3/26 Cobb PMPS 302

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Suzanne & Cobb(GA)

Suzanne & Cobb(GA)

Member Since 2013
Sorry for my "woe is me" attitude in yesterday's condo.

Nothing like a blue AMPS to raise your spirits. :cool: Cobb is good. I'm still working on figuring out his food. I had Matt give him 1/2 can this morning instead of his usual 1/4 can when he left for work (+8.5 of the overnight cycle). But since I don't test him again until his am pre-shot, and he's awake and hungrier overnight, I figured give him a full feeding. Then, in an attempt to compensate and not over feed during the day cycle, I gave 1/4 can this morning. Cobb usually naps for most of the morning - sometimes I don't see him until noon. So maybe he'll be a little hungrier and I can get some more food in him earlier, or if he isn't bothered by the smaller portion, it will be easier on his pancreas and lead to lower numbers during the day since he won't have so many carbs in his system. I don't know. Worth a try, right?

I think Spring took a wrong turn. We had snow flurries here yesterday. :shock: Is my calendar wrong? I'm pretty sure next week is April.

Looks like the cold weather has brought a cold to our house. Matt came down first with a sore throat and stuffy nose. He's now in "stage 2" of his cold, as he refers to it - a bad cough where he feels fine but sounds awful. Then last night I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose. Thankfully my throat doesn't hurt anymore, but I noticed Matty is a little stuffy. That can't be good. I'm used to a teething baby, but I hear a sick baby doesn't sleep...at all. nailbite_smile @-) nailbite_smile I suppose I shouldn't complain. We have been really lucky with no ear infections or anything major. And he's playing as normal right now, so hopefully if he does have a cold it is short-lived.

Anyway, happy hump day to all. I'm channeling lower numbers which will mean a happier day here in Cobbville.

~Suzanne
 
Re: 3/26 Cobb AMPS 175

Morning Suzanne,

If you ever need to vent or have a "woe is me day," this is the place to do it! We have all had similar days for one reason or another. This is a long journey, and it helps to have family who understands along the way :-D

Meanwhile, love the blue start to Cobb's day!!!

Hope Matty stays well :-D
 
Re: 3/26 Cobb AMPS 175

Please don't apologize for yesterday's condo, Suzanne. The diabetes dance is difficult, and venting can help. We're not a high-dose family, but we can definitely relate to your feelings (e.g., "Why do I see green or blue and then the dose no longer works?"). It's frustrating.

So sorry to hear about both the cold and the colds. If your calendar is wrong, mine must be wrong, too. I think there might be several people on the board with faulty calendars! :-D

I hope everyone starts feeling better soon!
Shelly
 
Re: 3/26 Cobb AMPS 175 +3 202

Hi guys .. hey, no apologies necessary around here! Cobb, you looked great this morning but now you're heading the wrong way .. turn it around little one! So sorry to hear about the colds .. I hope they pass quickly for all of you .. have a great day!
 
Re: 3/26 Cobb AMPS 175 +3 202

i didn't hear any "woe is me" at all. it's very frustrating to not be able to figure out what's going on with your cat. and a high dose cat is even more expensive than a "regular" diabetic. figuring out how to manage it all is difficult.

you asked yesterday about the tumor waxing and waning if he has acro. i think having the SRT done is the ultimate in "waning" because the tumor is zapped with radiation and then produces less hormone, meaning more of the insulin you give is going to get into the cells. When we had punkin treated we had nearly a immediate response to it. Knowing that we expected the dose need to decrease, if we were faced with a lower than usual preshot, we often shot 1/2 the regular dose at that shot, then the next shot we gave a newly reduced "regular" dose. For example, if our regular shot was 15u, and the preshot was 120, we'd give 7.5u at that time, then for the next shot come back at 14u. We affectionately called it "Dialing for Doses" because you're going by feel and making decisions as you go. With larger doses you have the depot/shed that keeps on giving, so you can sometimes skip a shot and barely even notice.

In the absence of the test results we can't know what Cobb's got going on, but just my opinion, i think he looks more acro. When cats have iaa - the ones i've seen, again, just my observations - it seems like you increase a dose and have perhaps one good cycle and then boom, it's like they've absorbed the insulin and that dose just stopped working. You increase again and the results repeat. I'm sure that's not true of every iaa cat, but that's what i've noticed. (my official disclaimer! :lol: ) I haven't really seen that with Cobb - he does respond to a dose and can for a while, so it looks more to me like the pattern i've seen and experienced with acromegaly. iaa seems to have a lifespan of a year or so and then it "breaks." the latest things i've read say basically to just try to keep the numbers somewhat safe and wait for that to happen. when it does happen, some of the insulin that has been injected will be released from the antibodies and then becomes available to the cells. that's where being extra vigilant comes in.

