Cliff Notes: Week of 11/28

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MiCo

MiCo

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New thread, new week! :) Will update in more detail later...

The vet emailed back late last night to increase from 2 units to 3 units, based on the results of Cliff's weekend curve. I gave him 2.25 units this AM, because I feel more comfortable with smaller increases. However, not sure if I gave another fur shot, or not. His fur was wet, but I didn't smell the insulin.

I had a horrible thought this AM as I went back to bed. Since I tend to do the AM test/feed/shoot and Dave helps with the evening insulin shot... what if I'm ALWAYS messing up and he's only getting one dose a day? Ugh. I don't believe that is the case... I've just become really insecure about my shooting skills over the past week or so. I rewatched some videos this AM. I might just make that a Sunday evening thing... to brush up on shooting technique by reading articles or watching videos.

Other than that, things are going well! :) If anyone has suggestions on dosing increases. I'm not sure how long to stay at each increase...3 cycles (meaning 3 shots?) That wouldn't get me up to the recommended increase of 3 units until this weekend!

Thank you for your continued support and help and reading my vents!! Hope you ALL have a GREAT week.
 
Generally, the suggestion is to raise the dose by 0.25 every six cycles (3 days). It is possible you will end up at 3 units as the vet is suggesting, but for me, I would feel better with a slow rise - one to be sure you are not bypassing a good dose, and to be sure he stays safe.
 
MiCo said:
Had a better experience this morning. :) good shot.
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Better experiences will be in the majority over time, Michele. I'm glad you're raising Cliff's dose slowly. I don't know why vets are so stuck on too large increases but many are. You could give 2.25 u again tonight or go up to 2.5 u. The general advice is three cycles at a dose before changing. From the look of Cliff's SS it doesn't seem likely he'll plummet to a green if you increase a small amount.

BTW - feel free to vent any time. This is a stressful thing to deal with for those of us who love our pets as much as we do. We all understand an FD meltdown here.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
I don't know why vets are so stuck on too large increases but many are.
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I can tell why the IMs at the ER I use raise in whole units. When Smokey went in for his last visit they asked how much insulin he was on. When I said 1.75u the doctor said impossible, you can't measure that. You only give whole units. I said if using 1/2u mark syringes you can and using calipers you can do something like 1.65u if you want. They didn't know about the 1/2 marked ones. They just said it can't be done.

Having every single type of syringe there is, is not cost effective for a business. So they use the sizes they can get the most use from. My regular vet is the same way. The insulin syringes they use are the 1/2" needles. He like the short 1/2u marked ones but he said in the practice they would be used rarely as the owners do most of the injections. So it wouldn't be a savings for them.
 
Amps=305;
I'm thinking we will stay at 2.5units for a while and see if he can get into the 200's.
His PMPS was high last night, but he seemed a little stressed before test. I said to hubs as I tested "I think his # will be higher bc he's stressed."

Side note: civvie Stella threw up a big hairball last night before bed (11pm) and threw up a teeny bit of foam this am before I fed Cliff. She doesn't want to eat (not gonna force it right now... I will wait until her stomach settles and try again to feed before I leave for work. I also come home over lunch right now) she has had such a tough time with wet food change, and seems to have more hair balls lately. Might post in general forum a question about--any canned foods good for hairball control. Does pumpkin help with that? Poor baby... I don't think she's "sick" per se... But gonna keep a close eye again.

Edit to say: I think last night's episode was hairball related, I think this morning she is throwing up little foamy bits bc her stomach is empty. Didn't feed her after the hairball last night, so her stomach has been empty for a while. :(
 
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MiCo said:
Amps=305;
I'm thinking we will stay at 2.5units for a while and see if he can get into the 200's.
His PMPS was high last night, but he seemed a little stressed before test. I said to hubs as I tested "I think his # will be higher bc he's stressed."

Side note: civvie Stella threw up a big hairball last night before bed (11pm) and threw up a teeny bit of foam this am before I fed Cliff. She doesn't want to eat (not gonna force it right now... I will wait until her stomach settles and try again to feed before I leave for work. I also come home over lunch right now) she has had such a tough time with wet food change, and seems to have more hair balls lately. Might post in general forum a question about--any canned foods good for hairball control. Does pumpkin help with that? Poor baby... I don't think she's "sick" per se... But gonna keep a close eye again.

