4/9 Sid update - sorry for the delay

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Lydia & Sid & Jake(GA)

Lydia & Sid & Jake(GA)

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Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted. I've been checking on everyone though. When I get worried I'm not as good about posting and I realize that is counterproductive to the point of this forum. I apologize about that and will try to be better in the future. I've been worried about Sid because he is still dropping even on the 1.2 dose. The other day he dropped from 600 to 166 by +3.5. It was very stressful but maybe the drop was related to his somewhat diminished appetite. He will eat enough I think though. He has so many red and blacks in his SS along with the green that it is disheartening. This morning I gave him about 1/8 tablet of the mirtzapine and he had a definite improvement to his appetite. I also contacted Cornell to have a phone consultation about him done. I will let you all know what they say.

While his bgs are completely crazy and his appetite is less, his attitude is good. He is playful and was actually running through the place last night.

It was very interesting discussion of eye problems! A vet told me that sid's problem is probably due to being born with the herpesvirus. He was born without eyelids and had surgery to create eyelids done when he was an adult (before I adopted him - I just adopted him last May). He should have had drops in his eyes every day but never did so his eyes are very damaged. I give him drops twice/day though. I can't repair any damage but maybe prevent it worsening. He can see pretty well though.

Thank you for checking on us Carolyn! You can post here anytime :-D
 
Glad to hear he's getting along well. The playing is truly a good sign!

The herpes virus is supposedly in most cats (at least the ferals, I would assume), some just don't get active. I imagine those that missed out on some TLC and regular vet visits, care, shots might be more prone to outbreaks. I think that's pretty much what my Tango has, although her's hasn't been diagnosed. She sees clearly, just has one runny eye and sinus stuff - occasionally. Usually the AB knocks it out, although I wasn't aware about Convenia before the last couple of months, and that was what she was treated with - more than once.

I can't believe the point spread - that's huge! I'm guessing you don't get much sleep at night, knowing that he could be dropping that much. In spite of Grayson's high numbers, I guess I really should be grateful that I get to sleep!

Sid is very fortunate to have come into your life - it sounds like you've been wonderful to him! Hope he continues to improve each day!

Lu-Ann
 
Sue and Samwise (it might be written together) were Prozinc users at one time and Sammy use to have big drops and swings like you are seeing. He would be in the 400 and 500 range at preshot and drop into the greens quickly. They are now using Lantus, but you might want to check out her SS and see if it sheds any light on Sid's situation. I am glad Sid is eating better. The "face" I talked about last week with Kitty during eating....and you said Sid did it also....the vet said was nausea. They related it to a type of lip smaking. Since Kitty has started eating some, she has stopped doing it. So, maybe it is nausea.

Good Luck with the Consult. And, how nice of you to give Sid a Great Home!

Keep us updated on Sid.
 
No appolgies necessary Lydia, we all do what we can, when we can, just wondering about you and hoping all was well :-D
Sid is indeed a lucky kitty to have you as his bean. Him being playful is wonderful. The whole cat report is very important! Good on ya both. Good luck with the consultation too.
 
Good luck with tthe consultation..
I have everything crossed that it will be helpful...
keep us posted and hang in there!
 
Oh, Lydia. I am so sorry you're having such a challenge right now. Glad to hear that Sid is acting fine. I hope his appetite gets better. Those damn blk & reds :oops: I noticed a few weeks ago that you gave R again. Are you still doing that? I am just looking for a pattern and remember that R kind of did that to Sid. Just a suggestion... if you could add back to his SS his food intake. I am not sure if you have it somewhere else... maybe you keep a notebook too, but it's those little things that can make a difference when you're looking back to see what needs to be noticed. Have you thought about going TID since you're up so much taking BG's? I am just not familiar with how R works, so I am just wondering if a smaller dose of Prozinc at TID would help keep Sid out of those high numbers. Good luck with the consultation and keep us posted! BTW, I just saw that you did give R the other day.
 
