I don't see any reason why I shouldn't take him higher tonight. He isn't going to come down on this dose. I see no point in waiting.... the protocol is a GUIDE not a set of hard rules.
There's nothing stopping you from increasing the dose. Actually, the protocol says you can do so after 3 days.
I am not finding looking at those example SS's of any use to me. It just looks like a bunch of numbers to me. No pattern. No rhyme or reason.
I understand that. But that doesn't mean the examples don't apply. It doesn't mean the patterns aren't there. It just means that you can't see them. Dozens of other people can. And they have all been trying to help you to see them.
I also find things like this say that it is pretty random.
Carl said: "Don't assume that what worked last week will work the same way this week.
And don't assume that what fails this week will fail next week."
You've taken this out of context. There are examples of exactly what I described in Ozy's spreadsheet. Pretty much on every spreadsheet. Ozy's "best doses" so far have been 3.75u and 3.5u. Lots of greens and blues. To me, that sticks out like a sore thumb on his SS. You can't see that, but I can, and so can others. It's fairly likely that he'll need to go back up to those doses.
And Carl, YOU only did this TEN weeks. And YOU did what you wanted. Your cat went into remission. And apparently it wasn't because you followed the protocol.
And I feel blessed that I only did it for 10 weeks, and that Bob went into remission. And I've said many times that Bob went OTJ
in spite of me, not because of me.
But did I do what I wanted? No, not at all, Donaleen. In fact, I didn't want to do ANY of it. And did I follow "the protocol"? No, I didn't. Because there wasn't a protocol for me to follow. There isn't a TR protocol for compounded PZI that is used "here". There was nothing for me to print out. Nothing that told me when to adjust a dose up or down, or how much to adjust. No "number of cycles" to look at to see what to do next. You don't grasp how lucky you are to have a set of "guidelines to follow", or have 20 or more people to help you out every time you ask a question.
In fact, there is nobody here, on any forum, that used insulin like I did with Bob. Nobody. Bob got two shots a day, anywhere from .25u to 4u. And he got the shots not in the scruff, or any other "sub-q" location. He got stuck into the muscles of his back legs, twice a day, every day, for 10 weeks. And every single time I gave him a shot, I worried that it was going to kill him. Not just push his numbers down to 49 so I could cut his dose by .25u. No, I was convinced that he was going to DIE because of the way I was doing this stupid "dance". The very first time I mentioned that Bob was getting "IM" shots, I was told plainly that insulin isn't supposed to be shot that way. Ever. But that is exactly what my vet told me to do, and she explained why. What I never got was anyone to tell me "why not". So I kept doing it. And I never asked for any advice on dosage, or anything having to do with insulin. Because there was NOBODY to ask. Does that sound like ten weeks of fun to you? I absolutely flew by the seat of my patience pants, took it one day at a time, and used my best judgement to decide how much juice to shoot on a shot by shot basis. He survived by some miracle.
Yet, here I sit, over two years later, and right below my chair, there sits Bob. Fat and happy, and probably really happy he's no longer getting a half inch long needle stuck into his legs twice a day anymore.
And why this quote, which appears all over, "better high for a day than low for a moment".... that, to me says "never raise the dose".
Again, where's the context? Yes, you see that a lot. It's one of the better ways to say "If you aren't sure, either skip or shoot less". Mostly to new people, or to somebody who is questioning whether to shoot a low number. Or isn't going to be home to monitor after the shot. Yes, a cat is better off with high numbers than to go too low. It's usually followed up with "high numbers kill slowly. Low numbers can kill very quickly." Another way it could be said is "Better red than dead" but that's a little too blunt.
I don't think I would believe what you say anyway.
Sadly, you have no idea how much that one sentence hurts anyone who has ever tried to help you.
I am going to do it my way for a while and see what happens. My way can't be worse than this. I will keep my SS up to date. I will NOT be looking here.
All I can hope is that "your way" is as safe as "our way". For Ozy's sake as well as for yours. And I hope that one day you come to understand that no matter what you do, or which way you choose to go, that you will NEVER have the degree of control over feline diabetes that you seem to require. Ozy is in charge. Not you.
This is driving me crazy and Ozy isn't coming down. He is as high as when he started.
Ozy is in the middle of a three day bounce. He probably needs an increase. But if you honestly believe that he's no better off than he was the day you started insulin, that is very sad to me. Anyone who can look at a spreadsheet and understand what it is telling them would disagree. It's glaringly obvious to them. If "we" have failed in any way, it is in that we have been unable to make you understand what the spreadsheet is telling you.
Gracie has been very forgiving.