Too much insulin???

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Rebecca it's okay to be angry. The old vet is probably not familiar with treating FD and with the newer insulin. Most of them are like this.

The most important thing right now is Mercedes. Have you tested again? Do you have syrup or honey ?
 
Rebecca88 said:
I'm so pissed off at my old vet! Why would he dose her that high?? The last thing he said to me was give her 8 and 8 and call me in 2 weeks! Wth?
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Thank goodness you had the sense to question it and come looking for advice!! The people here deal with diabetic kitties 24/7 and have a much better understanding of what works and what doesn't.

But we need the test number
 
Mercedes test need be in the 80's a couple of times without food influence. The syrup doesn't last long and she could drop again.

We call these PJ parties. They usually happen at night. Had a couple myself and always a night before having to go to work.
 
Woodsywife said:
Rebecca it's okay to be angry. The old vet is probably not familiar with treating FD and with the newer insulin. Most of them are like this.

The most important thing right now is Mercedes. Have you tested again? Do you have syrup or honey ?
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I'm going to test again right now
 
Rebecca88 said:
She's up to 74 right now
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That is food but the HC food can wear off after a few hours. I would not feed anything at this time and test again in about 30 minutes.

It would be VERY helpful if you could take some time in the next few days and get a spreadsheet set up. It makes it much simpler for people to help especially in these sort of situations. If you need any help with the spreadsheet there are some great "techie" people on here that can help
 
OK that's good....don't feed her anymore (I saw you just fed her again) and I'd get another test in about 30 minutes

Once they get above 50, we generally want to continue testing for at least 2 hours since the last time they got any food so we know they aren't going to drop again
 
Rebecca88 said:
Ff with gravy and a little dry. I panicked a little and put a dab of Karo syrup on her tongue
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If that was the last food you fed her then the next test numbers will show high. Once a cat has gotten nicely over 50 and is holding without dropping more you want to ease off the food and continue testing to see if they are holding the number or if they need more HC or syrup. You are doing a great job through all this though. :)
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
If that was the last food you fed her then the next test numbers will show high. Once a cat has gotten nicely over 50 and is holding without dropping more you want to ease off the food and continue testing to see if they are holding the number or if they need more HC or syrup. You are doing a great job through all this though. :)
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But if we want the number to go up shouldn't she still eat more?
 
Woodsywife said:
Has anyone given a thought to the morning dose and possibly skipping it?
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That is a good question. It will probably depend on where the numbers are in the morning. If they are on the low end then skipping a shot will hekp to drain the depot. Plus she already earned a reduction from tonight.
 
Woodsywife said:
Has anyone given a thought to the morning dose and possibly skipping it?
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Yes. I talked to someone about that. I'm going to test her in the am then feed her and call the new vet. I'm not giving her anything unless she tells me to or she's over 300
 
Rebecca88 said:
But if we want the number to go up shouldn't she still eat more?
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You want the number to stay over 50. Once she is holding say 55 or 60 for instance without dropping, then you taper back on the food and see if she will continue to stay in those numbers without needing extra food or syrup. On a human meter like you are using 50 is a safe number, but you don't want them dropping below that, especially earlier in the cycle
 
Rebecca88 said:
But if we want the number to go up shouldn't she still eat more?
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No....once they're in "safe" numbers (above 50) we just want to keep them safe and not let them drop too low again

The idea is to keep them in normal numbers as long as possible (50-120) so the pancreas can heal and hopefully resume it's normal duties...which means no more insulin!
 
Rebecca88 said:
Yes. I talked to someone about that. I'm going to test her in the am then feed her and call the new vet. I'm not giving her anything unless she tells me to or she's over 300
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Good plan. Just remember she still has the depot in play. Mercedes might bounce and have a high reading because of this.
 
Rebecca88 said:
She is obviously feeling better. She's up on the couch with me now 'makin bread' and rubbing up on me
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Great, but no more food right now and you will need to retest again, probably in 1 hour since she had HC and syrup last feed. She should be stable now but you never want to be too complacent about it. I am off for the night..been up 21 hours today :( Good luck with the testing and if there are any more problems you have some great people here watching out for you.

Please post in the morning and let us know how she is doing. :bighug:
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
Great, but no more food right now and you will need to retest again, probably in 1 hour since she had HC and syrup last feed. She should be stable now but you never want to be too complacent about it. I am off for the night..been up 21 hours today :( Good luck with the testing and if there are any more problems you have some great people here watching out for you.

Please post in the morning and let us know how she is doing. :bighug:
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Thank you all so much!
 
You certainly were put through the wringer today. You learned quickly how this disease can turn as easy as flipping a switch. Once you recoup, the next step is your spreadsheet it really is important. Besides helping us to help you, it also shows you the large picture of what is happening with Mercedes. Anytime I do anything with Smokey that sheet is in front of me. It is his diary.
 
@Rebecca88 ...You've done great tonight and keeping her safe is the main goal of everyone here! I have to be out early in the morning, but @Woodsywife has said she'd stay and make sure you're doing ok for awhile longer.

One of the "agreements" we make around here is if one of us starts to help, we won't leave you until you are in a good, safe place unless we can find someone else to watch over you

Please post your next test so everyone knows how she's doing!

