? 1/8 Bella *some advice please* AMPS 251, +6.5 120, PMPS 178, +3 98

[Bellas_mom_2020]

1/7 Bella AMPS 200, +3 105, PMPS 142, +3 63

…and I was right. She was 63 last night and I knew she would bounce. This is the pattern now - bounces, takes like 2 days to go back down, gets low and bounces again. How do we help her with this? Obviously more insulin can’t be the answer so is the 1.25 to much? She was on 1 unit when we got back from vacation but her numbers weren’t low so we increased her, was that not the right choice?

And I know some will say we need to do more spot checks but we both work and it’s hard to do that throughout the day.

 

[Allie & Gen]

I think you need someone with a lot more experience to give you solid advice, but that said - and sorry if I've missed it from past posts -what is Bella's feeding schedule like? Since you work, does she get set mealtimes?

I ask because one thing I've come across as I've been reading different things around this forum is the idea of "Feeding the Curve" - for example, it's discussed under the "What SHOULD I Do?" heading on this otherwise rather stressful old post about hypoglycemia. Obviously, those of us with full-time jobs can't necessarily be around to carefully spoon-feed and test in increments, but I think this is what the autofeeder approach is intended to roughly approximate? (It's a concept I've been pondering because Gen seems to have a similar pattern of dives and bounces, although in his case he has an oral infection playing havoc with his system which makes it hard to strategize based on just insulin and food.)

 

[Allie & Gen]

Oh, forgot to mention - you probably want to add the "?" prefix to your thread title!

 

[Tyleete]

1.25 units is definitely not a lot. My last diabetic one started at 2units I believe. I've seen them get up to 13 or even 17 once here. If I remember correctly, after 5 or 6 units they say you should look at insulin resistant causes. My boy had to go up to 3.5 units, before his pancreas began working again.
Were it me, if he raising him again by another 0.25.

 

[Bellas_mom_2020]

1.25 units is definitely not a lot. My last diabetic one started at 2units I believe. I've seen them get up to 13 or even 17 once here. If I remember correctly, after 5 or 6 units they say you should look at insulin resistant causes. My boy had to go up to 3.5 units, before his pancreas began working again.
Were it me, if he raising him again by another 0.25.

The most insulin Bella has ever been on was 1.5, and we had her in good control and then unfortunately we have a batch of bad insulin and she went to long with high numbers and lost the regulation. Then we got her back and went on vacation so she was on a reduced dose of 0.75 and high all week so were had to increase her and it’s taking her some time to regulate again.

 

[Bellas_mom_2020]

Oh, forgot to mention - you probably want to add the "?" prefix to your thread title!

Thank you, I forgot that. So she says her main meal (a whole can of FF) at 7am/7pm and typically she takes like 2-2 1/2 hours to finish her food unless she’s really hungry. Then she gets a snack around 1/1:30 and another snack around 10:00 pm before we head to bed.

 

[Allie & Gen]

Thank you, I forgot that. So she says her main meal (a whole can of FF) at 7am/7pm and typically she takes like 2-2 1/2 hours to finish her food unless she’s really hungry. Then she gets a snack around 1/1:30 and another snack around 10:00 pm before we head to bed.

My cat is similar, except that he stretches out his morning meal even further than that, sometimes pretty much all day. One thing I'm wondering is whether changing eating habits a bit could help even out these big drops into a more smooth surf - instead of having a main meal which the cat eats as s/he pleases, feeding less earlier on and portioning it out more gradually. The cat's going to eat when they're hungry, if they're able to, but it seems possible that their hunger and the action of the insulin don't necessarily work together without extra assistance, sometimes. I think that's the basis for methods like the one discussed in the older post I linked.

I won't be able to for a couple of weeks, but I'm thinking that I'm going to test out an approach like that sometime when I can be home all day, to see if it makes a difference to Gen's numbers. In the meantime, just sharing food for thought!

As for how much insulin it takes to get a cat to remission, when they do go into remission, that's super individual and can vary a lot. When Gen originally went into remission back in 2021, he was never on more than 1u. Now, 1u barely gets him down into the 200s.

 

[Tyleete]

The most insulin Bella has ever been on was 1.5, and we had her in good control and then unfortunately we have a batch of bad insulin and she went to long with high numbers and lost the regulation. Then we got her back and went on vacation so she was on a reduced dose of 0.75 and high all week so were had to increase her and it’s taking her some time to regulate again.

Why the reduced dose while on holiday? And you should feel safe in the 1.5 then, if that's what did her the best before. Hope she gets back on track and soon.

 

[kitten68]

1/7 Bella AMPS 200, +3 105, PMPS 142, +3 63

…and I was right. She was 63 last night and I knew she would bounce. This is the pattern now - bounces, takes like 2 days to go back down, gets low and bounces again. How do we help her with this? Obviously more insulin can’t be the answer so is the 1.25 to much? She was on 1 unit when we got back from vacation but her numbers weren’t low so we increased her, was that not the right choice?

And I know some will say we need to do more spot checks but we both work and it’s hard to do that throughout the day.

it can take a little for things to settle.. thing w checks is that bounces can happen when numbers get low right, and checking you can see where they are and when.. but doing when u can is all u can do. when able, just can try to get checks in.

 

[Bellas_mom_2020]

Why the reduced dose while on holiday? And you should feel safe in the 1.5 then, if that's what did her the best before. Hope she gets back on track and soon.

She hasn’t been on 1.5 since her diagnosis 2 years ago. And her dose was reduced because on 1 unit she was going low - 50s even 40s - so admins said to drop her down to 0.75 so while she was with my parents she wouldn’t go so low since they didn’t feel a lot.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Any chance of getting a +4 at night when you see a big drop to the 60's at +3?

Obviously more insulin can’t be the answer so is the 1.25 to much? She was on 1 unit when we got back from vacation but her numbers weren’t low so we increased her, was that not the right choice?

Bella is a long term diabetic. She has three ways to earn a reduction: going under 40 once, a week in solid green with nadirs in the 50-80 range, or if you think she doesn't hold reductions well, you can do 3 times between 40 and 49 on 3 separate days. I'm not seeing her going under 40, or even 50 on this dose. So 1.25 is not too much, and might be too little for her at this point in time. What a cat needed two years ago doesn't influence what she needs now. We only look at the last couple weeks of data.

On 1/5 your Remarks mentions her shaking? What was that about? What meds is she on?

 

[Bellas_mom_2020]

Any chance of getting a +4 at night when you see a big drop to the 60's at +3?

Bella is a long term diabetic. She has three ways to earn a reduction: going under 40 once, a week in solid green with nadirs in the 50-80 range, or if you think she doesn't hold reductions well, you can do 3 times between 40 and 49 on 3 separate days. I'm not seeing her going under 40, or even 50 on this dose. So 1.25 is not too much, and might be too little for her at this point in time. What a cat needed two years ago doesn't influence what she needs now. We only look at the last couple weeks of data.

On 1/5 your Remarks mentions her shaking? What was that about? What meds is she on?

She’s on clopiodrel (generic for plavix). She had a stroke 2 years ago. She shakes because she’s scared/anxious. I have to wrap her up to give it to her and she hates it.

I can try to get a +4 on those nights.