Help With Glucose Meter and Hypoing

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tajana340

tajana340

Active Member
Today I just purchased the Relion Ultima Glucose meter and tested Spice with it at 5pm and her glucose reading was 35.
I rechecked it at 10 pm and the reading was 28. And After reading the blogs. I am Confused if I have the wrong Meter since someone said it should be the Relion Micro Meter or if I Lanced Spice in the wrong spot. Help!!!
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

either the ultima or the micro is fine but let's make sure you have all the right equipment. and whatever you do, until we figure this out, please don't give any insulin ok

soooo, your meter says ultima? does your strips say ultima? and did you have to set any type of code on it? i'm not real familiar with relion's but will try to find someone that is
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

have you given insulin tonight? how much and what kind do you use? and how long has it been since you got that 28? in hours and minutes if you can ok? and is spice acting ok?

gotta take care of some technicalities first ok.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

Have not given insulin tonite Spice usually gets 5 units of Pzi Vet. The 28 reading was 45 minutes ago. Spice Ate at 10 pm
Spice is acting ok.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

Whoa... it's a wonderful thing that you got that meter... May I ask how long he's been on insulin and how you got to 5 units?
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

It is very important for us to know how many hours ago the last insulin dose was with the numbers that you are giving us as the current bgl readings. And in the meantime - DON'T shoot any more insulin until we know what is going on with the bgl readings.

AND - !!!!!!!!VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! PLEASE Read this:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2203

~M
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

ok, he clearly doesn't need that much insulin, not at this point that's for sure. so it's good you haven't given him any tonight.

i'm trying to round up people who are familiar with that particular meter but it seems most have gone to bed i think.

in the meantime you are fairly new here right? was spice just diagnosed or has he been diabetic for a while? i'm asking because that's a hefty dose of insulin he's on and i'm thinking he doesn't need that much anymore based on these numbers. either that or yes, your meter isn't working right, thus the need for someone who uses that meter day in and day out. i've only used it a couple times while giving hometesting lessons with others so i am by far not an expert on how that one works.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

She has been on insulin for about a year and last October the vet did the fructosme test and said that i need to go up to 5 units.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

Do you giver Spice 5 units twice a day, or 5 units once per day, or is it 5 total units a day between two shots?
And what is Spice eating for the normal diet, please?

~M
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

i have a feeling that dose will be changing. yowzee!
those numbers are well into the hypoglycemic area in case you didn't know.

would you be willing to test yourself or another cat if you have another one? to do a comparison test. that would give us an idea as to whether your meter is reading correctly. you should be somewhere around 90-120 or so and another cat would be possibly 50-120 or so
 
Last insulin

Last insulin was given at 9 am and I only gave her 4 becasue On new years eve we were at the emergency vet and her glucose was 40. And that was after giving her corn syrup 4x in an hour.


Spice gets 5 units 2x daily and she eats hills prescriptive m/d wet food.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

tajana340 said:
She has been on insulin for about a year and last October the vet did the fructosme test and said that i need to go up to 5 units.
Click to expand...

I know we are going to come at you with a lot of questions and stuff to read... just take your time...

What does was she on prior to the increase? It could very well be... and likely is, that she is one WAY too much insulin. It's very difficult for a vet to know what is happening with the BGs in just one visit - even if it's for a day. So monitoring is key. Like you are doing.

It could be that since the dx or since the increase in dosage that her pancreas has recovered some and she doesn't need as much, or any, insulin.

Please keep monitoring and know that if you skip a shot, at the next scheduled shot she might be high, or higher, but that does not necessarily mean she needs a lot of insulin... it could be a bounce or rebound from going so low. Now that you are testing, you may have to rethink you dosage completely.
 
Re: Code on test strips

Yes I had to calibrate the meter with a test strip that had a code.

Prior to the 5 unit increase she was on pzi vet 3 untis 2x a day
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

I just did another reading on a different cat and she diva is not diabitic and her reading was 69.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

tajana340 said:
I just did another reading on a different cat and she diva is not diabitic and her reading was 69.
Click to expand...

