The streak continues!

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WV Mom

Member Since 2014
We've now done five cycles giving Joe just a smidge of insulin and Joe's readings have all been 69-140. Fingers crossed that this continues!

Now, a question. How do you accurately give doses below half a unit? We say we've been giving Joe 0.10U because it's less than an eyeballed 0.25U, but we're not sure. We've read about the drop method, but since we get four drops per unit, that won't work. :confused:
 
Well you might not like the answer...lol It isn't really what you call it so much as you are consistent in what you are giving. Personally I have gotten to where I just know the plunger is in the same place each time.

There are several other ways that other folks do it, using a ruler with mm marks, finding an item like a piece of string or a fish hook anything that is the same width as the gap you want between the needle and the plunger, or even calipers. When I started micro-dosing I took an used syringe, filled it with grape juice (so not to confuse Lantus and water) then dialed in the dose I wanted to give. Then put a piece of masking tape right above the plunger line and capped it, then used it as my template to compare all other doses to.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Actually, that's a fine answer. If I read you correctly, it basically says, "do it any way you can." :-D

Since my daughter and I are in different towns, I asked her to measure the number of millimeters in a unit so I could make sure I understood her conundrum. Turns out that 5 units is only 7 millimeters; so 1 unit is 1.4 millimeters, and 0.1 unit, which she's trying to give him, is only 0.14 millimeters -- which is impossible to measure!

She's using 30 unit syringes with half-unit markings, and 31 gauge needles. Is there something better out there for measuring tiny doses?
 
Unfortunately nope. That's the best it gets because pharmaceutical companies don't see any profit in making anything smaller. Sigh

The way I do it with Relion syringes is I place the bottom (defined as closest to the needle) of the plunger so it's just resting on top of the zero line since those particular syringes have fairly fat lines. Although that might not work well with other brands.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
That's exactly what she says she's doing: giving the width of the zero line. Amazing that there's not a better way.

Could you (or anyone) kindly point me to guidance about going OTC? If Joe keeps this up, that may be in his future. *fingers crossed*
 
LOL I think you mean OTJ (Off the Juice) since OTC is Over The Counter. :lol:

But OTJ is when a kitty can maintain normal BG range of 40-120 without insulin for 14 days, with the majority of the numbers in double digits. Some walk them all the way down to just a drop, to give that you would push the plunger hard up against the bottom of the syringe, insert into the pen/vial and let the go of the plunger and give just what the plunger pulls in to the needle when it flexes back into place. Others if their cat is maintaining double digits and low 100s on .1 will stop insulin at that point and see if the cat can hold on it's own in the normal range. You can also do a food trial if you suspect your kitty wants off the juice by testing, (no shot) feeding, waiting 2 hours test again, wait another hour and test again. The food should bring them up slightly then the pancreas should kick in and drop them right back into normal numbers.

Here's where it gets tricky because every cat does it differently...My Maxwell I never dosed below .5 before he went OTJ, Cassanova I went to a .1 and then took him off and he held, My Autumn I think wants off but she's being a roller coaster ride of dives and bounces. She had me up late last night watching her like a Hawk but is back in the 400s this morning, but with her I think I have some other health concerns to address but don't expect her to be on insulin after Christmas if that long once we get her mouth cleaned up and her arthritis supplement kicks in.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Yep, OTJ. Typo on my part. :oops:

I guess what I'm asking is how long we should keep him at just a drop before we try none at all. He's gone eight cycles (since Monday morning) with just a drop and his readings have been great. This morning he was 56, so she didn't give him any at all. If his PMPS is good tonight, we're inclined to give him nothing again, and keep giving him nothing unless his bg goes over ~140.

This seems pretty darned reasonable on the one hand. But, on the other, it seems awfully sudden. It was just 3 weeks ago that his vet was saying 1.0 isn't enough and increase his dose to 1.5.
 
Sounds like a reasonable plan to me. Btw my OTJ guy who will celebrate 4 years insulin free the first of next month did it in 2 weeks, well 4 weeks if you count the 14 day trial period. I still tease his foster mom she didn't pack him well enough because he broke during shipping. :lol:

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
This is really kind of amazing. We're in day 4, and all of his readings have been <80. Hoping it continues!

Most amazing -- and worrisome, because of what it says about vets -- is that we'd be giving Joe 1.5U bid per his vet's instructions on 9/12 if we hadn't found this board. Early on, she told my daughter not to test so much. And the vet has never run a full curve, instead relying on a fructosamine test. How many cats are suffering because of the poor advice their owners are getting? :sad:
 
The results are looking good. Keep it up..er ah, I mean down....lol

Both the Vet and my Wife thought I was testing too much as well. Vet said she would be happy with numbers 175-225.

Good thing that I was the one in charge!

Jack is in remission after 7 weeks, he is in day 22.

Samantha is on her 2nd OTJ trial 7th day.

All the best!
 
Thanks for posting, Thebudster. I love looking at spreadsheets of other cats who are like Joe: clearly diabetic, but quickly in remission. What's with that?

This morning Joe was 80, the highest reading he's had yet in this trial (today is day 5), and I started to get nervous thinking the trial wasn't working. Then I shook myself and remembered it's 80. Eighty. Perfectly normal. Not that long ago he was consistently in the 200s and 300s, even posting a 417 on 9/25, less than two weeks ago.

This is such a strange trip.
 
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