Hi Lori,
I was at work, obviously, when I last posted. I just wanted to get that out there quick.
OK, I'll try to explain why the 12 hour schedule.
As Robin said earlier in this thread, Prozinc is intended to last 10 or more hours, where PZI can be a shorter duration like 6-8 hours. Thing is, it's different with every kitty that uses either one of them.
As you said, you have seen where some people shoot every 8 hours here. The people who do have got months of data recorded, and the data indicates that their kitties might be better suited to 3 doses a day (TID) rather than 2 per day. In some cases the data has proved to be correct. Kim (and Kitty) are an example of a successful switch to TID. Others have tried it and have it not work out. Right now there are two kitties who are trying TID. Marty is trying TID with Callie. Lisa was on BID, changed to TID, and is currently back on BID with Cass. In both those cases, the jury is still out on which was works best.
With Copper, you've just started Prozinc, and there just isn't enough data to determine what the correct dose every 12 hours is yet. Yesterday, on 1.25, he seems to have gotten pretty long duration, more than we probably expected. So much so that last night, we had to try and figure out how much to cut that back. To me, it looks like the .25 worked just fine for last night, because he didn't have a high number this morning at all. We don't know how "low" he went overnight, but he didn't rise too much from PMPS to AMPS today. Today his cycle looks weird, because it doesn't look like he dropped, but instead rose a little during the day. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell exactly why, because we can't go back yet to see if it's happened before, so we can't see any pattern that is repeating.
Today's curve, or lack thereof, is traditionally an indication of "too much insulin". Traditionally. But for Copper, it's the first time that we see it. So it's too soon to say "yep, too much insulin, reduce the dose". Today is just "what it is". It's numbers on a spreadsheet that in the future will be helpful, but right now, it's just "huh?, what was that all about?"
There is a protocol developed by a vet named Dr. Hodgkins, that basically goes like this..... shoot the insulin, then test every couple of hours, and when you get a number high enough to shoot, then shoot again". It can be 3 or 4 times a day, and the doses are usually not the same, but based on a scale that is adjusted according the the meter readings. It is called Tight Regulation. It is very hard to do, and we've had a couple people show up here in the past couple of months that had been using it, but didn't see the results that proponents of that protocol said they'd get. Nobody here uses TR for PZI or prozinc. Not THAT protocol anyway. The people doing TID use a somewhat similar method, but keep to a strict 8 hour dose schedule rather than walking around all day with a loaded syringe just waiting to see a "shootable number".
Anyway, the primary reason that I wanted to tell you to stick with a 12 hour schedule is because you need to keep the time constant so that as you collect data every day, the data "makes sense" and will help you determine how Copper reacts to a set dose and schedule, so that logical decisions can be made when determine if a dose increase or decrease seems like what needs to happen. Once you've collected enough numbers for a given dose, things will make more sense as patterns emerge from your spreadsheet.
OK, all that said..... none of the numbers you have recorded so far are bad. Not drastically high or low. If you start seeing numbers like 50 and 450, we'll really have to put our thinking caps on. Right now, living in numbers of 250 or lower, Copper is doing super (so are you by the way), and you both are in a lot better shape than most people who've only been here for a week usually are!
Carl
