Stefania S
Member Since 2023
Hello,
I haven't had much time to post an introduction here, been a bit in overwhelm for months now.
Started caninsulin .0038ml (3.8 units on a BD microfine .3ml U-100 syringe) for Jessi in April, more than a month now (I have to check the dates to be more specific), after a 3 day stay at a clinic for ketosis, ketones at 6.4 upon entry which went down quickly after just 24 hours of insulin therapy. They started her on caninsulin, as per the law here in Italy, and I have waited to have better monitoring before switching to lantus. I already have a stock of 5 pen cartridges in my fridge. I wanted Levemir but the vet thought Lantus was the best option. I didn't insist since as it was he was reluctant to switch from Caninsulin. Thursday I took Jessi for an appointment with a well known endocrinologist here in Italy, named Fracassi. He put on the Freestyle sensor which I have been using often throughout the day to get as much information as I can on BGs. The numbers confirmed what I could already observe from her behavior, appearance, etc., which is that she was having big ups and downs. The lowest BGs so far are around 75 and the highest are upper 300s, as much as 389 today right before the insulin shot.
From what I had read about Caninsulin vs Lantus or Levemir, I figured it would be best to get her on one of these last two to lessen the extreme peaks and dips. Now I feel more comfortable making the switch with the sensor on, even though I realize it isn't completely accurate. Maybe you can tell me more about what you know. I haven't yet made the switch because I was waiting to hear back from the endocrinologist on how to proceed, but if he takes too long I may go ahead and rely on the vets at the clinic. I still don't have one vet that I can rely on consistently and that can be there for me in times of need. At the clinic it's whoever happens to be there when you call.
I can tell you that home testing at least for the moment is out of the question. I have attempted many times and it only jeopardized the insulin injections because it put her in a state of extreme fear which then made giving the injections much harder and less consistent. Maybe in the future I will retry but for now I have to make due with the sensor on and off. I obviously, wont attempt TR for this reason. Maybe one day the sensors will be accurate enough to do the TR, or maybe not, but for now I use it to have a more accurate sense of what's going on and to avoid Hypo.
Just earlier I just gave my kitty a fur shot and I am feeling intense anguish knowing (and seeing how high her numbers are and will likely be all night) I don't know how I am going to get any sleep. I am already sleep deprived from weeks of getting 4-5 hours at most a night (and I need a lot more than that to be healthy and fully functional) and I have important health challenges of my own.
After the botched shot, BG was up at 430 at 20:59 then at 397 at 22:58 (according to the sensor). I'm not afraid of ketosis from one missed shot, but I am afraid of what it does to her to have such high BGs so often and now tonight without insulin for so many hours.
Jessi has also been through quite a lot with too many visits to clinics and all the events of these last weeks. She is a cat that gets easily traumatized. She is not like other cats. No one every believes me when I say this. I hope you will. She is ultra sensitive and has a fair amount of distrust towards humans. She is much more at ease outdoors in a natural setting than indoors in a human setting. It's no surprise to me that she has numerous health conditions along with the Diabetes, including chronic gut inflammation and all kinds of food related issues, like allergies, intolerances. In case it's useful, she is a mix breed with obvious Persian and Angora characteristics. She has very long white fur that makes it challenging to give injections but I have done pretty well until now.
I do have a lot of questions about giving shots. Too many times she reacts like it hurts, which tells me I did something wrong or hit a sensitive spot. Sometimes she feels the actual needle, other times she reacts to the fluid itself. I know the difference because she meows in that "ouch that hurt!" way when it's the needle and it's usually right before I push the plunger. Instead, when it's the fluid she's feeling, she jumps away startled after I push the plunger but doesn't make a sound and stands there as if she's trying to figure out what that was. Other times she feels nothing at all. I can't always figure out what I'm doing differently each time to get different reactions but I''m working on it. Maybe you can help me fine tune this process.
