? What do you think of Sassu's curve?

Hello,
I finally managed to make the curve. What do you think of it? Sassu has been extremely sleepy lately which makes me very worried. He even lets me to test him and wouldn't move. Unfortunately I have almost run out of strips and I cannot do the curve again in the next days. I will be getting more strips on Sunday evening. Until then I have enough to test AMPS and PMPS and maybe one in between. All ideas about the curve are much appreciated.

 

I do not give dosing advice but I will bump this up for you....
My guy sleeps more when he is over 250 ish-

 

I'm not sure what to think of the curve. Lantus likes consistent dosing, which means giving the same dose AM and PM, unless he earns a reduction or if you need to increase. You did the curve on only the 3rd cycle of 3 units so the depot for the 3 unit dose was not built yet. If you are going to evaluate a dose, you need to wait 3 days, or 6 cycles for the depot to build first.

Did you ever get the syringes with the 1/2 unit marks yet? I see you are still increasing by 1 unit at a time. Since he did get a yellow on the 2 unit dose (evening of 3/23), that would mean increasing by only .25 unit.

I see on your spreadsheet that you commented Sassu had excessive hunger on the evening of the 22nd and morning of the 23rd. Excessive hunger can be a sign of high numbers or of low numbers, but without doing a preshot test on the morning of the 23rd, it's hard to say which. We highly recommend getting a test before every shot.

 

No, I didn't get the syringes as bigger needles hurt my cat. I have tried 8mm needles twice (and 12mm once) and it really hurt him a lot and I wasn't able to inject. 4mm pen needles he doesn't mind. I know that those syringes come with 6mm needles.

 

Lilian, the problem with making your dose changes in 1.0 increments is that you can miss the "perfect" dose. For instance, 2 units might not be enough, but 3 units is too much. Then what do you do?

Where are you giving his injections? Maybe you could try a different part of his body and it wouldn't hurt as much. Here is a guide to possible injection sites:

INJECTION SITES:

 

I use the 6mm syringes and find them very good for myself. With the 4mm pen needles you are shooting straight in and with the 6mm needles you are shooting at only a slight angle, so they should not bother Sassau anymore than the pen needles do. By using the syringes rather than the pen needle you can "fine-tune" your dosing, so that you can find the optimum dose, without having to give full unit changes. One of my diabetic kitties is currently on 3/4 unit, since the 1 unit took her too low. You can't fine tune like that with the pen needles.

 

I think you would find the syringes would be ok if you could give a little longer of a try so Sassu could get used to them. Punkin got shots multiple times a day - not only the Lantus, but a second insulin, a pain killer, and sometimes arthritis meds or vitamins - so many shots a day. We only used the syringes and he tolerated them fine. Mostly he acted like he didn't even know he was getting a shot. The needles are extremely thin.

Ito looks to me like you're not going to have success with the dosing until you can adjust it by smaller increments. I know you're really struggled with Sassu - and great job getting a curve done! That can be hard to do, especially with a kitty that doesn't want to be handled. Well done!! I think you're going to have better luck with the syringes. Right now it looks like Sassu might need a dose in between 2 and 3 units, but it's hard to say with any certainty.

 

That slight angle part makes me nervous and pulling in the right amount makes me nervous and air bubbles make me nervous. So lots of things make me nervous. I don't know if I can ever do it.