? Mimi 9/27 AMPS 82 +2 69 +6 61 +11 23 - is this an emergency so late in the cycle?

LC doesn't cut it, remember Sienne said one of the basic rules is feed the 30s, and I would add to that don't mess with the 20s!. High carb or syrup NOW and test again in 20 minutes.
 
Christie & Maverick said:
LC doesn't cut it, remember Sienne said one of the basic rules is feed the 30s. High carb or syrup NOW and test again in 20 minutes.
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even though its that late in the cycle? What does this mean- her body has enough insulin to keep her through the next cycle? (like that depot)


Ill feed her some HC. I tested right after to see again and it was 37. still - HC right
 
You need to test again about now and keep testing every 30 minutes until she's at least approaching 60 and then you can test an hour later to make sure she's staying up and not dropping again.

You will need to skip tonight's dose and let that depot drain a little. Start over at 2.25 in the morning if she's high enough then
 
just tested again got 45.

I switched back to the Freestyle machine. I know I am not supposed to but i tested with the Relion out of curiousity and got 94. how can they be so different? I even tested myself and got 85 on the freestyle and 126 on the relion.. Thats very frustrating to be so off. it could mean insulin or no insulin.

I know everyone says to stick with one meter but how can we ignore this? Meters can be off but this much? Is it my meter or has anyone ever tested the freestyle against the relion. Maybe theres something on the internet about Relion reading higher.

we state the Alphatrak is 68 for dose reduction and 50 on human meter, but what about when human meters are also off..
 
This is the cheat sheet I use for what to feed based on BGs (human meter):


Feeding the Curve

>59: Feed LC

= or < 59 : Feed MC

= or < 49 : Feed HC or honey


Mimis mom said:
just tested again got 45.

I switched back to the Freestyle machine. I know I am not supposed to but i tested with the Relion out of curiousity and got 94. how can they be so different? I even tested myself and got 85 on the freestyle and 126 on the relion.. Thats very frustrating to be so off. it could mean insulin or no insulin.

I know everyone says to stick with one meter but how can we ignore this? Meters can be off but this much? Is it my meter or has anyone ever tested the freestyle against the relion. Maybe theres something on the internet about Relion reading higher.

we state the Alphatrak is 68 for dose reduction and 50 on human meter, but what about when human meters are also off..
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ALL meters have a 20% variance, regardless of brand or whether they are for pets or humans. You can buy control solution if you’re worried your meter is out of whack.
 
Librarianista said:
This is the cheat sheet I use for what to feed based on BGs (human meter):


Feeding the Curve

>59: Feed LC

= or < 59 : Feed MC

= or < 49 : Feed HC or honey




ALL meters have a 20% variance, regardless of brand or whether they are for pets or humans. You can buy control solution if you’re worried your meter is out of whack.
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I wonder if it’s my meter or my test strips because I get them from EBay
 
Librarianista said:
This is the cheat sheet I use for what to feed based on BGs (human meter):


Feeding the Curve

>59: Feed LC

= or < 59 : Feed MC

= or < 49 : Feed HC or honey

.
Click to expand...

What is posted above depends greatly on where the numbers are in the cycle and relative to other numbers in the cycle, and how carb sensitive the cat is.
 
Just fed her LC.. just like we figured out the errors in our syringe printing and got a digital caliper to double check our dosing, maybe theres a way to figure out which meters read lower than others and to act accordingly to that... I might just buy another freestyle machine and test against the new one. I love the freestyle because the blood is so much less and the capillary action to grab the blood is so quick. No wonder its so expensive. When she was on Freestyle all the time pre pandemic and when I could get my strips from the UK from this trusted seller on Ebay, I wouldnt mind (and Im sure she wouldnt either) testing her more often because it took hardly any poke. With the Relion the poke sometimes happens more than once (actually more than sometimes, quite often) I don't get enough blood to expel and I have to prick again.
 
You need to pick a meter and stick with it, you are watching for trends, not random numbers. Even the same meter brand can give you different results. If you don't like the Freestyle, stick with Relion, but then stick with it, don't bobble around between meters, since you'll continue to drive yourself crazy. You asked this recently, and that was the advice given then, as well as if I recall correctly also about a year or so ago.

