1/9 Silver AMPS 335 PMPS 265 +4=306. Same highs he was having at only 1u. 2.25 - still no change

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...308-pmps-320-is-this-ndw.189297/#post-2106411

Another discouraging morning. Can not understand why he’s had blues and greens on a much lower dose. My brain can’t fathom it.

 

I know it is frustrating, but hang in there. Sometimes a dose that worked before stops working and you have to go up in dose to bring the numbers down. Eventually you'll find a good dose for him and his numbers will start to come down.

 

That’s the thing tho. I’ve been going up and up. He got green at 0.25u. Now we are up to 2.25. It’s crazy.

 

I've been told that when they come out of remission sometimes you have to go to a higher dose than they were on before to get their numbers down. Furball came out of remission in May. She was down to 1 unit and then her numbers started going back up. She is now on 2.5 units and will probably need another increase.

 

I hear you. But this is waaaay higher. Before remission it was a drop. It was this time round that he was getting green and blue with 0.25u. I often fear I’ve gone right past his ideal dose and he is getting too much.

 

I meant the highest dose he was on before remission, not the lowest. Sometimes when you start back on insulin the cat shows an immediate reaction, but then it fizzles out and you need more insulin.

 

That would be 0.5. Vet started him on 2u but he was wrong and it was reduced.

 

Jones was on a drop for ever....then things changed. Now he is at .5 still looking for greens. Just like you. Had them at a lower dose then they went away.

Like all medical intervention - the needs change over time.

 

Hi Juliet, I know it doesn’t always make sense. One of the most frustrating answers to me is “because: cat” but sometimes, that’s just the best answer and I’ve learned to accept it (doesn’t mean I like though).

I worried much the same as you when Asia was inching up the dose ladder. People say all the time “they need what they need” and that is so true. Whatever the dose that puts Silver in healing numbers, you’ll be happy to give it. Insulin needs also change so what worked last time might not work this go round, or a dose could be great for a day, a week, a month and then not anymore.

Just putting what you posted on Girlie’s condo over here so you have for your records.

By the way, the B12 you were given is fine, Asia’s been given that before too and it helped her. The methylcobalamin form of B12 Darrah and I were discussing is regarding cats with renal insufficiency (Asia and Girlie both have CKD).

 

Oh I didn’t give the cyanocobalamin! I was told ever so firmly on this board that it was not good and it must be methyl kind. This was pre remission. I do not have a current vet.

 

Well everybody has their opinions, and that’s fine, it’s up to you which opinions you put stock in.

I think cyanocobalamin has benefits and is useful in certain situations, others may disagree, but it’s my cat and it’s my call!

 

It is very hard when the advice is conflicting. Easier if everyone is on the same page.

 

But it’s a peer reviewed board, that’s the beauty of it, the knowledge and depth of experience wouldn’t be where it is if everybody were on the same page about everything. I know dealing with ambiguity is frustrating, more for some than others (I’m certainly not a fan), but it does give you a certain freedom to make choices for your cat and your situation that wouldn’t be there if everything were black and white. Treating FD is not one size fits all.

 

Well at least its yellow. Never thought I'd be cheering for yellow but it beats the pinks of the last two days. Will try and get a couple tests in tonight if I can...see if he may go into blue.

 

That's hard for me. I am a black and white person. Its hard for me to make the choices with Silver when I am not experienced at this. I read and read here and try and understand what to do but I struggle every day. Am I doing the right thing? Is creeping up 0.25u every week doing anything at all? Should I just call my vet and have him tell me what to dose? Not that I think he would have a clue. I think TR would work so much better not having to wait a week but obviously I can't do that unless I stay up every night. Once a week is slow and makes me nervous re glucose toxicity as I think we have already run into that a couple times. My life revolves around what colour I am going to get from one test to another. My social life has been completely cancelled and I forget how to just live. It is hard managing this alone.

