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Hello Folks,
I wanted to properly introduce ourselves. I have been hanging around and learning a lot watching, and posting whenever I thought I had something to share.
I hope it is okay to start a new thread...not sure if I should have kept this on the old "Questions about Humalog", but couldn't find anything that said not to. Another group I am on for Ruby's EPI asks that it be kept all in one place??
So, here is our story....
Ruby is a 13 yr old Boston Terrier, we have struggled with her diabetes diagnosis since the fall of 2011. She currently weighs 16#, down from 24#. Her worst weight was 13.3#
I adopted Ruby about 4 yrs. ago from Friends of Homeless Animals rescue. It was disclosed to me that she had EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency), but the foster people said she was stable and just needed to have powder put on her food to maintain. Two days after we got ruby she started puking, the first time was on my husbands head in the middle of the night. Jim hadn't really wanted to get a second dog, much less one with health issues. Through all her challenges though he does love her, is gentle with her, and doesn't hold a grudge. Sometimes she would throw up as much as 4x a day. When the foster people were contacted they said that it hadn't been a proplem there. During a later conversation she let it slip that wasn't the truth. So a lot of time was spent trying to figure out what had changed, ie. what I was doing wrong. *Then the PU/PD (peeing and drinking a lot) started. I was overwhelmed with the other conditions and sometimes it would go away or could theoretically be tied to a bout of throwing up. What it was more likely was a very stong case of wishful thinking. part of the reason i had gotten Ruby was because she was cheaper due to the age and epi, because at that point i couldn't quite afford a younger healthier dog. So, how was i going to manage a dog with diabetes who threw up a lot, while diplomatically navigating the implications with my husband.
Then one day I realized she wasn't tracking her ball as well. That was what i needed. So, i made an appointment for the next week at the holistic vet and in the meantime started her on some herbs that my trusted health food store said could help with diabetes. I realize now what a mistake this was. There was soooo much I didn't know *then. The change with the herbs was immediate though. I imagine she was at this point still able to produce some insulin. When we went to the vets the tests were inconclusive, I assume due to the herbs. The vet concluded since the bgs were slightly elevated and there had been a dramatic improvement with the herbs that I was on the right track and to keep doing what I was doing. A while later the *PU/PD started again and took her back saying let's stop messing around with the herbs and do insulin if needed. Tested and negative- keep doing what I was doing. This vet then passed away due to cancer. I tried to find another vet in our area who would practice the same sort of medicine as him. I had always gone to the vet I worked for eight yrs. for the diagnostics and then gone to the holistic vet to see if we could deal with it naturally. But I knew the reception i would get regarding the herbs and did want to find someone who could replace the natural approach that the other vet had when possible. So, we started making the circuit. frist one again tested for diabetes- negative, cushings,- negative, weight loss 2#. Tried different foods thinking again maybe pu/pd and regurge were somehow related, but also was very confused at this point. So, off to the specialist, who recommended a $1,200 test but did not distinquish between "vomiting" ( my words) and regurgitation, which I now beleive to be a pretty big oversight on the doctors part, which could have cost Ruby her life. Regurgitation (just shoots out ) versus vomiting (belly spasms to bring up food) is a pretty big distinction towards diagnosing, I have come to find out ...the hard way. We declined the $1,200 test as I wasn't convinced it would reveal or fix what was wrong with her and were running out of money. Then off to see another vet who practiced chinese medicine with dog's. He recommended lightly cooking her food and taking her off the b12 saying she was getting a lot from her food. practically malpractice with an epi dog. EPI dog's don't have the Intrinsic Factor that they need to absorb the b12 from food, which is why they need injectable or a special b12 supplement that has the Intrinsic Factor included.
Then off to another holistic vet who started making rumbligs about meggae, but his solution was to let her eat her way through a chicken breast, the bigger the peices went down the harder for them to come up!!! Arond this time someone on the epi group started talking about meggae, which I investigated and started the upright feeding. No more regurge, but still losing weight and didn't look good.
At this point I decided to go back to the vet I had worked for as I was quickly losing faith in other vet's abilities. Somewhere along the line I had stopped giving the herbs because I was sick of explaining it to vets, as you can imagine how those discussions went. After one consultation visit with my original vet when we really hadn't come up with anything, I went home and was looking at ruby thinking i probably had to make the decision to put her down, but before I did I went and got some ua strips as I had always felt that it was diabetes even though she was twice tested negative. The ua strip was strongly positive. Probably if we had done a ua test that second time we were at the holistic vet it would have come back positive.*
Since that time I have been struggling to get Ruby regulated. Due to her other conditions of EPI and the meggeasophagus I thought I was unable to change her diet. For the EPI she needs a low fiber and for the meggae she needs something that slips down her throat easily.*In the past whenever I had tried to change foods we would go through some scary times with the other diseases flaring up. But we did the very scary thing of changing her about two weeks ago. So far we are 1/2 & 1/2 old to new food and it seems to be helping.
On the old food she was spiking about 200-300 points from her fasting and then staying there for about 5-6 hrs.- hence the Humalog question. Now with half of the diet changed she still trends higher then I like but seems to have a nice curve for the most part. I think when we switch to the new food completely the numbers will come down to a nicer point.
I think we are also dealing with a SIBO episode so I am treating for that and then will be increasing the new food.
Anyway, I am enjoying being here. There is a lot to be learned.
