when not to shoot?

i read some don't shot if number is under 180, but also read shoot low to stay low..
can someone please explain when to do what?.

 

Hi Marci,
That is a really good question. I don't know if you need this information for your shot tonight...you may want to post this in health.

 

HI Marcy-i dont need this info right now...but shortly after I posted it, i went on to the Lantus site, and read EXACTLY everything i needed to know rgarding this question. It was from a post by Sienne and gabby(i think), very thorough and clear. Great, simple read, important stuff-you may want to check it out (sorry dont know how to cut and paste).

 

So tell us the gist of what you read. Levemir pretty much has to be shot under 180 or it won't work well. When starting out, it's a good idea to set a cut off below which you give half a dose because you don't have the data to know if they would go low or not.

But here's the conundrum: Unless you shoot below the cut-off, you won't be able to gather data on whether that dose is safe to shoot at lower numbers. At some point you have to be able to deal with low numbers.

My best advice is to get early cycle spot checks, beginning at +1, +2 , +3, so you see they come up from that preshot number, in some cases considerably. That's how you learn that it's safe to shoot those low numbers - get the data which proves to you they rise after the shot. I also recommend getting +10 and +11's so you can see they are rising before their preshot as well. If they've gone from 100 +11 to 150 at preshot, you would be safe to shoot that more than likely. The deciding factor is rise in BG. If you see a rise, you're pretty safe to shoot the dose. Doesn't have to be much of a rise, 20 points is good if we're talking below 150. Meter error is about 20%, but the same meter consistently on the same cat will produce pretty reliable numbers for that cat, so I don't worry about it.

In case anyone's curious, my cut off is 70, although I like him to be rising. Below that I feed and wait 30 minutes if I didn't get a +11. Makes me late for work occasionally. As long as he rises, I shoot.

 

You mean this one by Libby and Lucy? It is a good post.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=33860

Or are you talking about this one that Jill and Alex posted which jojo wrote which is also good:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=147

Either way, good for you Marci for doing your own research. FDMB has a wealth of information all over the site. Plus there is a lot of valuable info on the old FDMB as well. It takes time to read and absorb everything and oftentimes too much information is given to new people and they become really over-whelmed and end up leaving or they end up getting frustrated. Again, good for you for seeking out the info you needed, when you needed it.

 

I bookmarked that post. Thanks, Pamela. Although I note they mentioned the +10/+11 testing, but what about after shot testing? It was what taught me I could shoot those below 100s. For me in the beginning knowing where he'd been was not as important as where he was headed. Later I learned if he was going up prior to shot, the trend would continue. Took me a bit to connect those dots....duh.

 

Since I am home all the time now, I tend to shoot the low because I will be here to monitor, test, watch him. What I used to do was have a do not shoot number if I was not going to be home, but shoot if I was (evening, weekend). Then from that data I could usually lower my do not shoot number until the next time I could be home after a low.

Like today, the 99 was Jeddie's lowest PS, if I am remembering correctly, and I just shot it and knew I had to get tests in.

 

Hey Pamela-Thanks for posting Libby and Lucy's post ...that is the read i was referring to -amazing how i just happenend to come across that right after i posted my question yesterday-huh? love when that happens