Charlie am 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +4/76 +5/114 +8/244 +11/462

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EllieKozak

EllieKozak

Member Since 2014
Good morning everybody this is the lowest that Charlie's morning number has ever been. I'm very happy about it but I don't want to send him hypo. I was trying to find the link that I believe Julie sent me about shooting low. I cannot find it at this moment and have to leave for work but I will take Charlie with me. Can somebody please advise ASAP what they would do should I still give the same amount of Lantus 5u? The only time he had r yesterday was at amps. Thanks
 
Re: Charlie amps 226. Dosing question please

Yes, shoot the same amount. Get a +1 and a +2 test to see how the cycle is shaping up. He should have a flatter cycle when starting lower. Take high carb food with you, just in case. Here is the link to the Shooting and Handling Low Numbers sticky. Might want to print it out to take with you.
 
Re: Charlie amps 226. Dosing question please

If you are nervous, one option is to wait 1/2 hour to make sure he is coming up, WITHOUT FEEDING, then test again.
 
Re: Charlie amps 226. Dosing question please

His +3.5 is 127. He's acting fine, is his lantus dose too high now that the GI problem has resolved? Thanks!
 
Re: Charlie amps 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127

Hi Ellie,

Charlie looks good in blue!

A tip: if you want to fill in the bigger spreadsheet cells with a color when they don't automatically fill: Highlighting the cell that you want to color, click on the symbol in the upper tool bar that looks like a paint can. It will give you the color options to use to fill the cell. Most of the ones that the LL spreadsheet uses are either on the top or bottom line of the options menu.

We just don't want you to miss out on seeing in the spreadsheet the progress that you and Charlie are making!

Have a great day,

Georgette and Clare
 
Re: Charlie amps 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +5 765

His +5 is 76. I did give him a tsp of hc along w the regular LC. Vet thinks I should reduce to 3 u lantus. I am not sure if 3 is too little. Thoughts?
 
Re: Charlie amps 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +5 76

Hi Ellie.

That's quite a drop today. You might see a bounce tonight. The protocol says you don't earn a reduction until your kitty goes under 50. Charlie's situation is a little unusual, and he is a higher dose kitty, so he may need different guidelines. Wendy knows a lot of about high dose kitties, as do many others here. Hopefully someone will come along and give you a better answer. If you don't get an answer and it's getting close to shot time, edit your original subject line to include the "question about dose" and click on the ? icon. Then you need to post a reply to bump your condo to the top of the list.

As nervous as this might make you, it's great to see Charlie coming down into healthy numbers! :mrgreen:
 
Re: Charlie amps 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +5 76

+6 114. My concern is leaving him at home while I work 8 hours a day. I can run home to check him at lunch but if he's looking like he coukd hypo I don't want to take chances. I can bring him to work but he gets stressed there. Suggestions?
 
Re: Charlie amps 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +5 76

Look at Charlie go! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: What a great cycle today. :cool: If you can, I'd get a test a couple hours after you last gave him high carb food, as it can wear off and the numbers could go down again.

The protocol says that kitties on an Alphatrak get a reduction if they go under 68. Charlie got pretty close, but not quite. It is possible that if you hadn't fed him the high carb food, he might have gone under 68. When you first see Charlie go green (under about 135 on the Alphatrak), it's a good idea to feed him a couple tsp of low carb food. That can often help them surf in those pancreas healing green numbers. We don't feed HC until they go under reduction range, or 68. Your goal should be to try to get Charlie to spend as much time as possible in healing numbers.

According to the protocol, Charlie didn't earn a reduction today. I can understand you feeling really nervous about leaving Charlie and the antibiotic healing whatever ailed him and that causing his insulin needs to go down. If Charlie had earned a reduction, we'd take him down to 4.75U. I think with a ketone prone kitty, going down to 3U wouldn't be a good idea. What people here do who work during the day, is use the morning numbers to decide what type of food to put in the autofeeder. If you are concerned about him possibly going low, you load it with higher carb food. Another thing to consider is whether your goal for Charlie is remission or regulation. We have people here with both goals, but it helps us help you if we know what your goal is.

Since Charlie is only at 5 units, we don't consider him a high dose cat yet - that comes at 6 units. And we don't change anything about reduction levels for high dose cats, but they go up and down in larger increments.
 
Re: Charlie amps 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +5 76

WOW! Thrilling to see Charlie having another great day - and GREEN! It's his first green numbers since June!

I agree with everything Wendy suggested. As long as you have the option of taking him with you, I'd stick with the 5.0u tonight. Reducing in advance can backfire sometimes. Not always, and i understand your worry about keeping him safe.

A kitty can get to 5u without having a high dose condition, so i wouldn't rule out remission as a possibility for Charlie. None of us knows, of course, but obviously he had some sort of major infection that has had a large impact on his blood sugar and now the infection is resolving.

It's also pretty likely he may bounce from hitting green numbers today and be high tonight and tomorrow. hard to say, but it wouldn't be a surprise.

if he were mine, i'd hold his dose for now and continue like you've been doing.

The post you're talking about is a discussion we had on Darin/Charlie's condo here. Shooting that full dose into normal numbers will often cause the blood sugar to just go flat - it's an amazing thing. Look at some of the spreadsheets i've linked in that post and see where that happens for those kitties. But, you can't do it and leave until you have the data to show that Charlie will stay predictably flat when you do it, and you aren't quite there yet. When you shoot him in the 68-160ish range (50-120 human glucometer) and can monitor him to see how he responds, then you'll learn what he does and after a couple of times of monitoring him through the shooting low process, then you may be able to leave him with more confidence, just with having plenty of food out. You want to work up to that, however.

Does that make sense?
 
Re: Charlie am 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +4/76 +5/114 +8/244 +11/

It makes perfect sense Julie and thank you all for responding today. I panic whenever he gets even close to low Bc I am used to such high numbers. And you are right, he bounced. He ALWAYS bounces. Will stick to the 5 units as recommended and I'll take him to work again tomorrow just in case. His +11 is 462. Should I just ride it out for one more hour to shoot L or should I give some R? I know I've asked this type of question before and I'm sorry to be repeating them but since his pattern seems to be changing I want to be sure in doing this right. I owe it to Charlie. Thanks guys!
 
Re: Charlie am 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +4/76 +5/114 +8/244 +11/

congratulations on Charlies green. hope he continues to do well.
 
Re: Charlie am 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +4/76 +5/114 +8/244 +11/

Hi there :cool:

Exciting day here today! :mrgreen:

I'm adding my voice to the "hold the L dose at 5u" chorus.
For all the reasons Wendy and Julie mentioned.

It looks like the last R Charlie got was 09/21/AM/2u - is that correct?
When a kitty that's been using R bolus due to a ketone crisis starts improving to the point that insulin needs to be reduced, the first reduction is to stop R.

The goal is to find the right L dose.
If R is in the picture you really can't be certain if the numbers you are basing taking a reduction on are a true reflection of what the L dose can do on it's own.

At this juncture, it looks like 6 days of negative ketones. As long as ketones are still negative, all Ps are in place and his appetite is good, If it were me I'd forget the R and sit on my hands - even in the face of a bounce.

That way you will get a better feel for the action of this L dose .
 
Re: Charlie am 226 +2 272 + 3.5 127 +4/76 +5/114 +8/244 +11/

Sounds like a plan. Other family members have noticed a significant improvement in his overall attitude as well. The next challenge will be to put some weight back on my skinny little friend! :)
 
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