When to test?

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jmoran

Member Since 2011
Hello,

I am getting ready to home test Chelsea for the first time. I have seen all the videos and pictures but can't find out how often for when to test her? once a day? after the injection? before she eats? I am sure it is on here somewhere but I have looked and looked.....

thanks for your help!
 
Always test before feeding and shooting insulin. We test, feed and then shoot. You can also do spot checks during the day to see where the bg is but now that you are going to start testing PLEASE....no matter the years or how well kitty is doing........never shoot insulin without getting a bg reading first. Eight years so far with Mishka and I never shoot her without testing her first.
 
Hi,
You should ALWAYS test at least twice a day.....before the morning shot, and before the evening shot. Those tests, like the injections, should be 12 hours apart.
Test, then feed, then give the insulin, in that order.
You need to test before Chelsea eats, so that the BG is not influenced by the food (the food will make her BG rise).
You need to feed before giving the insulin because you don't want to shoot insulin on an empty tummy. If there is no food in her system, the insulin dose would act "stronger". The food and the insulin sort of work against each other. Food makes BG go up, insulin makes it go down. You WANT that to be the case.

Also, before her AM and PM tests (which we call the AMPS and PMPS - PS stands for "pre-shot") you want to make sure that she hasn't had any food for two hours prior. Same reason I stated above. You don't want food to be giving you a "false" high reading on that test.

Other than the AMPS and PMPS, you can do a test any time, day or night. Those tests in between shots will show you how well the insulin is working. A good time to test is the mid-point between her shots, which we refer to as +6, or nadir (six hours after her previous shot). That is usually the point where the insulin is at peak efficiency, and usually will be when she has the lowest BG reading in the 12 hour cycle.

Hope that doesn't all confuse you!
Carl
 
OK thanks! i got a Lifescan one touch untra gluclose system and I tested myself but the reading is coming out differnt. My glucose was 6.3? why is it reading like that instead of 100 or 200 ?

Does anyone have experience with this product?
 
Are you in Canada? Meters there record metric numbers. Sometimes there is a place where you can switch from metric to US numbers, sometimes not. To get the US numbers, multiply your number by 18. So your number was a nice non diabetic 113.

When you set up a spreadsheet (which we would like to have you do) you can use the World version which will switch back and forth between the two measurements. Sign on to Google, go to Google docs, then Templates. Search for fdmb spreadsheet or fd spreadsheet and choose the World Version.

If you need help, just ask.

Edited: Multiply by 18, not 17. Sorrry
 
Gotcha, thanks. I stuck myslef so many times to figure this out..kinda hurt a little bit :sad: I hope I don't hurt her too much.
 
The only meter I use and have for years is the One Touch Ultra. Not the Ultra2, or the UltraSmart or the Mini, regular OTU without all the bells and whistles and I love it and trust it.

If it hurt, our cats would not be willing to let us test them. Fingers are more sensitive. Just make sure it is the edge of the ear only.
 
Just a minor tweak to the above posts ... the key is consistency. You can test-feed-shoot or feed-test-shoot, as long as you do it the same way each time.

If you feed and then test, do it immediately. The food won't affect the BG for at least 15-30 mins- at the earliest- so you don't have to worry. But you don't want to feed, wait an hour, and THEN test - try to do the "triad" all within a few minutes.

Another advantage to testing first is that the food is often a reward, so the cat doesn't mind the pokes so much when s/he knows nummies are coming! Honestly, both of my sugarcats waited for test time just for the treat and the supper.

So, a minimum of twice a day (before shots), and then it would be great to do spot checks to try to catch the lowest BG point - when the insulin peaks. That's usually +4 or +6 (i.e. 4 or 6 hours after the shot).

And it sounds like you are outside the USA. Their BG readings are different from ours in Canada, or the UK, or NZ/Australia, etc. We get pretty good at reading both, but if you want to post the metric as well as the US values, just multiply by 18. An example of what you might post for us to see would be:

AM PS 10 (180 US)
+4 8.4 (151 US)
+6 6.1 (110 US)
PM PS 11.5 (207)

Congrats on deciding to hometest. It's the best weapon you have in your arsenal against FD. :-D
 
Thanks! I am in the US, Philadelphia . This was a meter given to me by this awesome site! thank you so much!!! i will let you know how I make out!
 
Well, if you don't want to mess with it, and only use it as a backup, you can go to Walmart and get a ReliOn. It is the cheapest meter and has the cheapest strips and is a favorite of people here. If the multiplying thing won't bother you, it should work fine.
 
You should be able to change it from mmol/L to mg/DL. Hold the left side button down, no strip needed, and it will turn the meter on. Once the meter is on it will go through setting up date, time, etc. and when you see mmol/L show up, push the right side down and it should change it to read mg/dl.
 
Most of the older meters could be switched from US to metric values very easily. Too easily. Some of the diabetic humans who used them and accidentally switched settings ended up really messing themselves up (US ones seeing a BG of 10 and thinking they were hypo, or Canadians seeing one of 100 and thinking their sugars were skyhigh, and taking insulin... :shock: )

Anyway, as a result, many of the newer meters can't be switched over. :roll: Silly humans - messing things up for our cats.
 
I just called one touch and this meter can not be changed. But they are sending me a new one with US measurments. No charge. Very nice of them! :-D
 
the testing is going well. She is very cooperative and doesn't seem to mind. here are her levels so far today:

AMPS 245
Gave her 2 units of Prozinc

+6 60 BG.

What is everyone's thoughts?
 
Would you test again in an hour? She will probably start up and be fine,but we don't want an further slide. (If cats get to 40, we intervene)

The curve looks great - depending on what happens in the rest of the cycle, you may want to reduce the dose.
 
I will start the chart today. Her levels were really low over the weekend. Yesterday morning she was at 160 and that was with no insulin for over 15 hours. I gave her nothing yesterday. This AM she was at 202. So I didn't give her anything again.

Is this all good?
 
What insulin are you using?

With some insulins (and if your schedule permits) you can give mini doses to give them that final little push into lower numbers.

With a preshot number of 200, we generally say to wait 20 minutes without feeding and retest. If he is headed up and over 200, you could possibly shoot a reduced dose. If he has eaten and goes down, that usually means his pancreas is working and then you want to be especially careful about any insulin doses.

Good problem to have but a little scary at first.
 
using prozinc. I can run home at lunch and test her again.

Is there a sample BG test log somehwere I can use. I can't find one.
 
With ProZinc, you can minidose as needed. I would suggest you need quite a bit of data -especially mid cycle numbers- to consider it. You might look at how it worked for Cello's Mom: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApRoVAkSuXuUdDltSnA3ZFVHQ3BUdlNLanJYRkQzSnc#gid=0

It is very important to get those mid cycle numbers whether you look at mini dosing or you are getting lower preshot numbers and shooting late. You need to know what is happening with the insulin so you have the necessary data to shoot.

Do you mean the spreadsheet? Sign on to google, then google docs. Search templates for fdmb spreadsheet. Use the 12/12 template and follow the directions here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207 It is tricky so ask for help if you need it.
 
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