Anyone here from Canada? Dosecrease question

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Lylene & Barry

Member Since 2009
My pharmacist has a friend whose cat has been diagnosed with diabetes and I said the friend could contact me, which she did. They are in Ontario. I don't understand the numbers used there and she needs help. Her vet put the cat on Lantus. Just increased the dose from 2u to 3u and the cat is just finishing antibiotics. I cringed. He also has hind leg weakness and is on B12 for that.

Yes, I've sent her here and told her she really needs to be home testing. Told her my experiences of really low blood sugars caught by home testing and what could have happened if I had given their shots. She needs a kit and I'm waiting to find out the problem with getting one from the Supply Closet. This makes me want to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cat(2)_steam

This is part of what she emailed
"my vet wanted me to bump up his shots to 3units from 2, sometimes Ill just give him once 3 than that night 2 cause he tends not to feel well, at least he's done his antibotics today. His blood sugar count is 30 and should 3-5, vet would take 12."

Would a 1u increase (50%) be a good idea with that BS from other people's experiences? With Barry, his BS went so high the glucometer couldn't read it. His went from 2u to 3u in one jump. Vet didn't know what she was doing. Luckily people here did. Barry is OTJ 2 yrs Oct. 23 :)

Thanks
 
I can't advise on dose specifically but 3u is really high in any event.
Metric numbers need multiplied by 18 to get US numbers. That 30 is really high - over 500.

Where is she in Ontario? Lots of members on this board in Ontario.
 
Lylene & Barry said:
My pharmacist has a friend whose cat has been diagnosed with diabetes and I said the friend could contact me, which she did. They are in Ontario. I don't understand the numbers used there and she needs help. Her vet put the cat on Lantus. Just increased the dose from 2u to 3u and the cat is just finishing antibiotics. I cringed. He also has hind leg weakness and is on B12 for that.

Yes, I've sent her here and told her she really needs to be home testing. Told her my experiences of really low blood sugars caught by home testing and what could have happened if I had given their shots. She needs a kit and I'm waiting to find out the problem with getting one from the Supply Closet. This makes me want to scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cat(2)_steam

This is part of what she emailed
"my vet wanted me to bump up his shots to 3units from 2, sometimes Ill just give him once 3 than that night 2 cause he tends not to feel well, at least he's done his antibotics today. His blood sugar count is 30 and should 3-5, vet would take 12."

Would a 1u increase (50%) be a good idea with that BS from other people's experiences? With Barry, his BS went so high the glucometer couldn't read it. His went from 2u to 3u in one jump. Vet didn't know what she was doing. Luckily people here did. Barry is OTJ 2 yrs Oct. 23 :)

Thanks
Click to expand...

I am in Toronto as well. Can the person post here online and be helped directly?

Some questions to ask...
1. What food is being fed, how much?
2. Is owner hometesting? Before each shot, and what meter?
3. What were the AB prescribed to resolve and is the problem fixed now?

Lantus is good, but that dose is possibly too high, but hard to tell without knowing how the cat's BG is in the middle of the 12hrs. The 500 is high BUT if the cat got too much insulin and went really low, then the number is going to bounce high afterwards. Just think of pounding a ball hard into the ground and what happens after that bounce.... it soars very high.

Let us know if we can help locally and see if the owner can join this site for all around good help.
 
Can you forward this person a copy of the Tight Regulation Protocol sticky? That might at least help her understand dosing. Also, she really needs to get started home testing. It's the only way she can keep her cat safe.
 
Hi Lylene

Im in ontario too and agree with previous posts here - but i wanted to mention it may be better if she got her hands on a meter up here instead of the newbie kits which comes from the u.s, plus meters up here read in canadian numbers as opposed to the u.s numbers we are all used to.
Easy to convert as mentioned. Ur # multiplied by 18

Definately have her get on the board here and in LL for dosing assistance plus all the other valuable info.
 
Lylene,
Is this person in Toronto? I have a couple Accu-chek meters and a tin of 50 strips the person can have; let me know.
 
She is in Sault Ste. Marie, ONT.

Now she's talking about skipping shots because she's in a panic about the big change in dose. She doesn't seem to grasp she's making things worse.

