Re: 2/25 Gobbles AMPS 436 +4 312 ? Fortiflora ?
TheBowHuntress said:
Hi Sienne, actually the reason I was wondering about it is because some days he just picks, picks, picks at his food and I heard it can stimulate appetite due to strong smell. I am getting a little worried (ha ha) because his last "full meal" was during his carb feast--about 2 a.m. Therefore, as of this writing, it has been almost 12 hours since he actually had a meal. He picked at his LC (maybe 1/4 can FF), ate a few pieces of chicken and a nib of lunchmeat when I just now tested him. I know he'd eat more lunchmeat if offered ("ham off the bone") he'd eat it. He's probably just holding out for junk food...LOL..not happening, though,...
Oh geez yes!!!! I learned my lesson as to why we are supposed to feed just a t. or T. when trying to bring numbers up....he was so totally ravenous when he dipped into the 40s and basically inhaled a whole can of FF LC (I've read that ravenous appetite can be a sign of hypo, so that's probably what it was).... I have the LPN & HTHLPN & Hypo Ref. Guide printed and kept in a tote next to my laptop....
Hi Kat,
I'm new to FDMB and treating cats for hypos but I have suffered from hypoglycaemia for about 15 years. I control it with diet only - what you said about Gobbles last night sounds exactly like I feel when I have a low and then am recovering. This is how it feels to me:
When I go low first I get hungry. This is the slowest part of the progression for me and the only point that I can turn it around without paying for it for the rest of the day (I think Gobbles did the paying for it part and may be why he didn't want to eat later on).
After a bit I get hungry
NOW! If I can't eat, I get a bit shaky, panicky and angry with any one or anything that prevents me eating or even asks me difficult questions (like what can I make you to eat?). My old share house flat mates used to call me hangry from hungry angry. Once I'm like that, I can't think properly and often don't make the right food choices. After that (and this transition can be quite rapid) I get quite shaky, tired and need to sit down, I don't feel as coordinated, I can't quite walk in a straight line and my body feels heavy. I get upset and have cried in the supermarket! At this point, I'm really not thinking right and sometimes don't want to get myself food "because it's too hard".
However, from hungry
NOW to crying in the supermarket if you put food in front of me, I would eat it all.
Very fast. I go shaky while eating and can't eat fast enough. I've eaten two full bowls of pasta and still been looking for more. It's not a good thing to do as I suffer from it afterwards. My body is just looking for sugars asap and keeps wanting more until my BG has risen higher. Once I have eaten, levels come back up slowly but also stabilise very slowly and I will feel a bit sick for the rest of the day - it feels weird and I often am put off eating. If I have eaten too much in one go, I will feel the weird sick and uncomfortable from overeating at the same time. Maybe this is how Gobbles felt.
If I haven't gotten food by the sitting on the floor, shaky and teary point. I can quite quickly go to disorientation, strong lack of coordination (falling over), difficulty forming a thought and getting it out (my answer to most questions at that point is "ummm?". I also feel nauseous and won't want to eat anything. This progresses (in maybe about half an hour? but my memory isn't very clear by this point) to fainting. Thankfully I have no experience of any worse events than that.
This is my magic formula for stabilisation for me (a non diabetic human!):
- If caught early ("hungry NOW") some carbs (like toast) followed quickly by a good protein meal to keep my levels stable. If I just go for carbs I can have another low afterwards (but I'm not sure if that happens for diabetics - it happens to me because of my insulin response to a sugar spike). The carbs bring my BG up and the protein will keep it up for longer without too much of a spike.
If caught late (quite shaky, need to sit down, coordination issues, disorientation or worse), grains won't bring my levels up fast enough and I usually feel too sick to eat. This is where refined sugar is necessary to kickstart my body again, raise my BG just enough that I get hungry, will be able to eat some toast and then some protein.
The sugar brings up the BG, grains to smooth out the spike a bit, protein smooths it out further and stops me going hypo again. However, my BG levels are up and down for hours after a low even after eating properly.
I don't want to give advice - because I think diabetes is more complicated than my hypoglycaemia. I just related to how Gobbles felt and thought that it might help to hear how I feel in a low.
I hope he's feeling perky soon!
Grace
I'm sure Gobbles will be back down in no time .. have a great day!
