9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182,+6 117 info on freestyle

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skybar22

skybar22

Member Since 2010
yesterday

Good day everyone!

Morgaine's numbers came up last night and we started the day with a 182 on the Freestyle, a 244 on the One Touch. I began my experiment with the 2 meters a couple of weeks ago on myself. I finally was able to get more strips and am now doing a comparison on Morgaine. So far what I am finding is that the One Touch reads higher than the Freestyle and is probably the more accurate since it matches the Precision X-tra. The variance is greater at the higher numbers. Still have a ways to go on this but I am concerned that Morgaine has been much higher, by 50 mg/dL when she is up near 200 on the Freestyle. Today the Freestyle was 182, the One Touch read 244. Last night the Freestyle was 133, the One Touch read 171. This is also consistent with what Marje experienced, I believe.

The tests I have done on myself, on lower readings show much less of a variance. I would say it is definitely within the 20% variance of acceptable with the Freestyle running lower by 10-15 mg/dL. One time out of 8 it was a bit higher.

This also makes sense to me since whenever Morgaine gets up over 150 on the freestyle she begins to have P/D. P/U.

I will continue testing with both and will report back.

Unfortunately, if I am going to test Morgaine often, I can only get the Freestyle strips from my insurance and I can't afford to purchase test strips for her in large quantities so I am going to continue testing with both so I can get clear on the difference and add to the numbers as indicated. I also plan on calling Abbott labs when I complete this study to let them know my results.
 
Re: 9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182 info on freestyle

interesting comparison!
i've been using freestyle meters for the last 5+ years. i've found the difference between the freestyle meters and the alphatrak or lab values vary greatly at high numbers, but are very, very close in the low range. since the low range (30 - 100) is where my concern lies i haven't considered it a problem...
 
Re: 9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182 info on freestyle

Jill & Alex said:
interesting comparison!
i've been using freestyle meters for the last 5+ years. i've found the difference between the freestyle meters and the alphatrak or lab values vary greatly at high numbers, but are very, very close in the low range. since the low range (30 - 100) is where my concern lies i haven't considered it a problem...
Click to expand...
Thanks! I was hoping you would weigh in as i knew you used the Freestyle.

I test often on myself and will know more after I see my endo as to whether the Freestyle is okay to continue with. My A1C's are always in the mid 5's which is normal so if it has creeped up I will have something to say about that! I just started using the Freestyle in March and had used Precision before that. I am in agreement with you about the lower range so hopefully I can make some adjustments for Morgaine based on this. I guess it gives us all a little cushion on those lower numbers but I do agree that at those numbers we are getting a decent degree of accuracy and that is where we want to be anyway.

Another thought is that when Morgaine was going higher before insulin, the vet insisted she wass higher than I was reporting due to her fructosamine and labs. 50-60 mg/dL is a large enough variance to make a difference in treatment, especially in humans but also with cats. It is the difference between good control and tight control for me and then some.
 
Re: 9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182 info on freestyle

it'll be interesting to see how the freestyle brand works out for you. i have no experience in human use... only on my cats.
even my civvies get tested once a month. :-D

your vet may have been spot on when saying morgaine was higher than you thought. personally, i don't get caught up in too many details when it comes to numbers. i prefer the KISS method. if alex is throwing me numbers over 100 i see it as an indication she needs more insulin... might only mean a drop more, but more. the tricky part is keeping her from dropping too low while getting more insulin into her in an effort to combat food spikes and maintain her numbers under 100.
 
Re: 9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182 info on freestyle

I agree with you Jill and now that I know what I am dealing with I can make more adjustments for Morgaine. I think she probably needs a little more insulin but I want to get more comfortable shooting those low numbers and I want to continue this comparison so I know the actual variance at the lower numbers. Of course, we always need to keep in mind that these meters are going to vary anyway. They really are all just guiding us for both humans and felines. My A1C's have been consistent for years so if that is still okay, because my numbers are generally low, then I will feel much better using the Freestyle.
 
Re: 9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182 info on freestyle

yup. meters will vary, that's for sure!

one thing i forgot to mention earlier...
i've found the freestyle lite with the "new" strips to run lower than my other freestyle brand meters or even the "old" freestyle lite strips. the numbers vary even in the low range (50 - 80), but only by about 5 - 6 points in the comparison i ran. i haven't compared the "new" freestyle lite strips in higher ranges. my guess is you'd see an even larger variance.
 
Re: 9/20/11 Morgaine AMPS 182 info on freestyle

hmmm pretty interesting rosalie! punkin so seldom sees low numbers anymore that i haven't really worried about it, but perhaps this SRT will change that. we'll see.

morgaine had a nice start to her day, regardless of meter!
 
responding to your PM about morgaine's dose...

i agree with you. there is a some wiggle room to increase morgaine's dose in an effort to extend duration and bring those preshot numbers down. i think you could take her up to 3.25u from the current dose of a fat 3 units. since morgaine is already seeing some beautiful green numbers, after that increase to 3.25u i would try to fine tune her curves by increasing in increments of only 0.1 unit at a time (if more insulin is needed). i liken those kind of increases as adding a hair to the dose. tough to measure. all you can do is try to be as consistent as humanly possible.

there's a chance you may find an increase to 3.25u will drop morgaine into lower numbers than you'd like to see. watch for it. you may have to feed the curve to keep her from dropping low so she can hold onto the dose. we call this technique "manipulating the curve with food". here's a post from mocha's condo last year which may help to explain: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23446&p=234616#p234616.

if you have any questions, please ask. i have a long work day tomorrow, but will pop in here when i can.
 
Thanks Jill. I think I am already giving a bit more than a fat 3 but will add a tiny bit more to make it a 3.25. These are already hard for me to determine but I do believe she needs a bit more insulin. My eyes are not what they used to be and I do use magnifiers. So, having said all that, I would say she has been getting a 3.1 dose rather than a f 3.00.

I will read the food manipulation thread and do that too once we get there. I think I get the idea of that since I use food manipulation to control my own numbers. Morgaine is already eating a medium carb food as she has to eat a lower fat diet and her usual food is 6-10% carbs. I manipulate that and always have, giving her the 10% when numbers are lower and the 6% when numbers are higher. I also think the 10% food is keeping her numbers a little higher but she can not eat the higher fat foods so this is a compromise. She will not eat the same flavor at every meal. She needs her variety and she gets some low carb, 2% mixed with some FF appetizer each day to make it a low carb, lower fat meal but the FF app. cuts down on the nutrients so I only do that for 1 feeding a day. I try my best to keep her happy :smile: .

Thank you for taking the time to look at her SS and giving me some guidance on this. I will increase her to 3.25 next AM cycle. I did try that a while back but went back down when her numbers got lower. I think I am ready now and i also think, due to the Freestyle info, that she was actually a little bit higher anyway.

Her Freestyle PMPS was 132 and the One Touch was 171.
 
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