Sugar Low

Just checked Candi's Sugar after noticing her being extremely sleepy and it is 49. Giving her some more canned food but should I lower her insulin to 1/2 instead of 1?

 

Is it a high carb food? You can also give a little Karo or honey too her also. Test again in 20 min

 

When did she have her insulin last?

 

No it is low carb. Okay will do.

 

The Karo or honey are fast acting but don’t last long.

 

You can also add the honey to a bit of regular food to bump up the carb level and add a little staying power.

On your spreadsheet, it looks like you got the 49 at the PM +1, but didn't shoot? If you are close to shot time and haven't shot yet, please do NOT shoot!!! 49 is way too low for a pre-shot.

 

Keep calm and test on.
I am not familiar with Prozinc. You can post in the prozinc forum for dosing advice

If you can update you SS please.

 

Had to run to our local store for honey. Gave her some milk before I left and some food. Got back and put some honey on her lips as she wasn't too crazy on it. Last insulin was this morning at 7:30.

 

Test her about 20-15 min after she got the honey

 

OK. Post the next test value when you get it. It's possible that the 49 was a bad strip, but she was only 121 this morning and got 1U of ProZinc, so it could definitely have been a real number. I'm especially concerned because you said she was "sleepy".

So glad you were testing before shooting tonight!

 

Going to tag @Kris & Teasel for ProZinc help-- she may or may not be online right now, but eventually she'll be by to offer dosing help. I can say this for sure, even as a non-ProZinc person, if that 49 was a real reading, you should skip tonight!

 

Thanks so much. I will be checking back after I check her again in 10 more minutes.

 

Got 71

 

OK, that's a good safe number!

Hold off on any more food for a while, then test again in 30 mins or so, just to make sure she's going up and holding the numbers on her own. At that point, and especially considering how long it has been since the shot, you can take the 911 down.

Given that she just had some honey and food, it sure looks like that 49 was for real, and the 1U was too much. When some ProZinc folks come by, you can discuss where to go from here for tomorrow's shot. It will probably depend a lot on what she does tonight and where she is tomorrow.

Whew! Just starting off, you get a low number, but you handled it great!

 

Keep up the testing in 30 minutes to make sure she continues to rise. Please read the hypo sticky & can be prepared if this happens again. ) you’re doing well. I rub the honey or Karo syrup on the gums or even syringe feed a tsp. Or so. It’s always good to keep a couple hi carb cans of food too. Remember the insulin should be at its highest at nadir which is 6-8 hours after the injection. Please keep checking her bg as you may need to administer the honey again. It only lasts a short time & until you reach the 7 hr mark then she could go low again. Good luck & hope this helps! My baby has been there twice now... she will be more sensitive with the insulin so you should lower the dose tomorrow. I wouldn’t shot if it’s below 180...

 

This is a really good point so I wanted to highlight it. Given that Candi was at 49 and "sleepy" 12hrs after her shot this morning, she may have gone even lower during the day. Cats are often more sensitive to insulin after a symptomatic hypo, so extra caution tomorrow is warranted.

 

Thanks Nan and Becky. I will check her sugar again in a bit. She seems okay now just lying by her water bowl staring at us like she is good at doing.

 

I'm confused: where do those green numbers belong? They're showing in this evening's +1 and 2 cells on the spreadsheet. Were they actually from +1 and +2 this morning? Was the 1 unit dose given this morning after a pre shot test of 125?

The lime green tells you that 1 unit is too high a dose if it was given on a pre shot BG of 125. It was given on a pre shot BG of 282 last night and that resulted in a 125 this AM, if I understand the spreadsheet. That suggests the dose is too high overall. I suggest dropping it to 0.5 u tonight and make sure to get a +2 test this evening.

 

Kris, I'm not sure but I do believe those numbers are in the right place, and that the 49 was basically PMPS (hence my flat statement of "no shot tonight").

 

Kris it was just awhile ago this afternoon. Yes, I gave her shot to her after testing with a BG of 125. This was just the second shot that she received. The first one was last night about 7:30 before I gave her first shot her number was 282 then at 9:30 I tested again and her numbers were 161.
Kris I see what you are talking about. Going back over understanding the spreadsheet it should have been in the +4 slot for 1:30 this afternoon.

 

Ah! OK, that is a lot less scary than that she was still down at 49 by the next shot time!!!! Phew!

So, with that, I withdraw my statement of "no shot tonight" and leave you in the hands of folks who deal with ProZinc regularly.

 

Going up 89

 

This now makes sense to me! OK: this AM's pre shot number was too low for you to give insulin. I know this is all new to you so it's best to print out the yellow ProZinc info stickies from the top of that forum's page. This is the part from the basic guide that's important for your situation this AM:

• The proper sequence for dosing insulin is: Test/Feed/Shoot. In the beginning, if your cat’s BG is not up to at least 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, if your schedule allows, you can stall (without feeding) for 20+minutes, then retest the BG. You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling and up to 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}. If you stall once, but can’t do another round of stalling and your cat hasn’t reached a BG of 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, you’ll need to skip the dose and wait until the next cycle. NOTE: Because pet-specific meters (such as the AlphaTrak2) often read higher than human meters, you may want to adjust the NO-SHOOT number to 225 mg/dL {12.5 mmol/L} or even 250 mg/dL {14 mmol/L} This gives you an added margin of safety when using an AlphaTrak2 or other pet-specific meter.

For safety's sake I suggest you drop the dose to 0.5 u this evening and leave it there for a few days while you gather more data.

Here's the link to the basic ProZinc guide: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...prozinc-pzi-insulin-for-diabetic-cats.164995/

 

I also suggest you post on the ProZinc forum for dosing advice.

 

Kris will help you! She’s good with dosing advice... thank you too Nan for your help!! These ladies are experts!
Great job Chrissy!

 

Thank you Kris will do and will go over to the Prozinc board. Thanks again for all the help.