New to home testing

B

Brittany Conroy

New Member
Hello,
I am needing some help, my 8 year old cat lulu just got diagnosed about a month ago. When she originally got diagnosed her levels were in the 800's. We immediately changed her to low carb ff pate wet food 2 cans twice a day. Then we started her on prozinc 2 units twice a day. She was in 2 days after she started to the vet for her 1st glucose curve and her numbers were in the 300's most of the day. The vet advised us to keep at the 2 units twice a day and 3 days letter she went into hypoglycemic shock and was having seizures we had to rush her to the er vet and her levels dropped down to 25(so so scary we almost lost her). That same day she went back to the vet for her curve and her numbers were no higher than 250 all day. We ended up taking a bit of a mental break to study more and learn more about her diabetes and stop insulin for a bit as we were going to be out of town and it was to risky to have someone else help so we kept with her food for about a week and half now and now we are going to start at home testing and we are ready to start trying the insulin again based on what her numbers end up being. Does anybody have any advice as to what numbers i should NOT give her insulin? I do not ever ever want to see or go through the hypoglycemic shock again if we can prevent it with the at home monitoring. We ended up purchasing the relion prime meter to start her testing at home. Any advice on dosage to start back with the prozinc as the 2 units was clearly 2 high for her. Thank you!!
 
Hi and welcome to FDMB Brittany. You had a rocky introduction to treating feline diabetes and I'm sorry that it happened that way. I am not an experienced Prozinc user and I know that others that use Prozinc will be along with input. You are in the right place for information, advice and support.

What I can do however, are help you with a few things so that advising members can see your kitty's info, insulin and testing data when you post.

1. Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.
2. Another thing that will help us help you when you get started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

The next thing I will suggest you do is read the Beginner's Guide to Prozinc at the top of the forum page:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/
For example, from the Beginner's Guide:
  • The proper sequence for dosing insulin is: Test/Feed/Shoot. In the beginning, if your cat’s BG is not up to at least 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, if your schedule allows, you can stall (without feeding) for 20+minutes, then retest the BG. You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling and up to 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}. If you stall once, but can’t do another round of stalling and your cat hasn’t reached a BG of 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, you’ll need to skip the dose and wait until the next cycle. NOTE: Because pet-specific meters (such as the AlphaTrak2) often read higher than human meters, you may want to adjust the NO-SHOOT number to 225 mg/dL {12.5 mmol/L} or even 250 mg/dL {14 mmol/L} This gives you an added margin of safety when using an AlphaTrak2 or other pet-specific meter.

This document was written with new members using Prozinc in mind, and is valuable information that is going to answer many questions.

The next document down on that list at the top of the forum is Protocol for Prozinc which addresses starting doses and changing doses. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/protocol-for-prozinc-pzi.165103/ Also very valuable information that is readily available.

A very handy document for new members is New? How you can help us help you! which includes instructions and information that every new member needs to know.

Take a deep breath, you are no longer alone, feeling like you don't know what steps to take next. We are as invested in helping you take care of your sugar cat as you are. I am sorry I can't answer dosing questions Brittany, but reading through the Beginner's Guide a starting dose is usually 0.5 U or 1 Unit. If someone doesn't chime in right away with other information, let caution be your guide. Better one day high than one hour too low.

If you need help with testing, start a new thread on the Main Health forum, where more members monitor posts and will chime in to help out.

Best wishes going forward :cat:
 
Idjit's mom said:
Hi and welcome to FDMB Brittany. You had a rocky introduction to treating feline diabetes and I'm sorry that it happened that way. I am not an experienced Prozinc user and I know that others that use Prozinc will be along with input. You are in the right place for information, advice and support.

What I can do however, are help you with a few things so that advising members can see your kitty's info, insulin and testing data when you post.

1. Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.
2. Another thing that will help us help you when you get started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

The next thing I will suggest you do is read the Beginner's Guide to Prozinc at the top of the forum page:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/prozinc-pzi.24/
For example, from the Beginner's Guide:
  • The proper sequence for dosing insulin is: Test/Feed/Shoot. In the beginning, if your cat’s BG is not up to at least 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, if your schedule allows, you can stall (without feeding) for 20+minutes, then retest the BG. You are looking for a number that is rising, not falling and up to 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}. If you stall once, but can’t do another round of stalling and your cat hasn’t reached a BG of 200 mg/dL {11 mmol/L}, you’ll need to skip the dose and wait until the next cycle. NOTE: Because pet-specific meters (such as the AlphaTrak2) often read higher than human meters, you may want to adjust the NO-SHOOT number to 225 mg/dL {12.5 mmol/L} or even 250 mg/dL {14 mmol/L} This gives you an added margin of safety when using an AlphaTrak2 or other pet-specific meter.

This document was written with new members using Prozinc in mind, and is valuable information that is going to answer many questions.

The next document down on that list at the top of the forum is Protocol for Prozinc which addresses starting doses and changing doses. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/protocol-for-prozinc-pzi.165103/ Also very valuable information that is readily available.

A very handy document for new members is New? How you can help us help you! which includes instructions and information that every new member needs to know.

Take a deep breath, you are no longer alone, feeling like you don't know what steps to take next. We are as invested in helping you take care of your sugar cat as you are. I am sorry I can't answer dosing questions Brittany, but reading through the Beginner's Guide a starting dose is usually 0.5 U or 1 Unit. If someone doesn't chime in right away with other information, let caution be your guide. Better one day high than one hour too low.

If you need help with testing, start a new thread on the Main Health forum, where more members monitor posts and will chime in to help out.

Best wishes going forward :cat:
Click to expand...
Thank you so much so so helpful!!
 
Welcome Brittany and Lulu. This is a fantastic place to get advice and help. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience on the forum and everyone is so supportive.
 
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