If anyone is around and can advise . . . Josie has had a number of *green* PS in the last week or so. I have been stalling to make sure she's coming up and then shooting. (I shot yesterday on a 115, and she did wonderfully!) But today, she is not coming up. AMPS = 92; +30min (w/ one oz. food) = 87; + another 30 min (w/ another one oz. food) still = 87. I'm not ready for my BOS award. Thoughts?
I am not that familiar with Prozinc but I noticed no one has replied yet. Question; your signature says relionconfirm meter then switching to CVS. is that a human meter? If so, keep monitoring. Numbers are good. What food are you feeding too? if zero carb then bg wont go up much. You would need a higher low carb or medium carb to bring up bg. If you cant monitor much longer? then try a medium carb or a little high carb or even a few treats like temptations. I hope that helps some.
Thanks to you both! I had to get to work and so ended up shooting 1.2 (about 1/2 dose) on a 99, which was at +15.5 with lots of food on board. Popped home to check on her, and of course, she's at 207.
Dear BOS Committee* - Josie just shot on a green. It might not have been a full dose, but I feel like she should get the BOS award anyway. What say you all? *This is not a real committee
Ha! Maybe an honorable mention, at least! What's really crazy is that her +10.5 is "only" 245, which is too high, but much better than I had expected it to be! I do plan to shoot close to an hour early (so, at +11ish) since her BG is clearly shootable and since I really need to get back on a schedule . . . . I was lucky today that I could work from home all morning, but that's not going to work so well tomorrow or with what's coming up on the weekend. She has had four green PS numbers in the last 10 days. I don't know what that means! (It's hard to see on the SS because I waited until I knew she was coming up and then shot on/also recorded the blues. Turns out there's no way to "split" a cell in google sheets without adding a new column to the whole thing.) I'm beginning to think her nadir is somewhere around +9 or +10. My thought is to just go back to her fat 2.2 and see what that brings, but I am open to suggestions?
I feel like we need to preface all of your threads with: Don't try this at home, kids! The rules are different for cats like Josie and I'm always worried that someone who's lurking will think they should shoot on a green. With the understanding that this might not work for the next few days if your schedule will be keeping you away from home, but.... I think I would just shoot on the greens. Your nadirs are pretty steady. And even though you were feeling more confident because the second number was rising - it might not have been. Looking at your splits - those are all really within meter variation. I mean, yes, logically she was rising because the insulin was wearing off at that point, but you were giving full doses on numbers that were barely higher and she did just fine. Plus, her nadirs really aren't that low. With the exception of 2/16, she's pretty steady, safe, and still a little higher than ideal. It would be nice to see a few more greens sprinkled in there. Another option might be to shave a little off the PM dose so that the AMPS is a little higher, and then maybe bump the AM dose up to 2.3. Or leave it where it is if you need that margin of safety for your own sanity (totally fine!). Or maybe we could trade? Sam hardly ever gets green PS numbers. Oh, and as for the PMPS not being as high as you expected - I do think for some cats - the cats that use Prozinc well - it can act very similar to the L insulins - there is enough carry-over that it almost seems like it has a little depot effect. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way for enough of our cats, but there are a few of us who can shoot pretty low and stay relatively steady.
Well I don’t know what a BOS award is but you certainly get the big girl panty award Jenna. Shooting on greens is scary...so glad Josie did well. And if you’d like to play poker some of those greens and blues... I’m all in!
I know, right? Teasel Reverses, shooting on greens (!), holding doses for weeks . . . this is why when I think about weighing in on other people's threads, I'm often like, huh! No idea! Never seen that with my kitty!
Hey look at Josie! Sorry I wasn't around...I've been sick the past few days and honestly I haven't had the mental energy to log in and make sense of things on cold meds! I will say that Josie is a very different kind of cat...very few times would I have suggested shooting on a green, but with Josie, knowing how she usually reacts, I would suggested it just like you did. I think you definitely get your BOS award!!!
Jenna- For bravery in the face of green numbers, clear-headed decision making early in the morning, and courage to press on in this unpredictable journey, I hereby award you (sorry it's a little late) the coveted BALLS OF STEEL award.
Yikes -- PMPS = 55! Now Josie does sometimes slope vs. curve at the end of her cycle, but I'm thinking she was in hypo-range at some point today. (Why didn't I get a +10 when I got home from work?! ) Thoughts?
Well, clearly don't shoot on that! That's my first thought. How much time do you have? How much can you flex in the morning?
Yes, I have some time to be flexible in the am. It could be that the window wasn't full . . . definitely not too much. I was going to test her right away, but she was v. angry tonight for her test, so I let her eat instead (1 oz.). I set a timer for 30 minutes and will re-check then to see what may be going on w/ her. If it was a bad test, I think I'll be happy (?), and we'll only be 30 minutes off her regular time. If it was a good test, well, then I'll know more, I guess.
Given that she was angry at test time (assuming that isn't her normal demeanor), she probably was in hypo range today. That's a pretty normal hypo reaction (at least for Sam). I would say just go ahead and feed her. You aren't going to be able to give her a shot for at least an hour, probably closer to two anyway. My hunch is you won't see much of a rise before +14.
I just realized i hadn't read your whole post. I think your plan to retest in 30 is a good idea, as you said, then you can make sure it wasn't just a wonky test. Sorry for my poor reading skills tonight.
