11/19, Monster AMPS 185, +2.5 160, +6.5 102, +9 138, +11 182 PMPS 224

Monster's Mom

Monster's Mom

Member
I'm not sure how accurate the +6.5 102 is. I noticed later when I did the +9, I had just a little blood but able to run the test, it read very low, so I repeated it with more blood right away and I got a higher more accurate number. That higher number made sense to me. I have question... I would like to switch to TR but with either method I noticed it says to NOT FEED. That's where I have the issue. I feed fresh food when I get up in the morning and about 30 mins later is her shot time. The same thing when I get home from work. They both know that it is time to eat and of course act like they are just starving. So I test, feed, shoot. I don't know how food influences her cycle because once I feed, I leave it out and they go back to graze throughout the day and night. Now, I am thinking about getting auto feeders (now that I know they have those) so the food will be fresher. Before Monster's DX, they ate dry food and it was in an auto feeder. So they are both used to that kind of thing. I don't think there has been a time where food didn't influence her numbers because she really does eat all the time. If I don't put down fresh food,then she goes over and eats the leftovers. I couldn't imagine holding food from her or my other baby. I'm just confused with the whole thing because if they eat, then food is going to influence their numbers throughout the day and night, right? I don't mean to sound stupid, or question the process but I'm just not understanding it all. Plus, I give her treats when I test, so then that influences her numbers too.
Please help me understand 🙃
And I do want to change to TR because it seems like that is our best option for possible remission
 
Monster's Mom said:
I'm not sure how accurate the +6.5 102 is. I noticed later when I did the +9, I had just a little blood but able to run the test, it read very low, so I repeated it with more blood right away and I got a higher more accurate number. That higher number made sense to me. I have question... I would like to switch to TR but with either method I noticed it says to NOT FEED. That's where I have the issue. I feed fresh food when I get up in the morning and about 30 mins later is her shot time. The same thing when I get home from work. They both know that it is time to eat and of course act like they are just starving. So I test, feed, shoot. I don't know how food influences her cycle because once I feed, I leave it out and they go back to graze throughout the day and night. Now, I am thinking about getting auto feeders (now that I know they have those) so the food will be fresher. Before Monster's DX, they ate dry food and it was in an auto feeder. So they are both used to that kind of thing. I don't think there has been a time where food didn't influence her numbers because she really does eat all the time. If I don't put down fresh food,then she goes over and eats the leftovers. I couldn't imagine holding food from her or my other baby. I'm just confused with the whole thing because if they eat, then food is going to influence their numbers throughout the day and night, right? I don't mean to sound stupid, or question the process but I'm just not understanding it all. Plus, I give her treats when I test, so then that influences her numbers too.
Please help me understand 🙃
And I do want to change to TR because it seems like that is our best option for possible remission
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You don’t want food to influence the preshot test. That’s the test that tells you if it is safe to give Monster her shot. If you give her food before that test, her number will be influenced by that food. We withhold food two hours prior to the preshot. Once you’ve tested and see that it’s safe to shoot, you feed/shoot, and many of us shoot while our kitty is eating. With Lantus, you don’t have to wait 30 mins until food is on board to shoot. The onset of the insulin is about 1-2 hours, so you have that much time to get food on board. Once they eat and get their insulin, the food will begin manipulating her numbers, driving them up, but that’s okay because she has received insulin which will start doing its job to bring her bg down. Jude grazes the entire cycle, and that’s okay, as long as he gets some food at shot time.

In terms of SLGS or TR, both withhold food 2 hours prior to the preshot. The main difference in the two methods lay in the dose increase/decrease guidelines. With SLGS, the number where they get reductions is 90 where it’s 50 with TR. So, you can often end up staying with a higher dose longer on TR. On TR, you should be able to test at least twice a day in addition to the preshot. Also, on TR, they can’t have any kibble.

I hope this helps to answer your question.
 
