6/12 - Xander | AMPS 230

[Brianna & Xander]

6/11/25

Rough day yesterday, been feeling really low. Just tired of waiting days for a single active cycle and getting my hopes up only for it to be lime and have to start the whole process over again. I do have a plan for something to try next time things might be headed that way, so we'll see what happens.

Reduced to 2 last night. I was too emotionally and physically exhausted to remember that I'd wanted to try reducing by half, so I guess that'll have to wait til next time.

Happy Thursday and safe surfs, everyone.

ETA: He wasn't quite 20% lower than PS at his +2, but relatively close. I gave him MC as a snack instead of the usual LC, because why not? Let's see what happens.

 

[Briana + Binx]

You did amazing yesterday Sorry it took so much of your energy. Both the actually monitoring/keeping him safe, but then the mental game of not understanding why there isn’t a dose that works.

2 units or is for now! Paws crossed and good luck with this reduction Looking forward to hearing what your plan is for next one! Although I hope you don’t have such a crazy active cycle soon.

 

[Brianna & Xander]

You did amazing yesterday Sorry it took so much of your energy. Both the actually monitoring/keeping him safe, but then the mental game of not understanding why there isn’t a dose that works.

2 units or is for now! Paws crossed and good luck with this reduction Looking forward to hearing what your plan is for next one! Although I hope you don’t have such a crazy active cycle soon.

Thanks, Briana. Yeah, the stress of bringing him back up is bad enough but the disappointment and confusion on top of it makes it all crushing. Sigh.

 

[Mary & Jude]

Hi Brianna, I hope that physically you're feeling some better today--that your back is getting better. I know it's SO, SO frustrating getting him regulated. You're doing such a great job with him--incredible, really. I hope that the extra carbs on the cycles where he drops significantly at the beginning will help keep him from continuing to drop so low, and keep you from needing to take reductions. And keep him from bouncing, too! It will be interesting to see if this helps--good luck with the experimenting.

Have a good, safe surf, Xander! Take good care of yourself, Brianna!

 

[Staci & Ivy]

6/11/25

Rough day yesterday, been feeling really low. Just tired of waiting days for a single active cycle and getting my hopes up only for it to be lime and have to start the whole process over again. I do have a plan for something to try next time things might be headed that way, so we'll see what happens.

Reduced to 2 last night. I was too emotionally and physically exhausted to remember that I'd wanted to try reducing by half, so I guess that'll have to wait til next time.

Happy Thursday and safe surfs, everyone.

ETA: He wasn't quite 20% lower than PS at his +2, but relatively close. I gave him MC as a snack instead of the usual LC, because why not? Let's see what happens.

Hang in there, Brianna. You’re both doing so great. It’s so much trial and error in this situation. We never know what will work or not.

But you’re learning every day and trying. And he’s such a good boy.
Be kind to yourself, yesterday was a tough one and try to rest up as he bounces (you should see me run to get in bed as soon as I can on a night when Ivy is bouncing)
I hope your back is feeling better today and he has a very gentle slide back down again.
Give your sweet boy cuddles from me

 

[Laurie & Petey]

Just sending you some and maybe an or a , your choice, for all your amazing effort! Xander boy is very lucky you're his Mama! ️

 

[Christie & Maverick]

I know the feeling , I’ve said so many times over the years that waiting for some action on a dose was like watching paint dry . Sometimes the Libre can be helpful, but also a hinderance, since there is just so much data that it’s hard to see the forest for the trees (yup, said the same thing to Staci a few years back lol). Apologies if I am misreading your notes, but I think yesterday when you started to see action at +2, I might have grabbed a little higher LC rather than sticking with a 2%. Certainly by +3 I think just a wee bit more carb than 2% (not medium, just higher LC) might have done the trick. Or, the other thing to perhaps think about, is how much food you are feeding at those early drops. What I always did when Mav was dropping quickly on Lantus by +2 was to try a couple of teaspoons first at +2 or +3 in and see if that gets him a little flatter, or if he was already in greens, surfing. Sometimes the inclination is to feed a small amount, but it ends up being too small to get the surf going, then all you end up doing is feeding more small amounts but by then the insulin is really ahead and not enough carbs on board to prop up the drop and flatten it out, if that makes sense?

In any case, please don’t be bummed out, looks like Xander is back to blues nicely today.

