First days home monitoring-looking for feedback

[Krista&Sebastian]

Hello,
Please take a look at my spreadsheet and let me know your thoughts.
Any time we had a number below 50 treats were given (some Royal Canin Glycobalance kibble and/or some freeze dried fish) and Sebastian seemed/acted completely asymptomatic and normal. The first low reading was at the vet's office on 9/6/17. At that time the vet agreed he seemed perfectly fine and healthier than previous visits aside from the low glucose reading. However, while doing my first curve this weekend at the recommended 2.5 units at +3 he was already down to 29 so after giving lots of treats I decided to go back down to 1 unit for his PM meal/shot. I reviewed some Vetsulin recommendations with curves and found Sebastian's looked pretty similar to the Somogyi effect curve illustrated on their site. Their recommendation is to go back to 1/2 of the previous dose or 1 unit, whichever is lower. So since my vet's office was closed on a Sunday I decided to go back to 1 unit until we can review with our vet. What do you think?

 

[Wesley and Spicoli]

So your boy bounced today from going so low last night. He's hit some REALLY low numbers over the past several days - I mean REALLY low. I don't use vetsulin but anytime a kitty hypos (or is going to without intervention) = earned reduction. I'm not familiar with vetsulin but here's the users guide http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/vetsulin-caninsulin-user-guide.302/. I might would reduce to 1u for several cycles and get as much data as I could before making any other dose changes.

Anytime we hit a lime green number = earned reduction. Also, those preshot tests are really important as is the mid-cycle data but you don't want to give insulin when they aren't at a shootable number.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Any time we had a number below 50 treats were given (some Royal Canin Glycobalance kibble and/or some freeze dried fish)

The kibble was OK, but freeze dried fish has virtually no carbs so you don't want to use those when he's in those low numbers.

We would prefer that you always keep around something like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers.....the gravy part is high carb and you can squeeze just some of the gravy into another bowl and feed a teaspoon or two at a time (so you don't take any chances of filling him up in case you need him to eat later....like if he drops below 50 again)

We don't like using kibble as our "high carb" food because it takes too long to break down and get into the bloodstream...if he's below 50, we want to get him back up as quickly as possible

 

[JanetNJ]

Wow some scary numbers there. Glad you are testing.

Please always try to get a preshot test to know if it's safe enough to shoot. If it's too low (in the beginning we suggest not shooting under 200) then skip the dose. Better to be too high for a day then too low for a minute. Under 50 is dangerous.

 

[JanetNJ]

You may need to reduce your dose to 0.5

 

[Krista&Sebastian]

So your boy bounced today from going so low last night. He's hit some REALLY low numbers over the past several days - I mean REALLY low. I don't use vetsulin but anytime a kitty hypos (or is going to without intervention) = earned reduction. I'm not familiar with vetsulin but here's the users guide http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/vetsulin-caninsulin-user-guide.302/. I might would reduce to 1u for several cycles and get as much data as I could before making any other dose changes.

Anytime we hit a lime green number = earned reduction. Also, those preshot tests are really important as is the mid-cycle data but you don't want to give insulin when they aren't at a shootable number.

I know, when I saw those numbers I watched him so closely because it was quite scary but luckily he didn't outwardly appear hypo. Thanks for the link to vetsulin, I will review it this afternoon over my lunch. Initially we didn't have any preshot test numbers due to only getting him tested at the vet. I had tried to home test right away but my glucometer did not work with the amount of blood I could get so I went a week or two just trying to make it work, which it never did. So we just got a great meter and will be testing prior to meals very frequently. I am also able to go home for my lunch most days so he will be getting mid day tests until we are at a good place.

 

[Krista&Sebastian]

The kibble was OK, but freeze dried fish has virtually no carbs so you don't want to use those when he's in those low numbers.

We would prefer that you always keep around something like Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers.....the gravy part is high carb and you can squeeze just some of the gravy into another bowl and feed a teaspoon or two at a time (so you don't take any chances of filling him up in case you need him to eat later....like if he drops below 50 again)

We don't like using kibble as our "high carb" food because it takes too long to break down and get into the bloodstream...if he's below 50, we want to get him back up as quickly as possible

Good to know, thank you! I immediately thought the kibble would be great for the carbs, but I will pick up some fancy feast gravy lovers today to use instead. My other cat has fancy feast for her meals so they can share as needed. I am thinking his diet may be so low carb he is not going to be needing as much insulin as initially thought by the vet. When diagnosed he was eating Royal Canin SO wet (sometimes the kibble if we were away from home) so his diet has changed quite a bit.

 

[Krista&Sebastian]

Wow some scary numbers there. Glad you are testing.

Please always try to get a preshot test to know if it's safe enough to shoot. If it's too low (in the beginning we suggest not shooting under 200) then skip the dose. Better to be too high for a day then too low for a minute. Under 50 is dangerous.

Thanks, I will be doing preshot numbers regularly now. My husband feels bad that we keep pricking his ears but I keep telling him that it is better than seizure or a coma, which was very possible with his low numbers!

 

[Krista&Sebastian]

You may need to reduce your dose to 0.5

Thank you, I will mention this to the vet when they call me either today or tomorrow. However, if his numbers get too low again I will reduce even if I haven't spoken to the vet yet. I will be sharing all of my numbers with them to see if another reduction would be best. I definitely don't think it needs to be increased at all right now.