55 BG last night; 385 AMPS this morning

Suzanne & Darcy said:
Are you thinking increase?
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I don’t know. Do you think I should? Maybe I’ve been waiting too long to increase in the past.

Tonight will be 8 cycles at 3.25u, which is the highest dose he’s ever been on. Other than a couple of greens in the third cycle, and yesterday’s yellow flatline, his nadir has been blue.

Should I increase in the morning?
 
Well, tonight will be five cycles since he was in green. You can what he does tonight and decide if you want to wait a full six cycles before increasing.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Well, tonight will be five cycles since he was in green. You can what he does tonight and decide if you want to wait a full six cycles before increasing.
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That sounds like a plan. If he’s still in blue tonight and isn’t too low at AMPS, I’ll probably increase to 3.5U in the morning.

Would you do that rather than doing two more cycles tomorrow during the day and at night? As I said, I’m thinking I’ve been waiting to long before increasing.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
It sounds like a good plan to me. How is Beau doing?
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He’s been doing pretty well. He looked like he felt a little punky yesterday while he was in the yellows. But after last night and now today, he is perkier again. I can really see the difference in him when he’s in the blue.
 
Sharon555 said:
He’s been doing pretty well. He looked like he felt a little punky yesterday while he was in the yellows. But after last night and now today, he is perkier again. I can really see the difference in him when he’s in the blue.
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That’s good. He’s more comfortable in the lower numbers. I hope you are well, too.
 
Yes, it’s always good to see him feeling more like himself. I’m doing OK, too. Still not always sleeping because I want to test and see where he is at 2 or 3 in the morning, which is usually when his nadir is. But I’m retired, so I can take an early morning nap after everyone in the house is fed and Beau has his shot.
I hope you are also doing well.
 
Sharon555 said:
Yes, it’s always good to see him feeling more like himself. I’m doing OK, too. Still not always sleeping because I want to test and see where he is at 2 or 3 in the morning, which is usually when his nadir is. But I’m retired, so I can take an early morning nap after everyone in the house is fed and Beau has his shot.
I hope you are also doing well.
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You do an amazing job of keeping track of him! I’m all right. Just really busy with kitten rescue and family stuff too. Have a good night!
 
I increased Beau’s dose to 3.5 this morning.
Just tested him at +2.5 and he’s at 58, so it really hit him. I wish I had checked him at +2. He did just eat a small meal.

I will definitely be keeping a close eye on him the rest of the morning.
 
Well, dang it! I just tested him 30 minutes later, at +3 and he’s already up to 183. How is that possible? I did double check. Now I wish I had retested at the 58. Not like me to not retest just to make sure. I think it just caught me off guard. Maybe I shouldn’t have fed him more. He usually gets a small late breakfast between +3 and +4. 183 would be more of what I was expecting at +3. Have I messed it up by not just letting that 58 ride for another 30 minutes. :arghh:
:mad:
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
I see he’s back down to 91. That must’ve been some high carb food that made him go up like that?
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That’s what it looked like to me. I thought the 58 may have been because the increased amount of insulin hit before his breakfast did. Then he had his snack at about +2. It was what he usually eats … FF pate, Chicken & Liver or Turkey & Giblets. But I’ve been in sort of a quandary about the food lately. Both of these pates are 2% carbs on Dr Pierson’s list. At one point in time I felt they may be higher because his numbers seemed to be higher. I know that her database is from 2017 and I had heard some of FF’s formulas have changed. So I checked these two using the balance.it calculator as well as another. The %carbs come out to be about 8 and 6. It has caused me to not trust the chart because most of the pates are coming out higher. He does seem to be carb sensitive and I want his food to be under 4%. Maybe this is part of his “problem?” I’ve been told the calculators could be off slightly, but that is a big difference. I have bought some of the fancy feast pate with savory centers which are lower and have been mixing it with the other. Perhaps I should try just feeding him that and see what happens.

Yes, he started dropping after that 183 and is now at 91. So I am feeling better.
 
