hypoglycemic at odd time

[olliePON]

Hi , my dog has been on 15 units of vetsulin 2x a day since January when we got him regulated. We've done several curves and all have been good.

He eats and gets his injections at 6am and 6pm every day.

Last Wednesday, at 4:30pm (10.5 hours after eating) he went low (VERY low, 24 according to the alpha trak II reading). He was shaking and could not move. We gave him honey/food, and got his sugar back up but i'm curious, why would his blood sugar go so low , so far after feeding? In all our curves his low point is about 4 hours after eating.. this was 10.5 hours later.

I did notice that my dog developed a fatty lump on his back. I'm wondering if he was injected into the lump (by accident) could that have possibly affected insulin absorption (i.e could it have been 'stuck' in the lump and released later?)

We called the vet and they said very rarely the pancreas starts to produce more insulin so it could possibly be that.

That night we gave no insulin and in the morning he was in the 400's.

Since then we've been slowly working our way back up to 15. We're now at 13 units and his sugars in the evening before eating are low 200's and a big higher than that in the AM. so it seems we'll go up to 14 and probably back to 15.

Can anyone help to explain the low? How / why? I'm so worried because we work all day and just by the grace of god we were working at home that day. If we weren't, I don't know the outcome.

thanks

[CraigM]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

Hi , my dog has been on 15 units of vetsulin 2x a day since January when we got him regulated. We've done several curves and all have been good.

He eats and gets his injections at 6am and 6pm every day.

Last Wednesday, at 4:30pm (10.5 hours after eating) he went low (VERY low, 24 according to the alpha trak II reading). He was shaking and could not move. We gave him honey/food, and got his sugar back up but i'm curious, why would his blood sugar go so low , so far after feeding? In all our curves his low point is about 4 hours after eating.. this was 10.5 hours later.

I did notice that my dog developed a fatty lump on his back. I'm wondering if he was injected into the lump (by accident) could that have possibly affected insulin absorption (i.e could it have been 'stuck' in the lump and released later?)

We called the vet and they said very rarely the pancreas starts to produce more insulin so it could possibly be that.

That night we gave no insulin and in the morning he was in the 400's.

Since then we've been slowly working our way back up to 15. We're now at 13 units and his sugars in the evening before eating are low 200's and a big higher than that in the AM. so it seems we'll go up to 14 and probably back to 15.

Can anyone help to explain the low? How / why? I'm so worried because we work all day and just by the grace of god we were working at home that day. If we weren't, I don't know the outcome.

thanks

Don't want you to think no one is reading your post. Probably we just don't have any good idea what might have happened.

The obvious questions would be did the pup eat a full meal? Vomit the meal? Heavy play/exercise soon before the low? Any chance he was accidentally given a double injection?

I've come close to giving a double injection 2-3 times. My routine is to get the insulin and syringe out onto the kitchen counter, feed Annie, fill the syringe, inject, and then place the used syringe into the sharps container. There have been 2-3 times I'd be cleaning the area and find the syringe sitting on the counter. Did I inject and just forgot to put the syringe into the sharps container, or did I forget to inject??

Craig

[olliePON]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

Don't want you to think no one is reading your post. Probably we just don't have any good idea what might have happened.

The obvious questions would be did the pup eat a full meal? Vomit the meal? Heavy play/exercise soon before the low? Any chance he was accidentally given a double injection?

I've come close to giving a double injection 2-3 times. My routine is to get the insulin and syringe out onto the kitchen counter, feed Annie, fill the syringe, inject, and then place the used syringe into the sharps container. There have been 2-3 times I'd be cleaning the area and find the syringe sitting on the counter. Did I inject and just forgot to put the syringe into the sharps container, or did I forget to inject??

Craig

He didn't vomit, he ate his normal meal. He didn't have any unusual activity during the day.
No double injection.
And definitely the insulin was properly mixed too.

It's so strange.

[MikeMurphy]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

One more thought... it may be that his insulin requirements have gone down. Those are really good fasting BG numbers on 13 units. Any chance you could do a full 12 hour curve at 13 units so that we can see the shape of his curve and where his low point is now? Maybe the 15 units is too much for him.

