Advice Baxter's # again coming down after eating.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jenn & Baxter

Very Active Member
I just feed Baxter and his number is coming down with no insulin. I know when this happend yesterday I didn't give him insulin. He tends to get low in the evenings after insulin. I am not sure I should give him any insulin. Here are the stats:

AMPS- 212 admin .50 prozinc
1:00pm 198
7:30pm 192
7:30pm Fed
8:30- 153

When I spoke to the vet today about Baxter's #'s he said to go ahead & start to give .25. But isn't .25 to much when he is at 153 already after 1 hour of food?

Baxter"s SS is updated for viewing.
 
Jenn
There are really two answers to that question.

But isn't .25 to much when he is at 153 already after 1 hour of food?

Shooting .25 with a BG of 153 could be okay. But not in this case.

Shooting any insulin when his number is dropping instead of rising is not a good idea. So you wouldn't want to give him any shot.

Anytime you give a shot, especially when you are in these nice low ranges of numbers, you have to be sure that his BG is on the way up, and not on the way down.

It is actually encouraging that his numbers are dropping after he eats. That makes it look like he is producing some insulin on his own. It may not be enough to push the BG all the way down to "normal" (50-120), but it is a good sign!

Your vet is most likely recommending that you give insulin in that small a dose because Baxter is pretty close to not needing any insulin, and rather than giving "none", which will allow his BG to rise, he's suggesting a tiny dose to stop that from happening.

It's kind of a hard place to be in for you right now. You have to question every shot. You have to do two things, I think.

Figure out a number that you are comfortable shooting at. It looks to me like you decided this morning that "above 200" was where you drew a line? IF you see that again in the morning, and you feel good about it, try .25 instead of the .5 you shot today. What that may do is give you a chance to shoot that small amount again at the PM shot tomorrow, and insulin will be in Baxter more consistently over the course of 24 hours.

At this point though, it's very important to know his number is on the way up when you give him a shot. The easiest way to do that is to test him at +11, and again at AMPS or PMPS. Don't feed him during that time If he's going up, AND over 200, then .25 should be okay. Then you feed him and give him his shot. Then you can check him about 2 hours later and see if he's come down from the insulin, after the food should have made the numbers go up. His pancreas seems to be doing something. It may, or may not, need a little help.

It's probably driving you crazy, but it's a nice problem to have. There's probably a lot of people looking at this thread that would be more than happy to switch places with you. :-D
 
I have been questioning every shot. I am also, probably making some people on this board crazy along with myself with all the questions & second guessing.

Yes, I tend to be comfortable giving insulin at 200. I do get a little scaried shooting below 160. So I think that might be my magic #.

Everything you said makes complete since to me. To give .25 & to be consistant. I gave him .50 before the vet told me to start with .25. If only the vet would have called me 30 minutes sooner...lol.

I am so thankful to be here. I scroll through the post & read most of them. Sometimes many of them make me cry. I do feel so blessed to have Baxter at this point in this CRAZY game. Its hard to not get excited. I keep telling myself tomorrow is a new day & the numbers will be different. To hold on because I have many more test & days before I can truly get excited. Just hold on.

Thank you!
 
jenn, you've got some really great and encouraging signs. you're on a tiny dose of insulin for baxter already, you're seeing signs that his pancreas is kicking in and providing some support.

oddly enough, you can get a dose of even less than .25. practice with a syringe. draw up something measurable (like .5u) and then count how many drops you can squeeze out of the syringe before it's completely gone. if you think .25 is too much, go to a drop less than that for a dose.

the best chance for going completely off of insulin is to give the pancreas the support it needs to heal. you want Baxter's BG numbers to be closer to the non-diabetic cat range, which is mid-40's to 120. perhaps even just a drop of insulin twice a day would be enough to do that. as long as you are monitoring and know how to bring up his blood sugar if he goes too low he will be fine with this plan.

congrats!
 
Thank you so much for that information. This morning I was really trying to determine how much .25 on the syringe.
He was @ 171 before food & AMPS 217.
2 hrs later after AMPS he is at 213. Not coming down to much with the .25 I gave him.
I am checking him alot. I have to run some errands this afternoon (get more test strips). So I think he will be ok for a couple of hrs.
It just makes me a little crazy, but making me stronger.

Again thank you so much.
Feeling so blessed to have all this support!!
 
just fyi - strips are infinitely cheaper online! i'm a big fan of buying local - except for the diabetic supplies. they are about 1/2-2/3 the price online.

you can go through mrrebates.com (4% rebate) to American Diabetes Wholesale, or hocks.com or ebay (just make sure the expiration date is ok if you're going on ebay).

If you go to this post there are pictures of tiny doses, plus lots of great information - not on prozinc but some of it is the same no matter what insulin: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18139
 
Thank you for the FYI. Going to look into buying them online. I am going through the strips like candy....oh wait back up no candy to much sugar.... :lol:

Thank you for the link on dosing.

I don't know where I would be without everyone on this AMAZING board. Oh yes I do....LOST!
 
i know what you mean. i spent 2 months shooting punkin, not home-testing, aware of how dangerous it was and scared silly. when i found FDMB i thought i'd hit the jackpot - and i had! everyone here "gets it" about how much you love your cat and they are willing to VOLUNTEER to teach others how to help their cat get healthy again.

it's an amazing place. i've been here since february and have seen at least 30 cats go off of insulin and many more just improve their health and starting acting like the "old" pre-diabetic kitty again. it's super.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top