12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363

11/29

I raised her dose back to .75 after getting pretty bad numbers on the reduced dose. This will be her 7th cycle on .75 and I think I should go ahead and take it up again to 1 unit. Any thoughts? I've been trying to get some spot checks a little later in the cycle to make sure I'm not missing lows that could be causing these bad bounces and so far that doesn't seem to be the case. Today it looks like she might have bounced from the blues last night. I'm tired and discouraged...been getting up in the middle of the night several times trying to test and get her regulated and feel like it is not helping. Today I get a decent preshot and she just bounces to the pinks after it. :evil: Ok, sorry to vent, but sometimes I just feel like I'm failing at this. I think I should go ahead and raise the dose.

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

Good job on getting the nighttime tests! I think most people in LL are sleep deprived :YMSIGH: You are NOT failing at this!! This is a marathon dance that doesn't magically get better overnight. As for the dose increase, I would lean towards bumping her up, but I am not a dosing expert so please get some other opinions. Hang in there! :YMHUG: :YMHUG:

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

You are doing a great job with Ebby, cats are just darn hard to regulate. Doing what you are, is giving Ebby the best chance to get regulated and be healthy. Feeling discouraged is perfectly normal and we are here to pick you up! We've all been in the discouragement dungeon, hang in there!

More people will be on the board as the long holiday weekend is ending. It may help to catch the eye of those with more experience to put "dose question" in your subject line and to check the question mark in the post icon choices.

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

It looks like you are feeding Ebby 4% or less carbs. One thought that may help with the bounces is to raise the carb level just a bit. This should allow you to make more adjustments with insulin and has the potential of flattening things out.

One of the strategies I use with Gabby (aka the Queen of the Dives) is to try to prevent her from getting a reduction. If you look at her SS, you'll see that I intervene with food when there's even a hint of her numbers dropping. Over time, this has helped to flatten her cycles out.

Either of these alternatives may be useful for Ebby. Using food as an intervention takes a bit of trial and error. While some cats respond quickly, for others, it can take weeks for their system to adjust.

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

I was looking at your spreadsheet and I only counted a handful of days where Ebby did not see blue or green. Overall, her progress is very nice. :smile: She is only on a small dose. I know that you want consistent blue and greens. You are testing a lot and changing her dose to get the best results for her. Maybe .50 at times is not enough insulin at times. She may bounce at times. I have a bouncy cat but my spreadsheet doesn't look as nice as hers. I know that some suggested to me to increase the carbs a little to help flatten out the cycles. We do get discouraged when we are doing all we can and want low numbers consistently. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between a bounce and not enough insulin. You are doing a great job for Ebby!

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

I know it's easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged, but try to keep your chin up and press on. You are doing so much more than the average person would do for their cat. You are giving her a chance at a healthy, somewhat normal life. Many would just give up on her. When you get discouraged, spend some time just looking at your kitty - whether she's playing, bathing, even just sleeping, and remind yourself why this is important. You can do this! We're all pulling for you. cat_pet_icon

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

I have no dosing advice, but wanted to say :YMHUG: :YMHUG: You are doing a great job with Ebby - If you look at her whole
SS, there is such improvement! Why can't the kitties and beans learn the same steps to this sugardance!! ;-)

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

You guys are the best. Thank you for all the words of encouragement. Honestly, reading your posts really did make me feel like everything is going to be ok. I just have moments of freak out when I see her not feeling well, especially with everything I'm trying to do for her. I took a little break and got out of the house, but when I came home it appears she's feeling much better: She is very playful and cheerful and looks bright-eyed again. I really appreciate everyone's wisdom on this and thank you for pulling me out of the "discouragement dungeon!"

Sienne, I'll go back to trying some higher carb foods. I tried that for a while, but maybe I gave up too soon.

As far as the dose goes:
It looks like I have room to increase and this is the 7th cycle, so I'm leaning towards the increase to 1 unit tonight. Protocol says 6-10 cycles, but I don't know that I want to wait until the 10th. So, unless someone is seeing something I'm not I think I will bump it up tonight.

:YMHUG: :YMHUG: :YMHUG: :YMHUG:

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Discouraged

nemismom said:

When you get discouraged, spend some time just looking at your kitty - whether she's playing, bathing, even just sleeping, and remind yourself why this is important.

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This is the BEST advice on this thread. :mrgreen: You say Ebby is feeling good, and that is the main goal.

I do think you have room to increase her dose. Once you do, try to keep her from dropping below 50 for a while if you can. She'll get back on track. Some cats need to go up and down and up and down the dosing ladder several times.

We talked about trying R, didn't we? I can't remember what your thoughts were about that. It could help with her bounces, though for Ebby you would probably need to try to get the R into her *before* she gets too high. By the time she hits 500, she is sometimes ready to head back down quickly. You would probably want to try to catch the rise at maybe +8 in the same cycle that she had green in an effort to try to prevent her from zooming all the way to black.

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Dose?

Thanks for stopping in Libby. I'll increase tonight and try to keep her from dropping below 50.

Libby and Lucy said:

She'll get back on track.

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Ok, thanks! This is exactly what I feel has happened...we just got off track.

Libby and Lucy said:

We talked about trying R, didn't we? I can't remember what your thoughts were about that.

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I have R in the fridge and would like to use it. For the reasons you mentioned, I have only wanted to try it around +8 to +10, but she doesn't always zoom up until +11. Yes, sometimes Ebby bounces to the 500's and will drop 200 points on lantus alone, so I wouldn't want to add more momentum to that. I really want to get comfortable using it, I've just found it a little tricky to try it for the first time. I guess I just need to do it and see what happens. Starting out, is there a number that you feel is safest to try R on? Do you feel I'd be fairly safe to use it at +8 or +9 when she goes into the high 200's? I don't think she usually hits the 400's or 500's until +11 or +12, and at this point I've felt it is often too late to use R.

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Dose?

sorry it took me so long to check back in. Trying to do all the chores that I procrastinated on the whole 4 day weekend, plus trying to get ready to go out of town for work tomorrow.

It's not so much that you're looking for a particular number as it is the speed of the rise to indicate that a bounce is starting. +10 might be ok if she is rising fast. What you're looking for to start with is something like the PM cycle of 11/23 or PM of 11/20 - she hit lower green so you KNOW she is going to bounce. If you had caught a number even in the 300s at +8 or +9 then a touch of R would have been fine because you know that without it she is going nowhere but up. They might still go up even with R, but hopefully they won't go up as far.

An example of when NOT to use R on a high number is the 405 on 11/28. It was a rise, but not a steep bounce (just coming from yellow). That was really the 4th cycle of the bounce from the blues on 11/26, so that bounce was due to clear at any time so R would be risky (and the 405 turned out to be a high before the break, as the bounce cleared the next cycle). You don't ever want to give R when a bounce might be clearing, only when a bounce is beginning.

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Dose?

Sounds like you're feeling a bit better about things tonight Melissa :YMHUG: Please don't ever forget how amazing you are and how lucky Ebby is that you're her mama. Good luck with the dosecrease and the R if you decide to use it

Re: 12/1 Ebby AMPS 250 +2 363 Dose?

Thanks Kim for the very kind words. :YMHUG:

Libby, Thanks for getting back to me and showing me those examples. That helps a lot! :smile: