When you have low numbers

[Teresa & KitKat]

My cat Kit Kat started out at AMPS @123, so I decided to give him insulin right around what I had been giving him. I raised him to 1.75 last Monday, but I gave him 1.50. I can see that is too much because he came down to 58. I put Karo Syrup on his gums, don't know if that is enough to bring him up to a better number. Any ideas please let me know. Also, if he is low tonight any ideas on what I should shot. I do not want to stay up all night tonight and tomorrow I have an appt.

 

[Teresa & KitKat]

My cat Kit Kat started out at AMPS @123, so I decided to give him insulin right around what I had been giving him. I raised him to 1.75 last Monday, but I gave him 1.50. I can see that is too much because he came down to 58. I put Karo Syrup on his gums, don't know if that is enough to bring him up to a better number. Any ideas please let me know. Also, if he is low tonight any ideas on what I should shot. I do not want to stay up all night tonight and tomorrow I have an appt.

I gave him Karo Syrup @+4, i know he would have went lower because the karo syrup did not raise him that much and he started right away coming back down. He had not ate his +2 snack till at 6 hr. because he wanted chicken, because I gave him chicken taking his numbers so often.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

This post that is on the Lantus board is a helpful one to bookmark as it addresses how to handle low numbers. The post was initially written for Lantus users but the principles are the same.

There are a couple of things to consider. How you intervene can depend on when in the cycle the drop in numbers is occurring. Earlier in the cycle (i.e., before nadir) may require a more aggressive intervention than numbers that are dropping later in the cycle. The speed of the drop can also dictate how you intervene (e.g., with high carb food vs Karo).

In KitKat's case today, the drop started fairly early. (And you did a great job of staying on top of the drop.) I generally coach people to use a few teaspoons of high carb food initially to try to get their cat "surfing" in lower numbers. Remember, normal numbers are good! The more time your at spends in normal numbers, the more his body will acclimate to that range and his liver and pancreas will stop panicking. What you're seeing is a lovely surf!

You also don't want to overdo the high carb. We've had members come close to drowning their cat in Karo or give their cat a can of high carb food all at once. Spread it out. Use a small amount, test, and repeat as you need to.

I also suggest testing more often. A lot can happen in an hour and frequent testing gives you more control over steering the drop in numbers. High carb can wear off and numbers may drop back down. You don't want to let the possible momentum of a fast drop get ahead of you. My cat had a tendency to have numbers drop early and drop fast. I would routinely test early in the cycle and if numbers were dropping, I would test at least every half hour. You can look at Gabby's spreadsheet to get a feel for what I did and how I stacked the numbers in the cell.

I don't know that you gave too much insulin. I tend to think it's a bit of a guessing game to try and predict what the numbers will do. It looks like the numbers were pretty flat between your PM +10 and AMPS. I would have encouraged you to shoot your full dose. There's no way to know for sure how your cat will respond.

Also, your spreadsheet says you're following MPM. Your signature says SLGS. KitKat gets a dose reduction if you're following SLGS. He doesn't if you're following MPM.

 

[Teresa & KitKat]

This post that is on the Lantus board is a helpful one to bookmark as it addresses how to handle low numbers. The post was initially written for Lantus users but the principles are the same.

There are a couple of things to consider. How you intervene can depend on when in the cycle the drop in numbers is occurring. Earlier in the cycle (i.e., before nadir) may require a more aggressive intervention than numbers that are dropping later in the cycle. The speed of the drop can also dictate how you intervene (e.g., with high carb food vs Karo).

In KitKat's case today, the drop started fairly early. (And you did a great job of staying on top of the drop.) I generally coach people to use a few teaspoons of high carb food initially to try to get their cat "surfing" in lower numbers. Remember, normal numbers are good! The more time your at spends in normal numbers, the more his body will acclimate to that range and his liver and pancreas will stop panicking. What you're seeing is a lovely surf!

You also don't want to overdo the high carb. We've had members come close to drowning their cat in Karo or give their cat a can of high carb food all at once. Spread it out. Use a small amount, test, and repeat as you need to.

I also suggest testing more often. A lot can happen in an hour and frequent testing gives you more control over steering the drop in numbers. High carb can wear off and numbers may drop back down. You don't want to let the possible momentum of a fast drop get ahead of you. My cat had a tendency to have numbers drop early and drop fast. I would routinely test early in the cycle and if numbers were dropping, I would test at least every half hour. You can look at Gabby's spreadsheet to get a feel for what I did and how I stacked the numbers in the cell.

I don't know that you gave too much insulin. I tend to think it's a bit of a guessing game to try and predict what the numbers will do. It looks like the numbers were pretty flat between your PM +10 and AMPS. I would have encouraged you to shoot your full dose. There's no way to know for sure how your cat will respond.

Also, your spreadsheet says you're following MPM. Your signature says SLGS. KitKat gets a dose reduction if you're following SLGS. He doesn't if you're following MPM.

The only reason I gave the Karo syrup was because he would not eat any food. He ate his meal @AMPS and +2 snack, after that he wanted chicken. I was testing him so much, I was giving him chicken at each test and if he could not have chicken, he did not want anything else. I have a food that is for urinary track(which is what he eats) that is 9 carbs, but he did not want it. I was testing more than each hour, but there was no room on the SS for it.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I was testing more than each hour, but there was no room on the SS for it.

You can "stack" them in the same cell. Like if I got a 58 at +8 and retested 30 minutes later and got a 62, I'd put both in the same +8 cell like this

When you do this, you do have to manually color-code it yourself. If you have numbers that are in two colors (like a lime green number under 50 and a dark green number between 51-99, you'd pick the lime green just because that's the more important color because it's in "hypo" territory.