2/3 Zelda +7 317 / PMPS 278 / +4 253

Peter Moore

Peter Moore

Member Since 2019
She's acting fine, but I'm getting ++ and +++ on the strips suddenly.

Possibilities:
- We started using a custom compounded ear medication Friday night that was supposed to not have corticosteroids. She got some yesterday as well. It does have glycerin + amoxicillin. I can't find any sources on those ingredients' effects on cat BG, but this sudden BG spike is consistent with other times medications have caused her to shoot up. I really hope this isn't the cause though because amoxicillin is the best drug for this damned ear infection.
- She has eaten 1.333 cans of Purina DM since yesterday. It does have a higher carb content than FF, but not THAT much higher.
- I would say maybe I mis-shot this morning, but I think this has been going on since last night. She was very hungry this morning (which usually indicates higher, rather than lower, BG, with her) and there was trace glucose in the urine by 8 AM.

I will check blood PMPS tonight but I'm inclined to at least give 0.1 if not 0.25, if she's over 300 still.

:banghead:
 
Sorry Zelda is feeling off. I just responded to your previous post here.

Your spreadsheet shows no AMPS test? Also no data from last night. Another possibility is that she is bouncing from a low last night. In which case an increase would be counterindicated.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Your spreadsheet shows no AMPS test? Also no data from last night. Another possibility is that she is bouncing from a low last night. In which case an increase would be counterindicated.
Click to expand...
PMPS last night was 212. You're telling me it's possible that 2 DROPS (I did not overdose and she ate heartily) could have caused over a 100 point drop overnight? If that's true we should be getting her off this stuff immediately.
 
Wow. That is unbelievable .

Then this stuff is not safe for her anymore. Because I do not have the capacity to check blood like this multiple times a day indefinitely. We need a plan B.
 
Can you do 4 tests a day? ps am and pm, plus one more test am and pm? then leave higher carb food out if needed.
 
It is entirely possible that she is carb sensitive, and that the DM does influence her more than the usual foods. Sometimes it's specific ingredients.
 
I can do AMPS and PMPS indefinitely, but that's it. I need to be able to leave the house for a normal workday, and sooner or later we have to be able to travel again and no sitter is going to stay with her for hours at a time. I've just been lucky the last couple of weeks have been slow and I can work at home, but at some point I'm gonna have to leave the house in the morning.

I'm sorry @Wendy&Neko but I have an extremely hard time believing this was a bounce. We've never seen urine in the glucose when she's under 200 (tend not to see it until she's been in the 300s). We had trace at 8 AM. That means she would have had to have dropped well over 100 points, and then risen back well over 100 points without being fed anything special, in under 14 hours. We've never seen that before. We HAVE on the other hand see these ear medications mess with her blood sugar. Occam's razor...

But @majandra I think you're onto something with the higher carb food as we were discussing in the other thread. The Orijen was working great for her and keeping her stable. I'm going to start feeding her small amounts of that again with the Fancy Feast once she's stable again. This zero carb policy is not safe.

About the DM, it's possible. It has oat hulls and guar gum (FF has guar gum). Oat hulls should be very slowly digestable and low glycemic. But who knows. This is the problem with changing too many things too quickly (my fault).
 
Is there anything in HERE that can help you?

You may have to just do the best you can.
I had a very hard time with Rhubarb because she was making it clear that she wanted to get off the insulin, and fast. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange my work a little to test more, but some days, I just couldn't test through the day. Her first green PS, I skipped, because I was severely sleep deprived at that point.
If Zelda isn't "running down the dose ladder", then you should be able to find a dose that's safer to leave her for the day. If you have a sitter, most people get them to do decreased doses so they don't have to do more than preshot tests. And of course if you have reason to suspect she will drop too low, you can leave out the higher carb food. If you need to always feed a higher carb so that she can have insulin, then that's what you may need to do.
I hope you find a plan that will work well for you.
 
Hey Peter, I would double check the compounded ear med also, as they could have screwed up and put a steroid in it which would account for higher numbers and a hearty appy. And/or the higher carb food. My Bubba is extremely carb sensitive. Heck, I can even bring his numbers up by 20 points with feeding raw food. Also, just having an ear infection is going to raise her numbers. Anytime there is inflammation and/or infection the BGs rise. Or constipation will cause a hike in numbers.

She is so close so hang in there. :bighug:

If you could get a before you go to bed test in the PM that would be helpful. Remember that the onset for Lantus is around +2 so that is always a good number to get. If you see her heading down quickly, give her a little LC food to soften the curve as a fast drop can cause a bounce just as much as a lower number.

My money is on the ear infection causing the hike and the higher carb food. Her higher numbers corresponded with the start of the amoxillin on your comment section.

ETA: What is the ear med?
 