Oh my, Lydia! I just saw that Sid hit 23 last night. I hope you're doing alright nailbite_smile Just know I am thinking of you guys. Just thought about this too, so I will throw it out there. What if you went to regular cat food and figured out what dose to give Sid. I don't know if that's a smart idea or not. Like I said, I am just throwing it out there. I am just wondering with everything that Sid is going through... maybe the low carb food is making him drop so much? I hope you both are doing ok. (((((HUGS))))))
 
Yes, Sid is freaking me out. Last night he was acting not quite hypo but not himself at 23 so I had to give him some karo syrup. Of course he came back up and has been high all day today. The food he eats is 10% carb but I mainly just feed him whatever he will eat. I can add the food back into the SS if it would help. When he hits the lowish numbers (60 or less), I give him some HC but it doesn't seem to make a difference in how much he drops or doesn't drop. I have not yet had a consultation. I thought it was going to be today but I did not receive a call.

Oh and Michelle, I have not given any R except the one day it is noted on the SS. And I only gave him a very tiny amt and it hardly dropped him at all. So I'm not sure what is going on with him but it is making me a little crazy. The thing I'm worried about with TID is having him not get enough insulin at one sitting and develop ketones. I think he would do best on a 10 hour TID but I just can't see how to work that in with my work schedule. I'm not sure what to do.
 
Understandably that you're freaked out. I've never seen so many 350-400 point drops in cycles! Wow... looks like he's really keeping you up and on your toes! What a lucky boy to have a mama that does so much for him! Hopefully he'll be settling in soon. Good luck!
 
I am sending extra hugs to you, Lydia! Maybe you could shoot once Sid gets to the 200's and of course adjust the dose. I know this is crazy because you have to sleep & work ohmygod_smile I don't know what else to suggest right now. I am only mentioning this since you are having to test so much anyways. I dunno... I am here for you though. I don't understand how he would not get enough insulin in one sitting if you can try to just shoot as need be once you see him climbing but also adjust the dose as you go along? If this isn't making any sense... someone please jump in, ok? I thought you were doing great when he was TID then he started lasting longer but still climbed to the red's by +12 I think it was just a matter of adjusting his dose to keep him out of ketone territory. I do understand that you need to sleep & work, so please, please, please, don't think I haven't thought about that. It's just that I am trying to figure out what you can do until you get some advice from your consultation. I know how worried you get about those ketones. Sending prayers & healing energy!!!!
 
Hi Lydia,

I haven't had too much time to follow your threads...so maybe I'm way off base here...but just a quick suggestion, and hopefully others will offer their opinions...

I am a big fan of TID dosing, and TR, if your schedule allows for this...but it seems to me that duration is not your problem. Your problem is the bounces that come from the lows...and the lows are coming from...too much insulin?? I still can't believe how quickly Sid clears bounces with each new injection, but then he goes too low again, and the nightmare continues. I am honestly not good at interpreting other folk’s spreadsheets, and you know Sid's situation better than anyone...but if it were Marilyn, I would think she was begging for a decrease. He also seems to respond quickly to dose adjustments, without going all "wonky" for days on end...so you can always go right back up if it doesn't work out. He's been trending consistently downward...is it time to try 1.0u? I dunno, it's just a thought.

Another thought...I wonder if a sliding scale would work for Sid. Have you discussed that with anyone yet?

I hope you guys start catching some breaks...you certainly deserve some.
 
Thank you for your thoughts! I have not discussed a sliding dose scale with anyone but I have determined that if Sid is 300 or below at shot time, I am only going to give him 1U. I'm not that good at reading SS, but I've looked at the TID and I don't see where he did that well. He never got down to blue and his AMPS/PMPS were almost always red or black. I do think he was getting too much insulin at that time. That is definitely the case. I remember how ravenously hungry he was and he spent a lot of time under the cat tree. He doesn't do either of these behaviors anymore. Possibly if I gave him less insulin and tried the TID again - maybe... I"m just worried about ketones. And that is also why I worry about reducing his dose. That is what happened on lantus. He dropped every day and was down to 0.1 units. His numbers were not even that high - surely not as high as now and he still went DKA because he wasn't getting enough insulin and he had an infection. But I didn't know he wasn't getting enough insulin because his numbers werent that high. Or I didn't think they were. I appreciate all of your thoughts. I just hope one of the consultations helps.
 
