Jen&Eddie
Very Active Member
Yesterday: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=116353
Phew! That was a long night. And rounding out this AM...
+10.5 = 66
+11.5 = 88
+12.5 = 111
AMPS/+13 = 177 (1.0u - BCS)
+3 = 230
+9 = 243
PMPS/+9.5 (2.2u)
+2 = 252
+4 = 243
+5.5 = 206
Initially, with the 111 at +12.5 (which is cutting it fairly close to my leave for work time), I was going to skip, so I fed half of breakfast. I tested again on my way out the door, and Eddie was up to 177, which is probably at least in part due to food. But, since Eddie was rising before the food, I did decide to go ahead and give a 1.0u BCS dose. I will be curious to see what if any effect a BCS has. I haven't had much luck in the past with that, but then again, I suppose some insulin is better than none for the day.
Couple questions:
I fed MC (16%) or HC (21%) several times last night and it barely seemed to nudge Eddie up. Until the last two times he's dived, the one previous time Eddie hit the 30's a few weeks back, one teaspoon of HC brought him right up. When he dipped just below 50 a few weeks ago, a tiny bit of MC would do the trick. I suspect that as much MC or HC as Eddie got last night would blast many kitties right through the roof. I did give him the equivalent of a drop of Karo at one point, which did finally bring him a smidge above 50.
So, I'm trying to figure out 1) why the MC/HC wasn't doing much, and 2) what to do about it in the future. Here's my thoughts on why the MC/HC wasn't doing much to bring him up. Assuming that I got too much overlap on the PM cycle, and that the dose needs to go down for pre-shots in that range, was the HC/MC I was feeding simply not enough to counteract the exogenous insulin at work? OR do green numbers somehow stimulate his pancreas into action, so his pancreas is doing what it's supposed to do, and pulls down whatever carbs I'm putting into him. I'm a little suspicious of this for two reasons - first, if the exogenous insulin was way too much, wouldn't that typically drop him at which point he'd blast back up and bounce? That's what he used to do. But instead, he's sitting there surfing, and surfing, and surfing, albiet in the 40's. nailbite_smile The other interesting thing is that the tiny drop of Karo did finally bring him up just a little bit -- something that the HC was not accomplishing. Am I correct in assuming that HC and Karo work in two slightly different ways to raise BG?
So the next question is, what can I do to tweak how we're handling low numbers? Eddie has no symptoms surfing in the 40's but it sure makes mamabean nervous. I'd much rather he surf a little bit higher. Should I feed more of the HC/MC at a time? I'm giving approximately one teaspoon at a time, but it didn't seem to do much this last cycle. I'm wary of feeding too much at a time in case I have to keep feeding for hours like I did last night. Eddie will never turn his nose up at food, but I don't want him to puke from all the carb-laden foods. Should I try Karo rather than HC/MC if I'm trying to get him up - how do carbs versus Karo differ in how they work (if at all?) Finally, if Eddie's pancreas is in fact kicking in and doing it's thing with all the carbs I'm feeding, I imagine all those carbs give it quite the workout. Should I consider sticking with the LC to tax his pancreas less? Is it possible that Eddie's one of those daredevils that wants to surf in those numbers that make mama bean nervous? nailbite_smile
Thanks for any input. I'm kind of curious to see if the BCS does anything today. I've had just a tiny nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps saying that maybe the crappy numbers that started after we went away for the weekend were due to bouncing, and rather than gradually going back up, maybe we should have gone down? I dunno.
Phew! That was a long night. And rounding out this AM...
+10.5 = 66
+11.5 = 88
+12.5 = 111
AMPS/+13 = 177 (1.0u - BCS)
+3 = 230
+9 = 243
PMPS/+9.5 (2.2u)
+2 = 252
+4 = 243
+5.5 = 206
Initially, with the 111 at +12.5 (which is cutting it fairly close to my leave for work time), I was going to skip, so I fed half of breakfast. I tested again on my way out the door, and Eddie was up to 177, which is probably at least in part due to food. But, since Eddie was rising before the food, I did decide to go ahead and give a 1.0u BCS dose. I will be curious to see what if any effect a BCS has. I haven't had much luck in the past with that, but then again, I suppose some insulin is better than none for the day.
Couple questions:
I fed MC (16%) or HC (21%) several times last night and it barely seemed to nudge Eddie up. Until the last two times he's dived, the one previous time Eddie hit the 30's a few weeks back, one teaspoon of HC brought him right up. When he dipped just below 50 a few weeks ago, a tiny bit of MC would do the trick. I suspect that as much MC or HC as Eddie got last night would blast many kitties right through the roof. I did give him the equivalent of a drop of Karo at one point, which did finally bring him a smidge above 50.
So, I'm trying to figure out 1) why the MC/HC wasn't doing much, and 2) what to do about it in the future. Here's my thoughts on why the MC/HC wasn't doing much to bring him up. Assuming that I got too much overlap on the PM cycle, and that the dose needs to go down for pre-shots in that range, was the HC/MC I was feeding simply not enough to counteract the exogenous insulin at work? OR do green numbers somehow stimulate his pancreas into action, so his pancreas is doing what it's supposed to do, and pulls down whatever carbs I'm putting into him. I'm a little suspicious of this for two reasons - first, if the exogenous insulin was way too much, wouldn't that typically drop him at which point he'd blast back up and bounce? That's what he used to do. But instead, he's sitting there surfing, and surfing, and surfing, albiet in the 40's. nailbite_smile The other interesting thing is that the tiny drop of Karo did finally bring him up just a little bit -- something that the HC was not accomplishing. Am I correct in assuming that HC and Karo work in two slightly different ways to raise BG?
So the next question is, what can I do to tweak how we're handling low numbers? Eddie has no symptoms surfing in the 40's but it sure makes mamabean nervous. I'd much rather he surf a little bit higher. Should I feed more of the HC/MC at a time? I'm giving approximately one teaspoon at a time, but it didn't seem to do much this last cycle. I'm wary of feeding too much at a time in case I have to keep feeding for hours like I did last night. Eddie will never turn his nose up at food, but I don't want him to puke from all the carb-laden foods. Should I try Karo rather than HC/MC if I'm trying to get him up - how do carbs versus Karo differ in how they work (if at all?) Finally, if Eddie's pancreas is in fact kicking in and doing it's thing with all the carbs I'm feeding, I imagine all those carbs give it quite the workout. Should I consider sticking with the LC to tax his pancreas less? Is it possible that Eddie's one of those daredevils that wants to surf in those numbers that make mama bean nervous? nailbite_smile
Thanks for any input. I'm kind of curious to see if the BCS does anything today. I've had just a tiny nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps saying that maybe the crappy numbers that started after we went away for the weekend were due to bouncing, and rather than gradually going back up, maybe we should have gone down? I dunno.
Never knowing when he'll need his shot, no schedule. Crazy.