Tara
I wanted to properly introduce ourselves. I have been hanging around and learning a lot watching, and posting whenever I thought I had something to share.
I hope it is okay to start a new thread...not sure if I should have kept this on the old "Questions about Humalog", but couldn't find anything that said not to. Another group I am on for Ruby's EPI asks that it be kept all in one place??
So, here is our story....
Ruby is a 13 yr old Boston Terrier, we have struggled with her diabetes diagnosis since the fall of 2011. She currently weighs 16#, down from 24#. Her worst weight was 13.3#
I adopted Ruby about 4 yrs. ago from Friends of Homeless Animals rescue. It was disclosed to me that she had EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency), but the foster people said she was stable and just needed to have powder put on her food to maintain. Two days after we got ruby she started puking, the first time was on my husbands head in the middle of the night. Jim hadn't really wanted to get a second dog, much less one with health issues. Through all her challenges though he does love her, is gentle with her, and doesn't hold a grudge. Sometimes she would throw up as much as 4x a day. When the foster people were contacted they said that it hadn't been a proplem there. During a later conversation she let it slip that wasn't the truth. So a lot of time was spent trying to figure out what had changed, ie. what I was doing wrong. *Then the PU/PD (peeing and drinking a lot) started. I was overwhelmed with the other conditions and sometimes it would go away or could theoretically be tied to a bout of throwing up. What it was more likely was a very stong case of wishful thinking. part of the reason i had gotten Ruby was because she was cheaper due to the age and epi, because at that point i couldn't quite afford a younger healthier dog. So, how was i going to manage a dog with diabetes who threw up a lot, while diplomatically navigating the implications with my husband.
Then one day I realized she wasn't tracking her ball as well. That was what i needed. So, i made an appointment for the next week at the holistic vet and in the meantime started her on some herbs that my trusted health food store said could help with diabetes. I realize now what a mistake this was. There was soooo much I didn't know *then. The change with the herbs was immediate though. I imagine she was at this point still able to produce some insulin. When we went to the vets the tests were inconclusive, I assume due to the herbs. The vet concluded since the bgs were slightly elevated and there had been a dramatic improvement with the herbs that I was on the right track and to keep doing what I was doing. A while later the *PU/PD started again and took her back saying let's stop messing around with the herbs and do insulin if needed. Tested and negative- keep doing what I was doing. This vet then passed away due to cancer. I tried to find another vet in our area who would practice the same sort of medicine as him. I had always gone to the vet I worked for eight yrs. for the diagnostics and then gone to the holistic vet to see if we could deal with it naturally. But I knew the reception i would get regarding the herbs and did want to find someone who could replace the natural approach that the other vet had when possible. So, we started making the circuit. frist one again tested for diabetes- negative, cushings,- negative, weight loss 2#. Tried different foods thinking again maybe pu/pd and regurge were somehow related, but also was very confused at this point. So, off to the specialist, who recommended a $1,200 test but did not distinquish between "vomiting" ( my words) and regurgitation, which I now beleive to be a pretty big oversight on the doctors part, which could have cost Ruby her life. Regurgitation (just shoots out ) versus vomiting (belly spasms to bring up food) is a pretty big distinction towards diagnosing, I have come to find out ...the hard way. We declined the $1,200 test as I wasn't convinced it would reveal or fix what was wrong with her and were running out of money. Then off to see another vet who practiced chinese medicine with dog's. He recommended lightly cooking her food and taking her off the b12 saying she was getting a lot from her food. practically malpractice with an epi dog. EPI dog's don't have the Intrinsic Factor that they need to absorb the b12 from food, which is why they need injectable or a special b12 supplement that has the Intrinsic Factor included.
Then off to another holistic vet who started making rumbligs about meggae, but his solution was to let her eat her way through a chicken breast, the bigger the peices went down the harder for them to come up!!! Arond this time someone on the epi group started talking about meggae, which I investigated and started the upright feeding. No more regurge, but still losing weight and didn't look good.
At this point I decided to go back to the vet I had worked for as I was quickly losing faith in other vet's abilities. Somewhere along the line I had stopped giving the herbs because I was sick of explaining it to vets, as you can imagine how those discussions went. After one consultation visit with my original vet when we really hadn't come up with anything, I went home and was looking at ruby thinking i probably had to make the decision to put her down, but before I did I went and got some ua strips as I had always felt that it was diabetes even though she was twice tested negative. The ua strip was strongly positive. Probably if we had done a ua test that second time we were at the holistic vet it would have come back positive.*
Since that time I have been struggling to get Ruby regulated. Due to her other conditions of EPI and the meggeasophagus I thought I was unable to change her diet. For the EPI she needs a low fiber and for the meggae she needs something that slips down her throat easily.*In the past whenever I had tried to change foods we would go through some scary times with the other diseases flaring up. But we did the very scary thing of changing her about two weeks ago. So far we are 1/2 & 1/2 old to new food and it seems to be helping.
On the old food she was spiking about 200-300 points from her fasting and then staying there for about 5-6 hrs.- hence the Humalog question. Now with half of the diet changed she still trends higher then I like but seems to have a nice curve for the most part. I think when we switch to the new food completely the numbers will come down to a nicer point.
I think we are also dealing with a SIBO episode so I am treating for that and then will be increasing the new food.
Anyway, I am enjoying being here. There is a lot to be learned.
Tara