Newly Diagnosed and Confused

[Isabelle]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Willis:

Izzy is eating Royal Canin prescription, gastrointestinal, I believe. She needs a low fat dog food since her triglycerides were extremely high and the fat content of the non prescription healthy weight, low fat dog foods was too high for her.

We got the triglycerides under control and now this! Izzy's thirst has improved as well and she is still lethargic too.

[Isabelle]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Again, I need some reassurance for Izzy. For the second week in a row her BG has dropped and is in the low 400's, her appetite is good and she has not lost any more weight. Her insulin was increased another unit so she is now at 9 units of Humulin N 2 times a day. Next week she will go to the vet for her first curve. I know that eventually we have to work up the courage to test her at home, but for now she goes to the vet to be tested at the same time daily. She is still leaking pee and she is terribly embarrassed when this happens. My husband works at home so he can take her out every few hours during the day. At night, she sleeps on a towel or old quilt and I give her a mini bath before I leave for work. Her energy is still not back to normal and it makes me sad to see her like this.

[jesse girl]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

yes it takes time . my jesse took 6 months until she was getting back to her old self so it sounds like izzy is way ahead of that

[MomofGus]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

I'm glad her numbers are going down. Hopefully, she'll keep improving each day and the peeing will ease up for you.

[stylynjm]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Fyi, there are doggie diapers if her leaking is a problem

[Judi]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

I remember feeling bad when my Jenny felt bad for her accidents too. Hang in there. you are loving her cleaning her and working to make it so she won't have accidents anymore. eventually you should hit a phase where she is herself again.

patience is sooooo hard. We all feel your pain. Judi

[Isabelle]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Thank you everyone. I just need some reassurance and I got it from your posts! I sent my husband to the store for some doggy diapers and she just got back from the groomer who trimmed her a shorter version of her Scottie cut so that it would be easier to give Izzy her mini baths in the morning.

[Isabelle]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted, needing some reassurance - so here I am again! It has been 6 weeks since Izzy's diabetes diagnosis. She started at 5 units and has steadily increased her 2x day, 12 hours apart dose of Humulin N so that she is now at 11 units. She spent the day at the vets 1 ½ weeks ago for her first curve - the good news is that the shape of the curve was good, the bad news is that her levels were still way high from a low of 460 mid day to a high of 650 in the morning and creeping back up to 560 by the time she came home in the late afternoon. She goes to the vet once a week for her glucose to be checked at the same time of the day each time; last week her noon time level was 450. Even with not testing her at home (which I know we should do) I can tell that she is feeling better - her activity level has increased steadily, but she is still not back to her pre diabetes self. She is still drinking and peeing a lot, but not like it had been. So all signs are trending up but I am still discouraged that her levels are still so high. I know I should not compare her to another dog and that it could take months - but I worry about her. Thanks for listening. I told my vet about this site and she is going to recommend it to some of her other clients.

[amydunn19]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Checking only once a day is not really effective to base changes upon. Although you get a feel for the shape of the curve, it is early on and that shape can change some. Also, insulin may decide to kick in at a particularly active time and boom - down it goes. Also, if a dog is initially showing some resistance, it can just one day have a breakthrough. We have seen it - like the insulin is conditioning the body and after enough, the body finally says okay, I get it. I don't want to pressure you into testing but as you get closer to the proper dose, curves are really necessary - I would hate for you to pass the needed dose. Remember, even if dogs don't show anxiety outwardly, your dog might be stressed at the vet and in a home setting, the numbers may be much lower. Everything affects blood sugar in one way or another.

[jesse girl]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

well its been 6 weeks since diagnosis from what i interpret from your post (let me know if i am incorrect ) and the vet has only done one curve which was 1.5 weeks ago . you go to the vet for one glucose reading once a week i presume that some of those dose adjustment were based on that single test once again if i am wrong let me know

the problem with that method is that time of day may not be the lowest sugar. it can be at any point in the day and there can be a wide variation in the numbers thats why we do complete curves for dose adjustments

my jesse early in her diagnosis went from 500 to 70 in a few hours and back up to 500 at 6 hours if we tested her at that 6 hour mark with that method of a single test we probably would have raised the dose and put her at risk to low sugar with that 70 going even lower

in the end the big swings in blood sugar for jesse actually pointed to the dose being to much and she actually needed a reduction to stabilize sugar

definitely recommend testing sugar at home

[Isabelle]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Thanks - we will make the leap to test her at home

[Isabelle]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

It has been a while since I posted about Isabelle. After 4 months, it appears that her blood sugar has stabilized (at least for the time being). She is starting to gain weight after dropping from 28 pounds to 24 and her activity level is back to normal. She is on 12 units of Humalin N, every 12 hours. It has been a difficult summer but we have gotten into a pattern of adjusting our schedule to meet Izzy's and realizing that we can not become complacent.

[jesse girl]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Its definitely not a walk in the park at the beginning because it is quite a learning curve and a change in lifestyle for dog and caretaker

Once things settle and you get a good understanding on how this works you enter that new normal stage which you sound like you have entered

Yep you don't want to get complacent with this disease and it can easily happen

Glad your on you toes and things have settled into a new normal routine

[SarahG]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

Hello Everyone. I am brand new, my dog was diagnosed on Friday. I would like to post a thread but I cant figure out how? I have a lot to get off my mind

[amydunn19]

Re: Newly Diagnosed and Confused

I sent you a message, Sarah!

EDIT Never mind - I see you have a thread. It is Monday