Beginners bounce, pain from surgery recovery, or both?

[Desi Mom]

Hello. Destiny just had her third shot of Basaglar. I managed to get a BG test from her ear about an hour later and it was 306. I have read about how they bounce around for the first week of glargine before they start to level off. Since she hasn't been that high at home before, I am curious if it is from the bounce? Or if soreness/pain could elevate BG as well? There has been a complication of her paw recovery from the surgery at the beginning of July. The main scab came of prematurely and it was bleeding a bit and it looks a little painful/sore when she walks. (The vet says there may continue to be complications healing until her BG gets more under control.) Or maybe her BG is high because of a combination of both?

She is very slowly getting better at having her ear pricked, so hopefully I can start getting more steady data soon. The vet said after three weeks of the glargine, to try and do the curve testing. Is that correct for a timeline?

Thank you again for your help.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

If you had fed her right before the shot and tested her an hour later, it would be expected for the BG to be higher than you're used to seeing because the food is going to cause it to go up, but pain can also cause the BG to be higher.

Can we ask you to use our spreadsheet (which is a Google document) instead of the Excel format? Not everybody has Office (and switching now, when you don't have a lot of data yet, is easier).

 

[Desi Mom]

Huh. It is a Google spreadsheet. Did it not link correctly in my signature? Let me try again.

I just resaved the link in my signature. Will you check to see if it opens correctly now?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I just resaved the link in my signature. Will you check to see if it opens correctly now?

OK...now it's a Google document but you need to change the privacy settings to "anybody with the link can view"

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

From your post above, it sounds like you're just starting out with home testing so I realize you're beginning to get used to the process. You want to get a test before you give insulin -- each and every time. Without that test data, you're shooting blind. To be honest, shooting blind terrifies me. You have no idea whether your pre-shot number is 400 or 40. Home testing is the best way to ensure your cat's safety. In addition to your pre-shot test, you want to do your best to get at least one addition test each 12-hour cycle. That test will give you a sense of how low the dose is taking your cat's blood glucose numbers. We encourage caregivers to get a "before bed" test every night during the PM cycle.

You'll also want to think about getting a couple of curves as time goes on. A curve is when you test every 2 hours for a 12-hour cycle. The purpose of a curve is to inform you about when insulin onset and nadir occur and how much duration your getting from your insulin. For example, Prozinc doesn't kick in immediately after an injection. Once you have a curve, you'd be able to see that numbers rise after you feed Destiny and they start to come back down within a few hours which would indicate insulin onset.