Help...low GB ....911 for anyone that has experienced this

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Jeff D / Sketch

Jeff D / Sketch

Member Since 2017
Need some help. Sketch may be in process of crashing. His level 4 hrs after his evening shot is 66. He has always been extremely insulin resistant with his lowest ever being 106 until now. Usually he is in the 200 to 300 range so this is definitely not his norm. He is acting normal but being on lantus he usually doesn' t reach nadir until 8 or 9 hrs into the cycle. I have given him a few higher calorie treats and some gravy chicken friskies.
I do have some maple syrup and syringe but not sure if I should force it yet or keep testing and monitoring.
Any advice is appreciated.
Jeff
 
Hey Jeff, I'm going to tag @Djamila in case she's still awake also. I won't be for much longer but I'll do my best. Full disclosure I use ProZinc but am familiar with dropping numbers, etc. If you're able, get another test in about 30 minutes to 1 hour to see where he's at. So long as he stays above 50 on the human meter, he's still safe. Unfortunately, you may have a long night ahead of you and need to keep steering if he's still dropping lower. I myself usually give anywhere from 1 tsp -1 Tbsp of gravy food when Pita gets low, then test 30 mins -1 hour later. If you look at my SS from today that's actually exactly what I did! That may not have been super helpful but I also wanted to make sure someone responded to you and let you know you're not alone. Hang in there! It sounds like you have a hypo kit prepared-do you have instructions as well? Here's a link just in case. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/
I will do my best to check in again!
 
Hi Jeff, I would say keep testing and monitoring. 66 is safe on a human meter but I understand your concern that Sketch has not reached his normal nadir time.
Just curious is the 66 AFTER you gave him high calorie treats or before?
 
Caitlin M said:
Hey Jeff, I'm going to tag @Djamila in case she's still awake also. I won't be for much longer but I'll do my best. Full disclosure I use ProZinc but am familiar with dropping numbers, etc. If you're able, get another test in about 30 minutes to 1 hour to see where he's at. So long as he stays above 50 on the human meter, he's still safe. Unfortunately, you may have a long night ahead of you and need to keep steering if he's still dropping lower. I myself usually give anywhere from 1 tsp -1 Tbsp of gravy food when Pita gets low, then test 30 mins -1 hour later. If you look at my SS from today that's actually exactly what I did! That may not have been super helpful but I also wanted to make sure someone responded to you and let you know you're not alone. Hang in there! It sounds like you have a hypo kit prepared-do you have instructions as well? Here's a link just in case. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/
I will do my best to check in again!
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Thanks Caitlin. I just gave him some more gravy friskies and then some cat treat with syrup over them and he ate them and licked up the syrup . I will test again in a few minutes. I need to run to the store and get some more syrup.
 
Barbara & Uncle said:
Hi Jeff, I would say keep testing and monitoring. 66 is safe on a human meter but I understand your concern that Sketch has not reached his normal nadir time.
Just curious is the 66 AFTER you gave him high calorie treats or before?
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Hi Barbara. The test was about 30 minutes after his normal food 4 hrs after shot. I was wanting to test him before I turned in because his numbers were lower today and I know they go low at night. I was expecting in the 100's but was shocked to see the 66. I have since given him two servings of the gravy food and gave him some cat treats with maple syrup poured over them and he ate and licked up the syrup. I have to run to the store for more syrup in case and will test again when I am back.
Thank you for your help and any input you can give me. This is the first time he has ever been in the green or close to going low so its a bit scary.
 
Barbara & Uncle said:
Hi Jeff, I would say keep testing and monitoring. 66 is safe on a human meter but I understand your concern that Sketch has not reached his normal nadir time.
Just curious is the 66 AFTER you gave him high calorie treats or before?
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I just retested after the higher cal food and treats and he is up to 104 so going the right way. I will set the alarm and retest hourly until nadir or see a safe enough increase to relax. His nadir should be around 3 am pacific......going to be a long night I think.
 
Jeff Davis said:
Hi Barbara. The test was about 30 minutes after his normal food 4 hrs after shot. I was wanting to test him before I turned in because his numbers were lower today and I know they go low at night. I was expecting in the 100's but was shocked to see the 66. I have since given him two servings of the gravy food and gave him some cat treats with maple syrup poured over them and he ate and licked up the syrup. I have to run to the store for more syrup in case and will test again when I am back.
Thank you for your help and any input you can give me. This is the first time he has ever been in the green or close to going low so its a bit scary.
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Hi Caitlin I just retested after his meal of high carb food and syrup drizzled treats. He is up to 104 so going the right direction. I will continue to test hourly to be safe until he reaches his nadir....which should be about 3 am.......long night ahead. Glad I checked him on a hunch before going to bed! Thanks again for your reply
 
