? #s Dive -- How to adjust?

Hi Furriends... I only just managed to get Romeo back to status quo at 2u -- and per his pattern, he's throwing in a low pmps to try and mess everything up again. His SS is in my signature. He was at 210 -- we're in a stall (5-10m left) -- and I'm hopeful that his #s will be high enough to shoot -- with an alphatrak2... I want AT LEAST 225 to shoot -- so the Qs are...

1) If he's over 225, do I shoot the full 2.0u (we've been on that dosing 3 days now)?
2) If he's NOT over 225... what do I shoot? What I know is that if I DON'T shoot anything, he'll skyrocket overnight and it'll take us a week to get back to relative status quo.

THANK YOU!!

 

Hi Tami. I’m not qualified to answer your questions on dosing but hopped in just to suggest you may want to post on the main forum to get some more eyes on it. It is a bit quiet around here tonight!

 

Hi Tami - yes, you can shoot the full dose. Evan at 210 I think you'll be fine. The "dont' shoot under 200/220"rule is for folks who aren't comfortable testing yet, and might not have what they need to manage low numbers. You've been at this long enough to be fine, and I think odds are in your favor that he isn't going to give into the lime greens.

Also, the 911 is used when a cat may be in danger. When you have a question like this you can just use the question mark icon.

 

Speaking of being quiet around here....I'm off to sleep. Have a good night y'all!

 

Thanks for the coaching... I just really don't want to no-shoot, but he always runs lower at night so I'm worried. Post-stall he's at 205...?? Thoughts??

 

205 & 210 are basically the same number so I think what @Djamila said still stands. His numbers have been high enough that I think he’ll be ok with his normal dose. Are you able to get a +4-5 tonight to see how low he drops?

 

Hi again. If it were my cat, I would give the 2 units. Looking at your SS, three nights ago you gave 1.75 on 260, and he may not have made it into the blues (not sure when your nadir is?). So that was about a 20% drop that night. Even with the .25 dose increase, I wouldn’t think he’d drop 70% to the danger zone.

But*certainly* I wouldn’t skip altogether. I do know that consistency is important, but would you feel more comfortable with 1.75?

Edit: listen to them before listening to me! They are much wiser!

 

Good morning! It looks like you gave 1.5. I'm glad you gave something...it's good to avoid skipping when you can so that you can keep the momentum up.

 

Morning! I did chicken out and go with 1.5 vs the whole dose. He runs lower at night... I'm a heavy sleeper, especially when I'm exhausted (and I was) -- so I had little confidence that I'd hear the alarm to get up and test him... And I tried, and I was right! Slept right through it. I tested him when I got up at +8 and it was the exact same as his amps -- 337 - so not way off from where he's been settling. I'm definitely in the 'avoid skipping at all costs' camp -- based on our history, but I don't have as much confidence is how much to shoot if he's below 200... which I anticipate will come soon. I know there are lots of factors -- how much he ate, where he's been trending, etc. ... but if there are 'typical' rules posted somewhere -- can you point me to them? I need to overcome my fear that I'm not going to kill my cat. #argh

 

There are no guidelines for shooting below 200. The reason it’s not recommended for newbies to shoot below 200 is because it does take some time to develop the pattern to know what is or is not safe. Some of that is trial and error. Start low then see how that works. If it wasn’t enough, next time you know you can give a smidge more. Every cat is different. Some will be just fine shooting the full dose and others will tank even on a reduced dose. The more you test the more confident you can be in your decisions... but it’s still never going to be 100% certain. Just test... and when in doubt go low.

 

Thanks for the feedback!! As I noted below, I chickened out and went with 1.5u... But thinking about the % drops 'likelihood' is really helpful so thank you for sharing that... My problem is that he seems to have big swings for no discernible reason, but maybe more of that is in my head than with the data so I'll look at it again in detail and see if I can settle my mind about how much he's likely to drop (or not, rather). I appreciate you.

 

Hi! Middle of the night checks are tough if it's been a busy week... his nadir is +7'ish which is a brutal time for a deep sleeper (yours truly) to try and wake up. I did a reduced dose and we don't seem to have lost much ground... #phew. Thank you! I'll be more comfortable with a full dose shoot on a low (ish) number next time.

 

This was really helpful, thank you. I just need to let go of the notion that he's going to be predictable and learn to adjust on the fly. Proving harder than I expected... though I should know better, I'm a pretty linear thinker! lol

BUT I am learning -- I got a 197 this amps and I stuck with the full dose. I can be around during his nadir today so we'll see where he goes. It's pretty nice to see a blue finally!

 

I feel your pain! My guy is crazy unpredictable most of the time.

 

It's the worst! What do the f's and s's mean with your units on your SS??

 

F = "fat dose" = very slightly more than
s = "skinny dose" = very slightly less than

A vet would think that's crazy but it works.

 

Haha! Makes perfect sense to me!

 

Argh!! I have an enclosed 'kitty heaven' that gets very little use in the summer in Arizona, but today is a rare 99 degree day so when I couldn't find Romeo for a mid-curve bg test, I poked out there ... and there he is, nestled into what is very likely sugary contraband. (It's monsoon season so those weeds grow FAST if we get any rain.) I'll be pulling those out of there tonight... but it'll be interesting to see if his numbers change at all. I don't actually see any evidence that he's eaten any (and usually he gets pukey if he eats plants), but he is a chewer sooooo....? Chucklehead!

Picture of said Chucklehead! https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtvOIOY-2L6EgZAEQzbufFBKfgUPhA
(can't figure out how to insert a picture... may not be possible?)

 

He may be a chucklehead, but he is very beautiful!

 

Ha, thank you! Yeah, he's a sweet, beautiful boy -- there's some ragdoll in his mix so he has that dog-like personality.