? 12/9. Watson

Rosie Lass

Rosie Lass

Member Since 2024
At what point do I freak out Watson is at 50. I’ve been trying for an hour to get him up. He’s had syrup, honey gravy treats, extra food and he’s stuck. I had an appointment at 2 o’clock. I was able to push back but at what point do I need to take him to the ER?
 
Is that from the Libre? Are you able to do a regular test with a handheld glucometer? The Libres are known to not always be too accurate at lower levels, so it's possible that he's actually not that low. Also, 50 is at the level where we're boosting their glucose to prevent them dropping lower. 40 is the low end of normal for a cat not on insulin, so the 50 that we use has a built-in buffer to prevent a true hypo. While he should really be rising after an hour of high carb/pure glucose, he's not in immediate danger right now but he will need to come up before you can safely leave him.

We did find that our Roxi (who definitely had lymphoma by the end of her life) would do this at times. She'd throw a lower number and stick there for a while, then skyrocket. It may be because cancer cells have a very high glucose requirement, so the first batches of carbs you feed may literally be "stolen" by the lymphoma cells before they're able to start increasing the blood glucose.
 
There have been recent issues with Libre 3 giving false low readings, PSA: Notice from Abbott - certain Freestyle Libre 3 devices giving false low readings

I also see that you just newly applied the sensor? That could also be leading to some inaccuracy.

It would be good if you can try and get a BG test with your backup handheld. Also, unfortunately I can’t see where you are at in the cycle, since the SS isn’t updated and you didn’t mention it in your post. HC can wear off quickly, so it’s possible to continue to get BG numbers that wobble around.
 
Rosie Lass said:
At what point do I freak out Watson is at 50. I’ve been trying for an hour to get him up. He’s had syrup, honey gravy treats, extra food and he’s stuck. I had an appointment at 2 o’clock. I was able to push back but at what point do I need to take him to the ER?
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Update: actual blood draw was at 50 at 2:25 when I had to leave for two hours. When I egot home and checked him and he was at 37 actual blood draw. We are at the emergency hospital now. PS sensor died I just put it on yesterday.
I can’t quit shaking
 
Rosie Lass said:
Update: actual blood draw was at 50 at 2:25 when I had to leave for two hours. When I egot home and checked him and he was at 37 actual blood draw. We are at the emergency hospital now. PS sensor died I just put it on yesterday.
I can’t quit shaking
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Oh, I'm so sorry you're going through that. I've been there - quite recently too - and it was so hard. (My boy couldn't use his legs and was wailing by the time I woke up and knew something was wrong.) They'll help him! You got him where he needs to be. Be kind to yourself and yes, please let us know how things go when you have the capacity for it. ❤️
 
Hi everybody, we’re home. Watson got some dextrose and got his numbers up. They also did a chest and abdominal x-ray. (have no idea why) and of course some blood work. All is well with that except a little bit low on the potassium. No insulin tonight and the vet suggests I start off with a small dose tomorrow morning 2.0 and then increase in the evening to 3.75 and they don’t want me to do 4 units anymore. They feel that he has passed the point where he can be regulated or OTJ and will probably do best staying in the 200s with dips and to the 100s’s.
still no idea why he had such a drop today but it scared the crap out of me and took me hours to calm down. $1445 total ER bill 😱
I tried to note as much as I could on the spreadsheet about whether readings were from Libra or meter and what times. During the course of the low numbers, we also did food with gravy, pancake syrup, honey, and treats - just couldn’t get his numbers up.
 
Rosie Lass said:
Hi everybody, we’re home. Watson got some dextrose and got his numbers up. They also did a chest and abdominal x-ray. (have no idea why) and of course some blood work. All is well with that except a little bit low on the potassium. No insulin tonight and the vet suggests I start off with a small dose tomorrow morning 2.0 and then increase in the evening to 3.75 and they don’t want me to do 4 units anymore. They feel that he has passed the point where he can be regulated or OTJ and will probably do best staying in the 200s with dips and to the 100s’s.
still no idea why he had such a drop today but it scared the crap out of me and took me hours to calm down. $1445 total ER bill 😱
I tried to note as much as I could on the spreadsheet about whether readings were from Libra or meter and what times. During the course of the low numbers, we also did food with gravy, pancake syrup, honey, and treats - just couldn’t get his numbers up.
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We were given the same instructions by Roxi's IM. We were told absolutely NOT to try to do TR with her, or even fully regulate her at all, because it was just too risky. It's a real adjustment to make in our own minds because, of course, we're all focused on trying for OTJ. Or at the very least, close to perfect control. But I can tell you that Roxi did extremely well for 6 years with very loose regulation. She had a lot of days where she'd be really much higher than I was comfortable with at pre-shot, but when we did do curves on her, she actually dropped really very well into the 100s for a fair chunk of each cycle. In our own heads it isn't good enough, but sometimes with other medical issues in the picture we have to settle for what's safely achievable. You may also want to consider taking your no-shot number back up to 200 for safety - looking at his SS it looks as though he started out lower than usual this morning too.

The X-rays are usually done to look for masses in the abdomen and any possible metastasis of a tumor into the lungs. If they didn't mention either of those, then they didn't find anything concerning.

Given that I had to handle running very loose regulation for 6 years, please don't hesitate to tag me if you have questions or you need help keeping him safe and as healthy as possible. I don't have all the answers because ECID, but I'm happy to try to help you figure things out for him.
 
There are options when you see a number for preshot lower than you want to shoot full dose. In the past you've done a half dose, and that seems to have worked well. Last night was a bounce breaking cycle. A 170 point drop on the LIbre, though only 78 on the hand held meter. When you see a cycle where there is a big drop in the previous cycle, it's possible he'll continue the drop the cycle that follows.
 
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