Caitlin M said:
Hey Jeff, I'm going to tag @Djamila in case she's still awake also. I won't be for much longer but I'll do my best. Full disclosure I use ProZinc but am familiar with dropping numbers, etc. If you're able, get another test in about 30 minutes to 1 hour to see where he's at. So long as he stays above 50 on the human meter, he's still safe. Unfortunately, you may have a long night ahead of you and need to keep steering if he's still dropping lower. I myself usually give anywhere from 1 tsp -1 Tbsp of gravy food when Pita gets low, then test 30 mins -1 hour later. If you look at my SS from today that's actually exactly what I did! That may not have been super helpful but I also wanted to make sure someone responded to you and let you know you're not alone. Hang in there! It sounds like you have a hypo kit prepared-do you have instructions as well? Here's a link just in case. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/
I will do my best to check in again!
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I may have replied to Barbara twice. But wanted you to know Sketch's numbers are going the right way. Up to 104.
 
Jeff Davis said:
Hi Caitlin I just retested after his meal of high carb food and syrup drizzled treats. He is up to 104 so going the right direction. I will continue to test hourly to be safe until he reaches his nadir....which should be about 3 am.......long night ahead. Glad I checked him on a hunch before going to bed! Thanks again for your reply
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Glad he's going up! Maybe next test if you need to give more treats, do a bit less? We want to also make sure he's going up on his own/without too, too much high carb help. But again, totally your call because sleep is also important! I'll check in when I wake in the am but I'm happy it sounds like you're both doing better!
 
I forgot to mention that Sketch is a higher dose cat getting 8 3/4 units lantus twice a day. This may be changing obviously but he has always been insulin resistant until recently. I have been seeing his numbers coming down from 300's at nadir to high 100 to low 200's. I did give him an extremely low dose one night I tested him before dinner and he was 160...the next morning he was in the high 400's so it wasn't a remission situation.
 
T
Caitlin M said:
Glad he's going up! Maybe next test if you need to give more treats, do a bit less? We want to also make sure he's going up on his own/without too, too much high carb help. But again, totally your call because sleep is also important! I'll check in when I wake in the am but I'm happy it sounds like you're both doing better!
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Thanks for your help. I'll check him in another hour. He wants to go to sleep as its his normal bed time....Will keep an eye on his respiration and recheck. I was somewhat relieved when he ate the treats and slurped up the syrup. Will be interesting to see where this goes BG wise....will adjust his dosage much lower in AM more than likely.
 
Yes, noticed the mention of 7 units.
I'm not the most experienced person here. My kitty Uncle died a year after his diagnosis (not from diabetes) so I gained a year's worth of experience from the great people here on the board.
 
Jeff Davis said:
T


Thanks for your help. I'll check him in another hour. He wants to go to sleep as its his normal bed time....Will keep an eye on his respiration and recheck. I was somewhat relieved when he ate the treats and slurped up the syrup. Will be interesting to see where this goes BG wise....will adjust his dosage much lower in AM more than likely.
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YES, please check him an hour after the syrup as the influence may wear off rather quickly (as opposed to high calorie food). He wasn't in dangerous numbers yet but we want to stay vigilant for sure.
I will stay up to check in!
 
Barbara & Uncle said:
YES, please check him an hour after the syrup as the influence may wear off rather quickly (as opposed to high calorie food). He wasn't in dangerous numbers yet but we want to stay vigilant for sure.
I will stay up to check in!
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Thanks Barbara but no need to stay up but I really appreciate your concern and advice. Certainly sorry to hear you lost your kitty Uncle. My sincere condolences.
I was thinking Sketch wasn't actually crashing yet but being at 66 (the lowest he has ever been by a bunch) and fairly early in his shot cycle, plus going into the night I felt there was a need for some more expert input as I never have dealt with this! Didn't mean to cry "wolf". Sketch is looking at me like "what the hell...its bedtime!!!" But we will be staying up for a while till I"m sure he's past nadir and safe.
 
I'll be about until after 3 am Pacific. If you do get into any bother and need help, just tag me. You can let him sleep in between tests - you can sleep yourself in between tests if you need to as well. My Roxi has been high dose on Lantus - the highest dose we've had her at so far has been 10 1/2 u, though she currently gets 5 1/2 so I am familiar with the feeling of giving a big dose and watching those numbers drop.
 
manxcat419 said:
I'll be about until after 3 am Pacific. If you do get into any bother and need help, just tag me. You can let him sleep in between tests - you can sleep yourself in between tests if you need to as well. My Roxi has been high dose on Lantus - the highest dose we've had her at so far has been 10 1/2 u, though she currently gets 5 1/2 so I am familiar with the feeling of giving a big dose and watching those numbers drop.
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Thanks April...I appreciate the reply and concern. I just tested him again and he is at 112...I gave him a bit more high carb food and will recheck about 1:00 Im going to set my alarm and snooze an hour. He's already snoozing
 
