Harley UPDATE: Found some Lantus and meter question

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Sherry and Harley

Sherry and Harley

Active Member
Hi-

Can someone take a look at Harley's numbers? Had a gut feeling so was testing often tonight. She's had low(er) numbers later (+8/+9), which seems uncharacteristic for Humulin N....and at +5 she's at 67. I was hoping to go to bed, but with the latest test I feel like I should stay up for a bit longer. It may be that the 67 is normal and the 80's and 90s were her numbers coming back up. She was hypo twice last month, so I'm a bit nervous. Appreciate any thoughts...

Happy 4th!

s

ALSO: Her +1 number was higher than her PMPS....not sure what's up with that....
 
Re: BG is 67 at +5....can someone take a look?

sherry, i don't use humulin -- our experience is with pzi and lantus -- but looking at your spreadsheet harley's seen some greens the past few shots and the higher numbers look like rebound. plus, remember a cat doesn't respond immediately to insulin so his/her blood glucose will normally go up a bit before the insulin takes effect.

the drops are pretty extreme, tho a 67 is actually a beautiful number and it's really nice to see those greens after the dose increase. personally i'd probably try to hang around another hour or so just in case. just watch to make sure harley doesn't need a slight decrease rather than a full 2 units BID. [if you stay up and the number continues to drop, i'd probably stay up until the number starts to rise and leave some food down just in case.]

are you making sure harley has eaten within an hour to half hour before shot time, to make sure there's food on board to counter humulin's normally larger drops?

[normally i try to stay away from posting on insulins i haven't used but i know it's early a.m. and you're worried about harley's earlier hypos.]
 
Re: BG is 67 at +5....can someone take a look?

Hi there-

She always eats just before the shot...gobbles it up right away. Our routine is test/feed/shoot. I don't feed her before testing to avoid confounding the pre-shot numbers with the food intake. If it weren't 4:30 am in California (why I'm still up is beyond me), I'd be less worried and just keep an eye on her as I go about my business. I want to put my head on a pillow, but with the 67, I think I have to stay awake for a bit longer...sounds like you agree. She'd for sure eat if I opened a can of food....she never refuses the FF kitty crack. Maybe that's a good plan? Feed her and test in another hour? Thanks for checking on us.

s
 
Re: BG is 67 at +5....can someone take a look?

I also have no experience with humulin N, using only Lantus and Lev, but feeding before shots will artificially raise the BG numbers, so why feed before the shot?

I do NOT feed for 2hrs prior to any shots. I want a true number when testing. If I feed before a shot, I know that Shadoe's number will be higher.

I test, then shoot while feeding.

Your ss has missed shots and dose changes that I don't understand, so I really can't say more other than to feed if you think the number is too low, and if going out, leave extra food as kitty will eat when needed.
 
Re: 67 at +5....can someone take a look? +6 is 40!

Hi-

I'm not sure if your feeding comments were for me or the previous post. Just to clarify, I don't feed her pre-shot. I test her, put the food down, and then give her shot pretty much simultaneously.

The missed shots were my fault. Work has been crazy and 2 nights in a row, I fell asleep on the couch shortly after getting home...not at all meaning to and for sure not meaning to miss the shots.

The dosage changes are a long story that I will try to summarize:

Last month, she had 2 hypo episodes in 1 week and I stopped the insulin for a few days. My work days are generally 12 hours, so I was worried about another incident happening and not being here or not getting home in time. I started the shots again on the conservative side and gradually increased the dosage as I was able to get a sense of her numbers. The day I only gave her 1 unit was a day that I was going to have to be gone the entire time, and again, I'm still nervous from the hypo episodes. I increased to 2 units twice a day a few days ago because her pre-shot numbers were consistently high and I've been working from home so was able to monitor her. Maybe that was the wrong choice. Many of you have been doing this much longer that I have...I'm doing the best I can and am here asking for help....

s
 
Re: 67 at +5....can someone take a look? +6 is 40!

Hi there


maybe add Humulin users to your subject to get more eyes, unfortunately it is early sunday morning, but others will pop in, hang in there ok?

