Re: 3/2 Tuscany AMPS~426 PRED/dose?
Hi Joyce,
I will try to find the information I looked so hard for a while back with the onset and half life of pred. I spent almost a month playing around with timing for Latte. You could look at her ss from maybe November (?) and see I did a lot of changing around with timing and testing nearly every hour for some time. What I had read in this article seemed to hold true for what I was finding in Latte...approx 1-2hr onset (her numbers will start increasing 1-2hrs after I give it), approx 4-6 hrs (half-life?). Her numbers usually drop around +6. You can see this pattern on her ss, as well. I found the idea would be to have the peak of pred match the peak of the insulin action. That is very difficult to attain, as every cycle can be different. But..we can try! ;-)
There will be other factors involved with Latte's rise and drops from pred. Some unknown, some obvious. The obvious would be last night as an example. I gave at shot time and she was high. the higher she is when I give it the greater the rise. She also ate kibble @ 3:30pm. From the data I collected she rises from kibble around 5hrs later and drops it 7-8hrs after eating. Her +2.75 (450ish) was right at the peak of pred, along with the kibble on board. it stuck around who knows how long, but she dropped well over 100pts between +5 and amps.
A while back I determined for Latte the best time to give pred would be 2hrs post pm shot. This was because the insulin could get a head start on lowering her numbers before the pred took over. Unfortunately, due to my schedule and wanting to be consistent I had to opt to shot time. Ive played around with it a bit this month because overall she has been abnormally high. Because she is bouncing from the slightest drops, Im not certain it is helping her by giving it 2hrs later now. Its just making her go up/down/up down (see 2/28 on ss for example).
Another struggle I have come accross is dosing appropriately. She needs a higher dose at night to help with the pred. But that same dose in the day will bring her too low. Not everyone seems to experience this to the extreme we do. One suggestion that has been made is to split the pred dose (am/pm). I have not done that YET. I think Linda/Bear Man tried it for a short time, but she bailed because of overall high numbers (???). Cheryl/Winnie seemed to find some success with it.
Im really sorry Tuscany is reacting in such a severe way to the pred. It is indeed terribly frustrating. I have been discouraged to increase except every 6 cycles. I would think others might discourage you to do so as well. BUT, you have been at this longer than I ...and have a good feel for what she needs. It seems with the pred on board, there is no protocol. Its a constant wingin' it. *sigh*
Im sorry I dont have any answers. I hope some of what I have said makes sense and is helpful in regards to experimenting a little for Tuscany. Let me know if you have more questions, thoughts, ideas.
((((((((joyce))))))))
((((((((tuscany)))))))))