New to the forum and appreciate your advise. | Page 2 | Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

New to the forum and appreciate your advise.

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Alec said:
Also wondering how fructosamine test works if anyone know? How much blood need to be collected and how many times?
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The fructosamine test is not like a curve. It’s just the vet will do a normal blood draw like when they take regular bloodwork. Then they will send it out to the lab for the results. So a single blood draw.

I think your vet also wants to do the curve.
 
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Suzanne & Darcy said:
The fructosamine test is not like a curve. It’s just the vet will do a normal blood draw like when they take regular bloodwork. Then they will send it out to the lab for the results. So a single blood draw.
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how does a single blood draw reveal an avg BG over a period of weeks? *scratches head
 
Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
how does a single blood draw reveal an avg BG over a period of weeks? *scratches head
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Lets see if I can explain it. Fructosamine is a compound formed by the combination of sugars with proteins (glycated protein.). So the test measures the glucose that is bound to proteins in the blood (mostly albumin since that is the most abundant protein in the blood.) The life span of the protein is about 14-21 days. As long as the proteins remain “alive” circulating in the blood, the glucose stays bound to it. Measuring the glycated proteins (fructosamine) provides a picture of the amount of sugar in the blood for that time period of 2-3 weeks.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Lets see if I can explain it. Fructosamine is a compound formed by the combination of sugars with proteins (glycated protein.). So the test measures the glucose that is bound to proteins in the blood (mostly albumin since that is the most abundant protein in the blood.) The life span of the protein is about 14-21 days. As long as the proteins remain “alive” circulating in the blood, the glucose stays bound to it. Measuring the glycated proteins (fructosamine) provides a picture of the amount of sugar in the blood for that time period of 2-3 weeks.
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Thanks! this is helpful. Will the insulin injection impact the fructosamine test result? Alec started insulin since last Monday.
 
Alec said:
Thanks! this is helpful. Will the insulin injection impact the fructosamine test result? Alec started insulin since last Monday.
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It will only impact the results to the extent that it has altered his BG, which isn’t bad. You do want an accurate result. So naturally, if his BG levels are lower, there’s less glucose to bind with blood protein and the overall fructosamine number (which would be an average) would be lower.
 
Realistically you don't need a vet well versed in FD, that's a bit of a rare bird. You really just need someone to listen to you, to work WITH you, make decisions WITH you, and be willing to learn new things.

I walked into my vet with my spreadsheet all printed out and he just said "well. I think you're managing this about as well as I've ever seen so I can't really help you in that regard. You want Lantus? Here's a script."

"You want an acro/IAA test? Ok here it is" "ok I've never treated an acro cat, I can get you referrals, but here are the options as far as I could research. Yes that drug you want is experimental but we can try it"

I don't expect him to have all the answers, but he's always willing to have a conversation where we are equals, never condescending or talking down. He's always sending me papers, research he's come across, etc. And I'm more than happy with that.

*I should add his staff is wonderful as well. Mr Kitty is *quite* difficult for them and they are always so sweet, gentle despite the attacks, and concerned about why he's back...again...after a month lol
 
Alec said:
Lantus will be "too expensive for you". I
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This was from one of our members whose cat was on lantus which is very expensive in the US
Basaglar has worked wonderfully, we were using Lantus and when we switched there wasn't even a blip. Hendrick did not seem to notice at all.

Check this out also
https://www.goodrx.com/insulin-glargine?dosage=five-3ml-prefilled-pens-of-100-units-ml&form=carton&label_override=insulin glargine&quantity=1
The 5 pens will last about a year

Basaglar is also Insulin Glargine, it acts the same way.

