Winging it

Jennifer & Oliver

Jennifer & Oliver

Member Since 2023
Hi all. Just created spreadsheet. SLGS/TR or what I'm doing is neither. The vet really isn't much help. We are up to 4 units of lantus twice daily 630a/p. Vet says if numbers are 150-200 3 units, <150 hold dose until up to 150 or 200 and then give 3 or 4 units of lantus. We use the freestyle libre so its not difficult getting frequent tests as Oliver tolerates it but would rather not. Sometimes it takes my husband and I to get an ear stick. I just changed his feeding schedule this evening from 2 large meals a day to 5 smaller meals. I just created spreadsheet this evening. I have alarm clocks set to check sugar every hour now (except while sleeping) just to see where he is at. I'm hoping that with your help I can get him on a better system for giving lantus. Thanks in advance. Oliver thanks you too!!
 
Jennifer & Oliver said:
Hi all. Just created spreadsheet. SLGS/TR or what I'm doing is neither. The vet really isn't much help. We are up to 4 units of lantus twice daily 630a/p. Vet says if numbers are 150-200 3 units, <150 hold dose until up to 150 or 200 and then give 3 or 4 units of lantus. We use the freestyle libre so its not difficult getting frequent tests as Oliver tolerates it but would rather not. Sometimes it takes my husband and I to get an ear stick. I just changed his feeding schedule this evening from 2 large meals a day to 5 smaller meals. I just created spreadsheet this evening. I have alarm clocks set to check sugar every hour now (except while sleeping) just to see where he is at. I'm hoping that with your help I can get him on a better system for giving lantus. Thanks in advance. Oliver thanks you too!!
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@Wendy&Neko
@tiffmaxee
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Angela & Cleo
 
Welcome to LLB. Would you be able to fill in the spreadsheet for the past 7 days? Most of us do not shoot different doses depending on the preshot . Instead dosing depends upon how low a dose takes your cat. We also have a way of posting. Since you did not shoot tge subject bar would read:
3/9/24 OLIVER PMBG 97 Winging It.
 
Hi and welcome to LLB! I'm going to read your intro post and be back. Do you have any data from the Libre from the last week or so that you can put in the spreadsheet (SS)? Have you read through the dosing methods? Picking one will help those that will help you along with Oliver's FD journey :cat:.
Please ask questions and as many as you may have. We're here to help.
 
Angela & Cleo said:
Hi and welcome to LLB! I'm going to read your intro post and be back. Do you have any data from the Libre from the last week or so that you can put in the spreadsheet (SS)? Have you read through the dosing methods? Picking one will help those that will help you along with Oliver's FD journey :cat:.
Please ask questions and as many as you may have. We're here to help.
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I have graphs for the last two weeks. I can try and figure out what the numbers were based on the graphs. I do log some sugar readings and would be able to add them to spreadsheet
 
Angela & Cleo said:
Hi and welcome to LLB! I'm going to read your intro post and be back. Do you have any data from the Libre from the last week or so that you can put in the spreadsheet (SS)? Have you read through the dosing methods? Picking one will help those that will help you along with Oliver's FD journey :cat:.
Please ask questions and as many as you may have. We're here to help.
Click to expand...
I just updated the spreadsheet with a guesstimate of the last 8 days
 
Wow, how amazing of you to adopt Oliver :bighug:. I am also an auto feeder for my kitty so that made me laugh.
Great job putting in the info in the SS. Have you decided on a dosing method, Tight Regulation (TR) or Start Low Go Slow (SLGS)?
 
Angela & Cleo said:
Wow, how amazing of you to adopt Oliver :bighug:. I am also an auto feeder for my kitty so that made me laugh.
Great job putting in the info in the SS. Have you decided on a dosing method, Tight Regulation (TR) or Start Low Go Slow (SLGS)?
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I really don't know which one to do....decisions dont come easy to me. I do know that I am going to lose my mind if I can't figure it out LOL
 
Lol maybe I can help. Both the dosing methods here focus on nadir. So what nadir are you comfortable with? TRs aim is 50-80 while SLGS is 90-120.
 
Angela & Cleo said:
Lol maybe I can help. Both the dosing methods here focus on nadir. So what nadir are you comfortable with? TRs aim is 50-80 while SLGS is 90-120.
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after speaking with my husband we would be comfortable with a nadir of 90-120. he says that I do not have the patience to wait 7 days with the SLGS so if we can adjust it to allow a change in dose on day 4 or 5. We just added small meals so its going to effect his glucose overall. I'm a hot mess hahaha
 
tiffmaxee said:
You do not need to make a decision just yet. If the bg stays in blue and yellow after a skip I suspect 4 units will be too high a dose but let’s see.
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It wasn't a skip as much as a delay. I gave the four units at +1.25 when his sugar hit 193. I'm thinking I might have been able to give him the four units at PMPS but i was too scared. I probably didn't put that on the spreadsheet correctly and I'm not sure if giving it to him was the right thing to do but that's what the vet told me. All of this kinda freaks me out a bit
 
Oh. When I looked you had skipped. Did you feed after the 99? If lower than you feel comfortable shooting, don’t feed and retest in 30 minutes. If you feed the next test is food influenced.
Lower numbers are scary at first but become contagious I promise. Cats that are not diabetic have bg between 50-100 on a human meter.
 
tiffmaxee said:
Oh. When I looked you had skipped. Did you feed after the 99? If lower than you feel comfortable shooting, don’t feed and retest in 30 minutes. If you feed the next test is food influenced.
Lower numbers are scary at first but become contagious I promise. Cats that are not diabetic have bg between 50-100 on a human meter.
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Yes I did feed after the 97 (oliver was yelling at me lol). I now understand that I should have waited to feed and retested or should have been brave enough to give the 4 unit dose. I put the "0" in the units box but then at +1.25 I gave the four units. Should I have charted it differently?
 
