The lesson for today

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Voula

Voula

Member Since 2014
The lesson for today is always be on alert and never fall asleep after your alarm goes off. I set the alarm to do a +6 test though I was very confident that Lucy's glucose level would still be high in the morning because of the bouncing high numbers yesterday and because it usually takes a few cycles to clear a bounce. I fell back asleep after the alarm went off early this morning and at +9 I did a test as Lucy was eating breakfast and the level was 2.7/49. I felt quite anxious about how low her glucose might have dropped overnight but thankfully she seems absolutely fine.
My previous post:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/the-value-of-home-glucose-tests.137523/#post-1418269
 
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Stuff happens that we can't always predict - a fur ball, a change in a batch of food and so on. You do the best you can and remember that you have to take care of yourself first, or you may not be able to care for Lucy.
 
BJM said:
Stuff happens that we can't always predict - a fur ball, a change in a batch of food and so on. You do the best you can and remember that you have to take care of yourself first, or you may not be able to care for Lucy.
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Thank you BJM. I have been very tired lately and I did not sleep much the night before and I do suffer from fatigue from a chronic illness too. As you said we can't control everything as much as we would like to sometimes. I remind myself to care for myself too because really probably no one else could or would do all that I do for my precious Lucy and she is also a feisty girl who really only trusts me completely so I do have to make sure I care for myself and do that better than I have been at times too.
 
Alls well that ends well :D:) I think most of us have had an alarm mishap at one stage or another :oops:

Just checking - you know she doesn't get another reduction from that 49 don't you? Chances are it's some depot action from the higher dose.
 
Vyktors Mum said:
Alls well that ends well :D:) I think most of us have had an alarm mishap at one stage or another :oops:

Just checking - you know she doesn't get another reduction from that 49 don't you? Chances are it's some depot action from the higher dose.
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Thank you Serryn. I wasn't sure about the reduction and what to do about it. So do you need a certain number of doses before reducing again?
 
I couldn't find where in the Roomp/Rand protocol it says whether to reduce the dose after a certain number of doses when you get a reading under 2.8/50. It just says to reduce the dose when a reading is under 2.8/50. So I wasn't sure what to do.
 
There isn't a set number of doses to wait but you need to consider that the depot effect can last for up to 6 cycles. Sometimes you do need to take another reduction within that time but only if the kitty goes under 40 or if you are having to really work to keep them over 50. With just a dip below 50 and coming up easily I wouldn't take another for Lucy just yet.
 
Hi, @Voula , @Vyktors Mum , and @BJM . Excuse me for butting in, but I was looking at your page (and I TOTALLY get the issue on the waking/sleeping/illness thing - my problem too), but you're mentioning some kind of fraction... 2.8/50 and 2.7/49...

I get the 2nd part of the fraction (wish I could get Eegie there someday), but that top part... can someone please explain that? Thanks!
 
Vyktors Mum said:
There isn't a set number of doses to wait but you need to consider that the depot effect can last for up to 6 cycles. Sometimes you do need to take another reduction within that time but only if the kitty goes under 40 or if you are having to really work to keep them over 50. With just a dip below 50 and coming up easily I wouldn't take another for Lucy just yet.
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Thank you Serryn. I decided to stay with 1.25 units as I am home all day today and can monitor Lucy well and I decided this because the first reading was 2.7/49 and the second reading straight after was 2.9/52 and as you said the previous dose could have been having an effect too. Also Lucy's glucose went up very fast after some high carb food. I love that Whiskas casserole for raising BG quickly and Lucy loves the taste of it too. :cat::)
 
Sgans said:
Hi, @Voula , @Vyktors Mum , and @BJM . Excuse me for butting in, but I was looking at your page (and I TOTALLY get the issue on the waking/sleeping/illness thing - my problem too), but you're mentioning some kind of fraction... 2.8/50 and 2.7/49...

I get the 2nd part of the fraction (wish I could get Eegie there someday), but that top part... can someone please explain that? Thanks!
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Hi. The first part is the mmol/L which is how we measure blood glucose here in Australia and Canada and I think the U.K. too. In the U.S. you use mg/dl which is the mmol/L multiplied by 18 to get the U.S. equivalent BG. So our 2.8 is your 50. Thank you for sharing your issues with sleep and illness too. It is hard sometimes I know to cope with everything you need to do. Hugs to you. :bighug:
 
@Voula , thank you for that education! I'm that "ugly American" who, for some reason can NOT wrap my head around the metric system. As an otherwise intelligent woman, this vexes me no end! But, now... I GET it!!!