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Hi Brianna, I hope that physically you're feeling some better today--that your back is getting better. I know it's SO, SO frustrating getting him regulated. You're doing such a great job with him--incredible, really. I hope that the extra carbs on the cycles where he drops significantly at the beginning will help keep him from continuing to drop so low, and keep you from needing to take reductions. And keep him from bouncing, too! It will be interesting to see if this helps--good luck with the experimenting.

Have a good, safe surf, Xander! Take good care of yourself, Brianna!

It is a bit better today, thank you! And thank you for the kind words too. I tried some carbs today and I don't know if it prevented seeing a bunch of green but it did seem to keep him pretty steady giving him just a tsp of 15% at +2 and +5 (with his lunch). We'll see what happens on a more active day.

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Hang in there, Brianna. You’re both doing so great. It’s so much trial and error in this situation. We never know what will work or not.

But you’re learning every day and trying. And he’s such a good boy.
Be kind to yourself, yesterday was a tough one and try to rest up as he bounces (you should see me run to get in bed as soon as I can on a night when Ivy is bouncing)
I hope your back is feeling better today and he has a very gentle slide back down again.
Give your sweet boy cuddles from me

Thank you for the kind words, Staci!!


Definitely can't deny that I'm trying and learning and that's he's a good boy! Hopefully one day we'll actually figure it out.

I definitely get it, I'm always very excited for a bounce night (yay sleep!) lol I hope you're able to get some rest tonight!

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Just sending you some and maybe an or a , your choice, for all your amazing effort! Xander boy is very lucky you're his Mama! ️

Oooh thank you! I'll always take hugs and chocolate! lol

 

[Brianna & Xander]

I know the feeling , I’ve said so many times over the years that waiting for some action on a dose was like watching paint dry . Sometimes the Libre can be helpful, but also a hinderance, since there is just so much data that it’s hard to see the forest for the trees (yup, said the same thing to Staci a few years back lol). Apologies if I am misreading your notes, but I think yesterday when you started to see action at +2, I might have grabbed a little higher LC rather than sticking with a 2%. Certainly by +3 I think just a wee bit more carb than 2% (not medium, just higher LC) might have done the trick. Or, the other thing to perhaps think about, is how much food you are feeding at those early drops. What I always did when Mav was dropping quickly on Lantus by +2 was to try a couple of teaspoons first at +2 or +3 in and see if that gets him a little flatter, or if he was already in greens, surfing. Sometimes the inclination is to feed a small amount, but it ends up being too small to get the surf going, then all you end up doing is feeding more small amounts but by then the insulin is really ahead and not enough carbs on board to prop up the drop and flatten it out, if that makes sense?

In any case, please don’t be bummed out, looks like Xander is back to blues nicely today.

I can definitely see it being a help and a hindrance! I'm so detail-oriented that I struggle seeing the big picture anyway, but I do try. Sometimes I just zoom all the way out on the spreadsheet so I can just see the change of color over time and that helps.

The unfortunate thing about the food is I've had to be careful because a lot of things made him sick, and then that I haven't really been able to find anything above 3% (but still LC) near me. I've searched in many places several times but there's just nothing. I don't really have the budget or the flexibility to go to a more expensive brand, etc. So basically I have 2-3% and then I have 12% as the next lowest. Limiting, but so far I haven't found a way around it. I feel like he's not super carb sensitive based on how little he sometimes reacts to the 12%, so I'm kind of hoping that I can just use the tsp of that for manipulation when I need to.

I do think I know what you mean about the small amounts! When he goes low it often feels like I'm just playing catch-up with a tsp at a time. Maybe if I could give him a little bit more bulk earlier I'd be able to get ahead of the train instead of running behind it. (Hopefully I'm understanding correctly?) He normally gets 0.5 oz (basically 3 tsp) of food at PS, +1, +2 and +3. Not much. My plan was basically just to swap the +2 and +3 for 12%-15% if he seems to be intent on diving.

Thank you for the advice!! I really like having things to try.

 

[Christie & Maverick]

How about a blend of the two foods? One teaspoon of the 2-3% and another of the 12-15% gets you in a nice higher LC range. Back when I started the idea was a couple bites of food, which was 2 teaspoons, not sure what 0.4 oz technically works out to, but that may not even be one teaspoon, which may not be enough. And, sometimes seeing the benefits of experimenting will take some time. Just some food for thought.

