? 2/11 Sebastian AMPS 358 +3 468

Justin & Sebastian

Justin & Sebastian

Member Since 2019
Not expecting much real change today although it does look like the numbers are trending downwards a bit. Dr Elsey's food should arrive today so I'll start transitioning that in tomorrow. Had one last holdover question from yesterday so I can get all my ducks in a row before we get fully on wet food and start adjusting for real.

"So I went back and reviewed the SLGS and TR methods. Couple questions/notes about what I've read there.

First and probably foremost, he's always been on Lantus but I've been using a pet meter, the Alpha Trak 2. Does that mean all my numbers are bogus? I do notice wild inconsistency in the tests sometimes. Just now (yesterday 2/10) for his +3 I did an initial test that read 417 and then immediately a second one that was 364. The last curve we did at the vet I brought in my meter so they could validate it against their numbers and there was only about a +/-20. In the past I used to get what I call "small readings" where I wouldn't get much blood and have to use both prongs on the test strip and those would come back in the 100s then I'd immediately do a second test with a big drop of blood using only one prong and it would be in the 300s. The vet assured me that's not the case and a reading is a reading no matter what but practical experience tells me otherwise. I've gotten much better about the testing and have a sense of when I'm going to get a bogus reading based on how much blood I get but my trust in the meter is still iffy at best. "
 
Mr Funk said:
Does that mean all my numbers are bogus?
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No, it's just that the dosing methods were developed using human meters, this is why we recommend using a human meter. There is an overall difference, and BG on a human has a tendency to read a little lower, but a conversion is not possible, there isn't a linear relationship.

Mr Funk said:
I do notice wild inconsistency in the tests sometimes. Just now (yesterday 2/10) for his +3 I did an initial test that read 417 and then immediately a second one that was 364. The last curve we did at the vet I brought in my meter so they could validate it against their numbers and there was only about a +/-20. In the past I used to get what I call "small readings" where I wouldn't get much blood and have to use both prongs on the test strip and those would come back in the 100s then I'd immediately do a second test with a big drop of blood using only one prong and it would be in the 300s. The vet assured me that's not the case and a reading is a reading no matter what but practical experience tells me otherwise.
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Our experience here on the site is that you can get off numbers, if the blood drop is too big, too small it doesn't draw properly, for that reason we suggest if you get a reading that seems out of the ordinary for that cycle, that you should double check it immediately, just to be sure. I have certainly had that problem in the past.

Mr Funk said:
I did an initial test that read 417
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Meter variance of up to 20% can account for that sort of variation. A reading of 417 +/- 20% could actually be as high as 490 and as low as 360. At lower numbers there is much more consistency.

Take the transition to the new food slowly and watch those BG's, it may take a number of days before you note a difference, but I would follow up any significant drop closely.
Last night for instance you shot 254, which is not low, but the number was falling, I would suggest that when you shoot a number that is lower than normal you try to always get a +2, he was moving downward as you shot, it's possible that the downward trend continued and was given an extra downward boost as the insulin onset (usually around +2), by the time you got a check yesterday evening he could have dropped sharply by +4 and bounced back up by +6. I've observed that kitties with recent DKA are often quite bouncy, numbers dropping sharply and then triggering a bounce causing them to rise sharply.
With Lantus our aim is to find what the low numbers in the cycles are, but it is important to remember that those low numbers (nadirs) do not always occur at +6. For instance George, has nadired as early as +2 and as late as +13 ;)
 
Morning.

You want a meter that takes a small size of blood and where strips are affordable. The strips are what costs the most over the long term. I don't know about the particular meter you linked.

Some people use Insullnx strips in their AT or freestyle life strips in the AT and say they work fine.

This one here is popular as it is the same as the Wal-Mart brand we all used until Wal-Mart discontinued it. ADW site has a few specials on it. That site also has Nova Max Plus which also tests for ketones. The glucose strips are cheaper than the others. Ketone strips are expensive. Since DKA is in the history it's worth considering. The meter itself I'm not thrilled with, I like the micro Wal-Mart one they did away with. I

Really any meter is better than not testing at sll.
 
Olive & Paula said:
Some people use Insullnx strips in their AT or freestyle life strips in the AT and say they work fine.
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I believe that they are not made by the same company any more, and though some people use them I'm not sure it makes sense. I don't think the strips are as economical as the walmart ones either from what I've heard.
 
I use the Relion Prime meter from Walmart,The strips only cost $18 for 100. I've been doing this a year now & have never had a problem with the meter or the strips.
The cost of the strips adds up fast when you test frequently.

Best of Luck to you :)
 
Gill & George said:
I believe that they are not made by the same company any more, and though some people use them I'm not sure it makes sense. I don't think the strips are as economical as the walmart ones either from what I've heard.
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I know AT was bought by another company. When I called new company, they had no plans to change meter anytime soon. So it same meter just different name for now anyways.

The ADW glucocard 01 is the same as the Wal-Mart Confirm. Wal-Mart has contract to rebrand it with their logo. When contract was up walmart changed to 2 new meters. I've read people complaining of issues with the new meters not working properly after a month or so.
 
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