Bouncing numbers kinda worried

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I think my better question at this point is if He's starting to not need insulin at all, it seems like ever time i reduce his dose he tries to go Hypo on me. and then if I DONT give him a shot he sky rockets to the 300s? one a day shots? no shots at all? reduced? its all really starting to feel so over whelming i wish i knew what was going on or that i was rich and could afford a vet to treat him every time.
 
114 is good. He may be cranky but you need to get three tests in a row that are rising or at least staying steady without food influence and he may not have reached his lowest point in the cycle yet (nadir) so retest again in 30 minutes and don't feed him anything else right now.

Nothing is going horribly wrong.... it's actually going wonderfully other than scaring the crap out of you. Breathe@! Your little Cloud is making great progress and as scary as all this is, it really is good news!
 
Believe me you don't want a vet treating him every time. Your vet caused what is happening now by prescribing too much insulin. Cloud was on too much insulin and bouncing which was keeping his BG artificially high. Now that the dose of insulin has been reduced closer to what he needs, you are seeing much better numbers but he's not bouncing now. This will mean another dose decrease and a bit more monitoring but it's all good news!
 
Ill test him in 30 minutes. You guys have no idea how much I hope the most wonderful things in life happen to you all for helping me. I was literally losing my mind before finding this place.
do you have any idea how much i should be giving him now that this has happened? less then 1 Im guessing?
seriously again you guys are literal angels in disguise.
 
We are all just paying it forward. :D This place is a godsend to be sure and like you we've all benefited immensely from the knowledge of the folks here. We virtually adopt the kitties who come here along with their "parents" and we call situations like this PJ parties! We try to avoid them but they do happen and there is usually someone around to help out. Should this happen again, post a new thread on Health with a prefix of "911" and that will get the attention of anyone online at the time.

To summarize should someone else join Cloud's PJ party....
Shot 11:30pm
+2 - 40
+2.25 - 96
+ 2.5 - 114

We can determine future dose after we make sure Cloud is safe and sound.
Are you working tomorrow?
 
yeah. I work three evenings 3 pm to 11 pm and then three graves 11 pm to 7 am. which is why i place his shots at 10:30 am and pm because i can get close to that on my swing/ evenings. I wake up any where from 9 am to 10 pm. but monday Ill have all day to take care of him till i have to work at 11 pm.
 
Ok he's dropping again which is from the sugary stuff wearing off. Will he eat a bit of his wet food now or if not his dry food? We want to keep his BG up in the 90 to 100 range. Is there any people food he likes to eat? Deli meat, some tuna or salmon, whatever he will eat is fine right now.
 
He is eating his wet food when I put it in front of him, i can get some deli meat as well to really entice him to eat. he loves Tuna but i ran out of tuna a few days ago! i can mix some of the dry kibble INTO the wet food if needed? but he seems to eat willingly from his wet food.
 
Stick with the wet food right now but not too much. A tbsp or so. Test him again in 30 minutes. We need to try to not fill him up so he will eat when he needs to. Don't use the dry food unless it's the only option. It takes longer to hit his system and will fill him up faster. Do you have lots of strips to keep testing as needed?

SUMMARY
Shot 11:30pm
+2 - 40
+2.25 - 96
+2.5 - 114
+3 - 75
 
That's really the same reading so no worries but he's still needs to come up a bit and is going to need to be monitored. Give him another little bit of wet food and test again in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, you may be monitoring for awhile till he gets further into the cycle and the insulin start to wear off. Put a little honey or karo (1/2 tsp. or so) into the food to bump him up a bit extra without filling him up.
 
He's nibblign at the honey wet food mix. i had to warm it up to entice him. he's getting a full tummy. and i can stay up a bit longer. maybe another hour and a half. I know I will end up dead at work in that little office if I dont but i dont want to leave him unsafe either.
 
Let's see where he goes after this batch of food. It's hard to nail down when he usually has his lowest point because today he seems to be dropping very quickly and early. I understand completely about needing to get some ZZZ's but we need to be sure Cloud is safe before we let our guard down. Hopefully this last batch of food will put him up more.
 
