9/2 Mo +4 338 - WE ARE SWITCHING TO LEVEMIR :D :D :D :D

[katy and mo (GA)]

Yesterday

I'm really struggling mentally at the moment. I struggle with anxiety on a daily basis and our life has been so hectic for the last 2 years. I know people have it worse off than me and I should be grateful but I'm struggling to cope with everything at the moment. Mo's health problems are definitely what's triggered my anxiety lately and I just need to talk it through with a professional, so I've booked myself a counselling appointment with someone through work. Hopefully it helps.

Mo seems really stoned today but he was able to growl when I tested him. Still really hates being tested but given he is on strong meds, he didn't fight back. He's eating and drinking well, and peeing and pooing as he should, so that's good. It seems that when he's on his meds, he doesn't purr, just breathes as though he is trying to purr. Before his breakfast this morning, which would have been 12 hours after his last dose of drugs he was purring. So maybe it's time to reduce it dose of gaba and bupe. We have a check up appointment today with our regular vet so I will discuss everything with her. I will again bring up switching to Levemir but no one is going to want to touch anything like that because we are seeing Prue the specialist. Gah. I seriously wish we didn't see that woman.

In terms of the dose, I am absolutely torn. We increased to 4 units last night and i know we should increase more but the goodie two shoes in me doesn't want to go against medical advice. But the logical brain is telling me I should listen to you guys. This is what is causing me ridiculous anxiety at the moment. And then as we all know, Tim can be difficult as well with not wanting to go against official medical advice.

I'm exhausted. I need a break. I'm not coping very well.

I'll update on how the check up goes.

 

[Pamela & Amethyst]

 

[Butters & Lyla]

 

[JaxBenji]

(((Katy))) I must say I'm so relieved to hear you are taking initiative on taking time for yourself Hang in there

 

[tiffmaxee]

We are here for you! I adore my vet and when I joined I couldn’t imagine trusting strangers over him. Soon I learned I needed to do just that. My vet is not big headed or judgmental and stopped giving me dosing advice. He reminded me to send Max’s ss to him every few weeks if I forgot. He showed it to all his 3rd year veterinary students and told me that none of his clients did a better job than I did. Lyla just got a similar compliment from her new vet.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Katy

I am so glad you are posting and telling us how you are coping. I think it is important to vent and talk about things.
I am not surprised you are exhausted. Anxiety will do that. I find if I can’t make my mind up about something, it just goes round and round in my mind and causes anxiety. I find if I can make up my mind how I am going to move forward, I feel less anxious.

It does sound as if the gaba and bupe may need to be reduced. Sheba was completely out to it when I used bupe.

One think that may help is to remember that you are paying Prue for her opinion. You don’t have to act on it. It is just one opinion.
If you went to another specialist you would probably get another opinion ........
I would be asking Prue how many diabetic cats she has treated, how many she has got into remission amd how many times she has reduced the dose drastically and found it solved the problem.

I hope your session with the counsellor goes well and you can find resolution with some of the issues that are causing you this anxiety.

Remember we are here for you always!
Bron

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Dealing with a feline diabetic is exhausting. Adding onto that, pancreatitis, ketones, and maybe something else, just makes it more stressful. Not to mention lack of support at home. We are here for you - use as your support group. Lean on us. Many of us have been in your shoes.

I have my fingers and toes all crossed for today's appointment.

One of my non diabetics was like a complete drunken sailor on too high a bupe dose. Many vets over dose it. There is a range of dosing based on weight of cat, some need more, some less. Gabapentin just knocked Neko out, she slept most of the time on it. Buprenorphine was better for her. Each cat is different, so you need to find what works for Mo.

 

[carfurby (GA)]

Sending prayers.

 

[RachelG]

Big hugs! It can be overwhelming trying to balance different opinions and just wanting to do the right thing for your kitty. I get it, you're not alone.

I hope your visit with the counsellor is good, but also remember self care! Do you have a toolbox of strategies when you experience anxiety? I find having a list of things to do when I'm anxious and stressed helps me. It may be something you can discuss with them.

Xo

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

Thank you so much, everyone

Just went for Mo's checkup. I didn't get the vet I liked as she was on a phone call, so I had my least favourite one instead . She said he's a bit too sedated for her liking so we are to start decreasing the doses of Mo's gaba and bupe but to start one at a time. Do you think I should decrease the gaba or the bupe first? he's currently on 0.3ml of bupe and 50mg of gaba. Does he even need the gaba? We gave him the bupe last night before the gaba and he seemed really out of it after the bupe. Maybe the gaba is unnecessary. Thoughts?