Well, that 3.5U may be where he needs to be. We had 4 straight cycles in the greens. But today popped with a 277 at +3. It’s dropped to 190 +5, so doubtful we’ll hit green this cycle, but you never know.
I had mentioned his food. One thing that has been different besides the dose increase the last two days is that he’s eaten mainly the FF savory centers which are very low in carbs. This morning he had the Turkey Pate, which I think is now higher than on the list. Maybe a coincidence? We’ll see what happens after dinner. The Savory Feast is more expensive than the regular pate, but if it works better for him, I’ll buy it. I’ll also search and try foods that are 2% carbs or less, if that is what he needs.
 
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That didn’t last long, sadly and frustratingly. After 4 beautiful green cycles, we were blue yesterday and 331 by +8 last night. And now AMPS 390! He’s dropped to 297 at +3 this morning. Do I attribute this to a bounce?

Breakfast yesterday was a mixture of FF Savory Centers and Turkey & Giblets Pate, same as all of the last week. Last night and this morning he ate just FF Savory Centers, which are less than 2% carbs, so I don’t think that’s it.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
But I see that today you have again had a wonderful stretch of greens!
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Yes! With the exception of a couple of minor bounces, Beau had been in the greens a lot … 7 of the last 9 cycles. I’ve been keeping a close eye on him. I get a little worried when he hits 60, but so far he hasn’t dropped under 58, which was today. I’ve been feeding him the Savory Centers which seem to keep him lower. The Turkey & Giblets pate seems to raise his BG into blues and higher greens. I really like seeing how good he seems to feel when he is in the greens and lower blues.

I feel like we are making some progress.
 
Sharon555 said:
Yes! With the exception of a couple of minor bounces, Beau had been in the greens a lot … 7 of the last 9 cycles. I’ve been keeping a close eye on him. I get a little worried when he hits 60, but so far he hasn’t dropped under 58, which was today. I’ve been feeding him the Savory Centers which seem to keep him lower. The Turkey & Giblets pate seems to raise his BG into blues and higher greens. I really like seeing how good he seems to feel when he is in the greens and lower blues.

I feel like we are making some progress.
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It really is great to hear that he's feeling better in these lower, healthier numbers. Since you are following MPM, it's okay for him to be in these mid-greens. You don't want him to drop below 50 on your ReliOn pet meter, but I totally understand your nervousness.

Yesterday, I think he just had a little bit of a bounce (which started in the previous night's cycle with the pink) but it didn't last long and her trended downward all day and finally got to green. I know you were concerned about those higher numbers, but they didn't last long. His nadirs have almost all been in the desired target range for following MPM dosing protocol, so I'm really happy with this 3.5 unit dose for him right now. Keep up the good work; you never know when Beau may decide he wants to earn a reduction in dose :)
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
It really is great to hear that he's feeling better in these lower, healthier numbers. Since you are following MPM, it's okay for him to be in these mid-greens. You don't want him to drop below 50 on your ReliOn pet meter, but I totally understand your nervousness.

Yesterday, I think he just had a little bit of a bounce (which started in the previous night's cycle with the pink) but it didn't last long and her trended downward all day and finally got to green. I know you were concerned about those higher numbers, but they didn't last long. His nadirs have almost all been in the desired target range for following MPM dosing protocol, so I'm really happy with this 3.5 unit dose for him right now. Keep up the good work; you never know when Beau may decide he wants to earn a reduction in dose :)
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I thought it was a bit of a bounce, but was happy it didn’t last long. Those darn pinks! And even high yellows now annoy me. We’re getting spoiled.

Speaking of a desired range for MPM, I know we want them to hold greens, but what would that range be? Up to 120? I’m using the ReliOn human meter.

I know a reduction won’t come until he is below 50, correct? And that’s hypo! :nailbiting:
 
Sharon555 said:
I thought it was a bit of a bounce, but was happy it didn’t last long. Those darn pinks! And even high yellows now annoy me. We’re getting spoiled.

Speaking of a desired range for MPM, I know we want them to hold greens, but what would that range be? Up to 120? I’m using the ReliOn human meter.

