RUMPELTEAZER - 3-20-13

Status
Not open for further replies.
misty1477

misty1477

Very Active Member
Tested @ 7:50AM 192

Fed FF after test.

I will read over posts from yesterday to determine what to do next. I have to read carefully and digest info. Seems different people tell me different things to do.....I understand everyone is trying to help me and I DO APPRECIATE IT MORE THAN I CAN SAY....but I am just confused. Please bear with me.
 
Nice number this am, Misty.

Yes, read back over the posts. We have all said her pancreas is waking up and that does make it harder to figure out when and how much insulin to give. That is why we have been so cautious and nervous about when you give a dose. And how much.

And none of us have all the answers and we do disagree on things. Carl is our science guy and I admire him greatly and usually agree with him completely. We do disagree on the value of tiny increments. I think I often see cases where a tiny amount does make a difference, even in a cat whose pancreas is not active. But I have no way of knowing whether I am right or whether he is. There is anecdotal evidence for both views. That is why this is called a sugar "dance". The cat is the only one who really knows the steps.

I would like to see you get more sleep. And I'd like to see Rumpel in remission. Carl had a plan that would let you get some sleep and relax a little. It seems very reasonable to try that for a few cycles and see what happens. Central to his plan is feeding small meals during the day so that might be your first step. I think you have been feeding after every test so continue with that, even if you don't test.

But one thing everyone agrees on, if you give insulin, test at 2-3. If she is headed down fast, get help.
 
I will NOT give shot this morning.

She did eat a lot for breakfast.

I have to run a few errands. Should be back no later than 10:00AM. That will be about +2. I will do a test then and based on the number....either give her FF (should I just let her eat her fill OR give 2-3 tsps.???) OR be back here for help if she dives to low.
 
Sounds like a plan.

I'd give her 1/4 can of FF at a time during the day.

I won't be around today and think Carl is working. Donna and BJ should be if you need dose advice in a few hours.
 
I am working. I would have advised skipping. Great decision!
 
453 @ 10:00 AM Since NO shot....this means food made number go up......am I correct??? Going up too high is better than going down to low....right?

Gave 1/4 can FF
 
Food will make the BG go up. Usually with or without insulin, is my understanding. With my cat I can see a BG rise by 45 mins to an hour after eating.
 
In the long term, we want to manage the BG and keep it as low as we can, SAFELY.
But yes, high is safer than too low.
 
Gave 1/4 can FF @ 1:00PM

Did NOT test. After reading Carl's info from yesterday and no shot this morning....I guess I will test her @ 4:00PM and see where she is at. Then I will try to figure out what to do.....maybe give her another 1/4 can FF after 4:00PM test (Test at 4:00PM will be about 33 hours without any insulin). Who knows!!!

Seems like now we are trying to regulate her with food.

Hmmmm....are we getting back to what my vet said to do ONLY using smaller doses?????? She said..."Only test at AMPS and PMPS. Give 1 unit 2x a day". Is this what we are getting to?
 
No, not exactly...
Today, we are trying to see if her pancreas is reacting to eating. To see if she drops after eating because she's producing her own insulin.

If you give insulin, you will want to test at least once during the AM cycle.

And the dose would be determined by looking at her preshot number and the mid-cycle number(s) When you can see how much of an effect a dose has from the high to the low, you can figure out if the dose is appropriate.

The way your vet suggests - testing only at preshot times - doesn't tell you if the dose is working well or not.

Today, so far, it doesn't look like her pancreas has done much work. So far.

Carl
 
Carl & Bob said:
No, not exactly...
Today, we are trying to see if her pancreas is reacting to eating. To see if she drops after eating because she's producing her own insulin.

If you give insulin, you will want to test at least once during the AM cycle.

And the dose would be determined by looking at her preshot number and the mid-cycle number(s) When you can see how much of an effect a dose has from the high to the low, you can figure out if the dose is appropriate.

The way your vet suggests - testing only at preshot times - doesn't tell you if the dose is working well or not.

Today, so far, it doesn't look like her pancreas has done much work. So far. SO .... you are saying that she needs insulin? I was going to test her at 4:00PM. Shall I test her now to see what is going on?

Carl
Click to expand...
 
I'm saying that today, a tiny bit of insulin may have helped. But at the time, at shot time this morning, her number was below 200 after 24 hours since her last shot. So skipping was the right and logical choice.

You can wait until 4 to test. You're just collecting data today, Misty.

Carl
 
TEST @ 6:30PM 291

NO shot since .25 @ 8:35AM Yesterday (3-19-13).

She was not 'hyper-play' kitteh today. Just kind of lounged around .... like the other kittehs usually do.

Will let her eat as much as she wants now. I don't think she will need a shot tonight.

Will be off to bed by 7:30PM. Will leave some FF out for her (hope others don't eat it) when I leave for work.

Does this sound good?
 
That sounds great, Misty. Her pancreas seemed to wake up in the last part of the cycle and she came down on her own, from the 400s to the 200s. This is lovely news.

You can see why we are having such a hard time advising you on dose. We have no idea when the pancreas is going to start working. It would have been logical for it to use the food this am and have her come down early in the cycle. But instead, it started to work at the last part of the cycle. It makes it so hard to predict when you should give a drop of insulin or when to wait it out.

The usual wisdom is that, if the pancreas is working, feeding will bring down the numbers instead of sending them up. But her pancreas seemed to work after the second small feeding rather than the first.

As I said a few days ago, the usual procedure is to "chase" the numbers - waiting until she gets into a higher range and then shoot a tiny amount - but that is complicated by your schedule and by her sputtering pancreas, which is picking interesting times to join the party.

So yes, I would skip tonight and feed tonight and leave out some food if possible. And we will see where we are tomorrow.
 
Honestly Misty I don't know what to tell you on this one.

Probably skip the shot since we are being so cautious, and you need to get some sleep or go to work.

I don't know what Carl's schedule is tonight, but I did message him to see if he is around to get his opinion tonight since he knows your kitty better than me.

Don't know if anyone here has mentioned this to you, but there is something called micro dosing, where basically you just shoot a drop of insulin.
I haven't done it. My kitty needs a lot of insulin. But I know some people do. If your numbers stay like this, it might be something to try. There are people on this board that shoot insulin that way so we can ask.
 
Carl's jumbo post from last night seems to be against the 'micro-dosing'.

She just ate and I am going to clean up the dishes and get some sleep. I will leave some FF out before I go to work.

I will check back here real quick before I go to bed.
 
As I posted early this am, yes, Carl and I disagree on this. I do think mini dosing helps. You get to decide what makes sense to you. Whatever you decide, we'll be here to help.
 
A question I have about this, if RumpleT is trying to self-regulate (and her numbers are definitely looking that way), is it better for her to work at such high numbers on her own and just monitor the progress? Would a small "helper" shot be a detriment to her working it out on her own? No shot, of course, is less nerve-wracking...sometimes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top