My hopes is that all this struggle just means he needs very very VERY little insulin ever on his shots. once i get the proper training to be a phlebotomist ill have a job i can afford to search for a way better vet thats insulin smart / diabetic smart.
 
trapnurse said:
better vet thats insulin smart / diabetic smart.
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That I'm afraid is a rare animal. There are a few but to be honest, I've seen a lot of nonsense come out of vets who supposedly have had their own diabetic cats!. You need a vet who will work with you as a partner but you need to take control of the diabetes because you are the one who knows your cat best, and are holding the needle. Once you have lots of data, it becomes much easier to handle. Your vet had Cloud on too much insulin and it becomes impossible to know how much of any BG reading is due to bouncing as opposed to a naturally occurring high BG. In the best case scenario, you start with a low dose of insulin and work up slowly so you don't miss the ideal dose AND you home test rather than have curves done at the vet to determine what that proper dose is. A lot of vets don't think people can home test their cats so they don't even suggest it but that means that the vet is prescribing insulin based on stress elevated BG numbers obtained in the clinic.

I only take my girl to the vet for her annual checkups or if something other than her diabetes is amiss. My vet worked with me in the beginning and with her help and this board, I have managed to get my girl who was once on 16u of insulin twice daily , down to 2u to 3u. She got to 16u slowly and methodically so I knew we had not skipped over her ideal dose. My cat has a somewhat rare condition that makes her a high dose cat. My vet admitted she had never dealt with the problem and consulted with a specialist and listened to me when I shared info I got from this board. Had it not been for this board, I might still be tearing my hair out about not being able to get my cat's numbers down even with copious amounts of insulin.

In short, there is nothing like hands on experience and unfortunately, vets just don't have that experience but you do. Your cat is unique and understanding your own cat makes this sugar dance a lot easier than relying on someone else to call the shots. Yes the pun was intended! :woot:
 
3:53 am. BG = 105. he's going up now ~ updating spread sheet.
yeah i dont think my vet has much care in diabetes he's more of a surgery and clinic vet. I've noticed he's not to get in conditions with animals that arent super common.
 
He's up a bit but it would be nice to get him up a bit more. Some of that is the honey and that will wear off quickly. Don't give him anything else right now and re-test again in 30 minutes. I know this is draining but Cloud could drop again and that could get dangerous.

Don't be upset with your vet. Like a human GP, he has to deal with a lot of different ailments and in a vet's case, different species to boot. Chances are good he isn't now and never has, dealt with a lot of diabetic cats. The training vets get on diabetes consists of a few hours which is a drop in the bucket and not enough to make any vet an expert. Unless they specialize in Endocrinology, chances are good, they are just following textbook guidelines and those differ depending on how old your textbook is!
 
4:24 AM BG=133. I think he's finally heading up! nightmare over! I hope...i feel like it is. im wondering if i shoudl lower the dosage based on his readings at 10:30 am Tomorrow.
 
That is better but I'd get at least one more test without any more food before calling it safe to leave him. Retest again in 30 minutes and I will be back in a few minutes with suggestions about future dosing. I have to go look after my little sweetie's shot! BRB!
 
SUMMARY
Shot 11:30pm
+2 - 40
+2.25 - 96
+2.5 - 114
+3 - 75
+3.5 - 72
+ 4.25 - 105
+ 4.75 - 133

My suggestion would be to skip the shot this AM. After this run of low numbers, his pre-shot may be up but that could be some bouncing and that could break suddenly so better for Cloud to be high for a day than too low for a moment especially when you will be at work and I'm sure you need a break from any more scary situations and Cloud does too from all the poking. Sunday evening, I'd try 0.25u and hold that for a few cycles to see if it's enough or too little unless of course he throws you any more surprises. Do you have syringes with 1/2 unit markings on them? If not, get a used syringe and draw up some coloured fluid to make a sample syringe of what you feel is 0.25u. Consistency is more important than being spot on. Then you can use that sample syringe to compare with when giving 0.25u.
 
5:08 am BG = 156. He's going up. I'll skip tomorrow's shot but test him. And sadly my syringes are U-100 im not sure if that can change. I am not sure if certain syringes have different things or not on them. But I can eyeball it pretty well~
 
The u100 syringes aren't the problem. Your insulin is U100 right? It's whether there are just full unit markings on the syringe or half markings. In either case you're going to have to eye ball the 0.25u dose, but it's easier with the half marking syringes.
 
Whew! That was a lot of excitement for you! Thanks heavens you had Linda to help. :)

You might not realize it but your SS isn't accessible right now. It says I need permission to view it. Not sure if it's just me or if something needs tweaking so we can all see it.