 

I understand! A lot of my tricky decision making has been around shot time and I wasn't sure what I should do, and there were times where nobody was around (that is comfortable giving dosing advice) to reassure me or say "no, that's a daft idea". I held my breath and just went with what my gut said based on my very limited experience. It's scary! But...even still, you are playing within the parameters of a rule set that it's decently spelled out. Should I increase or not? Might be a bigger deal decision if say, you were going up by 1 unit at a time, right?

I guess what I'm saying is, even if you make a wrong turn, there's a good bit of safety built in and you can typically course correct. Nobody knows your cat like you do and nobody is in your situation. You have to give yourself a little credit. You love Silver, you are trying to help Silver and you're doing the best you can with the resources that you have.

I hear your frustration about going it alone, it's not easy with help, so I can only imagine. I'm very thankful I have the flexibility that I do and I greatly sympathize with you and many others that don't. I can relate to your mood being dictated by the colors in front of you. I have certainly been there! I'm hear from the flip side of that saying, it will get better. I use to be near tears if not crying when I saw a bounce when she was already spending so much time in pinks or worse anyway. I had to remind myself she is not her numbers, over and over again.

Now I see a bounce as a free pass to go have a life for a bit and get out, without worry, or get some long overdue stretch of sleep. It's not that I enjoy them, but they just don't devastate me like they did before she arrived at a dose that was seeing her in better numbers...at least some of the time...when she wasn't bouncing.

You are capable, you are loving, you are stronger than you think and you will get there. Silver will be there to provide cuddles and everybody here to provide encouragement.

 

Juliet is all of those things and more if she did but believe it. She has a grit that I like. Would that I were closer to help stick it to Silver's earholes a few times.

 

Awww thank you @PussCatPrince and @Stacy & Asia. Encouragement to keep going makes a huge difference.

 

At this rate we will be at 5u in a few weeks and still seeing highs. I am beginning to wonder if he HAS a good dose. Sure is hard to find.

 

Sure he does... you just haven't reached it yet. I know it's really hard, but you'll just have to be patient. It'll come.

 

Check out Phoebes ss. I hear you and understand your frustration. She went from 1 unit to 24 units 2x a day to now 16 twice a day. These cats can be fickle so we love them thru it and try on every pair of patience pants we can find. Your doing a great job. Your love for Silver is evident.

 

Wow 24! That’s a lot!

 

A **** ton pardon my language. But now 16 with blues and greens.

 

It can be frustrating that's for sure! Merry kept going up & up in dose but was always flat pink. I was getting worried that maybe he had one of the high dose conditions & was ready to start testing him for those but then he started getting more yellows & then blues & recently greens. Before following TR I actually went back to a lower dose (I dropped him from 2.5u to 1.5u) in case I missed a good dose and then you can see in his SS where I started following TR on Nov 5 & had the regular increases. He got up to 5 units & I cringed each time I had to increase but I kept at it & as you know he had his first reduction recently I hope you find the right dose for Silver soon. Hang in there!

 

What did that do for you when you went back in dose. Did it work?

 

It's on Merry's SS, look at 10/26/17

 

Looks like it didn’t work. Didn’t bring numbers down. Didn’t raise them tho. I did notice the switch to Freestyle meter immediately brought numbers down. I have one of those now (just using up last of Accucheck strips) and it does seem to record on the low side.

 

It's a bit of a mirage, the AlphaTRAK switch to any human meter looks this way on a SS. The real numbers aren't technically any different than they were, but it sure is a nice little boost to see the drastic color change.

 

Yeah, it didn't help going back to a lower dose but it made me feel better knowing I didn't miss a good dose so I stopped questioning that.

I was using the pet meter, AlphaTrak2, which does read slightly differently but when you get into the lower numbers they're readings aren't that much different from my understanding. For my own curiosity when I hit another green I'm going to check it right away with the AlphaTrak2 just to see what it says. I know we can't compare meters but I'm just curios when his BG is lower what the AT2 will say (but I'm still going by the FSLite numbers).