Bazzle - Cherished Companion from 2002 - 2016

[amydunn19]

Oh, that Baz - that loaf of bread was so carby delicious, Mom. Glad it didn't cause any major issues - they keep us on our toes!

Glad to hear it is a muscle strain and not more major.

Hate you had to listen to the lecture about testing from the vet . Glad you stood up for yourself. Some of these vets and their egos.

[Auddog]

Hi everyone,

Bazz has been fighting with pretty high blood sugar since his great bread raid. Of course the day off his indiscretion he was in the 500's but he hasn't come down below 300 (we're on the tail end of day 3 at this range). I was hoping that his numbers would have come down by now, but he's been staying in that 300 to 400 range.

I've been thinking about why this is. At first I thought that maybe it could have been related to his back pains, but the short time between his deer collision and his counter surfing he was in the upper 100 to upper 200 range. I don't think it's the bread because it has been a few days. Which brings it down to two things that have changed, his double dose of gabapentin (which means he now taking 200 mg a day), and the weather. I'm happy that we're currently no longer in those fridges temperatures, but I have a feeling this might be affecting him.

Any thoughts? I'm really leaning toward getting him back on 16 units twice a day instead of 15. Has anyone else had an experience of extra pain killers rising BG levels?

[jesse girl]

with my jesse adjustment is second nature for her if i dont she could remain in higher numbers for longer periods of time and it can go the other way with lower numbers. its something i would prefer not doing but its her reality

the only way i can do this is because of home testing and i believe her body keeps her out of trouble for the most part but there is never a guarantee

sometimes i believe when things get out of whack at a higher range its maybe not that easy to get back where you were because the amount of sugar that needs to be cleared is allot and maybe see a response from the body so its hard to brake some of those higher levels

i am not one to wait it out to long with jesse because i understand what her numbers are doing .

so since your testing bringing the dose up a bit maybe a good idea but you must keep in mind its maybe temporary and things can change back fairly quickly so you have to be prepared for that so if you get back down to that lower range you may want to reduce the dose back down and see if they remain at the lower level

[momofdecker]

When the gabapentin was added to Decker's med list his bg lowered within a couple of doses - from 5u to 4.5u of levemir. He was started at 300 mg three x's per day though. Wonder if adding tramadol instead of doubling the gabapentin might help sort out some of the wonder?

Any chance it's possible Bazz might have a touch of pancreatitis set off from eating the bread? Any signs of gas or stomach discomfort when you gently push the lower abdomen area? Eating grass? Intermittent cough shortly after eating?

Maybe if you have rain over cold/snow - arthritis may be flaring up?

Just throwing out ideas - I'm sure you have the best sense of what might be going on.

Jesse Girl has some good advice in terms of insulin.

Hoping the bg numbers come back into regular range soon!

[CarolW]

I'm away for three days, and there goes Bazz again, up to his antics! Sorry you had to go through that. (Usually I'm away for lots longer than three days )

Just wishing you well. If this had been Kumbi, I probably would have simply waited a week or so before deciding I might make a small increase in insulin dose. And I'd have checked in with my vet on that, as I always did. (And sent them the BG test results.)

Wishing you the best. By the way, I enjoyed the x-rays; thanks for posting them. Your drawing helped a lot. (The red marks.) I can see what a caring and devoted dogMum you are! (No surprise; you're in great company here!)

[Auddog]

Originally Posted by jesse girl

sometimes i believe when things get out of whack at a higher range its maybe not that easy to get back where you were because the amount of sugar that needs to be cleared is allot and maybe see a response from the body so its hard to brake some of those higher levels

i am not one to wait it out to long with jesse because i understand what her numbers are doing .

so since your testing bringing the dose up a bit maybe a good idea but you must keep in mind its maybe temporary and things can change back fairly quickly so you have to be prepared for that so if you get back down to that lower range you may want to reduce the dose back down and see if they remain at the lower level

Thank You So Much for the advice!! I was kind of wondering if maybe Bazz was just having a tough time coming down from his most recent high. I wanted to reply earlier, but my computer started having problems and I find it too cumbersome to type on my tiny 7" kindle.

Originally Posted by momofdecker

When the gabapentin was added to Decker's med list his bg lowered within a couple of doses - from 5u to 4.5u of levemir. He was started at 300 mg three x's per day though. Wonder if adding tramadol instead of doubling the gabapentin might help sort out some of the wonder?

