? 7/9 Mia AMPS 335; +5 117; +7 104; +9 98 - Requesting advice about ongoing high AMPS

Hi. Mia continues to have high AMPS glucose levels. They are running even higher lately than they were. I know about the 'dawn phenomenon' and realize that could be a factor here, but is there anything I can do? Her current dose is a 'fat' 1 unit. I am hesitant to increase it because on this dose she has gone down to 78, even 71. (I use an AlphaTrak.) She does not stay in the 'green' long though, and some cycles, she does not make it down that far. So, should I try a slightly higher dose knowing that there will be times when she goes too low, and I have to intervene? Or, should I just hold steady and hope things start to come down on their own over time?

 

Good morning, I thought I'd have some advice but then I looked at her spread sheet. Very colorful! Hopefully more knowledgeable folks will check in. All I can say is what I've been told and that is dose for the nadir and it seems Mia is getting down to some nice numbers regularly. Looks like 1u is getting her into the lagoon. Good luck.

 

Thanks, @MyTitan. Yeah, she is a challenging little girl. She does not like to go by any of the rules.

 

What's your feeding schedule? Ie. what times compared to the shots? Just wondering where the second meal is compared to onset. And what carbs it is. I see a few times when it looks like she's done a dive down at AM onset. Not a lot of data then recently, but I'm wondering if it was enough of a dive to trigger a bounce. Neko used to delay her bounce a cycle. She did the nice night, bounce AM for ages.

If you do increase to try to flatten her out, I might try a slightly higher carb food so you can safely get more insulin in her. The lowest carb is not always the best solution.

 

I feed every 6 hours, so at shot times and +6s. (Except today when I totally lost my mind and fed them lunch an hour early - that's a first.) I usually do not test much before AM +4ish because, when I have, it seems that there is not much of a drop and sometimes even a little rise up to that point, so I save the pokes for later. I can start grabbing a few earlier tests to make sure that is still the case.

The food is 2% carbs. It is the only wet food I get.. it was a long process to arrive at one they will consistently eat. Mia would not even eat the assortment of medium carb foods I tried for when her numbers were low. She will gladly eat Dr E's kibbles which are 5% carbs. I have added a little to her meal before when she was running too low. I could start adding a little to her +6 meals to get some extra carbs in, if I do a dose increase. I know that is frowned on, but I do not see it as a problem since I add so much liquid to the wet food (bone broth and water), and the amount of kibbles I would add would be small. I do not know another way to add to her carbs since she will not eat other wet foods.

I do think the answer has to involve either food carbs or food timing, or even shot timing. It is not as straightforward as just dose increases.. not with this girl! Thank you for your thoughts and let me know if you have more after my response.

 

Onset seems to be before +6. Maybe that +5 meal time to start as an experiment? Maybe cats were trying to tell you something today.

I was thinking about foods in the 4-5%, not medium carb range. You are right, I think you might have to experiment.

 

I understand.. I was just saying that she would not even eat the mid-carb ones that a lot of cats love.