Hi Rosa,
congrats on Mimi's reduction.
You asked this last night
“If I think she’s dropping low”. How would I know if she was if I didn’t test her?
As Bron noted you wouldn't know for sure without testing, but Mimi did give you a heads up that she was up to something.
- At PMPS last night she was 278 then at +2 she dropped to 185, that's a big drop for +2, usually if kitty was having a 'typical' cycle +2 would be about the same or slightly higher than the PS.
- The reason for this is that the previous shot (in this case the am shot) has run it's course and is 'wearing off', and the insulin you just shot (in this case your pm shot) will only have just onset or there abouts.
- Additionally kitty has just eaten their PS meal, so that will be pushing numbers up.
So what does a +2 that is so much lower than PS tell us?
- That this is an active cycle, and you can expect the BG to continue to drop as the cycle progresses
- in this case it looks like the 'bounce was breaking' (she was stopping bouncing) and they can really move downward quickly when that happens
This all brings us back to another question you asked last night
So what would a normal curve look like?
Because knowing what a 'typical' curve should look like helps us understand what 'phase' kitty might be in in any given cycle,
- is she bouncing?
- Clearing?
- Having an active cycle?
- How active that cycle might be?
and knowing that can help us to keep kitty safe, by stepping up testing if we are home or knowing when it might be wise to leave higher food out or more snacks if we cannot test.
So this is from the
Basics Sticky.
Example of an ACTIVE, but NOT necessarily typical Lantus/Basaglar cycle:
NOTE: Until kitty is pretty well regulated, the description below is NOT not what you'd consider a "typical" Lantus/Basaglar cycle. It takes time and patience for kitty to achieve a "typical" cycle! The example below is what you're working towards (a nice shallow curve). A relatively flat cycle is the ultimate goal.
+0 - PreShot number.
+1 - Usually higher than PreShot number because of the last shot wearing off. May see a food spike in this number.
+2 - Often similar to the PreShot number. Onset begins around +2 for most cats. You'll probably see an active cycle if the +2 is the same/similar OR lower than the preshot number. Continue testing!
+3 - Often lower than the PreShot number.
+4 - Lower.
+5 - Lower.
+6 - Nadir/Peak (the lowest number of cycle. NOTE: ECID. Not every cat has a mid-cycle nadir. Adjust the hours on this example to fit your cat.)
+7 - Surf (hang around the nadir number).
+8 - Slight rise.
+9 - Slight rise.
+10 - Rising.
+11 - Rising (one of the quirks of Lantus/Basaglar/Levemir: some cat's blood glucose numbers dip around +10 or +11... not to be confused with nadir).
+12 - PreShot number.
So the above is what we are aiming for, until a cat becomes well regulated
we don't see these patterns regularly, but eventually as you achieve regulation the above cycle is closer to what you can see.
So don't worry that you are not seeing that yet in Mimi, but use the differences to help you keep her safe.
As a general rule, a sharp drop like last night would have always prompted me to do a follow up check.
How soon I would follow up would depend on how much 'margin' I had, so last night she was in high blue I would have left it an hour probably to follow up, she was in high blue, so you had margin to let her drop.
Had she dropped from let's say 180 PS to 80 @+2, so still a drop of 100pts, she is safe at 80 but if she continued to drop at the same rate (50pts an hour) if I waited till +3 she would be in her 30's, so I would not have risked waiting an hour and would have followed up 30minutes later.
Does all that Help?
What do you think Today's cycle looks like so far?
And sometimes, Lantus starts working at +2 so we want to feed her if she's dropping too much.
