New to this and can not regulate...

[Ame]

My Mooshie was diagnosed in June of this year .. BG was 440 to start -Started on Lantus 1 unit twice per day .. was checking glucose twice per day as well .. She seemed to be responding lowest reading was 275 ... then after 3 weeks did curve .. vet upped her to 2 units 2x per day ... she started going higher into the 500’s so after second curve vet upped again to 3 units 2x per day .. lowest reading 13 days in is 400 ???? I’m confused
Changed diet to canned wet ... and sometimes she cries for hills DM dry but only give her a little I have 3 kitties total and had to change everyone’s diet I don’t know why she is not responding . Anyone have any insight ....

 

[Panic]

Just based on what you've said it sounds like she's receiving too much insulin...when glucose levels drop too fast (like over 100 points within an hour) or too low (they may not actually be too low, but the body is used to very high numbers, so an unusually low number may make the body believe it's in danger) a "bounce" can occur - the body pulls the glucose levels really high to protect itself. It looks like they're not responding to the insulin, because the numbers are even higher, when in reality they're receiving too much...

I can't say for certain this is what's happening, only possibly. If you have records of her past glucose readings that will help us to understand what's actually going on. Wet food is a good change, it will lower her glucose levels naturally. I too can't afford to give all my cats the same diet as my diabetic cat so I separate them at meal time.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hi and welcome Ame and Mooshie. It's the best place you never want to be. As Elizabeth said, what is happening is probably bouncing, and Mooshie might be getting too much insulin.

For the experienced members to be able to review and evaluate to determine if this is happening we need you to do a couple of things.
First, create a signature so that Mooshie's information is available whenever you post.

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.

Another thing that will help us help you 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/

Try to plug in the insulin and testing data you have so comparisons of the BG numbers from the previous dose can be compared to BG numbers on the current dose. We usually recommend that increases and decreases in insulin doses be made in 0.25 U increments, so we don't bypass the correct dose.

If you need help with the spreadsheet or are unable to set it up because you might be using only a cell phone or a tablet that doesn't play well with Google (Amazon Fire) we have members who can set it up for you. Then you can use Google Docs and Google Sheets on your cell phone to enter information to the spreadsheet.

As soon as we get some testing data then we can tag in some of the experienced Lantus users to advise and get working on the issue.

Very best wishes going forward Ame, hoping to get to know you and Mooshie better.

 

[CandyH & Catcat]

to boil it down -- too much insulin can look just like too little insulin -- and the BG goes higher the more insulin you give

many vets have a tendency to suggest upping the dose by a full unit -- we've found that going up by quarter units allows us to fine tune the dosage; my guess is that you have gone well beyond the dosage that would help Mooshie towards more normal BG --

to make reasonable suggestions, we need to see more data from you -- kudos to you for testing -- yes, test before every injection, it also helps to get a test in the middle of the cycle to figure out what is going on inside Mooshie's system -- the more information you have, and we have, the more we can help

keep asking questions, welcome, so glad you're here