If your other baby read 69 (which is a good number to be) then Spice is currently too low - did you read the link that I posted above for hypoglycemia? You might want to grab some syrup/honey/simple sugar and give Spice a squirt of it and start testing Spice every 15 minutes until you get three rising numbers in a row, and Spice is back over 80 to 90.


~M
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

Spice just ate 7 grams of food but i will give her some dextrose that i got on new years eve from the vet .

Thanx
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

just did another reading on spice she is up to 37 will check in antother 15 mins
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

If Spice were my kitty, I would lower that insulin dose to ONE unit bid AND change the food to a lower carb content food. The one that you are currently feeding is over 30% in carbs,. and honestly, if Spice is going hypo on that many carbs, this says that the insulin dose is way too high. Hill's is very poor quality food despite what they want everyone to believe! Read the ingredient list and you will see that it has a lot of grain in it and no real meat to speak of. And to top it off, it is expensive! Expensive trash, is my opinion of Hill's.

There are a lot of good choices to be found here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm


Choose foods that are 10% or lower in carbs., (I choose 5% or less in carbs). A lot of people feed Fancy Feast and Friskies as the main diet. I feed Wellness grain free, Evo 95% meat, Evo cat & kitten, and Friskies Special diet as Stormy Blue also has kidney issues and what he eats - the other five cats eat - so the food I pass out is lo-carb and under 220mg in phosphorus.

With you testing on a daily basis, you can see how well the decreased dose and diet change are working together. If at some point Spice's insulin dose needs to be increased, you should do it slowly and gradually - .25 to .5 unit increase and allowing the new dose to work for at least 3-5 days before increasing further.

For what it is worth, I am not a vet, but I do have a lot of experience with diabetes. Cats, dogs, humans.. there are several in my family (furred and skin) who have the disease. There are a LOT of people on here with huge amounts of experience in treating this disease. Please, listen to the advice that you are being given. All anyone wants is for Spice to have the very best treatment that is available.

Wishing the best to you & Spice,

~M
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

tajana340 said:
what about frsikies special diet beef and chicken
Click to expand...

That's a good choice. It is one of the ones that I feed. Lo-carb and lo-phosphorous.
But please, do NOT feed Spice that unless you lower the insulin dose to 1 unit 2x per day to start -
AND you are going to continue home monitoring of his bgl.

The dose of insulin Spice is on now, (5 units bid) if still given along with a lo-carb food, is a recipe for disaster and could cause serious health issues.

The insulin dose needs to be lowered before starting to feed a lo-carb food. You could do it starting tomorrow AM, but only if you have lowered the dose and will keep testing religiously. We don;t want Spice hypo-ing again.

Also don't freak if you get higher than usual readings tomorrow, and maybe a day or two afterward as well. Spice has been fed a lot of dextrose to get him up to a safe bgl level tonight - and Spice will probably rebound due to the high doses of insulin. Likely, you will not be getting a true bgl reading for the next 36-48 hours.

Keep testing him tonight about every 15 minutes until he crests over 80, just to be safe. If he starts to drop again, give him more of your dextrose and try to get him to eat some of that high carb Hill's food to help him maintain the higher bgl.

~M
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

Also keep in mind that there are people here almost 24/7 and you can post a new thread with your new BG also known as the AM Preshot (AMPS)... Unless the BG is over 200, I would not shoot any insulin. And if it way over - from going so low and then skipping tonight... I would still only give a very low dose.... But post the number first and see what people suggest. You can do that in this thread - and change the subject line in your first post... or you can start a new thread and link this on to it in your post so that people know the history. That history is very important.

I would still wait up and make sure that your baby's BG is rising a bit. But it doesn't have to go much over 80... So don't overdo the sugar if it's rising on its own.
 
Re: Help With Glucose Meter

tajana340 said:
She hypoglecemia on new years eve will that affect her readings
Click to expand...

I think that you are asking if the hypo episode on New Year's would be affecting her readings now.
I'd have to say no because that was well over a week ago.

But I will admit that I am surprised and dismayed that no one at that office advised that you lower future insulin dosages immediately in an attempt to prevent another hypo attack - like the one she is having now.

~M
 
That advice was misguided.

