Hypo at 68 BG HELP

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Audrey and Thor

Audrey and Thor

Member Since 2020
Sudden onset of agitation, weakness and confusion. BG was 68 at +8. He ate a little and had some Karo. When should I test again? He’s had lower BG and never acted this way.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Thor's insulin dose needs to be reduced.

High carb food takes 20-30 minutes from the place to the blood stream.
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Hi Wendy, thanks for getting on, I see Audrey hasn't gotten back on, I was looking at her past posts and 6 units does seem to be a lot, I see she wrote in a previous post he was on 4 units before this. I hope her kitty is ok

I copied what she wrote in a previous post, here is what she said
He has been at 4 units but BG has been consistently 450-600. Sorry I haven’t figured out the spreadsheet yet. I gave him 5 units last night after the curve test and 6 units in the AM per the vet. The evening reading was his lowest ever. I’m not home to watchhim, husband giving the evening dose
 
He is up to 83 and calm after Karo and two tubes of Delectables Squeeze Up. He has been so high all along, the past few days are the first stretch of near normal numbers. He did start at one unit about 6 weeks ago and the vet has gradually increased.
 
Hi Audrey, like I said I'm no expert , so that 83 was @+10 after you feed him, I would not feed anything now, but test him again in 30 minutes again, because he may drop again, you should have 2 tests without feeding him to make sure his numbers stay stable. I also think you should ask for advice about how much insulin to give.
We usually increase by 0.25 and 0.5 units
I'm going to tad a few people who are more experienced than I am
@Wendy&Neko @Deb & Wink
 
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Let's get through those scary low numbers first Audrey.

Did you test again? I see you have a spreadsheet attached to your signature. Please keep that updated.
Let us know what the next BG reading is.
 
I cant help you Audrey as I am new to this, but I am praying your kitty gets stable and better.....I know you are in good hands with this group, I have learned so much from them!!! Please answer any questions they have as it will truly help your situation...Again prayers to you and your kitty!!
 
Irish Pat said:
I cant help you Audrey as I am new to this, but I am praying your kitty gets stable and better.....I know you are in good hands with this group, I have learned so much from them!!! Please answer any questions they have as it will truly help your situation...Again prayers to you and your kitty!!
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Thank you. He is better and keeping a close eye on him. I’m just glad I learned to test his BG.
 
I certainly would not give Thor 6 units. But I'm not sure how much you should give him.

Did your vet raise the dose in 1 unit increments, every week for the last 6 weeks?

Please stall and retest without feeding in 20 minutes.
 
Another couple of questions for you. Did your vet raise the dose based on the pre-shot tests you were getting, the mid-cycle tests you were getting, or a test done at the vet clinic?

Do you have plenty of test strips and enough food in your hypo toolkit?
 
Audrey, what you have to think about, is that 112 BG you got at PMPS (+12) was food influenced. In other words, it is higher because of what you have fed Thor in the last 2 hours.

So if you give Thor, the full 6U of Prozinc, his BG levels could drop dramatically again during the night. Are you willing and able to stay up all night with him, or is someone else in your family able to do that and test?

p.s. If you have read our posts, if you would please click on the "Like" that lets us know you have read our reply. Thank you. Please be sure to see my last 3 replies to you.
 
Audrey, I see from over in our affiliated Facebook group, that you bought the cheaper Pet Sure test strips to use with the Alphatrak pet meter. That is the likely cause of those low BG readings you are getting. When using off brand test strips with the Alphatrak, the numbers can be off by as much as 82% of the time. Especially dangerous to do that when your cat is in lower BG numbers.

Do you really want to risk your cat's life that way?

If you can't afford the cost of the Alphatrak test strips, you'd be better off switching to a human meter. Please think about that possibility.
 
Sorry I was away. I haven’t been using the petsure strips, only the Alpatrack 2 strips. I saw members here said they work but since Thor is so unregulated I didn’t want to try it. My vet is great at responding so I made sure Thor ate a full meal and reduced his dose to 4 units.
 
Audrey Sleeth said:
Sorry I was away.
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Yes, I saw you signed off the message board for a while.
Glad to hear your vet is so responsive.
Hope that Thor does ok on that lower 4U dose of Prozinc.

Sure would like a little more background on Thor. Any chance you could answer some of my questions posed in posts #17, #18, #19?

Audrey Sleeth said:
I haven’t been using the petsure strips, only the Alpatrack 2 strips. I saw members here said they work but since Thor is so unregulated I didn’t want to try it.
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Well, inexperienced members do suggest those cheaper strips for the Alphatrak meter. But it's risky. If they want to use those cheaper test strips for their own cat, that is their choice. But we don't think they should be suggesting that for others to do that with their cat.

