Glucose curve for our vet, and dosage question

Status
Not open for further replies.
123joan

123joan

Member Since 2011
Our vet wants me to do a glucose curve, and call her with the numbers, she wanted me to wait a week. She asked me to test every two hours, and test two times after the nadir. It doesn't look like I will find that point today. I've been vigilant today with testing exactly every two hours! Lucy is so good about it. Now both cats come sauntering into the kitchen when they hear the meter beep, it's almost hilarious. I bought Wellness Pure Delights treats today ($5.75!) they LOVE them.

It is much easier to measure the dose now that I have the U-100 syringes. Is it time for me to increase her dose a smidgen? I will give these numbers to our vet on Monday, and see what advice she gives me, but until then? Here's what's been going on this past week. This is just our ninth day, and we cut out all dry on about day two.

Here's what's been going on the last week, if I'm supposed to reference that.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=75666
 
Nice job on all the tests the last two days! My guess is that the vet will suggest an increase because the curves are sort of "flat". I think that you are right in wanting to up the dose a smidge. You've been shooting .6, which would be 1.5 on your U100 syringe? I think .8, which would be 2.0 on the u100 would be a good next step.
Carl
 
I think I'll leave her alone for the rest of the afternoon and check periodically during the day tomorrow and do a curve Monday? I was nervous about using the new syringes and conversion chart but the directions and pictures made it very clear.

I will up her dose to .6 tonight. Of course I'll be asking questions tomorrow.
 
Nice job testing.

I think you are safe to go to .8u since she has been pretty flat.

Since 1 unit looked a little too much the .8u might be just right.

I'm glad you got the U100 syringes.

Robin
 
The numbers aren't changing much. Of course it has been only two cycles at the 0.8 dose. Is cycle the correct term? What times today would be most helpful to test? Should I stay with the 0.8? Go back up to 1 unit? Do I need advice every three hours? Or less? ARRGGGHHHH.
 
Breathe, Joam, breathe. :-D one of the annoying sayings we have here is that this sugar dance is a marathon, not a sprint.

She is staying in the 250ish range which is the renal threshold and that gives her pancreas a chance to heal. Yesterday's cycle was sort of flat. That can mean she needs a little more insulin. Or it could mean she is a kitty that takes a couple days to settle into a new dose and her numbers will go lower in the next few cycles.

The most valuable times to test are preshots (always) and a midcycle number, around that 5-7 hour time. Keep collecting that data. She is doing fine -in nice safe numbers while you collect data.
 
OK, it it takes a baseball bat to get me to breathe, bring it on! I'll keep with the .8 till I have to talk about it tomorrow. Thank you for the encouraging explanation. Lucy thanks you also.
 
So now we're going down....157 PMPS. It's time for her dinner, skipping dose and I'll check her later. Won't know what to do in morning. What should I look for? And I thought I wouldn't be asking questions till tomorrow.
 
At least her surprises are good ones. I assume you can't "chase" the numbers until they are up to 200 and then give a smaller dose (probably .6)? You'd have to wait to feed her and I am guessing you already did? The only way you could do that is to be able to shoot again tomorrow 12 hours from your later shot this evening. But it is a possibility to consider the next time you have a preshot under 200.

Yes, if you decide to skip (which is fine) your amps will probably be high, but still reduce the dose. (The long cycle with the unshootable preshot is an indication the dose is too high) Interesting - .5 too low, .8 too high, hope .6 will be the perfect dose - at least for awhile :mrgreen:

This is all good news. She is responding well to the insulin and as long as the numbers continue to fall, so can your dose. It keeps you on your toes, but it is the path to remission.
 
I already fed her, they were tearing the house down. I don't know what you mean by chase the numbers.

You say to reduce the dose. Back to.6?

I'm happy you are saying that this is GOOD NEWS....it's freaking me out!

I thought I was being obsessive testing at one hour PMPS, then again at shot time, when I was planning to feed and shoot....and look at what happened!

So right now my plan is to test tomorrow morning, then give a dose of .6? I have to be away from the house and computer and CAT!!! during that hour and a half.
 
Chasing the number : To avoid skipping a dose, you can wait, without feeding, and retest. The hope is that you would soon get a shootable number (+200) and be able to shoot. The hard part of this is it can mess up your schedule because you have to wait 12 more hours before shooting again. It is better than skipping completely because the cat wouldn't be climbing for 12 more hours without a shot.

But it is often not doable because the cat is chomping at your ankles for food and because it changes your usual schedule.

Yes, I would do .6 in the morning and see how she does with that dose. If she follows her pattern, it could take a couple days for us to really see how it is working, just like it did with the .8

Any time you are reducing the dose, it is good news! :-D
 
Her numbers are way up this afternoon. I'm planning on the same dose 0.6 tonight. Any thoughts? My vet was surprised that I changed to the U-100 needles, she might think I'm crazy. She thinks .5 is hardly anything, but the 1 Unit was too much.

Does anyone ever dose just once a day? That thought just entered my head. It's been almost two days since my last post!
 
On today's curve...when did she eat over the course of this cycle?

On dosing once per day - rarely, there are people who arrive shooting only once per day, but for the overwhelming percentage of cats, once-a-day is not effective. The reason for that is because cats metabolize insulin twice as fast as humans (or dogs) do. Human insulins can last humans 24 hours, but usually only last 12 hours on kitties. When you dose only once a day, you are only keeping "added" insulin in their systems for half the day, leaving the cat to try to fight rising BG the rest of the day on their own.
When someone first joins the board, and is shooting just 1 a day, what we usually recommend is that they divide their dose by two, and shoot half as much, twice a day, every 12 hours.
My vet was surprised that I changed to the U-100 needles, she might think I'm crazy.
Click to expand...
I think what most vets are afraid of is that you will somehow mess up and shoot too much insulin by not using U40 syringes with a U40 insulin. That's why we are so insistent that you print out the conversion chart, and put it on the fridge so that you can refer to it every time you fill a syringe.

Carl
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top