2/15 Edward AMPS-328 - I'm gonna rename him Mr. Bouncy ;)

SnowKat

Active Member
Yesterday

So the pattern I think I'm starting to see is that Edward seems to bounce up significantly following trips to the green lagoon (2/13 and 2/14). I'm even wondering if what I thought were high BGs due to possible (?) fur shot(s) on 2/9 may have been bounces from a green low on 2/8.

Regarding the phenomenon of "bouncing" ... Can anyone chime in as to whether or not these bounce episodes will subside on their own? Or will he always be this reactive to "normal" BGs? How long does it usually take for that fabled Lantus "flat curve" to establish itself? Does it sometimes just not happen? TIA!

I hope everyone has a peaceful and safe CATurday!
 
Yes, the will get better as time goes by. You're just getting started on this sugar dance.

In the early days of giving insulin his liver is going to react when his bloodstream has less glucose in it than he's used to - and his liver says 'Whoa! What the heck is going on? I'm going to unload all of my stored up glycogen into the bloodstream because I think that's the right thing to do' - although his liver is very confused and that stored glycogen isn't needed at this time, that's the normal response to lower than 'normal' (or what it thinks is now normal) glucose...so that's why we see what we like to call bouncing. Luci was a championship bouncer in the early days - a low number also meant a high number. She has always been in a rush to get from one place to another - as you can see if you look at her SS from the early days - she's settled out a lot lately and tends to only go from the greens to the yellows...thankfully.

About the time I say that she'll toss in a pink number just to show me who's in charge around here...but generally her numbers have leveled out.

Hang on...it takes time for those internal organs to figure all this stuff out...

Have a great day!
 
Yes, you did an excellent job shooting that nice blue - and he was working it too! Excellent job on the late night testing as well..now at least you can see why he's higher today - he'll come back down...sometimes it's like a roller coaster with these kids :)
 
I know how you feel. Max bounced for a whole year! Your ss looks a lot like his first year. I nicknamed him the rainbow cat. Eventually he was tightly regulated. There’s hope. Some start off bouncy and go OTJ.
 
This is where every cat is different comes into play. Maverick on Lantus was apparently not one of the worst bouncers seen here, although it sure seemed like it to me! He was able to start clearing bounces more quickly, but we could never really get consistently good cycles. Inevitably, he would drop and then bounce, even after spending a great deal of time and effort trying to use food to manipulate the curve

As Elise said, most kitties sort themselves out, sometimes it takes a while before the bouncing to higher numbers reduces, and you stop seeing reds or blacks. That didn't happen with Mav, so after 2+years, I decided I had given Lantus a fair try, and have recently switched to Levemir.
 
@tiffmaxee - Yes, I definitely see the resemblance; thank you for the hope for high regulation (maybe even remission, I hope!). I am very sorry you lost him :( It is obvious just from viewing his SS that he was a lucky cat to have you.

@Christie & Maverick - Thank you for posting that link about food manipulation... I will read up on that :) Switching from Lantus to Levemir... I was wondering about that. Would you care to elaborate why you decided to switch? I was under the impression that Lantus is the "gold standard," but maybe not?? Interesting to see that you fed a lot of Wellness Core and Natural Balance, at least in your earlier SS years. I fed exclusively Wellness Core, Natural Balance, and Merrick's Perfect Bistro, for almost a decade, up until Edward's Dx. Just an interesting coincidence, I suppose.
 
@Christie & Maverick - Thank you for posting that link about food manipulation... I will read up on that :) Switching from Lantus to Levemir... I was wondering about that. Would you care to elaborate why you decided to switch? I was under the impression that Lantus is the "gold standard," but maybe not?? Interesting to see that you fed a lot of Wellness Core and Natural Balance, at least in your earlier SS years. I fed exclusively Wellness Core, Natural Balance, and Merrick's Perfect Bistro, for almost a decade, up until Edward's Dx. Just an interesting coincidence, I suppose.

I may be wrong (I often am :p), but I think generally it is suggested to stick with a particular insulin for 6 months or so, in order to get a good idea of whether it is working or not. Of course, there are likely circumstances where people decide to switch sooner.

Oh my goodness, my food experiments! How much time do you have o_O lol. The boys always had wet food in their diet, they loved Wellness Turkey and Salmon. But they were on dry too. When Mav was diagnosed, I stuck with Wellness for a long while, and then when Wellness changed their formulas, I had to go looking for some new food. I was looking for something in the 4-9% range that both kitties would like that I could use, and both the Well Core and NB were good to help steer Mav's cycles. I think I dropped the Core from the rotation, since it was more expensive. Holistic Select was in there for a while, but I found both kitties got tired of it quickly. It's still in the rotation, but not as often anymore.

Some kitties do better with higher LC overall, not necessarily 1-2% carb. It is a bit of an experiment. I landed on Whole Earth Duck for a good while, but about 9 months ago or so, it became in short supply. Then I discovered that formula had changed too :rolleyes:. So they currently really like Merrick's Bistro, but I'm not crazy about the higher phosphorus content in the food. You should see my pantry...I have NB, Merrick, Wellness, Holistic Select, Rawz, Whole Earth, Tiki, Fancy Feast, it's a regular mini-mart!

I actually really liked Lantus, and I think many people here love it. I just wish we could have broken out of some of our wicked cycles. But Mav just couldn't get the hang of it. And Mav typically had terrible duration on Lantus. I wanted to at least try Lev and see if it might help him stay a bit flatter, giving him more time in better numbers. Sometimes people land on the right insulin when they are first diagnosed, maybe it is Lantus, maybe it is Prozinc, and they don't need to change. In the end, Lantus just wasn't the right insulin for Mav.
 
Thank you, @Sue and Luci - it sure is nice to know that eventually things will level off. And might I just say... your data gathering for Luci is a thing of beauty! I like how you added extra columns to document her nadirs.

Right click at the top of your Excel spreadsheet where you'd like to add a column and you will see a list of options appear - click on insert column to add a new column...I had to copy a column from the 'comments' column and paste it would add the colors where I didn't want them to appear....you can play around with it and add your own columns - I added the time of shot columns too - I really like that because it helps me when we get off track to remember what time to give her the injection...typically we run pretty much on schedule...but when we get off schedule..I'm lost...I have to write down what time the next shot is supposed to be - oh yeah, I get distracted and forgetful...what can I say :facepalm:
 
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