Hi, everyone -- My eight-year-old Westie, Harriet, was diagnosed with diabetes in March. She had been on prednisone for a number of years because of atopic dermatitis, a common skin condition for Westies, unfortunately. She was tested for Cushings and the vet says she didn't have it, but I still believe she was showing the early signs of Cushings, probably iatrogenic Cushings (the kind that's caused by long-term steroid use). She is off prednisone now and on twice-daily shots of 6 iu of Caninsulin. I am trying to manager her skin issues with diet (grain-free Orijen) and Omega fatty acid supplements. If that doesn't work, the vet says the only option is Atopica, which is expensive but, more importantly, another drug that I'm just not comfortable giving her.
My question is this: Harriet started out on 3 iu of insulin twice daily and was gradually increased to 6 as a result of blood glucose curves done both at the vets and by me at home, using an AlphaTrak blood glucose monitor. When she was on 5 iu, her highest readings of the day were around 20 mmol/l. The 6 brought her down under 12 for most of the day, which is what the vet was hoping for. However, yesterday I did another curve and she was under 8 most of the day, dropping as low as 3.3 in the late morning (I gave her a Dentastick, which she loves, and that brought her back up to 8.4 within an hour). The strange thing was that, after the 8.4 reading, she dropped down to 7.7 and 7.0 over the next four hours. This was several hours after her insulin shot and well past the point at which she usually bottoms out. Do you think she's starting to produce insulin on her own? I have read that, once dogs with iatrogenic Cushings are off prednisone, their adrenal glands will begin to produce adrenaline and that can reverse some of the symptoms of the disease -- including diabetes that was related to the Cushings. Is this just wishful thinking on my part?
My question is this: Harriet started out on 3 iu of insulin twice daily and was gradually increased to 6 as a result of blood glucose curves done both at the vets and by me at home, using an AlphaTrak blood glucose monitor. When she was on 5 iu, her highest readings of the day were around 20 mmol/l. The 6 brought her down under 12 for most of the day, which is what the vet was hoping for. However, yesterday I did another curve and she was under 8 most of the day, dropping as low as 3.3 in the late morning (I gave her a Dentastick, which she loves, and that brought her back up to 8.4 within an hour). The strange thing was that, after the 8.4 reading, she dropped down to 7.7 and 7.0 over the next four hours. This was several hours after her insulin shot and well past the point at which she usually bottoms out. Do you think she's starting to produce insulin on her own? I have read that, once dogs with iatrogenic Cushings are off prednisone, their adrenal glands will begin to produce adrenaline and that can reverse some of the symptoms of the disease -- including diabetes that was related to the Cushings. Is this just wishful thinking on my part?
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