Again, great job and we look forward to helping you in the future!
 
To pass the time; I kinda of had the same start as you. Smokey was diabetic when I got him but had been without his insulin for many months. I bought him home with me took him to my vet. They tested him and said come back in 6 weeks for another. I knew nothing. He was up to 5 units and they said they couldn't go higher. They said to stop the dry food. Wasn't home testing. 2 months later my intuition told me something was wrong. I started googling found this place. Spent 2 days reading everything. I finally decide to join within an hour Smokey was hypo and I didn't know it. That was a night. I also know how overwhelmed I became. That is why I didn't want to throw to much at you all at once earlier today Solve problem #1 before moving on to #2.
 
Rebecca88 said:
Is 188 ok?
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Good morning Rebecca

A reading of 188 is a good start. I can't advise what you should do about your shot, but obviously the doses you were on are way too high as you saw last night. If you could speak with the new vet and get an idea of what dose to use at this point, that would be great. The numbers are so much better, so I would hate to see you skipping shots altogether but trying to find the right dose is something maybe your new vet should advise.
 
What would be helpful is if you could start a new thread on the Lantus forum:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/

with a summary of the readings you got throughout last night and a link to this thread. You could put something like "Dosing advice after low numbers" with a "?" icon in the title and see what feeddback you get. I would still like to see the new vet make the decision, but you can get some information from opinions. MY opinion is that some insulin would be good to give if you are able to monitor, but I don't know whether 2 units is the right dose at this point,
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
Good morning Rebecca

A reading of 188 is a good start. I can't advise what you should do about your shot, but obviously the doses you were on are way too high as you saw last night. If you could speak with the new vet and get an idea of what dose to use at this point, that would be great. The numbers are so much better, so I would hate to see you skipping shots altogether but trying to find the right dose is something maybe your new vet should advise.
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I'm calling her as soon as I do the second test. I'm getting ready for work too. But I'm definitely calling
 
Rebecca88 said:
I'm calling her as soon as I do the second test. I'm getting ready for work too. But I'm definitely calling
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Wonderful!!! With the higher doses you were giving, there may still be an extra large"depot" of insulin that could affect the numbers, which is what probably happened last night. It can take a few days for the depot to reduce after you reduce the dosage. Hopefully your new vet can get you in quicker and get this treated properly.
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
Wonderful!!! With the higher doses you were giving, there may still be an extra large"depot" of insulin that could affect the numbers, which is what probably happened last night. It can take a few days for the depot to reduce after you reduce the dosage. Hopefully your new vet can get you in quicker and get this treated properly.
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I agree. I want this out of her system! Start over and start right!
 
Rebecca88 said:
I agree. I want this out of her system! Start over and start right!
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Well with trial by fire (which you did great at :) ) You have seen the value of home testing and talking with informed people. Unfortunately not all vets are up to snuff on feline diabetes and often their advice is not the best. The new vet sounds like they are more on the ball and hopefully with the help of a good vet and the support of people on here you can get this diabetes under control. :)
 
If you are heading out to work today, I'm inclined to suggest that you skip the AM shot and let the depot drain. There's a good chance that Mercedes numbers will be high at shot time tonight if you skip. Since we have so little test data, there's no way to know if you're seeing the start of a bounce or if numbers will be a repeat of last night. Right now, there are too many unknowns. I would give Mercedes low carb food and not worry about her numbers while you're gone today.

Please work on getting s spreadsheet pulled together. We are very numbers driven and it feels like we're fumbling around in the dark without a spreadsheet.
 
I'm at work now
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
If you are heading out to work today, I'm inclined to suggest that you skip the AM shot and let the depot drain. There's a good chance that Mercedes numbers will be high at shot time tonight if you skip. Since we have so little test data, there's no way to know if you're seeing the start of a bounce or if numbers will be a repeat of last night. Right now, there are too many unknowns. I would give Mercedes low carb food and not worry about her numbers while you're gone today.

Please work on getting s spreadsheet pulled together. We are very numbers driven and it feels like we're fumbling around in the dark without a spreadsheet.
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I'm at work now. Already called new vet who agreed to skip the shot. She's calling the old vet to get her records and she's supposed to call me back.
 
Rebecca88 said:
I'm at work now

I'm at work now. Already called new vet who agreed to skip the shot. She's calling the old vet to get her records and she's supposed to call me back.
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How wonderful. When she calls give her the testing information from last night and don't forget to mention the change in food to all wet low carb. Those are important points for your new vet to have as well as whatever information the old vet had.

So happy for you. I hope this vet is all she is supposed to be!!
 
Been keeping up with you all night with prayers and Marmy says to tell you her paws are crossed. We know you are exhausted and stressed but try to breathe deeply and trust in the guidance on this awesome Board. Good luck with the new vet. Lots of hugs!:bighug::bighug::bighug:
Do let us know the numbers. If you need help setting up the ss, Marje and Gracie are really good with it. Just start a conversation with Marje and ask her.:)
 
Morning Rebecca. Glad to see Mercedes has a wonderful reading this morning. New vet sounds like their on the ball. Getting the records and calling you. Keep us posted.
 
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