Pig 8/27 pmps +11 189; amps 214 We are back... lol

Yesterday's

Guys. I am so sorry. We have not been intentionally ignoring or avoiding the board. Things have been beyond hectic for my schedule. (Not to worry, Pig's always stays the same.. ). In the past 3 days I have had to compile a 15 page business report, a corresponding presentation, write two 10 page research papers, develop a 5 page personal non-fiction essay, and try to work in the move from one job to the other. Sleep has become a huge issue. @JeffJ I quiet literally woke up on my front porch the other morning sitting in my daughters chair holding the charging block for my phone... ??? I have no idea how I got there and it was 4:30 in the morning. I must have been sleep walking. I can't do stuff like that and take care of Pig. Needless to say, I took off last night to do nothing but sleep.

Now, Pig... I do not know. On one hand I know that his numbers are reflective of my dosing error and dropping him to far to fast. I am so gun-shy after the 36. I moved him up and will do so again here shortly. Nothing has changed. His schedule remains the same. Meds the same. Food the same. It is all the same. Patience I know... But, something derailed him a while ago and I have not been able to bring him back since then. @Wendy&Neko

I have been talking to several different vets. I am beginning to become suspicious, and they concur, about a single medication. The Ace. It is nasty stuff and if I did not feel that it was absolutely necessary at the time, I never would have given it. It has some really ugly neurological effects. Basically, it has been shown to cause the animal to become hyper-sensitive to external stimuli and stressors while rendering them incapable to act on those feelings or express displeasure. Its effects are also cumulative. So, basically it causes them to be more sensitive while repressing their ability to react. The frustration that causes only compounds the situation until behavioral issues arise. Ugly business.

Pig's food obsession has gotten way out of hand. He does nothing but focus on food. ALL night long. He barely sleeps because of it. The slightest kitchen noise and off he goes for food. It is even worse than just Acro hunger and very obvious that it is a behavioral issue at this point. I fully believe that the Ace is causing him to become very anxious and agitated. He has developed an anxious 'huff' that only arises when food is around. At first I thought heart problems, but his breathing is right on point with 25 breaths in 60 seconds.
So. While my 'feeling' is that it has a lot to do with the Ace, I am not working on gut alone. I need some evidence or conclusive information.

We are scheduled for a full geriatric work up, abdominal US, and Echo on Friday @ 3:00 pm with the leading cat specialists in the area. We will be traveling quite a ways to get there... (not WSU distance, obviously ) but a good ways. I have to figure out what is going on with him. So, rule out anything physical and then we can reevaluate medications. I am hoping to avoid PU all together, but we will do what we must do.

Only one more week and my new job and new stability start. I can be back on the board more then. Thank goodness. I have missed this place...

 

The only 36 I see was back when he was on 18 units? That's ages ago. For now, just follow the TR guidelines and they will get you there safely. If all you are seeing is high blue or above, increase after 6-8 cycles. Give him a little more time at a dose if you are seeing low blue or green nadirs.

As for sleep, it's time to spend some time looking at Pig's soreadsheet for patterns, so you can see when it's safe to sleep or not test. For example,with just a brief but not exhaustive look, if Pig's +4 is higher than his preshot, there's not much value from testing the rest of the cycle. I built a lot of guidelines for myself, mostly to answer the question "will she be safe the rest of this cycle?" I used those guidelines to tell me when I could go to sleep. You have to take care of you to take care of Pig. As much as we all love data, for each test, ask yourself what you would do differently with the result. If nothing, why do it? And I played the game "guess the BG" when testing, to improve my prediction skills. it reduced the number of times I had to test, and my stress/disappointment.

Ah yes, the hunger. It took quite a while after SRT before Neko's hunger became not so crazy. I had to toss treats to her instead of holding them, or I would get bitten in her frenzy to get food. I had to stay strict with my feeding routine and divert her attention to Otto(feeder), her best friend.

BTW, if I don't respond to you next week, I am not avoiding you, but rather taking a holiday where there might not even be good cell coverage.

 

Thank you, Wendy. I feel like I am just starting this.... I also think that I have gotten a bit exhausted and sleep deprived and slightly psychotic. Maybe I am too close to it.

I do often find myself realizing that I have forgotten protocol or that I am so focused on 'other' things that I forget about the dose. I am working on that, I promise.

Its hard with Pig because there is so much going on and trying to juggle it all is, well.... difficult. It is also my favorite thing in the world to do, so no giving up.

Yes.... Patterns. You are right. My anxiety will not allow me to not test, but I am going to have to learn how not too.

 

The protocol is your friend. It makes decision making easy.

I remember being sleep deprived and slightly crazy too.

 

I don't know why you are so lazy! Jeez. This only sounds like an 18 hour day to me. Why can't you squeeze out another 2 hours for the team? Not a team player I guess! LOL

On a serious note, your health will start to falter with all that activity. It is not healthy for you. Pig probably thinks his Mom is a zombie.

Pig's chart looks a tad high in the daytime, and just about normal in the night. You might consider a higher dose in the AM cycle. I know, I know, I will get hung by my toes for this. But it is working for Leo.

I'm in NYC! For work (ugh). But I will be meeting Amanda and Shmee on Thursday. How exciting!

 

Finally after a year of testing testing testing. I had to learn to let those tests go. Neither Phoebe nor I were getting any sleep. I have backed off quit a bit. And she is happier. for the craziness that is life. Scritches for Pig man.

 

The ace was for the bladder, correct? Is he still on it?

I mentioned it before, but my TomTom can't urinate at all without assistance due to neurological issues related to a broken tail and multiple urinary blockages. He was on phenoxybenzamine and bethanechol for quite some time to help relax the urinary sphincter and encourage better bladder tone. He was also on cosequin (although marketed as a joint supplement, the IM vet said it might help the smooth muscles lining the bladder).

If the ace isn't working out, I encourage you to ask about phenoxybenzamine. I had it compounded. Tom had no side effects, and I definitely noticed an improvement in his urine stream and the ease of expressing his bladder.

 

Oh! I am so jealous right now! That is so awesome! You will have a wonderful time!

 

And you are so right about this... I often wonder just how annoying I am to him. Poor guy. I am worse than a helicopter, always hovering.. I plan to back off. Make myself trust him.

 

Thank you! Those really do help a lot!

 

Yes. That is what she added it to the routine for. I am not a fan.

Actually, this was what I first discussed adding to the prazosin with my vet. I sent her your whole post. For some reason, she opted on the Ace. I will certainly mention this to this vet. It will be a different vet than his usual, but she will have all his history. I think we need fresh eyes.

I am trying something new with him, though. I did a bit of research and there are conflicting accounts of it. However, from what I have seen so far I think that it is something that just might work really well. He is currently receiving tPEMF treatments with the Assisi loop. He has been doing that for about a week and a half. Now, I have noticed a tremendous improvement in his frequency, volume, and speed of flow in the past several days. Of course, this could all be anecdotal at this point and if his sugar is high he just will not bother. But, I will say this. I have seen more urine output in the past couple days than I have seen with the Prazo and Ace combined.

Your words ring in my head, though. That is a huge part why the numbers are scaring me right now. If is it this bladder.... Trust me, it is always in the back of my mind. Seriously, though... I cannot thank you enough for the information you gave me about it because at the time, his vet did not seem so concerned about it. However, when those labs came back...