I know a reduction won’t come until he is below 50, correct? And that’s hypo! :nailbiting:
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Greens are addicting! With MPM, we would like to see nadirs of between 50 and 100. Obviously, that's not always going to happen, but hopefully we will see it quite often. Beau has been cooperating nicely lately :) 50 isn't really a hypo number. Non-diabetic cats are frequently at (or below) 50, however, 50 definitely is your "take action" number because of the addition of insulin exerting a possible downward effect on blood glucose, we don't want to allow Beau to go below 50. A non-diabetic cat wouldn't have that going on, right? So if Beau does hit 50, we want to first give a low carb snack and then retest in 20 minutes to see if he's surfing in green and to make sure he hasn't dropped any lower. If he has then you give high carb food and/or karo syrup (depending on the number and the situation and the cat's response to carbs) and retest in 20 minutes to make sure the BG has come up. After that, you know the drill I'm sure, for how to handle low numbers. But I just wanted to point out that you don't need to be frightened if you do see a 50, but you do need to be vigilant and do some extra food intervention and testing at that point. If this should happen, we would need to adjust his dose. Hopefully, this will not happen (at least for a while) because he is doing great on this dose. Perhaps in the future, as his pancreas hopefully heals, he will earn reductions and will get to a lower dose of insulin and still will be seeing those great "healing green" numbers. I hope this makes sense. If not, just ask more questions. I've got to run out of the house right now, but can check back in on your sweetie later.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Greens are addicting! With MPM, we would like to see nadirs of between 50 and 100. Obviously, that's not always going to happen, but hopefully we will see it quite often. Beau has been cooperating nicely lately :) 50 isn't really a hypo number. Non-diabetic cats are frequently at (or below) 50, however, 50 definitely is your "take action" number because of the addition of insulin exerting a possible downward effect on blood glucose, we don't want to allow Beau to go below 50. A non-diabetic cat wouldn't have that going on, right? So if Beau does hit 50, we want to first give a low carb snack and then retest in 20 minutes to see if he's surfing in green and to make sure he hasn't dropped any lower. If he has then you give high carb food and/or karo syrup (depending on the number and the situation and the cat's response to carbs) and retest in 20 minutes to make sure the BG has come up. After that, you know the drill I'm sure, for how to handle low numbers. But I just wanted to point out that you don't need to be frightened if you do see a 50, but you do need to be vigilant and do some extra food intervention and testing at that point. If this should happen, we would need to adjust his dose. Hopefully, this will not happen (at least for a while) because he is doing great on this dose. Perhaps in the future, as his pancreas hopefully heals, he will earn reductions and will get to a lower dose of insulin and still will be seeing those great "healing green" numbers. I hope this makes sense. If not, just ask more questions. I've got to run out of the house right now, but can check back in on your sweetie later.
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Thank you! That all makes perfect sense. I’ll try not to stress too much about hitting 50. I’ve just been so afraid of a hypo situation now that he has had lower numbers so often.

I do love seeing those nadirs in the good range.

Thanks for keeping an eye on us. It is appreciated.

Oh, and I shot at a green last night. It’s the second time, but the numbers were about the same as the first time, so I felt fairly confident. It felt good, but still a little nerve wracking.
 
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Sharon555 said:
Thank you! That all makes perfect sense. I’ll try not to stress too much about hitting 50. I’ve just been so afraid of a hypo situation now that he has had lower numbers so often.

I do love seeing those nadirs in the good range.

Thanks for keeping an eye on us. It is appreciated.

Oh, and I shot at a green last night. It’s the second time, but the numbers were about the same as the first time, so I felt fairly confident. It felt good, but still a little nerve wracking.
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Oh, believe me, I understand that anxiety. When my cat hit below 68 for the first time I freaked out and gave him a full can of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers cat food, which was the wrong thing to do! But I was told that 68 was my take action number (not on this Board but on a non-affiliated Facebook group) and I took action!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Oh, believe me, I understand that anxiety. When my cat hit below 68 for the first time I freaked out and gave him a full can of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers cat food, which was the wrong thing to do! But I was told that 68 was my take action number (not on this Board but on a non-affiliated Facebook group) and I took action!
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Oh wow!! I’ll bet you stopped that drop dead in its tracks! I did something similar the first time I hit numbers under 70 at night. I freaked out, sure my boy was going to hypo! But, that’s how we learn, I guess.
And, now, here I am shooting 3.5u at the very same BG that had me freaked out and in tears.
 
