Lousy numbers

[Lisa and little]

hi all. Have been getting lousy numbers lately when it really doesn’t make sense if you look at SS. Again I am approaching 3 months on this bottle of insulin. Could it be less effective? Last time I ordered a new bottle at 3 months as I thought the same thing. SS shows fat 2 was too much. Skinny 2 not quite enough. I had some good numbers at straight 2 in the last weeks. Now yuck! And I’m sad... poor girl
ACTUALLY JUST CHECKED AND VIAL IS ONLY OPEN SINCE 12/25/18 so only 2 months CONFUSED

 

[Rachel]

I doubt the insulin has gone bad this fast. It usually lasts AT LEAST 3 months, more often 4-5.

As for numbers, I'm going to say today was probably a fluke. Could have been something stressed Little out, could be some contraband...could be "Oh look a squirrel!" syndrome. It's just one cycle and I wouldn't let it get you down.

As far as the dose, I think it's time to try bumping up again. Yes, F2 was too much before, but as you know, insulin needs can and do change. You're getting good numbers at 2, but sticking in mostly yellows nadir...I think you want to get it down lower.

 

[Lisa and little]

Yes I get the whole oh look it’s a squirrel . But I think maybe I’ve been “gently rolling” my insulin too much. Any thoughts on how many rolls is usually considered gently rolling? Also, I called the company that manufactures prozinc they said discard after 2 months open. My vet said one month and the vets at Chewy said 28 days. I get that they say that to make more money .. pretty sure my expired Advil is still good - but perhaps my rolling too much gave me a shorter life span than say avg 60-90 days? Kills me to keep tossing $$ down the drain. I barely use half before it seems to crap out. Ordered a new vial for tomorrow and I guess I will be more gentle with my rolls and let’s see. Anyone that can offer advice on amount of rolls- lol -would be greatly appreciated. I also asked if they make smaller vials. And I assume we all know the answer to that...

 

[Djamila]

While I suppose it's possible that your gentle rolling is somehow not gentle enough, I kind of think you might be grasping at straws a bit. Numbers go up and down. Little needs an increase. And maybe in a couple of cycles, she'll need a decrease. Or maybe another increase. It's a bit of a dance. We just have to follow along and give them what they need.

It's also possible that she's come up with a dental issue, or is fighting a bug, or is having idiopathic cycstitis, or pancreatitis, or some other vague, hard to detect thing going on. I'm not saying she really has any of those - just that sometimes things happen that we can't see, and they impact the numbers. So give adjust the insulin, slowly and methodically, and let's see what happens.

Oh, and as for the vet/manufacturer statements about how long it lasts -- part of it is to make money, and part of it is simply that they can't assume it's being taken care of well - they are only willing to put their stamp of approval on it for a short time. However if you take care of it, you can absolutely use it longer than that.