You don't want her lingering in low numbers, and syrup can wear off quickly. If we are following the current cycle which is FSL meter, feed a little LC and syrup and test again in 20-30 minutes.
 
Christie & Maverick said:
You need to pick a meter and stick with it, you are watching for trends, not random numbers. Even the same meter brand can give you different results. If you don't like the Freestyle, stick with Relion, but then stick with it, don't bobble around between meters, since you'll continue to drive yourself crazy. You asked this recently, and that was the advice given then, as well as if I recall correctly also about a year or so ago.

You don't want her lingering in low numbers, and syrup can wear off quickly. If we are following the current cycle which is FSL meter, feed a little LC and syrup and test again in 20-30 minutes.
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listen, I know the only response I get with this has been stick with a meter but how can someone ignore that one meter reads so much lower than the other. I would stick with Freestyle if I could get the strips more readily and they were much cheaper. but if the meter reads 23 on one and 52 on the other- how can I not feel unsafe with the Relion not reading accurately? Does that make any sense? I don't even want to use the Relion anymore if it reads higher when it should read lower. I know the higher the numbers like 150s into 300s the variance can be great but at numbers below 100? Thats worth us noting and looking into, isn't it? Stick with a meter is said because there isn't anything said about it otherwise so that's the only answer we have. Are there ever alterations with TR? Like updates, or is it just what it is and no changes.
 
Christie & Maverick said:
You need to pick a meter and stick with it, you are watching for trends, not random numbers. Even the same meter brand can give you different results. If you don't like the Freestyle, stick with Relion, but then stick with it, don't bobble around between meters, since you'll continue to drive yourself crazy. You asked this recently, and that was the advice given then, as well as if I recall correctly also about a year or so ago.

You don't want her lingering in low numbers, and syrup can wear off quickly. If we are following the current cycle which is FSL meter, feed a little LC and syrup and test again in 20-30 minutes.[/QUOTE


I also know writing doesn't always convey tone so I hope that didn't come off as harsh or something it wasn't meant to be
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Christie & Maverick said:
you are watching for trends, not random numbers.
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but we make huge decisions based on exact numbers.. if she had below 40 on a meter and above 50 on another- that affects her greatly. I don't know why this isn't addressed more? I test the two meters against each other a LOT when I have the freestyle strips and its been consistently lower on the FS and higher on the Relion. so if i get a 52 on relion I can't not test her with freestyle to know that its lower with that. If once in a while the freestyle read higher then I would just stick with one meter. Does anyone agree this should be looked into somehow?

I'm sorry for blowing up my own post with this. I like TR I think its working for Mimi but I have to take the meter readings into consideration when one always reads lower- we made mention of this with the Alphatrak and made not- i wish we would with other meters. (not just say "its a pet meter" because what does that even mean- its still a meter)
 
Did you retest that 23 with the Freestyle? Sometimes if you have too small a drop you get a lower reading. Always retest low numbers if unsure. Much better than trying a different type of meter. And please update your spreadsheet with the latest numbers.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Did you retest that 23 with the Freestyle? Sometimes if you have too small a drop you get a lower reading. Always retest low numbers if unsure. Much better than trying a different type of meter. And please update your spreadsheet with the latest numbers.
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Close to, see post #3
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Did you retest that 23 with the Freestyle? Sometimes if you have too small a drop you get a lower reading. Always retest low numbers if unsure. Much better than trying a different type of meter. And please update your spreadsheet with the latest numbers.
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oh really? ok I will update now.
 
just realized its been a whole hour since last test and probably 30 minutes since last feed- 111 on FS and 151 on Relion. Now those numbers to me are whatever cause they are above 100. I need to get to the bottom of this variance in the Freestyle vs Relion. If meters are that off there should be a list specific to meters,
for example in this case - don't shoot below 60 on Relion and below 40 on Freestyle for longterm diabetics. (because it seems to be that's the difference)

Wasn't TR done with a freestyle as well? Im going to collect all of this and make a post in the main boards so this doesn't continue to clog up a daily condo.
 