Hi Lydia, I though Sid did great at TID. If you go back and look at his SS around March 24ish things were looking good. You were adjusting the doses etc and I feel you were working towards blue's for his AMPS/ PMPS. Just remember to adjust by 0.1 He then started to lean towards BID, but I feel waiting 12/12 wasn't working since it brought him back to Red's & Blacks. It looked like he definitely needed insulin by +10ish.

Have you looked through Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins website? http://yourdiabeticcat.com/protocol.html
She talks about using a sliding scale. I will have to look through my other computer for what I used for prudence. I don't remember exactly how I did hers, but it was something like... if she was over 150 by +8 I would shoot. I would also make sure she was on the rise @-) DR. Hodgkins also talks about -
In fact, those blood glucose numbers in the 60-120 range are the objective of the protocol. Even if the blood glucose drops to 30-50, do not feed sugar syrup or dry food. A small, high protein wet food meal is all you need for a cat at these numbers and that is more for the owner than the cat.
Click to expand...

Thinking of you guys!!!! Hang in there :YMHUG:
 
Hi Lydia,

I'm sorry that I havn't really been following along, mostly because I have absolutely no experience with shooting R or N along with Prozinc.

I have set up many of the sliding scales here in PZI, so I checked out your ss when someone mentioned sliding scale. Just my 2 cents, since I don't know the whole background about Sid yet but you need to stop those huge swings up and down, that has to make him feel really crappy, and the only way to do that is to lower his dose and let him even out some. Once he has a more even cycle we can put together a sliding scale for Sid.

I think I remember that he gets ketones so you could back down on the dose slowely so he's still getting enough insulin but not so much that he drops 400 points. Maybe back down to 1 unit, test for ketones everyday to stay on top of them, and see how much that helps.
 
Hi everyone,

Well, I gave Sid 1U tonight. His PMPS was 331. I do check his ketones every day and so far I have not seen much increase. Now that his UTI appears to be resolved, it is a lot harder to catch him in the litter box, which is good and bad, but I can check his blood with the nova max. I talked to cornell today. I did not really gain any new information... I think the consultation would be really good for someone that knew next to nothing about diabetes. The doctor mentioned diet (what he is already on <10% carbs) and maybe adding a pancreatic enzyme to his diet. He suggested doing a 24 hour curve (what is on his SS already???) along with a fructosomine, which isn't really necessary since his SS shows his levels. He also suggested having a biopsy of his pancreas done (which I don't agree with - too invasive for Sid). So, we didn't really gain anything, but maybe the pancreatic enzyme would help so I am going to check with his vet on that. Sid is keeping on and I am glad for that :-D
 
Glad he's doing well getting over the UTI - pretty soon he'll be feeling better & back to running around the house!

Interestingly enough, when I spoke w/ my vet last night, I asked specifically about her other patients, and how frequently they "check in" w/ them. She said, after they're regulated, they do a Fruct test every 4-8 months (apparently I'm the only one doing home-testing!) and until they're regulated, check in every 7-10 days. Not sure what exactly they do every 7-10, unless they're running curves... nothing to give her like an updated SS... so unless it's just a check or phone call saying "he's acting normal, or drunk" or something, I'm not really sure what the "normal" client looks like! I never had instructions on checking in, so kinda went on about my own business... but felt that part was lacking. Now I'm sending updated numbers every 2 weeks or so. Just good to know they're there... but invariably, the ketone scare happened when they were already closed... so it's great to have this group to help as well!
 
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