Loki, diagnosed 8/5/11

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Talonstorm

Talonstorm

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Hi everyone. It was recommended for me to post over here for those of you who have pro-zinc experience to weigh in. Here is my original post on the general health board:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=49299&p=544332#p544332

Does anyone have any recommendations on Loki's treatment moving forward? I am both optimistic and apprehensive of his current BG numbers. Optimistic that he can be controlled with diet, but worried also that I am doing something wrong, or something is going wrong with him. He is eating well, although today he had a bout of diarrhea (likely due to him adjusting to the canned diet). He seems to be feeling fine and is not noticeably losing weight. He is a large cat (at 20 pounds). The vet does not feel he is very obese, he is a Maine Coon and is just a big cat. She recommended I try to gradually take him down to 16 pounds or so, but she didn't feel the weight was a huge issue.

So, I guess that is it, I will be getting the spreadsheet uploaded to googledocs tomorrow evening. I could not get it to work on my work computer and I forgot to send it home to myself, lol.

Thanks, Tina (and Loki)
 
Hi Tina and Loki!
I just looked at your most recent post, and it is awesome that Loki has improved so much and so quickly. He hasn't had more than 1u of insulin in days!
One observation. PZI is a long-lasting insulin which is usually dosed every 12 hours. It usually reaches peak effectiveness around the +6 timeframe, then begins to wear off. You see this when you shoot, he drops, then climbs back up to 12 hours later just in time for the next shot.
That is best illustrated with the curve you ran on the 14th. His nadir that day was pretty much perfect. Mid-50s. As low as a "non-diabetic" kitty. That day was a morning shot of 3u too. I'm guessing that was a stressful day for you. But you and Loki made it though in great shape.
Your dose reductions have all been good, IMO, and it looks like you've got a good sense with how the insulin works for Loki.
The fact that he has gone in some cases two cycles without any insulin, and you haven't had a really high number afterwards is very encouraging. Loki appears to be really close to coming "off the j**ce".
You have followed the "newbie" line-in-the-sand no-shot guidelines (200) perfectly. Now, you are no longer a "newbie", so you do not have to have that line in the sand if you choose to not have it.
That is totally up to you, and how comfortable you feel with moving forward.
My only suggestion - instead of giving a shot in the AM and no shot in the PM, what you can do instead is "split" that dose. Whether it's 1u, or .5u or whatever. If you get a number like 214 in the morning, instead of .5, you could give him .25. At night, instead of that 136, you might see a 180. If so, you could give him another .25. In the morning, instead of that 214, you might see a 160. You could continue to give him smaller doses until eventually, you'd get a PS reading of 90. At that time, you could skip, and be rewarded with another 90 next test. Next thing you know, it's been 2 weeks since Loki has had a shot.
In order to try this, what you will need to do is to be able to get readings in the +6 area, so that you can see how low he goes. Ideally, he'd be around 60-70 at nadir. Low, but still safe. It is really important if you want to try something like this that you feel totally comfortable with shooting tiny doses BID. You can even draw yourself a new line in the sand of say 150 or 140 for a no-shot.
I would not try anything different, however, until you get that SS up on the site so that everyone can see all the numbers. There will also be other people around soon that will give you their opinions, and they have a lot more experience than I do.
I'm just really encouraged because your numbers look a lot like mine did in the days leading up to Bob coming OTJ.
Carl in SC
 
Welcome Tina & Loki,

Looks like you have a decent handle on everything so far. It would be wonderful to see that spreadsheet up (the colors mean more to me than the numbers :lol: )

The best way to get dosing advice here is to do a daily post with AMPS in the subject line and any mid-test cycles you have in the body (going back an editing your original post as tests comes in seems to work really well). It's understandable if you're not around during the week to run mid-cycles, but even a +(whatever hour you get home/hour you go to bed/etc) can give more information than just PS times.

Again, welcome!
 
Hi TIna,
welcome to PZI land
cant wait to see the spreadsheet and see what is going on with you 2

Denise and Shakes
 
OK, I think I got the spreadsheet set up correctly and placed in my signature line. Can someone let me know if it works for them or not?

I decided to give Loki 0.25 u tonight, in the hopes that splitting his dose will help regulate him a bit better (thanks for that suggestion Carl!). I found it difficult to see 0.25 on the syringe, it increases by one unit for each little line. Does anyone else find it difficult?

Thanks, Tina
 
Hello & Welcome to our group! Spreadsheet looks fine & it looks like your Loki might go OTJ! Great news! As far as the syringes, I'm assuming you're using the U40 ones with the red cap? You can get U100's that are easier to read those small doses but you have to use a conversion chart. I don't know if you want to bother cause it really looks like he might not stay on insulin. If you're interested we can give you the info on what to buy. Kim just uses the U40 syringes & just estimates the best she can which is fine also.
 
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