1/5 Fred last night PMPS 98/94!, SKIP, +11.5 94!, +14.5 202, AMPS 435

Purrberry

Purrberry

Member Since 2020
Well. We had quite the historic evening last night. I have ZERO idea why, but Fred was too low to give insulin. I know it may not seem too low to others, but this has never happened before, and I had no data to go by. And this is Fred, who usually rockets up by the end of a cycle. Our only change yesterday was that he ate his dinner an hour early, which I thought would only tank his cycle, as he was right near his usual nadir.

After deciding on the skip, he still got his normal dry snack that he would at shot time, just to keep everything the same. Then about 90 minutes later, I had second thoughts about skipping entirely and tested again with the intention to give him a BCS. I thought for SURE he had risen. But he stayed flat..possibly dropped a couple of points! So I tested on a human meter, in case my AlphaTrak had gone insane or something. He was at 59! At that point, I said, "forget it". The funny thing was, he was extremely happy and playing and purring. Normally in these numbers, he's completely doped out.

Of course, he rose overnight and was high this AM. But I've seen worse WITH having given insulin. And he was a wild man this AM. It wasn't just that he was high...he was Fred. So it's kind of sad to see how the insulin mutes him.

Though I didn't catch it, there was probably a dose reduction number in there. But I'm kind of hesitant to do it if this dose is getting him somehwere.

Dare I hope his pancreas kicked in a little last night??
 
It looks like Fred coasted nicely from +8 to PMPS and a little beyond. With Levemir, most kitties typically onset around +4 and nadir around +8, but sometimes you'll find that the preshot number is the nadir. My Maverick has had a few cycles where he carries on into the next cycle and nadirs at +14 or +15. So, knowing that kitties on Levemir can actually reach nadir at preshot or a little after, means you may have to get more comfortable with shooting lower, also knowing that you are shooting the number he is going to be in 4-5 hours (when the dose onsets), not the number he is at preshot, and with food, and the last dose waning, he would have kept going upward. I'm not sure I understand the reference to PM +11.5 on the SS, do you mean +13.5 since you skipped the dose? That would be 2 hours after your regular preshot time, correct?
 
Looks like that green might have been the nadir for the cycle or more likely within meter variance. You will get another chance to shoot green.
 
Christie & Maverick said:
do you mean +13.5 since you skipped the dose? That would be 2 hours after your regular preshot time, correct?
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Yes, that's what I meant. I wasn't quite sure how to put it.

tiffmaxee said:
You will get another chance to shoot green.
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I hope so...I will have to put on my bravery pants!

It was just so strange to me that he continued to coast/drop even after I fed him. (and he was more than halfway through the cycle) Which is why going low scares me so! :rolleyes:
 
Well, if you are ever in doubt, you can always stall, (not feed) and retest in 20 minutes and post here for help :). When you haven't had a low preshot in a while, it can be a bit difficult to determine what to do. Over time, you may come to find you have more control than you think, since you have access to higher carb foods and you can steer if/when you need to.
 
One of the reasons I'm always deathly afraid to shoot at a lower number is that Fred is such a diver. Like today--I'm certainly happy he came back down, but he did it in a hurry! :rolleyes:
 
Purrberry said:
So it's kind of sad to see how the insulin mutes him.
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I wonder. Are you sure it's the insulin that is muting him? Maybe he's more comfortable in certain numbers? I don't know, I'm only thinking. I'm happy you had your Fred back this morning though.
 
Purrberry said:
Maybe when he's "low", he's like, "OMG, feed me!", and then when he's high, he's like, "OMG, feed me!". ;-) He was definitely craze balls this morning. It was great to see. Then I could tell he felt yucky being so high. Back to blue this evening!
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Hooray for blue. Stay steady Fred! Mama's nerves need to be taken into consideration!
 
I know you know this, Kathleen, but when he is 98, he's not going to zero on Lantus even though he can go from 450 to 150 in a short period of time. If you skip shots every time he is in green, you will lose the opportunity to keep him there. A big part of it is having *a lot* of blind faith in the methods developed here and the cumulative experience of the people helping you out. It took me a while to simply believe that everything will be ok when I shot green, but you've been at this for a while. We're not gonna put you or your kitty in any jeopardy. I shot a 65 tonight and yes, I have tons of data to show me that it's safe for me to do it with Ruby, but she's become a bouncier kitty because of the steroids so I always shoot with a little trepidation when she is in lower numbers but it almost always turns out just fine. Once he gets used to being in greens more, the blahs you see will go away. His little body needs to get used to it.
 
Purrberry said:
This was literally my first time facing this situation.
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5/17 last year you shot a 74, albeit a reduced dose. BTW, if you haven't read it yet:
12/31 HAPPY NEW YEAR! Please move your SS 2022 tabs to the far left.

Your spreadsheet indicates a nadir of 59 last night, isn't that a reduction for you?

Cats dive from high numbers, not from low numbers when on Lantus or Levemir. Both those insulins are great at grabbing low numbers and keeping them there. We call shooting low numbers a gift. It gives you the opportunity to have a much flatter cycle. I know, it's a confidence thing. All of us have to battle the nerves the first times we are confronted with lower numbers. Just know that next time you see that, post for help and we'll sit with you to make sure he's safe.
 
Seems like from your notes that Fred felt good in green the other night. It looks like from your data that he really wants to make some progress into blues and even greens.
 
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