confused by recent numbers--snowflake

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equine99

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Well, I'm back from my work trip and will be home for a good long while now.

I'm quite confused by her recent numbers, and after tonight am wondering if maybe something's wrong with her insulin? I was out later last night, so I didn't give her her shot until 11pm, and then wasn't able to leave work to give her a shot at lunch today, so I had to wait until +21. her PS number, after that much time, was lower than any number I've gotten in the last week. Still not a good number, but it's just confusing me and making me feel like the insulin isn't doing anything at all. Should I increase her dose? I know I haven't been great with getting lots of readings--but what do you guys think?

Thanks!
 
Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed that everyone would just look at her ss. Her ps numbers have been in the mid-high 300's and her +4 +5 numbers have been mid 400's. Then today at +21 she was low 300's. I've been shooting 0.4.
 
Now that you are home and can test, If she were mine, I would start over. Give her a dose like .3 or .4 at your preshot, then get some numbers and don't dose again until pmps, 12 hours later. Once you get a few full cycles (it may take her body a few cycles to readjust) you can see how the insulin is working. You need to see when she dips and to what number. Once you have that, you can raise the dose, get numbers and see how that dose works.

I know of no insulin that is meant to be given more often then every 8 hours. Giving so often can set up a pattern of rebounding from one high number to the next. Conversely, PZI is usually gone in 12 hours, so few cats are dosed less frequently than every 12 hours. If you get a low preshot after 12 hours, it is an indication the dose is too high.

I would guess she needs more insulin, but I think you will continue to muddy the picture by dosing so often. I am wondering if she might end up with a little less than one unit, lasting a full cycle. Giving a tiny dose of insulin more often than every 12 hours is done. We have several people giving insulin every 8 hours. But it is not more often than every 8 hours and it was only after they had lots of data to support what might happen.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
I know of no insulin that is meant to be given more often then every 8 hours. Giving so often can set up a pattern of rebounding from one high number to the next. Conversely, PZI is usually gone in 12 hours, so few cats are dosed less frequently than every 12 hours. If you get a low preshot after 12 hours, it is an indication the dose is too high.

I would guess she needs more insulin, but I think you will continue to muddy the picture by dosing so often. I am wondering if she might end up with a little less than one unit, lasting a full cycle. Giving a tiny dose of insulin more often than every 12 hours is done. We have several people giving insulin every 8 hours. But it is not more often than every 8 hours and it was only after they had lots of data to support what might happen.
Click to expand...

I haven't been dosing more often than every 10 hours--5/13 was the last time I gave a "boost" (and that boost was 0.1, hours after giving 0.4, so not a big one). I wonder if maybe you aren't reading the SS quite right? Because my schedule is so wonky and much earlier she was doing so well and going extended periods without shots, I decided to use the sheet more to record time, not necessarily time after shot, so I'm not giving shots at +7, I'm giving them at 7am, with AMPS as midnight and PMPS as noon. Maybe that will help clarify?
 
I am having trouble with your spreadsheet - sorry. So yesterday did you shoot at +8 and give .4 units? Then today at +11 when the number was 326, you gave .4?

What might help is to put the number you get when you are ready to shoot at amps(whenever it is during the day). That gives us a starting point. Then when you shoot again, we can see that it is in the 8 column, and that is 8 hours after the shot. Does that make sense? It will be easier for us to see how long the cycles are that way.

I still would get a curve as soon as you can manage it - a number every 2 hours from one shot to the next. And I would do the whole 12 hours, regardless of the numbers. It is too hard to try to figure out what is happening without more data. She seems to stay in the 300s, but it is possible that she dips lower somewhere during the cycle. (It is uncommon for PZI to just have flat curves with the numbers all in the same range....)

Once we can see that cycle, we might be able to figure out if the insulin isn't working well, or if she needs an increase or a decrease....
 
I agree with Sue on the SS. All you need to do is a "reset" on it.
The next time you give a shot, just skip a line on the SS, and put tonight's date or tomorrow's, whatever day it is when you shoot.

Put the reading at AMPS or PMPS, and the dose amount. Doesn't matter what time of day it is, or how it relates to the rest of the SS, just start recording the numbers as if you were starting today.
Also, since now your life will have less chaos, and you won't be traveling, as long as it is possible to do so, stick with one dose, and a 12 hour shot schedule for 3 or 4 days. That will establish a new "baseline" from which you can determine A) if the dose is right, and B) if you are for sure getting less than 12 hours out of a dose. Once you reestablish that, we can help you figure out how to adjust either the dose or the timing so it works better for Snowflake.
It's sort of a "do over", but not completely. Your lives have been pretty much in an uproar for the past month...

Carl
 
When I get home from work and can access google docs I'll try to re-do the ss using the more standard format--I just don't like that there's no way to track when you aren't on exactly a 12 hour schedule (for example, when I didn't give a shot until +15, I want to be able to record what she was at +15, and to have it marked that her pre-shot number was 15 hours after the last shot). I'm being realistic with myself--at 25 I know I will not be able to stick to exactly a 12/12 schedule--I love my cats, but my career and social life cannot take a back seat to them, so I'm doing the best I can, and would like to have a ss that takes this into account.

To clarify the last few days:

Sunday: gave 0.4 at 8am and 0.4 at 11pm/+15 (was out of the house all day and just didn't get back until 11)
Monday: gave 0.4 at 8pm/+21 (didn't give shot in the morning since 8am would've been too soon, and I wasn't able to leave work at lunch or get home right after work)
Tuesday: gave 0.4 at 8am/+12
 
I think the easiest thing to do on those long days (+15) is to leave pmps blank and record it at the +3 box but insert +15. Once we see the blank pmps, we will know to look further on.

I do think the best thing is to get back on track with a few 12 hour cycles (as you can) and see what the numbers on. Then we will go from there.
 
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