Saturday, October 27, 2007

Hanging in there

He is still swinging between the 100s up to 300s (ugh) but I have decided to hold steady on a dose of 2 units until things calm down. I think that changing the lantus dose so frequently isn't helping matters, esp since overlap seems to be a factor here. So I'm going to try to stick at 2 for a few days and see where we end up.

In other news, Mr Wilson got on the bed this morning (waaay too early) and parked himself a few inches from my face, purring like a motor, and I of course jumped up and quickly tested him in case he was too low again. He wasn't, and instead was just getting an early start on his morning beg-a-thon for breakfast. What a stinker!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

+12 = 124

Gave him a fat 1/2 unit. I'm off tomorrow so I can spend all night staring at him if I must. But I really think this afternoon's dip was because of his exercise.

WTF Wilson?

Ok so he has had three numerical episodes of hypoglycemia in the past two weeks. Two were mildly symptomatic -- only symptom was hunger/begging for food. This current one is without symptoms. But let me start at the beginning. First a few notes:
*I have tested this meter (the Elite) extensively against the lab machines at work. It is remarkably accurate.
*All using the same box of strips.
*This is all using the same cartridge of insulin.
*Food is all the same flavor from the same exact case.
*My usual dose was 2 or 2.5u. I'd give the higher dose if the PS was higher because in my long history with lantus it seems that it will not drop higher PS's unless you bump it slightly. (This is only my experience with this cat and shouldn't wantonly be applied to others.) I've also had luck adjusting lantus doses up or down 0.5u without a problem, despite the typical protocol requiring it to be the exact same every day.



As noted in previous posts, Wilson has been having pretty predictable pre-shots. He was getting 2 units BID. I hadn't done a curve in a long while though and I was getting a bad feeling that maybe his nadir was, well, not really a nadir. I did a curve on 10/13:
AMPS 258
+2.5 296
+4.5 258
+6.5 239
+8.5 225

At this point I gave him his two units early.

Ok, his BG is not going anywhere at this dose. Started 2.5 units bid.

10/14
AMPS 232 gave 2.5u
PMPS 143 gave 2.5u

10/15
AMPS 202 gave 2.5u
PMPS 248 gave 2.5u

Now for our first hypo:

10/16
AMPS 184 gave 2.5u
PMPS @ +13 56

Huh? Yep, 56. Now I was at work for 11 hours that day so I'm not positive if he ran around or not, but in my experience he is not very active. He is miserable around the dog, doesn't like the foster cat and rarely plays with the other cats. I fed him, he ate an entire can of food (6oz)

+14 45

Another HUH? He went down. Now on the meter 56 and 45 aren't that far apart-- you could do two tests on the same drop of blood and get a 3-5 point difference. I don't know if this was a true dip (indicating pancreatic function?) or basically another 56.

I gave another can of food, he ate some and by now he's eaten probably about 8-9oz total of a low-carb food. I gave him a few feline greenies, too. He seemed a little hungry at first but now is back to his usual behavior (lunging at the dog, etc.) so I took a shower, walked the dog, etc. It's now past midnight.

+16.5 48

Ok, I will just pull my hair out and give up. He won't budge even after nearly two cans of food, and a few handfuls of greenies. I give in and put out several bowls of kitten dry food since the other cats will snarf as much as they can too. He eats the dry food eagerly like the typical kibble junkie. I fall asleep on the couch for a few hours.

10/17
AMPS = +22.5 = 404

Awesome. I have to go to work; I give him 1 unit.

PMPS = 418 gave 2u

10/18
AMPS = +9 = 308 gave another 2u. Remember, this wasn't budging him a few days ago.
PMPS = 144 gave fat 1u (1.25 or so)

He eats his dinner, about 6 oz of canned food. Later on, Wilson starts being unusually lovey-dovey and cuddly. I'm about to go to bed, so I test him for the fun of it.

+4.5 = 30

Here we go again. I can't stay up most of the night again so I bust out the kitten dry food immediately. He wolfs it as expected.

+5.75 = 37

You have got to be kidding me. He inhaled carb-y dry food like a champ a little over an hour ago. I give him some more treats and encourage him to eat more. He eats just a little more, it seems like I am annoying him. No signs except his previous cuddliness. As before, his behavior is normal.

+6.25 = 43

I put out some canned food & dry food and go to bed. I've been up for 20 hrs by now. [NB: I don't encourage other people to fall asleep while their cat's BG is 43.]

I wake up a few hours later, probably around +9, he looks good and runs under the couch when I stumble over to test him. He's had it with me and my little pin pricks and beeping meter and swats at me when I reach for him. Typical Wilson. I go back to bed.

I get up at about +13 to go to the bathroom. He looks good, and vigorously attacks the dog when he walks into the living room.

10/19
AMPS = +26 = 365 gave 1.5 unit. I'll be home all day today to watch.
+3 = 301
+7 = 303
+10 = 341
PMPS= 296 gave another 1.5u

10/20
AMPS 314 gave 2u. Will be at home today again.
PMPS 168 gave 1u because I have no idea what's going on here.
+2.5 160 (spot check)

10/21
AMPS 242 gave 1.5u
PMPS 329 gave 2u

10/22
AMPS 320 gave fat 2u
PMPS 96 gave about 1 drop of insulin (0.25?) after he ate

10/23
AMPS 315 fat 2u
PMPS 257 gave 2u
+1.5 231 (spot check before I fell asleep)

10/24
AMPS 235 2u
PMPS 259 2u

10/25--today
AMPS 217 2u

+4 62, I think. The strip was slow to fill--I am not sure I had enough blood, and the meter reads falsely low when this happens. He is not amenable to a retest so I give him a few grenies and will just keep an eye on him.

+6 29
I tested to confirm that the 4+ was a mess up (which it probably wasn't) and because he had been unusually active today -- major case of the zoomies. I just fed him although he is not ravenous. He ate about 1/2 can of food, washed his face, smacked one of the other cats, and is now snoozing in his basket by the window.

Will keep you posted.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

A big huge screaming fight

Wilson just had a big huge screaming fight with the foster cat. The foster cat is confined most of the time but is out for short periods of time. For the most part, I can referee and everything is ok -- tense at times but ok. No one got hurt this time around, probably because the fight lasted about two seconds. My dog helped break it up because he immediately gave a few loud woofs, scaring everyone.

Now the poor foster cat is back in the bathroom.