3/13 Eddie AMPS 270, +5 = 148

[Jen&Eddie]

Last time: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=115253

We have a pet sitter lined up who is the cousin of our vet tech, and who is interning at our vet office. She has experience with ear testing and monitoring BG! Yay! Picked up an automatic feeder which we haven't had a chance to try yet, and some EVO to have as a stop gap so our skittish civilian has an opportunity to eat while we're gone for the weekend.

In other news, I've lost all confidence in my ability to shoot into numbers lower than 200 when Eddie is surfing. nailbite_smile I crashed Eddie again (third time within the last couple weeks) last night shooting what looked to be a rising number after stalling to AM +14.75. By +2.5, Eddie was diving, and by +4, despite feeding small amounts of both LC and MC to slow him down, he dipped into the 40's. I guess I have a couple options: 1) wait until he's at least into the 200's before shooting, 2) shoot less into those numbers (170+), or 3) change how I'm doing the stalling. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Even in the last month, I was shooting up to 2.2u into pre-shots in the 160+ range, but last night, even 1.6u was too much.

This morning, I did shoot early at PM +9.5, since Eddie was at 270 and almost certainly headed into a pretty big bounce off those low numbers last night. This also gets us back on track from a time standpoint, and I shot a reduced dose in case he's sensitive to the insulin due to the low numbers last night.

Today:

AMPS = 270
+1.5 = 285
+5 = 148

I'm also trying to figure out how much to have our sitter shoot, and what to use as a no shoot cut off number. Looking at Eddie's SS, shooting 1.8u into pre-shots in the 200's has sent Eddie relatively low at nadir, so I'm leaning towards maybe 1.5 or 1.6 for anything over 200. I'd much rather have him sit a little high for a couple days rather than risk him dropping and relying on the automatic feeder to keep him safe.

Have a great day and sending peaceful vines to all who need them today.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Re: 3/13 Eddie AMPS 270

I think I'd reduce my scale overall, Jenn. The 2 units for a 298 yesterday am gave you a long cycle so maybe reduce to 1.8 for numbers in that range. Then definitely a Reduction for numbers under 200 - maybe 1.4? I think you can shoot into the 170-190 range, but maybe not if he is surfing - only if he is clearly headed up? (he should have been last night, but the numbers are definitely in the 20% variance and he was going up and then down.)

Definitely nerve wracking, but needing less insulin for the same numbers he had a month ago is the way it's supposed to work as he heads OTJ. So the overall pattern is great, but of course he would start it as you head out of town. :mrgreen:

Great you found a vet tech! Yes, I think lowering the scale by even more for the pet sitter is wise. You can get him back on track when you return.

 

[Jen&Eddie]

Re: 3/13 Eddie AMPS 270

I think I'd reduce my scale overall, Jenn. The 2 units for a 298 yesterday am gave you a long cycle so maybe reduce to 1.8 for numbers in that range. Then definitely a Reduction for numbers under 200 - maybe 1.4? I think you can shoot into the 170-190 range, but maybe not if he is surfing - only if he is clearly headed up? (he should have been last night, but the numbers are definitely in the 20% variance and he was going up and then down.)

Definitely nerve wracking, but needing less insulin for the same numbers he had a month ago is the way it's supposed to work as he heads OTJ. So the overall pattern is great, but of course he would start it as you head out of town. :mrgreen:

Great you found a vet tech! Yes, I think lowering the scale by even more for the pet sitter is wise. You can get him back on track when you return.

Thanks so much Sue! I think my lack of sleep @-) is making me forget that going down the scale is a good thing. I'm kind of winging my scale right now, but basically, my current scale is: 170 and climbing = 1.6u, 200-299 = 1.8u, and 300+ = 2u. Do you think it makes sense to shave the whole scale by 0.2u? He's been having some weird cycles lately, like on the AM cycle of 3/7 where it looks like he went LOW after +6, and again on 3/11, where it looks like he may have dipped early and then gone back up. Then we have a couple "high-flat" cycles that are flat yellow, which Eddie hadn't done in a while. I'm wondering if there's some cycles where I didn't catch it where he dipped early like last night, and then was actually on his way back up by +6 or so, and then he has a flat bounce cycle afterwards. I know in Lantus Land, the "flat yellow cycle" is often noted as a harbinger of an active cycle to follow, which if you look at those flat cycles as bounce cycles, that makes sense.

I was thinking about having the sitter just do a 1.5 if he's above 200, but I'm thinking that might even bring him low if he's right at the 200 mark, so now I'm leaning towards 1.4u. I don't think I'm going to have her attempt to stall if he's below 200 - there's too many moving parts to doing that. The gal that's coming in is a sweetheart. Our regular tech who sat for us for five days over Christmas is coming with her the first day to show her the ropes, although we have pretty dramatically changed the process since we first started. :smile:

I'd love nothing more than to see Eddie go OTJ, but even more consistent regulation would make me happy. I really hope Eddie looks like a kitty that might be a good candidate for OTJ!!

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Yes, an overall drop of .2 sounds about right to me. The 1.4 sounds good for the sitter above 200. No, I wouldn't think stalling is good for the petsitter, as he does seem to go up and down sometimes instead or really up.

He is definitely on a downward trend. So glad you decided to hometest! His numbers have certainly been challenging.