1/19/15 Oz Dosing Question

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Ian & Oz

Ian & Oz

Member Since 2014
Hello,
On the 8th of January, I posted wondering whether to lower Oz's dose since he had a reading of 49.
Based on advice I chose to keep him on the same dose for awhile. From that day until the 13th he had really great numbers, staying out of the 200's & keeping in the mid 100's & even a good amount of green. Starting on the 14th he was back in the 200's & only dropped into the green once on the evening cycle on the 15th. Erin & I decided to raise his dose on the PM shot back up to 2.75 from 2.50, this was suggested awhile back to help jump start him. This dose got really aggressive at +4 & I had a hard time bringing him back up out of the 60's. I don't worry about him being in the 60's but this dose was trying to go much lower, all of the usual tactics didn't work as well so it seems that the 2.75 might be too much. Now he's staying in the 200's after bringing him back down to the 2.50 dose, I'm assuming this is a bounce from the raised dose. I'm wondering if anyone can make sense of this from his spread sheet or if this is just one of those Every cat is different situations.? I was really happy for him getting the good blue & green numbers but don't understand the change after the 13th, wondering if you see a familiar pattern maybe? I'm hoping he'll come back down maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Ian
 
I do think today still looks like he's bouncing from the 60's.

I think it was ok to raise him to 2.75 - you weren't seeing green in every cycle and the lowest for several days had been in the 80's.

Often when a cat has a flat yellow cycle like today, anecdotally, people say that it's not uncommon for it to be followed by an active cycle. In other words, perhaps he'll come back into greens by tonight or tomorrow. I didn't have that flat yellow cycle thing happen with punkin, but i've seen it in some cats.

I think i'd just give him another day or so to see what he lands at when he clears this bounce.

It's possible you'll have to go back up to 2.75 if he doesn't get back into greens soon. Hard to say. Sounds like it was a bit nerve-wracking when he was in the 60's on that dose, so maybe decreasing was appropriate. Sometimes it doesn't seem to work when you reduce in advance, ie, before they dip below 50. But . . . on the other hand, if you were having a hard time keeping him flat and using a lot of carbs, then maybe it was ok to reduce.

Not sure if that helps or not, but those are a few of my thoughts.
 
Hi Julie,
The reason I was concerned about leaving him at the 2.75 dose was that I first gave him his regular low carb food which usually will bring him up a little but it didn't. I then gave him half a can of gravy lovers high carb food & in about 45 minutes he only went up 2 points, gave the other half of the can & then in another 30 - 40 minutes he only went up 4 more points, the food wasn't bringing him up higher like it has in the past. I was concerned that if we kept giving him this dose, the insulin would try & take him straight down as low as possible, kinda seemed out of control, but maybe not.
 
While we know that a kitty can respond quickly to a dose increase, I think you had a perfect storm going....a little bounce clearing and more insulin and so you had to fight numbers. Bounce clearing cycles can be very active; throw extra insulin in the mix and you have a hard time controlling numbers.

If you look back at Ozs patterns on 2.5u, he does spend time in greens and then has some blue and yellow for a couple cycles, then gets back to business.

I think he would have come back down on the 2.5u. I agree with Julie that it's up to you. But it seems like a good idea to hold the dose and see where he is when he clears.
 
Hi Marje,
that's what I'll do, he's already starting the evening pre shot with a lower number.
 
Well, I guess I spoke too soon, Oz is still staying in the yellow. Is it 3 to 6 cycles that it can take to clear a bounce? I'm not understanding whats happening. I think he may bounce easily but not sure really how to tell, just when I think I know how the insulin is working for him, everything changes, really frustrating.
 
A bounce can last as long as 6 cycles - although i can think of a time or 2 that it went slightly longer in a cat. It took me literally 6 months to spot a bounce, and i think it was so difficult because i didn't get it that while the cat is in the bounce, the BGs can wobble around. It's not like they just go to 400 and stay flat 400 for 3 days.

The other confusing thing is that some cats will take a while to start the bounce. It's like they have to work up to it, so you might see a delay before it begins of a cycle or even two.

The short answer to your question, though, is that i think Oz is still in a bounce. Interesting that the high point seems to only be this morning's 276. Counting forward 3 days from the low numbers would point towards him clearing the bounce by tonight's cycle, so you might see him come down by morning. that's if he read the manual, of course.;)
 
Thanks Julie,
Always something new to learn about this. I hope to make more sense of what the numbers can tell me in time, I'll keep my fingers crossed for tonight!
 
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