8/5 Vinnie 205 amps

Vinnie Van Gogh's Mom

Vinnie Van Gogh's Mom

Member Since 2021
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Vinnie just had bloodwork done and his fructosamine is under 100 (the vet says the machine won't even read values under 100 so it could be 50, it could be 99). The vet is concerned that he's spending time in the hypoglycemic area and the higher numbers are his body producing glucagon to fight off the hypoglycemia. Does anyone have information on this or advice? Thank you!
 
Vinnie Van Gogh's Mom said:
Previous Thread

Vinnie just had bloodwork done and his fructosamine is under 100 (the vet says the machine won't even read values under 100 so it could be 50, it could be 99). The vet is concerned that he's spending time in the hypoglycemic area and the higher numbers are his body producing glucagon to fight off the hypoglycemia. Does anyone have information on this or advice? Thank you!
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@tiffmaxee

@Wendy&Neko
 
It doesn’t look like too much insulin to me. When were the labs drawn? If around the time he dipped under 50 perhaps that’s why. See what Wendy thinks. You could also go back to changing the dose in .25 increments. The only lower number is on 7/30. Did you show your vet the ss?
 
@tiffmaxee The bloodwork was done on 8/2, but the fructosamine shows the average for the past two weeks. The vet suspects he was getting hypoglycemic numbers at times that I wasn't testing and at the times I was testing he may have been bouncing. Vinnie has been very restless and cying a bit around 3am this past week. He always has access to food just in case he goes hypo.
 
Apparently a normal, non-diabetic cat is 190+ so the below 100 number really concerns him as hypoglycemia is more of an immediate threat than hyperglycemia. He suggested cutting the insulin dose in half but I wanted to see if that lines up with the knowledge on this board.
 
I know what a fructosamine shows. You test a lot so I don’t see when he would have been low fir so long. How about testing later in the cycle on days or no gets when you have a lower blue when you would stop testing. Last night would have been a time to continue testing.
 
@tiffmaxee I'm really kicking myself for not getting out of bed last night to test him when he was pacing and crying. I am planning to test every two hours today and will try to do it through the night to see if I can catch anything. Do you think the fructosamine test should just be ignored if I don't catch any glucose drops? The vet was very, very concerned about the result which has me worried.
 
I just read your previous thread and Wendy said the same as I did about increasing and decreasing in .25 increments. I’d start testing more and see the numbers. You don’t need to stay up all night. You just need more tests if he’s lower and set an alarm for later if still going down at bedtime or your last test during the day.
 
Thank you @tiffmaxee Just to clarify, you would ignore the fructosamine and NOT drop the dose? Test more and only adjust the dose if the numbers I'm getting warrant an adjustment? So even though the fructosamine was way below normal, I do not need to be concerned about hypoglycemia? I am super paranoid about that as I lost a cat to hypoglycemia about 20 years ago because I didn't know anything about it and the vet did not educate me on glucose testing so I want to make sure I don't do anything wrong here.
 
You lost your previous cat because you were not testing, right? That’s sad but back then not many were testing at home. Even now every day we see vets saying not to test at home. You have not seen one bg under 100 since 7/30. If my cat I would test more. I know you are concerned about a hypo so if you feel better reducing then do so. As we always say you hold the syringe and you know your cat best. One question I have is have you seen hypo symptoms at all ?
 
@tiffmaxee Yes, back then I was not testing as I had no idea that it was even a thing. No idea that insulin needs can change over time, what to look out for, or even that I should bring him in to get him tested more than one a year. I'm so grateful that this time around, there is the internet, knowledge and this board!

As for symptoms, he has been eating way more than normal, and he's been restless and meowing in the middle of the night, and a little more aggressive a few times this week which are all listed under the mild to moderate hypoglycemia signs on the sticky, but they are also all things that could be unrelated.
 
@tiffmaxee I thought you'd like to hear the update. We rechecked his fructosamine and discovered the previous value was a lab error. ‍♀️ His fructosamine is actually 404 which makes much more sense. Unfortunately I did as the vet requested last night and this morning and decreased the insulin, but I will up it again tonight. Although he did still dip into the blue on the lower dose which was interesting. And he was acting more normal last night and today too which is odd. Thank you again for all of your input!
 
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