nicole sent a PM. i'm replying here:
not shooting at +12 tonight was understandable because you're new and you don't have a lot of data on baby... yet.
you don't have the data to support shooting a 127.
however, for future reference let's learn from what happened tonight.
+12 127
+13 90
+14 99
+15.5 170
it takes approximately 2 - 3 hours for long lasting insulins like lantus or levemir to kick in. this is called
ONSET:
the length of time before insulin reaches the bloodstream & begins lowering blood glucose. had you shot the +12, the insulin would have started lowering the blood glucose somewhere right before that 170 @ +15.5. in other words, you're not shooting the actual preshot number, you're shooting the number which will come in 2 - 3 hours. if you had shot the +12, the insulin would have started bringing down that 170.
from
Tight Regulation with Lantus or Levemir for Diabetic Cats:
"It is likely, because of the way Lantus and Levemir work (they appear to work for >12 hours, therefore producing overlap between doses), you will face the problem of having a low pre-shot BG and wondering what dose you should give. Try reducing the dose the first few times to see what happens - in all likelihood the cat will have higher BGs as a result. A second alternative is to feed the cat, wait 1 to 2 hours, test again, and when the BGs start rising, give the normal dose. A third alternative is to split the dose: feed the cat, give most of the dose immediately and give the remainder 1 to 2 hours later when the BGs start rising. However, in most cats none of these alternatives have shown themselves to work as well as consistent dosing. You will have to learn how your cat reacts to Lantus/Levemir before you determine the best way to deal with this problem."
the methods listed above are for newbies who can't veer off their schedule and/or haven't collected enough data to feel comfortable shooting low. as kirsten (the author) points out, none of these methods have shown themselves to work as well as consistent dosing.
since you are not comfortable shooting lower numbers, my suggestion is to reduce the dose to 0.25u bid. reducing the dose will enable you to collect the data you need to feel comfortable shooting on the 12s. take a look at alex's levemir spreadsheet in my signature. shooting full doses every 12 hours is what you want to be able to do. the idea is to shoot low to stay low like i did with alex.
Also, please review the starred thread at the top of this forum:
LANTUS & LEVEMIR: BECOMING DATA READY TO SHOOT LOWER NUMBERS. this will help you become data ready to shoot those lower preshot numbers.
hope this helps...
