11/14 Sarge AMPS 314

[Alison & Sarge]

Hoorah for Friday! Sarge is having a pink morning but I can't really complain after the 504 PMPS last night (the 500's really break my heart). He still seems to be bouncing whenever he gets close to normal numbers. How long does that last?? His AMPS yesterday was nearly blue (205) and so I am thinking he hit green yesterday afternoon and then bounced high. I wish I could have gotten home at +7 to check but I couldn't. By +5 last night he was already down to 297 so at least he is coming down a little faster. I think this latest cycle, and probably the next one, will be spent coming down from the bounce. I thought about raising him to a fat 2.25 after this bounce clears but if reaching normal is what is causing the bounces I don't know if that would help. Do I just keep riding this out or is there a dose increase in his future? It is so frustrating to get a good thing going and then immediately bounce for 2-4 cycles. Happy Friday to all! Here's hoping it is warmer in your neck of the woods than it is here!

11/12 condo

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

Hi Alison!

It's hard to say . . . I see what you mean about last night's 500+ looking like a bounce number. He may have gone low the night before too, after the 212. And maybe he didn't get into greens anywhere but the 500's is just not enough insulin. Just no way to know. But he's only got one high green on this dose and even with working, you do a pretty good job of testing - if he was spending any length of time in green numbers I think you would've caught them on the ss.

The "cure" for bouncing is to get him to spend more time in green numbers so his body will accept that range as normal. When he hits green, give him 2 teaspoons of low carb to try to help him stay there longer.

It looks to me like he needs to go back to 2.5u, but I'd do it when you can monitor the nadirs. One option when you're home is to hold this slightly higher dose but prop up his nadirs so he doesn't go below 50 so he can get this dose for a little longer time. A little longer may be all it takes to pull down those higher numbers.

The caveat about doing that is you want to monitor those low points in the cycle. If you end up having to work hard to keep him over 50, then that is signalling you that he needs a dose decrease. If he's at 50 and you give him a bite of low carb and he surfs along in the 50's, or rises, then you can continue longer at that dose.

Does that make sense? I know it gets complicated when you're working. Are you using a timed feeder while you're at work or at night? That can really be helpful. Please ask about anything that seems fuzzy.

 

[Alison & Sarge]

Hi Julie! Thanks for stopping by. You must have read my mind, I was wondering that myself. What would happen if I didn't take the first >50 earns a decrease approach and tried to feed him out of it once or twice since we have not had successful reductions. Maybe he throws random a low when getting used to a new dose that if "ignored" would get us to a better place with that dose. I am curious what he could do if I fed him out of the 50's a couple times.

The only hitch is he does have a timed feeder so he always has access to food. He is good about eating on his own when he is low and he is really good at eating what ever high carb food I put in front of him when needed because it's like junk food. However, I don't know if low carb would be enticing enough if he was already full and I needed him to "eat on command." I might be able to try keeping a special low carb flavor around for lows. That might do it. Maybe the 3 carb FF Seafood Feast. If he wasn't buying it I could pull out the junk food if needed. I will have time to monitor tonight and tomorrow so I will probably step it up tonight. The only scary thing is if I have to shoot low on Sunday morning since I have to work all day and it will be tough to get away. If I am really worried and we aren't swamped at the store I might be able to figure something out. Just have to take this one cycle at a time

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

especially when you're a working person, being flexible and going one cycle at a time is really important.

When punkin first became diabetic, i wasn't working. Had quit my job a year earlier. But after another year I went back to work in a new field. We got the timed feeder and began to feed him at +3 out of it both cycles. After the couple of days he got used to the noise of it rotating and he was fine eating out of it.

When I started working again, I went by the preshot test and what I knew about punkin's cycles to decide what to do with the timed feeder. If he had a lower preshot I added times for it to open at +3.5, +4, and +4.5. He never dove early in the cycle, so I didn't have to worry about him eating earlier. His nadirs were often about +5.5. If we needed to, either DH or I ran home at +5 to test and feed him again and if necessary, reset that feeder to open every half hour after that. Sometimes DH would come home at +3 and I would come home at +5. It was a little bit crazy, but it worked.

Once you can see what a cat's cycle typically is (except when they aren't that way) you can do some predicting. Most cats have some sort of pattern. Punkin had acro, so what worked him might not be appropriate for Sarge, but it gives you some ideas to consider.