4/14/18 Olive AMPS 340; +5=267; PMPS 241; 5.5=62; +6=79; +6.5=98

Yesterday

Pink start today. Is there a trick to getting the blues to last longer?

 

I think there has been overall improvement in Olives numbers. I think giving it more time, its only been 8 weeks and based on that Olive has come a long way. Bet you give it several more weeks and you'll see more steady blues. Flip side is Olive is pretty high in dose and depending on the the cause...that's a factor too and numbers fluctuating. Have you thought about having her tested for IAA and Acro? Knowing if any are at play here can help with dosing decisions.

 

She hasn't been on insulin long enough yet for the tests. End of May they can be done. Cushings is negative. She does have a tumor probably involving adrenal gland, hence the aggressive dosing. Knew very early on she was going to be high dose. The Lantus was like giving her water, so I started getting some tests done and the tumor was found 3 weeks after I got her.

 

That was a pretty nice cycle she had yesterday so that 340 is likely bounce-related. I think that, the more she sees blues, the fewer bounces she will have so it's a matter of waiting it out.
She is getting an awful lot of insulin isn't she? So what happens if the IAA/Acro test comes back positive? Is there something else you can do for her? Or is it just to know for sure that it would be the cause of the need to high-dose?

 

If tests come back positive, for us I don't think there is anything we can do so it's just knowing she needs high dose and we just keep increasing. The acro I believe you can have radioactive implants done. It's only in Colorado. It's not something I would be able to afford. With her present tumor she might not even be a candidate for it anyway. And it's not guaranteed to work. So it's just knowing she needs lots of insulin and the # (7, 7.5, 8 etc) of units in our case is really not a big alarm to cause stress or panic in me. It does remind me of how relentless diabetes is as grabbing hold and not letting go. To Olive her glucoses are normal and her body will not accept anything less. It's a stubborn fight.

 

For us any of the treatments out there for Acro were too expensive. Knowing one cat here, @Marvin's Mom - Nat went OTJ using Carbergoline was good enough for me to try it. It was roughly a $68/month expense for the medication. I felt is was working for Beenie. It certainly is working for @Chubba. Unfortunately Beenie's heart didn't allow us to continue the journey but for us it was well worth the try and something we could afford. I still marvel at @Sandy and Black Kitty 's journey of only having IAA and that wonderwoman relentlessly fought those antibodies and got BK OTJ.
Of course its certainly fine to just treat with the insulin a high doser needs. Just want to put it out there that there is a way less expensive alternative to treat Acro. There's of course no guarantee.

 

I see yellow!

How is Olive doing otherwise ?

 

The trick to longer stretches of blue is getting them to a better dose. Glad you are keeping on trucking with the dose increases, but I would move to increases every 6 cycles at this point in time, to allow the depot to catch up.

Been 63 days on insulin by my count. One third of acros test false negative if tested before 73 on insulin. Not long now for Olive.

Besides knowing if cabergoline might be an option (if positive for acromegaly), knowing results has other benefits. It can be a factor in dosing. It also gives you a heads up to look for certain side effects, some of which can be treated if you know about them. The minority of kitties on cabergoline go OTJ, but most have a significant reduction in dose, which also means less growth hormone which is the cause of some of the side effects. Effectively, it probably slows the progression of the disease.

Radiation therapy is available in a lot more places than Colorado now. We went there, but a lot has happened in 6 years. Sarah is taking her Pig to Washington State U (much better price than most) in a few weeks for SRT.

 

Gizmo was roughly on the same amount of insulin (about 9 units) as Olive when we started cabergoline. For him the cabergoline is around $90 a month, but way less than I was paying for insulin and worth the chance that he might not need the insulin anymore.

 

@Wendy&Neko So should I do 6 cycles from now on, or do 6 for this dose than back to 4 cycles. We've been doing 2 4 cycle increases then 1. 6 cycle for catch up then back to 2 4 cycles.

We have vet appt in mid May so she will be on insulin 80 something days. Vet doesn't think she is acro but as long as the resistance test is being done why not acro also. Should it be positive then we will try the cabergoline. As long as she needs increases I will continue to give them it's better than all the problems of having high glucose.

It's funny, I was to intimidated and scared to do TR with Smokey. With Olive dosing even faster doesn't faze me in the least. She needs what she needs and it seems if we slow it down she reverts right back.

I can't imagine how sick or miserable she would be doing SLGS.

Here is a question on 4/7 I decreased her gabapentin to once daily at PM shot time. She was more comfortable so decreased and she seems to fine with the one dose. Do you think cutting the AM dose has interfered with her glucoses?

Just let me know when I need to change dosage frequency otherwise I will stay the course we've been doing until she indicates differently.

 

Good to know. I figured I would look into alternatives when test is done and if it's positive. Sandy and BK are the pioneers in this. There was no research or knowledge then. My vet balked at Smokey when he hit 5 units and said there wasn't anything more to do. Wait until he sees what Olive is getting AND that I changed insulin to lev. He might disown us.

 

6% carbs given. This will be some bounce.

 

She is coming up on her own so I'm heading to bed. Her feeder is open. I will be holding this dose.

 

Wow ... hope she doesn’t bounce to high.