Advice before First Check-Up?

[Griffin the Siberian]

We switched vets when Griffin started insulin in Sept. and are very happy with them. They put him on 1u 2x/day of Prozinc, encourage home testing, and asked us to email his spreadsheet once a week so they can help us keep an eye on his numbers.

His numbers have been consistently random since we started, but have increasingly gotten higher over the last couple of weeks. The vet has asked us to come in for a recheck, fructosamine test, and to discuss increasing his dosage.

Overall Griffin seems back to normal (relaxed, lazy, purring, eating/drinking/urinating normally, not hiding, occasionally playing, etc.) since we started insulin and our morning and evening home testing/feeding/insulin routine is consistent.

This will be our first check up since we started, so I was just wondering if I could get some feedback from the experts in this group on Griffin's spreadsheet? What you think of these numbers and what you would recommend (increase dosage? change insulin?) so I have more knowledge of what direction we should take before we go in for our appointment.

 

[FrostD]

Couple questions - does he fast 2 hours before the preshot test?

Are you able to start getting a few more midcycle tests in? Or a curve once a week? Ideally you would do a curve on a day you get a blue or yellow preshot - those pinks and reds are bounces from lower numbers and a curve then won't be as helpful (though any data is good data)

The reason I ask - I suspect he could use an increase to 1.25U BUT I am very hesitant to recommend that without more midcycle tests. Those blue preshots you see here and there are a clue that he's going lower, very possibly green, during those cycles.

I would save your money and skip fructosamine test. Since you already test at home it's not going to tell you anything you don't already know. I would not increase dose before getting a non-bounce curve, and even then I would not increase by more than 0.25U

 

[Griffin the Siberian]

Couple questions - does he fast 2 hours before the preshot test?

Are you able to start getting a few more midcycle tests in? Or a curve once a week? Ideally you would do a curve on a day you get a blue or yellow preshot - those pinks and reds are bounces from lower numbers and a curve then won't be as helpful (though any data is good data)

The reason I ask - I suspect he could use an increase to 1.25U BUT I am very hesitant to recommend that without more midcycle tests. Those blue preshots you see here and there are a clue that he's going lower, very possibly green, during those cycles.

I would save your money and skip fructosamine test. Since you already test at home it's not going to tell you anything you don't already know. I would not increase dose before getting a non-bounce curve, and even then I would not increase by more than 0.25U

Thanks so much for the reply. To answer your questions:

Yes, he does fast before the preshot test. I feed everyone (2 cats, 1 dog) after I do Griffin's BG test (morning and evening), and give him his insulin shot as he is finishing up eating.

I definitely need to get into a better routine with midcycle tests and curves. This information is so helpful, I had no idea it would be better to do the curve on the blue/yellow days. I can get those in, but I'm almost out of lancets and Walmart has been out of stock on the 26 gauge for weeks. I finally ordered some 30 gauge just to be safe and they are supposed to arrive today.

Any advice on making these extra tests an integrated part of the overall routine? Planning for a "curve day" feels like such a big commitment to plan for and always feel like I have to clear my schedule - which has been difficult over the holidays. Looking at the spreadsheets from members here, I definitely haven't been testing enough, so I would love to hear how others get their extra testing in. I have done two extra tests today, so that's a start!

Thanks for the tip on the fructosamine test, I will decline when they suggest it.

 

[FrostD]

You don't have to do a curve day, that's just easier for most people's schedules. An alternative is just picking random times to test him if you're home. So one day get a +2 and +7, the next get a +3 and +4, one day a +9. The idea is to get a rough outline of the whole cycle over the span of a few days. A curve can be every other hour for 12 hrs, or every 3 hrs for 18 hrs.

Most people get in the habit of a before bed test around +2 or +3. Some people do it right before brushing teeth lol or before you leave the house

I usually set alarms on my phone or timers on the microwave/oven, because my schedule was usually a little different/unpredictable each day.

 

[Griffin the Siberian]

You don't have to do a curve day, that's just easier for most people's schedules. An alternative is just picking random times to test him if you're home. So one day get a +2 and +7, the next get a +3 and +4, one day a +9. The idea is to get a rough outline of the whole cycle over the span of a few days. A curve can be every other hour for 12 hrs, or every 3 hrs for 18 hrs.

Most people get in the habit of a before bed test around +2 or +3. Some people do it right before brushing teeth lol or before you leave the house

I usually set alarms on my phone or timers on the microwave/oven, because my schedule was usually a little different/unpredictable each day.

These are great tips, thank you so much!