10/2/18 Bailey AMPS 235 +3 213 +6 179 +11 413 PMPS: 387 Question:Shooting under stressful conditions

[Rosie & Bailey]

Hi all,

Condo: 10/1/2018 Bailey AMPS 230 +3 171 +5 94, Increased dose .2 to .25

I was so happy with Bailey's spreadsheet: mainly yellows, blues, with a few greens mixed in, and then
Bam! A red.

Here are my theories on probable culprits.
Culprit #1: Decided to spread out her meals and gave her 1/4 can at +6 and +9. It was only after conducting my experiment that I saw @Gill & George 's post on Sherlocks Condo cautioning against feeding after +7 because Lantus is starting to wane at that point. That's ok. This is how we learn.

Culprit #2: Nasty thunderstorms and tornado watches forcing us to hold her in the basement when she would rather be hiding under the bed.

While we had to shoot no matter what, this does leads me to ask a hypothetical question:
Any tips/learned lessons on testing and shooting under stressful conditions? Would most of you stall if your furbaby tests at a cutoff threshold (for me it's 150), but the cat is also clearly upset or scared? If she had tested at 179, for example, I would have attributed some of that number to stress and been conflicted how to handle it.

We have an upcoming long distance car trip (postponed repeatedly since July), and I'm wondering how things will go with her diabetes maintenance.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Yes, feeding carbs after nadir can shorten the insulin duration. Think of the insulin after nadir as a car rolling to a stop sign. Adding carbs puts the brakes on, and your numbers can zoom up. Noises can also startle and cause numbers to rise. Then there is the cat factor. They are notoriously unpredictable.

I didn't change my cutoff threshold (50 since I followed TR) because my cat was upset. Course, she was generally a mellow cat and her test treat usually got her attention. If she was really upset for some reason, I'd stall 10-15 minutes until she calmed down, then test. But I think I only had to do that once. 150 is a pretty high cutoff number if you are following TR. The allowable difference between meters is 20%, so I wouldn't worry about artificially higher numbers from stress. Just use the numbers at face value.

When is your vacation and how long are you gone? Who will be doing the shots? Will they be testing? The answers to those questions will influence how to handle vacation dosing.

 

[Rosie & Bailey]

Think of the insulin after nadir as a car rolling to a stop sign.

Yeah, I understand that. I also started feeding her Fancy Feast at the same time because the Crave is twice the price. The Crave is 0 carb so even though Fancy Feast is LC, I would suspect that that contributed, along with putting the brakes on the insulin.

I was advised to use 150 as a threshhold when I first started, and I have continued with that. I see the TR protocol says I should ask advice on a preshot number below 150 so I will do that next time.

Actually, I live in Florida and was visiting my kids here in Pennsylvania, but I got caught here when she was diagnosed. I didn't want to put her through the long ride back home until I had her stabilized. I now feel better empowered to deal with potential emergencies during the ride back,, especially knowing I have so much support, but these spikes are unsettling. She has made the trip several times now. She refuses to eat or use the litter box while we are traveling so that will be something I have to keep in mind for this trip.