Some newbie questions

Status
Not open for further replies.
Critter Mom said:
For myself, my PTSD etc. makes it extremely difficult to assimilate information (I cannot split focus), especially anything novel, and even the smallest of changes to anything freaks me out. When presented with any processing challenge - reading/writing, grocery websites, someone talking on the phone - my brain reacts to whatever's incoming the way a moth would react were it to take a night flight down the strip in Las Vegas. Complete overload. Then some sort of circuit breaker trips and everything - everything! - I was trying to hold onto in my working memory just disappears.

A great deal of the time when I'm trying to read I can't remember the start of a sentence by the time I get to the finish, so I end up reading and re-reading it until I get the sense of it. So tiring. When it comes to writing, regurgitating something onto a page that has been dinned into my brain through countless repetitions doesn't require much assimilation but I tend to be very wordy (you'll see that by the length of many of my posts here) because the cognitive impairment means I can't really précis my thoughts any more. It's the same when I have to speak to people: I can't stop talking and I feel really embarrassed about it. Think nervous talker on speed. :oops: :rolleyes:

Mogs
.
Click to expand...

Yes, to ALL of that. PTSD rewires your brain and changes so much. As if you don't lose enough in the events that caused the PTSD in the first place, it changes the way your brain functions sometimes to the point you don't recognize yourself.

I appreciate you!! i appreciate everyone on this board so much. <3
 
Mandy S said:
it changes the way your brain functions sometimes to the point you don't recognize yourself.
Click to expand...
And how.

Actually now I feel I really am a different person. Memories of life before the PTSD actually feel like they belong to another person; there's some sort of disconnect. It's like living with the ghost of someone else inside your head or being a peeping Tom when recalling one's own past. Very discomfiting. Very weird.



Mogs
.
 
Critter Mom said:
And how.

Actually now I feel I really am a different person. Memories of life before the PTSD actually feel like they belong to another person; there's some sort of disconnect. It's like living with the ghost of someone else inside your head or being a peeping Tom when recalling one's own past. Very discomfiting. Very weird.
Mogs
.
Click to expand...

I understand. :bighug:



I have a question about the curve. When do you do the first one...or any after that? Our vet said we'd do her first after Sissy had been on Insulin for a week, so she's supposed to go on Tuesday to do it, but I am going to ask if I can do it at home. I'm not sure how that will go over...but we shall see. I plan on not stressing Sissy any more than we have to.

Also about the dosing methods. Is there any benefit one over the other?

I think Sissy is mad at me. The last 24 hours she won't have anything to do with me. She is usually my shadow, my snuggle bug and never leave my side type cat. I really hope it doesn't last. :(
 
Last edited:
Hi Mandy,

A kitty's body can take a little while to adjust to a new dose (we have spreadsheets to prove it!) so it's common to let a new dose 'settle' before running a full curve. (Preshot and nadir BG spotchecks help keep a kitty safe in the interim.) Sometimes events take over and people just have to grab curves when their circumstances dictate.

If your vet's amenable to the idea then doing the home curve would be great. The data won't be influenced by travel/vet stress and should give you a better view of how Sissy's responding.

WRT the grouch behaviour, maybe she's just having an off day but it's something to keep an eye on and also to record in her spreadsheet remarks. If it develops into a pattern of behaviour (easier to spot with the spreadsheet record) then it could be Sissy trying to tell you something's up and you should let your vet know. For example, my Saoirse initially accepted Caninsulin injections fairly OK. She used to get very lethargic while the dose was active in her system during the peak period of the insulin's activity. As Saoirse's dose went up she started trying to hide in the most inaccessible place she could find at every injection time. She let me know something wasn't right for her. She was switched to a different insulin and it was like night and day. The protracted lethargy disappeared and never once did she object to receiving an injection of the different insulin. Every cat is different (ECID); what agrees with one kitty may not agree with another.

We watch the numbers for safety. We look at the whole cat to see how well the treatment is working! :)


Mogs
.
 
Last edited:
@Critter Mom , I think maybe she was having an off day. She came to snuggle with me in bed last night and this morning.
I hadn't scrolled over far enough to see the remarks portion of the spreadsheet. :facepalm: I'm glad you mentioned it, I put some notes in there about her food changes and such.

Her numbers have all been in the 200's since we started (except her first test before insulin. Before that one she was in the upper 300 and 400's at the vet) but she was only accepting mainly shredded chicken and some single ingredient chicken cat food...but not much. Then was almost refusing so we found that weruva food and she loves it, but it's probably a little more carbs than the chicken...it has just over 5% carbs. This morning her test was a little higher...do you think it was the food? She ate it all meals yesterday.
 
Last edited:
Impossible to say with only a few readings whether there's any influence from the food, Mandy. Over a few days you might be better able to determine what effect, if any, the new food may be having on BG. It's actually possible that Sissy might have gone a little lower on last night's PM cycle and this morning's stinky pink is a bounce (the body's reaction to a lower BG number than it has been used to for a while). Now that you're up and running it's time to start getting at least one mid-cycle test per day (i.e. one test somewhere between +4 and +7 on either the AM or PM cycle each day, although if you can do both cycles that'd be peachy!). Even a PM+2 or PM+3 can give you a heads-up of where BG is heading (nd You need to see how low Sissy is going in each cycle and also Lantus dosing decisions are based on the nadir (lowest) BG value.

The main thing is you've found a low carb food that Sissy likes and it's under 10% carbs. First and foremost, she needs to eat! :)


Mogs
.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top