Jennifer & Oliver said:
Yes I did feed after the 97 (oliver was yelling at me lol). I now understand that I should have waited to feed and retested or should have been brave enough to give the 4 unit dose. I put the "0" in the units box but then at +1.25 I gave the four units. Should I have charted it differently?
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Put 4 @,+1.25 in the units box. If you skip you would put NS for no shot or 0.

With the PMPS so much lower than the +9, I would have told you to stall. The Libre sometimes reads lower than an ear prick. I would have suggested you do an ear prick if possible to see. Do you have a meter? Is it a human or pet meter if you have one?
 
tiffmaxee said:
Put 4 @,+1.25 in the units box. If you skip you would put NS for no shot or 0.

With the PMPS so much lower than the +9, I would have told you to stall. The Libre sometimes reads lower than an ear prick. I would have suggested you do an ear prick if possible to see. Do you have a meter? Is it a human or pet meter if you have one?
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I have both the alphatrack 2 and a human meter that was donated to me. I can go to walmart and get the relion that everyone talks about if that's better. I'll change the spreadsheet to reflect the units given. Thanks so much for your guidance.
 
Which human meter do you have? The reason many have the Relion is the test strips are cheap compared to many others. Have you tried to use the meter you have?
 
tiffmaxee said:
Which human meter do you have? The reason many have the Relion is the test strips are cheap compared to many others. Have you tried to use the meter you have?
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The only human meter I have the shelter gave to me when I adopted Oliver. It is a Prodigy but the strips are expired by several years. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to get a new one so I can have strips that are not expired. Oliver does not like to get his ear pricked. Sometimes he will let me do it but often it takes both my husband and I to do it. I have used the alphatrak2 and that seems to be a little easier as the blood drop doesn't have to be as big as the human meter. I usually have to ear prick during the first 12 hours of the libre and then when the libre starts to get "funky readings" and "sensor errors". By that time it's time to change the sensor and then the cycle starts over again.
 
I think the Relion might require more blood. The AT will read higher than the Libre and other human meters but closer when low. I had a Relion but an older version they did but need a lot of blood. Unfortunately it was discontinued. The replacement I’ve heard needs more blood.
 
I'm afraid that eventually you will have to pick either tight regulation or start low go slow for a dosing methodology. You can't pick a bit of one dosing method and a bit of the other. With Oliver being on low carb wet food and you using the Libre, the choice is up to you. The time periods on how long you wait before increasing the dose are not something that are "flexible". The amount of cycles you wait is there for safety. However, given that Oliver just gave you that green, you would be waiting either one more week if following SLGS, or a few more days yet at this dose if following TR. So no rush on the decision.
 
tiffmaxee said:
I think the Relion might require more blood. The AT will read higher than the Libre and other human meters but closer when low. I had a Relion but an older version they did but need a lot of blood. Unfortunately it was discontinued. The replacement I’ve heard needs more blood.
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Wendy&Neko said:
I'm afraid that eventually you will have to pick either tight regulation or start low go slow for a dosing methodology. You can't pick a bit of one dosing method and a bit of the other. With Oliver being on low carb wet food and you using the Libre, the choice is up to you. The time periods on how long you wait before increasing the dose are not something that are "flexible". The amount of cycles you wait is there for safety. However, given that Oliver just gave you that green, you would be waiting either one more week if following SLGS, or a few more days yet at this dose if following TR. So no rush on the decision.
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Understood. If we choose TR can we choose to have a higher range? (instead of 50-80, 70-100)
 
Jennifer & Oliver said:
Understood. If we choose TR can we choose to have a higher range? (instead of 50-80, 70-100)
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That would be custom dosing. While TR is more aggressive, it also gives the best chance of remission. With TR your cat will not be within 50-80 all of the time. That usually takes time and would happen when tightly controlled. The goal is to get there. Lantus gives nice flat cycles when tightly controlled. I suggest you look at spreadsheets of cats on SLGS and TR.
 
tiffmaxee said:
That would be custom dosing. While TR is more aggressive, it also gives the best chance of remission. With TR your cat will not be within 50-80 all of the time. That usually takes time and would happen when tightly controlled. The goal is to get there. Lantus gives nice flat cycles when tightly controlled. I suggest you look at spreadsheets of cats on SLGS and TR.
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That makes total sense. We are going to use the TR dosing schedule. I look forward to seeing Oliver improve over time :-)
 
I’m glad you will give it a try. If it doesn’t work out for you, you can go switch to SLGS at any time. Since you are off from work right now, you will be able to monitor more so that’s a good thing and should make the first few times you see low bg less stressful. If you need help at any time, add a question mark prefix and change your subject to say what you need. For example, lower preshot what to do or should I feed some hc. If you see a bg under 50 add the 911 if not sure what to do. We reserve that for potential hypos. Max’s bg did hit the low 30’s but he never had a symptomatic hypo.

I hope your work related injury gets better soon. :bighug:
 
tiffmaxee said:
I’m glad you will give it a try. If it doesn’t work out for you, you can go switch to SLGS at any time. Since you are off from work right now, you will be able to monitor more so that’s a good thing and should make the first few times you see low bg less stressful. If you need help at any time, add a question mark prefix and change your subject to say what you need. For example, lower preshot what to do or should I feed some hc. If you see a bg under 50 add the 911 if not sure what to do. We reserve that for potential hypos. Max’s bg did hit the low 30’s but he never had a symptomatic hypo.

I hope your work related injury gets better soon. :bighug:
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Thank you so much!!
 
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