P.s. I see green

 

[Brianna & Xander]

How about a blend of the two foods? One teaspoon of the 2-3% and another of the 12-15% gets you in a nice higher LC range. Back when I started the idea was a couple bites of food, which was 2 teaspoons, not sure what 0.4 oz technically works out to, but that may not even be one teaspoon, which may not be enough. And, sometimes seeing the benefits of experimenting will take some time. Just some food for thought.

P.s. I see green

I can certainly try that! I'll have to measure out a tsp of the pate and weigh it. I've only done that with the gravy varieties, so I know that with those 0.2 oz = 1 tsp, but the pate could be different.

Thank you for the practical advice! Like I said, I always appreciate a specific thing to try.

Yes! We got one green! Probably depot-related, but I'll take it.

 

[Karolina & Nestle]

Sending hugs your way. But you're doing great and Xander is lucky to have you.
️

 

[Brianna & Xander]

Sending hugs your way. But you're doing great and Xander is lucky to have you.
️

Thank you, Karolina!! Hope you're having a great night.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

I can definitely see it being a help and a hindrance! I'm so detail-oriented that I struggle seeing the big picture anyway, but I do try. Sometimes I just zoom all the way out on the spreadsheet so I can just see the change of color over time and that helps.

The unfortunate thing about the food is I've had to be careful because a lot of things made him sick, and then that I haven't really been able to find anything above 3% (but still LC) near me. I've searched in many places several times but there's just nothing. I don't really have the budget or the flexibility to go to a more expensive brand, etc. So basically I have 2-3% and then I have 12% as the next lowest. Limiting, but so far I haven't found a way around it. I feel like he's not super carb sensitive based on how little he sometimes reacts to the 12%, so I'm kind of hoping that I can just use the tsp of that for manipulation when I need to.

I do think I know what you mean about the small amounts! When he goes low it often feels like I'm just playing catch-up with a tsp at a time. Maybe if I could give him a little bit more bulk earlier I'd be able to get ahead of the train instead of running behind it. (Hopefully I'm understanding correctly?) He normally gets 0.5 oz (basically 3 tsp) of food at PS, +1, +2 and +3. Not much. My plan was basically just to swap the +2 and +3 for 12%-15% if he seems to be intent on diving.

Thank you for the advice!! I really like having things to try.

I’ve read that if you combine equal portions of 2 different carb foods (say 14% And 2 % that equals 16%, divided by 2 gives you an 8% carb food)
You could try that as a higher low carb food, to see if that helps if you want an in beteeen carb food).

 

[Brianna & Xander]

I’ve read that if you combine equal portions of 2 different carb foods (say 14% And 2 % that equals 16%, divided by 2 gives you an 8% carb food)
You could try that as a higher low carb food, to see if that helps if you want an in beteeen carb food).

That's great to know, thank you! Always love specifics.

I was thinking that it was more... cumulative? I'm not sure how to describe it. Like I would have thought that if I did half of each that it would just be some LC and some MC, not that together they would amount to a lower carb overall. But I guess that makes sense because it's based on the percentage of calories from carbs, so mixing it with LC dilutes it in a way?

This may be a dumb question, but: the 12% and 15% I have are both gravy varieties with chunks. I have a feeling that if I literally mix it together with other food he may not like it. As long as they're both being fed in equal portions at the same time, does it matter if they're literally mixed, or can they be side-by-side in the bowl?

 

[Helen + Noogi]

I second blending two foods. I've done that for Noogi all along. I sometimes do side by side and I sometimes mix. Do some experiments to see what he likes?

Sorry it's been such a horrible week for you Brianna. Putting one's back out is the worst (and for no apparent reason too - welcome to middle age!). Hope you can take some time for self-care this weekend

 

[Staci & Ivy]

That's great to know, thank you! Always love specifics.

I was thinking that it was more... cumulative? I'm not sure how to describe it. Like I would have thought that if I did half of each that it would just be some LC and some MC, not that together they would amount to a lower carb overall. But I guess that makes sense because it's based on the percentage of calories from carbs, so mixing it with LC dilutes it in a way?

This may be a dumb question, but: the 12% and 15% I have are both gravy varieties with chunks. I have a feeling that if I literally mix it together with other food he may not like it. As long as they're both being fed in equal portions at the same time, does it matter if they're literally mixed, or can they be side-by-side in the bowl?

My understanding was to “combine” the foods. However, you certainly could experiment and see what happens.