Weird BG reading

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JacksDads

JacksDads

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Following a conversation with our vet, Jack has switched to all raw tonight, and we've gone back down to 4u.

Of course, because the raw is not as delicious as the kibble (in Jack's opinion, I've never tried either) he was not as focused when I gave him his shot (usually he is so absorbed in eating that he doesn't even notice the shot). Just as I was hitting the plunger, he bolted, and I have no idea if he got a full dose, no dose, or something in between.

Because of the change in diet and uncertainty in his dose, I checked his BG at +1, and again @ +2. This is when I got the weird reading. Jack was fidgeting, and my first test I got an error message (e-5: retest with a new strip) I tested again, and because of Jack's fidgeting had a very hard time getting a sample. I'm not sure if the sample was maybe too small, but the reading was 495. I tried one more time, because that # just didn't seem to make sense, and got a good sample with a reading of 179. We checked again at +2:40 and got 165.

Have other people gotten freak numbers like this? Any ideas for what to make of it? For now I've kept the more "reasonable" number in the spreadsheet, with a note in the remarks.
 
yoshi, smart to just go with the more sensible #. it has'nt happened to me personally, but i see it on the board often...just a weird reading, test again and it's ok. don't know the reason for it.
 
yoshi, just took a look at you SS, what insulin are you shooting and why so high? the dose i mean.
 
hey, it's Jose here, actually :-)
We are using Lantus, got to the dosage based off of curves, spot check and fructosamine tests done at vet. Only got our act together to start home testing in the past couple of days. If the #s keep staying low going to be very careful moving forward. Our vet is out of the country, today the stand in suggested going down to 4u and said not to shoot if we test him below 150.

Incidentally, have been keeping an eye on Jack, and while he's being lazy (he's always been a bit of a layabout) he looks good. When we call him he perks up and gives us a sort of "why are you bugging me" look. I'm going to be watching him carefully this evening--don't want us to both be passed out if Jack goes too low or starts showing signs of distress.
 
hi jose,
if your now feeding the raw diet i suspect the carb count will be dramatically lower. and lantus is not an insulin that you change doses on based on amps and pmps.
i think lowering the dose is a good idea...but it still seems high.
your SS has the time of day where the bg # should be btw.
i'd be concerned this evening if his diet was switched from kibble to raw on that dose.
 
jose where in the country r u ? east coast/ west coast? you may have a deep drop tonight
 
thanks for the note re: putting the time where the BG should be on the spreadsheet. I'll double check, but I think those specifically happened when we were still figuring out the spreadsheet--I think our more recent #s are correctly input. I'll review them to make sure though.

We are in Boston. fortunately I only have one class tomorrow morning, and I can ask my prof not to call on me because of family health stuff. If I end up staying up tonight, it won't be the end of the world.
 
i'm going to ask a lantus person to check on you. is the raw food like actually raw wet meat?
 
just updated his curve, he's at 144 now.

This evening he ate 3 oz Primal Raw Turkey formula for felines. Per their literature it is a complete feline meal, mostly meat with a little bit of bone and organ, and a tiny bit of veggie & fruit. In a perfect world I'd want something without any fruit at all, but of the prepared commercial raw foods I've found this seems to be the best overall in our area.

His energy is still good. He had enough energy to put up a bit of a fight with the test, had to wake up Yoshi to help me. Afterwards he walked around, had a drink of water and then jumped back on the sofa. I think he's more annoyed that I keep jabbing him in the ear and waking him up than he is feeling any negative effect of the shot.
 
yes, they often are not too appreciative of the annoying jabs :lol:
i put a word out in lantus but it's a really slow night.
the thing with that insulin is it lasts for a Loooonnnng time..
i suppose the experts over there will reccomend a dose decrease.
in the meantime, are you ready set go for any hypo like #'s?
 
We've got Karo in the house, I've already been to the ER vet in the area but I'll check the map just to be double certain. Have a oral syringe and a number of foods if it comes to that. Heading over to the Hypo page just to confirm that I'm not missing anything else.
 
i guess i'm just concerned that the vet had you shooting 5 units on relatively low #'s without much data other than a vet curve. those curves at the vet are stressful for the cat so they usually have higher #'s.
the advise not to shoot below 150 i suppose is right...but that large dose worries me.
that and the change in food tonight.
most folks here start on 1U and gradually work their way up in tiny increments.
 
do you have a high carb canned gravy food? that stay's in the system longer. the karo is quick but wears off just as quick. the karo combined with dry kibble if no high carb canned.
of course we can hope for the best,,,but just in case.
afraid he'll need a couple more ear pokey's tonight. in 1/2 hour?
 
We got up to 5u over the period of almost a month and all the tests had shown him to be peaking between 6-400 and nadir still at 300+ we've only noticed his #s going down dramatically since we started testing him at home. I do believe that our vet was doing the best she could with the info she had. Will for sure be calling in the morning no matter what happens tonight to discuss continuing to reduce his dosages as appropriate.

Thanks for being around to talk me through this. I did look over the hypoglycemia tool kit and directions and I think we're in good shape: wet food, dry food, syringe, etc. At this point I'm not worried about us being in a crisis, but I am prepared for the possibility. Will keep checking his #s, and updating his spreadsheet/this thread.

I'm going to pop over to the lantus forum, but if anyone knows of any threads or guidelines for adjusting lantus dosages I'd like to spend some time educating myself on it. We love our vet, but I think the time may come where we are educating her as much as she is educating us on this stuff, so I want to make sure that I'm well informed.
 
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