Newly Diagnosed Kitty - Seeking Early Advice
- Thread starter Matty&Fam
- Start date
I've put them where they can fit, and i've made a more detailed breakdown in the "Remarks" section.
Thank you so much for the support really appreciate your help. Waiting now for the next 15 mins to re-measure. What a terrifying experience
CORKY
Member Since 2023
No worries, I’m in your shoes right now, been there, and I had members do the same with me and Corky, that’s what we are here for, for each other, I’ll still have my phone next to me if you need is, no more carbs, ok? Now the BG will go up with all the carbs, syrup and food. You will have a high BG in the morning because of all that and Matty might bounce, numbers all over the place, but she’ll stabilize , please test one last time before going to sleep. You have a good night
Keep testing. You want a couple hours in a row of numbers above 50, and rising, after giving high carb food. It can wear off after two hours and the numbers could come down again. More information, when no one is around to help:Don't Panic! or How to Handle Low Numbers Might be a good one to print off and put with your hypo kit.
If you shoot in the morning, I think 1.0 unit would be your new dose.
If you shoot in the morning, I think 1.0 unit would be your new dose.
Thank you
been reading the thread above like a holy grail and kept it open on a tab on my phone but still felt so helpless seeing that number. Will print it off too. We’re back up to 290 this morning. Vet said to give .5U this morning and tonight and then see whether we need an increase. This is the new vet that came recommended as a Lantus expert. I’m so confused as all the reading we had done in here regarding the protocols suggest milder dose adjustments. The new vet had said the same in our last meeting. He said he’s scared of another hypo episode and we are terrified too. However the drastic dosing drop is also concerning
CORKY
Member Since 2023
Two cycles on a new dose, if you go to 0.5 units, is not enough time to see how that dose is doing. Plus it's likely that Matty will be bouncing from those low numbers last night, meaning her numbers will be higher than expected.
Goodmorning Corky! Much better thank you, for asking and thank you again for your support last night
A little high however, and on a low dose of insulin, which makes us sad and confused at the vets suggestions to be honest. Will input the data on the spreadsheet asap. Nadir was basically 291 today with the .5U dose.S
Sigh. Just feeling lost at both the vet’s suggestions, cause they’re contradicting both protocols on here and factually, it’s been a mess to say the least. Thinking of printing out the tight regulation protocol, translating, and taking it to our first vet to ask if he could guide and support us in following it.
CORKY
Member Since 2023
as Wendy explained, he’s bouncing ( higher numbers) From yesterdays lows, is normal, Most vets have good intentions, there are old school vets, and there are vets that are not updated well in Feline diabetes, these 3 factors are important to consider, the back and forth to the vet IS very stressful for a cat, and there will never be an accurate glucose reading, causing to increase the dose and you’re right back to square 1, you saw how he stabilized with the the sugestions you you got, take it one step at a time give him a couple of cycles to adjust to everything will fall into place, but it does not happen in one day one dose. I’ll tell you what was told to me at first: “ Take a step back, breath in breath out, cats are very sensitive to stress, they stress we are here for you, before you know it you will be a pro at it. Log in all the BGs study how the insulin works during the day, get to know how his body reacts to the insulin, the food you feed and when, we all have been in your shoes, but patience is a must, Feline Diabetes is manageable at home following instructions, a curve can be done in a couple of weeks at home as well, You are not alone!
After I took a copy of the TR protocol to my vet (she had already heard of it, but mostly used Caninsulin so not familiar), I gave her some copies of the spreadsheet for a few weeks, then pretty much relied on the forum here to help me with dosing. The locum vet who had switched me on Lantus and told me to listen the FDMB. After that, the only discussion on diabetes was "what is her dose now?".
CORKY
Member Since 2023
Same here, I strictly rely on this Forum for dosing and any diabetic concern, Corky’s vet even fired me, after 10 years, with two cats, he was not interested about FD , Corky has not stepped paw in a vets office for diabetes issues since, this Forum saved his life blindly, and blindly Corky is one of the most regulated diabetic cats even though he will be a lifetime diabetic, I owe his life to these amazing members and this Forum
Thank you guys @CORKY @Wendy&Neko, your support truly means the world to us. Will print out the TR protocol as well, and study and study again. We are on 1U as off this morning (since we had high numbers with .5U). .5 felt like a severe drop of a recommendation by the vet from the 1.5U and against the protocol which suggests lowering at .5 or .25U increments at a time. Will stick to 1U and observe closely.
Good evening FDMB, we gave Matty 1 unit of Lantus at 11:am this morning. As you can see from his SS, he currently has a reading of 79 mg/dL which is +8 since he received his morning dose. +8 is usually around where he has his nadir. We're terrified of another hypoglycaemic event and are wondering if 1 unit was too much after all to keep as the ‘steady dose’. Since vet said to stick to the same dose, we’re wondering whether we should go with the same amount for his next shot in 4 hours? (of course, given that his BG rises back up to appropriate levels for a 1 unit shot).
This is coming off of a hypo event that happened 36 hours ago, in which we gave 1.25u at 160mg/dl. Then reduced to 0.5u for a cycle as per vet’s advice, and as of this morning increased to 1u.
