Diving - intervened to prevent hypo

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Sarah Smith

Sarah Smith

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Hi all.... Cooter went to the vet today and we switched him over to ProZinc from the vetsulin. Started out on 2 units. His PMPS was over 600, thats as high as the micro goes..... and has been steadily dropping since (we are now at +3). The reading I just got was 94....should I start giving him so carbs to be safe?
 
I've just posted a shout out on the Prozinc group's board to ask someone with experience of that insulin to come and help you, Sarah. :bighug:


Mogs
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That is a steep drop. The first thing you should do is retest to see if that was a good reading or a bad strip. I think the Pro Zinc folks are a bit short handed right now but I think Robin is around so I'll tag her for you. @Robin&BB - can you help us out here!
 
Just saw this.
He has dropped 506 mg/dL in 4 hours or about dropping 125 mg/dL per hour.

I would start feeding him to help slow this drop - 2 teaspoons of regular low carb food, then re-check in 20-30 minutes and keep repeating until he stabilizes.

Dry food takes a while to break down and digest; do you have honey or high carb canned food?

I can only post every 7 minutes, so I will edit this post, unless enough time has passed.
 
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Ok, good! I was ust going to say you should prop him up with a little food now. (Not too much kibble, though.) And then retest in another 20 minutes, please and report that # here.
 
BJM said:
Just saw this.
He has dropped 506 mg/dL in 3 hours or about 196 mg/dL PER HOUR.
I would start feeding him to help slow this drop - 2 teaspoons of regular low carb food, then re-check in 20-30 minutes and keep repeating.
I would switch to high carb if he gets down to 60 mg/dL.
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Yes, this is very sound advice from BJ. Again, please post your # here as soon as you do that retest. Thanks!
 
I'm still mulling this over, but it is entirely conceivable that even that dose of 1.0U is a little high for him. While I know this may sound counter-intuitive to you, Sarah, it is possible - so depending on what we see tonight, may want to reduce tomorrow to 0.75U.
 
he had his shot of vetsulin at 6am, 1u before i dropped him off at 730. I gave him the 2u of prozinc at just a little after 6pm (central). The nadir isnt for a few more hours on this insulin though from what I read...please tell me I'm mistaken on that!
 
Oh, I get it ... was on 1U Vetsulin, but was started just today on 2U ProZinc. Well, you're still going to want to reduce the dose of ProZinc somewhat tomorrow, as this drop tonight is a clear indicator that the dose is too high for him.
 
Please limit the dry food, in favor of canned food. It takes too long for dry to have an effect on rapidly dropping numbers. Using 1-2 teaspoons of high carb gravy, or a few drops of Karo syrup is faster - and he is dropping very fast!

You need to test, feed 1-2 teaspoons of higher carb wet food if still dropping, wait 20- minutes, and repeat until numbers start coming up and you are past the end of the nadir period.

Put on a pot of coffee; you may be up a while!

I can only post a new reply every 6-7 minutes.
I will edit a previous post if there is more to respond before the time period is up.
 
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Sarah Smith said:
The nadir isnt for a few more hours on this insulin though from what I read...please tell me I'm mistaken on that!
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You're steering with food, so that's going to change things for him. However, you're going to need to keep monitoring him tonight, as BJ noted above.
 
BJM said:
Using 1-2 teaspoons of high carb gravy, or a few drops of Karo syrup is faster - and he is dropping very fast!
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Feed again with higher carb food --- & add the aforementioned gravy or Karo. Test again in 20, please.
 
If you can, please update your spreadsheet.
This is what I think you've reported:
94 @ +3
70 @ +3 hours 20 min
.. 20 minutes
64 @ +3 hours 40 min

The nadir for ProZinc is roughly +5 to +7 hours post shot, however, a dose that is too high will keep dropping, sometimes until the next pre-shot test.
 
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Bought lancets today thankfully... strips i should have enough...giving him the highest carb food i have in house with maple syrup... its not high carb, but has gravy!!? someone took my high carb for outside kitties
 
If you gave the maple syrup with the food, that should work. Will await your next retest. @MrWorfMen's Mom - Linda, can you stay on this thread for awhile, too, just in case my stupid ISP goes wonky? (Since BJ's limits her somewhat, too ...)
 
If you can, please update your spreadsheet.
This is what I think you've reported:
94 @ +3 hours
70 @ +3 hours 20 min
64 @ +3 hours 40 min

You're doing great; you've slowed the rate of drop already, to about 45 mg/dL per hour.
Just have to hang in there, keep testing and feeding, and wait for him to start rising up


And it isn't my ISP that limits me; it is the software for this board. Ever since we were hacked last fall, I get repeated error messages and cannot post again before about 7 minutes are up.
 
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94 @ +3 hours
70 @ +3 hours 20 min
64 @ +3 hours 40 min
82 @ +4 hours

Note that high carb gravy and syrup can wear off quickly. The kibble you gave will last longer, so once it starts kicking in, he'll definitely climb up and stay up.
 
Ok. I think you'll be testing again in about 15 min, right? So we'll see what that # is before we decide if more steering is needed. (But you're still going to need to monitor him closely tonight, regardless ... as they can start dropping again later. Always better to set multiple alarms overnight, if needs be, to make sure he's safe.)
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
Sarah, it's not that ProZinc is stronger. The vet doubled the dose Cooter was getting of Vetsulin. ProZinc is actually a much "gentler" insulin so what's happening is likely because the 2u is too high a dose for Cooter.
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And I'm curious about this: What time was his last dose of Vetsulin ... and what time was the first ProZinc shot given?
 
I should have just started him at 1 and tested, then told her i adjusted his dose... she knows i know him better then her... but his numbers were still so high on 1u of vetsulin, something about 2 nagged me
 
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