2/14 Sam AMPS 335

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KristenP&Sam

KristenP&Sam

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AMPS 335
+2 - 244
+4 - 192
+6 - 296

I shot .3. I could have probably stuck with .2 one more cycle, but after yesterday, I didn't feel comfortable. I want him to have a good day today, so I went a little higher. Will see how he does.
 
I shouldn't have said nice numbers. His +6 is 296. I'm wondering if the stress of us vacuuming could have raised his numbers artificially? He runs and hides under the bed whenever he hears the vacuum and we've been doing a major clean today.
 
Well, I am weeping along with you. He is so hard to figure out. He had a early nadir and really jumped back up to a ridiculous number. No chance it was a fur shot?

As discouraged as I know you are, don't lose sight of the fact that you are giving tiny, tiny doses and getting decent numbers. We will figure out how to do this.
 
So I asked someone who doesn't post on PZI but uses it, what they thought. Their idea was that you might need to give him insulin 3 times a day rather than two. You would be giving tiny doses (split the .4 or .6 - which is .2 or .3 at am plus pm - into three shots.) It's an interesting idea. He does go low and go back up. You haven't had a blue pmps since you were shooting 2 units. The insulin seems to last about 6-7 hours and then he's up - no matter what dose he gets.

So you would shoot at 7am, 2pm, 9 pm and then 7am again. It would be 7 hours, 7 hours and 10 hours. And the dose would be hard to measure. I don't know how to do it but someone should. It could almost be a drop 3 times a day or .1 3 times a day. We would hope it would be enough to get him off entirely so it wouldn't be a long term deal.

I would definitely want you to get other opinions. There are people who shoot 3 times a day. Not many, but some. Maybe someone else will know someone who does and ask their opinion too.
 
Sendin’ ya good vibes Kristen. I know this must be frustrating but you will get there!

And my dudes hate the vac too.....good excuse not to clean I say :razz:
 
I'm so sorry our experiment didn't work out. Shooting 3 times a day is an option, you do work from home right. Are you up for another adventure?
 
PMPS - 299 Shot .3

I do work from home, however starting in April, I will be traveling every month from then on out. If it seems like something worth giving a try, I'd be willing to shoot 3 times a day. Especially if it might get Sam off the juice entirely. I'm open to what info you can give me.

Thanks for sticking with me through this. It's maddening at times and without help, I'd be a mess.
 
Hi Pam,

Thanks for stopping by. We know that Sam needs more insulin. This was a little data gathering experiment that we had discussed as a group over a few days and decided to try. The results are that he needs more insulin and now she is exploring her options.

Do you know anything about TID dosing? She is looking for information about that.

Best,
Robin
 
Frustrating, but not terrible numbers. Not uncommon to have these struggles, and there are cats unregulated at much higher numbers. You might look around at some of the other spreadsheets---this is not an easy trip we are all on. And this is all still pretty new to you and Asher. There is lots of reason to think it will get better.
 
Yes, I've used TID in the past with Layla. There isn't anything magical about it if you just set-up your ground rules.

1. Keep your cat safe
2. Keep the numbers low
3. Never shoot a number that will make you worry when you have to leave kitty alone.

I admit I've followed Sam since he was post-dka on health. The numbers are just too high and allow too much sugar to spill into the urine. Looking at his spreadsheet he hasn't had a good number for a week - the last time he was on half a unit, so, this is one reason I was concerned when I saw all the dose lowering going on.

I didn't shoot the 8-8-8 schedule for TID - I shot as-need, so, if Layla peaked at +5, and was headed up at +6 or +7, she got another shot. Often I was able to let her go overnight and wake to a decent preshot, but, the TID would start all over again. After a period of time, she would sometimes decide she only needed her shots BID, but, I always let the numbers be the guide.
Ex:
PS 242 shoot
+2 179
+4 125
+6 155
+7 225 I'd shoot here

It's what I did with my cat, but my cat doesn't follow any rules.

Above all, don't consider TID dosing unless you are willing to test. You need to test the same way both cycles during the day, and then get a shot before bed to make sure it is safe to go to sleep.

I hope this helps. I used PZI not Prozinc. I use Levemir now.

Best,
Pam & Layla
 
Hope & Aria & Michelle & Prudence both had success also with TID shooting if I recall. If you are thinking of it, you could take a look at their SSs, I believe both have posted in the Recent Remissions thread up top.

I tried it briefly and found it too stressful, b/c you have to be sure you are always shooting on a rising #, so you are basically looking at a minimum of 6 tests in a 24 hour period, not to mention the constraints of the schedule. If you are up to it though, it has worked well for many cats, and sometimes you can do something like that for a week or so and get enough progress that you can go back to BID and get a lot better results.

Since he does tend towards big drops (when he gets a good nadir at least), he seems like a good candidate for it. If you get a green nadir, then you can shoot again once the #s are climbing above 150 (I think the concept is you take your 24 hour dose and divide by 3 rather than 2 to get a starting TID dose? hopefully others who have used it more than I will chime in with more specifics if you decide to go that route). Hopefully that would keep him away from some of the 300-55-300 type cycles you have seen.

Bummed you didn't get better results on the lowered doses :YMSIGH: but it's ok, he'll get there!!! No more vacuuming though, you gotta let the house go, lol!
 
All ideas and suggestions are appreciated and welcome.

At one point when his dose was higher I also noticed that his numbers were better on .5u and suggested that she drop back to that dose again. It was a couple of days, to see how low he would tolerate and we found out, if you go back and read the posts from the last week we all said that if his numbers went high she could raise the dose again faster to get back to better numbers. I don't think it was reckless or dangerous. Just info gathering.



Best,
Robin
 
:mrgreen: . I think we saw what looked like a dose reduction path hidden in the #s and jumped on it. May have been too much reduction too fast, or maybe that never really was the pattern, just some intermittent and unpredictable numbers, hard to say.

Anyhow, Kristen, I hope he is feeling well & you are doing ok too.
 
You see, Kristen, none of us can be sure what will work with Sam. We all are looking for something - mainly, I think, because his patterns have been so unpredictable. But I want to be sure that you understand we are not worried about him. He is in decent numbers and he clearly does not need a lot of insulin. We just want to help you get him in a real good place.

If I were you, I would look at the options and decide what will work best for you. You can try the three times daily - I think Joanna's idea of checking out other SS from tid people is great. You can increase the insulin back up to a place where you got good numbers and just hold it for longer than before. (I was just discouraged that you had done the dose and it would look good and then he would go back up....)

Robin, I am pretty sure i was the first one to suggest lowering so we can blame me. I'm good with that. :mrgreen:
 
There is no one to "blame" - lowering him was first and foremost my decision (I'm the one that fills the syringe after all) and secondly, that decision was made after a group discussion. I am fully aware that each cat is an individual and what works for some may not or will not work for others. I also know Sam likes to do whatever Sam likes to do. This is a journey.

I will look at some other TID spreadsheets, because I definitely want to see how that works, although the more I think about it, the less sure I am. I feel like if I could get Sam to a place where he had some kind of regular curve in that there was some sort of nadir around +5 - +8, I would feel better about doing the TID. As it is now, when he gets a higher number toward the end, but his PMPS is then lower, it concerns me that I might shoot into a number that isn't actually rising.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone who's thrown their 2 cents in because ultimately it does help me. I want the input, so keep it coming. Off to start a new thread for him for today. Thanks!
 
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