Zeke - 8/28 - AMPS 35 - NS - +1 96, +2 147, +6 258, +8 296, PMPS 521

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Meridith and Zeke

Meridith and Zeke

Member Since 2017
Yesterday

I have fed him MC 15% with some of the normal LC. Should I go ahead and shoot at 2.25u? Or hold and give him an hour to test and see if he is going up. Here I thought he was going to get a dosecrease today. Guess Zeke had other plans.
 
You might try testing again to make sure it wasn't a wonky test strip. Definitely don't give the regular dose at that number. Hopefully someone with more experience in Lantus will be on soon, but for now I'd confirm that he's really that low with a second test and hold off on shooting until someone else has a chance to weigh in.
 
So this morning is a skipped shot or just shoot late after get his numbers going up then adjust times after that? Gotta give some time for his food to start kicking in so will do another test 20 minutes from the last one. Gonna give him a small amount of HC to help start the rise.
 
So far
AMPS 35 given MC with normal LC breakfast
Tested 20 minutes after at 39
30 minutes after first test HC given. Took putting tuna on it to get him away from the birds.
 
Bron and Sheba said:
If you have given him HC food it is going to be difficult to tell when his BSL rises if it is from the HC food or the normal rise. Do you have room to stall?
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Yes. I always have room for that since I don't have a set schedule for anything other then our meals and kitties so Zeke has a good shot schedule.
 
Doodles & Karen said:
Way to wake up mama bean this morning Zeke. Good to note that Zeke likes to take his time breaking a bounce with a bit of wobble in between. Get on that surf board now buddy.
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OH I know! I was actually planning on doing the normal morning routine and then do a +3 instead of the +2 so I could lay down since my new meds have my joints screaming.
 
Sandy and Black Kitty said:
Congratulations on earning a reduction. New dose 2.25u.

Time to get into the habit of getting some PM +10 and PM +11 data.
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Already told my husband he will probably start doing a test before he leaves in the mornings. Everyone else is asleep at that time.

His last test, which is right at an hour from the first one is 96 so he is back above 50. Hopefully he won't bounce too bad since skipping the shot.
 
From the sticky on shooting and handling low numbers:

Why the +10s and +11s? These spot checks will help keep you out of trouble. Again, let’s say that you have a lower than usual preshot. If your preshot is higher than +10 or +11, you know the insulin from that cycle is waning, the cat is on his way up, and the number is probably shootable. If you have a preshot that is much lower than your +10 or +11, knowing why will help you decide whether or not to shoot. Some Lantus and Levemir users notice a dip at the end of the cycle, meaning that the preshot is always a bit lower than +10 or +11 (but usually still higher than the nadir – the cat dips to a nadir at mid-cycle, then rises, then dips again). If this is your cat’s pattern, then this type of dip is not a reason to delay a shot. On the other hand, if your cat has a bounce clearing and is still careening downhill at shot time (usually characterized by numbers that drop for the whole cycle, without a clear nadir), then you will want to take that into consideration as you make a decision about shooting. Know thy cat.

Knowing whether your cat is one that dips at the end of the cycle can also help you with dose increases. If your nadirs are not that great and you are considering an increase, but then he dips again at the end of the cycle, you might be tempted to delay the increase. If you know that this is a usual pattern for your cat, you will know that you can ignore that dip and go ahead with the increase.

Do not forget the “neglected spot checks.” They are more useful than most realize.

Know thy cat. Be data ready to handle the situation.

~ written by jojo and bunny(GA) and Y, edited to update and clarify by Libby and Lucy
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Sandy and Black Kitty said:
From the sticky on shooting and handling low numbers:
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Yes, I have read through that and I try to get them sporadically for the AM cycle, but for the PM cycle we are pretty much all sleeping, including my hubby while getting ready for work lol. My daughter already stays up later so we can get at least a +6 and sometimes a +7 for the pm cycle depending on how his numbers have went earlier in the cycle. Without doing the meal/shot time at a later time, it is hard to get those times on a regular basis.
 
Since you skipped it's OK to shoot early at PMPS time and work your way back to the normal time if you want to. Just remember adjusting the time is either 15 min twice a day or 30 min once a day.
 
Meridith and Zeke said:
Already told my husband he will probably start doing a test before he leaves in the mornings. Everyone else is asleep at that time.

His last test, which is right at an hour from the first one is 96 so he is back above 50. Hopefully he won't bounce too bad since skipping the shot.
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Great I like that 96! Even skipping you'll be back on track in no time!!
 
Doodles & Karen said:
Just ignore the higher numbers today, he'll get back on track soon enough!
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Guess it is looking like for Zeke that he gets at least 8 cycles before making a dose change decision since this was his 7th cycle on this dose. If he hadn't done anything this morning, I would have increased him. :(

Doodles & Karen said:
Since you skipped it's OK to shoot early at PMPS time and work your way back to the normal time if you want to. Just remember adjusting the time is either 15 min twice a day or 30 min once a day.
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I had wondered about doing that. We had already been talking about moving his shot time earlier, but will need to talk to hubby since he is going to need to start doing a test in the mornings. Gotta make sure that he will be able to do one at the time.
 
Gill & George said:
congrats on the reducie.

Glad he's on the up now. That was some wake up call!!

