? Another curve question

Status
Not open for further replies.
shelaghc

shelaghc

Member Since 2017
New question about the curve.

Explanatory stuff -
I just started, on my own, giving Jester 1U twice a day, because his BG yesterday was 155 and 168 for AMPS and PMPS, respectively.
This morning his AMPS was 203 - I opted to keep him at 1U but will adjust that if he goes up again with tonight's PMPS.

And that may change again between today and Saturday (or Sunday), depending upon his numbers.

Now the question is:
How do I handle Jester's dosages during the curve under these circumstances?
Do I keep him at the same dose all day long, no matter what the most recent BG# is?

Frex, Say his AMPS and PMPS BG are in the 300s and I've upped his insulin to 1.5U or back to 2U (what the vet told me to do) because of that. But come Saturday morning (or even Saturday evening) it's back to AMPS around 150.
Would I reduce his insulin back down to 1U and do the curve based upon that?

Or can you all suggest a different option?
 
I’ll defer to someone with more knowledge, but from what I’ve read on here, I think you need to stay with a consistent dose until you get more data under your belt. I have read that changing his numbers that often will cause crazy curves in his numbers. With numbers in the 100s pre-shot, I think that’s actually on the healthier side. But I’ll follow along, because I’m relatively new here as well.
 
Davesmom is right. You need to choose a protocol and stick to it. Read the stickies on SLGS or TR. Consistency is key. On the SLGS you keep the dose for a week unless they go below 90 and on TR I believe it is 50.

You’d definitely NOT change dose in the middle of a curve. The idea of a curve is to find the nadir and it’s on that tgstvyiu find out if a dose increase or reduction is required.

AND I would be VERY VERY hesitant about listening to your vet. They are not experienced in feline diabetes and often use old school methods. This forum will tell you all you need to know.
 
Juliet said:
Davesmom is right. You need to choose a protocol and stick to it. Read the stickies on SLGS or TR. Consistency is key. On the SLGS you keep the dose for a week unless they go below 90 and on TR I believe it is 50.
Click to expand...
What are SLGS and TR?

Also, Jester's BG has been bouncing around for the last month and a half - as low as the mid and upper 100s and as high as the low 500s.

The vet kept him at 2U all that time, only varying when Jester's BG went down to about 150 on Friday on what was supposed to be his PMPS. We wound up holding off on giving him his insulin for an extra few hours - when it went back up to mid 400s. So we stuck with 2U again.

I've only started making changes since getting more active with morning and evening BG testings and seeing the numbers before giving Jester his shots.
 
Last edited:
Bouncing is quite common when they go into numbers they are not used to. SLGS -Start slow Go Slow and TR - Tight Regulation. Not sure what insulin you are using but there’s insulin specific forums that can guide you.
 
Yes, to reiterate what Juliet said, bouncing up and down is completely normal for the first few months, and it is important to stick with a consistent dosage of insulin. Not sure if you are not seeing her comments correctly, it seems like you are quoting her posting gibberish, but she did post great answers to you!
 
Copy and pasting what Juliet said above:


Bouncing is quite common when they go into numbers they are not used to. SLGS -Start slow Go Slow and TR - Tight Regulation. Not sure what insulin you are using but there’s insulin specific forums that can guide you.
 
DavesMom said:
Yes, to reiterate what Juliet said, bouncing up and down is completely normal for the first few months, and it is important to stick with a consistent dosage of insulin.
Click to expand...

I did stick with a consistent dosage for over a month. Jester's appetite is maddening - it can take sometimes an hour to coax him to eat as much as half a can.
And his numbers have been all over the place, only once under 200 since he was increased to 2U. The vet would only check his BG at the four to five hour point after insulin.

But I've also been advised by members of this board to adjust his dosage based upon his AMPS and PMPS numbers.

Now I'm confused.
 
You’re using a different insulin than I am that’s why I posted the link to the ProZinc insulin protocol. It really is best to read several posts in that forum; read the stickies; get a thorough understanding from here by asking questions. My vet nearly killed my cat by not understanding. Told me to keep increasing dose WITHOUT home testing. Seriously be careful before blindly following the advice of a vet on this.
 
I understand that you stuck with a consistent dosage for over a month, but you said you just changed him down to 1U two days ago and are already considering changing the dosage again, which is why I said consistency is important. I would stick with 1U for a few more days until you see how he reacts to that. You don't want to be bouncing around with his dosage daily. Definitely take a look at the ProZinc specific thread on the forum and they may have some better answers for you.
 
Shelagh I think you are splitting hairs over my typos. The protocol is for Lantus users not proZinc. I did not know you were not using Lantus. Please listen to advice and worry less over typos. Katie is right. Hold the dose until you know how he is responding.
 
There is a TR protocol adapted for ProZinc, but I think it's more common to go TR with a longer lasting insulin like Lantus. With ProZinc, you would need to dose more frequently than most people's schedules allow if using TR. We ended up using SLGS for Zulu with success after two months. I would recommend holding the dose for 6 cycles (3 days dosing twice a day) and see what your pre-shot numbers are. After awhile you can adjust the dose after 3 cycles, but I think you need more pre-shot data for now. In the beginning I was a bit trigger happy when it came to changing the dose in response to his pre-shot numbers, but we got better results when we held the dose for a few days before changing.

ETA - Also if you could get a nadir measurement, it would help to know how low 1 unit is taking Jester. Your numbers from the past few days aren't too high, so it would be good to make sure it's not taking him too low.
 
Last edited:
Juliet said:
Shelagh I think you are splitting hairs over my typos. The protocol is for Lantus users not proZinc. I did not know you were not using Lantus. Please listen to advice and worry less over typos. Katie is right. Hold the dose until you know how he is responding.
Click to expand...
I wasn't trying to split hairs and didn't realize it was a typo. Others were quoting you with the same acronym and it was confusing.

There are a lot of acronyms on the board that I'm still unfamiliar with.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top