Have you re-tested since the 40? Not too clear on what time it is for you right now, in the cycle.
 
Re: 67 at +5....can someone take a look? +6 is 40!

Hi-

The 40 BG was about 45 minutes ago. She gobbled up a can and a half of FF. So far, she seems ok. She's not exhibiting any of the usual signs and actually seems pretty alert. I'm going to test again at 6am PST (which would be +7).
 
Re: 67 at +5....can someone take a look? +6 is 40!

Hi just dropped in say I know where your had had a big day & night yesterday but Trey is on Lantus so no advice here and I am only new so can`t tell you anything Just want you to know lots of support here but always update your subject line They are always watching for changes.Last night every time I posted I changed it to Advice,help,etc ok will get more looking in LOL Kath Good luck and hope you get some sleep @-) :shock: :mrgreen:
 
Re: +5=67, +6=40, fed and +7=56....thoughts?

Thanks, Kath.

Yeah, I updated the subject when I got the 40 at +6. She ate a bunch an hour ago and seems to be coming back up now. Not sure about the sleep at this point...it's 6am and the sun has risen. At least it's Sunday!! Thanks for the tips and best wishes for you and your kitty!

s
 
Re: +5=67, +6=40, fed and +7=56....thoughts?

Humulin N lasts less than 12 hours in most cats.

For Harley, it looks like he peaks (nadir) at +5 after injection. This is fairly typical of N insulin.

You may want to consider a "sliding scale". With short duration insulins, this means adjusting the amount of the shot based on the blood sugar at test/injection time.

A sliding scale is developed for each individual cat based on his reactions to the insulin

NOTE: Sliding scales are NOT RECOMMENDED for long-lasting insulins like Lantus and Levemir because of the overlap in duration/effectiveness.

You build the sliding scale based on your cat --

2 units looks like too much for Harley -- unless he is really high like over 350. Shooting 2 units when his BG was 301 resulted in a 40 at nadir.

SO.... don't shoot 2 units unless he is over 350.

On 6/23, shooting 1 unit with BG 212 produced a lovely 70 at nadir
On 7/1, shooting 2 units with BG 399 produced a very nice 123 at nadir

You've seen some nice numbers at +8, but that is after nadir (+5), so no idea of how low he actually dropped on those days. He could have been hitting 40 each day.

An example starting scale based on data from Harley's spreadsheet:
BG <150 No Shot
151 to 200 0.5 units
201 to 275 1.0 unit
276 to 350 1.5 units
> 351 2.0 units

Anyone else with Humulin N and/or sliding scale experience want to comment here?

I used Humulin N for ~18 months (no sliding scale) and PZI for ~4 months with sliding scale.
 
Re: +5=67, +6=40, fed and +7=56, +8=54....thoughts?

Hi-

Thank you! That is very helpful information. I too am wondering if she's been going low on those days and I just didn't know it. :-( I posted a new thread with questions on the Humulin board and referenced this thread. I'm new to this board, so I'm limping my way around. I hope I did the right thing and am not making it too confusing by having 2 posts going at the same time! :?

My plans are to get her on Lantus ASAP (I'm going to try to order from that Canadian pharmacy to save a little money...got a script yesterday and am just waiting for payday).

Thanks so much for your help and Happy 4th!!

s
 
Re: +5=67, +6=40, fed and +7=56, +8=54....thoughts?

Good Morning/Afternoon (wherever you are!)-

Just wanted to give a quick update....so far so good after last night's scare. I've started a new post on the Humulin N board and I don't seem to be getting much traffic there. Cross posting here in case there are any previous Humulin users willing to take a look. I'm just looking for some sort of assurance that I'm headed in the right direction....feeling a little alone out here. :-(

Here is the thread I started on the other board with the latest update on Harley: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=18904

Sleepless in San Francisco...

s
 
Re: +5=67, +6=40, fed and +7=56, +8=54....thoughts?

glad you stayed up and were able to feed that number.

based on last night's action (this morning's), it's a good idea to decrease the dose slightly.

forgot we're both in san francisco. i'm a night owl so at least i'm up at night. i know it can be worrisome being alone sometimes when things are going on.

glad you can use a sliding scale with humulin N. i could do that with PZI and it really helped. at first at least it's good just to have a few doses you use with different preshot ranges/nadirs, to keep things simple.
 