Thank you @Bobbie And Bubba for the kind words. :) Yes I noticed your boy has ear infection issues too. I saw you also are familiar Tresaderm. Was that just the only medication that would work or did the vet not know/tell you about the steroids? (which happened to me the first go round; for the second, I took a calculated risk, which quickly proved to be a mistake).

She's had this ear thing going on for months though. It's actually getting much better. The ear infection could be the thing standing in her way of true remission, but I don't think it's the cause of today's oddity.

Agree with the rest of the advice. I got 278 PMPS. So that means she started to come down from that high on her own. Given the AM strip was trace, we basically have an inverted curve. So *something* went wrong either last night or today. Thus I'm gonna change the things that are safe to change - going back to Baytrill which I know causes her no issues, and no more DM for awhile. Will keep it at 2 drops and yes I want to see what happens at +3 or +4 too.
 
Sorry things haven't been easy for you. Hopefully her ear infection clears soon too
*bighug:
 
Peter Moore said:
Thank you @Bobbie And Bubba for the kind words. :) Yes I noticed your boy has ear infection issues too. I saw you also are familiar Tresaderm. Was that just the only medication that would work or did the vet not know/tell you about the steroids? (which happened to me the first go round; for the second, I took a calculated risk, which quickly proved to be a mistake).

She's had this ear thing going on for months though. It's actually getting much better. The ear infection could be the thing standing in her way of true remission, but I don't think it's the cause of today's oddity.

Agree with the rest of the advice. I got 278 PMPS. So that means she started to come down from that high on her own. Given the AM strip was trace, we basically have an inverted curve. So *something* went wrong either last night or today. Thus I'm gonna change the things that are safe to change - going back to Baytrill which I know causes her no issues, and no more DM for awhile. Will keep it at 2 drops and yes I want to see what happens at +3 or +4 too.
Click to expand...
The Tresaderm spiked Bubba up just like Zelda. I used it for a week instead of the two week prescribed and switched over to Zymox Otic Ensymatic Solution NON STEROID from Pet Meds. There are two formulas, this one without and another one with steroids. I used it for 2 weeks. And then to just cover my bases I used olive oil with garlic ( recipe from my homeopathic doctor ) for 2 weeks. So far so good. That yeast infection was the first one he ever had and in coincided with food allergies that he developed to chicken and pork. ( not uncommon to occur with allergies AND diabetes )


So, this thread has reminded me that I should go clean Bubba's ears which I am trying to do once a week now to prevent any more ear infections.
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
So, this thread has reminded me that I should go clean Bubba's ears which I am trying to do once a week now to prevent any more ear infections.
Click to expand...
YES! Never again am I not gonna take that advice seriously!

majandra said:
Sorry things haven't been easy for you. Hopefully her ear infection clears soon too
Click to expand...
Thank you! Also I did see that thread about having a full time job and keep meaning to read it. :)

As I was doing the drops this evening now I'm just not sure if they're going in properly. It's one thing to do it on a piece of plastic but when I'm actually injecting her who knows what's happening. These microdoses are just the most frustrating thing about this. I can't dilute the insulin. I can't get a more narrow syringe with more precision. WTH do people with babies do?

Maybe we should use a different insulin that can be diluted?

@Bobbie And Bubba the ear med is just amoxicillin compounded with glycerin. Glycerin is not *supposed* to affect blood sugar in humans, but who knows about cats. Also it's in the ear, not digested, which means it's getting absorbed through the skin and could also have an impact. I don't understand why they couldn't compound it with something else though - oil or cream of some kind?

Anyway, vet did a culture and said the infection was responsive to Baytrill, but pennicillin would be the best.
 
Peter Moore said:
As I was doing the drops this evening now I'm just not sure if they're going in properly. It's one thing to do it on a piece of plastic but when I'm actually injecting her who knows what's happening.
Click to expand...

If you are holding the needle in her for a few seconds, and keeping the plunger fully pressed when withdrawing, then it should be in her. Another way to check is to push the plunger after you've given the shot- there should be no insulin coming out.
 
Yeah been doing that and checked afterwards
One of the syringes had a TINY amount on it still. Much less than a usual drop. Does that mean it didn't go in her? And will a clean needle occur with a fur shot?
 
If it was much less than a drop, then I'm sure she got the rest. I found I really had to hold the plunger hard, which was counterintuitive for me.
To check for furshots, I smell the area first, then shoot, then smell. There should be no smell, or just faint. A drop still stinks plenty enough to smell a fur shot.

Eta: where do you give your shots?
 
Yeah I've been using the smell test for months. I think all these shots made it in honestly. I'm going with meds or food and changing both .

I shoot in the scruff or thereabouts. Anywhere I can part the fur and pinch the skin basically.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top