New to Lantus and have questions

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Meadow

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Hello all,

I just posted an intro on the main health board, but am hoping for some answers here. I'm beside myself with worry over this whole regulation thing. I know I am probably too anxious, but I worry if maybe I am doing something wrong. Meadow has been on Lantus since April 6th. She's currently at 2 units BID and her numbers are all over the place. A nice lady on the yahoo diabetes group started a spreadsheet for Meadow since I am so computer illiterate I couldn't get the hang of it, but I can't seem to add to it. So I'll just post the small curve I did yesterday and today. I always feed her right after testing and then give her the insulin.
Monday:
AMPS 6:30am 332
9:10am 358
11:30am 401
PMPS 6:30pm 327

Tuesday:
AMPS 6am: 277
10:30am 70
1:30pm 85
4:15pm 58
PMPS 6pm 79 (no insulin given at this time)
9pm 358

Do I give her the insulin now that the level is back up and readjust the timing of the morning dose to this later time or just skip it until her regular 6:30am shot? Why such a drastic change from yesterdays readings? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for any and all help and advice you can give me.

Dottie and Meadow
 
Welcome, Dottie! You found the right place to help Meadow. I'm only a few weeks into this 'adventure' myself, so I can't offer dosage advice. But there is a lot of wisdom here and someone should post some soon!

Here's a link to Dottie's post on the main board:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=16185
 
Hi Dottie and welcome to Lantus Land!

Having your spreadsheet (SS) will be much more helpful. It's easier to see patterns vs. one snapshot of what's going on. You can either cut and paste the link to your SS into a post here or if you go to the Tech Center, there's info on how to attach a SS to your signature. Here's the link.

In particular, I think it may be hard to know what's happening with Meadow without a SS because she is taking pred. It's possible that the bouncing around that you're seeing is related to the pred. With some cats, it will drive the numbers up; other don't seem to have much of a response. Is it possible that Meadow's bouncing is in on the day's you are giving her maintenance dose?

If not, it's certainly possible that you are seeing a bounce in response to the lower numbers. It can take up to 72 hours for a bounce to clear.

Also, what are you feeding Meadow?
 
I think I finally figured out the spreadhseet thing, thanks to the links you guys gave me. Hopefully this will work. I'd appreciate any input. I copied my notations from my little logbook onto the spreadsheet too. Here's the link.
[http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvHIp0IfwNtmdDRxeFpTMHhnMWtVdG40aVhvd2QxVVE&hl=en /color]
 
Welcome to Lantus Land! You'll find some wonderful people here to help guide you through... Don't ever hesitate to ask questions!
 
Thanks for the welcome, Janice, and for posting the link to my main post. I shold have thought of doing that! ;) I wish you a lot of luck with Johnny and his diabetes. From what I am seeing, there really are a bunch of great informed folks here. :)
 
Hey Welcome Dottie. Hope you finally figured out the spreadsheet thing. I was the one who responded to your Yahoo message and had filled out a spreadsheet for you. ;-)
 
HI Dottie and welcome over to Lantus.
I have been reading your posts in health.
Gayle provided you with terrific links to get you started.
Take a deep breath.

You are in a great place to help Meadow. Max and I started in Nov/09, went up to some higher doses and April 3 was his last insulin shot.
Have a look at Max's spreadsheet in my signatire and if you want to put a really big smile n your face, watch Max's OTJ (off te juice) video in my siggy too.
This is the magic of being here.

Sienne asked, what are you feeding Meadow??
 
