3/14 Tigger PMPS/63 - 10 min. late & .10mm reduction

Good Afternoon, LL!

Tigger's 2/19 post

I hope everyone's well here - we've been good - a few major medical scares, but we've dodged bullets each time, gratefully!

Tigger's so good in fact, he doesn't want to come up these last 2 days. Tonight especially he's been hanging in the 50's, which is a first. He's due for his shot in about 20 minutes, I'll wait the 15 minutes after that, but I don't think we'll be high enough to shoot. He had 1T chicken breast at AM+10.

:?: I'm wondering if I should skip if he stays at this level or goes lower? I'm not sure I'm comfortable shooting below 60-70 unless I'm sure he's going up pretty quickly.

:idea: NOTE: I just tested again at what would normally be his pre-shot & he's at 65. I'm holding & will re-test in another 20 min. if he's up above 70 I think I'll feed 7% instead of 4.5%, go ahead & shoot & test every 30 min. but I gave him a fd chicken snack after testing last time, so that may have caused the bump.

:?: Should I reduce again? This doesn't feel like he's fighting to stay up, feels more like he's cruising. But - I don't want to jeopardize him & could drop another 10mm.

We've been increasing him only 10mm at a time & this has really helped to flatten him out, until we got to 3.05mm. I goofed yesterday & forgot to test & he dropped to 48 at AM+6, so I reduced his dose back to 3.00mm last night & didn't shoot through the bounce. He dropped also today to 46 at AM+9, which I waited 45 min. to test from the 64. I assume this is the depot talking.

Perhaps I should have dropped him .25 units, but since I only increased him .05mm the last time, that is what I reduced.

Thank you so much for your help - I really miss you all, but my family has been much happier with me spending less time caretaking Tigger.

 

Re: 3/14 Tigger AMPS/345 +11.5/54 +12/65 - skip?

Hi Suzanne - good to hear from you and get a Tigger update. He does look much flatter. I like your plan of waiting another 20-30 minutes and see if he's coming up some more. Looks like he might be starting to rise a bit and that's a good time to shoot. Provided you have supplies and can monitor tonight, just in case.

 

Re: 3/14 Tigger AMPS/345 +11.5/54 Dropping - skip?

hi suzanne!

i wouldn't say he's dropping from looking at his ss. it looks like he's been surfing since +7 at about the same number range. in general, as long as you are able to monitor, it's considered safe to shoot above 50. you know the mantra - shoot low to stay low. if you aren't comfortable with it, maybe a reduced dose.

 

Re: 3/14 Tigger AMPS/345 +11.5/54 +12/65 - skip?

Wendy! Great to hear from you! I hope Neko's still doing well on the Levemir!

Yes, I will hold another 20 & see where we're at, THANK YOU - I've always been a BCS about shooting low

:?: For reference, on a reduced dose, how much would you reduce? :?

:?: Do you think I should take another reduction - was I wrong to only drop back the 5mm that I'd increased?

 

Re: 3/14 Tigger AMPS/345 +11.5/54 +12/65 - skip?

Oh, Hi Julie! Thank you, too, I didn't see your post.

Same question for you - do you think I should've reduced more than the 5mm that I'd increased? Tigger's last safe dose was 3.00mm.

Thanks very much for your advice!

 

Re: 3/14 Tigger AMPS/345 +11.5/54 +12/65 - skip?

I've been playing around with .1mm changes so don't have much experience with something smaller than that (Marje does). But I do notice you had to feed him 2 tsp 20% a couple of times today and that just kept him surfing in the 50's. For safety's sake, I might take him down a bit more than .05mm. He's spent some nice time in healing greens since his last safe dose.

I've learned to be much more casual about shooting low on Lev. Neko has given me 53 and 54 a few times in the morning. She also gave me a 50 once, but for some reason I felt I needed to wait for a rise before shooting. Something psychological about that number. :lol:

 

Re: 3/14 Tigger AMPS/345 +11.5/54 +12/65 - skip?

i've never used calipers, so i don't think i should speak to the dose. when a cat gets into the 30's, a full 0.25u reduction is strongly encouraged. i think the amount of the reduction for BGs in the 40's should take into account how much you had to work to keep Tigger up, as Wendy pointed out. His ss does look very good. It looks like he's at a very good dose - you're just tweaking at this point. All of his numbers are coming down except the amps, which is typically the last one to flatten out.

So i can see why you're reducing very slowly. You've got a good thing going and want to maintain it. You're good at monitoring. You're putting a lot of thought into the reasons you're doing what you are doing. All that would make me say that you've got a good grasp of the dosing strategies and i think you can trust your instincts on this.

 

Gosh, thank you both so much!

Everything you both said makes very much sense.

I decided to reduce the dose to 2.90mm (another drop of .10mm) at least for tonight & tomorrow until I know we have a handle on this & Tigger's drops are more predictible. (Also because we are having our neice visit tomorrow & I may not be as attentive.) Wendy's right, best to be safe. I shot 10 min. late (after my 15 min. leeway) & gave 7% carb instead of 4.5%, 3T instead of 2T, & will re-test every 30 until we're safe.

The best thing that has helped me since I was a Newbie (in case there are lurkers here) is when you all repeatedly advised, "This is a Marathon, not a Sprint." When you step back & look at the bigger picture, a little bit lower just to be safe won't hurt. A little too fast or too much can hurt. So I'm working at pacing my expectations along with Tigger's doses.

Wendy, thank you for the pep talk - Makes me feel better that even you used to pause a little shooting low numbers. I think I'll always be a weenie about that!

Julie, thanks for the confidence building - it's been hard not posting with the FDMB - so your words mean alot. But my family's appreciative I'm spending more time with them & less resentful toward Tigger.

Thanks again you guys - miss you all & hope you're all well!