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K. Sya and Sophie (GA)

K. Sya and Sophie (GA)

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Hi,
Am wondering if anyone has any experience with vets that are more open to making dosing adjustments based on hometesting data in Arlington? My vet seems open to hometesting but is insistent that I must bring my cat in for curves for any dosing adjustments because I'm not using an AlphaTrak like they do there. Am gettting frustrated. (I use Freestyle Lite)

I have a spreadsheet but am still stumped by the Google docs thing and haven't had time to sit and figure it out. Sorry :-( I brought my spreadsheet with me to vet...they seemed like they'd never seen anyone record data like that.
Right now she's on 1 unit Lantus BID
Ex last night she was 296 PMPS dropped to 240 at PM +2

I brought her in for a curve today. (she's still there) I told them I want to move to 1.5 units BID and look for response with a few curves. (right now her curves aren't really curves...not getting a real drop)

Don't really want to start over with a new vet as these folks have generally been good and seem to care about my pets...its just frustrating... cat(2)_steam

Just talked to the vet the day after the in office curve. He really liked my spreadsheet...had not seen one like it before. Reported to me that his numbers that he got there were pretty much the same numbers I was getting at home . Was fine with my suggestion of increasing the dose a little bit. Was happy that there were 1/2 unit syringes to be found. Would like me to do a curve at home in 3 weeks and bring it in so we could discuss it (believe me I'll be doing more than one in the next 3 weeks). I made it clear that I didn't think he should be looking at my home data for free. He's happy, I'm happy, I know Sya is happy she would be doing in office curves anymore, and none of us have to go through the stress of finding a new vet. :mrgreen:
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

Is this vet doing the curves for free? I be not!
Regardless, who is the customer here and who is the service provider??

I have no issues with the vet office I use because I am the customer and I tell them what I am doing and going to do. I take them the ss for my cats and they do NOT tell me about dosing or curves.

We can help you set up the ss for your kitty, and help you get organized to do your own curves.

About the meters, why not take your meter and test at the same time as the vet is testing with theirs, just so you can see what the big difference is that's being claimed by the vet.

Vet visits are stressful for many animals; I don't see the point in putting your kitty through repeated stressful visits when you can hometest in surroundings that relax your kitty and will likely give you much better numbers!

YOU are the boss of YOUR kitty, and there is no reason why you should allow your vet to BOSS you around. Tell your vet that you are fine with doing your own curves and you do not want to stress your kitty anymore with unnecessary visits for a cost that makes only the vet's pocketbook happy.

Is there a particular reason why you don't want a different vet, one who may be more willing to work with you as a customer?

My vet office may not be the best in the city but they are the best overall because they work with me and my cats and go along with my decisions, not theirs.
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

Listen to Gayle. She is an expert at dealing with vets. They are afraid of her! :lol:

Seriously, curves at you vet are less likely to be accurate because of the stress that often elevates BG when we take our cats in to be tested. They can't make you bring her in. What can they do, refuse to treat her and be out the business? You have the right to refuse any treatment you do not wish, including test curves.

There are a lot of vets out there who are dumbfounded at the results we get when we bring our cats back in after following the protocols here. This type of proactive control of the disease is not what they usually see in their customers or have learned about in school. But we can educate them! :-D
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

I will send you a PM. I would rather not post about about specific vets in Arlington VA.
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

Good luck with this I know how frustrating it is dealing with vets I am a vet tech and am really having a hard time with my vet at work and am now talking to another one in my practice that is a little more open to what I am doing but they basically think I am stupid in dealing with a diabetic board so I made up my mind last week that Do Lou is my cat and I feel like I am doing whats best for him by daily spot checks and listening to the very experienced people on this board. She is your cat so just let whatever vet you work with realize you want to do it your way good luck :YMHUG: :YMHUG: cat_pet_icon
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

I have a hard time understanding the resistance from so many vets.

The picture I have in my head is this:

Our cats are like our babies, they are not able to speak, but they do need some meds.
If you take a child to a dr with a fever, and the dr gives you some meds or says give 1 or 2 tylenol twice a day, sends you home and says the meds will make the child feel better and the fever to come down. Just keep giving the meds twice a day and it will help.
Because there is a fever, you think I can take the temp at home myself and see how well this stuff is working. You follow the instructions, give the meds, and also take the temp every few hours. You see that it's not working as well as you would like so you want to give more.
When you ask the dr, you are told to bring the child in and your thermometer is no good, and that the dr's thermometer is the only good one and the dr will take the temp and make the decision. You are told to drop the child off for temp taking through the day and come back later.

How silly does that sound to you? To me, it's really silly.

There are so very many people here who can help you and then you can rely on your vet for things that can't be done at home. You can't run blood tests or take Xrays or ultrasounds, and you can't write your own rx for meds, but home testing and adjusting insulin doses? Of course you can do that yourself within reason, and following a safe protocol with help from others on this board.

For example, if you are giving a dose of 1u BID, the usual increase followed here would be by only .25u, so going to 1.25u would be safer than jumping right up to 1.5u, but that's just following the protocol and certainly not any advice.
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

Thanks for the encouragement (and letting me vent :lol: ) I just got the syringes with the 1/2 unit markings. Is it pretty easy to eyeball a .25 unit? The .5 unit markings seem so small....
 
Re: Hometesting friendly vets in Arlington VA

There are a few different 'aids' you can get to help with eyeballing it well.
I go a clip on magnifying glass on a goose neck that's clipped to the edge of a kitchen cupboard.
You can look for the magnifying glasses that are found in drugstores or you can look in the craft section of some stores. When people do very fine needlepoint items, sometimes they have magnifier tools to help them.

Others I am sure have good ideas to help you along.

Awesome that you have the syringes with the 1/2 markings now.you are going to have a super easy time of it now!
http://www.telesightmagnifiers.com/site ... lampon.jpg
that's a picture of what I have.
 
A magnifier of some type is definitely a must. Something hands free is best, because you need both hands to adjust the dose in the syringe. Try twisting the plunger rather than pushing, you get more control to get to the right spot.

I use a jeweler's visor, because I had it already. I just did a search for "magnifying + visor" this is one site with lots of options, I'm sure there are many more. http://www.ehobbytools.com/contents/en-us/d10.html
 
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