She also tested him for ketones and he was negative so that's good too We may need to go back in tomorrow to see another vet who has been "guiding" us with Mo's diabetes. She is the most invested in Mo but her advice is terrible. They said she will call me and see if it's worth checking him over again. I don't really know why and she didn't say why Janie would need to look him over. She had a good feel of his tummy and pancreas and everything was soft like the vet said yesterday.

I'm hoping the specialist will call me tonight like she said she would last week, especially after everything Mo has gone through this past week.

Thank you all so so much for your kind words. I really, really appreciate it. It's comforting to know I'm not alone in this and I have you all on my side

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

Hi Katy

I am so glad you are posting and telling us how you are coping. I think it is important to vent and talk about things.
I am not surprised you are exhausted. Anxiety will do that. I find if I can’t make my mind up about something, it just goes round and round in my mind and causes anxiety. I find if I can make up my mind how I am going to move forward, I feel less anxious.

It does sound as if the gaba and bupe may need to be reduced. Sheba was completely out to it when I used bupe.

One think that may help is to remember that you are paying Prue for her opinion. You don’t have to act on it. It is just one opinion.
If you went to another specialist you would probably get another opinion ........
I would be asking Prue how many diabetic cats she has treated, how many she has got into remission amd how many times she has reduced the dose drastically and found it solved the problem.

I hope your session with the counsellor goes well and you can find resolution with some of the issues that are causing you this anxiety.

Remember we are here for you always!
Bron

Yes, you are so right! One of the things Prue did say to me was FD remission is short lived so there is no point in aiming for it. WHAT?! That really shocked me for obvious reasons. I think I'm going to go see her however many more times it takes for her to switch Mo to Levemir and to do the Acromegaly test and then I will no longer see her. I'm appalled at the lack of support she's given outside of the appointment.

 

[Marje and Gracie]

(((Katy)))

You and Mo have been through a lot of ups and downs lately. FD is stressful enough without all the additional issues you’ve dealt with.

IMHO, I don’t like or use gabapentin. I don’t like the effects I saw in my kitty that I gave it to. I can’t remember when I’ve seen a vet give both for pancreatitis. Bupe usually does the trick and as was said, it has a dosing range. You can even try a half dose and see how he does.

I know you feel obligated to follow the vet’s advice but I really worry about these high numbers and the time you are losing to glucose toxicity. I certainly don’t want to add to the pressure but I hope you might reconsider the dose.

hang in there....

 

[Christie & Maverick]

Honestly, Katy I don't know how you do it. Coping mechanisms are a funny thing, you never know something that helps until you look back and see that it worked. We're here and we get it, and while we may be screaming in frustration along with you, we are here for you. I'd say first plan of attack, get the Levemir, somewhere not from the specialist, although I have no idea how the title was earned, sorry. The dose probably needs to be increased.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Yes, you are so right! One of the things Prue did say to me was FD remission is short lived so there is no point in aiming for it. WHAT?! That really shocked me for obvious reasons. I think I'm going to go see her however many more times it takes for her to switch Mo to Levemir and to do the Acromegaly test and then I will no longer see her. I'm appalled at the lack of support she's given outside of the appointment.

If it’s going to cost you more money, why go back to Prue?
You can get Levemir from your regular vet, and the acro test as well. I had no trouble getting Levemir from the regular vet. If your vet needs info on where to send the acro test I have a vets name here in Sydney who sends them off to the UK and can get you information.
And as far as remission goes.....Sheba was in remission for almost 3 years. She only fell out because she got sick with something else.
I could name many cats who have been in remission much longer.
And what shocks me most of all is that Prue didn’t ring back after you phoned about the ketones.....
Hang in there ...you have a lot on your plate but you are a warrior!

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

Prue just called me and WE ARE SWITCHING HIM TO LEVEMIR!!!! I'M SO HAPPY OMG.

She finally listened to me and she said he will be better off on Levemir. She will be ordering it in today so we will hopefully have it by early next week. YAAASSSSSSSS!!!!!! I also asked her about the dose decrease for the medications (coz ya know, apparently she's the specialist) and she said we want to start decreasing the bupe to 0.2ml tonight and the Gaba to an 1/8th of a tablet. Then tomorrow take him off Gaba completely.

She also mentioned that the fPL test she did on Mo was a 12.3 which is very high so something was rumbling in his pancreas early last week and probably earlier. WELL I MEAN I COULD HAVE TOLD YOU THAT. But anyway....At least she is giving us the Levemir

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

(((Katy)))

You and Mo have been through a lot of ups and downs lately. FD is stressful enough without all the additional issues you’ve dealt with.

