3/12 Tommy AMPS

[Tomtomsmom]

Hello everyone, well after yesterdays curve, we were forced to increase Tommy's dose to 2 units. We were getting some nice blue numbers on Friday and then we were right into the pinks and solid yellows all day long yesterday. I think it might be time to get a new insulin bottle, but not sure until his pre-shot testing tonight

He has been a little better about testing, not trying to scratch us as much. But it takes two of us still. I will do extra testing tonight since we just upped his dose and probably have to make the decision to go to Walmart and get new batch of Lantus.

Enjoy the gorgeous weather out.

Mimi & Tommy

 

[kim and simon]

Good afternoon! How old is your bottle? Did you have it before your SS starts on 2/7? If you've been keeping it in the refrigerator and handling it carefully, I doubt it's the insulin going bad.

I'm kind of in the same boat as I was initially prescribed the large 10mL bottle of Lantus. I know many on the board get the vet to write the Rx for Solostar pens and use syringes to draw up the insulin (not the pen needles that are designed for the pens). That is what I'm planning next time. I haven't found a local pharmacy that will sell me one pen, but I have heard it can be done! It saves money due to not wasting insulin. I have only called 3 places, but I plan to keep trying.

I'm not very experienced but I think others might have more tips.

Might check out Lantus/Levemir handling and info if you haven't. That might be totally redundant if you've seen it, but just in case!

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

yesterday

just wanted to add your post from yesterday. not sure if you saw the feedback.

great job getting a curve yesterday! that was a lot of testing - and a lot of flat yellow!

i want to encourage you to get a mid-cycle check in random times over the next couple of days, including in the evening cycle. it's really hard to know about dose without a little more information. my guess would be that even though you had a whole day of yellows, you didn't need to increase the dose. on 3/10, the day before, Tommy got down to at least 104, and because it was at the evening preshot he probably was coming UP from even lower numbers.

i think it's very likely that he was bouncing from the afternoon of 3/10. it can take up to 3 days for a bounce to clear and we always hold the dose during the bounce and wait til we are certain that the bounce has cleared before increasing the dose.

it's counter-intuitive to say to not increase the dose when you are seeing 300's - but i really think that's a bounce. because he got to something lower than 104 on 1.75 units, he would do it again when the bounce cleared.

if he were my cat, i would reduce the dose back to 1.75, try to get one or two tests during each cycle and then re-evaluate in about 3 days based upon the test data. we often encourage new people to let us evaluate the spreadsheet before increasing the dose to see if there is bouncing going on. it took me at least 6 months to be able to spot a bounce, so i just kept on posting in my subject line "dose increase?" if i thought that i should increase.

people don't mind jumping in with advice - we'll look at your data and do our best to help you.

this would be true regardless of which protocol you are following. it's important that Tommy not get too much insulin.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

I think Julie is spot on that you increased his dose during a bounce. I would have let him clear the bounce to see where he was before increasing the dose.

And as she said, if you can post, well be glad to look at his SS and make recommendations for you.