More on Stu

Thanks again to everyone who replied to my last post. I managed to do the spreadsheet and you can view it!!!! I'm still giving 4 units bid. I haven't figured out how to post Stu's profile. As far as I can see, the edit-profile boxes on the FDMB do not have room for the profile that is generated by the Coolification Profile. Any hints? Many, many thanks.
Ella

 

Hi Ella
Your ss looks great for Stu.
I have attached the link in tech supoort to help you with your profile just
in case you were going at it alone. It took me some time to do ours as well.
I had a mental block of some sort.
Hope this helps
Good luck

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=531

 

hi again. :smile:
great job on getting the spread sheet up and running.
okay firs thing that is noticed is that there are no night time tests! cats typically have more action at night than during day cycle and if you look around you'll see that everyone always gets a before bed test. that is a very important test since it give a lot of clues about why the next cycle is what it is.
the other thing i noticed right away is that when you have that huge drop from high AMPS to a green +6 number, there is no retest 1/2 hour or hour later to see if number is continuing to drop.


can you tell us more about how you got to the largish dose that you are on? like were you hometesting at all or was dose raised by vet based on numbers they got, and what kind of increments dose was raised by? see lantus dosing for cats is typically raised only by 0.25 unit increments (sometimes 0.5 if numbers are very high 24/7) every so often and if that is not done, if dose is raised by 1 unit increments or more you can go right past the right dose and end up in a chronic rebound sort of situation. which i'm not sure that is not where you are....

 

Hello again and thanks for replying so quickly. I'm attaching here the texts of my first 2 posts on the general diabetes health message board. I think they will tell you where we have been! BG at +6 today was 82 (I just put it on the spreadsheet). My cat is not happy having his ears stuck, but I'll try again for a reading before this hour is up and will post it.
Previous posts re/ Stu's insulin history:
14 Jan. 2010: Hello. I need some advice. Our cat, Stu, now 12-years old, 15 lbs, 8 oz.., was diagnosed with diabetes in January 2006, when he was a little over 8 years old. He was put on 2 units of Idexx PZI Vet (bid) and we immediately changed his diet to low carbs. To this day we feed EVO cat & kitten/ turkey & chicken/ wet food (a little less than a 5-oz can a day, doled out in 4 feedings) with a little EVO dry food available all the time for snacking. We have never home tested for blood glucose. Over the last 4 years Stu was gradually raised to 5 units bid of PZI Vet (based on occasional testing at the vet's). In October of 2009, when it became impossible to get PZI Vet, he was switched to Lantus. The vet at first put him on 4 units of Lantus bid. Stu was tested after 2 weeks (+5 hours after his morning insulin shot) and his blood glucose numbers had soared (to above 300—with PZI Vet his nadir numbers were around 130). So the vet raised him to 5 units bid. The next time, in early December, he tested at almost 400 (same time of day: + 5 hours). He was raised to 7 units. Several days ago, after receiving 7 units bid for about 3 weeks, he was again tested (same time of day) and his blood glucose was 78!! Through it all, and I mean since Jan. 2006—not just since he was switched to Lantus) he seems unchanged: he is active, healthy, friendly, drinks and urinates about the same as always (he has always drunk a lot of water), has good appetite, and still weighs 15 lbs., 8 oz. He has never had a hypo episode. He is very even-keeled. The vet says to bring him in for testing in another 2 weeks and if his numbers are still low, he (the vet) will begin to reduce the insulin dose. I, however, am worried that his dose is way too high, especially after reading the posts on this website. I reduced it to 6 units the very day we returned from the vet! I would be interested to hear comments from you experienced people. I am seriously considering home testing and would like advice about meters other than the Walmart Relion (the nearest Walmart is 100 miles away and not easy to get to in the winter; ideally I would like to order something online). My other question is about the new PROZINC PZI. My vet has been reading up on it, but since Stu's blood glucose was so much lower the last time he tested, the vet thinks we should stick with Lantus. Any thoughts about this? Thank you so much for your help.


23 Jan. 2010

I want to thank everyone for responding to my original post of 14 January. My cat, Stu (diabetic since Jan. 2006), who had been switched to Lantus from Idexx PZI Vet (5 units bid of PZI Vet) in early November, had been on 7 units of Lantus bid since early December because his BG level at +5 (at the vet's) had been in the high 300s (the vet had started him at 4 units bid in early Nov., raised him to 5 units, and then from 5 units to 7 units in early December). In early January (still on 7 units) BG had dropped to 78 at +5 at the vet's. I was worried at the precipitous drop and joined this message board! I received many messages of concern that 7 units were too much insulin, so I cut the dose at first to 6 units bid, and several days later (on 19 Jan.) to 5 units bid. On 21 Jan. I cut it to 4.5 units bid. I have been home testing 3 times a day (AMPS at 7 A.M., +6 at 1 P.M., PMPS at 7 P.M.) since 19 January (doing OK, but it is still not easy for Stu or for me!). I find that his AMPS numbers are consistently around 400, but his PMPS numbers have been between 100 and 225. At +6 his numbers have been between 83 and 89 except for 21 January, when the +6 number was 176. After reading other people's posts and a lot of the literature on feline diabetes, I suspect that I am dealing with carryover or overlap and the "storage shed". I would welcome your comments and advice. I have been giving 4.5 units bid for the past 2 days and also this morning (Sat., 23 Jan.) Should I lower the Lantus dose to 4 units bid beginning this evening? Stu is a large domestic shorthair and, except for diabetes, in excellent health. He weighs 15lbs, 8 oz.. He eats approx. 4/5ths of a can of EVO turkey & chicken a day, spread out over 4 feedings (7 A.M., 12 P.M., 7 P.M., 11 P.M.) He gets about 1/4 cup of EVO high protein/lo carb dry food per day available for snacking. Thanks for your help.

 

good job getting a +7 today as Jojo suggested, to be sure the big drop at +6 had stopped.

I see that you got a nice yellow PMPS. Please get a bedtime spot check tonight so we can see what Stu is doing with his insulin at night. As Jojo mentioned, lots of cats have more action at night than during the day, so it is possible that he is going lower than 60's/80's at night. We need to be sure Stu is safe.

Great job, you're learning very quickly!

 

Hi, and welcome aboard! You are doing so much better than I did when I first started. Good Luck! You're doing great - there are a great group of people that post here, very knowledgeable! I wish Stu the best. dancing_cat