2/11 Nova AMPS=131, +6=68, PMPS=113

Nova woke up on the wrong side of the cat tree this morning.. she isn't talking very much at all.. but I think she's feeling ok.. just randomly cranky.. took a little bit of extra diabetes foreplay (as we call it) to convince her that testing was a good idea.. guess she knew that she wasn't going to be much of a bleeder today..

She's cleaning up food wise though without me having to finger/spoon feed.. which is a really nice change.. she was rotating between her and her brothers plate while he sat patiently waiting for her to finish.. life is good at the top .

yesterday

Re: 2/11 Nova AMPS=131

Nice blue.

would u be able to grab a +3 as well?

this is what is know as the "onset" when insulin is kicking in.

see this link, stickie from up top, "New to the Group" scroll down, it gives u a typical curve chart of what's going on in a 12hour cycle.
May help u pick valuable test times.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=157

Re: 2/11 Nova AMPS=131, +3=77

erm.. 77 at +3.. uh what? some sort of reasonable settling in i hope

Testing is not going well at all today.. she's just not bleeding for me.. not even out of the good ear.. after 3 failed pokes I went for the 1 spot that for whatever reason just always works.. I hate defaulting to that spot.

Re: 2/11 Nova AMPS=131, +3=77

Good numbers today, Nova! Now just bleed a little for mama so she doesn't have to poke you so many times.

Re: 2/11 Nova AMPS=131, +3=77

And given that it's not the best of poke days, I hate to suggest this but... Could you get a +4? Nova's dropped by a good amount at +3 and this is among the lower pre-shots you've had. I'd like to make sure she doesn't drop too low especially since it's she may possible that she has an early nadir.

Re: 2/11 Nova AMPS=131, +3=77, +4=72, +6=68

Holy geez! What is my cat doing!.. *chanting* please don't be a fluke.. please don't be a fluke.. haha. Going to try for a +7.. but I'm really in the dog house today.. might not work.. though she just ate.. might not have much value for my suffering?

Re: 2/11 Nova AMPS=131, PMPS=113

Ok... I'm starting to get pretty uncomfortable.. (slight understatement).. unless she levels out tonight (meaning her peak stops dropping).. I should be reducing her dose by 0.25 correct? Her peak midday was 68.. and it seems to me that unless she levels out some that's going to get into the give dry food/syrup/lower dose range pretty quickly here.

I know I'm not supposed to make decisions based on her PS.. and I'm trying really hard not to.. but it seems to be dropping awful fast.. and with her peak so close to numbers all over the treating hypoglycemia doc.. I'm most definitely about to start freaking out

no need to freak out, Nova is doing very good. +1 would be a good test to get.

u should thou make sure u have high carb wet food, preferably something with gravy in it, a medium carb and ur usual low carb.
good idea is to label the cans with a marker so u have them ready.

dry food is last resort if kitty refuses to eat anything,,,but gravy usually does the trick, sometimes even a dab on ur finger.

you dont need to panic, but with this PMPS, might wanna get a +1, and I would make it a habit of catching +3 tests in both cycles, when u start getting in the 60's, u can always retest in 1/2 hour to see where she is going, post for help if u need it.

One of the things you will learn here, is how and when to step in with the HC, MC, karo and dry, either way, u dont want to overload the kitty with food, especially dry. Dry will take too long to get BG's higher, plus takes too long to get out of the system. Gravy will be ur best friend. Think gravy when u get those lower numbers.

Ronnie's right -- no need to panic. The mantra with Lantus is, "Shoot low to stay low." I know this will sound weird but you are not really shooting the PMPS number. You are shooting where Nova will be in a few hours. Lantus doesn't start working immediately. In fact, sometimes the numbers may go up, sometimes down a little, sometimes they drop a fair amount by +2.

Doses for a cat diagnosed within the first year are not reduced until they are less than 50. So, no panic! Lower numbers are easily steered with food. (I know, easy for me to say since I've gone this a fair amount.) If you don't have high carb food in the house, you can make your own by adding a few drops of Karo or some other syrup into LC food. Do not feed dry -- it takes a while to bring numbers up and it takes forever to get the gunk out of a cat's system. Even numbers in the 30s are unlikely to produce a symptomatic hypo. Most of our cats do not comprehend what the excitement over low numbers is all about -- they are just very happy that we are giving them gravy! (Even when one of the beans here mistakenly gave her cat 10 times the amount of insulin she was supposed to, her kitty was never symptomatic of a hypo.) Do not rush to feed HC -- if you feed HC too early, Nova doesn't get the reduction because you abort the cycle.

hi dawn. you've already been given good advice. if nova drops into lower number, please post and we'll talk you through it. k? and when you get a chance, look at alex's levemir spreadsheet (link in my signature). i tested her more than necessary because i wanted to be able to ilustrate the shallow flat curves lantus and levemir are known for. you'll see less of a drop shooting a full dose on a lower preshot numberthan you'll see shooting that same dose on a higher preshot number.