Re: +5=67, +6=40, fed and +7=56, +8=54....thoughts?

Hi again-

Update and questions...

So, based on advice earlier in this thread, I started the sliding scale this morning (the details are noted in my spreadsheet). Her AMPS was 247 (after dropping to 40 last night at +6), so I gave her 1U according to the scale. No real drop today. Her +6 was 205 and +7 was 245. Is this rebound from going so low last night? Do I stick with the 1U because of the possible rebound, or continue with the sliding scale? I'm anticipating her PMPS is going to be high. My gut is to stick with the 1U this evening. How many cycles does it take for the rebound to disappear? If I give her a little bit of food every couple of hours can I prevent her #s from skyrocketing over the next 4 hours? Sorry....I have lots of questions....

I also have questions about posting. I have no idea if I'm doing this right. I initially started this post on this main board and then this morning, created a new post on the Humulin board to reach out to Humulin users (though no one has responded there). I have been updating this post and periodically changing the subject line to reflect the new info/question. Is this correct? Or am I supposed to start a whole new post when I have an update? Just want to make sure that I'm doing this right. I figure if I update this post and change the subject line all the information stays intact. Yes? Just let me know. I'm new to all of this. Since no one is really looking at or responding to my post on the other board, I'm just going to stick with this one. Yes?

Thank you for listening to my 20 questions. Any advice you can give will be appreciated.

Cheers!

s
 
Re: UPDATE:Humulin LOW #s last night. Is this rebound now? Help?

Hi Sherry,

I can't help with your dosing questions but maybe can answer the posting ones.

If I were you, I would just post here. I am not aware of anyone currently using Humulin who isn't a newbie waiting to switch, so I would be surprised if you would get any responses on the Humulin Insulin Support group.

Either way works. As soon as you respond to your thread (or if anyone else does) it goes back up to the top. So you can continue with this thread (it does have your history from the past day). Good idea to change the topic to reflect your current status. Hope that helps.
 
Re: UPDATE:Humulin LOW #s last night. Is this rebound now? Help?

You're doing great. Since there is not much traffic on the Humulin ISG, you are welcome to post here.

Well, they call this the sugar dance -- we try to simplify it to food, blood sugar and insulin dose, but other things play a role as well -- activity level, health(infection or bad teeth).

These yellow numbers are not horrible -- he did respond to the insulin, just not as much as we'd hoped.

The sliding scale will need some adjustment, but we need more data to base the changes on.

I believe that below 240, the kidneys are not being damaged by the excess sugar. (correct me if I'm wrong, someone)

So - while we shooting for normal range, anything in the 100's is decent and low 200's is ok.

It could be a touch of rebound -- I don't have a lot of experience with rebound.
 
Re: UPDATE:Humulin LOW #s last night. Is this rebound now? Help?

Hi!

I was hoping you'd be around to check on me! Is it Phoebe?

So, as you can see, I'm following your advice with the scale. Would you recommend sticking with the scale, regardless of where the numbers go next? Or, be conservative in case this is rebound? From what I understand of it (sheesh....hopefully I've got this right), if it's rebound, increasing the dose will only continue the high/low cycle because the numbers are inflated from too high of a dose originally. Does that sound right? I'm going to try to keep her where she is with small amounts of food every couple of hours.

Can anyone out there experienced with rebound speak to this? Thanks again!!

s
 
Re: UPDATE:Humulin LOW #s last night. Is this rebound now? Help?

Ok....30 minutes to dose decision! (Continuing to move her up 30 minutes to get her back on her regular schedule, so shooting at 11.5)

I won't restate all that's been said above, but I need to decide if today's numbers are rebound numbers. And if so, please confirm that I should hold with 1 unit. Otherwise, based on her current BG, I'll be dosing 1.5 units. She always has BIG drops, but not today. That's rebound, right? I'm learning...

