Yesterday, DBD's AMPS was 310 so I gave him 2.25 units (he'd been on 2.25 for 4 cycles already), and at +5 he was 74, the lowest he's ever been. It scared me because his nadir falls anywhere from +5 to +7, so I worried how much lower he was going to go. So I gave him 10 pieces of Party Mix (dry, high carb junk food), so he wouldn't go lower. He got down to 66, and then his numbers started coming up and were blue at +8 and +9. By PMPS a couple hours later, he was 365. I lowered his dose to 2.0 units (down from 2.25) because that big drop to 74 had scared me. +1 he was 445. At +2, he was 358 and he's been pink all day. a) Did he bounce? b) Did I screw up by lowering his dose .25? Should I have lowered it further? Not at all? c) Where do I go from here dose wise? Extra credit question: Does anyone feel like their life has been taken over by their cat's diabetes? I'm not mad at my guy, but all the scheduling and testing and worrying and stress and making sure he doesn't eat 2 hours before pre-shots....he's been a dry only eater all these years and was too stubborn to transition, so I find myself saying this to him a lot :"All you had to do was eat wet food, big guy. That's all you had to do." P.S. I got into a fender bender a few nights ago (not my fault, thank you God) and what I was most worried about was not being home in time to pick up his food so he could fast 2 hours before his PMPS.
That's still well above the take action number of 50 on a human meter. In the early days, though, these nice numbers are scary. Even that 66 a bit later was safe. Yes. No, you didn't screw up. When you've collected more data and feel braver you can try keeping the dose in a situation like this. I'd go back to 2.25 u. We all feel that way sometimes and certainly at the beginning when you're getting used to a new routine, what your kitty's patterns are, building your confidence and knowledge base, etc. As time goes on, the new routine becomes normal and you learn how and when you can push the envelope. That's best practice but if you can't do it once, it's fine. Do a before shot test though. You're doing great! This is hard, there's a lot to learn, cats are unpredictable and sometimes other life stuff happens that throws a wrench in the works. You WILL learn to relax about it eventually. You're home testing and posting for help - all good things.
Thanks for answering. I will say this, even though being in the dark green for the first time was scary and stressful for me, he felt great at 74 and 66. His next shot is at 1:45 pm. Thanks, I'll go back to 2.25. Do you think I should start testing him early? At +2?