Btw, I am nervous every time. Afraid to get it wrong, afraid to go in too deep rather than under the skin, afraid to miss like today, afraid she will jerk away, afraid to hurt her, obviously, which is reenforced when she reacts badly. And I'm afraid to make her afraid. I work with how I feel and find the ways to do it as best as I can, but it is stressful.
I think I'm writing to you right now to calm my nerves. I was so upset when I saw that I missed. I called the clinic and of course they said to just do nothing and wait until morning to give the next dose.
But on TR do you still just skip the dose? And with the sensor showing super high BGs, I still have to do nothing?
I wish she was on Lantus because at least there would probably be some insulin still in her body, right? But with the Caninsulin her numbers start going back up into the upper 200s to 300 ranges about 7 hours after the dose.
I will have to figure out how to share the graphs from the sensor with you all.
Right now I just could use some advice on how to get through this night.
I haven even eaten dinner because I'm so upset by what happened. Btw, it happened because she pulled away. I was attempting to inject in a different more off to the side to avoid injecting always in the same area just below the shoulder blades (which I find so much easier with a skittish cat). This morning it went great for the first time, so I thought it would be no problem this evening. Not at all. This time she was squirming more and even though I'm pretty sure the needle went in, she jerked away at just that moment. When I felt her fur was all wet I knew what had happened. It was only the second time this happened, that I'm aware of. We were doing pretty well, she was showing clear signs of improvement...now this...I'm pretty upset. It seems like every time we start to get some nice progress going, something comes up to throw us back down again.
It's even worse because the sensor is showing me the high numbers (I'm hoping this is where the sensor is less accurate, I have seen posts on another forum of people saying after 200 the numbers get a bit higher with the sensor, but I don't know if that's true). I know she is hungry now even though she had a full meal of a can and a half (Terra Felis Rabbit and Rabbit-Beef). Normally after the injection she gets all sleepy and mellow as the numbers start going down. Now, I have no idea what will happen. Maybe she'll just sleep it off, but she'll be ravenous all night if I don't feed her anymore.
I shouldn't feed her, right? usually I feed her in the middle of the night, like around 2-3, but I should probably skip this since. she has no insulin in her now, I'm assuming.
I have been giving her 4 meals a day, one every 6 hours, approximately including the two pre-insulin meals. This was a choice I made with the Vet's approval even though the standard protocol with caninsulin is 2 meals a day. That was just too extreme for Jessi (and in my view, wrong for cats in general, though it also depends on the individual situation and needs). She had gotten very skinny in the weeks leading up to the urgent clinic visit and after 2 miserable days of giving only 2 meals a day, and after reading other opinions about this, I decided to do what seemed best for both of us right now. It is a compromise since before she was getting fed whenever she got hungry, which was every 3-4 hours usually. She usually becomes ravenously hungry 3 hours before the next shot. It's pretty awful to make her wait knowing what state she is in. I sure hope we can get her Insulin changed soon so that the swings aren't as extreme.
I hope you will accept us in this community even though we are not doing home testing and TR for the moment. I don't exclude it in the future but right now it's not possible if I am going to get her more stabilized. It's hard enough getting the injections done on schedule while keeping her relatively calm. The sensor was the best I could do to get much more information than a bi-weekly curve at the clinic.
Looking forward to having your support and getting helpful information from you all especially in moments like this when I feel so awful and alone. Now I have to find the courage to get myself to bed knowing that my sweet kitty is feeling so yucky.
I wish I could give her some insulin, but I feel afraid to do this without someone very knowledgable here in person to share in the responsibility. Maybe in the future I won't feel as afraid and with your support I could approach this kind of situation differently.
Let me know your thoughts. Would you give insulin after a fur shot? Would that be only if you were home testing with a glucometer? What else should I know in a situation like this?
Maybe I should make a poll for this topic. Or maybe you can direct me to a thread that already has all this information.
So tired, hope I can get some rest soon...
thanks
Stefania and Jessi
I haven't had much time to post an introduction here, been a bit in overwhelm for months now.
