Recently started insulin / diarrhea

[Cebe]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

I will ask the vet about the carpal pad. (I'll be researching that next as I have no idea what that is...lol)

They don't come with a set of instructions, do they?

On the front leg, there's one foot pad that sits higher than the rest on the back of the front leg, above, what would be the dog's wrist, if they had wrists. It's what would be their thumb if God really wanted to screw around with us humans and let dogs grow thumbs.

It's basically an unused foot pad. I have my dog get on the den chair, and I sit on the ottoman in front of her, and she just lays there while I poke (and poke) her carpal pad to get blood.

A couple of pointers: You definitely need larger sized lancets for this pad. The skin is very tough. Also, you may wish to rub it a little bit to get the blood flowing before you poke. I hand poke because I don't like the clickers, but if you've got a lancing device that works, go for it.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Patty]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

Sounds like you all are angels to your sweet Charlie!

Here are some videos of various places you can test http://www.k9diabetes.com/bgtestvideos.html

Walmart's Relion Prime meter is pretty inexpensive but will usually test lower than actual due to the difference in size/shape of a dog's red blood cell.

Larger lancets such as 25 or 26 guage may help with the thicker skinned areas like the carpal pad.

Welcome, glad to have you here!
Patty

[Linda1]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

Glad Charlie is doing better. I use Jake's callous elbows for testing. He doesn't seem to mind me poking that area at all.

[C Hampton]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am working on testing at home. Charlies BG was down to 400 this week, insulin was increased to 15 units Thursday.

I asked my vet about switching to Relion, but he said he is unfamiliar with it. So, can you give me more insight into switching. I know it is the same as the humulin N he is on, but I have read that some people have had to increase/decrease units. Can you tell me what your experience has been if you switched? The vet said he would consider it if it was just a matter of adjusting up or down 1 or 2 units.

[amydunn19]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

I had to go down one and a half units with Novolin. The difference I see is that she doesn't have the wild swings with it and with Maggie, the duration has been fine. I have heard some say they had an opposite reaction. These guys all have such different systems and one dog may have one reaction while another may not. I also like that the bottle will last about a month and a half.

I would say make the change, monitor closely, and adjust as needed. You may get better numbers with it. It is worth the savings to try it.

[CraigM]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

The vet probably would know the name Novolin-N, which the ReliOn is a reboxed Novolin-N for Walmart. Both Humulin-N and Novolin-N are NPH insulins and react nearly the same in most dogs. Here is a link you might print for your vet:

http://www.relion.com/diabetes/insulin

Craig

[C Hampton]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

Thanks Craig. Did you have to adjust the insulin at all when you started on Relion?

[CraigM]

Re: Recently started insulin / diarrhea

Most of us reduced the dosage by a little, maybe by 10%, when we switched from Humulin-N to Novolin-N (or vice-versa) for safety. After a week Annie was back to the same dosage, but your home testing will tell you what to do.

Craig