11/04 Junga AMPS 298 PMPS 233 -- Help w/1st curve at home?

[jldnvjld]

I'm getting a little better with home testing; we're averaging about three pokes to get a drop of blood. It's better than ten pokes.....

I will be home on Sunday, and so am planning my first glucose curve. I have questions, of course!

1. I gather I'm to take a sample pre-shot, and then a sample hourly post-shot. In the interests of not wearing out Junga's patience with getting poked, are there particular hours/data points I can safely skip?

2. Junga's somewhat of a wet food grazer. My plan is to let him eat normally. Is that okay?

3. I really don't quite know what to shoot. It could be that the ~0.25 BID he got today is really a bit low. Should I shoot that, or nudge it up to a skinny 0.5? (say, 0.4, 0.3)

4. What questions should I be asking that I've neglected to ask? (and of course, I'd like the answers along with the questions.)

J.

 

[Ronnie & Luna]

Re: 11/04 Junga AMPS 298 PMPS 233 -- Help w/1st curve at hom

hi there

you'll want to check out this sticky from up top: New To The Group

In here, you will see this chart of a typical curve example. Testing every hour is not necessary,... a regular curve is about every two hours, or a mini curve, every three hours.
My recommendations for spotchecks are +3, +5 or +6, +9 and a +11

However, as you gather more data and start to see how Lantus is working on your cat, you will be more comfortable in knowing when to spotcheck Junga.
Depending on where Junga starts off at preshot time, you may be required to do a +1 and/or +2.
Those early cycle spotchecks are just as important, especially with a lower than usual preshot number.


Learn how YOUR kitty is responding to insulin:
Onset - the length of time before insulin reaches the bloodstream & begins lowering blood glucose
Peak/Nadir - the lowest point in the cycle
Duration - the length of time insulin continues to lower blood glucose
How to do a Curve

Example of a typical curve:
+0 - PreShot number.
+1 - Usually higher than PreShot number because of the last shot wearing off. May see a food spike in this number.
+2 - Often similar to the PreShot number.
+3 - Lower than the PreShot number, onset has started.
+4 - Lower.
+5 - Lower.
+6 - Nadir/Peak (the lowest number of cycle).
+7 - Surf (hang around the nadir number).
+8 - Slight rise.
+9 - Slight rise.
+10 - Rising.
+11 - Rising (may dip around +10 or +11).
+12 - PreShot number.

Not sure what you mean by eating normally...grazing is good, sometimes thou, again, depending on the numbers, you may have to offer some food to steer the numbers. Post along the way when you do your curve and others will guide you along.

I would also suggest reading up on the protocol stickies, if you haven't yet...Lantus doses need time to settle, along with your numbers, especially nadir/peak, this info will help others offer the dosing suggestions, but each dose needs that time to settle.

 

[Blue]

Re: 11/04 Junga AMPS 298 PMPS 233 -- Help w/1st curve at hom

As Ronnie mentioned, doses need to settle because of the shed, so you really won't have a good picture of true numbers on a dose.
Tight Regulation Protocol
LANTUS & LEVEMIR – INSULIN DEPOT –AKA- STORAGE SHED
Lantus&Levemir – Data Ready to Shoot Low Numbers

Because you are getting some nice green numbers, it may be an idea to read the info on HYPO situations - when you are testing more often you will start to see how low Junga is going on a dose.
List of Hypo symptoms
How to treat HYPOS – They can kill! Print this out!
Jojo’s HYPO TOOLKIT

I am sure others have given you plenty of tips on poking that is most successful - I sometimes need to poke twice in a spot before I get something from Shadoe's ears, so you could try 2 quick pokes at the same time and see if the two spots will pool together and give you enough blood for sampling.

It's up to you how frequently you test - you could test each hour but maybe just every 2hours would be good enough. Remember that any dose you give should take a good 4cycles/shots before it's settled and the shed is full, so your curve this weekend should be OK on Sunday if you are sticking with that same dose of .25u.

Food I am sure has been mentioned alot by others but be sure no food is eaten 2hrs prior to your shot times. by eating food before you do your pre-shot test, you will end up with a number affected by food, so test, if number not too low - shoot, and then feed. I suggest not feeding right at test time because you want to be sure that Junga has a number high enough to give insulin. Sometimes, you may need to wait 15min and test again to see if Junga's number is still dropping or is on the rise.

If you have some nice low carb healthy treats that Junga likes/loves, have lots handy so that you can give some with each poke. When doing a curve, there may come a time when Junga says Alright already! Enough with the pokes! so you will need the ammunition to coax Junga to more testing.

Good luck with your curve and ask any questions you have.

 

[jldnvjld]

Re: 11/04 Junga AMPS 298 PMPS 233 -- Help w/1st curve at hom

Thanks for the tips, particularly on which 'hours' I could reasonably skip. I've printed the responses.

I take back my statement that testing is going better; I was back up to eight-ten pokes this morning on wiggle kitty. I tried burrito-ing him part way through, but I guess I need some practice at that, too. Usually he's just wiggling his head; this morning it was a full-body wiggle. Yes; I've gotten lots of suggestions on poking; I just haven't found anything that works consistently yet. I guess some people (and cats) just have an easier time with testing than others.

Junga has decided he no longer likes the freeze-dried liver treats. I think I may mailorder some freeze-dried duck, since he likes the canned duck food so well. He rejected all the freeze-dried fish snacks I tried on him. We're not sure if he's allergic to chicken or not. So at present I don't have any low-carb treats that he likes.

On the dose: given the 'settling' issue, I'm thinking that maybe I ought to run the curve using ~0.25 this weekend, and then if the nadirs don't look too low, ease it up to 0.4ish mid next week, with the plan of doing a curve on 0.4 the following Sunday. In my understanding, Junga's a.m. pre-shot numbers are above the highs for 'regulated.' But I don't want to get the lows too low. On Wed. Junga had a 'low' evening; he's really groggy when his BG is in the 60's. I also couldn't get it to come up (noticeably, anyway) with HC food, which worried me; if I can't control his lows well with HC snacks, then I REALLY need to work to avoid those lows.

BTW, I'm using some hypoallergenic kibble as HC. I know folks use 'gravy' canned food, but Junga has grain allergies and intolerances; I don't want to give him something that's going to make him throw up, or itch so bad he's going to need a cortisone shampoo. I am keeping an eye out for a high-carb, low-allergen canned cat food in small servings to keep on hand for this purpose.

j.

 

[Pat+Raja+Shadow (GA)]

Re: 11/04 Junga AMPS 298 PMPS 233 -- Help w/1st curve at hom

Can you please open a new condo for Junga today and link this one to your first post...maybe report the AMPS and let us know how Junga is doing...
We watch for 5 Ps each day:
Peeing
Preening
Pooping
Purring
Playing
So post how many Ps are present, ok? See you there! :razz:

 

[jldnvjld]

Re: 11/04 Junga AMPS 298 PMPS 233 -- Help w/1st curve at hom

Can you please open a new condo for Junga today and link this one to your first post...maybe report the AMPS and let us know how Junga is doing...
We watch for 5 Ps each day:
Peeing
Preening
Pooping
Purring
Playing
So post how many Ps are present, ok? See you there! :razz:

Okay; done!