wombat88
Active Member
Shaikha isn't new to diabetes, but we are new to PZI, having started it on 3/27. Shaikha previously used Vetsulin (yes, I know it was dc'd, but my vet had some bottles left and she did so well on it, we used them all up). I've updated her chart as well as I can. There are probably some other numbers in the meter but recent history is there. Prior to Feb. of this year, she was very well-controlled, so much so that I got a little sloppy with record-keeping. In late January her pancreatitis started flaring up. Not long after that, she developed a very high fever, which we think was due to a UTI, something she's gotten before when her sugar levels go wild. Usually when she gets pancreatitis flares, her BG levels start increasing and eventually she gets tough to control. UTIs often happen because she spills sugar in her urine during these flareups, and we think that is what occurred this time. At any rate, her BG levels were off the chart and she developed neuropathy (ok now with the help of methylcobalamin). After she recovered, we tried to lower the prednisolone dose she was taking to control her pancreatitis symptoms. I also tried switching her to budesonide, but we were unable to wean her off the pred. The combination of the two steroids, I think, or possibly just being unstable after the infection, has resulted in much higher BG levels than she'd had. Previously, I could always count on her being below 250 before meals, and sometimes insulin wasn't needed at all or I gave a nominal dose (AM usually the worst, PM is usually best for BG). Since her infection, she's gotten readings way too often in the 300 or 400 ranges as her chart shows.
I've transitioned her off budesonide as of this Sunday, and that does seem to have helped. I also had her on d-mannose for the UTI, but am beginning to think that is a bad idea since there was a little uptick in her BG and it is a sugar (found one post by a urologist talking about how there are reports of it increasing BG levels in humans; didn't find anything about cats).
Basically, I need to get her stable. She's been on PZI for less than a month, but I still haven't found the happy levels of it to give her. Am also in desperate need of doing a curve. I plan to do that this weekend. I've had another cat that was very ill that unfortunately passed last week, so the past few weeks were a blur trying to keep him alive or dealing with this. Oh, and on top of this Shaikha also developed anemia, so that was another worry because that is part of what let to my other cat's demise along with renal failure. The good news is that her PCV yesterday was 21%, so we are heading in the right direction. We think she may have had a GI bleed from the combination of budesonide and pred. She's on sucralfate as a preventative. Getting her off steroids isn't going to happen unless I want an acute pancreatitis attack to deal with. Even with the slowest taper imaginable, I've not been able to get her below 5 mg. per day on prednisolone without triggering problems.
Thanks in advance for any advice on how to get her better stabilized. I had the Vetsulin figured out pretty well, but PZI is a puzzle so far but she's also not been entirely well either. I am sure the residual inflammation from the last flareup which was pretty bad, along with the kidney infection, didn't help matters. I suspect that also had something to do with her anemia (possibly due to the chronic infection and the body stealing away iron to prevent feeding it, triggering anemia).
I've transitioned her off budesonide as of this Sunday, and that does seem to have helped. I also had her on d-mannose for the UTI, but am beginning to think that is a bad idea since there was a little uptick in her BG and it is a sugar (found one post by a urologist talking about how there are reports of it increasing BG levels in humans; didn't find anything about cats).
Basically, I need to get her stable. She's been on PZI for less than a month, but I still haven't found the happy levels of it to give her. Am also in desperate need of doing a curve. I plan to do that this weekend. I've had another cat that was very ill that unfortunately passed last week, so the past few weeks were a blur trying to keep him alive or dealing with this. Oh, and on top of this Shaikha also developed anemia, so that was another worry because that is part of what let to my other cat's demise along with renal failure. The good news is that her PCV yesterday was 21%, so we are heading in the right direction. We think she may have had a GI bleed from the combination of budesonide and pred. She's on sucralfate as a preventative. Getting her off steroids isn't going to happen unless I want an acute pancreatitis attack to deal with. Even with the slowest taper imaginable, I've not been able to get her below 5 mg. per day on prednisolone without triggering problems.
Thanks in advance for any advice on how to get her better stabilized. I had the Vetsulin figured out pretty well, but PZI is a puzzle so far but she's also not been entirely well either. I am sure the residual inflammation from the last flareup which was pretty bad, along with the kidney infection, didn't help matters. I suspect that also had something to do with her anemia (possibly due to the chronic infection and the body stealing away iron to prevent feeding it, triggering anemia).
