file about your cat on insulin. If you see a pattern that he can and does dive a lot by +3, you should get more +1 and +2 tests to find out where the onset is and you should monitor those dive potential hours closely. You can feed him when he drops a good amount to slow the action and try to prevent the bounce.

 

ok, I need to take more bg tests in the mornings & he has to eat more food in mornings to prevent the fast lowering of bgs, got it. He is a morning sleeper, this will be interesting, his appetite has always been later, around+8 & +9. The info helps, thank you.

 

He doesn't always have to eat more in the morning, but say your preshot is 320 and your +1 is 250, that's a big drop, fast. You could give him a little snack to see if it slows him down. If he's not interested or doesn't have as much of an appetite right then, see if you can find a special food that he would look forward to only feed him those times you need him to eat and you don't think he will. It can be a slightly higher carb food than you feed normally, but under 10% carb would be preferable until you see how it works for him.

 

I didn't think dropping a 100 was a fast drop, thought it was normal. This is making much more sense now, I'm seeing the picture. I understand how the +1 &+2 readings are important to watch before he dive to low to fast. I'll find some 10% carb food and see how it gos. Chinker said "meow"

 

That's probably normal for Prozinc, I'm guessing? It's not supposed to be that way with Lantus. It's supposed to take a nice preshot number, say 80, and keep something close to that 80 all day, very flat. It's not good at pulling down big numbers...except sometimes, in some cats, it does (and you see what happens there).

 

So, your saying that a person has to test & feed the numbers all day long to keep the numbers as even as possible. Will keeping the numbers more flat, lower his bg readings?

 

The insulin is supposed to keep them relatively flat, not us. When you feed early in the cycle because of a big drop, that is trying to prevent the bounce from happening that comes from either a steep drop or going too low. You’ll get a better idea of how works by looking at other people’s SSs. When you get to a good dose where you’re seeing mostly blues and greens, the flat cycle bit will make more sense. Here are a couple examples of some flat, well regulated cats:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-ldPSg4ZF8LxgTv3Jwm-vNRNOMi86eXmrcodHuLHeEo/pubhtml

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...sSJmGYqoHWkOHkVLZB4hNrF3n7kTzcbsjhabP/pubhtml