Sharon555 said:
Oh wow!! I’ll bet you stopped that drop dead in its tracks! I did something similar the first time I hit numbers under 70 at night. I freaked out, sure my boy was going to hypo! But, that’s how we learn, I guess.
And, now, here I am shooting 3.5u at the very same BG that had me freaked out and in tears.
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It sure did stop the drop! And Darcy thought it was just great as he loved that gravy. And you are doing great!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
It sure did stop the drop! And Darcy thought it was just great as he loved that gravy. And you are doing great!
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Thanks! I am doing my best. My Beau Boy is special. He was my constant companion after my husband died. He gave me so much comfort. Now it’s my turn to be there for him. I will do everything in my power to get him regulated and help him get back to being the sweet love he was before the diabetes. I am hopeful when I see the changes in him at those healthy numbers. :D
 
Sharon555 said:
Thanks! I am doing my best. My Beau Boy is special. He was my constant companion after my husband died. He gave me so much comfort. Now it’s my turn to be there for him. I will do everything in my power to get him regulated and help him get back to being the sweet love he was before the diabetes. I am hopeful when I see the changes in him at those healthy numbers. :D
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Oh wow. I’m so sorry about your husband passing away. Hugs! That is extra special about Beau being there for you during such an immensely difficult time of your life. I feel so sad for you though. As for Beau, you have already helped him so much. Thank you for sharing that about him and about your husband. Every cat here is so special in so many ways, but we don’t always get to know just how many ways — especially since sometimes it’s hard to put into words just how special our fur babies are to us... and why… and sometimes it’s too painful or personal to share.
 
Beau has kept me going the last 2 cycles. With a PMPS of 150 last night, I felt comfortable shooting. But he was 102 by +2, so I was up most of the night testing and making sure he didn’t drop. AMPS 99 after waiting 25 minutes to retest. At +5 I was surprised to see a 46! I retested right away and he was at 57, so he got a low carb snack. He started rising on subsequent tests. I don’t need to reduce because of that 46 that was a 57 when I retested, do I? I don’t really want to. I’d like to keep these healing greens coming.
 
One thing you can try if you are determined to keep him at this dose is to test him at about +10 and feed him a few more carbs snack (like just before +10). If you see at this just before +10 test that he is going to have a low preshot, you can give the small mid-carb snack and use it to see if you can bring his numbers up a bit before the shot time (to start him off a little higher.) This is something I would only recommend to someone who has a lot of data on their spreadsheet and is committed to testing as much as necessary during the cycle to make sure Beau is safe. This is another strategy to keep him at a dose for a little longer. At some point, he may really be telling you that he's ready for a reduction and that is actually a good thing and not a bad thing.
 
You've been doing a great job and testing like crazy. We can see he's doing well on this dose. He may end up earning a reduction at some point, but if so, as I said, it's a good thing generally. And if not, you can always go back up. It's not unusual for a cat to go back and forth in doses at times.
 
Thank you. With the 90 at +4 I figured he would probably be around 100 at shot time..
I will do as you suggest …. test just before +10, then give him a mid-carb snack to try to bring him up a little higher.

I have been thinking that with all of the recent BG in the 50s that we may be looking at a reduction soon. I’ve been looking at it as a negative rather than a positive, thinking his numbers will start to go up again.
 
Sharon555 said:
Thank you. With the 90 at +4 I figured he would probably be around 100 at shot time..
I will do as you suggest …. test just before +10, then give him a mid-carb snack to try to bring him up a little higher.

