4/3 Princess AMPS=183, +3=77, +4=80

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Princess mother

Princess mother

Member Since 2015
So just when I thought we were heading for an OTJ trial, Princess gives me an amps of 183. Not as high as yesterday's amps but just enough to make me give her a shot. I doubled checked it because it is higher than her usual amps numbers and this was her morning number. Maybe I need to not give her a bedtime snack ( 1 tsp of food) and see what happens tonight.
Marie
 
Here's your condo from yesterday. We link them so it's easy to go back and see what was previously discussed.

I heard from Amy/Trixie, Marje/Gracie and Wendy/Neko - The concensus was that Princess is close, but not quite ready yet for an OTJ trial. On a human glucometer, cats ready for an OTJ trial will be mostly under 100 with everything under 120. The AT reads 30-40% higher than human glucometers. So even though she's doing great, Princess still has a lot of tests higher than those ranges.

A couple of "tricks" that can help - one is giving a bite to eat at +9. Just a teaspoon or so can be enough to stimulate the pancreas to produce its own insulin and bring down the numbers a little.

Are you feeding small frequent meals at this point? When a cat is ready to go OTJ that can help minimize a heavy load on the pancreas and can help flatten out blood sugar too.

One other thing that's not really a trick - but sometimes when a cat has great nadirs but lots of higher numbers, people will increase the dose but feed to preven the cat from going below 50 - sometimes a higher carb food can help with that. For example, if you normally feed 4% food, maybe give 8% to prevent her from going below 50. If you want to do that, choose a time when you can monitor and you might only need to increase the dose a tiny bit, maybe back to 0.25u. Then use food to hold her blood sugar up. Even doing that for a few cycles can sometimes make a huge difference. What food and what carbs it will take to accomplish this is a bit of a trial and error thing, depending on how carb sensitive she is.

It's an option for you to consider, anyway. Be encouraged - she's doing really well. She didn't become diabetic instantly and it can take a while to get a cat regulated, or into remission, if it's possible for that cat.
 
julie & punkin (ga) said:
Here's your condo from yesterday. We link them so it's easy to go back and see what was previously discussed.

I heard from Amy/Trixie, Marje/Gracie and Wendy/Neko - The concensus was that Princess is close, but not quite ready yet for an OTJ trial. On a human glucometer, cats ready for an OTJ trial will be mostly under 100 with everything under 120. The AT reads 30-40% higher than human glucometers. So even though she's doing great, Princess still has a lot of tests higher than those ranges.

A couple of "tricks" that can help - one is giving a bite to eat at +9. Just a teaspoon or so can be enough to stimulate the pancreas to produce its own insulin and bring down the numbers a little.

Are you feeding small frequent meals at this point? When a cat is ready to go OTJ that can help minimize a heavy load on the pancreas and can help flatten out blood sugar too.

One other thing that's not really a trick - but sometimes when a cat has great nadirs but lots of higher numbers, people will increase the dose but feed to preven the cat from going below 50 - sometimes a higher carb food can help with that. For example, if you normally feed 4% food, maybe give 8% to prevent her from going below 50. If you want to do that, choose a time when you can monitor and you might only need to increase the dose a tiny bit, maybe back to 0.25u. Then use food to hold her blood sugar up. Even doing that for a few cycles can sometimes make a huge difference. What food and what carbs it will take to accomplish this is a bit of a trial and error thing, depending on how carb sensitive she is.

It's an option for you to consider, anyway. Be encouraged - she's doing really well. She didn't become diabetic instantly and it can take a while to get a cat regulated, or into remission, if it's possible for that cat.
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Hi Julie, thank you and the others for your input. I'm still having trouble with the conversion between human and Alphatrak meters. If numbers on a human meter are supposed to be under 100 on a human meter, does that mean they need to be under mostly under 140 on the alphatrak?

I have not been giving her small meals throughout the day. I have been giving her most of her meal at preshot and then a spoonful around +3 or so. If giving something at +9 would help, what do you do overnight? Her highest numbers seem to be at AMPS.

Another problem I am having is that the vet wants her off the insulin and wont write me another prescription for syringes. He says anything under 1 unit is a waste. I dont agree but this is contributing to my anxiety to get her OTJ.
 
Have you looked on craigslist or ebay for syringes? Just make sure you get the right ones.

I can see why you're stressed about it. Your vet isn't correct - many, many, many cats need less than 1.0u.

When a cat isn't close to OTJ, it can drive up blood sugar if they eat too much in the second half of the insulin cycle (from mid-cycle til the next shot). So most people begin (and might continue) giving most of the food in the first few hours of the cycle. I always fed punkin at preshot and +3 for his meals and other than that it was just pokey treats. But when a cat's pancreas has sputtered back to life then it can be very helpful to spread the food out throughout the cycle. If you're doing that, then you don't need to give that bite at +9. Most people use a timed feeder to give out the bite at +9 in the pm cycle. Who wants to get up in the middle of the night?! But if you get up to go to the bathroom you could give her a bite then.

aw, i just saw Rhiannon's post. Terumos are the best in my opinion. You can also measure tiny amounts more easily in them because their barrel is narrow.

Another option - can you make a trip across into canada to get them? don't know how close you are to the border.
 
forgot your questions about the AT. We don't have any official document on AT #s, but i can do some math approximations for you.

human meter...........add 30-40% for AT
50-100..................68-130/140ish
100-120................130-156/168ish

That's a rough ballpark. That would mean that you'd want pretty much everything 68-140ish max and nothing over 156/168ish. I'd probably use the lower end of those numbers because you want good control to hopefully give the best chance for a lasting remission. Yesterday in Elizabeth's condo Jill had a good explanation of why you continue to give insulin as long as possible. Vicki is also using an AT and Elizabeth is also on a tiny dose and close to remission. You two might want to check in with each other. It can be really nice to have someone else in a similar phase.

If you want to post to Vicki, look on the main page for her condo for today for Elizabeth. It's better than bumping up the older post - that can get confusing.
 
julie & punkin (ga) said:
forgot your questions about the AT. We don't have any official document on AT #s, but i can do some math approximations for you.

human meter...........add 30-40% for AT
50-100..................68-130/140ish
100-120................130-156/168ish

That's a rough ballpark. That would mean that you'd want pretty much everything 68-140ish max and nothing over 156/168ish. I'd probably use the lower end of those numbers because you want good control to hopefully give the best chance for a lasting remission. Yesterday in Elizabeth's condo Jill had a good explanation of why you continue to give insulin as long as possible. Vicki is also using an AT and Elizabeth is also on a tiny dose and close to remission. You two might want to check in with each other. It can be really nice to have someone else in a similar phase.

If you want to post to Vicki, look on the main page for her condo for today for Elizabeth. It's better than bumping up the older post - that can get confusing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the numbers. I will definitely check out Elizabeths condo.

Regarding going to Canada, unfortunately i'm about 7 hours away in New York City!!
 
yikes. well that is not a convenient option!

I'm glad you're going to look into Elizabeth's situation. It's good to have someone to compare notes with!
 
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