need a word of comfort

Galaxy (GA)

Galaxy (GA)

Member
I haven't posted a while but been busy with Galaxy and I feel like we're not getting anywhere. If anyone looks at our SS, I'm sure they've never seen so much black! It seemed to be going in the right direction for a while, then I ran out of strips and the new lot didn't arrive on time, plus I think I did a fur shot... now we're back where we were. Can someone please advise if I did the right thing by increasing his dose to 1.25? ( I only have IU40 syringes, so it's guess work with the quarter and half doses...)

I think I am getting better at recognizing bounces, e.g., tonight's +3 test shows a rather sharp drop, so I gave him a bit of diabetic kibble. So, that sharp drop will probably induce a BG increase, right? So, what should I give him in the morning? Shall I go back to 1 unit? :banghead: :nailbiting: :nailbiting: :nailbiting: can't wait to do a full curve over the weekend.

Any advice is much appreesh.
 
If you don't get an answer from this ProZinc forum, it doesn't mean that you're being ignored, far from it, but there aren't as many people about as there are on the main forum, (they need their sleep too!) so if you go there, you'll get an answer much quicker.

I wouldn't dare give dosing advice, but it looks as though Galaxy needs a lot more insulin than what he's getting at the moment, but make sure that you get advice before you make an increase. Don't despair, someone will sort you out:) They really know their stuff on here.

Also, that drop to 26.9 wasn't dangerous. The only time that you need to give high carb food is when they go hypo (which Galaxy is far from that at the moment) The last thing he needs when he's so high is more high carb food which is what diabetic kibble is. Hope you get sorted soon:)
 
I think you reduced too much when you switched to the ProZinc. You went from 4.5 units all the way down to 1. I think you need to increase... Those black and red numbers are scary. Are you testing for ketones? If it were my cat I would have started the ProZinc at at least 2.5-3 units. Let me tag a few ProZinc experts for you.

@Kris & Teasel @Rachel @Sharon14
 
Good morning! First off, take a deep breath. I know that blacks and reds are scary, but they can come down.

So you switched from Caninsulin to Prozinc on the 15th right? And you're still using the AT meter? Why did you switch and go back to 1 unit? Generally speaking, we wouldn't go that low when you start a new insulin. I probably would have dropped to 3 units and gone from there. How long were you on Caninsulin? Did you ever get any good numbers there?

Since you've already started at the lower dose, my suggestion is going to be to increase by 0.25 every 3 cycles unless you get a really good numbers suddenly (something in the blues or greens). I think I'd go ahead and increase to 1.5 tonight. Then increase to 1.75 the morning of the 24th. And just keep that going until you start getting better numbers. It is very important to get those numbers down and I wouldn't wait any longer than 3 cycles to increase.

Are you testing for ketones? That's super important!
 
Thank you all for the amazing support! !

Rachel said:
So you switched from Caninsulin to Prozinc on the 15th right? And you're still using the AT meter? Why did you switch and go back to 1 unit? Generally speaking, we wouldn't go that low when you start a new insulin. I probably would have dropped to 3 units and gone from there. How long were you on Caninsulin? Did you ever get any good numbers there?
Click to expand...

wow, I've just figured out how to quote ... So, when I managed to get the vet to get us prozinc, he started him on 1.5 BID (after about two months or so on vetsulin, that had been worked all the way up to 5 units BID). I got scared though after the first +2 test, sudden drop in BG, thought it will be too much, so I lowered it to 1 unit.

Never got any green with caninsulin, and a lot of sharp drops and not low enough numbers. Even though I haven't yet seen good number=s with Prozinc I feel a lot better about it, because it does what it says on the bottle (i.e., longer lasting). I have yet to do a curve, which I am sooo looking forward to, this weekend.

Rachel said:
Are you testing for ketones? That's super important!
Click to expand...
definitely, urine tests, not a trace!! so happy about that; I also recorded these tests in the notes section on the SS.

PatJ said:
Also, that drop to 26.9 wasn't dangerous. The only time that you need to give high carb food is when they go hypo
Click to expand...
Thank you Pat, that is reassuring. I thought any sharp drop is dangerous and will have adverse reactions.

So, I am going to stick with 1.5 for tonight, then
Rachel said:
Then increase to 1.75 the morning of the 24th
Click to expand...


Thank you so much, everyone!!

- later!
 
Hi Galaxy's caregiver! (I'm sorry I don't know if you've shared your name yet, or what you'd like to be called...?)

I share Rachel's concern about ketones. When you lower the dose so dramatically on a kitty that is in such high numbers, ketones become a very real danger. Please do keep checking daily. I would also second Rachel's recommendation to increase the dose every three cycles. It will be important to get the dose back up to a more sufficient level for Galaxy as soon as you safely can.

