? Confused about no-shot limit

[Misterbeesmom]

its 150 on human glucometer, right?

Looking at various ss's i see preshots lower than that sometimes and people dose safely. I've seen some stickies saying it can be ok to dose lower than 100 as long as you have a good amount of readings in past. Or am i misunderstanding something?

How do we know when its ok? I had that situation tonight he was 149, so i waited an hour, and was then 194 at +13, so i dosed then. It probably would have been fine, or even better, if i had just dosed at +12.

 

[Erica & Carter]

I believe the "no shoot" number depends on the insulin.

But with Lantus, I've shot in the low 50s, 60s, 70s etc but it was based on the data I had accumulated to how Carter did in lower numbers, if I was able to be home, how fast he would typically drop, what food would bring him up, what food would help him surf, etc.

I think it's advisable to not shoot under 150 with Lantus if you don't have enough data or if you simply aren't comfortable. Once I had enough data and became comfortable, I shot low to stay low and eventually his cycles became more flat, with no bouncing.

 

[Blamethecats and Hannah]

I don't give dosing advice and I am not familiar with the use of Lantus, so perhaps someone else with more experience with that insulin can chime in and offer advice. However, I do think you were wise to put insulin off for an hour and dose at +13. I use ProZinc for Hannah, and that's exactly what I would have done.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Yes, with past BG values that support sae dosing at less than 150 you can does at as low as a BG that your data supports. You do that like you did, waiting and seeing what happens. Just make sure you get some BG at suspected low point so as to prevent the cat from going too low. I shot my Patches her normal dose of about 2 1/2 units Lantus with a PM PS in the 50's. It took a long time for me to be convinced that is was safe to give that dose. Patches II has PM PS' that are much lower than AM PS'

 

[Connie & Max]

I'm glad you asked this question as I've been wondering this as well. My Max had a hypo on Friday and we completely stopped his insulin over the weekend. Without the insulin his numbers have been in the greens and one blue...as far as what we tested. He's at the vet today doing a glucose curve (new vet, so new exam, curve) and I was surprised that they gave him insulin when he was at 111. But two hours later he only dropped to 109. This is very confusing to me.

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

I'm glad you asked this question as I've been wondering this as well. My Max had a hypo on Friday and we completely stopped his insulin over the weekend. Without the insulin his numbers have been in the greens and one blue...as far as what we tested. He's at the vet today doing a glucose curve (new vet, so new exam, curve) and I was surprised that they gave him insulin when he was at 111. But two hours later he only dropped to 109. This is very confusing to me.

With the low numbers Max has been hitting the last few days I too am surprised that they gave insulin. Did you find out what dose they gave? Lantus begins its onset around +2 hours after the shot, but may not reach the nadir (lowest number) until between +5-+7 hours after shot. Since you don't have a lot of data yet there is no way to know when Max will reach his nadir. Also many kitties will have elevated numbers at the vet due to stress, so the results of the curve may not be completely accurate with how Max is at home. I only ever had one curve done at the vet. My kitty was terrified...wouldn't eat or drink or pee and just sat in the litter box the whole time. The curve was useless, since his numbers never changed at all and the vet cancelled it after 6 hours.

The only good thing is that if he drops too low, at least he is at the vets where they can attend to it quickly. Since you are home-testing, in the future you can do your own curves at home, and save stress and money.

 

[Connie & Max]

With the low numbers Max has been hitting the last few days I too am surprised that they gave insulin. Did you find out what dose they gave? Lantus begins its onset around +2 hours after the shot, but may not reach the nadir (lowest number) until between +5-+7 hours after shot. Since you don't have a lot of data yet there is no way to know when Max will reach his nadir. Also many kitties will have elevated numbers at the vet due to stress, so the results of the curve may not be completely accurate with how Max is at home. I only ever had one curve done at the vet. My kitty was terrified...wouldn't eat or drink or pee and just sat in the litter box the whole time. The curve was useless, since his numbers never changed at all and the vet cancelled it after 6 hours.

The only good thing is that if he drops too low, at least he is at the vets where they can attend to it quickly. Since you are home-testing, in the future you can do your own curves at home, and save stress and money.

They gave him 2 units. I'm going to call again in a few minutes as this should be about +5 if I have the times down correctly.

Your poor kitty! Aww, I'm so sorry he went through that. After Max went through something similar, I had a lot of anxiety taking him to the other vet. Right now I don't have anxiety that the new vet is treating him right...it's that the curve will be useless or that there are variables we are not even considering.

So far they have been telling me that Max has been good (they already knew I was worried he'd be agitated because of previous experience at the other vet), and I am not doubting it because the numbers aren't very different so far...however we haven't done a full curve at home yet and I just know his AMPG yesterday was in the 70s and 102 for his PMPG yesterday...I don't know what it was like throughout the day. And then if they're using a vet meter instead of a human meter, the numbers can be off. I'm doing my best to remain calm and know that regardless of what comes out of this, we now are home testing and can do our curves at home as you mentioned later.

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

They gave him 2 units. I'm going to call again in a few minutes as this should be about +5 if I have the times down correctly.

Your poor kitty! Aww, I'm so sorry he went through that. After Max went through something similar, I had a lot of anxiety taking him to the other vet. Right now I don't have anxiety that the new vet is treating him right...it's that the curve will be useless or that there are variables we are not even considering.

So far they have been telling me that Max has been good (they already knew I was worried he'd be agitated because of previous experience at the other vet), and I am not doubting it because the numbers aren't very different so far...however we haven't done a full curve at home yet and I just know his AMPG yesterday was in the 70s and 102 for his PMPG yesterday...I don't know what it was like throughout the day. And then if they're using a vet meter instead of a human meter, the numbers can be off. I'm doing my best to remain calm and know that regardless of what comes out of this, we now are home testing and can do our curves at home as you mentioned later.

IMHO giving 2 units does not make sense considering how low Max has been without any insulin the last few days. If Max has been staying in good number without any insulin and able to bring his preshot numbers down on his own, then that seems to me to be too high. My opinion! I am going to read your other postings