Advice needed for Baxter's pancreas

[Jenn & Baxter]

Baxter has been OTJ since Sat evening. The vet wanted to see how Baxter would do withwout any insulin due to his "normal" BG levels. At that time I did speak to him about micro dosing. On sat he told me not to micro dose because Baxter was going into 'normal" BG with only .25 & any less really won't do anything except maybe make him go into hypo. Many of you have told me to micro dose to help support his pancreas. I completely understand about micor dosing. I feel like the pancresas at this time is extremely delicate. Believe me I don't want to turn back now. I just want to keep moving foward & get the pancreas healed as much as possible.

Today the vet & I went over Baxter's BG #"s from the weekend. He was inpressed with his #'s. He told me to continue with NO insulin. He didn't seem concerned about a couple of high #'s. Which I thought were a little high. He said if Baxter goes into the upper 200'-300's to give insulin.

*Are Baxter's BG #'s going to continue going down into more "normal" #'s as the pancrese continues to heal? How does all of that work?
*How often should I be doing BG test since I don't have him on insulin?
*Should I be micro dosing? I am all for it, but a little terrified it would send him hypoing.

I can't express how thankful I am for everyone's adivce. I feel so blessed to be at this point with Baxter. Maybe there will be a OTJ party soon. How cool would that be to send 2011 off with a Baxter OTJ party.

Baxter SS is updated.

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

Jenn
If his pancreas continues to heal, then yes that will bring his numbers down.
As far as testing.... you can do what many do when doing an OTJ trial. Check him just before feeding, then maybe 60-90 minutes later. His BG should go up a bit from the food. Give it another hour or two, and check again. If his pancreas is doing its thing, the number should be lower. ECID as far as the timing of how much times goes by after eating to see the rise, then the drop. Other than that, just check him randomly.

As far as the micro dosing, you're just going to have to pick a number that makes you uncomfortable BG wise. And if you think about shooting, post here for advice? You might see a 200 that an hour later is a 100 without any insulin.
Are you using u100 syringes? If so, there's more "space" between .25 and zero. I've seen people who literally give "drops" of insulin.
Yes, it would be quite the celebration to end the year with an OTJ party. I've got my fingers crossed for you and Baxter!

Carl

 

[Jenn & Baxter]

Thank you Carl. I have seen 212 & a hour later its back down to the 100's. I have the u100 syrings. I saw the post about measuring micro doses. Do you think I need to be micro dosing when he PS 169? I know you have told me I need to come up with my own number & make sure he is going up not down. So giving just drops will do what? I know help support the pancreas, but what are the chances he hypos with micro dosing? Does it just bring the BG down a tiny bit?

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

With a 169, drops isn't going to cause a hypo. There's no way of knowing for sure how much it would go down, though. Look at 12/4 when .25 dropped him 100+ points. I would think half of that .25 would get him down to 100 or 75 perhaps. His pancreas might do that alone though. It's a tough call to make, but I think 99% of the people treating their kitties now would be more than happy to switch places with you :smile:

 

[cellosmom]

if he is on all low carb wet food, and at those levels the tiny drops (I used to give the absolute least I possible could in a U100 syringe with U100 insulin... almost looked like there was none in there) the chance of hypo is almost non-existant. I think he probably just needs a tiny push into the low numbers. Just do it when you're around to keep an eye on him if you're worried.

On PZI many do tight regulation which involved shooting at anything over 150 and with units higher than microdosing. If the cat is on low carb wet food they never see hypo. I wouldn't necessarily recommend tight regulation (tried it, it was scary) BUT it just goes to show that it's pretty safe, so you should have to trouble with microdosing.