11/14 Michelangelo AMPS 293 +6/212

[KPassa]

Previous Condo

His numbers are still a little high even at increasing to .88u. I seem to remember reading about waiting 6 days when increasing a dose before changing it again and 3 days when decreasing? I can't seem to find it now. I could have sworn it was in a sticky somewhere....

We had yet another AMPS battle this morning, but this time, I don't exclusively blame Mikey's morning grumpiness for the difficulties. Is there a place here we can write reviews on glucometers? I've been using the ReliOn Micro for the most part but ran out of test strips a couple of days ago so I switched to my backup Accu-Chek Nano. ARGH!! :evil: The timer for how fast you have to get the blood is WAY too short and gives no warning beep before it shuts off. Plus, you have to angle the strip *just so* in order to get it to absorb the blood all the way to the top of the "straw," otherwise you get an error and have to start over. I've wasted almost 20 strips (~$1 a strip) in the last 3 days because of these issues, not to mention the unnecessary multiple pricks to Mikey's ears. Only two good things about the Accu-Chek: 1) the Fast-clix lancet pen that gives you 6 lancets at a time so you don't have to sit there switching out lancets and 2) I get almost exactly the same numbers as with the ReliOn and it's just as easy to use so it's a good hypo-box backup. With the ReliOn, even if it doesn't suck up the drop fully, there's a long enough delay that you can readjust the strip and usually get it to work. It also gives you a nice little warning beep that you have about 30 seconds to get the blood before it shuts off. Plus, the strips are SOOO much cheaper (~$0.40 a strip).

I'm working from the office today and tomorrow so I won't be able to test throughout the day until Friday, but I'm hoping to see better numbers. I don't want to increase him back to 1u because he was getting too low around his nadir for my comfort.

 

[Ann & Tess GA]

Re: 11/14 Michelangelo AMPS 293 and I hate the Accu-chek Nan

Hi, welcome to LL. I haven't posted here before. The info you want is in the Tight Regulation Protocol stickey, hold 6 cycles before increasing. Reductions are earned by going below 50 for recently dx cats or a week in normal numbers.

Those strips sound way too expensive, but perhaps you can get them cheaper on ebay. There are other meters that have much cheaper strips and on line even less. There is no reason to have to use the same lancet device as meter. If you like the Accu-check lancets use them w/ the Relion meter. And apparently there is a new Relion meter that has strips for $9/50.

Mikey is such a cutie! I love his avatar!

 

[PeterDevonMocha]

Re: 11/14 Michelangelo AMPS 293 and I hate the Accu-chek Nan

Hi guys .. so sorry to hear about your morning struggles .. We always used the relion micro as well and still do .. Our struggle part came at shot time, when mocha fought us tooth and nail ohmygod_smile I hope you start seeing the numbers you are hoping for .. have a great day guys!

 

[KPassa]

Re: 11/14 Michelangelo AMPS 293 and I hate the Accu-chek Nan

The info you want is in the Tight Regulation Protocol stickey, hold 6 cycles before increasing. Reductions are earned by going below 50 for recently dx cats or a week in normal numbers.

Ah! I knew it was somewhere! Thanks for the info. He earned a reduction over a week ago from consistent 40s around nadir and I reduced him from 1u to .75u. Since then, however, he started hitting over 300s and never dropped below 200 so I just recently bumped him back up to .88u.

Those strips sound way too expensive, but perhaps you can get them cheaper on ebay. There are other meters that have much cheaper strips and on line even less. There is no reason to have to use the same lancet device as meter. If you like the Accu-check lancets use them w/ the Relion meter. And apparently there is a new Relion meter that has strips for $9/50.

When I first started out, I hadn't found this forum yet and I didn't know the first thing about glucometers aside from them testing bg levels. I knew I needed one because I knew that Mikey was already getting borderline hypo before his "official" Dx and I was also switching him to wet, LC food so I went to my local pharmacy and bought the Accu-Chek, a box of lancet refills, and some test strips. The cost of the test strips made me research it a bit further to see if there were cheaper options available and that's actually how I first stumbled upon this site. I decided to keep the Accu-Chek meter as my backup but I've continued using the lancet pen as my primary since it's much better than the one that comes with the ReliOn Micro. I haven't looked into online purchasing for test strips yet but I should have probably already done that 3 days ago. :lol: Now, because I'm running low on the Accu-Chek strips, I have to go to Walmart tonight to pick up some more of the ReliOn ones instead of waiting for them to ship to me.

Mikey is such a cutie! I love his avatar!

And Mikey says, "thank you; I know I'm a cutie." He's a bit justifiably conceited, but I keep telling him that once he gets older and is no longer a kitten, he's going to lose his advantage in the adorableness department. You know what Mikey says to that? "Challenge accepted!"

Hi guys .. so sorry to hear about your morning struggles .. We always used the relion micro as well and still do .. Our struggle part came at shot time, when mocha fought us tooth and nail ohmygod_smile I hope you start seeing the numbers you are hoping for .. have a great day guys!

Thanks! Surprisingly, the only time he notices his shot is if I didn't stir the insulin for long enough and it's still noticeably cold when going in. I've never even tried to give it to him "dry," i.e. without food, so I have no idea how he'd react to that. I just walk up behind him while he's eating, stroke his flanks a bit till I find a good spot, slide the needle in, push the plunger, and stroke his sides again a bit to feel for wetness in case I poked through the other side or didn't poke far enough in.

 

[KPassa]

From the beginning of Mikey's Dx, I've been trying to get a backup person to test him, namely my brother (who currently lives with me while he's getting his degree). At first, he refused to not only give the insulin shot (pre-measured by me), but also to even test Mikey (out of fear? compassion? IDK). Last week, I managed to convince my brother a couple of times to test Mikey "for practice" because I might get hit by a bus tomorrow or eventually want to go on a vacation. Just now, my brother texted me that he tested Mikey today for "more practice!" :mrgreen: Now, if only I can convince him he needs to "practice" the insulin shot....