Ollie's Over the Rainbow Bridge

[oliversparents]

Ollie continues to gain strength and look healthier all the time. His numbers are usually in the 100-250 range, though occasionally he goes high, but not for long. Stitches came out, cone came off, he is getting around admirably for a blind old man. He looks far healthier than he did a year ago.

We had our other dog, Honey, tested for hypothyroidism. Her symptoms were failure to lose weight with reduction in diet, and low energy. Sure enough, she tested positive, so we started her on the meds yesterday. It's such a common disease, has such a simple test and the medication is fairly cheap with very rare side effects; I would recommend anyone who suspects their dog has it to not delay.

For Ollie, his insulin started working much better as soon as his hypothyroid was treated. He's lost about 9-10 lbs of excess fat (he's now 60 lbs) and he's on 18-20 units Novolin 2x per day.

Mary

Mary

[jesse girl]

wow what great news for both dogs

your right it does seem to be common and if your diabetic and struggling its definitely worth testing for

[momofdecker]

Wonderful news for Ollie! Kudos to you for recognizing the symptoms and having Honey tested as well.

I truly believe Decker's undiagnosed hypothyroidism took a much greater toll on his life than the diabetes ever did.

Hoping for continued positive updates for Ollie and Honey!

Holli

[farrwf]

Great report, ... love to see good news. BTW, Levothyroxine is on Walmart's $4 generic prescription list.

[oliversparents]

A question about Ollie's glucose levels. This has happened 2 times in the last month or so. Just when we get him into a nice range (250-80) at 18 units, he spikes up to the 300's and stays there for a few days, even though we are increasing the insulin (gradually up to 23-25 units). Then he goes back down to the 100's, and we reduce the insulin back to 18-19.

I guess we were hoping at some point to not have to test his blood as often (we test it before meals, and more if it's low).

I know it's not much to go on yet, since it's only happened twice. Yes, he may have eaten something to make it high, but would that cause it to stay high for a few days, regardless of an increase in insulin?

Thanks.

[jesse girl]

my theory and i see this with jesse that sometimes a dose is to much on a given day or the body just doesnt accept that dose . running higher for a few days show there is some resistance maybe due to a flood of sugar or hormones . usually seen after a few days at good lower levels

my jesse was running a bit higher lately and in response i gave her more insulin which led to higher numbers. reduced the other day and things settled down

jesse seems to only accept a certain amount of insulin at lower levels . I actually got to give her 2 spit doses in the evening because i cant give her a full dose of insulin at mealtime . it causes her to spike so i give her 2 smaller doses one at meal the other a couple hours later

now if she is higher i can give more insulin without it spiking maybe the body recognize the higher levels and let injected insulin clear the excess sugar . there is more going on at a biological level than is fully understood

i would recommend holding the dose or even drop it down a bit even if numbers run a bit higher give the body time to accept the dose even if you have to put the meter down which you want to do

[crose0056]

I don't sweat the numbers much. The other day at what I would think would be Shanas low point it was like 567.... what the heck... next reading was fine. My vet told me that dogs don't have an insulin pump like humans do and she was very satisfied with her readings. We are now at 12u twice daily. I will keep that for several weeks and keep testing at my normal times. I think also she is getting very close to being regulated. Carol

[amydunn19]

If you go up and down with the dose, it is hard to keep blood sugar steady. I would keep the dose the same for at least five days, and don't do any increases, do a curve and look at the results. Reacting to high numbers can get you on a roller coaster and it doesn't help to try to help find out why the numbers are going up. For example, with Maggie, I would usually suspect an infection first so instead of treating the high blood sugar, I would want to start treating the infection asap. Sometimes, they just go through some high numbers, with no real explanation and then they drop back down just fine. If the numbers stabilize, then go back up and stay up, your dose may not be correct and the increase may be needed. You play detective all the time to get at the "why" - not easy to figure out but worth the time and effort.

[k9diabetes]

Like the others have noted, I wouldn't sweat a brief blip in blood sugar and wouldn't change the insulin dose for a couple of days at least to see if it comes back down on its own.

It's almost laughable that we take the kind of complex body system of insulin production and blood sugar and replace it with two shots of a set amount of insulin a day... it shouldn't work really. But it does, well enough.

So many things affect blood sugar... digestion, level of activity, absorption of the insulin, air temperature, infections, allergies, inflammation, stress, various chemical levels in the body. It's a really complicated system and just doesn't work at all like a thermostat where you set the dose and things stay pretty even.

I would tend not to routinely drive the blood sugar down below 100. Dogs can have fabulous lives with basically no impact from the diabetes with blood sugar between 100 and 250. That leaves you with a cushion for the days when the swirl of stuff that affects blood sugar leaves it lower than normal.

Now, if after three days, the blood sugar remains persistently worrisomely high - 400 and above say - throughout the day, then you want to consider why it's happening. An increase in dose may be appropriate but not without looking for the cause.

Your dog's blood sugar may occasionally shoot up for a few days and then come back down with no intervention on your part. In which case it's just your dog's version of diabetes and not necessarily anything to be concerned about if other causes have been ruled out.

Natalie

[oliversparents]

Thanks everyone...things seem to be more stable now that we aren't being so reactive by changing the dose.