wombat88
Active Member
It has been a long time since I've posted here. Shaikha has diabetes as a complication of pancreatitis, though steroid use caused the most significant change. After a rough initial few months, we had her fairly well stabilized with a diet change (IBD also suspected) and her diabetes was under control. On occasion she'd have unusual spikes in sugar levels, but they seemed to be tied to times when we suspected her pancreatitis was acting up again. Generally those periods lasted a week at most, and with minor changes in insulin levels and tighter monitoring of BG I was able to get her back under control. We've tried tapering off steroids several times, but have been unable to do that without triggering flareups, so we just tried to stay with the lowest dose we could, which in her case is 2.5 mg prednisolone twice per day.
About two weeks ago her appetite dropped off again and she exhibited other signs of a stronger than normal flareup. Her sugar increased a little, though nothing outrageous. Unfortunately on Thursday evening she also developed a fever, which coincided with a huge spike in BG (484, the highest I've seen her since last May). I managed to get it under control, but I took her to the vet on Friday and we put her on an IV plus started antibiotics since she had a fever of 103.5. With fluids her temp dropped back to normal, so I brought her home with Baytril injections to give her throughout the weekend. When I checked her BG Friday evening, it was unreadably high -- over 600 per my Relion meter. I managed to get to 487 with food and insulin and on Saturday I kept it in the 200-300 range -- not great, but better than what it had been. By Saturday PM her fever seemed to be returning, so on Sunday I took her back in for more fluids. Her temp had shot up to 104.6, so we also started her on two IV antibiotics since it was obvious Baytril wasn't acting fast enough. By the AM her BG was back over 600, but they were able to get it down with slightly more insulin than usual and some changes in the types of fluids they gave her. Her fever was back to normal by Monday PM and she seemed much perkier, so I brought her home again. Her PM BG was in the 40s though, so I gave her food and kept monitoring BG until it was back over 100. By morning her BG was up to 197, so I gave her food and a small dose of insulin. Usually I don't treat if BG is below 200, but she was starting to spike a fever again so I decided to give her a token dose. I took her back for more fluids today as well as antibiotics.
This evening she seems to be doing much better. No sign of the fever returning, and she's moving around the house though slowly. She also seems more interested in food, though I'm still having to assist feed. BG has been in a good range, so no spikes thankfully. The problem is that she's waddling when she's walking and it looks like she's having trouble controlling one of her hind legs. With these awful BG spikes I'm worried we've got a case of diabetic neuropathy on top of everything else now.
She is going back to the vet tomorrow. My regular vet has been out of town but he'll be back then, so I am anxious for him to evaluate her. We are not sure what is causing the fever, but she's had leukopenia for about ten years (the whole time I've had her; she was a rescue) so any infection is a problem for her since she can't fight them off herself. It never has caused a problem until now. She is urinating normally and even has climbed up on the cat perch several times, so she's definitely feeling better and whatever is going on with her legs isn't stopping her too much.
Could neuropathy be triggered by sudden BG spikes like she's had in the past few days? If so, how can I treat it? She gets weekly B12 injections which has seemed to help with her pancreatitis & IBD, but I've read about oral methycobalamin as a treatment for neuropathy. Would that be better absorbed than the injectible? I know the form of B12 is different, but I'd thought that most oral B12 gets destroyed in the gut.
I'm just praying for no bad news tomorrow. I am very worried about how serious this attack has been, not to mention her high fever. I know he'll run more extensive tests and I'm a little worried about what he might find. Other than the low white cell count, the rest of her blood work looks good -- kidney & liver function all normal, though creatinine was high normal on Friday, which made us suspect a kidney infection as a possible cause of her fever.
Sorry for the tome, but wanted to provide sufficient detail about what had happened to her BG levels these past few days. I've not updated her spreadsheet in Google docs in ages, and didn't have the time to put in months worth of data tonight. Off to check her BG levels again and a quick temperature check.
About two weeks ago her appetite dropped off again and she exhibited other signs of a stronger than normal flareup. Her sugar increased a little, though nothing outrageous. Unfortunately on Thursday evening she also developed a fever, which coincided with a huge spike in BG (484, the highest I've seen her since last May). I managed to get it under control, but I took her to the vet on Friday and we put her on an IV plus started antibiotics since she had a fever of 103.5. With fluids her temp dropped back to normal, so I brought her home with Baytril injections to give her throughout the weekend. When I checked her BG Friday evening, it was unreadably high -- over 600 per my Relion meter. I managed to get to 487 with food and insulin and on Saturday I kept it in the 200-300 range -- not great, but better than what it had been. By Saturday PM her fever seemed to be returning, so on Sunday I took her back in for more fluids. Her temp had shot up to 104.6, so we also started her on two IV antibiotics since it was obvious Baytril wasn't acting fast enough. By the AM her BG was back over 600, but they were able to get it down with slightly more insulin than usual and some changes in the types of fluids they gave her. Her fever was back to normal by Monday PM and she seemed much perkier, so I brought her home again. Her PM BG was in the 40s though, so I gave her food and kept monitoring BG until it was back over 100. By morning her BG was up to 197, so I gave her food and a small dose of insulin. Usually I don't treat if BG is below 200, but she was starting to spike a fever again so I decided to give her a token dose. I took her back for more fluids today as well as antibiotics.
This evening she seems to be doing much better. No sign of the fever returning, and she's moving around the house though slowly. She also seems more interested in food, though I'm still having to assist feed. BG has been in a good range, so no spikes thankfully. The problem is that she's waddling when she's walking and it looks like she's having trouble controlling one of her hind legs. With these awful BG spikes I'm worried we've got a case of diabetic neuropathy on top of everything else now.
She is going back to the vet tomorrow. My regular vet has been out of town but he'll be back then, so I am anxious for him to evaluate her. We are not sure what is causing the fever, but she's had leukopenia for about ten years (the whole time I've had her; she was a rescue) so any infection is a problem for her since she can't fight them off herself. It never has caused a problem until now. She is urinating normally and even has climbed up on the cat perch several times, so she's definitely feeling better and whatever is going on with her legs isn't stopping her too much.
Could neuropathy be triggered by sudden BG spikes like she's had in the past few days? If so, how can I treat it? She gets weekly B12 injections which has seemed to help with her pancreatitis & IBD, but I've read about oral methycobalamin as a treatment for neuropathy. Would that be better absorbed than the injectible? I know the form of B12 is different, but I'd thought that most oral B12 gets destroyed in the gut.
I'm just praying for no bad news tomorrow. I am very worried about how serious this attack has been, not to mention her high fever. I know he'll run more extensive tests and I'm a little worried about what he might find. Other than the low white cell count, the rest of her blood work looks good -- kidney & liver function all normal, though creatinine was high normal on Friday, which made us suspect a kidney infection as a possible cause of her fever.
Sorry for the tome, but wanted to provide sufficient detail about what had happened to her BG levels these past few days. I've not updated her spreadsheet in Google docs in ages, and didn't have the time to put in months worth of data tonight. Off to check her BG levels again and a quick temperature check.