Here is a saving card for basaglar for 5 pens
Check it out just put in where it says set your location
https://www.goodrx.com/basaglar

I see some members will call CVS, Rite Aid, Costco to get the price for 5 pens
If you switch you will need U-100 syringes with half unit markings
We use the syringes with pens because with the pens you can only change the dose by full units so we use syringes with half unit markings
You just stick the syringe in the rubber stopper on the pen and draw out the insulin from there
Call some supermarket pharmacy's too

If the Alpha Trak strips become too expensive for you most of us use human meter ,the text strips are so much cheaper ,if you live in the US. Our numbers are based on human meters anyway
In case you ever want to switch and have a Walmart by you or you can order them on line
You can buy The Relion Premier Classic for 9 dollars
17.88 for 100 tests strips
 
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Diane Tyler's Mom said:
I was also wondering why you are feeding kitten food like Melissa asked
Most of us feed Fancy Feast Classic Pates or Friskies or any other low carb that's on the chart
They are all low carb
I'll give you our food chart
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
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We have some kitten food cans from a friend, they are low carb, but noticed the higher fat contents after Melissa pointed out that. Again thanks for all suggestions here, bought more FF classic Pates; ReliOn meter this morning. Keton tested yesterday afternoon, negative.
 
Alec said:
We have some kitten food cans from a friend, they are low carb, but noticed the higher fat contents after Melissa pointed out that. Again thanks for all suggestions here, bought more FF classic Pates; ReliOn meter this morning. Keton tested yesterday afternoon, negative.
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If you decide to switch over to the Relion Human meter and just use that please let us know because the last 2 color codes up time need to be changed when using the human meter
@Alec
 
Alec said:
I start to look for U100 syringes with half unit mark. any particular brand you can recommend?
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/1316/surecomfort-u100-syringes-half-unit-31g-3-10cc-5-16in-100ct
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Those are exactly the ones we ended up going with after trying soooooo many brands. For Hendrick, the sure comfort needles did not bother him like other brands. Also, I found the plunger to move up and down easily not sticky like some other brands, which is key for the .25u increments.

However, I will caution that many have found the Sure Comfort printing of the dose markings to be...inconsistent. We didnt have a huge issue with this ourselves.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
If you decide to switch over to the Relion Human meter and just use that please let us know because the last 2 color codes up time need to be changed when using the human meter
@Alec
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I started to use ReliOn today and created a separate tab in SS bc I am not sure how to change color code, but please let me know if there is a better way to do that. thanks.
 
Alec said:
I start to look for U100 syringes with half unit mark. any particular brand you can recommend?
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/1316/surecomfort-u100-syringes-half-unit-31g-3-10cc-5-16in-100ct
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/16367/carepoint-vet-u-100-pet-syringe-31g-half-unit
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@Alec Important are you still using Vetsulin?
You mentioned you wanted to switch to lantus?
Those syringes you listed are for using lantus Not vetuslin
Please let me know ASAP
The color coding for your US meter is correct
DONT USE the U-100 syringes if you are still using Vetsulin
@Alec
 
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Diane Tyler's Mom said:
@Alec Important are you still using Vetsulin?
You mentioned you wanted to switch to lantus?
Those syringes you listed are for using lantus Not vetuslin
Please let me know ASAP
The color coding for your US meter is correct
DONT USE the U-100 syringes if you are still using Vetsulin
@Alec
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I plan to switch to Lantus, that's what U100 syringes for, but not yet. Still use U40 for Vetsulin.
 
Alec said:
I plan to switch to Lantus, that's what U100 syringes for, but not yet. Still use U40 for Vetsulin.
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Good I was getting nervous :p
I would go with these when you start lantus

https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/1316/surecomfort-u100-syringes-half-unit-31g-3-10cc-5-16in-100ct

The color coding for your tan for the US human meter is correct

Edit. When you are ready to start using lantus you can start a new post like this maybe a day or two before
? Switched to lantus previous vetsulin Need dose advice and link this post to the new one
 
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In case you didn't see this because I went back and added it

Edit. When you are ready to start using lantus you can start a new post like this maybe a day or two before
? Switched to lantus previous vetsulin Need dose advice and link this post to the new one
 
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