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Voula

Voula

Member Since 2014
Hi everyone. I wanted to introduce ourselves and say hi. My name is Voula and my cat Lucy was diagnosed with diabetes four weeks ago. We started her on 1.5 units of lantus twice a day. Her initial glucose reading was 21/378. Her readings have been in the range of 15/270 to 19/342 so still high but today at 5+ hours after insulin I noticed her urine glucose was lower than it has been and I did a blood glucose test and it was 3.7/67 for the first time ever since we started lantus four weeks ago. This seems quite sudden. Has anyone else experience a sudden change too? Thank you.
 
Welcome to the board. I'm not a Lantus user, so I can't comment about dosage. Is the 67 on a pet meter or a human meter (if human it's in the normal ranges and if pet then it's a little too low). You might want to setup a spreadsheet like the one in my signature, so that we can look over her numbers as a whole and make recommendations based on how she has been trending.
 
See my signature link Glucometer Notes for some details on what the numbers may mean.

Good job home testing. Not every one is willing to do that.
 
Thank you everyone. I am using a meter for humans. I have yet to set up a spreadsheet but will do that soon. I do need to do more blood glucose testing more often and am working on that but thank you so much for the encouragement and your replies too.
 
It'll help us give you better feedback if you edit your signature a bit.

Go to the top left of the screen.
Click on User Control Panel.
Click on Profile
Click on Edit Signature
A text box displays.
This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
Add any other text, such as
your name, cat's name,
city and state,
date of Dx (diagnosis)
insulin
meter
any other pertinent issues like food issues, allergies, IBD, etc.
 
Instructions are here for our spreadsheet grid.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.
 
Hi Voula! Great to see you made it to the board!

I have been following your posts on Facebook - you may know me better as Jen Harned there - and I think you will find a lot of support here on FDMB. Facebook is great for general questions but for insulin and dosing advice this is the place to come :-D
Once you get your spreadsheet set up you can start collecting data - when Lucy lets you test, that is! Then you can look back and see trends. Best of luck and I will see you around!

Jen
 
Hi Voula, just chiming in to also say it's great to see you and Lucy on the board!

My Bailey is on ProZinc so I can't say anything about experiences with Lantus. But regarding your question about sudden changes I can say that Bailey had a pretty sudden drop into regular numbers when we first switched from insulin N to ProZinc. I think it would be considered a "bounce" because he's been back in the 200/300s most the past few days. I wonder if it's not just our cat's bodies trying to adjust to the new addition and get themselves kickstarted again, so to speak.

Keeping track of those changes is so easy with the spreadsheet though. Whoever on the board set all that up did a really great job with it! I hope you can get one set up for Lucy too, Voula, so we can see what your testing experiences are like. Lately I've been feeling like the more data, the better - and it's good to poke around on the board and see what other people are going through with their cats too.
 
Hi Jen and Kellie and thank you for the warm welcome here too. I have started a spreadsheet but I am embarrassed to share it as I have not managed to do that many successful tests:) I am working on it because I know how important it is to test to keep my Lucy safe but also because I am a nervous wreck not having the best knowledge I could have about Lucy's blood glucose levels though I check her urine glucose every time she urinates and measure her water intake and these seem to correlate with the blood glucose tests I have been able to do. Though these do not give me precise blood glucose levels so I keep trying to find a way to do the blood glucose testing which seems to be getting harder to do because Lucy is cooperating less than she did at the beginning. Buying a glucose meter that needs a very small amount of blood to do the tests has been really good. The vet wants me to do a glucose curve and I don't know how I will manage that so my friend will come to stay for a day or two as she is great at holding Lucy in case I can't manage all the blood glucose testing. For members of FDMB who aren't on the Facebook group and don't know, my Lucy cannot be handled by vets and our vet is very surprised that I have managed to do the blood glucose testing that I have done:)
 
It may help to use low carb treats to reward her when you test.

Urine tests for glucose tell you if the renal threshold was exceeded since the previous void.
If you use KetoDiaStix, you'll also get important information about the presence or absence of ketones. Ketones form as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many ketones may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially fatal complication of diabetes.

My signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools has additional supplemental assessments you can make. Water drunk and urine output are also useful in monitoring diabetes; both tend to decline somewhat with better control.
 
Thank you. I am using low carb treats as a reward for testing. I test almost all urine for glucose and ketones daily and also note amounts of urine and I measure water and food intake daily and take note of the other monitoring tools you mentioned too.
 
Hello there. Trying to chose the best meter for home testing. Doesnt have to be the cheapest. As in I have dropped 10k over 11 years on my rescued alley cat. She was diagnosed as diabetic around 4th of July this year and takes 1unit of Lantus twice a day. I need to get a meter to test her at home any suggestions?
 
I'm not sure where' you're located. A lot of US members recommend Relion brand meters available from Walmart, and some UK members use the Accu-Check Aviva monitor (both human meters).
 
Crittermom we live in Pennsylvania. The Relion sounds good. Headed to Wal-Mart to look for it now. Thank you.
 
I am finding it odd that Lucy missed two doses of insulin on one day last week because I could not be home to give her one dose and then I messed up the next dose so she effectively missed two doses. The next day I gave her two doses twelve hours apart and after the second dose I tested her blood glucose at 5+ and it was 3.7/67 which is the lowest reading we have had in four weeks. Her urine glucose was also low just before I got the low glucose reading so it is consistent with it really being a low glucose reading. All the other readings I have done have been between 14 and 21 which is 252 and 378. So I started wondering is it possible the high readings are from too high a dose of insulin causing rebound high readings or does the dose need to be increased? Lucy's fasting reading when first diagnosed before beginning insulin was 21/378. I am not asking for dosing advice as I will make no changes in dose until our vet approves them but just wanting some information to speak to our vet about. Thank you.
 
Both too little and too much insulin can look the same. The only way to know for sure is to test the hypothesis of too much by reducing the dose.

Be sure to show the vet the pattern of readings when you ask about testing if a lower dose might be appropriate. Dose adjustments are made based on the nadir, the lowest glucose level between shots, so be sure to get some tests in the +5 to +7 hours post-shot.

And if you're going to wait on the vet, make sure you have the supplies in case your cat drops into hypoglycemic numbers - high carb gravied food &/or Karo syrup to add to low carb food, a print out of How to Treat Hypos, an oral syringe, and directions to the nearest emergency vet services.
 
Thank you BJM. I spoke to our vet and she wants to do a glucose curve which we will do in the next few days before adjusting the dose if that is needed. I think the dose will probably need to be changed with the readings I am getting now. Though I have tested at various times after giving insulin and nearly every time the levels are high the vet said to do a glucose curve and more testing. I could drop the dose on my own but I don't want to increase it without more information and the vet's approval to do that. We are new to this and I am highly anxious about everything at the moment. I have all the supplies and information about hypoglycemia that you mentioned. Thank you again for your kindness.
Love, Voula
 
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