Started caninsulin .0038ml (3.8 units on a BD microfine .3ml U-100 syringe) for Jessi in April, more than a month now (I have to check the dates to be more specific), after a 3 day stay at a clinic for ketosis, ketones at 6.4 upon entry which went down quickly after just 24 hours of insulin therapy. They started her on caninsulin, as per the law here in Italy, and I have waited to have better monitoring before switching to lantus. I already have a stock of 5 pen cartridges in my fridge. I wanted Levemir but the vet thought Lantus was the best option. I didn't insist since as it was he was reluctant to switch from Caninsulin. Thursday I took Jessi for an appointment with a well known endocrinologist here in Italy, named Fracassi. He put on the Freestyle sensor which I have been using often throughout the day to get as much information as I can on BGs. The numbers confirmed what I could already observe from her behavior, appearance, etc., which is that she was having big ups and downs. The lowest BGs so far are around 75 and the highest are upper 300s, as much as 389 today right before the insulin shot.
From what I had read about Caninsulin vs Lantus or Levemir, I figured it would be best to get her on one of these last two to lessen the extreme peaks and dips. Now I feel more comfortable making the switch with the sensor on, even though I realize it isn't completely accurate. Maybe you can tell me more about what you know. I haven't yet made the switch because I was waiting to hear back from the endocrinologist on how to proceed, but if he takes too long I may go ahead and rely on the vets at the clinic. I still don't have one vet that I can rely on consistently and that can be there for me in times of need. At the clinic it's whoever happens to be there when you call.
I can tell you that home testing at least for the moment is out of the question. I have attempted many times and it only jeopardized the insulin injections because it put her in a state of extreme fear which then made giving the injections much harder and less consistent. Maybe in the future I will retry but for now I have to make due with the sensor on and off. I obviously, wont attempt TR for this reason. Maybe one day the sensors will be accurate enough to do the TR, or maybe not, but for now I use it to have a more accurate sense of what's going on and to avoid Hypo.
Just earlier I just gave my kitty a fur shot and I am feeling intense anguish knowing (and seeing how high her numbers are and will likely be all night) I don't know how I am going to get any sleep. I am already sleep deprived from weeks of getting 4-5 hours at most a night (and I need a lot more than that to be healthy and fully functional) and I have important health challenges of my own.
After the botched shot, BG was up at 430 at 20:59 then at 397 at 22:58 (according to the sensor). I'm not afraid of ketosis from one missed shot, but I am afraid of what it does to her to have such high BGs so often and now tonight without insulin for so many hours.
Jessi has also been through quite a lot with too many visits to clinics and all the events of these last weeks. She is a cat that gets easily traumatized. She is not like other cats. No one every believes me when I say this. I hope you will. She is ultra sensitive and has a fair amount of distrust towards humans. She is much more at ease outdoors in a natural setting than indoors in a human setting. It's no surprise to me that she has numerous health conditions along with the Diabetes, including chronic gut inflammation and all kinds of food related issues, like allergies, intolerances. In case it's useful, she is a mix breed with obvious Persian and Angora characteristics. She has very long white fur that makes it challenging to give injections but I have done pretty well until now.
I do have a lot of questions about giving shots. Too many times she reacts like it hurts, which tells me I did something wrong or hit a sensitive spot. Sometimes she feels the actual needle, other times she reacts to the fluid itself. I know the difference because she meows in that "ouch that hurt!" way when it's the needle and it's usually right before I push the plunger. Instead, when it's the fluid she's feeling, she jumps away startled after I push the plunger but doesn't make a sound and stands there as if she's trying to figure out what that was. Other times she feels nothing at all. I can't always figure out what I'm doing differently each time to get different reactions but I''m working on it. Maybe you can help me fine tune this process.
Btw, I am nervous every time. Afraid to get it wrong, afraid to go in too deep rather than under the skin, afraid to miss like today, afraid she will jerk away, afraid to hurt her, obviously, which is reenforced when she reacts badly. And I'm afraid to make her afraid. I work with how I feel and find the ways to do it as best as I can, but it is stressful.