I think you were right to be concerned and I don't think you're being overly cautious. You made a great point about that 66 a very low number for him AND early on his cycle.
I'm glad you will keep testing tonight. The main thing is to see that his numbers are eventually rising on their own without the influence of anything but low carb food.
So basically the keys for tonight are:
Make sure he doesn't drop lower than 50
If you keep having to intervene with medium carb, high carb and/or syrup to keep his numbers up, make sure he is coming up on his own for 2 hours WITHOUT giving those (low carb is fine) before you stop testing and go to bed. We want to make sure Sketch's numbers are eventually rising on their own and not going to drop down to dangerous numbers.
 
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manxcat419 said:
Sounds like a good plan. I'll check back in an hour to make sure he's still heading in the right direction for you. :)
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Latest test was 167 so I think we will be out of the woods here. He is still an hour and a half away from his normal nadir of the lantus so will test again in about an hour and a half. I did give him some regular food and a little high carb food and a couple treats mixed in....no syrup since 10:45. I will be interested what his AMPS reading will be and adjust dose or if very low like 100 not shoot till talking to vet.
Thanks all for your concern, advice and support. Sketch and I appreciate it!
 
It definitely looks as though he's going to be fine. I will be about for his usual nadir if you do happen to need me, but with him dropping lower early in the cycle he may not have a drop at his usual nadir time tonight. And yes, it will be interesting to see where he is by morning. He may bounce of course, especially with the high carb food he's had, but that's still better than having him drop too low.
 
manxcat419 said:
It definitely looks as though he's going to be fine. I will be about for his usual nadir if you do happen to need me, but with him dropping lower early in the cycle he may not have a drop at his usual nadir time tonight. And yes, it will be interesting to see where he is by morning. He may bounce of course, especially with the high carb food he's had, but that's still better than having him drop too low.
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3:00 am test has him at 170. poor guy was sound asleep when I woke him for the test. I think hes fine...he's still a bit lower than he would normally be but I've never tested him at 3 before. Plus 170 is not in danger, this would normally be his nadir hour.....gave him a few treats for waking him and sticking him.
Thanks again all. Ill post in the AM need to get a few hrs sleep.
 
I wouldn't be worried about a 170 at this point. He's definitely not dropping at the moment, so he really should be fine now. Go get some sleep. I may not be here for your AM pre shot, but I'm sure others will be.
 
Also- today/just now, my little man hit 56 at his +3, then 47 @ +3.5 so I fed him 1 tsp of gravy food. +4 was just at 57 and I'm getting one more +4.5 test before I run to work. His usual nadir isn't until +5 -- +7 so I'll be giving more gravy food before I leave. I have however, dealt with Pita going lower than 50 MANY times and just have a ton of experience to feel more comfortable and (slightly more) confident with my choices. Feel free to peak at my SS. But seriously- GREAT JOB handling a lower than normal number AND for knowing it was much earlier than his nadir. Kudos my friend.
 
Caitlin M said:
I'm so glad everything seemed to go well!! And this is all just good experience for you if/when this may happen again. Nice work!
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Hi Caitlin and thanks again for your help last night. This morning outside of being tired (he got woken up every hour or so) and not too hungry (he ate quite a bit last night during the watch) he seemed fine. His pre-shot this am was 224 despite eating all the high carb food last night. I decided to half his dose down to 4 1/4 this am. 3hrs into the cycle he was 309 and at 1:00pm or 7 hrs in he was 276.
 
Caitlin M said:
Also- today/just now, my little man hit 56 at his +3, then 47 @ +3.5 so I fed him 1 tsp of gravy food. +4 was just at 57 and I'm getting one more +4.5 test before I run to work. His usual nadir isn't until +5 -- +7 so I'll be giving more gravy food before I leave. I have however, dealt with Pita going lower than 50 MANY times and just have a ton of experience to feel more comfortable and (slightly more) confident with my choices. Feel free to peak at my SS. But seriously- GREAT JOB handling a lower than normal number AND for knowing it was much earlier than his nadir. Kudos my friend.[/QUOT

Caitlin I am just curious when Pita goes low as you describe are there any symptoms of hypo displayed??? Sketch showed no real symptoms but his number was so uncharacteristically low so early into his cycle I wasn't sure what was going on. Plus going into night I felt it was better to take steps. Had it occurred during the day when I was around I may have been tempted to watch it play out a bit to see if his BG would have continued to drop before taking the steps I took last night when he was at 66.
You and Pita have a great day!
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