With acro cats the need for a dose increase seems to go up and up, sometimes ramping up quickly, sometimes flattening out for a while and in many acro cats, they seem to plateau at a dose of either around 15u or 20-25u. I think one of the reasons Lauren was so successful in keeping Tommy on a low dose is that she kept him in green and prevented glucose toxicity. That's a real concern, because if cats get too accustomed to higher numbers it takes even more insulin to get them back down. There are different philosophies about this - there are plenty of high dose kitties whose beans don't want them to get under 100 because they don't want the worry of the tumor turning off and then having injected too much insulin. that is a real concern - i think the lower the dose the easier it is to feel confident about having a cat in green. If i were injecting a huge dose i'd be more concerned about that too. So it's a balancing act.

The most important thing for anyone is to know their own cat. Observe what happens when you increase a dose or when you give carbs to bring up numbers. know about how much high carb it takes to pull Cobb's numbers up. As i say that, I know that you have done these things already. You are very observant as to how he responds to dose changes and food.

I'm not sure that completely answers your questions from yesterday, but some of the answer is that it depends on the cat. i would say Punkin's tumor only "waxed" before we had him treated and "waned" and plateaued after the SRT. We did have to go back up in dose sometimes. I reduced in advance, anticipating that his insulin dose might need to be dropped and sometimes i did it too soon. I also went back to work and then was more conservative in dosing, not wanting him to be left alone if he got low.

For now, I think you're doing a good job of keeping Cobb in safe numbers. Most of the time he's under renal threshold, and that's really good. There isn't a perfect roadmap for high dose kitties to follow, but i do think you're doing well with him.
 
Re: 3/26 Cobb AMPS 175 +6.5 276 (.25R) +7.5 250 +8.5 278 +10

Hey all, thanks for the kind words. I was feeling frustrated, and felt like (after reading back over the post) I was a tad whiny. :roll:

So Cobb started the day with a nice blue number and then started climbing. I gave him some R at +6.5, but it doesn't look like it has done much. Julie, is there any reason a bigger dose of R would prompt a climb rather than a drop? One thing I have noticed is giving the R at +6/+7 doesn't really seem to do much. It could just be the days I give it he's climbing so it is stopping the climb, but I feel like it does more earlier or later in the cycle. Is that a possibility?

I need to order some new syringes from ADW because the ones I have are 1 unit from the grocery store and they are a PITA to figure out quarter units on! But I need new strips as well, so we'll be placing an order tonight. Luckily Friday is payday...woot woot! :lol:
 
Hi Suzanne - sorry I missed stopping in yesterday's condo. :YMHUG: :YMHUG: I had peaked in early in the day but missed the woe. I've written condo's like that a couple years ago. Julie was my rock then too.

When I was at your stage at the sugar dance, once of the things that drove me crazy was not knowing what to expect or what steps were next in the dance. I did help me to look at other's spreadsheets. Of course there is still a lot of difference between cats, but if you want to see an example of a high dose kitty and a dose that goes up a down, take a look at Tip's. She's topped out around 14, but goes up and down a bit here and there, with Cindy trying to find doses that keep her in a bit of green. The changes are not sudden. Tip was not tested for high dose conditions, so we are just guessing what is causing the resistance. But whether acro, iaa, or acro and iaa like Neko, - it seems that keeping them at a dose where they are mostly under renal threshold helps. Last year I had Neko at the same dose for about 2 months straight, because I kept getting the nadirs I wanted. We can give you links to more high dose kitty SS's if you are interested.

I echo Julie's advice about getting experience with how Cobb reacts in green. I've always been pretty comfortable with Neko in the 70's as I have an idea what it takes to bring her up - so the 70's are my target nadirs. Of course it's easier with the smaller doses we are on now, but the same was true when the dose was higher. On the other hand, I saw Nancy give Pepper over 25U at PS's in the 50's. But that's because she knew what he would do and she got there over time. And Pepper, like Neko, also had IAA and they seem to need a bit of green in the SS to anchor them down.

Sending mega healing vines to your house - you don't want all your boys to be sick. :shock:
 
i'm not aware of any time or condition that R would cause numbers to go up. My guess would be that it's more likely that he's on his way up anyway and would've been higher if you hadn't used it. R can (does?) last longer than the typical 4ish hours in a cat with iaa.
 
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