? 1/25 Luna AMPS 79, +4 123, PMPS 116

Michaela & Luna

Michaela & Luna

Member Since 2021
Hi FDMB! Luna was much lower this AM than usual. My husband panicked/forgot TR protocol and I was still in bed - he fed her instead of stalling feeding. He decided to give her 1 drop of insulin instead of her normal 0.5U.

I just checked her again and she is at 133, I am curious to see how high she will go by PMPS.

We did a curve Friday and she stayed pretty flat in the mid to low 100's (using an Alphatrak). She had a vet visit on Saturday and we were told to stick with the 0.5U 2x/day and that we didn't need to test daily anymore, but we are definitely going to keep testing. She had labs done as well - everything looks normal, no sugar or ketones in her urine. Her fructosamine levels were 334, which she indicated meant "good glycemic control".

I am wondering if someone can take a look at her spreadsheet and let me know how we are doing. She has been in the blue for the most part recently, but in general seems a little bouncy. Is that normal? Should we have given her 0.25U instead of a drop this morning? or even her full 0.5U?

We tried out 0.25U 2x/day two weeks ago but it was not keeping her numbers low enough and she seemed to be feeling awful, although I am wondering too if that was out fault because it is so hard to measure a 0.25 dose accurately.

Thanks as always for you help!
 
Hello there! Her numbers today look pretty nice - hopefully next time he'll remember about the 'waiting part'. It would have been good to know which direction Luna was headed...but you can't change that now, so just go with the flow. I'm not seeing much in the way of bouncing the last few days although without any tests on 1/22, 23 it's kinda hard to tell - were you away?

At any rate, you may want to get some calipers to help you with those precise small dose measurements. Once I learned how to use them I couldn't live without them! Especially if you've got a low dose cat, which it seems you do - those calipers will be really helpful with those smaller and smaller doses - guessing isn't the best way to handle that.

Here are the calipers I use: https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-digital-caliper-63711.html

You see there's a little knob on top of the calipers - very important for locking in the value of the dose so you won't have to fiddle with it every time.

I hope you'll be able to get those soon :)
 
Here is the link to your previous post here, for continuity: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/1-13-luna-amps-252-4-5-184-7-231.257815/

An important part of TR is getting those second tests each cycle, including the night cycle. Even a before bed test or a +2 is helpful in giving us a clue how the cycle will go. I suspect a +2 last night might have showed a drop from preshot, which is an indication of a more active cycle needing more testing. I'll admit I'm a little worried that she got to 52 on that AT with a 0.5 unit dose less than 2 weeks ago. That means you have to be really vigilant about testing as she could be going low again.

I too used calipers for those in between doses. Here is a post on it: Dosing with Calipers
 
Thanks Sue and Wendy! I will pick up some calipers asap, dosing the small doses has been so challenging.

Her ears were looking very bruised (especially after Friday's curve) and our vet was worried about scar tissue developing, so we tried to back off testing a little, but I think the "lesser of two evils" here is going to be just to get those midcycle tests each day. I am lucky enough to work from home and I have eyes on her most of each day so I can monitor for signs of hypo, although I know that doesn't help with overnight times.

When she got to 52 two weeks ago we were using syringes that did not have half-unit markings so I kind of have a feeling that was a dosing error, but we are still wanting to pay close attention. (we finally found some good quality syringes with half unit markings - game changer)

A follow up question - if we had stalled feeding this morning, and when we tested 20 min later she was at let's say BG 100, would it have been safe to shoot our normal 0.5 U, or would that have warranted a smaller dose? I am having trouble making sense of her past midcycle tests and relating that to shooting at low numbers- it seems that at +6 - +8 she is often than her preshot numbers, which seems inverse of what it should be.
 
If you are following TR, you could have shot the full dose. Think of today as an experiment and learning opportunity. People following TR with experience, and the data to do so, can shoot as low as 50 on a human meter or 68 on your AT. Take a look at some of the other people's posts and spreadsheets, and see what happens when you shoot lower numbers. Now, Luna is her own cat and may do things somewhat differently, but typically shooting lower numbers means a fairly flat cycle. You might want to gradually lower the number that you shoot the full dose. Stalling is just one technique, but isn't necessary once you have the data to do so. Feel free to post here any time, without feeding, for help, when you see a number where you are not sure what to do. We would take into consideration a few things, such as your ability to monitor (able to be there, plenty of test strips), having high carb food, and experience with lower numbers.
 
Earlier post for continuity: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/1-25-luna-amps-79-4-133.258375/#post-2905066

Luna had an unexpectedly low number this morning - my husband panicked and forgot to stall feeding and he didn't feel comfortable giving her the full dose of .5U so he gave her 1 drop. She raised to 123 midday but is now down to 116.

I'm not sure what dose to give her tonight. It seems that just the 1 drop did a relatively good job at regulating her and so far no bouncing, so I am nervous to give her a full 0.5 unit, although we have shot as low as 115 recently.

(Sorry for a duplicate post for today, I wanted to add "stalling" to the title)
 
Are you able to test as often and as long as may be needed tonight? Do you have plenty of supplies? High carb food, Karo/honey/syrup, and test strips?
 
Well she didn't actually earn a reduction yet so I'd go with the 0.5 and grab a +1 and +2 to start.

Remember, you're also going to be feeding her so that should bring her number up some and the shot doesn't usually start to "kick in" for 2-3 hours
 
Just an FYI...on this forum there are so many cats that we limit each cat to one thread per day. If something comes up later in the day (like tonight), you just edit your original subject line and make a new comment. The comment will take your thread back to the top of the forum where it's more likely to get eyes on it and if your subject line is edited to something really clear like "STALLING! NEED HELP!" you usually catch somebody's attention...LOL

Once you have somebody to help you, you can go back and edit your subject line again and just put in the usual date/cat's name/ test results.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Just an FYI...on this forum there are so many cats that we limit each cat to one thread per day. If something comes up later in the day (like tonight), you just edit your original subject line and make a new comment. The comment will take your thread back to the top of the forum where it's more likely to get eyes on it and if your subject line is edited to something really clear like "STALLING! NEED HELP!" you usually catch somebody's attention...LOL

Once you have somebody to help you, you can go back and edit your subject line again and just put in the usual date/cat's name/ test results.
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Ok I will do that in the future, thanks! I forgot you could edit titles.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Looking great so far! A nice blue surf is a good way to spend the evening!

The PM shot is probably kicking in so maybe get a +5.
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Thanks for your support last night! We got a +6 and she was at 189, down to 121 preshot this morning. We chickened out giving the full 0.5U and gave a little under but it seems to have worked out OK. With an AM number of 79 yesterday and no PM midcycle test the night before we were worried she might have gone hypo overnight and we didn't catch it.

We have noticed that she is often at her highest number that we see at +6 lately...any ideas what that could be about? Her "curve" almost looks upside down.
 
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