07/18 Mami Cat | AMPS 154, +1 87, +3 66, +7 91

[Clarice & Mami Cat]

Previous post

Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply and for sharing so many helpful insights with me.

@Marje and Gracie
Hi Marje, thank you so much for your help.

I'll use DMB or as-fed values, then. That way I'll be speaking the same language as everyone on the Forum.
I read that thread and came away with the impression that %ME was the key parameter, so I may have misunderstood it.
Calculating % Calories from Carbohydrates

Mami Cat tends to have a more noticeable rise in BG overnight, usually starting sometime between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. I called it the dawn phenomenon, but I may be mistaken. What I can say with confidence is that this rise is a frequent feature of her curve at that time of night. Ever since I started feeding her at +9 during the night cycle, that early morning rise starts coming down almost immediately after she eats. It has helped quite a bit to lower her AMPS values.

Yes, exactly. It was very unusual - and something new. Her BG had never done that before. On a few nights last week, this is what happened after her evening dose: a sharp drop, then an even sharper rise, followed by another sharp drop and then another sharp rise. It went on like that throughout the night, like a seesaw. The first sharp drop happened less than an hour after the dose.

Thank you as well for the suggestion about the chicken and the timing. I'll start giving her chicken again.

Yes, I understand, and I agree. You're absolutely right. I can't say that the Libre 1 is matching the handheld meter if I've only done a few comparison tests. I'll have to get over my fears and hesitation and learn to use the handheld meter properly. Thank you for the videos as well.

Thank you so much.

Wishing you a very good weekend, Marje

Hi Clarice

Please be sure and start a new condo tomorrow. Here are our posting guidelines and we ask members to post accordingly.

You want to use the as-feds or DMB carbs, not the %ME.

I know you said you compared the Libre1 to the vet’s meter but how many times? A few tests are insignificant to make a correlation. On the PM cycle of 7/11, it’s possible she dropped to 51 but if you didn’t feed that number, rising to 116 that fast is very unusual. I would question the validity of that 51. That’s why learning to test her with a handheld would be very beneficial.

The +9 feedings aren’t really helping her and I wouldn’t feed her anything after nadir unless she is below 50 and then I would try LC. If she’s really hungry, a LC snack like boiled chicken breast or freeze dried chicken would work.

I’m also not so convinced she has dawn phenomenon. We’ve had members using Libres for a long time and they have consistently run lower than a handheld meter. Here are testing and shooting tips with videos

She looks to me like she could use the drop of insulin twice a day. But I would also try to learn how to poke her so you can get some comparisons at home.

 

[Sara & Khloe]

Hi Clarice (LOVE your name btw!), hope you're having a good day so far. Mami Cat looks like she's having some beautiful numbers today!
I had a lot of fears poking Khloe when I first started testing and giving insulin, I paced around the house hyping myself up to do it the first time. If it helps at all, it does get easier! Takes me less than 5 mins to test Khloe now and she runs over to jump in my lap for her little ear poke. If you have any problems, there's plenty of people here to help

I hope you're able to find a feeding system that works for Mami Cat soon! She's a cutie

 

[Clarice & Mami Cat]

Hi Clarice (LOVE your name btw!), hope you're having a good day so far. Mami Cat looks like she's having some beautiful numbers today!
I had a lot of fears poking Khloe when I first started testing and giving insulin, I paced around the house hyping myself up to do it the first time. If it helps at all, it does get easier! Takes me less than 5 mins to test Khloe now and she runs over to jump in my lap for her little ear poke. If you have any problems, there's plenty of people here to help

I hope you're able to find a feeding system that works for Mami Cat soon! She's a cutie

Sara, you are so nice! Thanks a lot
I will find a way to feed the curve... yes

I didn't give her shot today. Mornings have been like this lately, and they've been getting better and better. She woke up on 74! This rise in AMPS happens just minutes after she wakes up and comes to get her food, even before she eats! And then it drops right afterward. I'm still analyzing her curve and trying to figure out the best path forward with her. I'm going to talk to the vets too (but... I've actually learned more from watching her patterns and reading the Forum than from my vet appointments.)

I can only imagine how stressful and nerve-racking it must have been the first few times you had to poke Khloe's ear. Oh my.
...If other people have learned how to do it, I need to believe that I'll be able to learn too...

Khloe's gotten used to it as well - what a blessing I believe that if I can find the right technique, Mami Cat will get used to it too. We'll see... I'm still figuring out what to do about it.

Thank you so much!

 

[Seth&Bell]

Just stopping by to say hello, Clarice! Good to hear from you. The ear testing is for sure scary at first, but it slowly becomes easier until it is no big deal. I don't mean that to minimize the stress of it (i was soooo stressed early on) but just to give encouragement that it will not always be so stressful. Bell has recently decided to lay under my bed since it is hot out, so now I have a new challenge of ear pokes while squeezing under there . Bell must think I'm losing it.

We'll be here for support when you start trying it out!

 

[Clarice & Mami Cat]

Just stopping by to say hello, Clarice! Good to hear from you. The ear testing is for sure scary at first, but it slowly becomes easier until it is no big deal. I don't mean that to minimize the stress of it (i was soooo stressed early on) but just to give encouragement that it will not always be so stressful. Bell has recently decided to lay under my bed since it is hot out, so now I have a new challenge of ear pokes while squeezing under there . Bell must think I'm losing it.

We'll be here for support when you start trying it out!

Hi Seth! Nice to hear from you too!

Thank you so much! I really think it must be pretty stressful at the beginning. I also keep wondering what position I should put Mami Cat in and how to get started without her moving around too much, you know? I don't want her to start running away from me, either. In general, she's cooperative, but since it will be something new, it may take her a little while to get used to it. ...I believe that, with time, it will become much easier. I am planning how to practice it...

Ah, the things we do for them We end up in the funniest positions and come up with all kinds of creative moves just to help them. I hope you've found a good way to manage those under-the-bed "stretching" during these hot days

Oh, and Bell looked so pretty in the last pic you posted

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Ever since I started feeding her at +9 during the night cycle, that early morning rise starts coming down almost immediately after she eats. It has helped quite a bit to lower her AMPS values.

I’m not really seeing this with the exception of maybe once but I’m also out of town so looking from my phone so it’s hard to see the late PM texts, when you fed +9, and compare.

With those ups and downs that were fairly drastic, if you weren’t feeding to affect the BG, I still wonder if the Libre was in the blink. I’m not even certain that, physiologically, without food involved, that the body could even do that. It takes time for the glucose to change that rapidly.

I know it’s not fun to poke the ear. My baby was wonderful for it but every poke broke my heart. But it’s the best way to see what is really going on with her and whether it’s appropriate to stop her insulin.

 

[Tim & Pookey]

Hi Clarice! There's something about the food stuff that just doesn't cement into my brain maybe one of the wiser could explain or link us to something that explains that again. This list is the one I use if I can since it gets updated frequently, and they talk about carbs % of calories...