Re: 7/1 Guinness PM128|+1 147|+3 75|+3.5 68|+4 81|+4.5 73|+5
i mean instead of waiting til the cat has BG under 50 to treat, i would now give high carb under about 80. honestly, he hasn't gotten that low since he was diagnosed. it was like punkin read his condo! he's been on the speed rise plan since that point.
my goal now is to only try to keep him under 225. that's the magic number that the vet said becomes hard on their organs. I have continued to follow the protocol - increase his dose by .5, wait 3 days and depending on the nadir - which have been mostly in the 200's, i would increase again. at some point if we keep going up i assume we will change to increasing by whole units.
i'll look and see if the links you were given include the one that i included a bunch about acro.
basically what i understand is that the process is this: imagine the cell as though it has a keyhole in it. insulin is key-shaped and has to enter the cell in order to break down the sugar. the tumor in an acro cat puts out a hormone that distorts the shape of the keyhole, preventing the insulin from easily entering the cell.
our tactic is basically to keep putting insulin into the kitty's body until enough manages to get through the keyhole and past the distortion. that tactic is considered the first line of defense in medical management. i forget exactly the phrase, but it is an acceptable plan to manage the illness.
the other treatments include the radiation treatment that you're talking about - that's what Susan took Lanky in for. It is pretty effective. i'm not going to have punkin do it, however - it costs about $5,000 i think not including traveling costs. punkin is 13 now - and being a skittish cat i can't even imagine him enduring the traveling trauma. i didn't know it was done other than in Colorado.
another treatment that is being explored is a 6 month trial using Octreotide - not sure if i have the spelling right. it's a once a month injection. i also considered that but have opted not to do it. apparently in people that drug is very hard on the gut - and it costs several hundred dollars each month. if you participate in the trial they will provide it for 6 months - you pay for your vet to draw the blood, i believe, but the shipping and the drug are covered, but at the end of 6 months you're on your own. the vet said that class of drugs doesn't have a lingering effect, so if there's a benefit, it's only for those 6 months.
after reading the zillion articles we decided to go with the "keep giving them more insulin" plan.
as far as staying here on the Lantus forum, we talked it over and it's entirely reasonable to do that. i am on the facebook group - basically it's one or two people who post their cat's daily numbers and others confirm their dose adjustments. it's valuable and interesting, but i see no reason to stop posting here.
in all of the things i read, i realized that diabetic cats have many side issues - this is simply one of them. you've no doubt seen how many times people have mentioned hyperthyroid & pancreatitis - same thing. acro is just one more.
i feel as competent as anybody about how to address this. just like when you're beginning with the insulin and you basically know what you should be doing, but you just need someone to confirm that you're doing ok. i feel the same way about the acro. it's not a death sentence. guinness may change how he responds to insulin - BUT - didn't he already do that? you've already had him go OTJ once. and btw, i saw someone else who had an acro cat go OTJ because the tumor has the potential to vary its hormone output. again, that is not different than what we've already dealt with. i give punkin the same dose for 6 shots and i get different numbers at +3 each time. every other cat does that too.
the main difference i can see is that my goal is now to keep him in the 100's. i'm having a hard time getting him there, but that's the goal. instead of trying for 50-100, i'm trying for 100-200. if he goes low, the amount of high carb food you give may (likely) need to be more. instead of a teaspoon, you're going to give a tablespoon.
anyway, i think don't worry about trying to absorb it all tonight. there is time. guinness isn't going anywhere! :YMHUG:
