Dosing help please

M

Maxi

New Member
Hi, glad to be here!

I am from Philadelphia, PA. My diabetic, Sandy, was diagnosed in winter 2017. I will find the exact date. I started home testing with a human meter and keeping a chart on google in December. The past glucose tests don't help much because I was not very good at all this. Now I am better and am consistent with shooting, feeding low carb wet food, and adjusting the dose. My vet gives completely different advice than the moderators on FaceBook. So I started at 1 unit and increased a whole unit until I was up to 5 units on my vet's advice and saying I should keep increasing. Then, I started taking the advice on FB and now giving 1 unit of Prozinc, but I skipped purposely last night to make sure the high numbers were not a bounce. The numbers are better today after skipping, whatever that may mean. He is old maybe over 10 years. I feed low carb foods I find on Dr. Pierson's chart. So but most importantly, his teeth do need work badly, so there could be infection there, but my vet will not do the dental until he is regulated. So whether he can ever be regulated with active gum disease is a concern for me.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ml9DOVeY-z9C9InGC3BZ843QecbwIoE#gid=141119966
 
Hi Maxi and Sandy! Welcome to our forum! Well first, looking over your chart, it does look like Sandy is staying in fairly high numbers. You did hit a yellow today, which is nice, but I don't really think the numbers are that much better than before. The reason is that they are basically the same as others. That yellow was so close to a pink, that it might as well be one. Basically meters do have a bit of a variance on them, so when you get numbers that are close together, that's usually just the variance and they are basically the same.

Looking over your chart, I don't think you're seeing bouncing. The reason is we would usually see some lower numbers here and there if bouncing was going on. It would be helpful if you could get some nighttime numbers. Nothing drastic like getting up just to test but maybe grabbing a before bed test at like +2 or +3 or if you happen to get up for the bathroom at night, grab a test then. That will tell us if he really is running lower at night but my gut says it's not what's going on. I think you have some glucose toxicity which basically means that Sandy has been in high numbers for a while and is kind of "stuck" there. It happens a fair amount honestly. The best way to handle that is to stick with a dose for 3-4 cycles (a lot of people like going 4 so they can always increase during the day) and then go up by .25 units. Then stick with that for 4 cycles and go up by .25 units. Usually in time, the kitty hits a dose that breaks through and they suddenly start running back down the dosing scale and being in good numbers. People NEVER believe me when I tell them this, but I've seen it happen so many times! It's disheartening usually because the kitty is in higher numbers and we feel like they'll never go down, but they do, I promise!

As for the teeth...I've heard vets say that before. And it frustrates me SO MUCH because if they get their teeth handled, it often helps push them back into lower numbers! Waiting for regulation is silly because sometimes a dental can cause regulation and if you got them regulated beforehand and they got a dental, then they'd probably need a lower dose after that since they'd more than likely end up in much better numbers! Agh! I might ask the vet about that...gently but say that you're wondering if maybe a dental would help bring those numbers down causing regulation?

One other thing I want to ask, do you test for ketones? It's important to do that when kitties are in higher numbers. You can use just normal ketone strips for humans you'd get at any pharmacy. :)

Please feel free to ask any questions you have! We might not answer right away, but we always check in a few times a day and we're happy to help!
 
Thank you so much! I do test for ketones and he has never had problems with it. But thanks for reminding me, because he's due for a test.

Everything you're saying makes sense. I'll try the .25 increase and try talking to my vet about the dental. I did ask him recently and it sounds like he is conceding by telling me to get his numbers at least somewhat lower first.

I sleep like a rock so my only option is to stay up a couple hours and test before I go to bed or start my morning shot earlier which will move my evening shot earlier. So, I'll test at +2 tonight.

Cycles? Is that the same as days?
 
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