I agree with Sandi that starting to get a +10/+11 in the pm cycle would be a good idea.
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Would just +11's be fine for pm because I really don't see it being possible for also getting +10's without us shooting later because of our schedules. We already shoot at 8am/8pm.
 
Meridith and Zeke said:
Would just +11's be fine for pm because I really don't see it being possible for also getting +10's without us shooting later because of our schedules. We already shoot at 8am/8pm.
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I didn't mean that you needed both. If a +11 is what you can routinely get, then that would be great.

FWIW last night with that drop of 60 ish points from 225 @+4 to 141+6, would have rang alarm bells, I probably would have set an alarm and got an additional check at +8 or+9, or if I really needed to sleep, I'd have given George some extra fuds. TBH I couldn't sleep restfully if I new his numbers were dropping, I got into the habit of him sleeping on our bed, George would look for food if he went low, and would have no problem walloping me on the nose if he felt the need for some room service:rolleyes:

When George started heading down the dosing scale, I'd often sleep on the couch downstairs setting alarm and testing if I needed to a couple of hours later,particularly if his numbers showed a significant drop at +6.

I shot on a 7am 7pm schedule, I usually got to bed at 12/1am (+5/+6), set alarm, got a +11, had a snooze and then got a amps.
On days when his +5, +6 was still dropping I would set alarm and get additional tests in that pm cycle.
I found that shooting at this time fitted my schedule best.

I really liked routinely getting a +10/+11(it was usually a +11, unless I happened to wake up early), especially when we started to see lower PS, it gave me confidence to shoot low, and also gave me the heads up to watch the following cycle.
 
Gill & George said:
FWIW last night with that drop of 60 ish points from 225 @+4 to 141+6, would have rang alarm bells, I probably would have set an alarm and got an additional check at +8 or+9, or if I really needed to sleep, I'd have given George some extra fuds. TBH I couldn't sleep restfully if I new his numbers were dropping, I got into the habit of him sleeping on our bed, George would look for food if he went low, and would have no problem walloping me on the nose if he felt the need for some room service:rolleyes:
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My daughter did the testing after his +2, I was in bed. Was already planning on letting her know on doing an extra test when if he is on a drop like that. I have to take something to help me sleep so I have no choice but a straight 8 hours at least for sleep or I would be in too much of a fog to be doing anything with Zeke.

Zeke isn't one to let us know when he needs food. I have to sleep with my door shut, but my daughter (Zeke's momma) keeps hers open. Only the fat boy lets us know when there isn't enough food lol.
 
Meridith and Zeke said:
I am trying to not be a testaholic but I want to at least get the minimum tests done also. What is a good range of tests yet keeping it to a minimum. Right now we are doing PS, +2 and +6 each cycle and judge from there on doing more. That is already 6 tests a day and many days it seems we are doing 8 or more. Zeke's poor ears are looking rough around the edges with all this testing, especially when we are getting days that we are testing at least twice every hour for a few hours because of low numbers.
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I'm just answering this question in your condo for the day, just FYI we usually just make one thread for the day, and post all questions there, you can change the title of your thread to highlight a question, keep numbers updated. It'll keep all your queries and responses neatly together in one place, making it easier for you and others to look back at adive you have had. The Lantus and lev forum gets a lot of traffic and if we all post more than one thread it can get pretty confusing.

Anyways, a couple of tests in each cycle is good, I would change them up though.
eg
+2 +6 one day
+1 +4 another
+3 +7 another
try to fill the blanks on the SS
like your trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle. If zeke starts to move down the dosing ladder there will be times where you will have to go with the flow and monitor more. Looking at his SS he has had a few late nadirs, so getting some spot checks late in the cycle may be a good idea just so you catch any late action.

As for the ears, I was/am a testaholic, but never had any trouble with Georges ears, I always applied gentle pressure for about 10 seconds at the test site, with a cold wet cotton pad to try and keep bruising down to a minimum, you couldn't tell he was being poked. It goes without saying that you should always use a fresh lancet, as they can get blunt if you use them more than once and that would increase bruising.


Meridith and Zeke said:
Was already planning on letting her know on doing an extra test when if he is on a drop like that.
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He must've read your mind, Cats:rolleyes:

Meridith and Zeke said:
Only the fat boy lets us know when there isn't enough food
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hahaha, George is our fat boy, :cat::cat::cat:
 
Gill & George said:
+2 +6 one day
+1 +4 another
+3 +7 another
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That helps me out more on the scheduling of tests on normal days.

Gill & George said:
It goes without saying that you should always use a fresh lancet, as they can get blunt if you use them more than once and that would increase bruising.
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Always do. The vet that actually dx'd Zeke was telling us we could even reuse the syringes! That was one of the first signs to me that I needed to question what he was telling me.
 
He is back to bouncing again of course. Did a +8 because he started to get very clingy which he has done before in the past when he had low numbers so tested to be sure.
 
His pmps was 521. Pretty much expected with the skipped shot this morning. Since we skipped the shot, we moved testing/shooting back 45 minutes to a time that would work better for hubby getting a +11 in the mornings before he leaves for work. The only thing about moving it like this is that in the mornings, food will be picked up less then 2 hours before ps. We haven't been having any vomiting issues so we could try leaving out a bit less when my daughter goes to bed so they should finish off what is out earlier then my hubby gets up for work.
 
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