Christie & Maverick said:
Close to, see post #3
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I wasn't sure what meter she used. The 37 is also not on the spreadsheet. And Rosa, it's so much easier for us to figure out what you did if you put the tests on the spreadsheet. And also list what + times you did the test.

Also, how long ago did you open the bottle of strips for the Relion and the Freestyle?
 
I believe a lot of people over the years have tried to compare human meters and it just doesn't work out to anything concrete. I believe Liz and Minnke might have been one of the more recent ones.

Like others said, a lot of things can influence it. Too small a drop, temp, humidity, out in the light for too long. Can also use the control solution. If you got them off eBay then who knows how they were stored, or what may have happened in transit, etc

The fact is I don't think anything anyone says here will convince you either way, you just have to figure out what you're comfortable with. 23 vs 37 on the FS is also a big difference; when I get unexpected or very low numbers I usually do 3 tests and go with the average. With the 111 and 152, who knows what you would have come up with if you had done 2 more readings on each meter. They might have ended up more similar than you think.

Devil's advocate: To me it's not worth stressing about a potential missed reduction; it would show up again in the next cycle or two anyway provided no bounce. I do understand your point about the low #s and safety. It sounds like the FS gives you peace of mind, so perhaps when you get a Relion number 50-ish or less, do another ReliOn test or two, and check again with FS. It's really whatever gives you peace of mind, just be consistent with what you do. I only ever had the ReliOn Prime and never had a problem, even when we flew down the ladder into remission.
 
FrostD said:
I believe a lot of people over the years have tried to compare human meters and it just doesn't work out to anything concrete. I believe Liz and Minnke might have been one of the more recent ones.

Like others said, a lot of things can influence it. Too small a drop, temp, humidity, out in the light for too long. Can also use the control solution. If you got them off eBay then who knows how they were stored, or what may have happened in transit, etc

The fact is I don't think anything anyone says here will convince you either way, you just have to figure out what you're comfortable with. 23 vs 37 on the FS is also a big difference; when I get unexpected or very low numbers I usually do 3 tests and go with the average. With the 111 and 152, who knows what you would have come up with if you had done 2 more readings on each meter. They might have ended up more similar than you think.

Devil's advocate: To me it's not worth stressing about a potential missed reduction; it would show up again in the next cycle or two anyway provided no bounce. I do understand your point about the low #s and safety. It sounds like the FS gives you peace of mind, so perhaps when you get a Relion number 50-ish or less, do another ReliOn test or two, and check again with FS. It's really whatever gives you peace of mind, just be consistent with what you do. I only ever had the ReliOn Prime and never had a problem, even when we flew down the ladder into remission.
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Thank you for your post! The Relion strips are the only ones I can I guess guarantee considering they come right from a retailer. I like the freestyle more because of the amount of blood. I also think most people on here go off of Relion. I think also the peace of mind with the FS is because these low numbers have been PS numbers.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I wasn't sure what meter she used. The 37 is also not on the spreadsheet. And Rosa, it's so much easier for us to figure out what you did if you put the tests on the spreadsheet. And also list what + times you did the test.

Also, how long ago did you open the bottle of strips for the Relion and the Freestyle?
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I put the numbers and times in the notes because I skipped the shot.
A new bottle of Relion is probably opened every week but the free style strips are a few months old.
 
Mimis mom said:
Thank you for your post! The Relion strips are the only ones I can I guess guarantee considering they come right from a retailer. I like the freestyle more because of the amount of blood. I also think most people on here go off of Relion. I think also the peace of mind with the FS is because these low numbers have been PS numbers.
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I understand, we all just want to keep kitties safe! In my experience, people sometimes tend to go off the deep end with meter comparisons when it really doesn't need to be that complicated, which is why we usually say just pick one and stick with it. Pick a meter, stick with it 99% of the time, and if you want the peace of mind use the other as a sanity check is my two cents.
 
Mimis mom said:
I put the numbers and times in the notes because I skipped the shot.
A new bottle of Relion is probably opened every week but the free style strips are a few months old.
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If I'm reading correctly: AMPS +11.25 was the 44/94? PMPS +0.25 was the 111/151? We do still want the numbers in the cells for easy reading, even with skipped shots.