Well, perhaps if they offer to cover all your vet clinic bills, if your cat has a severe hypoglycemic episode and ends up hospitalized for an extended period of time, perhaps with brain damage and the person that recommended you use those off brand strips are willing to be sued for emotional and financial damages. Then maybe. But I wouldn't use them for my own diabetic cat. Not even for a million dollars.
 
Deb & Wink said:
Yes, I saw you signed off the message board for a while.
Glad to hear your vet is so responsive.
Hope that Thor does ok on that lower 4U dose of Prozinc.

Sure would like a little more background on Thor. Any chance you could answer some of my questions posed in posts #17, #18, #19?

Well, inexperienced members do suggest those cheaper strips for the Alphatrak meter. But it's risky. If they want to use those cheaper test strips for their own cat, that is their choice. But we don't think they should be suggesting that for others to do that with their cat.

Well, perhaps if they offer to cover all your vet clinic bills, if your cat has a severe hypoglycemic episode and ends up hospitalized for an extended period of time, perhaps with brain damage and the person that recommended you use those off brand strips are willing to be sued for emotional and financial damages. Then maybe. But I wouldn't use them for my own diabetic cat. Not even for a million dollars.
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I knew the Alphatrack strips were expensive when I bought it, but being new I wanted the pet meter as I wasn’t sure I could understand using the human meter.
 
The vet has been increasing the dose based on my testing. They did an initial curve in the office but I’ve done all the testing since. I have plenty of test strips and food. It’s so hard to take care of an emergency and work!
 
Many members use Zobaline for neuropathy. It shouldn't raise his BGL.

Your vet had your kitty start on an hecking gigantic dose of insulin. Please consider talking to members here about what a starting dose should look like. My Billy was testing over 500 when diagnosed, and my vet prescribed 2 units twice a day. Even that was too strong to start out with, and my Billy is a big 16 pound boy. A normal beginning dose for a diabetic cat is .5 to 1 unit twice a day. I'm not surprised that your Thor has dropped to hypoglycemic levels so soon and so fast. Hypos are dangerous. Please consider lowering that dose to 1 unit twice a day and increasing gradually if needed. (keeping in mind that Prozinc doses change based on the low readings, not the high pre-shot readings.) If you go to the ProZinc section of the forum and read the sticky posts at the top, they will tell you all about using ProZinc.
 
Please don’t neglect the pm cycle. Many cats drop lower at night. Yesterday you shot 6 units with a Preshot of 85 and did not test at all during the cycle.
That is very risky and by the time Thor is showing signs of a hypo he could be dangerously low.
Please consider testing during all the pm cycle as well
 
Looks like Thor is starting to bounce from those lows today.

You say you have been doing curves at home before increases. That's great. Any chance you could add some more data to the spreadsheet, maybe the last couple weeks worth?
 
Juls and Billy said:
Many members use Zobaline for neuropathy. It shouldn't raise his BGL.

Your vet had your kitty start on an hecking gigantic dose of insulin. Please consider talking to members here about what a starting dose should look like. My Billy was testing over 500 when diagnosed, and my vet prescribed 2 units twice a day. Even that was too strong to start out with, and my Billy is a big 16 pound boy. A normal beginning dose for a diabetic cat is .5 to 1 unit twice a day. I'm not surprised that your Thor has dropped to hypoglycemic levels so soon and so fast. Hypos are dangerous. Please consider lowering that dose to 1 unit twice a day and increasing gradually if needed. (keeping in mind that Prozinc doses change based on the low readings, not the high pre-shot readings.) If you go to the ProZinc section of the forum and read the sticky posts at the top, they will tell you all about using ProZinc.
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I don’t know where the misunderstanding is, but we started on 1 unit twice a day. His numbers never dropped below 400. We have gradually increased the dose with testing and communication
 
Audrey Sleeth said:
It’s so hard to take care of an emergency and work!
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Yes, that is hard. Especially in the craziness going on in our world right now.
Audrey Sleeth said:
I started him on Zobaline a few days ago, would that affect his BG?
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No, the zobaline does not affect the BG levels. It will over time, help to repair the diabetic neuropathy.
Audrey Sleeth said:
I don’t know where the misunderstanding is, but we started on 1 unit twice a day.
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That is what I thought you had said. That the dose had been increased over the last 6 weeks.

Was the dose raised by full units each time?
Was the dose raised every week?

p.s. We're trying to be a bit like detectives, trying to figure out how Thor got to the 6U dose.
 
Deb & Wink said:
Yes, that is hard. Especially in the craziness going on in our world right now.

No, the zobaline does not affect the BG levels. It will over time, help to repair the diabetic neuropathy.