Any chance it's possible Bazz might have a touch of pancreatitis set off from eating the bread? Any signs of gas or stomach discomfort when you gently push the lower abdomen area? Eating grass? Intermittent cough shortly after eating?

Maybe if you have rain over cold/snow - arthritis may be flaring up?

Just throwing out ideas - I'm sure you have the best sense of what might be going on.

Jesse Girl has some good advice in terms of insulin.

Hoping the bg numbers come back into regular range soon!

Thanks for throwing out ideas . I was feeling like I was at a total loss as to why he was on the high side of things except for my own two ideas. I don't think he had any pancreatitis, no signs of tummy discomfort, and no coughing. Plus Bazz has never had a history of arthritis in his joints (just the spondylosis).

After reading the responses, I decided to give Bazzle an increase of 1/2 a unit per injection just to see if it would help. So, as of January 16th at 5:45am Bazz has been on 15.5 units 2 x a day. We immediately saw his BG levels come down . So far, so good. He's staying down, but not going too low. I'll keep a watchful eye on him, and run a curve next weekend.

We've been diligent in his doggy back massages, and he's finally stopped having muscle spasms when I get to where the strain is/was. We've also been doing a hot cold therapy on it as well which I think has helped. My boy thinks he is being spoiled, lol; he loves our bonding back rub times, and now he lets me know when he's ready for it.

Thank You as well Carol, for responding. That's my boy, always up to something and keeping me on my toes

I hope you all are well, I'll plan on sharing the curve with you next weekend

Audrey & Bazzle

[Riliey and Mo]

Hey Audrey

The weather up here yuk, i had to decrease Riles food, like no treats, increase his insulin at nite by 1/2. Yes this weather plays havoc on our dogs. So much for cruse control.

Glad Bassle, s muscle spasm, s r better.

If its less exercise the culprit, trees down, too much ice, if this is Bassle, cut back on his food, test, cut his insulin by 1/2 at nite. K.

I try to get Riles to his regular smelling area. It works slowly walking on ice is difficult even with his leather boots on

[k9diabetes]

The forum has been so busy... have been "unburying" posts - did you do a curve at the end of January? If so, how was it?

Natalie

[Auddog]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for checking up on us Natalie . Sorry Bazzle and I were M.I.A. for a while, I was actually having some eye problems of my own and couldn't bring myself to look at a computer screen long enough to share my opinions or encouragements with people, though I did pretty good keeping up on reading up on new posts. Now that my eyes are getting better, I decided it’d be good to share Bazz’s progress with the changes we made.

When we made the change to 15.5 units, it did a good job of bringing his numbers down into a better range for about a week. Then, right when I thought we were ready to run a curve, he would give me some scary lows (the lowest he got was a 61). After 2 days of uncomfortable lows we dropped him back down to 15 units, and by February 1st, we were able to run a curve:

Time – OTUM Reading – Approx. Actual Reading – Notes
5:45am – 244 – 279 – Food, Pills & Insulin right after reading
8:00am – 330 – 375
10:00am – 151 – 179
12:00pm – 85 – 97 – Mid-day snack at 12:30pm
2:00pm – 143 – 169
4:00pm – 239 – 274
5:45pm – 314 – 357 – Food, Pills & Insulin right after reading
8:00pm – 139 – 165 – Exercise at 7:00pm
10:00pm – 112 – 133
11:45pm – 96 – 110 – Bed Time snack right after reading

I can’t say I was too happy with the way the curve turned out especially with that wide 278 point difference between his highest number and his lowest. So after thinking about it I decided to try cutting back his breakfast & dinner amount of food from 5.5 oz of food to 5 oz of food, and asking my dad to bump up his mid-day snack from 12:30pm to 12:00pm. I really hope those changes will give me a flatter curve than we’re getting, but I won’t be able to run a new curve until this weekend. If tweeking his food doesn’t help, I think I’ll probably start to consider switching insulin back to NPH (we’re on the 70/30 now).

Bazzle, on the other hand, doesn't even seem to know how crazy his numbers have been lately. He’s as happy and mischievous as always. I hope everyone else is doing well,

Audrey & Bazzle

[k9diabetes]

He had some high peaks but they were really brief. If you can't get rid of them, it wouldn't be the end of the world as most of his blood sugar duing the day is quite good.

I like that you are trying a food adjustment. Sometimes you can make finer adjustments with food than with insulin dose.

Natalie