Doesn't look like insulin is doing much anymore

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Stacym20

Stacym20

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I know I am over thinking things. I think and think and think. I come up with a plan and then always second guess myself. Buds preshot numbers improved over a period of days in which he got little to no insulin making this whole thing more confusing. I can't figure out right now if he needs more or less insulin. I've went up on his dose recently and it doesn't seem to be helping. Granted I'm only increasing 0.2 at a time. Do I need to go up again?
 
I think I'm would. He is dropping but still too high overall. I think raising it by .2 is okay - hold for three cycles and raise again. Or if you want, and you will sure be around, raise by .4?
 
I can grab a +3 before I go to bed to see how he's doing or do you think I should wait until I can grab a +5 to +7 to increase to 1.2? Or I was thinking maybe I would increase to 1 unit and also try some 5-6% carb food where as he mostly gets 8-9% right now.
 
Sorry we didn't get back to respond. I think either thing is worth trying. I would just suggest you make only one change at a time, so you can more easily isolate what might have made a difference.
 
I did increase to 1 unit last night and haven't changed the food. PMPS was 320, +3 was 200 and +5 was 194. AMPS was 441. That's what I don't understand, the more insulin he gets, the higher his preshot numbers seem to go. But I should ignore preshot numbers and concentrate on nadirs, correct?
 
I feed 6 cats 4 cans of food every 12 hours. 2 cans Friskies pate in a poultry flavor, 1 can Friskies pate in a seafood flavor, and 1 can Fancy Feast classic in either chicken, turkey and giblets, or beef. Bud will usually graze between all the plates while I'm getting his shot ready.
 
Beef is one thing that will send my girl over the moon. Many cats are highly allergic to beef, also to fish, I have one civie here that I feed anything with fish in it and he will hurl within minutes after eating, but he does fine with shell fish. Ocean Whitefish, Salmon or Tuna projectile vomit, crab, shrimp or lobster not a problem just him trying to crawl in the plate. Autumn my sugar just gets a dropped crumb of beef while I'm cooking and I might as well given her a tablespoon of Karo. Many times it isn't so much what the carb count is, but the ingredients, if they have an intolerance to an ingredient, that is enough to sky rocket the BGs. And they aren't like us, in they don't usually itch, develop hives or a rash, or even give you a clue like diarrhea or vomiting, but it still a form of inflammation and inflammation raises BGs.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
That's interesting Mel, I did not know a food allergy could raise BGs. Thanks for the info. I will eliminate beef and seafood from Buds diet and see if there's any change in his numbers. I know he seems to vomit when I give him Fancy Feast cod, sole, and shrimp. I don't think it's the shrimp doing it tho as he's had freeze dried shrimp and does fine.
 
I was getting worried because just as I suspected, when I increased his dose, back came the red pre-shot numbers. I just started last night with feeding strictly turkey and giblets and poultry platter and this morning his pre-shot was back in the pink. Yay! We will see if the pink streak continues, but of course I'd like to start seeing yellows. ;) Tomorrow some Friskies special diet turkey and giblets is being delivered so I can try going lower in carbs next if need be. I think I might set my alarm tonight to try and get somewhere between a +5 and +7 since I know the +3 isn't telling me as much as I need to know and I won't be home during the day again until Saturday.
 
Something they mention over in Lantus/Levemir is New Dose Wonkiness. This is when a dose increase results in unexpectedly higher numbers for a couple days. You just have to wait it out.
I am wondering if something similar happens with ProZinc, or any insulin for that matter.
 
That could've been it @BJM. His pre shot numbers are back in the pinks. But at +6 he was higher than he was at +3 last night. Should I up his dose again?
 
It has been 6 cycles so based on this “If the cat is high and flat during the entire cycle, the dose could be raised .5 units, as long as monitoring is possible” then maybe I should rise from 1.0 unit to 1.4. @BJM I know you told me before that an increase could happen to a cat that was previously earning reductions due to batch changes and some other factors, at what point do you consider switching insulin if you’re continually needing to increase dose using an insulin that you previously had to decrease dose?
 
Look for explanations, such as infection, inflammation, and food batch changes first. And sometimes, the pancreas functions erratically.
Also answered some in your other post.
 
Check out crazy cat's lady post today. She kept slowly, carefully raising and finally got a nice a amps. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the same for you too. (She also got a strange high number first - not sure what they is about for either of you.)

You can certainly look at other insulins. But they will take a while to work too. You can getting some action - just not enough.
 
Thanks @Sue and Oliver (GA) , I will continue to slowly increase his dose. I do have a vet appointment for Saturday morning which I'm looking forward to see if there's something else going on, but I'm not looking forward to telling the vet what I have been doing with Bud's doses. Haha. So it's not unheard of to you that after earning reductions a cat may need to go back up in dose? Also the insulin is closing in on almost 3 months old, could I perhaps need a new vial? I really want ProZinc to work because I like the flexibility of it. I think a depot insulin would have my mind in overdrive even more than it is right now.
 
There just are not hand and fast rules about how a cat is going to respond to insulin - some cats do it one way, some do it another. It's that ECID (every cat is different thing) but yes, sometimes they start on a low dose and seem to be doing well and then need more before you see results again. You might look at some of the spreadsheets on the Remission thread above to see how many ways cats use insulin. :D

ProZinc should last longer than 3 months. You have been rolling it to mix up the suspension and keeping it cold in the refrigerator? Are there any floaties in the insulin? Usually that is the only way you can tell if it is bad, or if the numbers start going up for no reason (although there are other factors possible with Bud…..)

I saw your post on Health re the vet. I think there are two choices - tell him everything or tell him what is necessary. My vet continually wanted me to feed prescription food. I just said he wouldn't eat it and got Fancy Feast instead. I did not share my testing results with her; he only went in at initial diagnosis and then after he was OTJ and she couldn't argue with success. She had not had a patient who wanted to home test but didn't argue with me about it. Every vet is different - I think a lot of the difference is the size of their egos. :p
 
I am rolling the ProZinc and storing it in the fridge. I just watched the video on how to draw up the syringe on the ProZinc site and I noticed I am doing something different then they are. They draw up the plunger to the desired units, pierce the vial with the needle, displace the air, and then invert. I draw the plunger to the desired units, invert the vial, pierce the vial and then displace the air. So I’m displacing the air into the insulin where they are displacing the air into the air. Also, while I don’t do it anymore, I used to roll the vial end over end instead of just back and forth. Could this perhaps cause a decline in potency? (I realize I may be grasping for straws here…)


My vet was more than supportive about home testing, I just don’t think she was thrilled that I am using a human glucometer. Oh well. The vet office seemed fine with me doing my own curves at home, too. The only thing I was worried about really was telling her I have been adjusting the dose, so I hid the unit columns on my spreadsheet. :D
 
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