Can someone take a look and tell me if they think that's what's happened, or if I'm in the clear to continue with the sliding scale? Pretty please...with catnip on top!

1U or 1.5U....THAT is the question. confused_cat

Thanks!

s
 
Re: HELP Please? Dosing in 15 minutes....rebound question

I wish I had an answer for you. I know you're waiting...
I don't know enough about Humulin to give you any advice :?
 
Re: HELP Please? Dosing in 15 minutes....rebound question

Thanks. I appreciate that you responded. Super stressful....I'm just gonna have to make a big girl decision on my own. nailbite_smile

Best wishes to you and your kitty.

s
 
Re: HELP Please? Dosing in 15 minutes....rebound question

In the absence of anything else and anyone else who knows what's going on more -- if you normally see a drop, I'd probably be conservative with the dose... the numbers aren't horrible and too little is better than too much.
 
Re: HELP Please? Dosing in 15 minutes....rebound question

Well...I decided to split the difference...which I think is still pretty conservative. Based on her numbers (according to the scale), she should have gotten 1.5U. From all the posts that I've read, if it's rebound, the dosage should be low. This morning's shot was half of what she got last night. So....I gave her 1.25U....time will tell. Looks like another sleepless night. I figure I'll be good if I can get +5, +6, and +7 numbers, which would start at 3am.

Thanks for your support!

s
 
Re: HELP Please? Dosing in 15 minutes....rebound question

sorry, sherry, i just saw this.
yes, i expect these are rebound numbers, tho they're not bad for rebound at all!
how long they take to clear depends on the cat. cleo usually took 2 more shots to clear rebound. some cats can take a few days.

there are a few ways to approach rebound. some don't feel the need to reduce while the numbers are still high (so they wait one or two more shots before reducing). others reduce immediately and just have patience knowing that the rebound will clear and the cat is now probably on a better dose. the latter choice may be safer because some cats can bounce down and up even after the next shot after a big drop.

if numbers stay high more than a few days we go back to the last successful dose, as long as we've spot checked for an idea about how low our cats have gone.

in terms of what number could be damaging to the kidneys, it depends on the cat AND the experts don't seem to agree. some say you should stay under BG180 -- others have it as high as 230-240, at least as far as i've seen. i know cleo starts dumping sugar into her urine at around 180 so i try to stay below that, tho we're managing multiple health issues so it's all a matter of trying to keep things in balance.
 
Re: HELP Please? Dosing in 15 minutes....rebound question

Sherry just dropped by to say Prayers for a good day Angels coming to your house to keep Harley company till you get home LOL Kath
 
FYI for lantus and other insulin users

FYI that with Humulin N, a person SHOULD be feeding approximately 30mins prior to injection.

Jen
 
Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage questions

Hi-

Thanks for the confirmation. I suspected they were rebound numbers. Unfortunately, I slept through 3 alarms last night, and was unable to get her +5, +6, and +7 readings. Could have had something to do with staying up with her the entire previous night. I don't know what her nadir was (hope I'm using that term correctly), but since her +9 was so high, I suspect she didn't drop very much. Thankfully she held there until her AMPS (only a slight rise from the +9#).

It looks like we are on the same track again today. She's consistently dropping to 180-190s at +3. I'm spacing out her food every 4 hours. We'll just have to wait and see how the middle of the cycle looks. I really NEED to have a handle on this before returning to work tomorrow. I'm gone all day most days....my last appointment usually ends at 7pm. It's a long time for me to be wondering about another scary drop. Sigh....

If things look ok today, I'm going to continue with the sliding scale. Though, if she's consistently staying in the 200-300s, is an adjustment in the scale reasonable? It all goes back to my decision last week to increase her to 2U. I didn't feel like the 1.5U was doing it. I'm just wondering if the dosages on the sliding scale should be shifted by .25U. So, if her pre-shot numbers were between 275-350 she'd get 1.75U instead of the current 1.5U. I'm wondering if that would lower her #s, but not drop her to the scary place. I don't know....feels a like a little bit of a craps game right now....

