4/4 Boops bouncing?

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Erin Lewis and Boops

Erin Lewis and Boops

Member Since 2015
OK, so Boops' numbers have been really great for the readings we've taken today, but he just read at 134 and it is time for his PM shot. He is on .5U of Levemir. Should we skip? Give half dose? This reading was of course pre-food. Thanks for your advice.
 
It's great to see such progress so early on for Boops. by the way - nice new profile name!

Are you around tonight, able to monitor and do you have plenty of test strips and high carb supplies if needed?
 
134 isn't too low to shoot once you've got some experience. There's no guarantee that he wouldn't need monitoring more than 4 hours though.

Your choices are to shoot the full dose - which an experienced person would shoot everything over 50ish.

You can shoot a reduced dose, like 0.25u which you did last time you had a number in the 130's.

You can wait and test again, without feeding, and then shoot the full dose when his BGs begin to rise - the down side of that is that it will put you off schedule for his next shot. YOu need a 12 hr interval between shots.

You can skip the shot entirely.

I'd choose one of the first two options, although it's of course, up to you. Have you read through the "Shooting & Handling Low Numbers" sticky? It's written for those following Tight Reg, but it has some good information that would apply to anyone using Lantus.

If you shoot tonight, I'd get a +1 and a +2 and decide based upon those tests when to test next. I can check in with you tonight to see if you need help, if you do decide to shoot.

What would you like to do?
 
Thanks so much! Hope you like my new pic of my boy- it's one of my favorites! I think we are going to do the .25U. Don't want to be off schedule. I'm really liking the lower numbers we are seeing with the Levemir.
 
That's an adorable picture of him! I do have a weak spot in my heart for orange boys!

Acromegaly is initially suspected because the cat is insulin resistant and needs larger and larger and larger doses of insulin. There is a tumor on the pituitary gland that puts out growth hormones that blocks the cat's own insulin from getting into cells. As the disease progresses, the cat's body grows, or tries to grow. Soft tissue will grow, so punkin's feet and tongue grew huge - likely his internal organs too. The bones try to grow and it causes arthritis and it pushes the forehead and jaw forward. Once a kitty passes around 6u per shot we suggest that the person might want to have the cat tested for acro and the other primary condition that can also cause a need for large doses; insulin auto-antibodies.

Acro is particularly awful - it's very hard on the cat's body.

I'll look for your test in an hour or so - let's see what Boops has planned for your evening! (tee-hee, what a cute name!)
 
almost forgot - as you get tests would you edit your subject line (go to the right side of your first post in this thread and click "thread tools" then "edit subject line") and put new tests in as you get them, please?

That lets the greatest number of people see what's going on and catch things if you need help.

So your subject line tonight would read

4/2 Boops pmps 134 reduced dose +1 #, +2 #

and insert your most recent tests for the # sign.
 
the # was just for me to say "put your number in here" although it works! I can see what's going on just fine!:D

Looks like he's going to bounce. I think you can skip the +2 and maybe just get one right before you go to bed.
 
depends on the cat - some cats are very carb sensitive and will get a "food spike" meaning their blood sugar rises after they eat for the next hour or two. Some cats don't seem to show any rise in blood sugar after they eat. That's one of the things that you'll want to pay attention to and notice - there will be times that you'll want to know how much of a bump up Boops gets from eating.
 
Hello Erin - I haven't stopped in yet and am another Levemir use so thought I'd say "Hi" to you and sweet Boops. Love that name. :joyful: One of the things we do here is have a link in each post to the previous one, so people can follow what was said before. Here is Boop's first post in this forum. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dosing-help-needed.135471/

One of the things you'll find a little different with Levemir, is that often their preshots numbers are a little lower. Neko often nadirs between +9 and +12 (preshot), so I'm often shooting the lowest number of the day. Correspondingly, her onset (when the Levemir starts to work for that cycle) is later (for Neko around +5) so I have 5 hours that her numbers will be rising before she starts going down again. We don't have enough data to say when onset is for Boops yet, but a lot of Levemir cats will go up for 3 to 5 hours after preshot as the insulin from the previous cycle wears off. On top of that, you'll the food spike that Julie mentioned.

Neko is an acrocat too - the first signs for her before she was diagnosed as diabetic were runny eyes (tear ducts plugged due to soft tissue growth) and loving all food, including inappropriate food (raids on banana bread, muffins, baguette!). Each acrocat presents with different symptoms too, although she also has arthritis.
 
That is great information! We are definitely noticing that his preshot numbers are crazy low and we were thinking that surely that was his nadir. We have been scared to death to dose him fully in the pm due to this. Please check our numbers today and weigh in. We are going to be able to do a curve this weekend, so that will be great info too!
 
Looks like Boops nadired at +11 today and was on his way up at preshot time. Levemir (and Lantus) work best with consistent dosing. That's quite different from Humulin where you dose based on the preshot. For the L insulins, you dose based on the nadir and keep the same dose unless the nadirs go below the reduction point. I would have gone with .5 units tonight myself, and when you have more experience you could do the same. It's really hard to say what this dose is doing when every cycle is shot a different dose.

Tomorrow's curve will provide useful info for sure.
 
Yup, it does take some getting used to. But we don't expect you do shoot low at night without getting more data first. Maybe if he presents the opportunity during the daytime when you are home and can monitor.
 
I'm trying to do tight reg. At +10, he tested initially at 22, which freaked me out, but a second immediately following test showed 66. We are using the Relion confirm.
 
Will you add that "TRP" to your signature line? If you ever want to change what you're doing for whatever reason, you always can. It just helps us know what dosing guidelines to refer to if we're helping you.

He looks pretty good, Erin! You'll get used to shooting the full dose into these lower ranges and then his blood sugar will flatten out. It can make a huge difference.
 
Yikes on the 22! Sometimes if you don't quite get enough blood on the strip, the Confirm can give you a lower number. I've gotten a Lo a couple of times (below 20).:eek: Good job on retesting. My first time I just dumped some HC in the plate.
 
So, Boops had high numbers last night and this morning. Bouncing again? High because of only giving half dose? Confused. Yesterday, his +10 read was initially 22, but then tested again immediately and got 66. Do you think it was so low that he bounced?
 
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