And - thank you for the inspiration to do what we can for whom we love. I wish I could do as others do, getting up at all hours, and having the energy some people appear to have (and sometimes, I CAN!), but thank you for just being another one of us... and letting me see, it's okay here (it's been okay my whole life, but I've really felt it since Eegie got this disease on top of all the rest). Hugs right back atcha! :bighug:
 
I suspect everyone here has slept through an alarm when they meant to test their kitty's blood sugar. I've done it. My best chance at waking up was to stay in the living room on the sofa, lights on, cell phone set loudly and not right next to me. That way I had to get up to turn off the horrid noise.

But sometimes you've gotta sleep and she was just fine, so don't beat yourself up.

I would also not take a reduction this quickly after the last reduction. Serryn's right on - especially in the first 3 or so cycles after a dose reduction I'd assume that it was still the previously larger dose causing the dip under 50. It doesn't say it specifically in the Tight Reg guidelines, but in the descriptions about the depot and how it works, I think it says it can affect as many as 6 cycles after the dose was reduced.
 
Sgans said:
@Voula , thank you for that education! I'm that "ugly American" who, for some reason can NOT wrap my head around the metric system. As an otherwise intelligent woman, this vexes me no end! But, now... I GET it!!!

And - thank you for the inspiration to do what we can for whom we love. I wish I could do as others do, getting up at all hours, and having the energy some people appear to have (and sometimes, I CAN!), but thank you for just being another one of us... and letting me see, it's okay here (it's been okay my whole life, but I've really felt it since Eegie got this disease on top of all the rest). Hugs right back atcha! :bighug:
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When we changed to metric many years ago it took quite a while to get used to it so you aren't alone in feeling frustration with that issue. :)
 
julie & punkin (ga) said:
I suspect everyone here has slept through an alarm when they meant to test their kitty's blood sugar. I've done it. My best chance at waking up was to stay in the living room on the sofa, lights on, cell phone set loudly and not right next to me. That way I had to get up to turn off the horrid noise.

But sometimes you've gotta sleep and she was just fine, so don't beat yourself up.

I would also not take a reduction this quickly after the last reduction. Serryn's right on - especially in the first 3 or so cycles after a dose reduction I'd assume that it was still the previously larger dose causing the dip under 50. It doesn't say it specifically in the Tight Reg guidelines, but in the descriptions about the depot and how it works, I think it says it can affect as many as 6 cycles after the dose was reduced.
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Thank you Julie. I decided to stay with the same dose. The first reading was 2.7/49 and I didn't expect that so I checked again and it was 2.9/52 and the glucose level came up very quickly and continued to rise whereas on other occasions it takes a bit more high carb food to bring the glucose level up and it stays lower for longer too. So I thought the average of both readings was 2.8/50 and as Serryn said the previous higher dose could still have been having an effect so on balance and considering everything I decided to stay with 1.25 units for now. I will do what you do and put my phone further from the bed and use a louder alarm too. :)
 
Voula said:
I fell back asleep after the alarm went off early this morning
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I've been there and done that - one night I'd left Rosa on a falling number (she was at 65) with plans to get up and test her an hour later. Slept right through the alarm and didn't wake up until the alarm for her shot time went off. I felt dreadful - I'll never know if she went low that night, but the important thing is that there's no real harm done. We're human, these things happen. All you can do is be thankful she's OK, forgive yourself and move on. As others have said, you have to take care of yourself too. So much of our lives revolves around our kitties that I think sometimes we forget that we can't always just keep going indefinitely. :bighug:

Lucy cleared that bounce yesterday really quickly - she's doing so, so well and so are you! :D

Sgans said:
for some reason can NOT wrap my head around the metric system. As an otherwise intelligent woman, this vexes me no end!
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Don't worry - I grew up in the UK using the metric numbers for BG (I had a friend who was diabetic when I was a teenager). Since treating Rosa using the US numbers, I cannot figure out the metric ones any more without converting them back with a calculator! The metric numbers just don't automatically mean anything to me any more!!
 
manxcat419 said:
I've been there and done that - one night I'd left Rosa on a falling number (she was at 65) with plans to get up and test her an hour later. Slept right through the alarm and didn't wake up until the alarm for her shot time went off. I felt dreadful - I'll never know if she went low that night, but the important thing is that there's no real harm done. We're human, these things happen. All you can do is be thankful she's OK, forgive yourself and move on. As others have said, you have to take care of yourself too. So much of our lives revolves around our kitties that I think sometimes we forget that we can't always just keep going indefinitely. :bighug:

Lucy cleared that bounce yesterday really quickly - she's doing so, so well and so are you! :D


Don't worry - I grew up in the UK using the metric numbers for BG (I had a friend who was diabetic when I was a teenager). Since treating Rosa using the US numbers, I cannot figure out the metric ones any more without converting them back with a calculator! The metric numbers just don't automatically mean anything to me any more!!
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Thank you April. I know others have done the same. I am not angry at myself just relieved that my Lucy is fine and I will put my phone with the alarm on further from my bed. Thank you for sharing your experiences too. :bighug:
 
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