She isn't hometesting. I told her she needs to be but she doesn't have a monitor or strips and can't afford them. I know that a lot of meters will measure both ways. You just have to tell it when doing the setup.

I will tell her again she need to get on here. I can't help her. I'm too stressed with everything that has happened over the past week and I can't handle this. Guess it's ultimatum time.

Thanks.
 
Lylene:

If she's not able to test, it will be a problem. What you might suggest she do is get a user name and read the stickys, read condos, etc. and educate herself. You shouldn't be bearing the responsibility for helping her cat on your own. The big advantage of the Board is that there are a lot of eyes on each post. If someone makes a mistake, there are others to catch the glitch.

If there is a Walmart near her, a meter and strips are not terribly expensive.
 
Sienne and Gabby said:
Lylene:

If she's not able to test, it will be a problem. What you might suggest she do is get a user name and read the stickys, read condos, etc. and educate herself. You shouldn't be bearing the responsibility for helping her cat on your own. The big advantage of the Board is that there are a lot of eyes on each post. If someone makes a mistake, there are others to catch the glitch.

If there is a Walmart near her, a meter and strips are not terribly expensive.
Click to expand...

She can also get a free meter with the purchase of strips http://www.accu-chek.ca/ca/circleofcare/couponpage.html
 
Lylene & Barry said:
She is in Sault Ste. Marie, ONT.

Now she's talking about skipping shots because she's in a panic about the big change in dose. She doesn't seem to grasp she's making things worse.

She isn't hometesting. I told her she needs to be but she doesn't have a monitor or strips and can't afford them. I know that a lot of meters will measure both ways. You just have to tell it when doing the setup.

I will tell her again she need to get on here. I can't help her. I'm too stressed with everything that has happened over the past week and I can't handle this. Guess it's ultimatum time.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Tell her to go to Shopper's DrugMart and get a FREE monitor. They will give you a free meter when you purchase strips. A box of 100 strips will be around $85; there are no cheap strips in Canada, and we can't get the Relion meter either.
I would suggest she get a Bayer Contour meter as the strips sip well and quickly plus no coding needed for them. I have used most of the other meters avail in Canada and Bayer sips the best, so she won't have problems with wasted strips.

Is she online? If yes, give her the link to this site, and tell her to go there and join. Tell her there are plenty of Canadians in the groups on this site who can help.

The meter she gets in Canada will not register the numbers others post here but that does not matter. If she wants to post 16.4, we can easily help her to calculate and get 296.

Until she gets the meter, tell her she is wise to stick with the 2u am and pm. Have her go to any Shoppers and get a meter free when she buys strips. She just fills out the registration card for the meter and Shoppers mails it to the company. Tell her to put herself down as a 'CARE GIVER' just as if you are taking care of a child or even a senior. All she has to say is that she would like to try a meter... that's how I got most of mine!

Once she has her meter and strips, and has joined here, people can help her walk through testing and she will have lots of support. Do let her know that most cats never need a dose like 3u, so she was pretty smart to observe how her cat was doing and to sense that the 3u was too high.
 
Thanks, Gayle -- that's good information. I wonder if she can find cheaper strips on EBay. I've gotten some great deals on strips for the Bayer Contour meter there.
 
Sienne and Gabby said:
Thanks, Gayle -- that's good information. I wonder if she can find cheaper strips on EBay. I've gotten some great deals on strips for the Bayer Contour meter there.
Click to expand...

Sorry I can't help with online purchasing but the rest of you can let her know that process.
Once she has a meter, whichever one they say she can get free, she can get you guys to walk her through the online buying.

There are other very good meters - many people use the OneTouch meters and the Accu-Chek ones as well.
I was just thinking ..... if you go to the pharmacy and ask to look at a few of them, maybe even put them in your hand to get the feel of the shape as there are many, then pick the one that feels the best to you.

You will hold the cat's ear with one hand and poke with the other.... I am left handed so I hold their ears with my right hand, poke with the left hand, then pick up the meter and sip the drop of blood with my left.

I think some guys here will have some videos you can watch to get an idea of testing.

Most of all, tell her to please do not let herself feel overwhelmed; she has plenty of time to learn and treat, no rush, and there will always be someone around her who can help her.
 
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