Thanks for your thoughts.

s
 
Re: Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage question

I'm sorry, I cannot advise but I can say that I don't know many who've done sliding scale with N. That is not to say it cannot be done though, but I think you are in pretty unfamiliar territory for most so don't be surprised if you get little hands-on help. My only suggestion would be to ease back on the dose if you are getting nasty drops....

does she have a history of ketones? are you testing for ketones? (I looked but may have missed that info)

Jen
 
Re: Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage question

Hi-

Yeah, I'm getting used to going it alone. I feel like the only person here not using Lantus. I have a script to switch to Lantus, but I have to wait until payday. If CanadaDrugsOnline took Amex, I would have ordered it last week! I just can't afford the $200-$250 it costs in the U.S....so, I'm stuck with what I have for now and will order the Lantus as soon as humanly possible. :-(

No, I'm not testing for ketones. She's a bit of an elusive potty-er and with the clay litter, it gets absorbed immediately, so I would have to literally catch her in the act which is not likely. I have a plan to deal with that though...I'm going to get that Smart Litter box that uses the seeds and allows the urine to drain into a reservoir through the bottom. Just tried to order it, in fact. They ALSO do not take Amex, so that will have to wait. Ugh! Woe is me...

What I can accomplish today is getting the automatic feeder from PetSmart and testing again all day today. Poor kitty...I've gone through almost 100 test strips in the last 2 weeks. She's a trooper! Haha....note to self....go get more test strips!

Thanks for checking in. Hopefully I'll be able to have everything in place in the next few weeks and can start to get a little more attention in Lantus Land. ;-)

s
 
Re: Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage question

are you getting a bottle of insulin or the cartridges? I know nothing of the latter except that they are way more cost effective...
 
Re: Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage question

I have a prescription for both. The vet originally put us on Lantus, but I just couldn't afford it and switched to Humulin. In hindsight, I know that this was a poor decision, but you do what you have to to be able to pay the bills, right? My original script was for the 10ml vial and I just went to the vet on Saturday to get a check-up and a script for the cartridges (which is what everyone has been telling me to get). So....now I have the option for both. Just waiting to be able to make the purchase. Payday is Friday....


On a brighter note, +5 BG is 112!

The vet called with the results of the fructosamine test and it was 395. Not amazing, but better than her test last year, which was 720. Onward we go...

Cheers!

s
 
Re: Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage question

I have the cartridges and you get the 5 to use in the pen . We did use the pen but only works in units so now we use syringes and the cartridges good for 28 days and you get 5 for just over 110.00 I think it was in Canada . Also the one you are using does not have to be in fridge which makes it easier to use the others go in the fridge and are good for 6 months,Hope this titbit helps Good luck and Angels coming to your house to help LOL
 
Re: Harley UPDATE Re: rebound and dosage question

Your numbers are looking better!

The only way we could get a ketone test from Oliver was to use aquarium gravel. We put it in the litter box and left him in the room with it for awhile. It worked! He would never let us catch him in the vet - much too shy. Others have put saran wrap in the litter, tucking the corners of a square into the litter. Seems they like to go on the wrap.
 
Harley UPDATE: Humulin +9=354....Can I shoot early? How ear

Ok. Not sure anyone can help, but here goes anyway....

Harley's been hanging out in the blues for quite a bit, but at +9 she's already 354. Can I shoot early? I had planned to shoot 30 minutes early to get her closer to her 7-8am schedule. She's technically got 3 hours to go for the full 12 hour cycle. I'm just worried about how high she's going to go with 3 hours left. My original plan was to shoot at 11.5, but now I feel like I don't want to wait that long. She peaked at +5 today....maybe I could shoot at +10 or +10.5?

I know the general response is going to be, "I wish I could help, but I don't use that insulin" (which I get, it's a completely reasonable response!), but any general advice you can give would be helpful. Like....if this were your cat and these were your kitty's numbers...

Shooting earlier would also make it easier to follow her into the night. Back to work tomorrow, so no staying up into the wee hours of the morning tonight. Let me know what you think!

s
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

She's rising super fast....+10 is 450

How long should I wait? Can I shoot?

