04/29 Daphne AMPS 120 PMPS 108

Hi Karen I hope you are feeling a little bit better today :bighug::bighug:
Nice AMPS and PMPS. When you are up to it add today's numbers to your spreadsheet :bighug::bighug::bighug:.
Great job to your hubby for taking over :cat:
 
I am feeling much better today. I have 1 more day of Paxlovid and then fingers crossed that I don't rebound.

That said, my husband and I are both struggling with this program. We do not see an end in sight and don't know what the milestones are toward remission. And we are so tired of hurting Daphne at test time. Sometimes it takes 3 pokes to get blood. Not surprisingly, she runs from us now, despite treats, attention, etc.

We are ready to resign ourselves to a permanently diabetic cat who lives on .25 units and gets tested pre-shots. I really need some support. --Karen
@Diane Tyler's Mom
@Angela & Cleo
 
Daphne'sChallenge said:
I am feeling much better today. I have 1 more day of Paxlovid and then fingers crossed that I don't rebound.

That said, my husband and I are both struggling with this program. We do not see an end in sight and don't know what the milestones are toward remission. And we are so tired of hurting Daphne at test time. Sometimes it takes 3 pokes to get blood. Not surprisingly, she runs from us now, despite treats, attention, etc.

We are ready to resign ourselves to a permanently diabetic cat who lives on .25 units and gets tested pre-shots. I really need some support. --Karen
@Diane Tyler's Mom
@Angela & Cleo
Click to expand...
Tagging @Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
Daphne'sChallenge said:
We are ready to resign ourselves to a permanently diabetic cat who lives on .25 units and gets tested pre-shots. I really need some support. --Karen
Click to expand...
Have you seen this
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up
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6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming

PLEASE LOOK at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with

Karen it took me 2 years and 4 months to get Tyler into remission, not saying it will take that long for Daphne if she goes into remission
@Daphne'sChallenge
 
Diane, I do all this. I've studied this image, watched a video. We have a sock. I heat it. I use a cosmetic pad on the outside of her ear as I prick, but her ears are black, which doesn't help. And they're furry in the sweet spot. Sigh. The 28 gauge lancets hurt her a lot more than the new ones do. I essentially pierced her ears so many times.

How do we know that we are getting close to being in remission? Is she regulated now?

I am in such a dark place. Too many days in a room by myself. You don't need to answer. I need to do something with my husband.
 
I too had a black eared cat. I found that just the tiniest smear of Vaseline where I was going to poke helped the blood pool. Otherwise it was invisible and hid in the black fur. You could also try moving to a smaller gauge lancet (higher number). I liked the Onetouch Delica.

The definition of tightly regulated from the New to the Group Sticky Note is:
Tightly regulated - generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin
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Those being numbers on the human meter. She's still seeing the odd number above 150, and half the AMPS above 120, but she's close. Definitely regulated, just not quite tightly.

I hope as you get better you'll be able to get more before bed tests at night. If she is thinking about remission, she might be going lower at night. Wouldn't want to miss that.

I note that one month ago she was on 2 units of insulin, and now she's on 0.25. That's a big difference in a short period of time, and a very good sign. Of course, whether a cat goes into remission is hard to predict.
 
Daphne'sChallenge said:
Diane, I do all this. I've studied this image, watched a video. We have a sock. I heat it. I use a cosmetic pad on the outside of her ear as I prick, but her ears are black, which doesn't help. And they're furry in the sweet spot. Sigh. The 28 gauge lancets hurt her a lot more than the new ones do. I essentially pierced her ears so many times.

How do we know that we are getting close to being in remission? Is she regulated now?

I am in such a dark place. Too many days in a room by myself. You don't need to answer. I need to do something with my husband.
Click to expand...
Hope you feel better Karen. Hang in there. It’s not easy and you and hubby are doing great! :bighug::bighug:
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I too had a black eared cat. I found that just the tiniest smear of Vaseline where I was going to poke helped the blood pool. Otherwise it was invisible and hid in the black fur. You could also try moving to a smaller gauge lancet (higher number). I liked the Onetouch Delica.

The definition of tightly regulated from the New to the Group Sticky Note is: Those being numbers on the human meter. She's still seeing the odd number above 150, and half the AMPS above 120, but she's close. Definitely regulated, just not quite tightly.

I hope as you get better you'll be able to get more before bed tests at night. If she is thinking about remission, she might be going lower at night. Wouldn't want to miss that.

I note that one month ago she was on 2 units of insulin, and now she's on 0.25. That's a big difference in a short period of time, and a very good sign. Of course, whether a cat goes into remission is hard to predict.
Click to expand...


Thank you for your support. :cat: I moved to the 30 gauge lancets, and now she doesn't cry as much when I prick her ears (manually). I will try the vaseline.

I'm also leaning toward buying an automatic feeder so she can get a reliable +9 late night and late afternoon feeding. We are active retirees who are feeling like hostages to one small cat who happens to be the least demonstrative cat we've ever owned. Her bonded mate brother was an absolute love. I don't expect a quid pro quo, but geesh.

A note on Daphne: she went into remission a year ago when we started LC FF. Then our vet suggested we use Glyco Support. I believe that dry food pushed her back into diabetes. She has been off that now for 6-8 weeks.

We will commit to doing a test before bed, but it's typically only +3 after her evening meal, so I don't know if that will show anything.

Thank you so much for your support. :bighug:
 
A +3 is a great test to get. If you see a big drop from PMPS, then you know it'll be an active cycle needing either more testing and more food left out. A couple times, it looks like Daphne has nadired at +3 too.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
A +3 is a great test to get. If you see a big drop from PMPS, then you know it'll be an active cycle needing either more testing and more food left out. A couple times, it looks like Daphne has nadired at +3 too.
Click to expand...

This is very helpful. How many points qualify as a big drop?

Oh! We tried the vaseline and it did help the blood to bead up. Got it on the first try. :cat:
 
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