Hello everyone, I need some guidance on dosing. Riddick is responding to the insulin really well, number wise, and I now need to understand what I'm looking for in regards to too low of numbers, when to shoot and when a dosing change might need to happen. Thank you SO much! This forum is literally a life (kitty and human) saver!
Hi Jeni. I'm so new myself (with only 3 months here), but Jack is--or rather was--a prozinc user so I'll share what I've learned. If Riddick's between dose numbers hit a lime green, you need to lower his dose. How much you lower will depend on how low he went and on what his other numbers look like, including his pre shoot numbers. Generally, you'll want to lower by .5U. If his numbers (between doses and nadir) remain steady with dark green numbers, I don't think you need to change his dose. That would be nicely controlled diabetes. However, if his numbers, especially his nadir (which is the lowest point he hits between doses) remains higher than blue numbers or high blue numbers, his dose can be increased by .5U. Each dose can be held for a few days to a week before changing the dose again, to give it time to work. (As long as he doesn't need to be lowered because of lime green numbers.) At shot time (AMPS and PMPS) - as long as his BG is over 200, give his normal dose. If it's under 200, you can skip the dose if you don't have enough data on how he has been responding (testing), or you can lower his dose accordingly. And this is where it gets tricky... How much to lower? That depends on how low the number is and how low he's been going between doses. Sometimes you can give a token dose (.1, .2, .5) or sometimes you can half the dose. In the beginning, get advice from here to help you make that decision. I was here constantly asking for dosing advice. Jack's numbers gradually went down from the get-go, and I was so worried about giving him too much insulin. But not surprisingly, I got used to it and became comfortable with adjusting his dose as his numbers went down. I even became comfortable shooting when his PS numbers were low--as low as the 70s and 80s with doses as small as .1U or only a drop. But that took time until I got to that point. It's a steep learning curve, this feline diabetes. And along the way, keep coming here and asking questions and asking for dosing advice. You can put a question mark before the topic when asking for advice, as this will sometimes get a quicker response. I hope you get others to chime in! As of today, my sugar baby is officially in remission! We just did a 14 day OTJ (off the juice) trial, and he passed with flying colors! Keep asking questions, and have a great day.
THANK YOU!! <3 Thank you for the tips on how to navigate and get the most from using this forum too. I've read a lot of the sticky's and posts but haven't caught all of the "how-to's" for posting and such. How exciting to have him officially in remission! What a great mommy you are to have helped him through this journey. Here's to this just being the first two weeks, many more to come!! You enjoy your day!~