We can't say exactly what happened on New Years... but it's typical for a cat that has gone very low and had a hypo incident to then have very high BG later - due to rebound and the sugar to raise the BG... but that is a falsely inflated BG and dosing should not be decided on those numbers. The safe route is to immediately lower the dose and check the BG regularly in order to ensure that it's safe to give insulin. You kitty may have been in rebound since that incident but the body was protecting itself... and just couldn't keep doing that today.

I'm not saying this is what happened... just that we've seen it happen a lot and we've seen vets react to the high numbers by giving a high dose...


Does this all make sense to you? It's hard to get sometimes when you are learning to home test and you are worried about your kitty.


PS: I have to get to bed... I just didn't want you to think that I'd abandoned the convo. I'll check back tomorrow for an update.
 
her reading at 1 am is 31 mg her previous reading was 37 except that it was very difficult to get her reading a second time.

The first reading at 10 am was 28
second at 12:30 was 37
third was 31
 
tajana340 said:
her reading at 1 am is 31 mg her previous reading was 37 except that it was very difficult to get her reading a second time.
Click to expand...

I would give her some more of the dextrose, or if you have it honey, or syrup. And feed her something high in carbs. Does she like bread? Try feeding her a bit of that. Do you have any kibble dog food that she might eat a few bites of? Corn chips, maybe? Some food that is high in carbs will keep her number up for longer and it really needs to keep rising until you crest at least 70.

To be on the safe side when you are having a hypo attack, you want the bgl to be rising consistently at least three times AND for the bgl to be at a safe number. That generally means, for a kitty on insulin, that the bgl should be over 70.

Keep testing her until you know that she is safe. I am sorry, but it might be a long night for you and Spice.

~M
 
tajana340 said:
i seriously think there is something wrong with that glucose meter
Click to expand...

If it tested fine earlier on your other kitty, I kind of doubt it is the meter. I went thru a serious hypo issue with my baby back in June when he was still on insulin. It honestly took about 6 hours to get his bgl to a safe level and for it to stay there. It would crash back down to hypo levels every half hour and I was a wreck before I could get him to a safe number.

Would you feel better if you could talk to someone on the telephone about what is happening? I can PM you my number if so.

~M
 
i don't know her ears are all torn up tryoing to get #s and she is acting ok she just ate. I am confused and scared. I do't think i can test her every 15 mins she is getting very difficult to get her readings and like i said her ears are looking pretty bad
 
tajana340 said:
i don't know her ears are all torn up tryoing to get #s and she is acting ok she just ate. I am confused and scared. I do't think i can test her every 15 mins she is getting very difficult to get her readings and like i said her ears are looking pretty bad
Click to expand...


I sincerely do understand how stressful this is for you and Spice. And I know exactly what you mean about being scared and confused...what you feel right now is horrible and most of us on this board have walked in your shoes at least once, so you are not alone. But, you need to know that she is at a safe bgl before you are golden. You say that she just ate - what did you feed her, and how long ago did she is it? Earlier you said she ate 7 grams of food - is that what you are talking about her eating?

If her ears are sore, I understand that, too. Some of the people on here test on the foot pads instead of the ear. I assume that you are testing on the edge of the ear - between the very edge and the vein? If not, you are poking her in the wrong spot and that will lead to soreness. Putting pressure on the puncture for a few seconds afterward is always helpful, too - and many use Neosproin pain relief cream afterward to help with the ouchies.

~M
 
she ate 10 mins ago hills prescriptive wet food with a tablespoon of dextrose and i mixed in a little of frskies special diet bee and chicken and added a little bread.

She has been eating al night long.
 
tajana340 said:
she ate 10 mins ago hills prescriptive wet food with a tablespoon of dextrose and i mixed in a little of frskies special diet bee and chicken and added a little bread.
Click to expand...

okay, that's good to know. A nice carb loaded snack :-)

That hopefully will get her bl up into an acceptable range *crossing fingers* but, if Spice were my baby, I'd test her again in a bit. You really need to have three rising numbers, taken at least 15 minutes apart, and a cresting number of 70+ before you can say "whew! safe".

Maybe you can try her paw-pads for the next test? Also, I sent you my phone number via PM in case you wanted to talk instead of type. My eyes are getting heavy now and I need to get away from the PC for awhile.