Harley says please tell us what to do....

s
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

Yes, of course you can shoot early. There is no right or wrong answer right now because you don't have enough 'data' to really know what is going on. Assuming it is not rebound, that the insulin has just worn off, then yeah, shooting early with N is fine. But we just don't know if it is rebound but I'm not sure what other options you have. Ok, that just sounds muddled which is my brain on a big headache.

Honestly, pick an option, stick with it and document what happens. You'll learn something either way....
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

Hi Jen-

Wait....now I'm totally confused. How could this be rebound? From what? She's been between the 100s and 300s since her low night 3 nights ago. Sheesh...just when I thought I was starting to understand how this stuff works! :YMSIGH:

Ok. Well, let me make this a little bit more confusing. I just retested her. I almost always test in her left ear. But the previous two tests were from her right ear...don't know why...might have been the side she was laying on. I just tested her as usual in her left ear and got +10.5=397. For the heck of it, I also tested her right ear....+10.5=419!! Did I miss the lesson on picking an ear and sticking with that one ear? Is this normal? I wonder what the 450 would have been on the other ear.

So, my big girl decision is to go ahead and give her the shot now, an hour and a half early. Here goes nothin'! I'm for sure interested to hear what people think is going on with the ear thing!


s
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

Ear thing very interesting I do shift from ear to ear sometimes but we do most of testing in the right ear because it seems to bleed easier...may try this out will let you know
LOL Kath
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

Hi Sherry, sorry I didn't make it over to post yesterday.

1) you can always err on the side of conservative -- safer to shoot a lower dose than a higher dose if you're not sure.

2) With Humulin N, you can shoot more frequently than 12 hours.
Study Harley's spreadsheet -- the insulin is usually gone by +9 or +10. So that means it is safe to shoot then IF the blood sugar is already rising.

So... yes, you could have shot that +9 354. Keep in mind that you then need to adjust the PM shot time

Some people shoot TID or every 8 hours with Humulin N or PZI

Since Harley is coming back up at +9, you could probably safely do this too.

If you are definitely switching to Lantus, then don't spend the time & energy learning the sliding scale TID stuff. Lantus must be 12 hours apart.

Yesterday's numbers do not look like rebound to me -- it looks like the insulin wore off / ran out.

You had a very nice long stretch of blue.

Rebound would look more like
AMPS 250
+1 275 (food spike)
+2 200 (insulin kicking in pretty hard/fast)
+3 30 (WHOA - too much insulin - nobody home to feed - liver panics and dumps sugar into the blood to soak up the overdose)
+4 250 (all the panic-sugar has caused the BG to jump up quickly)
+5 350
+6 355
+7 350
+8 375
+9 400 (normal rise after insulin wears off, but excess sugar from rebound)

also -- the increase in BG at +1 is completely normal -- this is the "food spike" and the reason why you test before feeding. (especially with a sliding scale, you don't want to give too much insulin just because the kitty already ate)

I'll send you a PM with my phone number. Look in the upper left corner - next to "user control panel" it lists (# New Messages) Click on that to see your Inbox.

Phoebe
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

Sorry my brain was ob viously mush last night and I should not have suggested rebound! Yes it looks like the insulin is pooping out.I hate to suggest dosing more than twice a day tho bunless you somehow get overlap that smooths those nasty peaks and valleys down.
Please forgive my last post and keep posting ok?
 
Re: Harley-Humulin +9=354 +10=450! Can I shoot early? How early?

The meter accuracy is +/- 20% -- which does mean you can get numbers that look quite different from two tests taken at the same time -- even from the same ear.

At lower numbers, this variance is smaller ... 20% x 80 = 16 (BGs from 64 to 96 can occur from the same blood)
at higher numbers, it is bigger ... 20% x 400 = 80 (BGs from 320 to 480 can occur from the same blood sample)

This variance is considered "good enough" for humans to safely administer insulin to themselves, so it is "good enough" for cats too.

Usually one ear does bleed easier than the other -- practice will show which one is easier.

Sometimes if you get a really crazy looking number -- like 24 or 580, get another blood sample and test again.
and/or test yourself. Once in awhile, if you don't get quite enough blood in the strip, it will give you a crazy low number instead of an ERROR message. SO -- if you get an extremely low number, test again.