Edit to say: I think last night's episode was hairball related, I think this morning she is throwing up little foamy bits bc her stomach is empty. Didn't feed her after the hairball last night, so her stomach has been empty for a while. :(
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Maybe do another curve on the weekend to see what he does between AM and PM on this dose? You're still in the early stages of learning how to conduct this orchestra! :)

Re Stella: my vet's advice for a kitty that vomited but had no other signs of distress/illness was to remove food for 12 hours - as you did overnight - and try to feed a little bit after that. Have you ever used a hairball remedy like Laxatone/TonicLax on Stella?
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Maybe do another curve on the weekend to see what he does between AM and PM on this dose? You're still in the early stages of learning how to conduct this orchestra! :)

Re Stella: my vet's advice for a kitty that vomited but had no other signs of distress/illness was to remove food for 12 hours - as you did overnight - and try to feed a little bit after that. Have you ever used a hairball remedy like Laxatone/TonicLax on Stella?
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Thanks, as always, for helping to calm my nerves!!
I was thinking a curve, or more tests over the weekend when we're around might be good. I took a +3 when I left and his BG had gone up... Hm.
I did open a new bottle of testing strips... since then I saw that really HIGH one and this low one. Hope that is not a factor. They are the AlphaTrak2 specific strips. (thinking out loud here... :)
As for Stella--no other signs of distress, other than she hid for a few minutes this morning...I could tell she was a little off, so I sat in the room that she was hiding under the futon. She eventually came out, was looking bright eyed, and she ran up and down the steps like she usually does. She nibbled a little on a plate before I left. Like I said, not worried--just want to figure this out for her. I had once got a bottle of something herbal from the boutique petstore here. She didn't like it. Perhaps I will try again to find a remedy.
 
The new AT strips should be fine. Do you have a little bottle of control solution to check the vial of new strips? You could do that.

Many hairball remedies are petroleum jelly based with flavouring added. I used to get mine from my vet back in the day but I think pet stores carry similar.
 
Cliff's AMPS and PMPS were both in the black today. :(
I took a mid-cycle and it was pink.
We are at 3 units now, started 3units yesterday morning.
He's eating good. Still on a rotation of food... Wellness and instinct? At the moment.
 
How many carbs for the Instinct and Wellness flavors?

If he continues in these higher levels with no low drops midcycle, I'd raise the dose 6 cycles after the last increase, on a cycle you can monitor. By 0.25? He is dropping for nadir, but still has room to drop more.
 
I have yet to calculate carbs on my own. I bought wellness and nature's variety-instinct based on the existing food chart and by searching forums for most recent carb counts/mentions of other users using these brands/flavors.

Wellness turkey 4%
Wellness turkey and salmon 5%
Nature's variety beef 3%
Nature's variety duck 1%

What didn't work:
Purina DM (cliff won't eat)
FF (gave them both runs)
Purina pro plan-chicken and liver (ate at first, stopped suddenly)

Thanks!
 
Kris & Teasel said:
At the risk of shocking you (;)), have you tried Friskies pates? I mix that into Teasel's DM to vary the flavour.
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Huh, I don't think I have. Mostly because i think the first time I went searching, the store near me was low stock on friskies. I will try that, thanks!
 
A bit of an off-topic moment--I have endometriosis which pretty much means 3-4 days of the month I'm overcome with extreme pain and fatigue as well as increased stress & anxiety levels. Just getting over that part of my cycle, but still feeling like a run-down emotional ball of stress that is having a hard time dealing with and handling all of this. :( #overwhelmed

Yes, feeling overwhelmed, but still so very appreciative of this board! And I know I will be in a better headspace in a few days. Thanks, All. :)
 
MiCo said:
A bit of an off-topic moment--I have endometriosis which pretty much means 3-4 days of the month I'm overcome with extreme pain and fatigue as well as increased stress & anxiety levels. Just getting over that part of my cycle, but still feeling like a run-down emotional ball of stress that is having a hard time dealing with and handling all of this. :( #overwhelmed

Yes, feeling overwhelmed, but still so very appreciative of this board! And I know I will be in a better headspace in a few days. Thanks, All. :)
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I sympathize completely, Michele. I have some significant health issues that I struggle with as well. Feline diabetes is a challenge to deal with and our own health concerns make it more so because we have to keep up the FD routine even when we feel poorly ourselves. However, your last sentence tells me that you see the big picture and have a great mind set.
 
Aw Michele, I totally get that. I have some pretty bad anxiety issues myself, especially at that time of the month. Having something that you would worry about anyway just makes it that much harder.

You're doing great! When you are feeling anxious or upset, just come here and vent. I've done it...we've all done it! Sometimes just talking about how you're feeling to people who've all been there can help a bit anyway. Keep your head up!
 
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