IMHO, I don’t like or use gabapentin. I don’t like the effects I saw in my kitty that I gave it to. I can’t remember when I’ve seen a vet give both for pancreatitis. Bupe usually does the trick and as was said, it has a dosing range. You can even try a half dose and see how he does.

I know you feel obligated to follow the vet’s advice but I really worry about these high numbers and the time you are losing to glucose toxicity. I certainly don’t want to add to the pressure but I hope you might reconsider the dose.

hang in there....

Thank you Marje. I agree with you on the dose. I will talk to Tim about it once he has finished work.

Honestly, Katy I don't know how you do it. Coping mechanisms are a funny thing, you never know something that helps until you look back and see that it worked. We're here and we get it, and while we may be screaming in frustration along with you, we are here for you. I'd say first plan of attack, get the Levemir, somewhere not from the specialist, although I have no idea how the title was earned, sorry. The dose probably needs to be increased.

Thank you so much, Christie

If it’s going to cost you more money, why go back to Prue?
You can get Levemir from your regular vet, and the acro test as well. I had no trouble getting Levemir from the regular vet. If your vet needs info on where to send the acro test I have a vets name here in Sydney who sends them off to the UK and can get you information.
And as far as remission goes.....Sheba was in remission for almost 3 years. She only fell out because she got sick with something else.
I could name many cats who have been in remission much longer.
And what shocks me most of all is that Prue didn’t ring back after you phoned about the ketones.....
Hang in there ...you have a lot on your plate but you are a warrior!

You are right....why go back? Thank you so so much for your help with the Acro testing. That's going to be something I'm going to push next time I see Prue on the 24th Thanks Bron

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Prue just called me and WE ARE SWITCHING HIM TO LEVEMIR!!!! I'M SO HAPPY OMG.

She finally listened to me and she said he will be better off on Levemir. She will be ordering it in today so we will hopefully have it by early next week. YAAASSSSSSSS!!!!!! I also asked her about the dose decrease for the medications (coz ya know, apparently she's the specialist) and she said we want to start decreasing the bupe to 0.2ml tonight and the Gaba to an 1/8th of a tablet. Then tomorrow take him off Gaba completely.

She also mentioned that the fPL test she did on Mo was a 12.3 which is very high so something was rumbling in his pancreas early last week and probably earlier. WELL I MEAN I COULD HAVE TOLD YOU THAT. But anyway....At least she is giving us the Levemir

Great news about the Lev and the pain meds!

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Awesome news about the Levemir! I so hope that will bring back the old Mo - once we get him to a better dose of course. I'm also glad she reduced the pain meds. I don't know how much Mo weighs (Neko was close to 6.5 kg) and she got 0.22 ml of bupe as her dose. Of course, concentrations of bupe can vary.

 

[Butters & Lyla]

Yay for Levemir! That's amazing news!!!!
FWIW, Butters, who weighs around 4 - 4.5kg, was given 50mg gaba q8 and it made her waaaay too sedated. The most I could give her was 25mg q8. When I didn't like what the full dose of gaba was doing to her, she was prescribed bupe: 0.14ml with a 0.5mg/mL concentration. I had to play around with both meds to find something that worked to keep butters out of pain but also not make her stoned.

Reference Elise's point, my vet, who I adore, basically recognized that he could leave it to me to manage her DM. He is over the moon happy with how she is doing. Anytime I listened to one of the old vets, it set back her progress. And now I have this vet who has basically acknowledged that he is going to step to the side where her DM is concerned, and she is doing so well <anti-jinx>.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Wonderful news! Bupe was the only med I gave Max for his pancreatitis. I was always told to remove one thing at a time because if symptoms worsen you won’t know which thing was needed.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Woohoo!!! Yay!!!
Such good news Mo is swapping to Levemir!
I’m glad you are reducing the gabapentin and bupe.
I can feel the good vibes radiating across the ditch from here!

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

Awesome news about the Levemir! I so hope that will bring back the old Mo - once we get him to a better dose of course. I'm also glad she reduced the pain meds. I don't know how much Mo weighs (Neko was close to 6.5 kg) and she got 0.22 ml of bupe as her dose. Of course, concentrations of bupe can vary.

I hope so too! Even if it makes him a bit happier it will be well worth the switch

Yesterday, Mo weight 5.3kg and he's on 0.3ml dose of bupe. I don't know the concentration but it's clearly too much for my poor baba.

