8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85 PMPS 200

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Skunky's Mom

Skunky's Mom

Member Since 2014
Hi all. I'm new to TR and last night I increased Skunky's dose from .75 and 1.
And her AMPS, just now, was 78. It was 86 on my Relion Confirm. We switch to the Prime a few days ago, and it has been reading lower in my paired tests.

Not sure what to do here. My gut tells me 1u is too high. Clearly, .75 is too low. So somewhere in between is right. Awfully hard to measure!

I'm really surprised at the 78 for a few reasons. When I tested her at +6.5 she was 192. I'm blown away by such a big decrease between +6.5 and 12 hours after the increased dose.
Plus - her previous dose increases have all taken a few days to kick in - and brought some wonkiness with them.

I overslept today so she didn't have any food between the +6.5 and her AMPS, normally I feed and test her when I get up, around +9 or so.

I plan on doing some yard sale and flea market shopping today, but I won't be gone for more than 2 hours at a time and I won't be far, so I can run home to test.

Help? We're about a half hour past her normal shot time. I'll have to start moving it back soon because anything past 1 a.m. is too late for me.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

if you're not going to be home to monitor, you can't shoot the regular dose and leave. Not the first time when you have no data to show how she responds.

you can give a token dose, say 0.25u.

you can continue to stall until she's rising, or sometimes cats will drop and become unshootable.

you can skip the shot entirely. That will no doubt cause her to go high by tonight, though, just so you expect it.

if you were going to be home, had strips and were able to monitor, i'd shoot the full dose. Yesterday I gave you the link about shooting low - did you have time to read it? When you shoot low it changes the entire game - the cat's BGs might only move a few points over the whole 12 hours. This is the path to OTJ, but you can't do it and leave.

So the choice is yours. If you decide to shoot at all, you want to get a +1 and a +2.

have you retested after the 30 minutes of stalling?
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

Do I need to be home the entire time? Like I said, I won't be gone for more than an hour or 2 at a time.

I haven't rested yet, but it's right at a half hour so i'll go do that now.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

no, you don't have to be home the entire time - at least it's not likely - but you do have to get a +1 and a +2 and decide from there when to test next.

there isn't anything to say this dose is too big. a 78 amps doesn't say that. at least not if your goal is to have miss skunky become diet-controlled and go off of insulin. I should ask - is remission your goal?
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

Woo hoo. She was 97 at retest (and I had fed her when I gave her her amps, like always)

She was also lying by the food bowl giving me the stink eye. So she was hungry, which I assume had something to with the low numbers. I figured today was a good day to break out the can of friskies tuna i had in reserve!

i'm gonna do it and stay close. A skinny 1u
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

goodness yes, remission is my goal.

For sure!

it's just. . . my gut is telling me.

But i'm glad to hear that the 78 isn't too crazy. Just surprising to see the increase kick in so fast, when that never happened before.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

Not everyone's goal is remission - some people just want to maintain, so i'm glad i asked.

i'd shoot the same dose as last night, get the +1 and +2, and go from there.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 78. Skinny? Stall? Scared!

Also, use the 97 as your amps, since that's what you actually shot. the 78 becomes your +12. You can stack the numbers in the preshot column like this:

+12=78
+12.5=97

That tells us that you stalled for 1/2 hr and she rose, then the 97 became the amps.

Lantus works much better on lower numbers than higher numbers. Hopefully you're going to see a nice flat cycle today.

If you can update the subject line of your first post in this thread with each of your new test numbers, that lets people see the test results from the main page. That way we can see if you need help and how it's going. I'll watch for your +1 and +2. I'm headed out to a quilt show but will wait for you, since i encouraged you to shoot. :mrgreen:

so now your subject line will be 8/31 Skunky AMPS 97
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall.

Thank you Julie!
I set an alarm on my phone for my +1.

Thanks for the tip on the spreadsheet, i'll go try and fix it.

I was also wondering how to indicate that a test is really like +6 1/2 etc, because mine aren't always on the hour. I've seen other people's SS show them sort of in between.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall.

I couldn't make the spreadsheet work kept giving me error messages, so i indicated in notes.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall.

putting it in the comments section works just fine. sometimes the spreadsheets are cranky! :lol: you may have needed a space in between the = sign and the numbers, although it has worked for me.

you can stack the numbers in the test columns, then you color in the cell by using the icon that looks like a beaker to fill in the background. usually it doesn't matter too much what the interval was between the tests when we're looking back at it - we know it's going to be roughly 20-30 minutes in between tests, so we probably don't need the number of minutes between the tests.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1 = 105

Plus 1 is 105.

She did eat quite a lot of the kitty crack ;-)

I'll check again at +2. Enjoy your quilt show!

I may feed her a little bit more now, too. O rmaybe wait another hour?

I was wondering about tonight's shot. . . . when can I start backing the shots up 15 minutes? Right now we're looking at 1:30 a.m. Good thing tomorrow is a holiday!

Will I need to get a +1 and +2 tonight? I always get a +6 or so, lately.
thanks!
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1 = 105

Also - a quick hypo question. In the worst case scenario of having to do the rectal syringe of syrup (maple is what I have).
How much does one use in that case?

At what point do I start giving high carb food and syrup on the gums? Hopefully we won't get to this point . . .
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1 = 105

it's pretty impossible to predict what might happen tonight. She may bounce from being in normal numbers today. Let's see where she is tonight to know about testing.

you can most likely shoot her 15 minutes early tonight. if she's high in a bounce, for example, maybe over 300, you could shoot the full 1/2 hr early.

