Houston, TX Vets Supportive of Home Testing

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lana & Yoyo

Lana & Yoyo

Member Since 2010
I would like to find a vet who will support me in home testing. I live in the Heights but I will go anywhere in the area (I'm desparate!).

Thanks for any recommendations,
Lana
 
LanaNelson said:
I would like to find a vet who will support me in home testing. I live in the Heights but I will go anywhere in the area (I'm desparate!).

Thanks for any recommendations,
Lana
Click to expand...

Lana, you might want to post this question on the Health forum where you will get more eyes.

I looked back on your posts and it looks like your kitty came out of remission last summer and you were looking for a vet then? After some suggestions you said you found a vet. Did this not work out? How is Yoyo doing now?
 
Lana, I don't know you situation, but I would test regardless of my vet being supportive. In fact, I did just that. My vet practice tried to down play the importance and the head vet actually told me I would have "one pissed off cat". The second vet told me she could teach me to draw blood so I could test it. Say, what?! Anyway, I came here and learned to do it and just did it.

Now, if I had a vet that was insisting that I bring the cat in for testing or they wouldn't treat him for any other issues, I would have to find a new vet. I actually have not had either of my diabetics to the vet for diabetes-related care for, hmmmm, about 2-1/2 years.
 
Thanks, Sheila & Pamela.

I am still using the same vet. He is not enthusiastic about home testing --- thinks I am torturing my cat, but looks at monthly emails of BG's and advises me.

I have just changed from Lantus to Levemir. My vet told me to give the cat a break from all that testing. I could not change to a new insulin and not test! I sent him emails twice of the BG's on Lantus -- at 5 days and at 8 days -- and have gotten no response. I use the Sugarcats Xcel spreadsheet to track BG. I've copied the Levemir data into a Word Document which I will try to upload. If the upload is successful, please offer whatever advise you can.

I will post request for vet info on the Health Forum -- thanks, Pamela

Thanks much,
Lana
 

Attachments

Hi, Lana. Stick to your guns on testing. You are absolutely correct about that. Would a parent not test their chicld if s/he were diabetic? Would their doctor say "give the child a break"? No.

I looked over your data and have a couple of suggestions.

I would stay with .5u for now and really let that settle. You seem to be making dose adjustments based on the preshot (+12) numbers, which is usually not a good idea on lev/lantus. What should really determine if the dose needs changing is the nadir (lowest BG) and I see an 81 on .5u, which is very good. We usually recommend that a curve be done before deciding to change the dose. Or at least get several days of spot checks around Yoyo's nadir time (which looks to be in the +6 or +7 range).

Of course, it is good to reduce or skip the dose when you suddenly get a 63 at +12. Some folks will shoot on a number like that (not me) but they have loads of data telling them that their cat nadirs at +12 and will climb from there before the insulin kicks in.

If you decide to stay at .75u don't raise without doing a curve. I see he has been high and flat (300s) the past several days. That can be a sign of both too little insulin and too much insulin. And he is drinking water. What food do you feed? Dry food will cause a lot of thirst, as will the higher numbers. And dry food is loaded with carbs (95% of it anyway). Any chance he has hyperthyroid (most common after age 10 or so). That also causes thirst. But lets get the BG down and see if that solves that issue.

Lastly, please consider using the Google spreadsheet we (most of us) use. It lays out the day horizontally, using colors so it is much easier to see one day at a time, trends, etc. The information of setting it up is here on the Tech Forum: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207
This is not a requirement, it just helps visually to "see" the data more easily. Take a look at Jeddie's SS (click on Jeddie's Numbers below my signature) for an example.
 
Thanks for the reply, Sheila.

Everything about Yoyo's behavior is different on Levemir. I have great difficulty "reading" his situation. It seems to me that there is a big cause-and-effect delay with Levemir that I did not see with Lantus or with Vetsulin -- that I am seeing the effect of the insulin he got several days ago at any one time. I thought the lows I saw resulted from the 1u or 1.125u and after he had been at .5u for a few days, I was seeing his reading kick back up into the 300's. Poor Yoyo's only consolation has got to be that we are equally stressed out.

I feed Fancy Feast low carb canned off Janet & Binky's list, mostly 5% & less carb, a few in the 5% to 10% range. I have two cats. Yoyo likes wet food. The other cat eats dry. I put out a bowl with 2/3 EVO low carb dry, 1/3 regular dry. Yoyo may eat a few bites of the dry but the amount is minimal. He gets treats for allowing me to test his blood sugar: smoked ham, cheese, bacon, King Oscar Sardines, smoked oysters, balogna, etc.

He is negative for thyroid problems as of last fall.

Thank you for the link to the Google Spreadsheet. I will start using it.

Lana
 
Good on the food. But the treats you might want to check some of the ingredients - like bologna - it might have sweeteners in it like high fructose corn syrup (the most horrid ingredient in the whole world). And I don't know about the sodium content on the smoked items (and bacon). I feed either boiled chicken breast or freeze dried chicken breast most of the time. The freeze dried is actually sold as a dog treat, Prime Cuts, or Prime Treats, or something like that (at PetSmart) its way cheaper than the Halo treat that is the same thing. I will give them pieces of steak or pork roast or fish that I cook for myself, but I leave a portion unsalted before I cook it. I give bits of bacon on the rare occasions that I have it myself - too expensive to buy most of the time! When the chicken is fresh from the store I give it to them very rare - still pink in places. They love it!

You are right that lev action is delayed to the next cycle or two. I thought lantus was the same. I came from vetsulin too and it was very hard to unlearn the "immediate response" dosing of it when I switched to lev.
 
LanaNelson said:
I would like to find a vet who will support me in home testing. I live in the Heights but I will go anywhere in the area (I'm desparate!).

Thanks for any recommendations,
Lana
Click to expand...

Lana,

Tom's vet, who is very good, is in the Heights -- he supports home testing, given that you have some understanding of how insulins work, and he wrote a prescription for Levemir (and regularly prescribes Lantus as well as having several Vetsulin cats among his patients) when several other vets had never even heard of it. I will send you his info via PM.

Ilkka
 
Thank you for all the replies. Thanks, Ilka, for the name of the vet. Several people have responded to my request for a vet inside the loop. I have gone from no resources to several. What a relief.

I am having a lot of trouble with Yoyo's BG. I am getting incredibly frustrated with Levemir. Even though his 12 hr BG's were all over the place on Lantus, his quality of life seemed to be pretty good. Now he is constantly miserable.

Lana
 
Lana & Yoyo said:
Thank you for all the replies. Thanks, Ilka, for the name of the vet. Several people have responded to my request for a vet inside the loop. I have gone from no resources to several. What a relief.

I am having a lot of trouble with Yoyo's BG. I am getting incredibly frustrated with Levemir. Even though his 12 hr BG's were all over the place on Lantus, his quality of life seemed to be pretty good. Now he is constantly miserable.

Lana
Click to expand...


Lana -- good to hear you have some resources now. I forgot one other, just to add to the list in case -- actually two: Greenway Animal Clinic, on Richmond at Kirby. All the doctors there will support home testing -- plus it is a "Lantus shop." Also Alabama Animal Clinic, on Alabama 1 block E of Shepherd Dr. Same thing. Actually Alabama wrote my current Levemir prescription.

As far as Levemir vs Lantus, or Levemir being comparatively not as good for YoYo -- I actually doubt it... I would first look at possible changes in YoYo's biology, health, since YoYo was on Lantus. Don't get mad at me, but is it possible you're not happy with the results, which has to do with YoYo's health and quality of life, and you blame the Levemir because there is nothing else you can blame? Ok, fair disclosure, Tom went into remission on Lev so of course I am blinded by a bit of moonlight about the product -- but not much. I am not doing that well right now for Tom, either, but I don't think it is the Levemir. But I am in the early trashing around stage. It takes about six weeks to get settled.

But I considered Lantus seriously, and from the point of view of knowing a lot more about it. Although there are differences in how the products are in solution, and a couple of details regarding how slow time release is affected, they are very similar -- both part of the recombinant DNA produced analogues of human insulin community. There are objective ways in which Levemir is arguably a superior product ("I look forward to your letters") -- but none of these things have to do with its performance as an insulin for the treatment of feline diabetes. In that regard, I think they are equal, and proving that they are not is beyond the data we have for the moment.

Anyway - I would say, hang in there with Lev, but not at all costs..

Good luck... hope to hear more as things develop...

Ilkka
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top