Yay for Levemir! That's amazing news!!!!
FWIW, Butters, who weighs around 4 - 4.5kg, was given 50mg gaba q8 and it made her waaaay too sedated. The most I could give her was 25mg q8. When I didn't like what the full dose of gaba was doing to her, she was prescribed bupe: 0.14ml with a 0.5mg/mL concentration. I had to play around with both meds to find something that worked to keep butters out of pain but also not make her stoned.

Reference Elise's point, my vet, who I adore, basically recognized that he could leave it to me to manage her DM. He is over the moon happy with how she is doing. Anytime I listened to one of the old vets, it set back her progress. And now I have this vet who has basically acknowledged that he is going to step to the side where her DM is concerned, and she is doing so well <anti-jinx>.

Yeah, that's a good point. In the future we will need to play around and figure out what works for Mo. I think he might be quite sensitive to medications anyway so he probably only requires small amounts.

I have hope that Prue will start to take us seriously now she sees all of Mo's other issues on top of the DM. In future, I won't be taking any advice from her that I know will set him back. I was silly to think that just because she is the "specialist" that she knows best. She doesn't. Now I know this! Prue was saying to me today that she knows I'm smart since I have a science background etc etc and that Mo's lucky to have such an onto it mama. Hopefully, this means that she will trust me to look after his dosing....

 

[Gill & George]

Katy great news on the Lev.
I'm so happy something is going your way.
All of us on here can empathize with the stress and anxiety caused by dealing with an FD kitty, any you have had a number of other issues to contend with.

Yes, you are so right! One of the things Prue did say to me was FD remission is short lived so there is no point in aiming for it. WHAT?!

That's laughable.
Perhaps that is what she sees in her patients and it may have something to do with the high carb kibble she recommends feeding?

George is still in remission, coming up to 5yrs, he fell out of it due to his teeth/mouth that a vet didn't want to address, then he had another problem vet suspected Pancreatitis though it wasn't confirmed.
Another thing vets often say is you can't get them into remission again, well George has done it twice, granted I had to be pretty aggressive with TR and get on top of the numbers quickly and of course our guy is on a LC wet diet.

In any case regulation or at least getting our kitties to spend as much time under the renal threshold as possible should be the goal..

Hope adjusting the meds has mo feeling better.
Lean on us anytime you need to.

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

We decreased his gabapentin to 17mg and bupe to 0.2ml. He seems a bit more antsy and irritated so I topped up his gabapentin to 25mg. Hopefully that makes him more comfy. @tiffmaxee you were right, I should have just decreased one thing at a time. Why did I not listen?

He is still eating plenty. He has had 4.5 cans of FF today. Yesterday was 5! Normally he would only have 3 per day.

Katy great news on the Lev.
I'm so happy something is going your way.
All of us on here can empathize with the stress and anxiety caused by dealing with an FD kitty, any you have had a number of other issues to contend with.


That's laughable.
Perhaps that is what she sees in her patients and it may have something to do with the high carb kibble she recommends feeding?

George is still in remission, coming up to 5yrs, he fell out of it due to his teeth/mouth that a vet didn't want to address, then he had another problem vet suspected Pancreatitis though it wasn't confirmed.
Another thing vets often say is you can't get them into remission again, well George has done it twice, granted I had to be pretty aggressive with TR and get on top of the numbers quickly and of course our guy is on a LC wet diet.

In any case regulation or at least getting our kitties to spend as much time under the renal threshold as possible should be the goal..

Hope adjusting the meds has mo feeling better.
Lean on us anytime you need to.

Your George is doing so wonderfully, it's awesome to see! I think you're right as to why she's not seeing many cats stay in remission. The dry food is NOT going to help them. We will be giving away the bag we purchased. And I will be chucking the open bag in the bin!

I just want Mo to be comfy and under renal threshold. That's my goal and if we manage better than that then that would be wonderful

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

I have a question regarding Mo's dose. Since we will be switching, should we increase Lantus now or stay put until we have the Levemir?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

I have a question regarding Mo's dose. Since we will be switching, should we increase Lantus now or stay put until we have the Levemir?

I would increase now as it is going to be several days before you get the Levemir. When you are ready to actually swap over to Levemir we will tell you the dose to start with.

 

[katy and mo (GA)]

I would increase now as it is going to be several days before you get the Levemir. When you are ready to actually swap over to Levemir we will tell you the dose to start with.

Perfect thank you

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Perfect thank you

Katy when you increase, be sure to be testing the BG so you can see what he is up to

 

[Gill & George]

just want Mo to be comfy and under renal threshold. That's my goal and if we manage better than that then that would be wonderful

That's a good goal.