Thanks for all the info guys.. a lot of really good information in there to calm me! The hypo doc reads (to a worried mommy anyways ).. that my cat will self destruct when she hits 40.. so knowing 30s are usually even ok is very helpful.. and that as her PS gets lower maybe she won't keep dropping these 50-60 pts to peak is a relief too.. I'll pick up some gravy type foods tomorrow.. makes sense about the dry food.

I still have two concerns though:

In a week I probably won't be able to work from home anymore. I won't be able to test at all after AMPS (probably won't even always get home in time for +10).. I'm trying to renegotiate to extend my time working from home but I'm not sure if I will be successful..so I may not be available to catch the lows. It doesn't seem really safe to have her be so low when nobody is around unless she evens out some.. which I'm really hoping I see the light of tomorrow or this weekend.. because she should be settling into the 1U dose soon no?

Nova is also needs to have her teeth cleaned.. Tomorrow I go to the vet (different cat).. and will see when we can schedule that surgery.. from what I understand.. yucky teethies can also raise BG numbers.. so I wonder if we might nail things down to perfect just to throw it out of wack in a couple weeks again anyways.

Dawn & Nova said:

I still have two concerns though:

In a week I probably won't be able to work from home anymore. I won't be able to test at all after AMPS (probably won't even always get home in time for +10).. I'm trying to renegotiate to extend my time working from home but I'm not sure if I will be successful..so I may not be available to catch the lows. It doesn't seem really safe to have her be so low when nobody is around unless she evens out some.. which I'm really hoping I see the light of tomorrow or this weekend.. because she should be settling into the 1U dose soon no?

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let's see how things go. a lot can happen in one week's time. one thing you can do while you're still home is to start observing nova when she's dropping. will she self feed? most kitties will. if she does, you can have food available to her while you're at work. many here use timed feeders since they're gone all day. it's another way of making sure the curve is fed when you can't be there to do it.

Dawn & Nova said:

Nova is also needs to have her teeth cleaned.. Tomorrow I go to the vet (different cat).. and will see when we can schedule that surgery.. from what I understand.. yucky teethies can also raise BG numbers.. so I wonder if we might nail things down to perfect just to throw it out of wack in a couple weeks again anyways.

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don't worry about it! if a dental is needed... it will only help!

Jill & Alex said:

let's see how things go. a lot can happen in one week's time. one thing you can do while you're still home is to start observing nova when she's dropping. will she self feed? most kitties will. if she does, you can have food available to her while you're at work. many here use timed feeders since they're gone all day. it's another way of making sure the curve is fed when you can't be there to do it.

Click to expand...

She has health issues that make it really tough for her to eat wet food unsupervised.. I actually take her wet food and smoosh it into tiny sized squares and then stop her from taking more then one at a time so she doesn't gag and throw up. I tried the ice cube thing thinking maybe she'd sit there all day and watch the thing melt.. but she won't touch it . I am going to give wet food soup a try again tonight for her bedtime snack.. haven't tried that one in a while.. maybe she'll go for it.

try it... you have nothing to lose.
alex (aka "miss piggy") has been known to scarf and barf. if i spread her food out on a plate she tends to eat a lot slower.
i don't know if doing something like that would help nova...

Jill & Alex said:

try it... you have nothing to lose.
alex (aka "miss piggy") has been known to scarf and barf. if i spread her food out on a plate she tends to eat a lot slower.
i don't know if doing something like that would help nova...

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I spread out the little cubes pretty far just so I have time to stop her from grabbing them too fast (3/4 can of FF spread out on a dinner plate).. it's probably possible.. but I'd need a bigger house . Nova likes to mix it up though.. she'll make herself sick eating too fast.. or she'll outright refuse to eat. Never a dull moment!

Dawn & Nova said:

Jill & Alex said:

try it... you have nothing to lose.
alex (aka "miss piggy") has been known to scarf and barf. if i spread her food out on a plate she tends to eat a lot slower.
i don't know if doing something like that would help nova...

Click to expand...

I spread out the little cubes pretty far just so I have time to stop her from grabbing them too fast (3/4 can of FF spread out on a dinner plate).. it's probably possible.. but I'd need a bigger house . Nova likes to mix it up though.. she'll make herself sick eating too fast.. or she'll outright refuse to eat. Never a dull moment!

Click to expand...

This might be a dumb idea, or might not work for your situation (other animals in the house) but I will throw it out there anyway: what if you set out little dishes with small amounts but put them all over the house, some of them almost hidden so she has to work a little (but where she could still get to them easily)? If you put them in more or less the same place each day, she won't have to go hunting for them if she NEEDS food because she's low. It might entertain her, though, as well as give her enough pause in between food chunks so she doesn't get sick?