She's at 87 at +12.5 with about half her regular dinner on board for 30 minutes. Fed her a bit more and then . . . recheck in 30 minutes to an hour? I'm not 100% sure what my goal is here tonight. If she hadn't gone so darn low, I'd wait until she was in the low blues and shoot her full dose, but I think that sounds risky tonight! (Even for a person newly awarded the Balls of Steel ) I'm assuming, first, that a reduction is in order whatever happens tonight. Perhaps back down to 2u? If she gets into a decent range in the next 90 minutes or so -- perhaps 140 or 150? (n.b. this is with food on board) -- should I try 2u tonight? Or some other, more token dose for tonight and begin a reduced dose in the am?
I just saw this too...WOW! Definitely recheck in 30 min but yes my guess is that it might be that she was lower today due to her reaction to the test. What a crazy day!
Hmmmm that's a tough one Jenna. With Josie's history, I know she usually doesn't react badly to a dose even on lower numbers, but this is really new territory for her. I'd be inclined to try more of a token dose probably...maybe 1 and then monitor? She might be more sensitive to insulin after that low number today. It's really whatever you're comfortable with though. You could always skip and go back to dosing in the morning too if you need to get some sleep tonight.
She's rising pretty quickly, so that's good. Yes, I would give a reduction tonight. How much is hard to say. I think for tonight, I'd be conservative. Whether to go with 2 or a token dose is up to you and how you're feeling tonight. There are a couple of times over our journey where i've just needed to drop the dose a lot and kind of start over. It hasn't ever caused any miraculous change in Sam, but I've needed to do it for my own sanity. If you're feeling like that right now, given that Josie has been a little wonky lately, it's totally fine. Sometimes we just need a sanity break, even if our kitties are really just fine. You might just see how fast she rises over this next 30 minutes and let that guide you. If she's rising relatively slowly, you could probably be more conservative. If she suddenly pops up a bunch you might want to go bigger (like the 2u option) to hold off the bounce getting too crazy.
She's at 78 with 2oz of food on board for an hour and 20 minutes. I'm giving her another 30 minutes (just gave her the rest of her dinner), and that will be her +14. Oh, hi @Djamila! you were posting while I was writing this. She's not staying up or rising . . . she is being tricksy! EDIT: no, you weren't! The alert just came through, so I thought you were . . .
Meh. Another option could be to just skip tonight, and maybe shoot a little early in the morning. Even if she's high, you could just think of it as a fur shot. Then you can Josie could just snuggle up for the night and no more tests.
I think I'm going to skip. She is at 84 @ +14 with a full dinner. My plan had been that if she was close to blue, I would shoot 1.2 (basically b/c it's close to 1u, and I have some mistakenly-bought full-unit 100 syringes to use up! 1.2 = 3 on the u100s), but she's essentially been at the same number for 90 minutes with food, so I don't feel good about it. I'll see what the morning brings and plan to try 2.0 at that time, as a reduction from the 2.2F that I'm pretty certain sent her into the limes today. My very dear @Djamila and my very dear @Rachel, thank you for being here with us tonight! It means a lot.
That PS wasn't too bad this morning! Hopefully the reduction will give you both a nice relaxing day. You probably already know this, but after a skipped shot it can take a couple of cycles to find "normal" again, so keep an eye on things, but don't worry too much about whatever happens with the numbers today.
Don't get me wrong: I love those pretty greens, but why does she have them at PS rather than at a normal time? She is just so confusing! We shifted her forward this weekend b/c of Saturday plans, and we were going to start working her back to a normal shot time, which is why I happened to get a +11 (86). Glad I did since she's been going down (and with food on board!) ever since. Coming up on +13 . . . I can't stay up with her tonight. We're already 2.5 hours after "normal" shot time (though only actually at +12.5 for this cycle because of the shifts this weekend.) I may just skip, but I do hate to do that. If she were to start to come up at all, I may go with a token dose. I've twice in the last 10 days resorted to a token dose (1.2 both times, which was not enough, but she's in the greens!). Something is clearly going on with her, but I have no idea what. Whatever I end up doing her in about 30 minutes (one more test), I think I should bring here dose down another fraction to 2.0 units starting tomorrow AM. Thoughts? Hypotheses? Dart board? (Hey, I need some way to decide on a dose for tonight! )
Well I was asleep (or anyway ATTEMPTING to be...darn spring forward!) last night! Did you resort to the dart board? It was pretty good that you got that +11 since that tells us she kept going down! Out of curiosity, is that 68 at +2 after food? I know you mentioned food being on board...basically when/how much did you feed her last night in relation to the tests? I ask because sometimes going down in the hour or two after a meal can be a signal that the pancreas are kicking in. Which is great...and terrifying all at the same time! I think skipping was the right call. I hate when that happens too, but with a 68 at +2, it wouldn't have been safe. I don't think you'd see anyone who shot on that green. Even if you could stay up and monitor, it's still too low to shoot!
I gave her 1oz of LC food at +11 (86), another 1oz maybe 50 minutes later her at her actual PS time (73), and then 1oz more 30 minutes after that (60). So she had her regular dinner spread out over 90 minutes, and the 68 test was 90 minutes after she had eaten the last of it. Her AMPS was 310, which is not good. But then, it is pretty good for a long-term diabetic cat who hadn't had insulin for 22 hours! The one good thing about skipping a shot is that you can get back on your regular injection schedule in one fell swoop.
I think that little reduction was a good idea. From reading around the board this morning, it looks like a lot of us had low PMPS numbers last night, even when the PS was taken at +12. Time changes are hard on us all! And adding to that Josie has been a little low at PMPS lately anyway.
