Comet - SLGS Method

[Amanda Comet’s Mom]

Hi, so we started Comet on 1u upon diagnosis. The vet wanted us to up to 2u after the first week. We tried one day of it before I had really found this group & I just felt worried about it. Luckily the next day we started doing at home Glucose monitoring. He dropped really fast after 2u. So we stuck with the 1u for another week. Since then we have upped him to 1.25u and now just this week 1.5u. I had never seen his glucose so high the other morning at 215. The highest we have ever had was 195. I guess my question is that when we first started checking him and giving insulin his numbers seemed to react well with his doses & now it seems he’s up a bit higher again with very little change after doses. We have kept the same foods, treats and meds consistent the last few weeks. We even decreased a bit on the Prednisolone and hoping to again Monday. Do his numbers look ok, what should we be aiming for here? I know a lot of you have cats with way higher numbers, but it sucks to see them going down into the low 100’s after every dose and now at checks and doses they are just higher with no real change.

 

[Librarianista]

Welcome!

Was Comet getting Prednisone before you started marking it on the spreadsheet? I believe that is a med that can increase BG.

Also, you are getting enough tests in that you could do TR if you wanted. I don’t know whether you would increase at this point (I am less familiar with AT numbers), but you could adjust the doses after only a few days rather than waiting a week.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello from me, my first time stopping by. And here is the link to your previous post here: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/comet-amps-215.254387/We ask that you include those links in your post so it's easier for us to go back and see what happened before.

For a recently diagnosed cat, Comet is looking pretty good, especially considering you are using the AT as well. Which reads a bit higher than the human meters most of us use.

What dose of prednisolone are you giving? And what are you reducing it too? Cats seem to react differently to when and how long the prednisolone impact their blood sugar numbers. If he needs some steroid for his IBD, maybe budesonide is an option? Worth talking to the vet about. My girl Neko could not take pred due to her heart, but budesonide is a steroid that acts locally on the GI system. For many cats, including mine, it does not impact blood sugar numbers like pred does.

I see you you've been pretty good about getting a +2 to +4 test at night. If you find the +2 or +3 test is quite a bit lower than the preshot test (like last night), you might want to test again a couple hours later as that drop can indicate a more active cycle. If he is getting down to lower numbers than he's used to, you could be seeing a bounce.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

One thing to keep in mind is that there is range of 20% due to meter variance with any number you get. There really isn't much difference in the numbers you're seeing. These are flat, blue cycles. It can take a while for numbers to ultimately go where you want them and it's also likely that you just haven't gotten to the "right" dose for your kitty.

 

[Amanda Comet’s Mom]

Welcome!

Was Comet getting Prednisone before you started marking it on the spreadsheet? I believe that is a med that can increase BG.

Also, you are getting enough tests in that you could do TR if you wanted. I don’t know whether you would increase at this point (I am less familiar with AT numbers), but you could adjust the doses after only a few days rather than waiting a week.

Yes he was! We have decreased since the start from 5mg 2x a day to 2.5mg 2x a day & next week 2.5mg 1x daily
We also are thinking about trying TR, I’d like to try to get him up to 2u because we started seeing Green the day we tried it. I think we will possibly go to 1.75u in a day or 2 and try to get up to 2u by next week.
I also want to switch over to the Relion this weekend as our AT strips are soooo expensive

 

[Amanda Comet’s Mom]

Hello from me, my first time stopping by. And here is the link to your previous post here: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/comet-amps-215.254387/We ask that you include those links in your post so it's easier for us to go back and see what happened before.

For a recently diagnosed cat, Comet is looking pretty good, especially considering you are using the AT as well. Which reads a bit higher than the human meters most of us use.

What dose of prednisolone are you giving? And what are you reducing it too? Cats seem to react differently to when and how long the prednisolone impact their blood sugar numbers. If he needs some steroid for his IBD, maybe budesonide is an option? Worth talking to the vet about. My girl Neko could not take pred due to her heart, but budesonide is a steroid that acts locally on the GI system. For many cats, including mine, it does not impact blood sugar numbers like pred does.

I see you you've been pretty good about getting a +2 to +4 test at night. If you find the +2 or +3 test is quite a bit lower than the preshot test (like last night), you might want to test again a couple hours later as that drop can indicate a more active cycle. If he is getting down to lower numbers than he's used to, you could be seeing a bounce.

Hi thank you, I will be asking the vet tomorrow about budesonide. Also way before this Diabetes diagnosis about 6 months ago he was on 10mg pred 2x a day. After we found out he had renal disease we tried to lower his pred to 1 5mg pill 2x a day and now since his diabetes diagnosis we have gotten him to 2.5mg 2x daily and next week it’ll just be 2.5mg 1x daily.
Also, I’m planning on switching to Relion meter this weekend.
Night glucose checks are harder then day time checks. We give him 8am/8pm and I’ll usually do a 10pm and a 12am check but then I really have to get to bed to get up at 7am. I don’t work until 2:30pm so I have a ton of time during the day to do checks.

 

[Amanda Comet’s Mom]

One thing to keep in mind is that there is range of 20% due to meter variance with any number you get. There really isn't much difference in the numbers you're seeing. These are flat, blue cycles. It can take a while for numbers to ultimately go where you want them and it's also likely that you just haven't gotten to the "right" dose for your kitty.

Yes! I’m thinking his dosage will be better once we get him to 2u