3/6 Rocky PMPS 313 +2 370 +4 342 + 11 407

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Tina & Rocky

Tina & Rocky

Member Since 2013
Good morning!

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=114927

Trying to finish up a lot of loose ends today. Feel like I'm constantly in a hurry. I wonder what it would be like to live life at a slower pace again...

Rocky spent at least 7 hours in the red yesterday after his stretch in green. I am not happy about this. I keep thinking there must be a way to sort of level him out after those great numbers so that his BG isn't climbing so high. What frightens me is that I know the more time spent in those high numbers also means organ damage.

Recap for Rocky's RB yesterday:
AMPS 319
+2 193
+4 304
+6 415
+10 481
+11 413
PMPS 362
+1 403
+3 338
+6 346
+10 309
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky AMPS 238 +2 212 +4 238

I'm going to answer you about the R here - it's helpful to keep everyone's info in one post, just changing the subject line works very nicely.

What I see when I look at Rocky's spreadsheet is that he has been in greens or blues or both every single day for the past 6 days. Not every cycle, but every day. That's pretty good!

Just to offer some perspective, I have heard Sandy say many times that BK didn't have a green for 6 months and he still went OTJ eventually. I don't think a few hours in high numbers is creating as bad of a scenario as you are dreading. The BG number i've heard for concern is over about 250. I know how much you care about him, but i think i would focus on the good numbers rather than the bad. I do see progress.

That's not a direct answer about using R. But I'm not seeing a need for it and I think there is some risk in using it.

Perhaps others will have a different opinion about it, but that's my 2 cents worth.
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky AMPS 238 +2 212 +4 238

I'm not experienced on the dosing end of things, but I noticed that Rocky seems to like to dive during the early part of his cycle, which can often set off a bounce. Even a dive from a red to a yellow can set one off! Have you considered feeding a slightly higher low carb food to slow down that initial dive? I mention that because when Nikki went OTJ she did it in a rather flamboyant fashion ohmygod_smile and I've found that she actually is better off on a mix of lower LC and higher LC food. Her main food now is 10% carbs, which is on the high end of LC.

Just a thought that you might want to experiment a bit and see if it helps smooth out his curve. :-D
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky AMPS 238 +2 212 +4 238 +6 328

Hi Julie, and thanks for your positive words of support. I am just looking for any way to keep his BG lower. If it take 'R' or 'N' to do it, I think it is worth a shot.

Alexis- I have considered feeding those smaller meals throughout the day to maybe stave off a too of a dip. I don't know if it would do any good to prevent those high numbers though. When I asked the vet if I should feed him little bits throughout the day she said "no, feed him only 2x a day." I don't know what her reasoning was on that advise.

I see you feed Nikki 8 times a day? Wow, that was a commitment!! o:-) Is this suppose to keep the BG from moving up? I thought that the food would make him go up, and not down?

All of this is pretty confusing. :roll:
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky AMPS 238 +2 212 +4 238 +6 328

I feed Cobb 6 times a day. He gets a full feeding at shot time and I give him 2 smaller meals during the day, and 2 smaller meals overnight. Eating more often means the pancreas doesn't have to work so hard.
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky AMPS 238 +2 212 +4 238

Hi there :cool:

Rocky is making progress Tina - he has had 2 six hour runs of green within the past week!!!

What I see is you are pushing a little farther in that not only is Rocky seeing low greens, when he does he is spending more time there.
And Rockys extremely protective (and stubborn) liver decides to do you one better.

Regarding R -*Under the present conditions* I think there is a greater chance of it making things worse rather than better.
(if you ever detect the presence of ketones that is another story)

Unlike BK, Rocky seems pretty responsive to insulin - Rocky has great diving potential that does not need to be further encouraged.
Remember - another contributor to bounces, besides how much lower Rocky goes and and how long he stays at those lower numbers is how fast he drops

I've seen CGs get sucked into a never ending cycle of : shoot R, dive, bounce sky high, shoot R in response to the bounce, dive , bounce sky high. . .
All of a sudden you find a whole new layer of complexity has been added to the picture -
It is extremely hard to break out of that endless loop as it requires you stop the R and let the dust settle and correct your L dose.
Waiting out the resulting ugliness is excruciatingly painful.

