? 1/25 Oliver AMPS 105 - Dosing Advice Needed

[Emily&Oliver]

Oliver came home two weeks ago with a starting dose of 2U lantus twice daily. We've collected the data and talked with vet, and he's down to 0.5 twice daily, but we are now starting to get numbers that are making us nervous to shoot even on that. I've done my best to collect data on him with work schedule, and he seems to be predictable in his curve so far - going lower, hitting nadir, and then rising again.

We are using an AlphaTrack2, and I'm seeing most of you are using human meters. I've sunk about $250 into this meter/strips/lancets so I'm not ready to change just yet, but I need some help understanding when to not shoot with him right now.

If you look at his spreadsheet, you will see he's had some pretty low nadirs and it makes us nervous. We're realizing too how the margin of error in this meter makes a difference. You'll see a BG of 47 from the vet's bloodwork when the day before the meter gave us a BG of 66 with similar AMPS and dose. Our vet has provided us these guidelines:

BG >250 - Increase 1U from previous dose
BG 100-250 - Repeat previous dose
BG <70-99 -Decrease 1 U from previous dose
BG <70 - Skin insulin

Last night he was 105 PMPS, and we skipped his dose because we couldn't monitor all night. This morning he was 200 after no insulin all night. We administered his 0.5U before going to work.

All that to say - we're struggling with when to skip the shot. We know we should consider going from 0.5 to 0.25 - but how in the world do you guys measure that in the needle?! It's so tiny - we can barely get the 0.5 with the mark on it right. I can't quite understand how to administer 0.25 accurately. Thanks guys!

 

[Sue and Luci]

Hello Emily, Is this your first post?

If so welcome to the best forum ever for helping Oliver get better! I'm sure the experts will be along soon to guide you on more information on when to shoot...

Have you read the stickies at the top of the forum - with the yellow tabs? Tons of great information in there about when to shoot and when not to.

Lantus is a hormone, not a drug - so as for when to shoot - time of day should be consistent - the same time 12 hours apart - whatever works best with your schedule. Also it's important to change the dose by .25 increments. If you can - please get a set of calipers - there's a stickie on how to use them to measure fine doses. They will really help you find the tiniest of increments on your syringe so you can change the dosage slowly.

Ok, about your title: Please write it like this 1/25 Oliver AMPS ### - Dosing Advice Needed. Use the question mark at the front of the title (from the drop-down men) to attract attention to your thread. There are a lot of kitties on here who all need help in one way or another - so it really helps those who are looking to be able to see that your post was from today and what kitty they're talking about.

Next - when you post tomorrow please be sure to copy/paste the url from today's thread into the top of the post - so that everyone can understand the history, if you will...of what's been said, etc. It's just a mechanism here to help keep everything up to date and organized so we all know what's going on.

I hope my suggestions are helpful and that you'll be able to make the changes to your thread soon to catch some attention.

 

[Emily&Oliver]

Thank you for the thoughts on getting more action on the post! We are new to everything in general . I cannot seem to figure out how to change the title - only the body of the post.

I have read the stickies, but I'm using a pet-calibrated meter, so I'm having a hard time understanding how the numbers on human meters relate...a newbie mistake, I'm sure. Or it's possible I've missed something for pet-calibrated meters. I'm sure everyone here can relate to having their heads spin with all the new information when starting on this journey.

I will look into calipers! Thank you for the thought!

 

[Sue and Luci]

I cannot seem to figure out how to change the title - only the body of the post.

Look on the right hand side - lower - underneath your title - there's a drop down box there named ' Thread title ' - click there to edit your title.

I'm sure everyone here can relate to having their heads spin with all the new information when starting on this journey.

OMG! I CAN relate! I was so overwhelmed at first I was sure I'd kill Luci - we're still at it over a year later - haven't done any damage yet...hang in there...it's like drinking from a firehose - but you'll get it...sometimes you gotta read and re-read the notes (I did)...

Don't worry about the difference in the readings just now - more info will come about that from those who are using that meter - I use a human meter 98% of the time due to the cost of pet meters - I keep the Pet Meter handy when the numbers get really low,low...and use it then as a backup to confirm low numbers.

Great calipers are available from Harbor Freight for $14. You don't have to spend a lot. Make sure you buy digital calipers so you can see the numbers in the display window - lots of info on the stickies about what the numbers are based on the type of syringes you need - you can post for help about that as well...

 

[Emily&Oliver]

OK, I update title - thanks for guidance! Yes, we are basically convinced we are going to kill him on the daily as of now. He's definitely had some low-BG moments that have freaked us out. At least we've learned to recognize what "lethargy" looks like for him in those moments. Checking out Harbor Freight now!