Was the change of dose from .5u to 1u a mistake?
According to the TR protocol 79mg/dl is a good place to be in, but considering we had a couple of hypo events 2 days ago, we're not sure if we're doing the right thing and how to proceed. Many thanks in advance for any help.
This is coming off of a hypo event that happened 36 hours ago, in which we gave 1.25u at 160mg/dl. Then reduced to 0.5u for a cycle as per vet’s advice, and as of this morning increased to 1u.
Was the change of dose from .5u to 1u a mistake?
According to the TR protocol 79mg/dl is a good place to be in, but considering we had a couple of hypo events 2 days ago, we're not sure if we're doing the right thing and how to proceed. Many thanks in advance for any help.
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CORKY
Member Since 2023
79 is NOT Hypoglycemia, I do NOT give dosing advice, but I do know that changing doses according to how his BG is at time of shooting is a Nono. Matty needs to get used to the dose given at least not until 3 cycles, and 79 Is not hypo, at least that’s the last number I see, I will tag a member that can help you in dosing and/or correct my input
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Wendy&Neko
Hi Corkey, yes sorry, maybe I didn't make myself clear. We're not worried about his reading right now, we know 79 is not hypoglycaemia. What we're worried about is given this reading of 79 mg/dL +8, we don’t expect to see very high numbers +12 preshot and afraid we are again at risk of a hypoglycaemic event in his next cycle if we give him another 1 unit for his dose later tonight ( in 3 hours).
Thank you as always for being so fast to respond
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May I please clarify, did you mean that we should’ve kept the .5U for at least three cycles before moving up to 1U? We thought the protocol stated that if we had a failed dose reduction that shot the numbers back up we should go back to ‘the last good dose’. Which our last good dose was too high, hence we thought a reduced dose might be the sweet spot. We’re so confused.
We know if we call our first vet he’ll say that
giving a reduced dose sometimes is okay - when we were still on 2U, he had specified that especially at night, cats are more prone to hypo because of their metabolism so giving 1U or even .5U when he’s not too high is acceptable, and returning in the morning to the original dose. The second vet, is strict ‘no changing dose policy’ and suggested that shooting full dose is acceptable even at 160mg/dl and 140mg/dl readings, which led to our dangerously hypoglycaemic event. We’re feeling more lost than ever with the highly contradictory opinions. We want to do the best for our boi, and are torn at this point.
CORKY
Member Since 2023
There are tines that it’s ok to give a bit less, I did misunderstood, but remember, that when eats the BG Raises, and the reason why is not known, but at night the glucose value is lower as well, Since I do not give dosing advice We are waiting for the members that do, plug into the post, but just the same , please do not give carbs syrup to raise the the BG to be able to shoot, there are times that Shot can be delayed, not given or reduced, I know about ProZinc, not Lantus, and after going on 4 years, I still ask for dosing advice even if I may know the answer, because stability is very important, I shoot Corky in low 2 digit numbers today, when at the beginning I would go crazy if his BG was 150 1hour before shot, but this was a slow and gutsy lesson, every cat is different, you need to give yourself a chance to get to know how the insulin reacts in Matti for at least several cycles, thiscIS how you know at what dose he should be not guessing at it, and let us guide you into low numbers at least at the beginning, you are doing great, great mommie, we all want what’s best for our fue babies, but the main thing at the beginning of this journey is to stabilize the diabetes with the right dose, you are doing a great job, this is a slow process of you learning what’s best for Matty and what works best by seeing how the insulin works in his body thru the days to come on the dose his in, then the decision to increase/decrease/ less insulin can be done wisely, I will tag again for your relaxation
@Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
79 is a safe number. If that was his nadirs on this dose, that would be a good place to be. When you first see under 100 (greens) on a dose, give him a tsp or two of low carb food, to see if he'll stay steady there. I would test again at +9 to make sure he's no longer dropping.
The depot insulins Lantus and Levemir are great a keeping lower numbers low and flat. I loved giving insulin in the 80's, cause Neko wouldn't move more than 10 points the entire cycle. Pop on over to the Lantus forum and look at some of the threads where people shoot lower numbers and see what happens. In fact, you might want to post over there regularly now. More people are on there and you'll get Lantus focussed help.
We don't suggest people shoot those lower numbers until they have enough data to do so, and someone is around to help them decide what to do. There are options on what to do with lower preshot. This post may help if you are following TR: Tight Regulation: Becoming Data Ready to Shoot / Handle Lower Pre-shot Numbers
The depot insulins Lantus and Levemir are great a keeping lower numbers low and flat. I loved giving insulin in the 80's, cause Neko wouldn't move more than 10 points the entire cycle. Pop on over to the Lantus forum and look at some of the threads where people shoot lower numbers and see what happens. In fact, you might want to post over there regularly now. More people are on there and you'll get Lantus focussed help.
We don't suggest people shoot those lower numbers until they have enough data to do so, and someone is around to help them decide what to do. There are options on what to do with lower preshot. This post may help if you are following TR: Tight Regulation: Becoming Data Ready to Shoot / Handle Lower Pre-shot Numbers