[olliePON]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

One more thought... it may be that his insulin requirements have gone down. Those are really good fasting BG numbers on 13 units. Any chance you could do a full 12 hour curve at 13 units so that we can see the shape of his curve and where his low point is now? Maybe the 15 units is too much for him.

yes, we do plan to do a curve at 13 before going up to 14.

His numbers were good at 15 at the time of the last curve, but maybe things have changed.

[CraigM]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

yes, we do plan to do a curve at 13 before going up to 14.

His numbers were good at 15 at the time of the last curve, but maybe things have changed.

I'm guessing weather might have some affect? Maybe diabetics need a little more insulin during cold winter months to help maintain body temperature? Just guessing, and wouldn't think you would see one episode of very low blood glucose due to weather.

Craig

[Judi]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

did he recently heal up from any type of infection?

I'm glad you are doing a curve. We've had a few dogs on the forum get Addison's disease which is low cortisol. Lower cortisol makes insulin needs lower.

Our dog had cushings, which is the opposite. But when her cushings meds killed off her cortisol production her blood sugar dropped so low that she couldn't stand either.

I'm so glad you were home. Lows are scary

[olliePON]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

did he recently heal up from any type of infection?

I'm glad you are doing a curve. We've had a few dogs on the forum get Addison's disease which is low cortisol. Lower cortisol makes insulin needs lower.

Our dog had cushings, which is the opposite. But when her cushings meds killed off her cortisol production her blood sugar dropped so low that she couldn't stand either.

I'm so glad you were home. Lows are scary

thank you.

No infections or any other illnesses.
I will look into Addison's disease - is there a way to test cortisol?

[olliePON]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

did he recently heal up from any type of infection?

I'm glad you are doing a curve. We've had a few dogs on the forum get Addison's disease which is low cortisol. Lower cortisol makes insulin needs lower.

Our dog had cushings, which is the opposite. But when her cushings meds killed off her cortisol production her blood sugar dropped so low that she couldn't stand either.

I'm so glad you were home. Lows are scary

I just (very) quickly read up on Addisons. He doesn't show any of the symptoms but we'll bring it up with is vet to see if he wants to check for his cortisol level. thank you again !

[Daisydog10]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

I had the same thing happen with Daisy. Four months into it, I opened a new bottle of Novolin N and in about 6 hours she was down to 60. She came to me and her legs were shaking and she was ready to fall over. Like you, by the grace of God I was home so she didn't tank any further. I'm not sure what happened, but she ran low for a little while and I had to drop her a whole unit. She's back up to 5u again, but it was scary. I will only give her new insulin on a weekend now so I can watch her. I started another bottle last week and she was fine. I don't know what caused it. Her bloodwork was fine last visit She did wind up having a UTI a few weeks later and her BG skyrocketed.

[amydunn19]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

Some dogs just do go low for seemingly no reason sometimes. Maggie would go low sometimes for no reason apparent to me - it could be the pancreas may sporadically produce insulin, or something like a bath, or exercise, or anxiety. Certain meds like antibiotics could cause her blood sugar to go dangerously low. After a while, I found it was just what she did - I think she was very sensitive to insulin and any change to routine.

A curve and some extra blood sugar checks will help, hopefully, get to the bottom of it.

[Daisydog10]

Re: hypoglycemic at odd time

Some dogs just do go low for seemingly no reason sometimes. Maggie would go low sometimes for no reason apparent to me - it could be the pancreas may sporadically produce insulin, or something like a bath, or exercise, or anxiety. Certain meds like antibiotics could cause her blood sugar to go dangerously low. After a while, I found it was just what she did - I think she was very sensitive to insulin and any change to routine.

I agree and I think you're right about the pancreas sporadically producing insulin. I was trying to figure out why Daisy drops so low at times and read several veterinary articles supporting that, especially in the early stages of regulation. I'm also thinking about sensitivity, I think that plays a big part too.