I'm SO glad you came here and asked for help. I shudder to think of what might have happened had you continued at that gigantic dose! :eek:
 
SUMMARY
Shot 11:30pm
+2 - 40
+2.25 - 96
+2.5 - 114
+3 - 75
+3.5 - 72
+ 4.25 - 105
+ 4.75 - 133
+ 5.5 - 156

I think he's fine now but if you can possibly stay up another half hour, I'd grab one more test without food to be absolutely sure. If you can't stay up, leave food down for Cloud to munch on as needed.

Allie, you did great tonight! I know how scary this has been but you handled it well and kept Cloud safe. :D
 
@Kris & Teasel thanks for pointing out that you can't see the SS. I've had it open here since yesterday and couldn't figure out why it wasn't updating. DUH! LOL! If I'd just closed the SS and tried to reopen it, I would have discovered the problem!
 
WHEW! Figured out how to get the file back so Allie should be able to restore it.

Allie, to restore Cloud's spreadsheet you need to go to Google Drive. Click on the Trash folder to see what files are there. Right click on the file you want to restore and you should be all fixed. Let us know if you have any problems! :)
 
I just woke up after fighting the sleep, I'm sorry! I tested his Bg just now! He was at 296. I'm trying to get the ss back into my ss maker on mobile again I don't know when I might have accidently removed it.
Being that his bg is 296 I figure onward with out shot today like suggested? I'm going to avoid giving him a treat today under the circumstances.
Edit:: i fixed the spread sheet. I uploaded it from my computer instead this time till i can figure out mobile again.
 
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Retested him now at 2:13 before I get ready for work. He's still at 296? I'm not sure what to make of this. Yay he's not going hyper? Yay he's not going hypO... what the heck...
 
That's Ok. You got one heck of a surprise last night and while his pre-shot is higher this morning, it's not gone way way up so I still think since we now know 1u is too much that skipping the shot this AM knowing you cannot monitor is a good decision. He may be more sensitive to insulin right now and we don't want him all of a sudden dropping again while you are at work. There is likely some degree of bouncing in that 296 which could break at any time. I'll try to check in tonight just before shot time but I can't guarantee since that'll be 01:00 to 01:30 my time! I think you should be safe giving 0.25u as long as the pre-shot is 200 or more. If he happens to come down below that, please post for suggestions in Health forum or skip the shot again if you don't get a response. No telling how many folks might be on the board at that time of the night/morning.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
That's Ok. You got one heck of a surprise last night and while his pre-shot is higher this morning, it's not gone way way up so I still think since we now know 1u is too much that skipping the shot this AM knowing you cannot monitor is a good decision. He may be more sensitive to insulin right now and we don't want him all of a sudden dropping again while you are at work. There is likely some degree of bouncing in that 296 which could break at any time. I'll try to check in tonight just before shot time but I can't guarantee since that'll be 01:00 to 01:30 my time! I think you should be safe giving 0.25u as long as the pre-shot is 200 or more. If he happens to come down below that, please post for suggestions in Health forum or skip the shot again if you don't get a response. No telling how many folks might be on the board at that time of the night/morning.
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Thanks for the advice! I'll be testing and I'll give him the 0.25 if it's like 250 or above. Crossing fingers for good luck!
 
I think 200 is high enough for a shot of 0.25u but if you feel better using 250 as cut off tonight so you can be sure of some sleep that's fine but I wouldn't hold anymore shots after that unless absolutely necessary, You've gained ground and don't want to go backwards now. :DGet yourself well rested. You are going to be home tomorrow for his full AM shot cycle, correct? IE working graveyard 11pm-7am?
 
JanetNJ said:
Huh? 0.5 is more than 0.25. I think you read that wrong
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I'll need to learn these numbers better then. I operated thinking it went in 100s I'm sorry is I sound really ill equipped intelligence wise math was never easy for me. I thought 0.25 would be like one quarter of a whole shot. Like 1/4 is just one price of a whole 4 cups if that makes sense. I'm going to go research this better now while I have down time.
 
trapnurse said:
I'll need to learn these numbers better then. I operated thinking it went in 100s I'm sorry is I sound really ill equipped intelligence wise math was never easy for me. I thought 0.25 would be like one quarter of a whole shot. Like 1/4 is just one price of a whole 4 cups if that makes sense. I'm going to go research this better now while I have down time.
Click to expand...
No problem! Just ask any time you aren't clear on anything. We can always find other ways to convey information. :)
 
Lots of excitement overnight! And that was just on 1.0U, thinking of where he was 9 days ago :woot:. Glad Linda was here with you, you did very good!
 
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