Josie 3/29

[Holly and Josie]

AMPS - 154
Fed, waited 1.5 hours and retested - 225, gave .25 units
+4 - 365
+5.5 - 363

I am so upset that she is going to be in the mid 300's or higher all day. Especially since I know that if I give her enough insulin, she doesn't have to be. I am really beginning to think that .25 is just not enough, even at low numbers. This is the second time this has happened. Once could have been a fluke, but I don't think twice is.

The thing that confuses me, is what do I give her when she is at lower numbers? Lately, we have been giving what I call a "very skinny" .50 when she is in the mid 300's. That seems to work well. But the question is, is that same dose safe to give if she is between 200-250?

My thinking is that if she is at 350, and we give her a "very skinny" .50 and she gets down to 113, how low will she go if we give her that same dose at 225? Or does it not work that way? Maybe she will still just get down to the low 100's?

I have been looking at spreadsheets this morning and it seems that some kitties need a sliding scale where as others need a consistent dose? Maybe Josie needs a consistent dose?

It just scares the crap out of me to shoot my "very skinny" .50 (which I am guessing is somewhere around .4, but I don't know for sure) into her when she is in the low 200's. But at this point, I am beginning to think I don't have a choice. I don't want her to have such high numbers all the time and it seems ridiculous to let her rise to 300 every day so that I can safely shoot her dose. For one, it gets us off schedule and for another, the point is to not let her get to 300.

 

[Holly and Josie]

I just thought of something...

This was the first time we used the U100 syringes. So I wonder if that had any impact? I read that when you shoot with a shorter needle things can absorb differently. It's just weird because last time we gave her .25, she stayed flat and then the shot seemed to "wear off". This time it's as though she received no insulin at all. So I'm wondering if it's because it didn't absorb properly?

 

[Catannc]

Looking at your ss it seems you have two issues with her, she's very bounce, and you sometimes get a visit from Mr. P. 3/19 is a good one to look at, both cycles you shot .5u into a 200. The morning she had a very nice curve, the evening she was high and flat-bouncy bouncy. I know nothing about needles and absorption. But it does not look like .25 is enough. If you are available to her, you could try a little more, .33 maybe. If you're concerned about having to wait for her to become shootable you may want to reduce a little on the PM doses since she really seems to run longer at night. Also you could talk to someone about shooting rising numbers below 200 and then shooting the .2 or .25, if you could catch her at say +12 154 then +12.5 187 you can shoot the 187, it's just a new ballgame at this point....but Mr. P looks like he wants to help out!

*Now that you're on the u-100's I would change your dosing, more accurate to draw exactly 0.4u then a skinny 0.5 and it looks like the s0.5 was too much again last night. I would start adjusting on .1u increments, which would be .25u increments on the u100s. Consistency is more important at tiny doses, being off by 0.05u is not an issue when giving 1u doses but at 0.2u a 0.05u error changes the dose by 1/4th!

 

[Catannc]

And I think you're in a bouncy cycle today.

 

[Holly and Josie]

Looking at your ss it seems you have two issues with her, she's very bounce, and you sometimes get a visit from Mr. P. 3/19 is a good one to look at, both cycles you shot .5u into a 200. The morning she had a very nice curve, the evening she was high and flat-bouncy bouncy. I know nothing about needles and absorption. But it does not look like .25 is enough. If you are available to her, you could try a little more, .33 maybe. If you're concerned about having to wait for her to become shootable you may want to reduce a little on the PM doses since she really seems to run longer at night. Also you could talk to someone about shooting rising numbers below 200 and then shooting the .2 or .25, if you could catch her at say +12 154 then +12.5 187 you can shoot the 187, it's just a new ballgame at this point....but Mr. P looks like he wants to help out!

*Now that you're on the u-100's I would change your dosing, more accurate to draw exactly 0.4u then a skinny 0.5 and it looks like the s0.5 was too much again last night. I would start adjusting on .1u increments, which would be .25u increments on the u100s. Consistency is more important at tiny doses, being off by 0.05u is not an issue when giving 1u doses but at 0.2u a 0.05u error changes the dose by 1/4th!

OK, this is interesting. I think you're right that she bounces quite a bit. But the thing that confuses me is that sometimes I understand why she bounces, but other times I don't. I'm not sure why she'd bounce today because from what I can tell, she didn't get very low the previous cycle. Unless she got really low sometime between +6.5 and +11. But I don't think so. I think she was heading up and then Mr. P kicked in. I think that's also why I'm reluctant to reduce her dose much. It seems like her dose is appropriate, but then Mr. P kicks in late in the cyle and gives her unshootable pre-shots. But I don't think it's the dose itself if that makes sense.

I also think you may be right about shooting the .25 earlier. I thought seriously about waiting a half hour, testing and shooting then. But I decided to go ahead and just feed her, wait and hour and a half, and shoot when I knew her numbers would be high enough. I think I made the wrong choice.

