11/15 Michelangelo AMPS 386, +2 289

Previous Condo

Last night we saw some blue finally! He's now on his 6th cycle at .88u so I'm hoping he's now becoming stabilized on that dose and we'll be seeing even better numbers.

I wasted another 4 strips with the stupid Accu-Chek Nano yesterday at Mikey's PM +2 test (which I ultimately gave up trying to get). Finally figured out why it's been so touchy with the amount of blood. It requires 0.6µl of blood vs. the ReliOn Micro, which only requires 0.3µl. How I missed that glaring factor, I don't know, but I could have sworn the Accu-Chek only required 0.3µl as well. Finally got enough blood for the fourth strip but as it was sucking up the blood, the fricking thing turned off! :-x At the very least, it finally forced me to buy more ReliOn strips last night and I've retired the Accu-Chek back into Mikey's Hypo Battle Box.

Approximately how long do strips last unused?

Yay for blue and nice to see Mikey headed that way again today! Paws crossed that you will see green today. Many cats wait until the very last minute to show good numbers on a dose increase, as I know only too well.

Thanks! Surprisingly, the only time he notices his shot is if I didn't stir the insulin for long enough and it's still noticeably cold when going in.

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Lantus does not need, nor should it be mixed. Many vets give that instruction because other insulins are "suspensions" and settle out. Lantus is a solution and shouldn't be shaken or rolled as that can cause breakdown. If you need to warm the Lantus us for Mikey, just hold the filled syringe in you hand for a few minutes.

Have you ever tried free hand testing/ I find that works well. Hold the lancet at a 45º angle and barely touch the ear, then twist very slightly. That opens the slit the lancet makes and milking a little nearly always gives us a good drop. And we use the finest lancets available.

Ann & Tess said:

Lantus does not need, nor should it be mixed. Many vets give that instruction because other insulins are "suspensions" and settle out. Lantus is a solution and shouldn't be shaken or rolled as that can cause breakdown. If you need to warm the Lantus us for Mikey, just hold the filled syringe in you hand for a few minutes.

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My vet had shown me that it needed to be "rolled" (never shaken!) before every use. Then sometime in the last few weeks, I'd read somewhere about how you can see the insulin suspended in the liquid if it wasn't fully mixed yet and since I'd never seen anything, I had always suspected that Lantus might not need this. I had been meaning to look into it further, but it's one of those things when you have so much information you're consuming at once that just slips your mind. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You probably just saved me a bunch of money from killing my bottle of insulin too quickly by the twice-daily mixing I'd been doing.

I do the hand-warming on the syringe as well, but what I meant by not stirring the insulin for long enough is that I didn't have it out of the fridge for long enough before giving it to him so even with hand-warming, it's still slightly cold. I'm really glad I was unclear on that sentence because otherwise I wouldn't have known to not mix the Lantus!

Ann & Tess said:

Have you ever tried free hand testing/ I find that works well. Hold the lancet at a 45º angle and barely touch the ear, then twist very slightly. That opens the slit the lancet makes and milking a little nearly always gives us a good drop. And we use the finest lancets available.

Click to expand...

I just bought a bunch of ReliOn lancets last night partially because they were $8 cheaper than the Accu-Chek Fastclix for a box of 100 and partially because I've been wanting to test this out. I know I'm being a scaredy-cat ( :razz: ) and it's probably easier than using a pen, but up to now, I just haven't been brave enough nor felt that Michelangelo is comfortable enough yet with the testing to sit still for me while I try this for the first time.

Hello there.. hows the cute baby doing? And the cat too? lol sorry I just had wine and its gone to my head

- Roll the insulin? Anyway first my vet told me I had to roll the insulin too. Not true. I read what this forum said and I dont bother and it doesnt make a difference. I dont bother warming it... they dont seem to notice.
- How long do strips last? They have an expiry on them. I imagine you get a good few months of them after they expire assuming they keep nice and dry and not too hot. You could occasionally test yourself to be sure - assuming you arent diabetic you should be 82-110 and up to 140 after a meal.
f- ree testing versus device - I personally think its easier using the lancet without the device - gives me way more control to see where I am aiming and whats going on but its up to your comfort level. I usually warm the ear, put the strip in then poke but for Bailey he can be chintszy with the blood so I warm his ear, poke it, hold it so he doesnt shake the blood off, then shove the strip in. My meter times out after a minute but if you remove the strip and reinsert its fine.. as long as you don't have any blood on it which means starting again

I am wondering about another dose increase now. I think you might be going back up to 1 at this rate. Maybe post it as a question tomorrow?