Hi guys! Haven't posted in a few weeks because I wanted to try my own thing and I didn't want any backlash for doing something that isn't recommended but I've had success and managed to get Jack regulated within 5 days. I think he's close to reaching his honeymoon. It's been 24hrs since his last dose and his most recent BG was 70. So I followed TR for about 2 months and found that it was a bit slow for Jack and felt like he kept falling into glucose toxicity. Most of his bounces would last 6 cycles and most dose increases would result in an additional 2 cycles of NDW, so he was spending 90% of his time in yellow, pink or red, unable to get used to lower numbers (and bounce within 4-6 hours of going below 200). When we got to 2.75u we got stuck - 2.75u wasn't enough to lower his sugar but 3u would eventually lead to a hypo after a few cycles, requiring a reduction. I decided to try my own thing once I got to know his patterns. I would give extra insulin during a bounce and then once he was in lower numbers, I would spread out smaller doses to keep momentum, considering overlap between doses and using small amount of honey to flatten the curve and encourage his pancreas to create it's own insulin. I based all my decisions on what I've learned about Jack's usual patterns and how he responds to certain doses during bounces or low numbers. I know it's not the recommended way of using Lantus but it worked for Jack and I'm glad I started with TR because it helped me learn what I needed to know about Jack's BG. To understand my spreadsheet (beginning on 04/05/2019), AMPS and PMPS is always 4:30am/pm, whether or not I actually give him a shot - if I do give shots at 4:30, I use the U field and if I give shots at other times, I add it in with his test results. I found it less confusing to do it this way since I was doing a lot of dose splitting to keep momentum and trying to go as long as possible without giving insulin. I don't want to encourage anyone to try and do their own thing, especially without knowing their cats BG levels, patterns and how they respond to insulin. TR was a fantastic learning curve and if my cat were to suddenly start needing more insulin or go into remission and fall back out, I would very likely go straight back to TR before trying anything personalized again. I think TR works for more cats and might have even worked for Jack if I tried longer, but I was just getting really anxious, lacking in sleep and just wanted to get him into better numbers as quickly as possible and find a withdrawal method that was equally quick. I've literally been bringing the cat everywhere with me for the past few months and it's getting tiring - he goes on about 4 car rides with me a week. My goal was to have him regulated and either off insulin or on a smaller dose in time for the end of my maternity leave.
2 weeks without insulin = remission. Good luck. I see Google sheets must have updated the software. Your ss looks like what happened the last time it was changed.
The spreadsheet works, but the formatting is messed up for the US version. Not a huge deal. When I selected "Open in Google Sheets" it was okay.
I'm glad that worked for Jack but a huge issue doing that type of approach with a depot insulin is it keeps the depot, designed to remain steady, all messed up. When injected, Lantus creates small crystals in the fat layer when then slowly 'melts' providing additional support thru those days. When doses aren't consistent, the depot still releases what it has - if too much was injected over a short time, it will release that 'too much' causing more issues with the currently working dose. I'm NOT giving you a hard time about it but others that visit may not realize the full impact of what you did. Without all the pieces firmly in place, this could have gone very wrong. HUGS! Glad Jack is doing well!