Mary & Jude said:
You don’t want food to influence the preshot test. That’s the test that tells you if it is safe to give Monster her shot. If you give her food before that test, her number will be influenced by that food. We withhold food two hours prior to the preshot. Once you’ve tested and see that it’s safe to shoot, you feed/shoot, and many of us shoot while our kitty is eating. With Lantus, you don’t have to wait 30 mins until food is on board to shoot. The onset of the insulin is about 1-2 hours, so you have that much time to get food on board. Once they eat and get their insulin, the food will begin manipulating her numbers, driving them up, but that’s okay because she has received insulin which will start doing its job to bring her bg down. Jude grazes the entire cycle, and that’s okay, as long as he gets some food at shot time.

In terms of SLGS or TR, both withhold food 2 hours prior to the preshot. The main difference in the two methods lay in the dose increase/decrease guidelines. With SLGS, the number where they get reductions is 90 where it’s 50 with TR. So, you can often end up staying with a higher dose longer on TR. On TR, you should be able to test at least twice a day in addition to the preshot. Also, on TR, they can’t have any kibble.

I hope this helps to answer your question.
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It helps. I test her and immediately feed her but I couldn't guarantee that she didn't go and graze a little bit within those 2 hours and that's what I was concerned with. She eats more at the time I feed her and then more or less snacks in-between. She gets her shot usually while still eating or when she walks away from it so it all sounds similar. I can get +2 AM and +2 PM most days. On my 2 days off, I can test anytime usually and on Saturdays I go into work 2 hours later so I can test +4 then. I can't tell by looking, when her nadir is. May be the inexperience in me, but I really can't make sense of her SS. I would like to understand it a bit more, and maybe in time I will
 
Monster's Mom said:
It helps. I test her and immediately feed her but I couldn't guarantee that she didn't go and graze a little bit within those 2 hours and that's what I was concerned with. She eats more at the time I feed her and then more or less snacks in-between. She gets her shot usually while still eating or when she walks away from it so it all sounds similar. I can get +2 AM and +2 PM most days. On my 2 days off, I can test anytime usually and on Saturdays I go into work 2 hours later so I can test +4 then. I can't tell by looking, when her nadir is. May be the inexperience in me, but I really can't make sense of her SS. I would like to understand it a bit more, and maybe in time I will
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You will understand it more in time—FD takes a minute to understand bc it’s such a learning curve. You’re doing the best thing: asking questions. She’s kind of all over the place with her nadirs, isn’t she? That might be because she’s still getting used to the insulin. She’s had some lower preshot numbers and has done a little bouncing. But, the number of recent consistent blues is reflective of the fact that she’s settling down, especially given the fact that you’ve had a few cycles where you haven’t shot, which, of course, can cause irregularity in her cycles. As she gets a little more accustomed to the insulin, you’ll be able to shoot her at lower numbers, so you won’t be skipping doses. That will add to her becoming more consistent.
 
Mary & Jude said:
You will understand it more in time—FD takes a minute to understand bc it’s such a learning curve. You’re doing the best thing: asking questions. She’s kind of all over the place with her nadirs, isn’t she? That might be because she’s still getting used to the insulin. She’s had some lower preshot numbers and has done a little bouncing. But, the number of recent consistent blues is reflective of the fact that she’s settling down, especially given the fact that you’ve had a few cycles where you haven’t shot, which, of course, can cause irregularity in her cycles. As she gets a little more accustomed to the insulin, you’ll be able to shoot her at lower numbers, so you won’t be skipping doses. That will add to her becoming more consistent.
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Thank you! I appreciate your time and patience. I do worry about skipping shots and it getting her off track... but of course, in the moment, I'm too worried about her tanking while I'm not with her to help her.
When we were at the vet, at diagnosis, the vet said maybe after about 6 months we could look into using a CGM. I wondered why in 6 months? Is that just for her to get used to the insulin and be a bit more stable with it? I feel like a CGM where I could check her while I'm at work would ease my mind a bit. But then again I could totally see me telling them I gotta go, my cat needs me and rushing right out of there. I'm sure they wouldn't like that.
 