I do want to transition over to the U100's but the thing that's been holding me back is that I'm honestly not sure how much I have been giving her exactly. I mean, I know visually, but not enough to say I'm giving her .4 exactly. So switching to the U100's is almost like starting over. I'm sort of guessing at a starting dose. I can try .4, but maybe that's too much or not enough. That kinda scares me. But I think I do have to make the switch, because I'm unable to make adjustments accurately right now and that's been a problem.

 

[Holly and Josie]

And I think you're in a bouncy cycle today.

So if you are in a bouncy cycle you are supposed to reduce the dose, or at least not increase, right? (This question is for anyone reading that might know the answer!)

 

[Catannc]

we are told to hold or reduce, but sometimes kitty doesn't bounce before ps but does at +2. Might not be a bounce, Mr. P might have been helping other days but now he isn't. Or she's bouncing from something that happened yesterday that you didn't catch. Or she's just crazy....

0.4 u prozinc is exactly 1u on u100 syringes. You're not seeing any numbers that are dangerous on the higher dose, but she runs too long.

 

[Holly and Josie]

we are told to hold or reduce, but sometimes kitty doesn't bounce before ps but does at +2. Might not be a bounce, Mr. P might have been helping other days but now he isn't. Or she's bouncing from something that happened yesterday that you didn't catch. Or she's just crazy....

0.4 u prozinc is exactly 1u on u100 syringes. You're not seeing any numbers that are dangerous on the higher dose, but she runs too long.

Haha, well she's definitely crazy! I think we'll try the U100's again tonight. I think she's going to have a shootable pre-shot, based on her current #'s.

 

[Holly and Josie]

Josie's kinda flat this afternoon...

PMPS (1pm) - 356 - gave very skinny .50

+4 (5pm) - 236 (She ate a snack here which we left out for her. I was hoping she'd eat it earlier, but she waited and I think it may be why her numbers are flat).

+5.5 (6:30pm) - 244

 

[Grayson & Lu]

Josie's kinda flat this afternoon...
PMPS (1pm) - 356 - gave very skinny .50
+4 (5pm) - 236 (She ate a snack here which we left out for her. I was hoping she'd eat it earlier, but she waited and I think it may be why her numbers are flat).
+5.5 (6:30pm) - 244

She had about a 33% drop by +4. That's not a bad drop by any means. The food probably gave her a 30 point spike (based on what Grayson does), and an hour & a half later she's about the same. It usually takes Grayson 2-4 hours to start dropping again after food. so don't be upset about the +5.5 unless you only gave her one piece of FD Chicken!

It'll be interesting to see where she goes from there. If you hold off on any snack or food until after +8 or +9, you might see more drop.

This really isn't a bad cycle. That's why I've started documenting the food type, quantity and when in the cycle it's given... When you delete the variables, you can see the numbers and patterns more clearly.

 

[Holly and Josie]

Josie's kinda flat this afternoon...
PMPS (1pm) - 356 - gave very skinny .50
+4 (5pm) - 236 (She ate a snack here which we left out for her. I was hoping she'd eat it earlier, but she waited and I think it may be why her numbers are flat).
+5.5 (6:30pm) - 244

She had about a 33% drop by +4. That's not a bad drop by any means. The food probably gave her a 30 point spike (based on what Grayson does), and an hour & a half later she's about the same. It usually takes Grayson 2-4 hours to start dropping again after food. so don't be upset about the +5.5 unless you only gave her one piece of FD Chicken!

It'll be interesting to see where she goes from there. If you hold off on any snack or food until after +8 or +9, you might see more drop.

This really isn't a bad cycle. That's why I've started documenting the food type, quantity and when in the cycle it's given... When you delete the variables, you can see the numbers and patterns more clearly.

Oh, yeah, from the PMPS to 4+ was pretty good. But I was surprised that she was flat from 4+ to 5.5+ as that's when she usually has her biggest drop. I think the snack did push her up. It was a small snack, maybe half an ounce of Fancy Feast? But you're right about her dropping more because at 7+ she was at 190. So not a flat cycle after all.

I am really beginning to see what a huge role the timing of the food plays. I haven't figured out how it works with her, but I know sometimes it pushes her numbers up while sometimes it pushes them down. I also know that feeding her snacks throughout the day keeps her numbers more stable. When I was feeding her just twice per day her numbers were like a roller coaster. The snacks do even her out, even though sometimes it makes her seem like she's flat.

 

[Lydia & Sid & Jake(GA)]

Hi Holly,

I also try to even Sid out using food. He is extremely bouncy. Last night, for example, he dropped 200 pts in an hour. I'm still working with Sid on the exact best times to feed, but I usually don't feed past +4 unless he is going below 80. Usually at 80 I give a small snack to keep him from dropping too much but sometimes he drops despite having meals. ohmygod_smile Good luck with Josie and getting her numbers down.