9/27 Tigger 271 AMPS 266 +5 247 +7 290 AMPS

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Upped to 11u a few days ago, going to 11.5u in the AM.

My question is, if I am seeing the exact same numbers at 11u that I was at 8u, can't I just keep the dose at 8u? Will I really ever get anywhere? At this point, I am going through a pen in just under two weeks. I do order my Levemir from Marks and I know high dose kitties aren't cheap, but I feel like if I am seeing the same numbers at higher doses, can I just go back down and stay there? How high of a dose has anyone seen? I do know I've seen a spread sheet of an acro cat on here who's up to almost 16u. I love Tigger and I would do anything for him but I feel like I stress myself out so much and I am seeing no results. I can afford the Levemir, but it is getting expensive the higher we go and I'm trying to figure out how high I can reasonably go and not spend my entire bank account on him.

I guess I just need to vent some. I just feel like I am fighting a never ending battle with no light at the end of the tunnel. I keep upping the dose and he stays the same.

Thanks everyone. Hope you had a good weekend.

P.S. Tigger got a haircut this week. Here is his before and after with him showing off his hair cut. I know he looks massive (fat) in the before picture, but it really is just hair. He's been holding steady at his 18.4lbs and he does have a waist now that he got his hair cut off! Haha.

 

First, when you get to over 10 units total dose, you can increase by 1.0 units at a time. Go to 12 units tomorrow. Save the 0.5 unit increases for if you are tweaking a dose giving you mostly what you want to see. And if you see low blues like you did 9/20, you can hold the dose a couple cycles longer according to TR. If you see green, hold for a total of 10 cycles, just to see if you'll see green again

Here's where it's hard to answer your question, because we don't know why he needs higher doses. If he has either acromegaly and IAA, and if you stayed at 8 units, the resistance would eventually rear up and 8 units would have started looking a lot worse. If you go back now, it won't look as good as it did then. Also if you linger at doses that aren't getting good numbers, glucose toxicity starts up and you have that type of resistance to fight as well. The other thing, if we knew he had acromegaly, you might be able to do some treatment that might lower the dose instead of having to keep increasing. Knowledge gives you power. Not knowing what you are dealing with just leads to more questions.

The other thing to consider is that insulin is a hormone, not a drug. It's not like adding a little bit more often makes the numbers a little bit better. You keep increasing until you see the numbers you want.

Want to see spreadsheets of cats over 80 units? I've seen two take that much to get regulated in my time here. I even saw a spreadsheet of one get up to 100. Those are very unusual, and generally not seeing the odd spot of blue at lower doses like you have. We do see a few up in the 30 range. The study at Royal Veterinary College that discovered one in four diabetic cats has acromegaly found an average of 7 with a range up to 30.

Trust me, there will be a dose out that that Tigger responds to. It happens to all cats. Now that dose may need to modified over time, but that's perfectly normal.

 

Thanks so much for the information. I am calling today to hopefully get him an appointment for testing since clearly even Levemir isn't getting us where we need to be.
I did up him to 12 this morning.
I'm just not sure how far up I can continue to increase and be able to justify the cost. How can people afford to give 80u in a dose? That is crazy! I'm hoping maybe if his acro diagnosis is positive, my vet will agree to a cabergoline trial if I can provide him with enough information.