11/18 Morgaine Labs back and important info on FS meters

yesterday

Morgaine seemed much improved last night, no pees outside the box but this AM I woke up to pee on the floor and in the box. Other than that, she has her appetite and seems to love the duck and pea pill pockets. I give her one without the pill first and then the one with it and she gobbles it up. Amazing! Waiting for the vet to call me with lab results.

Sending out prayers and healing vines today to Mike and Jill and all who need them.

 

Re: 11/18 Morgaine AMPS 114

I'm glad Morgaine is improved. I hope by the end of AB course all the lb issues will be resolved.

 

Re: 11/18 Morgaine AMPS 114

Cheerleading always appreciated!

 

Re: 11/18 Morgaine AMPS 114

Lab results are in and the great news is that Morgaine's kidneys are just fine. I was so worried as I thought her diabetes was regulated.

The problem is unregulated diabetes and anyone using the Freestyle needs to reconsider. This is the 2nd vet that has evaluated her and based on FS results I thought we were doing so well. The only reliable numbers are the very low ones in the green. When you start getting into the blues the FS is way off. Lisa and Do Lou are having the same experience. One way of checking this for yourself is if you get a reading in the 150 and above range and check urine glucose. Frankly, after dealing with this for so long, and thinking we had great regulation, I am really angry. I am planning on writing a report to Abbott Labs after I have enough data on myself. I am using FS for me and am now concerned for all the cats and humans using this meter. I test myself 8-10 times daily and now am double testing with the Precision X tra. It always shows much higher numbers once I get into the 100 range and above. I am compiling this data on myself and will send it to my endo, Abbott and if need be the FDA.

Since Morgaine had a fever, we are keeping her on Baytril. The vet also wants me to go back up to 3.75 and do a curve for her once a week so she can see how things are going. She is open to the Rand protocol and I am sending her the research.

ETA: Her triglycerides were not done fasting and they were 480 which is still very high but 5 months ago they were done fasting and were 1600 so we have made much progress. She needs the lower fat food but if we can get the FD regulated, this may resolve.

 

Aren't those pill pockets great? It's a great stress reducer to give Zener his pills that way. Yeah that Morgaine's kidneys are in good shape - big relief. Very upsetting that the FS meter is so off. Jeesh!
Liz

 

So glad to hear Morgaine's kidneys are good! That is good info on the FS meter. Who would have thought that? At least you know now for you and Morgaine. Have a wonderful weekend!

 

ugh - that would be very upsetting, although great news on the triglycerides! i'm trying to remember - didn't you say you have 2 freestyle meters? are you testing with both of them?

 

I have 3 and use 2. I have tested Morgaine with 1 and me with 1 but have tested myself with hers to see if I get the same values and i do so the meters are consistent.

 

Great news about Morgaine's labs. The triglycerides may still be elevated but that's a remarkable improvement.

 

I also have quite a few meters, but like the accu check the best, more expensive, but it works for us!
I have 2 accu checks, a true track, a relion, and a FS....DH is diabetic so we get some for free sometimes(but no strips!! :lol: )
Labs sound pretty good considering! Morgaine is a trooper!! You too! :mrgreen:

 

For now I am going to get the Relion since I need to keep the budget under control. If I can convince my insurance company to change meters I may consider the accu check or another meter. I have to use what they pay for for me but it is nice to be able to share with Morgaine. I could never afford to buy all the strips I go through. YIKES!

Morgaine's BG was 86 at +6 so we are staying below the renal threshhold which is my goal right now until i get the Relion meter and strips, on their way now.

All of her other lab tests were good. Her kidney panel was excellent and USG, a little low but that is due to unregulated FD.

UPATE: I called the admin office at Abbott. Last year, when they recalled their strips, I had a huge issue and ended up talking directly to one of their execs in charge of Diabetes Care. I spoke to his assistant today, told her about the variance between FS and Precision X-Tra and she is going tohave him call me on Monday. Meanwhile, she said to keep double testing with both meters so i can give him the data. I wouldn't discuss the cat issues because they always tell you it is not used for cats but they can't ignore my issues because my health is impacted by this. I will keep you all posted.

 

I hope the ABs clear things up quickly and that you find a meter you can depend on. I've always like the Accu Chek, too, but also have a Relion Micro. I've found neither are as accurate at higher numbers but it's probably more important to be sure about the lower numbers so you don't have "episodes". I'm sure Morgaine will get on track quickly.

 

Great lab report!!! I will be very interested to hear what the Abbott exec says. Great idea to collect so much info.

BTW, I was at the Specialty Eye Clinic with Gracie today and saw the opthamalogist. I asked her how Gracie's eyes looked other than the meibomial glands and she said "terrific". I asked her if there was any indication of any problems associated with FD. She said it is very rare for a cat to get eye problems associated with FD. I told her about Morgaine's peripheral retinopathy and she said that alot of times it is normal for a vet or other person to associate such with FD but that it really is rare for a cat to get retinopathy from FD. Because of that, they do not do laser surgery to correct it. She said, in fact all the time she has been in practice and had patients who just happened to be FD, she has never seen one with any eye problems that were caused by FD.

Interesting.

 

i'm looking online about the relion confirm and found this link back to a FDMB discussion on it: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=46680

eta: http://www.diabetesdaily.com/forum/...icro-vs-relion-ultima-vs-onetouch-mini-vs-lab

 

Great news on the blood work!

Bummer about the meter. . .

 

Thank you Marje! I have read that FD doesn't cause the same long term problems in cats as D does in humans.

Morgaine may just have peripheral R but it may not be due to FD although if she does, FD unregulated is going to cause it to progress, IMO. The best thing anyone with Retinopathy can do is keep BG regulated so i am sure it is true for cats. Many people have retinal changes as they age so if Morgaine does have it, her age may be a contributing factor.

Julie, I have read that info. Many are using the Arkray strips which are more affordable. Interesting that the other Relion models are made by Abbott.


I just completed another comparison and compared 3 different meters. I intentionally raised my BG by eating candy (don't worry as I will bring it back down in 2 hours or so as my insulin is very fast acting). I seldom go very high and i needed to do this for the data collection.

The FS read 250. The Precision read 374 and the One Touch read 352. Big difference and treatment to bring that down would vary. 3 units of Humalog would correct the FS reading for me and 5-6 units would correct the One Touch and Precision readings.

I corrected with 5 units so we shall see where that takes me.

 

http://www.diabeteswellbeing.com/diabetes-glucose-meter.html this article is saying meters become less accurate over time and you should check your meter monthly.

 

that's a huge difference. are you using a freestyle lite or freestyle freedom lite? you said you've got 2 - can you check yourself with both of them?

i'm curious if both of them are off at high BGs. you said you compared the one for morgaine and the one you use and they were close - is that true at both high and low BG's?

 

Julie, I have all 3 FS meters out now and tested them all. 1 is the smaller Freestyle lite and 2 are the Freedom lite. I also took out the One touch meters and my 2nd Precision. They are all within the 20% range except the Fresstyle meters. I check my meters often as I get the solutions for free and i use them a great deal. My Freestyle meters were both replaced due to the variances. There is no question in my mind that the FS meters are inaccurate at numbers beginning in the blues. To sum up what i have compared because i have 7 meters out and have tested them all tonight.

2 Precision meters give me results within the 20% variance, more like 10%.

2 One Touch meters, one is a One touch Ping that came with my pump and other a One Touch Mini Ultra, give me results that are so close there is no variance and they are very close to the Precision, well within the 20% variance.

3 Freestyle meters as defined above all giving me much lower results but among the 3 well within the 20% variance.

All meters have been tested with solution.

Because i am a type I diabetic I can manipulate my BG with sugars and I intentionally raised my BGs to a very high level tonight to test these meters. I have no doubt about the results. Morgaine tests much higher on my Prescision and my One touch meters. Morgaine has yet to have good regulation because of the FS use despite what i believed.

Others here are reporting similar issues. i know Marje tried the FS and found a similar problem and Lisa has been treating Do Lou with similar results, finding out her good control was actually unregulated D. Do Lou was also spilling glucose at blue numbers well below what the threshhold would be. That fact is the real clue to FS being way off. Our cats would not be spilling glucose if our meters were accurate. Could be the strips. i know people reported different results with the coded FS strips. They changed them before i used the FS.

Finally, I have been using meters since they became available. I have never experienced anything like this before. My A1c was elevated enough for me to question things. i started using the FS in March of this year so that A1c was done while using the FS for 1.5 months and the Precision for 1.5 months. I am having another one done on Tuesday so i will have more data after that. I am on tight regulation with my pump and my A1c's are always within the normal range with the one before last at 5.2
I think we have enough evidence for Abbott to take a closer look at this issue. My last A1c was 5.8 and i only used the FS for a few weeks of that cycle. But my numbers run pretty low, usually around 100 or lower so the FS won't show a big variance for me which is why the 5.8 makes me take a closer look. I control my numbers very tightly based on my meter readings. I correct any number over 120 with insulin and i test myself 8-10 times a day.

 

Hello there, I am just chiming in to encourage you to report this issue to the FDA. You can do it online for free at

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch-online.htm

I'm a pharmacist and we report stuff all the time, it's important to get that data out there. I hope the company works with you to fix the problem, but they *have* to work with the FDA!

I hope Morgaine is feeling better soon. Litterbox issues are no fun for anyone :sad:

 

I am going to talk to the exec first. I had a serious issue with Abbott during the recall of their test strips last year and he ended up getting very involved and worked closely with me to resolve the issue. I want to see where he is at and then will also report this to my endo. He is a stickler for using the best tools available. I will contact the FDA as well but one step at a time for now.

 

So my pump indicates that all the insulin i used to correct my high is now used up. Here are the results:

FS is 55, Precision is 81, One Touch is 72. I am not feeling hypo and would be at 55. If the FS were accurate at the higher number, based on my correction, I would be in negative numbers and i am clearly okay with no symptoms of a hypo.

If I went by the FS, I would treat the hypo with candy now. If my kitty were 55 I would give her HC food. It seems like a crap shoot with the FS meter, even at lower numbers.

FYI, I tested as I was coming down from the high numbers and the results are consistent with what I have experienced with the FS running much lower than the other two meters. One hour post correction the FS read 188, the P read 300 and the One Touch read 266.

 

You've got me curious - I have used a Freestyle Lite meter for Kazi since DX save a couple of weeks when I ran out of strips. Those 2 weeks I used a Relion meter. I tested the same drop of blood from each meter & got the exact same BG for the first test...a couple of hours later I tested a drop again with both meters and it differed by less than 10pts. I like the Freestyle meter...just seems better made than the cheap plastic of the Relion, but I think I may test out another meter and see what happens?

 

Amanda, what range were your tests in? That is going to make a difference.