Gracie: AMPS 336

Good Morning Everyone-

I'm a relative newbie and keep hopping in & out over the past couple of weeks as time allows...Thank you to all who have helped me so far!

I am doing a curve at home for vet tweaking but find that I am so afraid of the possibility of Gracie going hypo that I am sabotaging everything every time I see a blue or green number.

We have been at this for a couple of weeks now, and have been to get a second opinion (and found a vet that wants to work with us!! ) But as I stated, I keep wigging out every time things get lower than 200.

The new vet switched our dose to 1.5 and asked me to do a curve every 4 hours over the weekend to find her nadir-I forgot to test the first time I increased her dose and got a 77 at +6 and freaked out that she would go hypo over night and I wouldn't hear/see, so I filled her with Pounce. Friday morning she tested at 408, so I gave her the 1.5 shot and went to work. The PSPM was 319, and so began our curve Friday night. She was low (218) Saturday morning, so I only gave a .5 (again, there's that fear), and she was doing great, until just before 5pm. Last night, I tested +11 because she vomitted some foam & mucus. I tested and got a 168. I was afraid to give her her next shot in an hour, and I was afraid she would continue to drop, so I fed her and added about a tablespoon of maple syrup to her food, didn't give shot and rechecked her again at +4 from the incident and again an hour later (459 & 455) She finally came back down to 280 at 2am and was back up to 336 this morning. This morning we are back to the 1.5 units.

I feel like I am doing her more harm than good! I am so nervous about harming her by bringing her too low that I feel like I am endangering her by sabotaging the effects of the insuliln. I really need to see the Wizzard and ask for some Courage. In the mean time, I did discover that in an emergency, she will eat the maple syrup. She actually liked it very much.

Does this get easier? Will I get more comfortable with it or am I hopeless?

Thanks for letting me vent...

 

Michele --

It does get easier. Really.

What I do think will help it to get easier is to post regularly. I think it will help for a couple of reasons. If you start reading other cat's condos (what we call our daily thread), you will see how other new and old members manage low numbers. You will be able to see how we handle a low at pre-shot times as well as at mid-cycle. You will also see the kind of support that is available to help you or others walk through a low number so that you aren't doing this alone.

One other thought... You started a curve on a day when you reduced your dose due to a low number. You may not get the best sense of where the nadir is due to the impact of a reduced dose on the shed. I'm also not sure that you will get a clear idea of where the nadir is on a 4-hour test schedule. The vets I've worked with will do a 2-hour or a 3-hour curve.

 

3/28/10 Gracie: AMPS 336

Thanks Seinne-

About the curve start dose...I actually started it Friday night at 1.5 and then lost my nerve Saturday morning and shot only .5 because the number was so close to 200. Then shot nothing Saturday PM due to vomitting/blue number at 11+. The data Gracie has worked so hard to give me is now useless...Hopefully I can salvage something with today's readings.

 

No data is useless. The way I look at it is you are seeing what reducing shots, giving sugar, are doing -- sometimes it takes seeing the bad effect to learn what not to do. Not to mention the great news that you have a kitty who is responding well to Lantus already. You guys just need a little structured guidance and support. Oh, and how cool is that that your vet asked for a curve at home! I love that.

Cheryl has a great point about posting regularly. Hope you stick around and post more frequently, we would love to help you and Gracie.

 

((((Michele)))) sometimes the best way to learn is to do things "wrong" (I hate that word, but you know what I mean) and see what happens, then try something different next time. Gracie is doing fine, any time you're not sure what to do about a number, post here and somebody will help. And read everything you can, including other cats' threads. You'll learn from others more than you realize.

 

Thanks all-I really appreciate the feedback. You are right, I'll never learn if I don't make mistakes!

I found another way to keep myself in check-We have 8 other feline furries here, so I have tested some of them to get a better idea of what "normal" can be...All ages, all sizes...and they all ran between 54 and 70 half way between feeding times. Knowing that, and having seen The Girly Girl hit some green numbers, I realize that it's ok.

Of course, now the others are giving me the hairy eyeball when I pull out the testing kit... :shock:

Again, thank you all for the support. I'll try to drop in more often...

Michele & Gracie