Sure, the pinks and reds are not the best place to spend time but many LL kitties have spent a whole lotta time there and are no worse for the wear - some like BK went OTJ

I know it's hard to see pinks and reds.
Believe me I know. That's pretty much all I had to look at - relentless pink and red - month after month, after month. . . after month, after month...

I encourage you to practice training your eyes so that when pink and red appear you don't give them so much weight that you are not seeing the whole picture.

Keep doing what you are doing. Eventually the scales will tip in Rockys favor and his liver will stop with the one-upsmanship.
Patience Persistence and Perseverance will prevail.

That's my $0.02 :cool:
 
Fed Rocky and his BG came down

Rocky was happy and meowing at his bathroom door at +7. He seemed hungry. Even though he had already had his morning meal and his +2 meal, I fed him (2)TBS of his normal NVIV 0% carb food. His BG came down nearly 20 points in 3 hours.

Is that normal? Maybe now because of what I did it will be up over 400 now by his evening meal and shot time. :roll: I wanted to see what would happen.
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky AMPS 238 +2 212 +4 238 +6 328 +9 309 +11 398

I guess he paid for that small bite of food at AMPS +7. His BG went up to 398 by AMPS +11. And here I thought I had found the magic cure... :lol:

He is hungry right now, and crying for food.
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky PMPS 313

I've been thinking more about Rocky today and have a couple of thoughts in my head:

i think it's possible that Rocky's blood sugar is improving because the ringworm is being treated. As it resolves you may see more BGs improving.

some cats do better with some carbs. i think that it might be worth trying to move from a 0% to a 4%, for example. we've seen more than once that there are cats whose blood sugar will improve some with an increase in carbs.

if i remember correctly, you're feeding Rocky 3 times a day - is that right? I think you're feeding with preshots and one more time in the daytime cycle. I would add at least one more feeding in the night cycle. One strategy for reducing bouncing is to break the food up into multiple mini-meals divided evenly between the am and the pm cycles. So take his total food, divide it in half and feed at preshot,, +1, +2 for example. This strategy works well to prevent diving and resulting bounces - Rocky doesn't dive but it might be worth trying to see if it helps him. Tinkering with feeding - both carbs and timing - can make a huge difference in flattening out numbers. This is a trial/error type of thing - you have to just try different schedules. Marking ss cells with an * when you feed will note to you and others what your feeding schedule is.

I've mentioned increasing his exercise - he can't be moving much in a bathroom, even if it's good-sized. Can you get a leash for him and let him take you for a walk for even 15 minutes a day?

All of these things have no risk to try and might very well improve his blood sugar. I would definitely give each one a try first before I would consider using R with its accompanying risks. I would also document what I'm doing thoroughly in the spreadsheet so you can look back and see what did and didn't work.
 
Re: 3/6 Rocky PMPS 313 +2 370 +4 342

I was feeding Nikki with an autofeeder and split her meals into 4 during the day and 4 at night. That was mostly because she was too low when she first went OTJ and I was trying to keep her up and level. Different reason for doing it, but the idea is the same. Instead of forcing the pancreas to work hard with just 2 meals a day, it's easier on it to process smaller, more frequent meals. I can't explain the science behind that, but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will come along! :-D

The basic idea is that with 2 meals, the first is mostly gone by the time the insulin starts to kick in, so the blood sugar drops fast. Then Mr. L freaks out, sends out those pesky hormones and BOING! :lol: By feeding smaller meals, there's a more constant level of blood sugar for the insulin to work with and it slows down the drop at onset. Mr. L freaks out less and only boing. happens instead of BOING! Of course, ECID so it's just experimenting to find what works best for Rocky.
 
Thought you should know that the "pre-shot" for Rocky is only about 10 minutes or so. I give him his food, I leave the room while he eats it so that I can go load the syringe with his insulin, and then I come right back and give him his shot.
 
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