Sometimes when the battery is getting low, you may also get some weird readings. This is when it is good to have either a spare battery on hand or an extra meter.
 
Good afternoon ladies!

THANK YOU for your support. It's lonely when you don't live in Lantus Land! Thank you for all of the information and advice over the past few days. It's a lot to process, but I feel like I'm starting to understand it all a bit better.

I was offered some free Lantus today, now I just have to figure out how to safely have it shipped from Atlanta. You were right, Kath, she called me bright and early this morning! Do any of you have any experience with shipping? Fed-Ex says to get some blue ice and package it in a Styrofoam cooler and then box it up. Will it be ok getting bumped around during shipping? I'm going to email her with the details when I get into the office, so I could potentially have it within the next few days. Yay!

Phoebe, I changed the scale slightly. I increased all of the dosages by .25u. When I was giving her the 1u and 1.5u before at the corresponding BGs, she never seemed to come down much. Seems to be working out ok today. Her AMPS was 274 and I gave her 1.25u. I've been working from home this morning to keep an eye on things, but am about to head out and won't be home until 6 or 7 tonight. Fingers crossed!

Oh, one more thing. I have been using the TRUEtrack from Walgreens. I was looking at the link from consumer reports and it was last on the list. So, I'm going to get a new meter. I'm out of strips anyhow...went through 100 in the last 2 weeks! Haha...I'm a behavior analyst, so I love me some data! ;-) Is there a meter that you love? Seems like the Relion is the cheapest, but the AccuTrack and the Bayer (Contour?) meters are rated higher? I'll have to pick it up on the way home or I won't be able to test tonight.

Cheers and have a great day!

s
 
I like the FreeStyle Lite best. Really tiny sample needed, and in the few instances when I've compared results with the vet's, the FreeStyle Lite has been very comparable. (The strips are not the cheapest, but online they're not bad.) Also, I haven't happened to get wonky results from this meter, which I did at times with other meters - especially the Bayer Contour.
 
Great on the Insulin glad you got it...I have a Free style lite too easy yo use takes very little blood..Strips here in Canada are about $85.00 for 100 strips you get the meter free when you buy your first 100 Way to go ...Angels will be around looking out for your Harley Have a great day LOL Kath
 
I started with the True Track also -- and fell in love with Maxima AST -- ordered from http://www.hocks.com Use the link at the top of the page, and FDMB gets a donation from Hocks.

http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... FM-14.html
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... MAX50.html

To get free shipping, I also order Lancets and syringes from Hocks... (order >$79 for free shipping)
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... 10030.html
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... 40030.html

This needle clipper is handy -- after clipping off the needle, the used syringe can be tossed in the garbage can.
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... 83796.html


Regarding shipping insulin -- instead of styrofoam, I used bubble wrap.

So --- bubble wrap the insulin in a couple of layers, then wrap bubble wrap around the ice pack (blue ice). Slide all into a water-proof envelope or ziplock bag. Slide that into a cardboard box. Add some crumpled paper or more bubble wrap so it doesn't bang around.

You don't want the insulin to freeze, so don't put it right touching on the ice pack.

Ship overnight - morning delivery (since it is July). DO NOT say it is medicine or liquid. Just say it is packaged safely.

Technically, insulin is a hormone - not a drug. And many insulins do not require a prescription.
 
Agree with Phoebe's shipping instructions.

USPS overnight is MUCH cheaper than FedX or UPS, unless you have some sort of discount deal through a business or association.

You can make sure that the USPS overnight will indeed get there the next day by checking the postage calculator opn USPS.com. You need to know the shipping and receiving zip codes. USPS overnight is about $25-$27.
 
Thanks, Phoebe! I sent her an email with the instructions. And thanks for the heads up, Venita! I know you also called her for the insulin, sorry!! I'm super happy though. Harley told me this morning ;-) that she would like to get off the roller coaster that is Humulin!

Just think, in a couple of days none of us will have to return to this marathon post! Haha! But...I'll have a whole new set of questions for you!

Ciao for now!

s
 
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