Gandalf spreadsheet updated

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

And this is a general update, after pestering from Pamela, because I am home sick today and discovered I had not updated his SS for over a month....

Had a considerable low this AM - 45. Because of my work schedule over the past 5 days I had to move his shot times earlier from 11PM Saturday to prior to 7AM Monday! I figured I had it covered by dropping to 1U during that time. It seemed to work well, but throw the full moon in there (my zodiac calendar has it at 3:13 yesterday morning) and the bottom dropped out.

My plan with too low to shoot numbers (generally below 70 at +12) is feed and recheck in a half hour. That brought his 45 up to 60 and I decided to keep to the 1U and that has done well today. He was 70 an hour after that and 69 at +8.

I see a 300+ in his near future.

However those who are interested in split dosing to extend duration should take a look. He did well on Saturday when I had to get his PM shot time from 8PM to 11PM.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Vicky, you have nerves of steel. I don't know that I could shoot at 60, but I know you have the data to back up that decision - plus you were home to monitor him.

Sorry you are sick. It's that time of year. Stay warm and feel better.

Also, thanks for making the split dosing info available via G's spreadsheet. I do think it is a valuable tool to have available as it works well for some.

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

It's knowledge over nerves. I did not feel comfortable shooting the 1.3U at that level, but since he did not go lower during the day and was 101 tonight at +11 I made the right decision to wait and shoot the 1U. I maintained the 1U tonight as well since I'm not quite sure what's going on.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

How did he do today? Hmmm... I guess I could look at your SS :roll:

 

[Marci and Buddy]

Congrats on your updating!
Hope you feel better soon...Gandalf give your mom some nice warm cuddles! :YMHUG:

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Greens and an orange, plus some advice for the newbies

Sorry, Sheila, that I didn't update since day before yesterday.

As you can see, he did throw the predicted orange number - 350. It might have been a reaction to the changes or the lows. My only mistake was then dosing his regular dose after 2 earlier shot cycles, I should have dropped it to 1.1U even at the 350. So he was 74 this AM a full 12 hours after the PM shot. It's not even a mistake really because that's what the right dose will do, return them to normal numbers quickly, but only because I could not be home today to shoot a full dose on that 74 and then spot check to see what happened. He possibly could have stayed green all day.

Instead I dropped the dose this AM to 1.1U and he had an OK 149 tonight at +11 and 161 for PMPS, at which I returned to 1.3U. All this changing will probably produce a 250+ tomorrow either AM or PM or even both.

How do I know that? Because I have the data. That is the key and how I am able to dose any insulin at all on a 74 and walk out the door.

To anyone new to using Levemir, everything you do now paves the way for what you can do in the future, once you find that optimum dose. Even when you are way off the right dose, you are gathering data to show you what happens on X dose. You experienced a 21 on the meter and realized nothing bad happened or you saw your cat gobble up their food and tested and discovered it was in the low 30s. That doesn't mean those are good things to have happened, but all that is part of the learning process which empowers you to know what the numbers mean instead of shrinking every time you see a number below 60. There is no reason to let a diabetic cat hang in the 300s or rollercoaster every day from 300s to 50s. Especially when there is a resource like this message board.

Gandalf feels pretty good tonight, I can tell. He doesn't have a good day every day now, being 17 1/2 and having diabetes and arthritis is rough. But I want to give him all the good days I can.

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

Those are nice numbers - really. Could you have done anything differently to avoid the 350? I noticed the two shot before that 45 at +12 were both "full" doses of 1.3u, but the 5 shots before that were 1u. and on higher PSs. I'm wondering if he needs only 1u or 1.1u most times and something lower if he is below, say, 180?

Glad he feels good. You are giving him such a good life with his age and health issues. Any, yep, gathering data is the key to understanding YOUR cat and how YOUR cat response to variables.

 

[Marci and Buddy]

I love the way you, and all of us here, take such good care of our cats...
I wish i could make more sence out of the data,though :YMSIGH: - it's not easy for me to know that because i get X, i can expect Y..(like you knew i can expect 300's before.)
seems like i react to the last day or 2 of #'s, b/c the whole picture doesn't tell me a story....hopefully in time it will. Glad i have you guys to help me think this thru!

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Those are nice numbers - really. Could you have done anything differently to avoid the 350? I noticed the two shot before that 45 at +12 were both "full" doses of 1.3u, but the 5 shots before that were 1u. and on higher PSs. I'm wondering if he needs only 1u or 1.1u most times and something lower if he is below, say, 180?

Glad he feels good. You are giving him such a good life with his age and health issues. Any, yep, gathering data is the key to understanding YOUR cat and how YOUR cat response to variables.

I think those 1U's you mention are the ones I did because I had to give earlier shots. Check the notes to the right of the spreadsheet. Also if the AMPS is in the AM side of the spreadsheet with <-- beside it, that means I shot that number then with the dose that's listed in the AM column.

I don't know if there's a way to do this or not, but it would be nice if you could put a general "notes" section at the top of the page, so people could understand what different things on the sheet mean. It seems everyone has a different system for different situations.

As for lower dose, I think 1.3U is the ticket because all the overlap we had going on after the earlier shots which were only 1U or 1.1U. In other words, 1U at +11/+10 creates enough overlap to generate double digits but those doses don't do that at 12/12 intervals. Please look at earlier spreadsheets. I've tried 1U, 1.1U, 1.2U enough times to feel they don't work on a 12/12 basis.

And in conjunction with this, I am making a post in that split dosing thread on Think Tank if anyone wants to understand further.

 

[pamela and tigger]

And in conjunction with this, I am making a post in that split dosing thread on Think Tank if anyone wants to understand further.

Great post Vicky on TT explaining how you manage split dosing with Gandalf and your schedule.

I wish i could make more sence out of the data,though :YMSIGH: - it's not easy for me to know that because i get X, i can expect Y..(like you knew i can expect 300's before.)
seems like i react to the last day or 2 of #'s, b/c the whole picture doesn't tell me a story....hopefully in time it will. Glad i have you guys to help me think this thru!

It is hard to get rid of that mindset when you have been used to other faster acting insulin's like Vetsulin or one of the PZI's. I still find myself thinking in those terms at times. ohmygod_smile Levemir is a wonderful insulin but definitely more of a challenge to understand at times.