I know it's difficult, but try to kind of forget what you experienced on vetsulin. It's a much harsher acting insulin with a shorter duration. Prozinc is more gentle and has a longer duration. So the downward trajectory that you saw on vetsulin is unlikely to happen in the same way on Prozinc. So try the best you can to approach this like the beginning of a brand new thing. With Prozinc you want to aim for more consistent dosing, and as you get into better ranges, you'll notice that with Prozinc there is often a drop, and then they'll flatten out through the middle of the cycle (instead of continuing to just keep dropping), and then will rise at the end of the cycle. So just because you see a drop doesn't necessarily mean that they'll keep diving.

It looks like the conversion page on your spreadsheet has disappeared somehow. Would you mind if I tag one of our techie people to help restore it? For those of us in the US, we kind of rely on that sheet to help us know how to interpret the world numbers. :bookworm:
 
Djamila said:
Galaxy's caregiver
Click to expand...
... is called Edy. :) I think I only put my name in one of my posts. I'll add it to my name if I can

Thank you for the responses; Poor puss has been riding the high sugarlevels for so long now, I do test for ketones, and they always come out negative. Is there any other way to test than urine dipsticks? I got those, test once a week at least, and put results in the notes section on our SS.
Djamila said:
the conversion page on your spreadsheet has disappeared
Click to expand...
... do you mean the US sheet, showing the hundred numbers? I deleted it (which I now regret doing), because whenever I opened up the SS, it showed me the US sheet, rather than what I want to see, the 'world' or UK scale or whatever it's called. Is there any way to restore it? By all means, if a techie can please do, thank you. I just can't get my head round how others have customised their SSs, they all look so different!

Anyway, today is CURVE DAY!!! So we'll get to see the nadir and everything at last!

Edy

edit to add: I looove Samir's profile, such a great idea, and one can learn a lot from it. thank you for sharing it with us.
 
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Galaxy said:
... is called Edy. :) I think I only put my name in one of my posts. I'll add it to my name if I can

Thank you for the responses; Poor puss has been riding the high sugarlevels for so long now, I do test for ketones, and they always come out negative. Is there any other way to test than urine dipsticks? I got those, test once a week at least, and put results in the notes section on our SS.

... do you mean the US sheet, showing the hundred numbers? I deleted it (which I now regret doing), because whenever I opened up the SS, it showed me the US sheet, rather than what I want to see, the 'world' or UK scale or whatever it's called. Is there any way to restore it? By all means, if a techie can please do, thank you. I just can't get my head round how others have customised their SSs, they all look so different!

Anyway, today is CURVE DAY!!! So we'll get to see the nadir and everything at last!

Edy

edit to add: I looove Samir's profile, such a great idea, and one can learn a lot from it. thank you for sharing it with us.
Click to expand...
There are blood ketone meters.... That's what I use. Works just like a bg meter.

You can reorder which sheet of opens by just moving the tabs around on the bottom just as you would in excel.
 
Hi Edy, nice to meet you!

As far as the spreadsheet, I'll tag a couple of people as I'm not entirely sure who would be best to help with this: @Chris & China (GA) @Marje and Gracie The US tab was deleted from Galaxy's spreadsheet -- can either of you help restore it?

Once they are restored, you can just slide the tabs to the right order as Janet suggested, and if that doesn't do it, you may need to click on the world tab, and re-save your link/bookmark from that view. Then the updated link should get you to view the world tab first.

I'm glad you enjoyed the profile! I need to update it as it's been awhile and there are some changes in Sam's health and treatment. It was fun to write it! It was suggested I do that after his rapid insulin changes so that anyone looking at my spreadsheet would have a reference so they could understand what happened.

Keep going with those increases. You're doing great! It takes a couple of weeks to really adjust to a new insulin, and you likely won't see much in terms of movement until you get closer to the old dose. Looking at the numbers you're getting this morning, I would suggest you increase by 0.5u tonight to 2.25, and then on Sunday morning, go to 2.75. Then when you go back to work, go back to the 0.25u increases. We need to try to get him caught up without shocking his system too much, but he's high enough right now that he should be able to handle the larger increases while you're home to keep an eye on him.
 
@Galaxy

Spreadsheet is fixed. I moved the US tab to the far left because this is the one we use in this forum. When members click on the SS link in your signature, it should open to the US SS, not the World SS.

A few comments on using the World/US SS. First, avoid putting text comments (like “WTF” ;)) in the World SS because the US SS just recognizes numbers to convert so you will always get an error on the US SS. If you feel strongly about having that text on his SS, then you’ll need to go to the US SS and manually type it in but I encourage you to avoid having any cell in the US SS just have an error message because then we have to take time out to go to the World SS and see if there’s something important there that we need to know. So if it’s not important text, probably bypass putting in the cell on the World SS or manually type it in on the US SS.

