What kind of syringes are you using? I've not seen anything that measure in those gradients. Is your insulin U40 or U100?
I'm using a U-100 syringe with U-40 ProZinc insulin. It is measured into the syringe with a
the aid of a vernier caliper accurate to 1/20 mm, a magnification headset, and syringe backlighting. I already had those tools on hand, as one of my prior lives was as a motorcycle and auto mechanic (loathe it now, please don't ask).
U-40 ÷ 40% = U-100 index reading.
So, for this morning's dose,
.3552 U ÷ 40% = 0.888 U U-100 syringe index reading. However, that further needs to be converted to a mm length for the vernier caliper. I have a spreadsheet tab labeled "calculators" which has the conversion calculator first (at the top). It is based on the 30 U "full length" dose of the U-100 syringe, then mathematically divided down to 1 U length (which reportedly can vary from one manufacturer's syringe to another), which is 1.34875 mm.
0.888 * 1.34875 = 1.19769 mm or approximately 1.20 mm
I gotta go take a reading, edited to add that her +4 reading was 140.
Food can raise levels so you want to get the second test without feeding. Otherwise, you aren't dealing with a "true" number but one influenced by food.
Well, I didn't follow that advice, but I only read it after acting! I took the first AMPS reading, it was below 200 at 194, I asked my question here, my partner fed Tara 31 grams of Fancy Feast Flaked Fish and Shrimp Feast, and one hour later AMPS was 195, so it looks like that food has very low carbs "zero" per
catinfo.org html sortable chart. I shot her with 0.3552 U (yes, the decimal is ridiculous, but that is the calculation). I'm using not only the sliding scale dosing, but a dose divisor which allows me to increase or decrease the sliding scale, and this mornings dose was too low using a dose divisor of 2.2. I'll likely change it tomorrow to 2.0, that represents a 10% relative-dose increase, but the actual dose will be determined by PS BG reading using the sliding scale dosage, unless sometime today I find Tara somewhere in the green, in which case I'll leave the sliding scale divisor at 2.2. I've taken one BG curve reading so far today, it was +2 and showed 140, but +2 is a little early for nadir.
Before drawing up the insulin dose push the syringe plunger up and down several times. It tends to move more smoothly when you do this.
What I've found is that after I've mixed the vial, put on my headset and checked the vernier caliper reading, I insert the syringe, turn the vial upside down, and shoot the air in the syringe into the vial, pressing the plunger hard and holding it for maybe a second (gas is compressible), then I draw back more insulin than is needed, there is always a large bubble, so it gets pushed back into the vial a second time, pressing the plunger hard to compress the black rubber end hard against the end of the barrel, then draw down more insulin than needed to insure the bubble is gone. Because I'm wearing a magnification headset, I can still see a few very tiny bubbles on the top of the plunger, but I can't ever get rid of those completely. Then I start adjusting the plunger using the vernier caliper to judge the distance from the inside of the syringe barrel (which can be seen clearest with backlighting) to the top of the plunger. When I get those aligned using the magnification headset, the shot is ready. It requires multiple iterations of fine adjustments to the plunger depth.
Some kind felinediabetes.com member offered
some videos on the subject of this kind of measurement.
If you aim to gradually lower the curve it is less likely to trigger bounces. A kitty's body needs time to acclimatise to lower numbers. It's a gradual process.
Yes, I agree, that's what I've learned. For Tara, I'm finding dose increases should be between 5-10%, or 105-110% new dose calculated based upon the prior dose to minimize or stop the bounce. At sub 1 U doses, a 0.25 U change is far too large of a dose increase, and creates a bounce. That 0.25 U rule may be a good for 2-3 U dosing, as that's where the percentage increase intersects. I'll just use the percentage, as I have a calculator on the spreadsheet. A system so to say.
So much to learn!
