AMPS very high ... bouncing?

[Raewyn]

Tim's AMPS reading came out as "Hi" on the meter this morning. I read that this means it is above 33 mmol/L (594). He also had a very high reading three days ago. Both of these were after relatively low PMPS readings the night before. Could it be that his night time levels went lower than usual and these high readings were from a bounce? I also did a fur shot a few days ago, I'm not convinced that any insulin went in at all. Could this morning's high reading still be a delayed reaction from that? Is this high glucose level harmful to him? I am waiting patiently for his readings to level themselves out, but it is so frustrating, especially with the furshot.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and waving to you from across the ditch in Sydney.
Yes the Hi could be from bouncing however as you aren’t getting any/many pm cycle tests it is hard to tell.
I would suggest you always get a before bed test in the pm cycle to see if Tim is going to go lower at night. I see you have got a couple of +2 and they have been lower than the Preshot. He probably did go lower than that later in the cycle ... cats often go lower in the evening cycle.
If you get a BSL at @2 that is lower than the Preshot that usually means that it will be an active cycle and you need to test again a couple of hours later to see how low it is dropping.
If the +2 is about the same as the Preshot than it will probably be a normal cycle and drop a bit. If the +2 is higher than the Preshot than the cycle probably won’t do much at all.
You are still early in this journey and it is normal to bounce after lower numbers as Tim has probably been in higher numbers for a while and his body has got used to them.
It is not great to have cats in high numbers but it is very common in the beginning. Low numbers are much more dangerous.
We recommend you increase in 0.25 unit increments as it is safer and you are less likely to go past the best dose. Tim looked like he was getting better numbers on the 2 units than the 2.5 units.
If I were you I would try getting some more tests in during the pm cycle. At the moment we are only getting half the picture.
The furshot was 5 cycles ago so the depot would be almost full again so I don’t think the higher numbers are from that. Tim still went down during that cycle so he probably got more insulin than you think.
Keep asking lots of questions, we are happy to help.
Tim is gorgeous!

 

[Raewyn]

Thanks for your help. Yes I think I'll try to get some tests later on in the evening if he is low for the PMPS.
I'm following my vet's advice for the dosing. I know this is sometimes not ideal, but I'd rather just go with their advice for the time being.
Besides, my syringes only have whole units and I'm finding even judging a half unit difficult. The half unit ones seem to be harder to come by.
Hopefully his numbers will settle down soon. Vet wants me to do another glucose curve tomorrow to send to them.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Try using a magnifying glass if you are having trouble with the 1 unit syringes. I always used a magnifying glass when drawing up the insulin. I don’t think you can buy 1/2 unit syringed in NZ but if you are interested I can send you the link to a place in the UK that will send them out in about a week.
I know it can be hard to go against the vet advice. Maybe you could ask him if you could do the increases by 0.25 units.
I am going to tag @flyingduster as she lives in NZ.
In regard to testing in the evening cycle. It is not just the PMPS you need to look at but the difference in the numbers between the PMPS and the next test. If lower than the PMPS then will need follow up tests later in cycle.

 

[flyingduster]

Ugh, sorry I haven’t been on here this week so didn’t see the tag!

I have been figuring out how to measure the quarter unit points on even my whole unit syringes, because yeah we can’t get the half unit ones here. It needs magnifying to be certain though! I use the magnifier on my iPhone...

 

[flyingduster]

Also, my girl was all up and down a LOT too, granted she was on caninsulin initially, which didn’t help! But regardless it was frustrating having her sooooo inconsistent.

And initially I did change things up without my vet on board. But I now have my vet on board with me and we are in closer consultation now via txt and my spreadsheet and have been managing her much better.