Help!! Sudden acute blindness

[diabetesbrussel]

Brussels griffon, 7 yrs weighs 17.2 pounds. Diagnosed with diabetes 10/06/09. At this time they discovered an ecoli- urinary tract infection. When initially taken in her gluclose was at 750. She was then stabalized and prescribed to have three units of nph insulin every 12 hours. And amoxocillin for the infection.
One day ago she was diagnosed with sudden acute blindness. The vet said this was due to the urinary tract infection still existing. Which as a result has raised her blood sugar.
Her gluclose levels are once again in the 700 level due to the infection is what I'm told. Her insulin shot is meant to last 12 hours, reaching its lowest point at 6 hours. Due to the levels of gluclose because of the infection her insulin shot is reaching it's lowest point at 3. They have increased her insulin to 5 units. She has been perscribed Clavamox for UTI. I asked about additional shots at the 3 hrs but was told this wouldn't help. Is it likely her kidney will fail & what else can I do? Does anyone have any suggestions or been though something similair

[We Hope]

Re: Help!! Sudden acute blindness

Welcome!

We'll try to help. When she was stabilized, were you getting much lower blood glucose numbers at that point? I'm asking because we need to know if there was a response to the insulin or not.

If there was a response to the NPH, then I don't see any reason why you can't use some R insulin in addition to the NPH to help bring the blood glucose down. People using insulin for their diabetes use the faster-acting insulin at meals to cover the food they eat.

I would believe the blindness is due to cataract formation from the extremely high bg's and not because of the UTI.

Am hoping that there was a urine culture done to determine if the Clavamox is the best choice of antibiotic to kill the bacteria. Sometimes without doing a culture you don't always make the right match between the bacteria and the antibiotic that will surely knock it out.

We went through extremely high blood glucose levels that wouldn't come down when Lucky was first diagnosed, but he had no infection, other diseases such as Cushing's or hypothyroidism which would have kept his blood glucose levels as high as they were. He had immune-mediated insulin resistance; his body destroyed all insulins that weren't like his own (pork is a perfect match to canine insulin) within a few hours of getting a shot of it. This is why I'm asking if there were much better blood glucose levels at first--Lucky's didn't come down until he was put on a pork insulin.

Please tell us more if you can so we can try to help you more!

Kathy

[k9diabetes]

Re: Help!! Sudden acute blindness

Hi,

Sorry you and your dog are having a hard time. Blood sugar of 750 is very high. Can you tell us more about what has been done to monitor and test her blood sugar.

UTIs are very common when a dog's blood sugar is not yet reduced to more normal levels. All that sugar in the urine is really attractive to bacteria. Once her blood sugar gets stabilized, this should be less of a problem.

Infections do raise the blood sugar but most likely her glucose is this high because the insulin dose is still relatively low. I was wondering if the vet has done a curve to see how she has responded to the insulin given so far.

Also very important to culture the urine sample and do a sensitivity test to see what antibiotics the UTI bacteria are susceptible to. There are getting to be quite a few strains of bacteria that are resistant to several antibiotics.

Cataracts are extremely common as a result of high blood sugar and can develop seemingly overnight. They can often be removed if the dog is a good candidate for surgery. But dogs also adjust very well to blindness. Our dog was not a good surgery candidate so he was blind for four years and it didn't slow him down.

I'm not concerned about kidney failure as that is not a common problem associated with diabetics. If there are any kidney issues, those would likely be separate and the vet's blood work will tell whether the kidneys are functioning well.

Are you using keotdiastix to check her for ketones?

With blood sugar so high, that would be a very large concern for me and she would need to be treated at the hospital if ketones are more than trace. I'm guessing she had some ketones when diagnosed.

I'm anxious to hear more... please do contact the emergency vet if she has a lot of ketones or seems unwell as ketoacidosis can be fatal.

As long as she doesn't get caught up with ketones, she should start to feel better once she gets more insulin and the UTI cleared.

You are diving in full tilt to the major complications of diabetes I'm afraid. But it gets better as the treatment zeroes in on the right amount of insulin.

Let us know how she's doing,

Natalie

[eyelostit]

Re: Help!! Sudden acute blindness

Hi and Welcome

Please keep us posted

Dolly