Daisy's Story

[Raysaint]

Re: Daisy's Story

Frustrating is an understatement. I thought I was close finally to the right dose. Was getting some good fasting numbers, but not consistently. Mornings were the worst. I slightly increased his evening dose.

Now I'm getting high mornings again, and it doesn't make sense.
I guess I'm going to have to do an overnite curve.

Why does a dose of insulin work sometimes but then not seem to work? Is another slight increase needed?

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

Frustrating is an understatement. I thought I was close finally to the right dose. Was getting some good fasting numbers, but not consistently. Mornings were the worst. I slightly increased his evening dose.

Now I'm getting high mornings again, and it doesn't make sense.
I guess I'm going to have to do an overnite curve.

Why does a dose of insulin work sometimes but then not seem to work? Is another slight increase needed?

Boy do I understand. Yesterday I had to give her some R because she was at 598. I lowered the kibble last night and she was at 368 this morning. Kept the kibble at 1/4 cup along with her stewbie, got back from getting the oil changed and checked her and she's at 145 at 1p. Raysaint, I had her regulated until July, then it's been downhill ever since.

I guess do another curve and see where he's at. I could curve Daisy all week and would wind up scratching my head because she's so inconsistent.

Maybe the 3 unit variance? I know Jessegirl said sometimes to lower their dose and it worked with Daisy until she hit 750+. I used the R and now we're right back to 5 units where she was before the 3 750+ days we had.

And I'm right with you on the insulin. It's almost as though sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't? I even bought a different batch thinking I may have got a bad bottle. Nope. I'm sure it's our dogs but after a while it makes you wonder.

[Riliey and Mo]

Re: Daisy's Story

hey . depends on the amount of food that meets up with the insulin according to the feed guide of that manufacturer.

raise the dose of insulin. wait 3 days then do a curve. dont keep raising insulin

raise the amount of food. wait 3 days. feed the recommended food amount according to ur dogs weight. do a curve in a a week.

u cant increase food or insulin overnight expecting immediate results even injecting R insulin.

take it slow. dont add food. it

ups the blood sugar

changing food same as changing insulin.

go slow. dont make frequent changes. make a change. wait 3 to 5 days do a curve. be patients. ur doing good

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

hey . depends on the amount of food that meets up with the insulin according to the feed guide of that manufacturer.

raise the dose of insulin. wait 3 days then do a curve. dont keep raising insulin

raise the amount of food. wait 3 days. feed the recommended food amount according to ur dogs weight. do a curve in a a week.

u cant increase food or insulin overnight expecting immediate results even injecting R insulin.

take it slow. dont add food. it

ups the blood sugar

changing food same as changing insulin.

go slow. dont make frequent changes. make a change. wait 3 to 5 days do a curve. be patients. ur doing good

Thank you and will do. I think she was doing better when she was eating worms off the sidewalk!!!

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

Daisy's fasting numbers have still been in the 500-600's and her nadir as low as 108. I'm doing everything the vet told me to do, but her numbers were still high with crazy swings.

I lowered her dose this morning by 1 full unit and held my breath. Her fasting at dinner was 317.

[jesse girl]

Re: Daisy's Story

yes i remember those crazy swings with jesse . there was nobody that could give me an answer why .

just took time and experimenting with different ideas until things finally settled down

[Raysaint]

Re: Daisy's Story

Might her liver be putting out sugar near the end of each 12 hour period. Once the body feels it needs energy and all food is gone, the liver releases stored sugar.
And the stored sugar is not like carbs which have staying power in the bloodstream. The stored sugar can be countered more readily. That could explain why the insulin can take her from 5-600 down to 108. The insulin can have an easier job with the stored sugar.
If my theory has any merit, possibly a small carb snack a couple hours after nadir might help keep the liver out of it. A couple of small biscuit type snacks like the Medi Treats, which I give my dog after a walk if his sugar was in the low range of normal.
It's the dawn effect but she's having it every 12 hours.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

Thanks, Raysaint. I'm trying so hard to get her stabilized.

just took time and experimenting with different ideas until things finally settled down

You're right, the R will buy me some time until I get things figured out a little bit better.

I don't want to talk bad about any dog food, but I took her off the RC Glycol. She was having terrible post prandial episodes about 1 1/2-2 hours after she ate. I don't think the corn agrees with her at all.

I got some Crave Adult High Protein Grain Free dog food with chicken. It's a little high in the fat department, but I'm only giving her 1/4 cup and started her back on her Stewbie. The Crave is lower in carbs compared to the RCG. Things have settled down a bit and she's not breathing heavy laying on her side after she eats. I guess we'll see how it goes. I love my vet but sometimes I wonder.

I'm doing a curve on her today. She's at 1/4u R and 4.5u N. We were at 385 6:15a, at 359 at 930a so we'll see what her nadir is and if I can up her 1/2 unit this evening.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

Today's Curve

615a 385
830a 359
1030a 274
1230p 176
230p 231
400p 425
600p 622

Help. I'll try giving her a snack about 1p tomorrow, but the problem is that I work during the week.

Why is she all of a sudden doing this?

What kind of carb snack would I give?

[jesse girl]

Re: Daisy's Story

at one time i gave jesse a mid morning snack which was a small milk bone

i to had to work so i used an automatic dog feeder. i put some cat bells on top of the lid so when it opened she could hear it . worked well but over time i decided to give her that snack before work . it spiked her sugar some but overall the numbers were good so we just accepted that brief spike and it got smaller over time

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

i to had to work so i used an automatic dog feeder.

That's a good idea.

I can't figure out if she's having somogyi effect, dawn effect or she just needs a snack around 1.

[MikeMurphy]

Re: Daisy's Story

Did she just switch back to Ruby's Stewbie today? If so, maybe her body needs 5 to 7 days to adjust to the switch.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

Did she just switch back to Ruby's Stewbie today? If so, maybe her body needs 5 to 7 days to adjust to the switch.

She's been on Stewbie for about a week. I did change the RCG to Crave a few days ago, giving her 1/4 cup. I was getting the same numbers with RCG, only she had horrible post prandial effects. About an hour and a half to two hours after she would eat, she'd lay on her side with irregular breathing (deep and fast), just panting and miserable. A little over an hour later her breathing would normalize. I put her back on the Stewbie and she stopped.

[amydunn19]

Re: Daisy's Story

I noticed the name of the food is high protein adult. The higher protein and higher fat might be the culprit. High protein has a tendency to make the numbers less stable. The carb content has less of an impact on dogs, even though in humans it is a bit more impactful. Not that you shouldn't examine the carbs but low carb does no translate to better sugar. I can't explain this except that dogs tend to process things differently. I know, grain free, is important to some but grain can play an important role in lengthening out the insulin effect. There are some grain free foods that work great but it is worth noting that when companies take away grain, they sometimes replace that grain with ingredients that are not as useful.

[Daisydog10]

Re: Daisy's Story

The higher protein and higher fat might be the culprit. High protein has a tendency to make the numbers less stable.

Well, I won't be giving her that then! I did give her a snack at 11:30 and she's still in the 200's so hopefully she won't go up too high by 6.