19th August New Member

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Jdubs

Jdubs

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Hi. I am switching from TR sliding scales to see if my cat Mar Lei does better with more consistency. Ive had him for 3 days on 2.0u and he hasnt been doing great, so i upped the dose to 2.25. (Before he had 3 rungs 1.75. 2 and 2.25.)

I am not sure if i have made the right decision for him. The switch feels like its made him need more insulin not less (as he didnt often need the 2.25 rung).

I would like to understand more about low numbers at +12 and what you can and cant shoot.

I am terrible at tech and i cant get along with spreadsheets

Thanks in advance
 
Need some answers first! What kind of insulin are you using? That makes a big difference in the advice we'd give you. When was he diagnosed? What kind of food is he eating?

As for our spreadsheet, it's a lot easier than it looks. Once it's set up, all you have to do is type the number in the right place! I'd be happy to set one up for you if you want. Just send me a private message by clicking on my sign on name and choosing "start a conversation".

Our spreadsheet really is our most valuable tool and without it, it's going to be almost impossible to give you much in the way of helpful advice.
 
In order to help you we need you to set up your signature
To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine
 
The spreadsheet is easier than it looks as Chris said . I would this her offer and contact her to set it up for you
Just some info about it look at mine at the end of my signature it says Tyler's spreadsheet to get a look at it, you can look at anyone's spreadsheet

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers
 
Oh my goodness i didnt even realise i'd managed to post my message. Thank you so much for your response everyone.

I'm using Lantus.
He's on almost 100% raw food. His treats i think might be processed at temperatures that mean they aren't raw but they are just pure animal product, (sprats, is one, Ox liver is another, and the third is kidney, heart and and maybe something else- another organ i cant quite remember but its pure part of the animal. He was diagnosed in Jan/Feb. As i'm sure it is for many of us, its life changing and i had to give up my job that i had been doing for over 20 years, - because that required me to be out the house about 17 hpurs with travel. Ive been doing sliding scale and he really has got a lot better, but we hit a wall. Its all incredibly overwhelming to be trying to figure this out and keep a roof over pour heads.

Ive been taking his BG and writing it down pretty much since Feb.

I'm quite frieghtened about the switch as ive been doing sliding scale and it feels strange to dose no matter what the blood glucose. Im on the fence. I'm scared. I kind of have a done a bridging thing while i am still in sliding scale and its not working out. (3 runngs of BG results with 3 doses right now is 2.25u s, 2.25 u and 2.25u f)

Ive got to be honest, i'm feeling abit overwhelmed with the switch and wondering if i can manage.

Do you all think sliding scales isnt good? Have you got experience of cats coming from that to this?

I dont know if i can fulfill all your wishes. I cant always test through the day i have to go to work. Our routine is i get up, test and shoot and feed, all in one go so he has not eaten for several hours, but i need to test and feed together. But i guess thats easy enough to not test him for a couple of hours pre shot test (otherwise he'd expect a reward!)


I have to go now but i will try and figure out tomorrow how to do the profile. But just for now here are the details.

Chris its so so so so so kind of you. Can i contact you when i have fully committed.?

  • Caregiver & kitty's name Justine and Marley
  • DX: Date Is this the date diagnosed? If so Feb 22
  • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency) Lantus
  • Name of your meter Alpha Trax 2 i usually use freestyle lite strips but the vets just got me alpha trax. I did alot of testing side by side and they are i think possibly the same strip just sold as different, they were that exact.
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo" Raw food - wet
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable) Have been doing slifing scale TR
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable) DKA in Feb just after diagnosis
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable) No
I feel like most other people get their cats under control way more quickly than me. I literally have given up so much to help him and i dont regret it but its very hard. So much change in my life, my head doesnt really feel clear enough to do anything well at the moment
 
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Well, to be completely honest, Lantus is not an insulin that works with sliding scale dosing. By sliding scale, the way we use the term means that you are changing the dose based on what the pre-shot number is. This means that the dose can change twice a day.

Lantus works best if you allow the dose to stabilize. We think of Lantus as a depot-type of insulin. Every time you give a shot, a small amount of Lantus forms microcrystals that are deposited in the fat tissue. These crystals gradually dissolve and give Lantus its long duration and allows for doses to overlap. If you change the dose at every shot time, you will end up with wonky numbers. Sliding scale dosing only works with shorter acting insulin.

@Bandit's Mom
I've tagged Bhooma (Bandit's Mom). She can give you a hand with setting up a spreadsheet and entering information into your signature. The information in the post above is fine but we need to make sure it's all contained in your signature. The spreadsheet is particularly important. It allows you to track your cat's progress and it allows us to follow along. Most of us are only comfortable with providing help if we can see how the dose is affecting your cat's response to insulin. The spreadsheet is easier than it looks.
 
I have pm'd Chris and Bhoona and Sienne with the data. Thank you so much. I only sent dat for July. Shall i send further back than that? I have since the end of March.

In the sliding scale TR i was doing i was told never to shoot if under 8.3 mmol, but that always sets everything up to go wrong, so i am so glad to see you do shoot at lower than that, (if you understand your cat etc). I have read your advice page on it. I had already started anyway, using the data i haven and making sure if wasnt too much below that, and making sure he was on the rise. I am new to it and therefore nervous. I didnt go in to work today yet as i shot at +12.5 with a 7.8 mmol, he's gone quite low fast 2.3 mmol and i wasnt sure if he was still going down. This is what i would appreciate most direction on. Thanks so much for everyones support.
 
Also i read somewhere that i am meant to make a new post each day and not reply to the old post, but i don't understand where to make the new post? Do i tag people that were in the thread the day before if its still part of the same conversation?
 
Hi and welcome to you and Mar Lei! Let's see some pictures of your cute kitty -- upload function is broken, either drag-n-drop or copy/paste images into a post.

Jdubs said:
Also i read somewhere that i am meant to make a new post each day and not reply to the old post, but i don't understand where to make the new post? Do i tag people that were in the thread the day before if its still part of the same conversation?
Click to expand...

the "new post each day" posting guidelines are for the Lantus Forum not the Feline Heath/Welcome area which is where you are posting right now, in this thread.

Over in the Lantus-specific forum, people post new threads each day where they continually update the title of the thread with the blood glucose test results as they get them throughout the day. There is no need to tag anyone specific unless you have a question for one of the expert guru types such as FrostD, Bandit's Mom, Tiffmaxee, Wendy&Neko, Sienne&Gabby, or other experts -- thats just naming a few I am most familiar with.
 
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