I have been thinking that with all of the recent BG in the 50s that we may be looking at a reduction soon. I’ve been looking at it as a negative rather than a positive, thinking his numbers will start to go up again.
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I understand. We do hope it will be a positive. That's why we congratulation people when their cat's earn reductions. In this case though, I think you are doing the right thing in keeping him at this dose for at least a little bit longer. There are benefits to doing it that way -- sometimes later, their bodies are more "ready" to handle a reduction. This is just for people who are able to do the amount of testing that you do, of course.
 
And … not only is he higher, but we have the bounce that you said was a possibility. 285!! Rats! But I’m not surprised. He was pretty low for a few hours. :arghh:
 
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That wasn’t too bad. He got right back down into some low blues. That’s very good. Maybe he didn’t need that +10 snack after all. It’s a lot of trial and error with deciding at what number you want to do it- and what kind of food to give. You don’t want to shorten the duration of the insulin, but you don’t want to have kitty too low at preshot time if you’re trying to hold a dose.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
That wasn’t too bad. He got right back down into some low blues. That’s very good. Maybe he didn’t need that +10 snack after all. It’s a lot of trial and error with deciding at what number you want to do it- and what kind of food to give. You don’t want to shorten the duration of the insulin, but you don’t want to have kitty too low at preshot time if you’re trying to hold a dose.
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I agree. Maybe he was heading up and didn’t need that little mid-carb snack. It was only a 4%, but he is a little carb sensitive.

Preshot this morning is about what it was yesterday at 253. We’ll see if today trends the same.

I know when they are running high, they eat more because they are hungrier. As they start to have healthier trends, as Beau is doing, do they begin to eat less? At one time he was scarfing down 1 1/2+ cans of FF at his morning and evening meal, in addition to a snack at at least +3 or +4, morning and evening. Now he seems to be happy with only 1 can, but still likes his snacks.
 
I’m feeling a bit defeated and depressed tonight. Beau has been doing so very well. His numbers have been great, especially during the daytime cycles. I felt like we were making really good progress and maybe working towards a reduction. He had a PMPS of 129 tonight. But when I tested at +3 I was surprised he was at 330. And now 385 at +5. He definitely didn’t get into anything and he ate the same thing he’s been eating all week. I didn’t expect a bounce after doing so well for this length of time. :(
 
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Sorry I didn't reply. I did check in on your spreadsheet, but I was not well over the weekend. I see he had a great cycle after that mini bounce (very quick). I'm wondering what kind of food bump that is (today's cycle). It's really amazing to me that he went from an AMPS of 124 up to 229 in only two hours. And he only eats LC food. Maybe it's just that his insulin hadn't yet kicked in at +2, but he's still higher than AMPS at +4. Great job of testing as always. He definitely is making progress and spending much more time in good numbers, which is good for his health. Keep up the good work!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Sorry I didn't reply. I did check in on your spreadsheet, but I was not well over the weekend. I see he had a great cycle after that mini bounce (very quick). I'm wondering what kind of food bump that is (today's cycle). It's really amazing to me that he went from an AMPS of 124 up to 229 in only two hours. And he only eats LC food. Maybe it's just that his insulin hadn't yet kicked in at +2, but he's still higher than AMPS at +4. Great job of testing as always. He definitely is making progress and spending much more time in good numbers, which is good for his health. Keep up the good work!
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Thank you for checking in on his spreadsheet. I thought you probably were. I hope you are feeling better.
I don’t usually don’t do a +2 test because I get thrown since it’s always higher. I just assume it’s that the insulin hasn’t kicked in. The +3 always makes me feel better. But 184 at +4 was very unexpected. Maybe another mini-bounce from staying low last night? His food is very low carb because he’s only eating FF savory centers, which is only about 1%. No changes there. We’ll keep going with the 3.5 until we (you :)) see signs that he may be ready for a reduction. At this point I’m very happy with where he is and I can tell, as usual, that it makes him feel better.
 
69 AMPS, even after waiting 30 minutes. Gave him a shade under 3.5. He was 73 @ +2. Gave him his low carb mid-morning snack early. Tested 43, then 45 @ +3. Fed him some 4% carb, which should bring him up. This after he was in the 50s all night. Does this mean he’s earned a reduction? Or should I see how he does tonight?
 
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