Nicoleandnorman
Member Since 2020
Hello,
This is my first post, I hope I am following all the rules. I've been working for the last few hours to get Normans spreadsheet done up, I'm unsure if it's correct, but it seems to be ok. I wasn't sure how to log blood sugar on the half an hour, so all +3 and +4 you see are actually +3.5 and +4.5. I also didn't know how to log his meals so I put them in the comments (it's the exact same every day)
So a little back story. Norman got diagnosed in March 2020, just as everything shut down. So I've never actually met my vet face to face, and I've only learned how to test and give him his shots from my own research (thank you all, this has been my best resource)
I'm also not in a great place financially, and my vet charges me $80 even just to call and ask questions. So I'm doing a lot of this alone, and there's a lot of anxiety. I'm TERRIFIED of a low. Like, won't leave for more than an hour so I can constantly watch him, and over analyze every thing he does, kind of terrified. Even though I've never seen a number below 7.8 (140)
My anxiety actually caused me to put off doing a curve for months (test time is stressful in my house, but getting better) and my poor baby has been unregulated since his diagnosis.
He was always around 18-20 almost all of last year, on 1.5u of levemir. But he was seemed much better; not flooding the litterbox as often, put weight back on, only screaming for food his normal amount. Then he started to get neuropathy in his back legs in January. Again, I couldn't afford to go to the vet, so I started him on methyl-b12 based on what I read on this message board. (Within 2 weeks his legs were almost back to normal) But when I put him on the B12 I had to go a while without test strips due to financial issues.
When I tested him when I got strips again (2 weeks later ) his pre shot number was 7, and when I tested 10 mins later it was 6.7 which scared the crap out of me. So in late March we basically started over. I started him on .5u of his levemir, and I have been lost ever since.
His numbers just don't make sense to me. No matter what dose I have him on he seems to hang around the high teens/low twenties, then occasionally I'll get a pre shot number like today's (171) and it freaks me out! And I pull back, and then the numbers go up again.
Or like, I'll log his pre shot number and be ok with it, then check him 4.5 hours later and expect him to have fallen into a good range, but his numbers will have gone up significantly.
I just feel like he's so all over the place that I don't know if I'm dealing with a bounce, or some carryover, or does he simply need a higher dose? Or less of a dose? She's he need a different insulin? I don't know
If you've made it this far into my stressed out mess of a post, thank you. I basically need someone who knows what they're doing to look at his numbers and tell me what you think. Also, if anybody can ease my mind a bit about lows, that would be a huge help. I don't even know what to look for. My cat is a goofy, clumsy, screaming ball of personality. So the typical "if your cat seems drunk/is yowling/is screaming for food" only gives me more anxiety because those are his main personality traits.
Even if no one can help me here, thank you all so much much, this message board has been a lifesaver so far.
TL;Dr my cat is unregulated, numbers don't make sense, and I don't know what to do.
This is my first post, I hope I am following all the rules. I've been working for the last few hours to get Normans spreadsheet done up, I'm unsure if it's correct, but it seems to be ok. I wasn't sure how to log blood sugar on the half an hour, so all +3 and +4 you see are actually +3.5 and +4.5. I also didn't know how to log his meals so I put them in the comments (it's the exact same every day)
So a little back story. Norman got diagnosed in March 2020, just as everything shut down. So I've never actually met my vet face to face, and I've only learned how to test and give him his shots from my own research (thank you all, this has been my best resource)
I'm also not in a great place financially, and my vet charges me $80 even just to call and ask questions. So I'm doing a lot of this alone, and there's a lot of anxiety. I'm TERRIFIED of a low. Like, won't leave for more than an hour so I can constantly watch him, and over analyze every thing he does, kind of terrified. Even though I've never seen a number below 7.8 (140)
My anxiety actually caused me to put off doing a curve for months (test time is stressful in my house, but getting better) and my poor baby has been unregulated since his diagnosis.
He was always around 18-20 almost all of last year, on 1.5u of levemir. But he was seemed much better; not flooding the litterbox as often, put weight back on, only screaming for food his normal amount. Then he started to get neuropathy in his back legs in January. Again, I couldn't afford to go to the vet, so I started him on methyl-b12 based on what I read on this message board. (Within 2 weeks his legs were almost back to normal) But when I put him on the B12 I had to go a while without test strips due to financial issues.
When I tested him when I got strips again (2 weeks later ) his pre shot number was 7, and when I tested 10 mins later it was 6.7 which scared the crap out of me. So in late March we basically started over. I started him on .5u of his levemir, and I have been lost ever since.
His numbers just don't make sense to me. No matter what dose I have him on he seems to hang around the high teens/low twenties, then occasionally I'll get a pre shot number like today's (171) and it freaks me out! And I pull back, and then the numbers go up again.
Or like, I'll log his pre shot number and be ok with it, then check him 4.5 hours later and expect him to have fallen into a good range, but his numbers will have gone up significantly.
I just feel like he's so all over the place that I don't know if I'm dealing with a bounce, or some carryover, or does he simply need a higher dose? Or less of a dose? She's he need a different insulin? I don't know
If you've made it this far into my stressed out mess of a post, thank you. I basically need someone who knows what they're doing to look at his numbers and tell me what you think. Also, if anybody can ease my mind a bit about lows, that would be a huge help. I don't even know what to look for. My cat is a goofy, clumsy, screaming ball of personality. So the typical "if your cat seems drunk/is yowling/is screaming for food" only gives me more anxiety because those are his main personality traits.
Even if no one can help me here, thank you all so much much, this message board has been a lifesaver so far.
TL;Dr my cat is unregulated, numbers don't make sense, and I don't know what to do.