? Can’t get under 200s on Prozinc

Hello! Looking for advice on our numbers.

Frank was diagnosed in January and is on 1u of ProZinc every 12 hours, eating ff chicken pate and blue Buffalo wilderness chicken pate, both under 5% carbs. I can’t seem to get him out of the 200-300 range. We are trying to further regulate his diet so only doing chicken pate for ff and blue Buffalo wilderness. Any advice? We tried upping the dose to 1.25 a week and a half ago but his BG shot up to over 400 and I got nervous and dropped him back down to 1u.



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FJ1sGKdxCjPCmc-uRVuOzVgOrIkrG-zE3sCmw4KOFDM/edit

 

Hi Jaclyn! Glad to see you posting here!

As I said on FB, it's important to be getting some tests on the PM cycle too. Otherwise you're only seeing half the picture. You don't have to stay up all night....just try to get one at least 2-3 hours after the PM shot if you can. If that +2/+3 is lower than the PMPS, you might need to set an alarm to check later to make sure he's not dropping too low at night.

A lot of us drink a big glass of water in the evening so we "have to" get up later....and as long as we're up anyway, it's a good time to get an extra test!

I'd go ahead and go back to the 1.25. Holding a dose too long can lead to glucose toxicity (where the body gets used to being high even with insulin and it can end up taking a lot more insulin to "break through")

Also, I know it's hard to see those red numbers, but it's important to remember that all meters are allowed a 20% variance so those low 400's could actually be in the 300's.

Don't hold a dose that's not getting the results you want longer than 7 days.

And the most important thing to remember....treatment for feline diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint! It's going to take time!

 

Hi thank you!!

we just got a test before bed tonight (+4 PMPS, midnight here), and he’s pretty much at the same level, high 200 low 300 - I used both the relion and the pet test meters for this one!

From all of his mid cycle tests he is never dropping to the right level of under 120. Does that mean it’s time for a dose increase?

You’re thinking the 400+ Numbers from the week and a half ago that I upped him to 1.25 was actually the high 300s but within the variance? Do you know why a dose increase would cause his BG levels to go up, even temporarily?

So I should up the dose and hold it to 1.25 and see what happens over the course of the week?

 

Yes, totally possible

There is something we call "New Dose Wonkiness" (NDW) ....for some reason we don't understand, the numbers can sometimes go up for a cycle or two after an increase....which is the exact opposite of what we think should happen!....thus the NDW moniker!

 

I'm including a link to the Prozinc forum. There's lots of information in the sticky notes about Prozinc and how to dose using that particular insulin.

 

I have read this, thank you! It doesn’t mention anything that I can see about the BG level increase after a small dose increase. (He went up to 400+ after 1.25 - we dropped back down to 1u after the second day and his numbers went down again.)

I am just nervous about messing him up but the advice seems to point to start dosing at 1.25 and hold it for a week.

 

Chris mentioned New Dose Wonkiness in the post above mine. While it's completely counterintuitive, sometimes a kitty's numbers do go up when you increase the dose. They'll come back down. And yes - it looks like you need to increase the dose. And please, get a before bed test every night. You'll sleep better (and so will we!!).