Daisy's Story

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

I'm testing before meals and then I spot check her when I'm not at work. I upped her insulin to 5 1/2 last night and got a 390 reading this morning, which is the lowest morning reading I've had in 6 weeks. It's been up in the 500-600 range so I'm seeing some progress. She was at the vet Sat and had her urine checked and so far all is well. I gave her 6 units this morning and my daughter (she's a trauma nurse) lives with me and will keep an eye on her and spot check her this afternoon. Whew- what a scary ride this is but I don't feel so scared with you all helping. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something or doing something wrong.

[amydunn19]

Re: Daisy

You will get more comfortable as you learn. Believe me, I made many many mistakes in caring for Maggie and she still made it almost 9 years with diabetes! They are quite resilient as it turns out. It sounds like you have a great start and some good support to help out. I found one of the most dangerous times is later when you get them regulated and stop being vigilant about everything like testing. People get into a routine and comfortable but they are never truly on autopilot - something can cause a sudden change to blood sugar. Also, I learned from Maggie until the day she left me and of course, I got great information from the folks here.

Patience is a virtue especially with a schnauzer- they are a challenge. I have a nondiabetic schnauzer myself who is on her last leg of congestive heart failure. I was always glad she never developed diabetes because she would have bitten my fingers off if I had to test her.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

I've got her on 6 units q12h now. She was at 368 at 6p. I'll do a curve on Sunday to see where we stand. Maybe up it 1/2? or 1? unit on Sunday if the nadir is high??? What do you think? Too soon to up it? Up it sooner?

[MomofGus]

Re: Daisy

You really should give the new dose a chance to work. It's recommended at least a week, or 10 days to 2 weeks. 368 is not a bad number in the beginning phase. As Amy said, patience is a virtue. After they've been on a specific dose for a period of days, then I'd do the curve. So if you stay at 6 units that you've just upped to, Sunday should be okay to do a curve.

Patience.....she's a schnauzer. It's going to take awhile.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

Ok. 6 it stays and I'll do the curve Sunday and we'll let her settle in. Thank you so much. Sometimes I just need to take a deep breath.

I freaked out yesterday because she ate a lizard 4 hours after her injection.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

652 this morning and kept her at 6u.

What do I do when it's this high?

[Lee04]

Re: Daisy

Hi,
I have a Schnauzer, too. We are on Vetsulin and after changing a dose his body seems to take a little longer to settle, and start using the new dose effectively. I've seen it take 10-14 days for us, to see his new dose to really start working and more consistent lower BG readings.

Also, just saw about "ate a lizard" and that could have caused the higher reading. Anything they eat can cause a swing, or at least it can for us.

You are doing great, and yes, it takes lots of patience with this.
Hang in there!

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Daisy

hi

lizards aren't toxic but they can carry bacteria and salmonella

kelp testing. if blood sugar is still high that might be the culprit and a trip to the vet is in order.

mo

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

202 now, ready to feed her and give her insulin. This is like a rollercoaster.

[MomofGus]

Re: Daisy

Yes, it definitely is. That's why it's important to test more than couple times a day while you're trying to regulate, and to do curves every so often until you know your dog's pattern on a what would be a normal day for them. Some days you're up and some days you're down. And,focusing on one or two numbers really don't tell you the whole story on how their bodies are processing their insulin.

Are you keeping a journal of your readings (indicating times tested,times fed, and noting anything else in particular such as how your dog is acting, feeling, activity)? If not, you might want to consider doing that. I found it helped me out a lot in the beginning. I keep a paper notebook everyday, but also a spreadsheet that has times of day, reading, location of shot given,weight (if weighed at vet),and anything else of importance for the particular day of the month.

Hang in there. You'll get there. You're doing good.

[amydunn19]

Re: Daisy

It is very tempting to see those high numbers and want to increase insulin or give an extra shot. Try to resist the temptation to do something drastic. It can get you in trouble quickly. Dogs actually handle high numbers better than humans - the real risk is low blood sugar. High blood sugar is uncomfortable but many dogs never see numbers get below the high 200's/low 300s and still live pretty normal lives. Granted, we all want that 100s range but it can be hard to maintain such pristine blood sugar with a dog. I went through a stage of wanting to keep Maggie at a certain level - it was really stressful and hard for us both. Once I let go a bit with my expectations, things really fell into place.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

Yes, I keep a journal of her numbers, how much I feed her so I can see trends. That's pretty much how I knew the Vetsulin wasn't working real well. Her numbers were more erratic and she hit over 700 almost every day with high and low curves. It seemed as though more insulin we gave her, the higher the rebound. Her vet got a little worried and that's when we switched over to Novolin N.

She's at 399 this morning on 6u last night. I sleep with my light on so I can randomly wake up during the night and check on her. Her numbers seem higher at night and first thing in the morning and everyone is so right, I need to be patient and not freak when her numbers skyrocket. Slow and steady.

You all keep me calm.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

I didn't get to do a full curve on Daisy as my daughter had emergency surgery on Sat. But I did get a few reads:
7a- 488
11a- 152
1p- 158
7p- 365

[jesse girl]

Re: Daisy

it looks to be a large swing in blood sugar

would have been nice to know more readings between 7am and 11 am to see if it was a sharp drop in a short amount of time or if it was gradual

well you can only do what you can do. probably doesnt give much or none at all as far as raising the dose with the 152 and the fairly big swing in sugar

hope your daughter is ok

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy

Thanks, my daughter is doing better and is at home now. Been a rough road for her for a few months.

I'm doing exactly what you guys said. I'm not increasing or decreasing, just letting her settle in and hopefully next Sat. I can get a good curve. What scares me is she's so erratic I'm afraid she'll swing too low. At least my daughter is home with her during the day to keep an eye on her. I'm not as crazy as I was, but I'm still a bit of a nervous wreck with all this.

She is responding much better to the Novolin N than the Vetsulin.

What kind of range should I be looking for? What type of numbers would not be a swing, or what would be a somewhat acceptable swing? After reading all the posts I got a good understanding that each one of our babies is so different, but I'm trying to get a general idea of what's happening. What do you do with an unstable pup with wide swings and their glucose after 12 hours reads at 200-250? Do you give them their regular dosage or do you back off a little?