What is my "goal"

If you look at my SS you will see we have had Bert on Lantus for just over a week.

In my newbie ind it does not seem like his is real consistent with his numbers.
I am just not sure what my goal is....What numbers should I be looking for?
Will his numbers stay the sameish once I get him stabilized?
I feel like we are not making any progress. And on that note I am not sure what progress I should be looking for

I just feel like I am in this loop and not sure if I am actually doing this all right and helping Bert.

I need to talk to my vet.
I wish he would call and ask ME how Bert is doing.

 

Treating FD is going to teach you patience, Kathy. At this point you are collecting data, the insulin is settling, Bert is ridding his system of all that glucose so the insulin can do its job.

Numbers are a big trap. The only ones that should be getting your attention right now are preshots, so you know it's safe to shoot, and numbers in the 50s or lower, which means hypo watch. The numbers you are collecting will form a pattern, a roadmap, that will tell you which direction to take. Do not expect them to do anything else. You need more data. In particular, at this point, you should be looking for nadirs, they are the numbers that count when determining if changes need to be made.

 

You are doing a good job. The preshot BGs are relatively consistent. The one think that is strange is yesterday's evening's +5 of 183 and +6 of 303. That is large increase for one hour. That large increase could indicate rebound so 1 unit may be too high. I would do a compete curve (BGs every two hours) to better see what is going on.

 

I thought that was odd with the +5 and +6.

The only thing that was off with that BG is that I had to poke him a second time to get enough blood.

 

Your goal is to have a cat that feels good. Seriously. That's it. You can aim to try to get him in to a solid regulation of X range, but that's just not a guarantee. Especially this early in the dance, you just don't have enough info. YOu have some nice action though (lots of cats do not present a number under 200 on lantus for some time!) and so, I expect you will be seeing a lot more blue and green numbers than many people. So try not to think of a "goal" as anything but having a cat that is acting well and happy. It doesn't mean you don't pay attention to numbers, but just don't live by them or make them your goal.

 

So in a perfect world what hours for testing BG yield the most important data?

 

You mean like in a curve? Most of us do every 2 or every 3 hours. You could also just do spot checks of like +4 +6 and +8 over two or three days. You can gain a lot of info that way too, as opposed to a formal curve.

ETA a lot of lantus and levemir folk get +10s and +11s to see if they have a "dip" right before shot time.

 

I did a curve last Saturday.
He was just started on insulin though...

i dread doing a curve again, cause Bert is getting these little hard bumps from the pokes.
I am putting ointment on his ears and switching spots for the pokes, but he still get them.
I had another thread asking about these bumps

 

Why don't you just go for spot checks for now. Always test before a shot, but then just get some mid cycle numbers at various times over the next couple of days.

 

One thing to be careful of --- don't get so hung up on numbers that you forget to look at and enjoy your cat.

High blood sugar makes your kitty feel bad. Hungry all the time, and drinking and peeing buckets, maybe even neuropathy or ketones.

Yes, it is important to get the blood sugar numbers down and under control -- this takes time and patience.

As the insulin is kicking in and the dose is reaching the "right" level to help your kitty --- the drinking and peeing should get much better -- the ravenous hunger should get better, and your kitty will become more playful and active.

So -- really, the goal is a happy and healthy cat.

 

The thing with Bert is he never really acted like a sick cat.
It was the water/trips to the litter box/weight loss that made me bring him to the vet.

Bert's urine output and water intake has gone down quite a bit.
He does act very hungry at time, but not like before we started insulin.

Bert gets lots of Mommy time with me(I am his favorite) :mrgreen:
We like to cuddle at night and he will stay with me all night.
He is such a good cat.