That is what I thought you had said. That the dose had been increased over the last 6 weeks.

Was the dose raised by full units each time?
Was the dose raised every week?

p.s. We're trying to be a bit like detectives, trying to figure out how Thor got to the 6U dose.
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I would have to go back through all my notes. He started at 1 unit and I believe after two weeks we went to two. He wasn’t showing any change. We’ve had so many AMPS numbers over 650!
 
Did you and your vet increase the insulin dose based on those high AMPS numbers? Or on high PMPS numbers?
 
Ok Audrey,

At this point, I think if you have the data from those 3 curves plus the daily testing, if you could enter that data on your spreadsheet for Thor, that will give us a better idea of what has gone on the past few weeks.

Will you be able to do that Audrey?
 
Audrey Sleeth said:
I don’t know where the misunderstanding is, but we started on 1 unit twice a day. His numbers never dropped below 400. We have gradually increased the dose with testing and communication
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Sorry, I can only go by the data on your spreadsheet. I wrongly thought that was all there was.
Did the vet increase the dose slowly by .25 of a unit and give each new dose time to adjust? Or did the vet raise it by 1 or 2 entire units at a time? Did the vet give you any information about your cat having a specific issue that required such big doses? If the dose is raised too fast, you can skip right over the best dose for your cat. Too much insulin can make BGL levels look like too little. And honestly, giving any dose when your cat is under 150 BGL at his pre-shot test can be very very dangerous.
 
Deb & Wink said:
Ok Audrey,

At this point, I think if you have the data from those 3 curves plus the daily testing, if you could enter that data on your spreadsheet for Thor, that will give us a better idea of what has gone on the past few weeks.

Will you be able to do that Audrey?
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I added the data I have from my two curves plus all the tests I have recorded. Before that I had the info on my phone but didn’t keep it. For those who asked, we added in increments of units. The syringes I have don’t have fractional markings.
Sorry it took me a while to respond, I work 12 hour night shifts and don’t have a job that allows for much monitoring of personal internet activity.
 
Hi Audrey, thanks for adding the data. When you have a chance can you add your signature please. To do it, go to the top right of the page and click on your user name. Click on signature and tell us yours and Thor’s name, date of Dx, type of insulin and glucose meter, any other illnesses and medications. Then click save. Done. It will appear at the bottom of all your posts and will give us information about Thor without us having to try and find it.

Are you able to get a +2 before you leave for work at night? Also can you get any tests in during the day at all... I know you have to sleep as well.

Do you leave food out for him when you go to work and when you sleep during the day?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Audrey, thanks for adding the data. When you have a chance can you add your signature please. To do it, go to the top right of the page and click on your user name. Click on signature and tell us yours and Thor’s name, date of Dx, type of insulin and glucose meter, any other illnesses and medications. Then click save. Done. It will appear at the bottom of all your posts and will give us information about Thor without us having to try and find it.

Are you able to get a +2 before you leave for work at night? Also can you get any tests in during the day at all... I know you have to sleep as well.

Do you leave food out for him when you go to work and when you sleep during the day?
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I can’t get any evening tests after food/shot on work nights As it is his shots are only about 10 1/2 hours apart from am to pm. on work nights.
I leave a small amount of Dr. Elsey’s dry out between wet food. I can’t leave wet out, his brat brother will eat it.
 
Understood Audrey. 12 hour work shifts are brutal, plus you have the commute time back and forth.

Thor was overdosed on that 6 U of Prozinc. So glad to see your vet advised you to reduce the dose to 4U.

The 4U of insulin may even be a bit too much, a bit of an insulin overdose. Good thing you are able to leave some Dr. Elsey's dry chicken flavor food for Thor to eat while you are gone. Many cats will naturally seek out food when their blood sugar drops.

There are microchip feeders, that only let a specific cat access the food in the feeder. That is a possible way to keep Thor's "brat brother" from eating Thor's food.

Anything < 90 with the Alphatrak meter (or a human meter) and the Prozinc SLGS (Start Low, Go Slow) dosing protocol is an automatic 0.25U dose reduction. You'll have to "guesstimate" those in between the lines doses the best you can with your insulin syringes. It's also possible to use U100 insulin syringes with a U40 insulin. You simply multiply the U40 dose by 2.5 and draw that amount up in the U100 syringe. Conversion chart here for measurements.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/insulin-conversions.htm

Please, print out a copy of this Prozinc Protocol document if at all possible.
Sticky PROZINC DOSING METHODS

If you are able to get a curve, the next day you are off, that will be helpful. Get some BG tests when you can. Maybe a +8 and +10 before you leave for work?

Take care, stay well, rest up. I bet you are exhausted.
 
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