I did not want you to think that I had just abandoned you...

You are doing all of the right things to get her numbers up to a safe zone, but sometimes with that much insulin and a history of hypo on that amount of insulin - it is better to be safe, rather than sorry by monitoring kitty until they are positively in the safe zone.

~M
 
Hi, I am just catching up but have had experience with hypo and helping others through it as well. You are doing great and have been given excellent advice so far.
Now she will be sleepy, have you seen any other slightly off behaviour? Lethargy, increased appetite, etc?

You do want to stay up and to keep testing until you see three rising levels above about 70.

You want to give a little food about every 20- 30 minutes, unless levels drop again, and if need be add a litle dextrose in as well. Food takes longer to bring the blood glucose levels up, but lasts in the system, sugar acts immediately, but doesn't last, so you have to balance the two.

Right now can you get a test? Can you remind what insulin you are currently giving?

9:00 pacific time? Is it 1:44 there right now?

We are an international board so trying to establish how long it has been since shot.

Okay....you are not alone, have a glass of water, a deep breath and get another test okay
 
Sweetgrass&theFurries said:
Hi, I am just catching up but have had experience with hypo and helping others through it as well. You are doing great and have been given excellent advice so far.
Now she will be sleepy, have you seen any other slightly off behaviour? Lethargy, increased appetite, etc?

You do want to stay up and to keep testing until you see three rising levels above about 70.

You want to give a little food about every 20- 30 minutes, unless levels drop again, and if need be add a litle dextrose in as well. Food takes longer to bring the blood glucose levels up, but lasts in the system, sugar acts immediately, but doesn't last, so you have to balance the two.

Right now can you get a test? Can you remind what insulin you are currently giving?

9:00 pacific time? Is it 1:44 there right now?

We are an international board so trying to establish how long it has been since shot.

Okay....you are not alone, have a glass of water, a deep breath and get another test okay
Click to expand...

Kimmee - 5 units PZI bid, last dose was approximately 16 hours ago, if I am recalling correctly.
I might be off on the time frame, but her PM shot was scheduled for 10PM and was skipped due to hypo.

I am going to get off of the PC and leave this in your very capable hands, Kimmie.

G'nite

~M
 
i don't know how to do the paw pads for testing

I just fed her tuna and a little bread soaked in the tuna water. She ate a few fingerfuls.
 
Me again...
how many hours ago was the last shot?

This is very low to still be at if it is more than 12 hours, and I think it must be as you did not give the second shot....is that correct?

I am concerned that she may need a vet to intervene as you are well past any kind of peak and kitty has eaten and had dextrose and you are not seeing much movement.

Do you have one you can get to need be?

I have been rereading through the post and am concerned for you guys.
 
Sweetgrass&theFurries said:
Thx for the Summary Mary, are you sure you don't want to hang in with this a bit, you have been awesome.
Click to expand...

I'll stay, but I need to go do my glaucoma drops which means I will need to be AFK for about 10 minutes. I have to keep my eyes closed for 5 minutes after the drops and then I cannot see for nothing for about another 5 minutes after that!

I'll be back shortly.

~M
 
The only thing I noticed is an increase in appetite. Her last insulin was at 9 am mon morning no insulin yet.
 
Good...okay....

I am hoping you re getting another reading to see how that food did?

Do you have some wet food that has gravy, a higher carb type food?
What about icecream?

I am still concerned that this low has been so extended.
Perhaps you could call the vet and let them know what has been going on and ask what they would like you to do?

Being irritable about the tests and sleepy could well be symptoms.
Hanging in for next update.:) You have been doing awesome.
 
If you can;t get a test, I would bundle her and some dextrose and food and head to the vet;. She still is too low to let it ride and you don;t want to risk the effects of extended hypoglycemia.

Do you have a friend you can call to go with you?

That kind of irritable is probably a symptom right now.

let us know if you head out okay? But really, the only safe advice i fee comfirtable giving is to let a vet help you guys.
 
and ps...no matter what the levels spike to later, do not let them give anything close to that 4 or 5 units again.....no matter what it takes, you are saving your babies life tonight.

((((hugs)))))
 
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