Hitch Low BG

[Sarah Harris]

Hitch has been in the 200s all day, and now just got an 84 reading in 1 ear, didn't believe it, so I tested again and got a 78 in the other ear. High carb?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hitch has been in the 200s all day, and now just got an 84 reading in 1 ear, didn't believe it, so I tested again and got a 78 in the other ear. High carb?

I see you are using Novolin insulin and would be doing SLGS. Is this correct?
yes I would give a teaspoon of HC and test again in 20 minutes to see he is coming back up
Hitch has earned a reduction in dose down to 0.75 units.

 

[Sarah Harris]

Idk what SLGS means. We give insulin shots between his shoulders

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Idk what SLGS means. We give insulin shots between his shoulders

SLGS is the dosing method. If you are giving Novolin I think that would be the method you should be following.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Here is the beginners guide to Novolin
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-humulin-n-novolin-n-nph.231593/

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Wow Hitch! Way to throw those curveballs!

Nice job on the spreadsheet, Sarah. I am soooooo glad you were smart enough to question the 5U!!!!!

Did you get any tests after the 78? Don't be surprised if he's sky-high in the morning-- that's the bouncing we were talking about the other day.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Don't be surprised if he's sky-high in the morning-- that's the bouncing we were talking about the other day.

Ooops! My mistake, I think I got your first thread, New Member, Hitch diagnosed 3 Nov, mixed up with another conversation I was having that day, doesn't seem we talked about bouncing then.

So, bouncing: when a diabetic cat gets a low BG (lower than they have been used to, anyway), the body often reacts in a protective measure, dumping sugars into the blood to raise BG by hundreds (!!!!) of points. This (over-) reaction can last for up to three days.

Looking at Hitch's spreadsheet, I'm going to guess that the high numbers you were seeing from the afternoon of 11/5 to last night were the result of a bounce from the blue numbers you saw on 11/4. He'll almost certainly do the same thing now after hitting even lower numbers in green.

As Bron says, the new dose is 0.75U. When is your prozinc due to arrive? Do you have the U-40 syringes for it?

 

[Sarah Harris]

We have a vet appt tomorrow which I think is where he plans on giving us the prozinc. My syringes don't go below 1u, so aside from guessing... I wouldn't be able to go less than 1u. But, he was 185 this morning, so he didn't get any insulin this morning. Right now is +2 though, so I'm about to check again.

 

[Sarah Harris]

Did you get any tests after the 78? Don't be surprised if he's sky-high in the morning-- that's the bouncing we were talking about the other day.

We got the 78 at +5, then we talked to him about eating some of his regular food while we waited for a reply, he is a slow eater, so he still had some dinner. He ate about 1/4 of a can of his Weruva. 30 mins after the 78, I got an 88, and then 30 mins later I got a 111. So because he was on his way up, we didn't give high carb.

 

[Sarah Harris]

257 at 2+ with no insulin this morning. Dose? I read somewhere that insulin is safe to give 10-12 hours apart in doses, and Novalin wears off before the 12 hr mark.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Can you eyeball 0.75U on your syringes?

We use syringes with 0.5U markings, which makes it easier, but there aren't any out there with 0.25U markings, so eyeballing is pretty much the only way to get that dose.

If it's easier to estimate, I'd even go with 0.5U for today.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Or just skip, since it's two hours off-schedule. Up to you.

 

[Sarah Harris]

Ok, we are going to eyeball a .5.