Need help interpreting data. I'm confused!

[Melissa and Celle]

So the curve today makes it look like 1.0 units is not enough. But how did she get a 215 from this dose 2 days ago? It even looked like she had a little bounce from that reading.

 

[pamela and tigger]

So the curve today makes it look like 1.0 units is not enough. But how did she get a 215 from this dose 2 days ago? It even looked like she had a little bounce from that reading.

I still think you need to gradually go up the dosing ladder until you start seeing some better numbers. The 215 could have been from a number of things. Did she get enough to eat at dinnertime would be my first thought. Also, it may have been a reaction to the one unit, but not enough to hold it. To me she is still too high and and I still don't think she is bouncing.

Again, you can do this in lesser increments if you want. I would go back to 1.25 units again, let it settle and then increase according to the protocol.

Increasing the dose...

* Hold the dose for 3 - 5 days (6 - 10 consecutive cycles) if nadirs are less than 200 before increasing the dose.

* After 3 days (6 consecutive cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 200, but less than 300 increase the dose by 0.25 unit.

* After 3 days (6 consecutive cycles)... if nadirs are greater than 300 increase the dose by 0.5 unit.

Reducing the dose...

* If kitty drops below 40 (long term diabetic) or 50 (newly diagnosed diabetic) reduce the dose by 0.25 unit. If kitty has a history of not holding reductions well or if reductions are close together... sneak the dose down by shaving the dose rather than reducing by a full quarter unit. Alternatively, at each newly reduced dose... try to make sure kitty maintains numbers in the normal range for seven days before reducing the dose further.

* If an attempted reduction fails, go right back up to the last good dose.

* Try to go from 0.25u to 0.1u before stopping insulin completely.

How is she acting? Still eating well? Will you be able to get more spot checks in over the weekend?

 

[Melissa and Celle]

How is she acting? Still eating well? Will you be able to get more spot checks in over the weekend?

She's acting normally and still eating well. I'll be able to get in more spot checks in the +6-12 hour range this weekend.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

How is she acting? Still eating well? Will you be able to get more spot checks in over the weekend?

She's acting normally and still eating well. I'll be able to get in more spot checks in the +6-12 hour range this weekend.

That would be helpful. As Pamela said, there are a number of things which can make one dose in ONE cycle look like it's working, but then after a few days it doesn't seem like it's enough. One can be carryover from a previously higher dose, if one lowers the dose. With the shed Lev can take at least 2 days to "move out" a previous cycle's dose.

That's one possibility. How much is eaten is another. We'll know more if you get some more BG values this weekend. It's easy to think a dose is working when it's really not, especially if we don't see a whole cycle's worth of numbers. Nadir should be after +6, and that's what dose changes should be based on really. As well as the whole cycle, not just one value.

And that's something that's hard for new users to understand. It's easy to get hung up on one number, or always seeing pink or red numbers, especially if there's not enough tests to see lower values during a cycle and all you end up seeing are reds.

That's why one of the things that's often said, or should be said more often, is look at the whole cat. How is he or she doing in general, are they playing and eating OK? You may have seen the 5 P's referred to - Peeing, Playing, Pooping, Preening and darn, what's the 5th one???? Someone help me out! The idea is that there's more to a diabetic cat than the numbers on a glucometer.