Increasing carbs to 10% from 3% giving lower preshot numbers...

[Jasper Blue and Jay]

Day 2 of about 10% carbs with the preshot meal...(up from about 3% since he started insulin about 1 month ago)

And Day 2 of the lowest preshot number he's ever had.


I'm thrilled... but so confused about how to handle the second cycle of the day when it's so low...

He had started having weird early drops, like 50% around the first couple hours which was very unusual for him...and then he'd start rising way too early , like before nadir ("mini bounce").

He always had pretty perfect curved cycles til the new weird fast drop/mini bounce thing started happening...


With the 10% carbs there is still a little bit of an early drop but not as much and the rest of the cycle is beautifully stable...ending with lower than ever preshot numbers for the next cycle...


Went with a skinny .25 last night... which isn't enough in general but he might have still had the effects of a bounce this am ...not sure...


So... don't want to go too low tonight again.. but at the same time... geez... no idea what the right dose is...(went with .25 cause the new syringes don't seem to be able to do .30 we'll see what happens)

Never had preshot numbers so low before...

And if I go too high, with the new weird drop/bounce and don't give extra carbs, which I don't really want to do at night...

And he gets that early big drop again... from a lower preshot than I'm used to...

Bleh I just don't wanna risk being up all night testing too much for low numbers...which i might be anyway with such a low preshot for us...

I had considered switching to 13/11 earlier... but they get so hungry at +12 I can rarely make them wait another hour.

Just thinking out loud here...

Thinking the new dose to try might be around .4...

Got the new syringes but reading that with variance between syringe manufacturers/types ..... .4 with the new syringe might be something else with the ones we've been using, and they only gave us 10...so ...don't want to go back and forth between them...

So ..going to have to call the vet and see if she'll call the pharmacy so we can get more than 10...

And then just anticipate that during the changeover there might be some weird numbers...


Anyway, I had been reading some about some cats doing better with more than the typical 0-3% carbs, and even saw in the pamphlet my vet gave us... "high carbs" reducing amount of insulin needed ! and since he's underweight had been leaning towards giving about 7% carbs a try anyway and then the weird drop started... so I don't know if its the bounce being prevented or just the some cats do better on higher carbs thing, or both? But we'll see.

thanks for listening...lol... it helps to write it out to process it...

 

[Daddy Jack's Mommy (GA)]

.. so I don't know if its the bounce being prevented or just the some cats do better on higher carbs thing, or both? But we'll see.

Sometimes it's hard to know specifically what influences blood glucose levels, as there are so many variables involved. Perhaps his activity level is changing, or he's just naturally moving in that direction because his pancreas could be healing. The concept of slightly higher carbs lowering the blood glucose level is interesting though. I've been keeping Jack at three or four percent carbs since he was diagnosed in February, and his blood glucose levels have been going down. I thought he was going into remission at one point. However, a couple of weeks ago his numbers started getting slightly higher. They're all still good--in the blues and greens--but a couple of weeks ago they were mostly in the greens. The only thing I'm doing different is I introduced Sheba perfect portions a couple weeks ago. (My oldest civvie was diagnosed with kidney disease, and I need low phosphorus foods.) So I've been mixing some of that in with Jack's other food. It's listed on Doctor Pearson's list as a low carb food, but if I look at the nutritional analysis on the can, it appears to be over 7%. So I got curious enough to call Mars Products yesterday, and inquired about the typical nutritional analysis needed to be more accurate. I was told that that information is proprietary, and I hung up without getting any information at all. I was extremely disappointed and made that clear to the representive. She did take my contact information and said somebody will be getting back to me with some of that information. But I don't hold out any hope. Now I'm not sure if I can give him that food any longer. I didn't give it to him at all the last two days, and his blood glucose levels have gone down again. But I'm really not sure if that's what's causing it.

 

[Jasper Blue and Jay]

Sometimes it's hard to know specifically what influences blood glucose levels, as there are so many variables involved. Perhaps his activity level is changing, or he's just naturally moving in that direction because his pancreas could be healing. The concept of slightly higher carbs lowering the blood glucose level is interesting though. I've been keeping Jack at three or four percent carbs since he was diagnosed in February, and his blood glucose levels have been going down. I thought he was going into remission at one point. However, a couple of weeks ago his numbers started getting slightly higher. They're all still good--in the blues and greens--but a couple of weeks ago they were mostly in the greens. The only thing I'm doing different is I introduced Sheba perfect portions a couple weeks ago. (My oldest civvie was diagnosed with kidney disease, and I need low phosphorus foods.) So I've been mixing some of that in with Jack's other food. It's listed on Doctor Pearson's list as a low carb food, but if I look at the nutritional analysis on the can, it appears to be over 7%. So I got curious enough to call Mars Products yesterday, and inquired about the typical nutritional analysis needed to be more accurate. I was told that that information is proprietary, and I hung up without getting any information at all. I was extremely disappointed and made that clear to the representive. She did take my contact information and said somebody will be getting back to me with some of that information. But I don't hold out any hope. Now I'm not sure if I can give him that food any longer. I didn't give it to him at all the last two days, and his blood glucose levels have gone down again. But I'm really not sure if that's what's causing it. It's also curious and confusing sometimes.

Yeah, I've been tracking everything , including hairballs, ups man, fights with brother, lol...


It's the gravy lovers turkey I believe... I'll check... says 15% carbs on Dr Lisa's chart... I haven't called about it though...

And then I'm mixing a little bit of that, with a much larger amount of 3% carbs, ending up with about 10% carbs give or take...just for one meal per day... the AM meal with his shot.

I'm just amazed...

 

[Daddy Jack's Mommy (GA)]

It's kind of silly and cute, but I think sometimes Jack's blood glucose level goes up because he gets excited about the treats! He's so anxious for those darn dehydrated shrimps or duck liver that he wiggles all over while I'm trying to test him. If he gets too excited, I think he spikes his blood sugar.

 

[Peacock]

Hi, I was checking out your spreadsheet but I am not clear on your current dosing. Since you switched needles, and when you are discussing dosing, which scale are you referring to? The conversion of 0.5 in u40 needles is 1.25 in u100 needles, for example, and a 0.5 u100 is only 0.2 in u40, so that is a BIG difference. Are you just listing u40 equivalents on your spreadsheet?

 

[Bellasmom]

Numbers are looking great, super proud

 

[CandyH & Catcat]

It's kind of silly and cute, but I think sometimes Jack's blood glucose level goes up because he gets excited about the treats! He's so anxious for those darn dehydrated shrimps or duck liver that he wiggles all over while I'm trying to test him. If he gets too excited, I think he spikes his blood sugar.

I'm beginning to think that his struggles as I try to get a preshot test, may be increasing his BGL -- even with hubby helping out, holding him this morning, it was a fight to get that droplet for testing -- four poles, two error messages for insufficient blood so two wasted test strips, finally got a valid number, but I still wonder if it was affected by the few mouthfuls of food he got, plus ten minutes of fighting before "success"