Please help newbie make sense of bg#'s

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lepick

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I need some assistance from experienced home monitors, please! I have been testing now for 7 days, and my kitty Xalli’s bg numbers keep going up, even with increased insulin. I have been giving 1 u of PZI 2x daily. This morning with the bg number rising I increased to 1.2 u, and have only given 1 dose of that this morning. I apologize, this is a little long, but here is the data I’ve collected:

10/20: 348 at 2 pm, no insulin while adjusting diet and testing for ketones
10/21: 266 am, 261 pm, no insulin while adjusting diet and testing for ketones
10/22: 284, (1u PZI admin) 175, 200, 265 (didn’t test often enough to get nadir)
10/23: 286(1u PZI admin) , 112 (+5), 302
10/24: 267(1u PZI admin) , 179, 118 (+4), 159, 275, 311
10/25: 292(1u PZI admin) , 204, 203 (+5), 231, 294
10/26: 348(1.2u PZI admin) , 310, 266, 219, and 270 at +8, last reading

I can provide more data if needed as well in terms of times, but am really more interested in the overall increase. Nadir seems to be around +5 if I understand this all correctly, and it plots at a U curve, which is my understanding of what is typical for PZI.
Some changes that might have contributed to this: I provided an extra serving of food (left out frozen) to be eaten during the night because Xalli woke me up crying for food every other night. She always finished it at least 2 hours before testing. Did this the night of the 10/24, meaning that her readings that were slightly higher on 10/25 could be attributed to this. But why would they have gone up further again, even after I increased the insulin dosage today (again, 1 unit to 1.2 units).

I also got new syringes, switching from u40 to u100. And yes, I definitely did account for that—her 1 in u40 has meant I gave 2.5 units in u100), but did not start using those until last night (after one day of the numbers already being considerable higher). Any chance a syringe change would do it? It is a 31 guage, and it is shorter than what I was using as well.

Please help me figure out what is going on! Would/does feeding impact this much? Can a syringe affect it? Also, is there an ideal timing of meals for maximum insulin effectiveness with PZI?

I will greatly appreciate your collective knowledge and experience. Thanks so much in advance for anything you can offer me to help understand this and take better care of Xalli.

Lea
 
Lea, I know you need help, we ALL need help when we first start. I can get someone to walk you thru, on the phone, putting up a spread sheet like we all have.
the reason is it is hard to read the way it is currently written. i'll admit it's hard for me.
i'm going to ask sue and oliver who is always willing to help newbie's with spread sheets pm you ok.
it is a basic tool, just like the meter and the strips.
i'll brb,
Lori
 
ok, pm'd sue and you can look for a pm from her.
believe me it will be so much easier to watch your progression or lack therof it we have that to look at.
lori
 
Hi Lea,

What kind of PZI? BCP PZI, ProZinc, or a compounded PZI?

I am assuming that the last number on 10/22 through 10/25 is you PM pre-shot number, that you gave 1U at those times, and that you did not test later in the evening.

PZI takes a "settling" period of 7-10 days per dose. (Settling means seeing the full effect of the dose.) You waited 4 days before increasing the dose, and that's likely OK, but you might want to give the dose increase you gave today, and future dose increases more time to settle.

PZI needs awhile to build up overlap. Overlap is the residual effect of the previous shot that is still working when you give the next shot. That's part of the settling period. A dose of PZI has "settled" what it is going to do when the curve goes flat, which is what happened to Xalli. That's why I say you waiting only 4 days before a dose increase was likely OK.

I think your numbers look pretty good for the first five days on PZI.

I generally have not heard people claim that the gauge and length of needles has caused variability in BG levels.

The mid-night snack may contribute to higher am numbers, but it depends on the cat. I feed my diabetic frequent small meals, including during the night. If Xalli says she needs a mid-night snack, I would give her one. As you are, she is getting accustomed to what the diabetes and treatment is doing to her body.

Best of luck to you and your girl.
 
Thanks Lori, I appreciate it. Where can I access the blank spreadsheet? I think understand most of it looking at yours so I can get started on it until I get a chance to go through it more thoroughly with an 'expert'.

Lea
 
sue just pm'd me that she's gonna pm you! :lol: she will walk you thru on the phone if you like.
 
Lea,

I was thinking that I maybe wasn't too clear in what I was saying, and I thought I would direct you to the observations about BCP PZI that I made on Max's case study on the PetDiabetes wikia. It is here.
 
Keeping the food out overnight for him to eat is fine. He's hungry right now, he needs it.

I'd go back to 1U BID and stick with that dose for a bit and see how he does with that. As he's adjusting to the new food and the insulin you're going to start to see some changes.
 
Lea,

I am wondering what food you are feeding. Food can make a huge difference in bg levels. Some kitties are very carb sensitive and they need the lowest carb food- sometimes the 3-7% carbs. And even a few pieces of dry can raise the bg levels. Have you sure seen the food charts?
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html


When you get your spreadsheet set up (if you need help, yell) be sure to include what you fed, when.

I also agree that in some cats, PZI takes a week or so to really start working. Your numbers aren't bad. Consider that you are now gathering data and patterns will start to emerge.
 
Thanks so much for all the advice. As I'm sure y'all know it is easy to go into panic mode. I returned to the 1 PZI (it is compounded PZI) and *think* I figured out the spreadsheet. I am just getting ready to enter the data I've already collected but I am testing here also to see if it shows up on my signature, if I did that correctly! I feel much better knowing that these numbers look pretty 'normal.'

I am feeding wellness canned food with 4% carbs--i tried to go as low as possible in hopes diet alone would have a change. It seemed to have an immediate change to some degree at least, so I'll stick with it for now. I've taken the dry kibble totally away.

Thanks again, and I'll post again once I get the data all entered for some feedback. I appreciate it!
Lea
 
yes it shows up, sans #'s, looking forward to seeing the colors come up :razz:
 
I've got the numbers entered in, and WOW that is so much easier to see everything and understand what is going on. So now you can clearly see the trend I was referring to in my first post: numbers going from 100's gradually to 300's. I returned to 1.0u compounded PZI today just to give that a little more time. How much time should I give that? Is it common to see numbers drop right away with PZI and then creep back up to the 'normal' level?

Thanks again for all the help, and to these boards--lifesavers!
Lea
 
Congrats on the spreadsheet. It looks great. Unfortunately, there is no "common" with diabetic kitties. Our byword is "Every cat is different". I would say it is kind of an unusual pattern. If I were you, I would start a new post asking for PZI advice. Now that you have a spreadsheet, you may get more responses.
 
lea, can you compare #'s on both meters one time..using the same drop of blood. some meters are different by 30 points. i found this true of the contour after testing many times against other meters.
looks like you were off to a good start.....can you think of anything at all that could have been different that day...a fur shot? accidental 'forbidden' food?
 
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