The US SS only converts to whole numbers so when you add a BG to a cell on the World SS, it converts it to the correct number on the US SS and enters it into the corresponding cell. It’s really important to always enter the data on the World SS first and let it convert if it’s just a number or if it’s dates or Remarks. I have it formatted so any dates, remarks, or units that you enter in the appropriate columns on the World SS will auto enter it into the same columns on the US SS. If you accidentally enter a number into the US SS and need to back it out, use the back arrow key at the top of the SS in the toolbar instead of deleting the number. If you delete the number, you’ll delete the formatting.

You don’t need to add things such as “@ 6 am” or "@ 8 am”; that just confuses the SS formatting. If you know what time you shot, just put the BG in the correct cell. However, if you shot at 6 am and you test at 9:30 am, which would be +3.5, then you’ll have to do some manual changes. Here’s what I suggest:

  • let’s say you test at +3.5 and the BG is 10 (World number). Go to the World SS, then the date and the appropriate cycle and in the +3 column, enter the BG.
  • open the US SS and go to that same date and cell and the BG will have been calculated; this is the one circumstance where you’ll need to delete numbers on the US SS so you can manually enter so take note of the number (180 in this example) and then delete it; then manually type 180 @ 3.5. Go to the toolbar, click on the pitcher and select the correct color (blue) and then to the “A” to the left and select the correct print (white).
  • go back to the World SS to that cell and after the 10, add @ 3.5 then manually color the cell the same way.

Let me know if you have any questions or need help. Just send me a private message; that’s the fastest way to get me. Thank you!!:):):):)
 
Marje and Gracie said:
@Galaxy

Spreadsheet is fixed. I moved the US tab to the far left because this is the one we use in this forum. When members click on the SS link in your signature, it should open to the US SS, not the World SS.

A few comments on using the World/US SS. First, avoid putting text comments (like “WTF” ;)) in the World SS because the US SS just recognizes numbers to convert so you will always get an error on the US SS. If you feel strongly about having that text on his SS, then you’ll need to go to the US SS and manually type it in but I encourage you to avoid having any cell in the US SS just have an error message because then we have to take time out to go to the World SS and see if there’s something important there that we need to know. So if it’s not important text, probably bypass putting in the cell on the World SS or manually type it in on the US SS.

The US SS only converts to whole numbers so when you add a BG to a cell on the World SS, it converts it to the correct number on the US SS and enters it into the corresponding cell. It’s really important to always enter the data on the World SS first and let it convert if it’s just a number or if it’s dates or Remarks. I have it formatted so any dates, remarks, or units that you enter in the appropriate columns on the World SS will auto enter it into the same columns on the US SS. If you accidentally enter a number into the US SS and need to back it out, use the back arrow key at the top of the SS in the toolbar instead of deleting the number. If you delete the number, you’ll delete the formatting.

You don’t need to add things such as “@ 6 am” or "@ 8 am”; that just confuses the SS formatting. If you know what time you shot, just put the BG in the correct cell. However, if you shot at 6 am and you test at 9:30 am, which would be +3.5, then you’ll have to do some manual changes. Here’s what I suggest:

  • let’s say you test at +3.5 and the BG is 10 (World number). Go to the World SS, then the date and the appropriate cycle and in the +3 column, enter the BG.
  • open the US SS and go to that same date and cell and the BG will have been calculated; this is the one circumstance where you’ll need to delete numbers on the US SS so you can manually enter so take note of the number (180 in this example) and then delete it; then manually type 180 @ 3.5. Go to the toolbar, click on the pitcher and select the correct color (blue) and then to the “A” to the left and select the correct print (white).
  • go back to the World SS to that cell and after the 10, add @ 3.5 then manually color the cell the same way.

Let me know if you have any questions or need help. Just send me a private message; that’s the fastest way to get me. Thank you!!:):):):)
Click to expand...

Great, thank you so much. I will only use the remarks section in the SS to make any comments on times etc from now on; I am beginning to see a pattern here in feeding and timing, so they are important for me, these comments; it's also clear that the dose is still not high enough, but may be getting there, not a sprint, a marathon, how true that is! Thank you everyone, @Djamila , @Marje and Gracie , @JanetNJ for the tips and also for fixing the SS of course! Meanwhile, I have become Galaxy's *****... seriously, I am at his beck and call, all the time at home, when away from home for a few hours I can't stop thinking 'what's he doing now? is he sleeping? please be sleeping!' etc... Ahh, don't we worship them...
 
upload_2019-5-27_10-40-58.jpeg
 
I'm not sure if this would work on the world spreadsheet, but you can give it a try: if you click on a cell, and then right click, a menu pops up. If you choose "insert note" it gives you a little box you can type into. That might be a place where you could enter the info you're wanting to track without getting an error message. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but could be worth a try :)
 
Djamila said:
I'm not sure if this would work on the world spreadsheet, but you can give it a try: if you click on a cell, and then right click, a menu pops up. If you choose "insert note" it gives you a little box you can type into. That might be a place where you could enter the info you're wanting to track without getting an error message. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but could be worth a try :)
Click to expand...
I’ve always found those notes a pain to use if I’m advising someone....:p:blackeye:
 
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