The 105 at +1 tells us she got a little bit of a spike in her blood sugar from eating. That's good to know.

the timing of shooting at 1am/pm might make it hard to test in the pm cycle. Do you have any flexibility on that? I shot at 7am/pm because i go to bed at 11:30 most of the time, so it was easy to get a +4.5 in the evening cycle most nights.

you can feed her on your normal schedule. often when a cat gets into greens, we suggest giving 2 teaspoons of low carb canned food to encourage them to surf along in green numbers.

is the kitty crack the dry food? http://www.catinfo.org has a section on transitioning dry food addicts to canned food. You might find something helpful on there.

i've never had to give syrup rectally. if you're monitoring, you likely won't get to that point. The only time I've seen a crisis like that was when someone arrived new to us already in the crisis.

when Skunky goes below 50, you give one teaspoon of gravy from high carb cat food, or a drop or two of the maple syrup and then retest in 15-20ish minutes. Some cats it takes 30 minutes to show up in the bloodstream. The exact details are in the "Shooting and Handling Low Numbers" sticky at the top of this forum. 40's aren't a crisis, but they are a "take action" zone. Jersey, who is OTJ, was 37 yesterday - non-diabetic cats run from the 30's to low 100's. When a cat is getting insulin, however, you want a safety cushion and the 40's are that for us. Once you've done it a few times, you gain confidence that you'll be able to steer her blood sugar by doling out little bits of carbs. When you realize you can control things, it gets a lot less scary. :-D
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84

Thanks. +2 was 84. So. . . that's good right? But it does denote a pretty active cycle

Nah, Kitty Crack is the Friskies Tuna :-)
No dry food for this one. I'm an obsessive researcher.

I'm going to give her a touch more food and retest in 2 hours.

Thanks so much for making this much less scary. It's starting to be more exciting, less terrifying.

My normal schedule is noon and midnight. it's perfect for me. We just got behind over the weekend, plus the 30 minute stall, make it a bit weird. I want to get back to noon and midnight as soon as I can.

When/if I board her, I'll have to probably drop a shot to get back on a "normal" person's schedule.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84

she's dropped a little bit compared to the amps, so yes, equal to or less than ps denotes an active cycle.

i'd probably get a +3.5 rather than waiting for a +4.

When she gets below 50, that's your signal to take action. give her that teaspoon of yummy gravy, post here and ask for help. You can refer to the Low Numbers sticky too.

When she gets close to 50 I'd move to testing every 30 minutes.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84

Now that I think of it, I THOUGHT the noon and midnight was the perfect schedule for us, but I never really worried about getting +1 and +2 numbers, just the +6 and +8.

If I need to get a +1 and/or +2 regularly, i'll work on moving it to 10 and 10, maybe.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84

Ok, great. Thanks! I hope you get to enjoy your quilt show!
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84

i had to edit my last post - sorry i keep wanting to write HIM. my apologies, miss funky skunky! cat_pet_icon
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

you don't always need a +1 - it lets you know if there is a food spike.

The +2 is valuable because it can act as a pointer to tell you how the rest of the cycle might play out. If it's higher than the preshot, then you might be seeing a bounce beginning. If it's about the same as the preshot, that signals a normal, active lantus cycle, where the numbers decline until mid-cycle, then go back up at the next preshot. If it's significantly less than the preshot, that's a red flag for you that Skunky might be clearing a bounce or heading for a dose reduction because she's dropping quickly.

I'm stalking her ss and see the 80's are continuing through +5. This is about as perfect of a cycle as a person could hope for! Flat 80's! this is Lantus at its best. you're at a good dose and its holding the blood sugar down, but not so low as to worry you.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

Thanks! Yes, it's starting to get exciting! I just tested her at +6, and it was 74, so still good. Her nadir tends to run around +8.

Tell the teacher we're surfing. . . . . :razz:
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

Thanks for talking me through this!

And no worries about calling Skunky a "him." Seems like everybody does it. that's why I just added "Miss" to my signature - today!
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

you're welcome. everybody is nervous the first time - you just assume that if 1.0u moved her 100 points a few days ago when you shot (hypothetically speaking) a 300, then if you shoot the same dose in a 75, kitty's going to end up hypo. But what you experienced today is Lantus' typical MO when shooting normal numbers. It's an entirely different game than shooting a high number.

thanks for being brave, trusting the internet stranger, and going for it! :-D

oh yeah, and you want to fly Mr. Greenie while Skunky's green! :mrgreen:
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

I'm very interested to see what happens tonight, for my PMPS, and overnight. So glad it's a holiday.

but yes, how nice and flat she is! So far ;-)
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

95 at +7
So I guess we're heading back up. Now I may feel safe going to Kroger! :-)
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

Thank you Julie!
and I still got to go to the flea market (it's like 1/2 mile away so that makes it easier ;-)
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

the little things really matter with FD, don't they?! :-D you need to be able to get out and not worry the whole time.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

She's 115 at +10, which, I'm guessing, is a perfectly normal number, and I can probably shoot 15 minutes early tonight!

Julie I'm glad you live way out west . . . 3 hours behind!
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

Sorry your post didn't get caught in time. When you have a question, you can use the post icon ? In the first post in this thread and it will also show on the main page. People helping will look first for the question marks.

For next time, you can shoot 15 min with every cycle or 30 min once per 24 hrs to get back on schedule.
 
Re: 8/31Skunky's AMPS 97 after stall. +1=105, +2 =84 +3.5 85

No worries.
PMPS - 200!

One last question. . . I'm planning to shoot and go to bed, and get up and do a +2. I guess that number will determine how many more times I have to get up!

I figure around +5 or so, and then maybe one more time, depending on how low she goes.

Thoughts?
 
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