9/25Ravan/+2 446/+6 284/+9 183/pmps197/+4 148/+7 108/

@Marje and Gracie

If you have time could you tell me your thoughts on why Ravan has bounced into Black again? He's never had a Black # at +3 since he's been on Levemir.
Last night I thought I did a good job of feeding him so the bg wouldn't drop too low. This morning I was disappointed at the 309 but 535 at +3 is really unexpected! I see he's in a bounce again but why so High? It feels like feeding him thru the night didn't accomplish anything?
When I look at his SS he hardly ever drops until +4 or even +5 That's why I don't test at +2 or +3

I study his SS & It's always changing. I can't predict what he's doing. Pmps is 292 tonight. In the last months on Levemir he hasn't dropped too low when he's had a Yellow # at pmps,
but I'm concerned about what he might do tonight so I feel I need to get up all night again. I'm exhausted not only from no sleep but the constant stress. I'm aware that a LOT of the people here are going thru this also but that really doesn't make it easier!

I'm just so frustrated & disappointed:(

I wasn’t on the board last night so just seeing this today.

It looks to me like he bounced yesterday after the greens the night before and by +3, he was just at the end of his duration. That’s what we would expect with Levemir.

I know you want an answer as to why he went into black when he’s obviously been bouncing before at the end of a cycle and hasn’t gone into black but I don’t have an answer except that he’s a living, breathing organism and we can’t control what his body does or how it reacts. We don’t know what his body perceived at that time to cause him to go up so high.

The other thing we tend to forget is that insulin is not a medication. It’s a hormone and we are giving a synthetic hormone that is not the same as his own insulin. Even if we could give an insulin that was exactly the same as a cat’s insulin, hormones work differently in the body at different times. That’s why some people have such a hard time regulating their thyroid, as an example, not to mention the difficulty some human diabetics have regulating their BG.

What I’d like you to try and do is understand that:
  • He’s bouncey right now and he might always be; at some point, we have to accept it.
  • There is only so much you can control and if he’s feeling well and eating well, don’t let the numbers drive you mad. Absolutely, you want to dose to keep him as close to normal nadirs as you can but ignore the bounces.
  • You will see some differences due to different absorption rates and the inaccuracy of syringes and dosing as well as what else might be going on that day. A very close friend of mine who is diabetic and is very committed to consistency with eating, exercise, etc, told me the change in barometric pressure affects her BG.
I’m speaking from experience. Gracie was bouncy; it improved with Levemir but she was what I call a “seasonal diabetic” in that her BG could look great and her dose would drop in the spring but every winter, she was like a different cat. She’d start bouncing again and I’d have to increase the dose. Early on, we let her numbers dictate our moods. I wanted to know “why” for everything she did. Eventually, I had to learn the lesson that her body controlled the dance, I didn’t. When all things were consistent but her numbers were, I had to just accept it as long as she was well. I could improve things by learning to feed at the best times and I could make my dose most accurate by using calipers (and there were two of us shooting so using calipers further improved our dosing consistency).

When we manage the curve with food, it doesn’t improve overnight. This is a process. It takes time and patience.
 
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