Hello Sienne, thanks for the welcome. Thanks to the link, I was able to figure out the spreadsheet and have attached it to my signature.
I should have thought to keep notations on the days and dosages of her pred before this, but I will start to do that now. I was also wondering about the injection site having a role in her reacton to the insulin. I am going to make notes about injection site from now on too. She seems to have more of a reaction to injections given near the abdomen than ones given more near the scruff.
If what ishappening is a bounce from the lower numbers, how long before that irons itself out? Or does it?
Meadow is eating mostly canned food..low carb Fancy Feast, high protein/low carb Innova EVO and Wellness. For snacks she gets maybe 15-20 pieces of EVO kibble and Liv-A-Little freeze dried chicken breast. The vet sold me a bag of DM and some cans of it and the ingredients just didn't suit me at all. I am not crazy about the meat by-products in the Fancy Feast, but if it helps her diabetes, then I guess I have to deal with it.
Thanks for your help.
 
Hi Paige,
I posted to you on the yahoo list, but they said you left there. Didn't realize you were here. Yes, I did figure out the spreadsheet thanks to the folks who posted a link to the instructions. I could not add to the one you started so I had to figure this thing out. ;) Thanks for your help!
 
Thank you so much for those links, Gayle. They are most helpful! Got the spreadsheet and signature done. Will have to check out the profile for Meadow a bit more. ;)
 
Hi Dottie....welcome. It looks like you got a lot of good info already.
Great job with the speadsheet.
Everything Meadow is eating is good except for the EVO kibble. That could drive the numbers up also. I would stick to the freeze dried chicken for treats instead.

You can return the unused cans of DM to your vet.....the company will take it back if you tell them that Meadow would not eat it.
Ask as many questions as you like there is always somebody around to help. :smile:
 
Well, just look at this! Meadow's got a ss and a nice picture too!
I can hardly wait to see your condo tomorrow - I can see it all now ...

6/3 Meadow amps ###

As has already been said, dump the dry foods and snacks; there are some kitties whose numbers rise sky high if they eat just a couple pieces of kibble. It's tough for kitties who have eaten only kibble to switch to all wet but you won't have that problem. The food makes a big difference in the getting down to some decent BG numbers and staying there.
 
Hi Randi,

I just have to tall you...that video is AWESOME! What agreat thing that Max was able to come "off the juice". I hope Meadow can achieve that some day soon. Am trying to take deep breaths, but with all this bouncing around, I get a little worried that I won't ever get her regulated. But now I see it is possible after seeing all those other kitties named on your video. :)
As for the food...it's mostly low carb/high protein canned with only a very small amount of kibble spread throughout the day.
 
Thank you, Miriam. So the kibble really could be the culprit in the high numbers? Geez. I never would have thought at the small amount she gets. This is going to be a challenge since my 7 are so used to getting those little "snacks" at particular times of the day. And the chicken treats are way expensive. But fi that's what it takes she (and I) will have to deal with it. And the DM food...it's already been fed to my ferals. They thought they were having Thanksgiving dinner! ;)

One more question...when I do have questions...should I start a new thread or continue in this one?
 
HI JUST WANTED TO WELCOME YOU!!!! We started our journey here in February and this is the absolute best place to be! We have been otj for almost a month now! Ask all the questions you need. Each cat gets one condo per day so you can start a new condo every day with kitty's numbers and questions. Good luck. I completely changed Scrabble's diet when we started and he only gets low carb FF now and freeze dried chicken or salmon treats. The dry kibbles could def affect the numbers. Take care and welcome again!!!
 
Hi Michelle, thanks for the great welcome! So, a condo is a thread, right? Good toknow that we each get a new one each day. With all the questions I have, I'll need one a day! ;)
 
Tomorrow, start a new topic. Call it 6/3 Meadow amps ###
Then just add your morning report.

Later on, if you have a question, just go to that first entry and click edit at the bottom right, then just change the Subject: to something like 6/3 Meadow amps ### question

When people put different questions in different threads, something is going to get lost and missed, and it could be a very important little bit, so keep everything for the whole day in one condo, or thread.
 
No advice from me (you've gotten a great start already) but I just wanted to say welcome to FDMB and LL! I look forward to seeing how Meadow does on her journey. I love her picture, btw. She is very cute. :-D
 
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