We have a lot of board members who use CGMs, and they can offer excellent advice. @Staci & Ivy @Lauren & Esse.

If you have time on the weekends, you might consider shooting lower numbers (not skipping shots) when you can monitor through the cycle. Also, I would consider trying to capture more PM numbers on your days off so that you will know how she is doing at night; the p.m. cycle can look a lot different from the a.m. cycle.
 
Mary & Jude said:
We have a lot of board members who use CGMs, and they can offer excellent advice. @Staci & Ivy @Lauren & Esse.

If you have time on the weekends, you might consider shooting lower numbers (not skipping shots) when you can monitor through the cycle. Also, I would consider trying to capture more PM numbers on your days off so that you will know how she is doing at night; the p.m. cycle can look a lot different from the a.m. cycle.
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I will try that. I was just reading about some pm cycles being so different. I'm off tomorrow so I'll stay up a bit tonight and test more. Thank you
 
Here's that link to your previous post: 11/18 Monster PMPS 128

If it helps any, that "don't feed for 2 hours before preshot" is not forever. It's what we suggest new people do. Once you have enough data, and know how much food will bump up Monster's numbers at shot time, then it's OK to feed later if you have to. Once you know how much of a food numbers bump she gets, then you'll know what the PS would have been if she hadn't eaten. More information in here, should you decide to follow TR: Tight Regulation: Becoming Data Ready to Shoot / Handle Lower Pre-shot Numbers.

As Mary said, the ideal situation is to test, feed, then shoot. You should be able to do it all within around 10 minutes.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Here's that link to your previous post: 11/18 Monster PMPS 128

If it helps any, that "don't feed for 2 hours before preshot" is not forever. It's what we suggest new people do. Once you have enough data, and know how much food will bump up Monster's numbers at shot time, then it's OK to feed later if you have to. Once you know how much of a food numbers bump she gets, then you'll know what the PS would have been if she hadn't eaten. More information in here, should you decide to follow TR: Tight Regulation: Becoming Data Ready to Shoot / Handle Lower Pre-shot Numbers.

As Mary said, the ideal situation is to test, feed, then shoot. You should be able to do it all within around 10 minutes.
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Thank you for the link to the post. I forgot that part.
Good to know that it's not forever. I know Lantus doesn't kick in for a few hours but I've managed to get+1, +2, and +3 tests so far tonight and she has stayed steady 229, 229 and 227. I'm not sure what that means for her. If food is any factor in that. But I guess I'll see what happens.
 
Mary & Jude said:
We have a lot of board members who use CGMs, and they can offer excellent advice. @Staci & Ivy @Lauren & Esse.

If you have time on the weekends, you might consider shooting lower numbers (not skipping shots) when you can monitor through the cycle. Also, I would consider trying to capture more PM numbers on your days off so that you will know how she is doing at night; the p.m. cycle can look a lot different from the a.m. cycle.
Click to expand...
Hi Regan, I’m glad Mary tagged me here.
I use a Libre 3 sensor (for almost 3 years, all the time).
I can also do an ear prick if needed, when Ivy drops low on the Libre to double check where she is using my Contour Next meter.

There’s no reason to wait 6 months if that’s something that you would like to do right away.
Vets are slightly familiar with Libres, but have no real daily practical experience, from what I have found.

I will link a document we have put together here about using a Libre that you can read. It should answer a lot of questions about using one.
Getting Started With Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) for Diabetic Cats
I also highly recommend joining the Facebook group Freestyle Libre for Dogs and Cats. There’s a lot of really good information and people there who can answer questions, if you have them.
As Mary mentioned, there is quite a learning curve to a feline diabetes diagnosis.
It does take time to get comfortable and understand what’s going on and we are all here to help you 🥰

Please let me know if you have any questions.
 
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