Edit: Go with what Christie and Wendy say because they may disagree, but I'd note any FS readings in the same cell. So you'd put the ReliOn value as the default since that's mostly what you use, then I believe it's Alt+Enter on a computer for a line break, then put the FS number as something like "23 FS". And then manually color code it.
 
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Mimi looks to be in the clear. I would check again in an hour to be safe.

I can't really make a dose recommendation for the morning, since there was a missed reduction in the mix.
 
FrostD said:
I believe a lot of people over the years have tried to compare human meters and it just doesn't work out to anything concrete. I believe Liz and Minnke might have been one of the more recent ones.

Like others said, a lot of things can influence it. Too small a drop, temp, humidity, out in the light for too long. Can also use the control solution. If you got them off eBay then who knows how they were stored, or what may have happened in transit, etc

The fact is I don't think anything anyone says here will convince you either way, you just have to figure out what you're comfortable with. 23 vs 37 on the FS is also a big difference; when I get unexpected or very low numbers I usually do 3 tests and go with the average. With the 111 and 152, who knows what you would have come up with if you had done 2 more readings on each meter. They might have ended up more similar than you think.

Devil's advocate: To me it's not worth stressing about a potential missed reduction; it would show up again in the next cycle or two anyway provided no bounce. I do understand your point about the low #s and safety. It sounds like the FS gives you peace of mind, so perhaps when you get a Relion number 50-ish or less, do another ReliOn test or two, and check again with FS. It's really whatever gives you peace of mind, just be consistent with what you do. I only ever had the ReliOn Prime and never had a problem, even when we flew down the ladder into remission.
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YES! I am having similar doubts about the Freestyle Lite. Minnie has given me some crazy low numbers on the Freestyle but otherwise she seems perfectly fine but hungry. Last week I was so shocked at her PM+3 I took 3 readings with the FS 28 / 34 / 37 followed by a reading of 150 on the Novamax. Yesterday had 49 on the FS, 179 nova. I was also not 'comparing' meters but those numbers seemed so out of nowhere it made me skeptical of the FS. I replaced the battery too!

I think I've read that the human meters read artificially low, on purpose, as a sort of safety precaution? Even if it's not deliberate, I like that extra safety buffer. Having said that, I feel that I'm now overly cautious and not giving increases as I could. I'm actually thinking of switching to the Novamax as my main meter. It also only needs 0.3microliters. Reading your post having the same experience makes me think it's something in the design of the Freestyle meter itself.

Good luck!
 
Mimis mom said:
A new bottle of Relion is probably opened every week but the free style strips are a few months old.
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Not sure about the Freestyle, but the Relion usually says on the bottle how long you can have it open before replacing it. My Relion said no more than 3 months.
 
Liz & Minnie said:
YES! I am having similar doubts about the Freestyle Lite. Minnie has given me some crazy low numbers on the Freestyle but otherwise she seems perfectly fine but hungry. Last week I was so shocked at her PM+3 I took 3 readings with the FS 28 / 34 / 37 followed by a reading of 150 on the Novamax. Yesterday had 49 on the FS, 179 nova. I was also not 'comparing' meters but those numbers seemed so out of nowhere it made me skeptical of the FS. I replaced the battery too!

I think I've read that the human meters read artificially low, on purpose, as a sort of safety precaution? Even if it's not deliberate, I like that extra safety buffer. Having said that, I feel that I'm now overly cautious and not giving increases as I could. I'm actually thinking of switching to the Novamax as my main meter. It also only needs 0.3microliters. Reading your post having the same experience makes me think it's something in the design of the Freestyle meter itself.

Good luck!
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Hi yes! If it’s reading that low it should be noted or looked into. I usually use Relion because it’s so cheap. But when I see a number like 50 something on the Relion it makes me wonder “I know it would be in like the 30s on the freestyle” and sure enough without fail it always reads low.. 30s would earn a reduction at nadir and no shot at PS - but 50s is the opposite! I want to know what TR was done on. I think it was done on a freestyle meter if I remember hearing it one time.
 
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