8/24, Bell, AMPS 109, +1 100, +2 68, +3 80, +4 71, +5 66, +6 91, +9 157, PMPS 243, low on insulin?

She will most likely bounce from the greens of last night. Since you can monitor, I would suggest that you shoot the full dose. Lantus is very good at giving flat cycles when you shoot low.

Do not fill her up - you want her to be willing to eat a little every hour. Please feed, shoot and get a +1 and +2?

ETA: You've shot 117 before. 109 is the same number if you consider meter variance :-)
 
Good advice from Bhooma!

Are you using the Libre or Relion meter? If the readings are from the Libre, remember it can give an inaccurately lower reading when in lower ranges.
 
I am using the Relion so they should be true numbers. Just gave her the shot and a bit of food. I will monitor her +1 and +2 and give a small amount of food (she'll be happy :D) after each of those tests. Thanks so much! Happy to have her this low
 
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Surf safely, Bell.:bighug:
She’s really responding to this dose :D
Wishing you a very safe day. Great job getting help to guide you :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Thank you Staci! I have been complaining about Bell’s high numbers, so I am grateful for the low numbers. The round the clock help this message board provides is really something ❤️
 
Bell just played the most she has in a long, long time. Managed to flop around enough to even rip her collar off :D. Usually she feels crummy at lower numbers, so this is heartening. Maybe the antibiotics are doing their job and her anal gland infection is finally clearing up. Fingers crossed!

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After being in high numbers for weeks/months, their bodies get comfortable in them. Initially, lower numbers don't feel good - like a sugar/caffeine withdrawal. Once they get used to lower numbers, they love them and will become more energetic and happy in them.

Lovely pic!
 
Yes! I’m hoping this is her first step to getting used to the lower numbers. She also has had a lingering infection in her anal gland for over a month. Got a culture per Sienne’s advice and now she’s been on an antibiotic for 5 days that targets the bacteria grown in the culture. So that could also be playing a factor in the lower numbers all of the sudden.
 
I have a question related to steering lower numbers with food. I know a lot of folks here use medium and high carb food at <50 BG to help steer a cat's curve. I transitioned Bell directly from dry kibble to LC fancy feast, and that is all she will currently eat in terms of wet food. I experimented with a ton of other LC options that she refused :rolleyes:. But I never had the chance to try medium or high carb foods. I did try some fancy feast in gravy once when she dropped below 50 for the first time, but she refused that. I don't really want to try out higher carb foods when Bell is at higher numbers, but that means I don't have that tool in my kit.

My question is: can I use maple syrup in her LC foot to similar effect? (Don't worry I'm not planning on doing that now, only when she drops low low). I know the maple syrup/Karo will be fast acting and not last as long as, say, medium carb food. Asking just so I can be prepared. Thanks!
 
Bandit's Mom said:
That's quite a dive at +2! Please feed a tsp of food and get a +3?

What do you have in terms of higher carb food?
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Ha, I typed out a question regarding this before I saw your post. I fed her 1/4 of a can of ff at +2 (needed to get her probiotics in for the antibiotics). Would you advise giving her more food? I will for sure get a +3
 
Maybe another point to note: Bell has been on a kinda weird AM cycle where her +2 has often been the nadir of the cycle. Not saying this is the case now, and I will for sure be monitoring her closely today. But I wouldn't be surprised if she pops back up at +3 or +4.
 
bluesunshine said:
Ha, I typed out a question regarding this before I saw your post. I fed her 1/4 of a can of ff at +2 (needed to get her probiotics in for the antibiotics). Would you advise giving her more food? I will for sure get a +3
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1/4 can of food is more than enough. You don't want her getting too full to eat at +3. And yes, you can add honey/syrup to LC to increase the carb%.
 
And right on cue, her +3 popped back up to 80. It is an odd pattern for Bell, but ECID... Gave her about a tsp of food, which she gobbled up. I'll keep monitoring her to make sure that her AM dose doesn't dip her too low later in the day.
 
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You can absolutely use maple syrup, corn syrup, honey, etc. to boost the carbs in Bell's food. Gabby had a gluten intolerance and most of the "gravy" high carb food has gluten. I typically used syrup to raise her numbers.
 
Awesome, thanks Sienne. Any idea of a conversion between maple syrup/honey/Karo and medium/high carb food? I'm assuming a few drops of maple syrup would be what I want to mimic Medium carb food?
 
I guess prolly a better approach is to just monitor her BG and go from there with maple syrup dosage... I'd be monitoring often enough if she drops that low anyway
 
Bell’s +4 dropped her back a bit lower. I gave another tsp of food. She’s had less food than she normally would have at this point in the day, so she should still be hungry if I need to get food into her.
 
I learned a lesson today. I am afraid I'm reaching the end of my 2 ml Lantus vial. This evening I had a really hard time getting insulin without half of the draw being air. I ended up managing to get a dose but it had a fairly large air bubble I couldn't get rid of. I shot this anyway because I was afraid of wasting anymore insulin before I could get a refill. It is really hard for me to judge the amount i have left - even with a new vial I was amazed by how small the amount of liquid seemed to be. I have a spreadsheet where I summed up all the shots I have made, assuming that I was wasting 0.25 units for every shot (this may be my mistake if I was wasting a lot more than that). That spreadsheet indicates that I have 0.70 ml left in the vial. I tried to only stick part of the needle in the vial, but this was difficult, plus I am not sure how thick the membrane is that I need to get past.

Are there any tips for how to get the last amount out of a vial?

I'll need to 7.5 units out of this amount, assuming my vet has some available on Monday:
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Does that seem doable? This is probably a stupid question since it is really hard for someone to judge from a picture without seeing the dimensions of the vial. Here's where the surface of the liquid is, if that helps at all:

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My gut feeling is there is plenty in there to get me through til Monday, I just need a better technique to draw it out. Definitely stressed me out tonight not being able to get the full amount, especially after Bell had such a nice run and is starting to bounce up again.

I read through some old threads and the suggestion was to order a new bottle when you have ~1/5 left of the old bottle and then keep the old bottle in case something happens to the new one. I will follow this advice in the future, although knowing when there is 1/5 left seems like a hard thing to judge.

I'm really sorry to ask so many questions today, I feel bad spamming up this board. You all are so helpful, I am eternally grateful.
 
We strongly discourage getting Lantus from the vet, that looks like it was repackaged. Much better to get a prescription from the vet and get it filled at a human pharmacy. You want a vial, or pens labelled from the manufacturer. We seen too much repackaged insulin that doesn't last as long or work as well.
 
Oh dangit I didn’t realize that :arghh:. I may be stuck for the next vial since I need it soon, but I will try to get a script for the future, I’ve got a checkup with them next week. Hoping that doesn’t skew all Bell’s data for the past month…
 
I just ordered this from Chewy:
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I'm guessing it will take a week or so to get to me, since it has to go through my vet for a prescription. I'm going to ask on Monday if they can give me a minimal amount of their repackaged insulin to tide me over in the meantime. Hopefully, I won't get pushback. This is way cheaper than what I paid from the vet...

Still not sure how long I have til I run out of my current vial.
 

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