I think I'm writing to you right now to calm my nerves. I was so upset when I saw that I missed. I called the clinic and of course they said to just do nothing and wait until morning to give the next dose.
But on TR do you still just skip the dose? And with the sensor showing super high BGs, I still have to do nothing?
I wish she was on Lantus because at least there would probably be some insulin still in her body, right? But with the Caninsulin her numbers start going back up into the upper 200s to 300 ranges about 7 hours after the dose.
I will have to figure out how to share the graphs from the sensor with you all.
Right now I just could use some advice on how to get through this night.
I haven even eaten dinner because I'm so upset by what happened. Btw, it happened because she pulled away. I was attempting to inject in a different more off to the side to avoid injecting always in the same area just below the shoulder blades (which I find so much easier with a skittish cat). This morning it went great for the first time, so I thought it would be no problem this evening. Not at all. This time she was squirming more and even though I'm pretty sure the needle went in, she jerked away at just that moment. When I felt her fur was all wet I knew what had happened. It was only the second time this happened, that I'm aware of. We were doing pretty well, she was showing clear signs of improvement...now this...I'm pretty upset. It seems like every time we start to get some nice progress going, something comes up to throw us back down again.
It's even worse because the sensor is showing me the high numbers (I'm hoping this is where the sensor is less accurate, I have seen posts on another forum of people saying after 200 the numbers get a bit higher with the sensor, but I don't know if that's true). I know she is hungry now even though she had a full meal of a can and a half (Terra Felis Rabbit and Rabbit-Beef). Normally after the injection she gets all sleepy and mellow as the numbers start going down. Now, I have no idea what will happen. Maybe she'll just sleep it off, but she'll be ravenous all night if I don't feed her anymore.
I shouldn't feed her, right? usually I feed her in the middle of the night, like around 2-3, but I should probably skip this since. she has no insulin in her now, I'm assuming.
I have been giving her 4 meals a day, one every 6 hours, approximately including the two pre-insulin meals. This was a choice I made with the Vet's approval even though the standard protocol with caninsulin is 2 meals a day. That was just too extreme for Jessi (and in my view, wrong for cats in general, though it also depends on the individual situation and needs). She had gotten very skinny in the weeks leading up to the urgent clinic visit and after 2 miserable days of giving only 2 meals a day, and after reading other opinions about this, I decided to do what seemed best for both of us right now. It is a compromise since before she was getting fed whenever she got hungry, which was every 3-4 hours usually. She usually becomes ravenously hungry 3 hours before the next shot. It's pretty awful to make her wait knowing what state she is in. I sure hope we can get her Insulin changed soon so that the swings aren't as extreme.
I hope you will accept us in this community even though we are not doing home testing and TR for the moment. I don't exclude it in the future but right now it's not possible if I am going to get her more stabilized. It's hard enough getting the injections done on schedule while keeping her relatively calm. The sensor was the best I could do to get much more information than a bi-weekly curve at the clinic.
Looking forward to having your support and getting helpful information from you all especially in moments like this when I feel so awful and alone. Now I have to find the courage to get myself to bed knowing that my sweet kitty is feeling so yucky.
I wish I could give her some insulin, but I feel afraid to do this without someone very knowledgable here in person to share in the responsibility. Maybe in the future I won't feel as afraid and with your support I could approach this kind of situation differently.
Let me know your thoughts. Would you give insulin after a fur shot? Would that be only if you were home testing with a glucometer? What else should I know in a situation like this?
Maybe I should make a poll for this topic. Or maybe you can direct me to a thread that already has all this information.
So tired, hope I can get some rest soon...
thanks
Stefania and Jessi
I have a bit of an issue with feeling I am doing things wrong, so this comes up big time in this situation. I got so stressed because I knew she was improving and it felt like the missed shots were sabotaging her improvement. But I can see it wasn't as bad for her as it was for me. Fortunately cats don't sit around worrying about stuff. 
