10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308 +10:371

Yesterday

...And the bounce goes on, and the bounce goes on...

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

Hi guys .. sorry for the bounce, but it looks like river is heading in the right direction at least! have a great day guys!

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

I think that the thing to do next is the kick up the dose to 3.25u, but to NOT increase on a cycle where it looks like the bounce is clearing?
Hoping that if that ain't quite right, someone corrects me...

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

Carl is correct. You don't want to increase at the time when a bounce is breaking. The numbers may drop from the bounce clearing and if you increase the dose at the same time, there may be a lot of momentum that drives the numbers down.

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

Sienne had mentioned increasing a few days ago. I have two concerns with an increase:

* I am wondering if, as of today, anyway, it might be too soon, as I believe he takes a little while to settle into a dose. If I increase, I'm going to do it starting Thursday morning, so that it will (I hope) take a couple of days to take effect, as I will be around for the Thanksgiving weekend.

* I am not able to correctly or consistently judge .25 units. I have serious issues with my eyes. Calipers don't work. I bought one and will return it, as I can't use them, and the instructions for how to even judge the dosage are beyond me. The most I can do is fatten up the dose by pulling the plunger a bit beyond the 3u mark. I don't know if this is a "fat 3", or what it is, but this is the best I can humanly do. That said, if there's variation with syringes anyway, I suppose that all dosing for those of us who are not using calipers is a best guess effort.

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

I think it's a good idea to schedule an increase around your schedule if possible.

I understand the eye issues. I have MD, but only in my left eye. If I look at a flat horizontal line with my left eye, it looks like a mountain range with a blank spot in the middle. When I read, especially small print, I usually have to d so with just one eye.
You might try using an old syringe as a template. Draw up some colored water to what you feel is a good 3.25 dose, and try to match it with the lantus dose? Repeatability is probably more important than the precise amount?

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

I hope River keeps sliding down today. I usually try to make changes to Furball's dose on the weekends so I'll be around to see how it affects her. If you're not comfortable increasing during the week, there's nothing wrong with waiting until you'll be around to keep an eye on him.

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

I wish we had the same Thanksgiving as Canada, so much more reasonable. Let's see a nice slide, River, your bean is getting twitchy.
Liz

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

Boy, I am with you on small dose adjustments/readings. Neither my eyes nor the syringe want to play that game.

How is River feeling? I increased Ozy today. I couldn't take subjecting him to the high numbers any longer. I waited 10 cycles, that is conservative and BOUNCES, well, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I don't work outside the house (when I work, I work from home). That is a blessing and a curse. It means I can keep a close eye on him. It also means that I am chained to the meter.

donaleen

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308

I'm looking at his SS, and I don't really see anything amisss.
I increased his dose, he went down to 59 and then bounced.
He recovered from the bounce, and had two days of blues and greens and then has been bouncing for the last two days.

My question is: So when he's not bouncing, his numbers are between 180 - 60. That's an okay range, n'est-ce pas?
Should I just leave his dose where it is, let him clear the bounce, and then see what kind of numbers he's getting over the next few days?
Because what I'm seeing now are bounce numbers, and you don't increase based on a bounce.

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308 +10:371 + Question

Healing numbers are from 50-120. If it were Tigger, I'd be happy with that dose and would be inclined to hold as you are thinking, at least until you are sure he's cleared the bounce. But - we're still sorta new & Tigger spends more time obuncing. Others with more experience may disagree. Good luck - it's a tightrope walk, isn't it!

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308 +10:371 + Question

PS - Re. seeing the dose: BJ recommended to me awhile back marking the empty syringes where they needed to be ahead of time.

Also, some members use magnifying visors to help them view the syringe &/or calipers. I'm thinking of getting some - I use bi-focals + 2 pairs of reading glasses + a magnifying lens - & look pretty sillly!

The caliper dosing is pretty easy once you get the hang of it - IF you can see the syringe! If I can do it - ANYONE can do it! Marje is the resident authority on calipers, & she could probably help you over any blocks you have with them.

Here's some of the info I gathered together on caliper dosing & syringes from different posts - maybe that would help you, too?
Caliper info

Hope that helps!

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308 +10:371 + Question

How about changing your topic name to says "Dosing Question?"

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308 +10:371 + Question

I don't have any dosing advice, but I just wanted to say I got a good laugh out of "and the bounce goes on" And now I've got THAT song in my head :lol: River, can you try spending some time as a flat cat? kthx

 

Re: 10/8 River AMPS 358 +2:308 +10:371 + Question

I'll figure out what to do when he clears the bounce.
Then I'll see what numbers he gets when he goes blue and green, and then decide if he needs more insulin.
I'll see what his actual nadirs are.

I didn't think he was doing too badly - if you remove the bounces - with the current dose
because
from what I have seen, of how he adjusts to dosing,
it takes him a couple of days to get used to a new dose
which he was starting to do.

When he gets in the normal zone he goes into healing mode and goes lower, and lower.
I want to give him a chance to do that before adjusting the dose again, so that I have a clear idea of how he is actually doing on this dose.

So far there have been only two days that have not been bounce days.
I want to see what the non-bounce days look like, because as people keep saying, don't give more insulin based on a bounce.

So that's the plan!

I don't think I am asking a dosing question. It was more like an anti-increase-at-this-point-because-he's-bouncing-and-we-don't-do-increases-while-a-cat-is-bouncing question.

 

Actually, I just found the answer I was looking for on Donaleen and Ozy's condo, which I am a big fan of because I always learn something from it.

Marje quoted:

Eureka. Exactly.

At this dose, I saw nadirs of 59 and 68. That's a good goal. I'll see, once this bounce clears, whether I'm getting anything like that again, and then act accordingly.

 

Hi Lara,
I'm glad you got your plan, and that's a very good plan.
It makes you feel so much better when you have a plan, doesn't it. :smile:
It makes the difficult period much more bearable.
I hope River breaks the bounce soon and shows his true color!

 

Mariko, you are the Queen of Good Plans, as you help your Lucy so much with your calm, methodical approach to analyzing what she needs, making a decision, and taking a course of action.

 

Sounds like a good plan! I think I'll try it, too.

Have a great evening and don't give up on the calipers: they are really not hard to use once you get the hang of it.

Ella & Rusty

 

Ella, I'll take them out and look at them one more time before I take them back to Home Depot...
Some days, focussing is kinda tough. I can see the lines on the syringes though, thank goodness.
But even figuring out what on the calipers equals 3 units is like a Black Art to me.

 

i never used calipers - i think the important thing is for YOU to know what your dose looks like in a syringe and be able to increase it or decrease it. you just want to be consistent.

did you know you can stack glasses? hahahaha i have a friend in my quilting group that i use to chuckle at because she would wear 2 pair of reading glasses to stitch. then - what did i discover? it's fantastic for the itty bitty details! woo-hoo! :lol: you can put readers on top of each other or on top of prescription lenses. the limit is how many you can stack! ;-)

as i was reading your post i was thinking "marje's post to Donaleen would be helpful here."

 

Great Plan - I like it, too & would like to copy it when Tigger's better - we're seeing too much red right now.

Stacking reading glasses works well - I can do 3-4 depending on the head tilt :lol: :lol:

Re. calipers - you can order digital ones from Harbor Freight. Then you just dial in the number you want. Marje's done a great work-up on this. If you use Terumo syringes you can just copy her numbers based on all her research - easy peasy thanks to Ms Marje!