Advice on catching nadirs

[Marty]

I saw one thread where a person recommended setting an alarm for the middle of the night to catch the +6 reading. Is that pretty typical for FD owners to do? Also, catching the +6 on a workday is almost impossible for me unless I go home during lunch to test. Any recommendations on catching that one or just hope for the best during the work day?

 

[FurBabiesMama]

Doing a curve can help you have an idea of when your cat has his nadir... not that it does not move around some. For Mia, on ProZinc, hers is normally around +6, so if I am only doing one mid-cycle test, I usually do it at +6. A lot of people on here work all day and cannot do daytime mid-cycle testing, so they do it in the evening and get in extra tests on the weekends.

 

[Marty]

Doing a curve can help you have an idea of when your cat has his nadir... not that it does not move around some. For Mia, on ProZinc, hers is normally around +6, so if I am only doing one mid-cycle test, I usually do it at +6. A lot of people on here work all day and cannot do daytime mid-cycle testing, so they do it in the evening and get in extra tests on the weekends.

Thanks! Are you able to get a nadir test before bed or do you set an alarm? If Joey's is at +6 then that's at 1 AM which I'm not sure I can physically stay up until.

 

[FurBabiesMama]

I set an alarm for midnight each night. I feed my girls at that time, and that is +6, so I also test Mia.

I can practically do the midnight test and feeding in my sleep; it has become such a routine, BUT last night, I was especially tired. I remember waking up at 11:58pm and turning the alarm off so it would not sound at 12am since I was already awake. The next thing I remember, it was maybe 20 minutes later, and I got and went into the kitchen to get a drink then got back in bed. I dozed off, but something kept nagging at my brain... why had the girls followed me into the kitchen and sat there watching me while I got a drink?... I woke up at 1am with the realization that I never got up to feed them at 12. So, last night, Mia's test was at +7 and the meal was late. I gave them my sincerest apologies.

 

[Marty]

I set an alarm for midnight each night. I feed my girls at that time, and that is +6, so I also test Mia.

I can practically do the midnight test and feeding in my sleep; it has become such a routine, BUT last night, I was especially tired. I remember waking up at 11:58pm and turning the alarm off so it would not sound at 12am since I was already awake. The next thing I remember, it was maybe 20 minutes later, and I got and went into the kitchen to get a drink then got back in bed. I dozed off, but something kept nagging at my brain... why had the girls followed me into the kitchen and sat there watching me while I got a drink?... I woke up at 1am with the realization that I never got up to feed them at 12. So, last night, Mia's test was at +7 and the meal was late. I gave them my sincerest apologies.

Hopefully I'm able to wake up. I sleep so hard until 4 AM or so. I'll have to turn the alarm up super loud

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

I saw one thread where a person recommended setting an alarm for the middle of the night to catch the +6 reading. Is that pretty typical for FD owners to do? Also, catching the +6 on a workday is almost impossible for me unless I go home during lunch to test. Any recommendations on catching that one or just hope for the best during the work day?

If you work full time like I do yes you'll end up doing much of your testing during the night and weekends or non working days, I usually tried to do a +2 or +3 just before I got to bed just to make sure he wasn't diving and that meant I would have to monitor him ( that meant prepare coffe or tea or something that would help me stay awake) but if everything looked ok that would be it . Maybe if your schedule allows you can get a +10 or something as soon as you wake up

 

[Bellasmom]

I do my amps, pmps, hubby will do +9 and try and get one before bed, if it’s ok and I won’t worry, I don’t get up in middle of nite, I get up at 4:45am to do all my cat stuff and get ready for work, I make up a lot on weekends, I do his shots at 5a and 5p

 

[Marty]

If you work full time like I do yes you'll end up doing much of your testing during the night and weekends or non working days, I usually tried to do a +2 or +3 just before I got to bed just to make sure he wasn't diving and that meant I would have to monitor him ( that meant prepare coffe or tea or something that would help me stay awake) but if everything looked ok that would be it . Maybe if your schedule allows you can get a +10 or something as soon as you wake up

What would you do if he was diving? Continue to monitor or give him some higher carb food to stop the dive?

 

[Marty]

I do my amps, pmps, hubby will do +9 and try and get one before bed, if it’s ok and I won’t worry, I don’t get up in middle of nite, I get up at 4:45am to do all my cat stuff and get ready for work, I make up a lot on weekends, I do his shots at 5a and 5p

Good to know, thanks for sharing! Not sure which approach I will do yet. Think I'll try the wake up at 1 AM thing for a few nights and see if I'm even capable of doing it.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

What would you do if he was diving? Continue to monitor or give him some higher carb food to stop the dive?

Most of the times both I would give him mid carb first wait for a while 1 hr aprox ( if he wasn't too low if not take action immediately and monitor 15 minutes later) test again and see how he was doing, if he was still going down then again mid car if the dive wasn't too dramatic and keep monitoring, I usually left the high carb as a last resource or if I really thought I wasn't going to be able to keep awake much more just to be safe.

 

[Juliet]

Good to know, thanks for sharing! Not sure which approach I will do yet. Think I'll try the wake up at 1 AM thing for a few nights and see if I'm even capable of doing it.

I know I couldn't possibly. I feed test and shoot at 6am and 6pm. Leave the house for work at 6:15pm and not home til shot time. Up at 5:15am so no chance of me being able to set a midnight alarm and be functional for work the next day. I only get preshot tests and before bed test on working days.