Squallie's BG is skyrocketing!

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Squalliesmom

Squalliesmom

Member Since 2015
Hi all, Squallie is not having a good day today. He started the day with a BG of 364; by +4 hrs it had only dropped 60 points, and by +6 it was climbing again. I just checked him now at +8 and it's up to 463!

I know it hasn't been 12 hours since his morning shot but can I safely give him insulin now, to try and stop this rise? I am really concerned about him!!! Please , if anyone has an answer, get back to me asap? Thanks.
 
Gee, Lucy - I'm sorry, but I don't really have any experience with Vetsulin, so don't feel qualified to advise you about what to do. Did you try posting this on the Vetsulin forum, too?
 
I don't know enough about Vetsulin either. @BJM do you have any thoughts? Who else knows about Vetsulin?

Lucy, could he have gone low last night? Could this be a bounce?
 
Lucy! BREATHE! Now another deep breath!

It's REALLY OK! Even non-diabetics bg's do this! One of my civies will go from the mid 50's where he usually runs up into the 200's for no apparent reason. It WILL stop, he won't just fly away. Remember - he was high when he was diagnosed and had been high for a while. Just do a ketone test when you see him head to the litter box just to be sure everything is fine.

BREATHE AGAIN!!!!

How long has it been since his shot? From your ssheet, looks like about 6 hours? It also looks like he's still bouncing off those touch of blues. When that happens, the liver produces 'counter-regulatory' hormones including something called 'glycogen'. That glycogen registers the same as glucose and will just have to 'wear out' on it's own, you can't do anything to help it, more insulin won't shoot it down. That's why we say it takes up to 3 days to clear a bounce.

If it's only been 6 hours, just pull up your patience pants and give it some more time. If you shoot now, you're going to be way off schedule AND he could start breaking the bounce any time now sending him diving hard and fast - which just causes the liver to panic again and off you'll go on another bounce.

BREATHE AGAIN! There....now you should be calmer. It's not the end of the world! Remember, diabetes control is a marathon not a sprint.

HUGS!
 
Clarification: glycogen is a stored form of glucose kept in the liver, not a hormone. The counter-regulatory hormones release it, it gets converted back into glucose, and up the blood glucose goes.
 
Squeaky and KT said:
Lucy! BREATHE! Now another deep breath!

It's REALLY OK! Even non-diabetics bg's do this! One of my civies will go from the mid 50's where he usually runs up into the 200's for no apparent reason. It WILL stop, he won't just fly away. Remember - he was high when he was diagnosed and had been high for a while. Just do a ketone test when you see him head to the litter box just to be sure everything is fine.

BREATHE AGAIN!!!!

How long has it been since his shot? From your ssheet, looks like about 6 hours? It also looks like he's still bouncing off those touch of blues. When that happens, the liver produces 'counter-regulatory' hormones including something called 'glycogen'. That glycogen registers the same as glucose and will just have to 'wear out' on it's own, you can't do anything to help it, more insulin won't shoot it down. That's why we say it takes up to 3 days to clear a bounce.

If it's only been 6 hours, just pull up your patience pants and give it some more time. If you shoot now, you're going to be way off schedule AND he could start breaking the bounce any time now sending him diving hard and fast - which just causes the liver to panic again and off you'll go on another bounce.

BREATHE AGAIN! There....now you should be calmer. It's not the end of the world! Remember, diabetes control is a marathon not a sprint.

HUGS!
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Lyresa, thank you so much for bringing me back down to earth. When I saw 463 I just went into panic mode, because I know it's just going to keep going higher.

Thank you and @BJM for explaining to me what's going on in terms I can understand; that makes it a lot easier for me to cope with it.

Okay...purple patience pants on, and I'm following his regular schedule. :nailbiting:
 
:):):):):)
BJM said:
Clarification: glycogen is a stored form of glucose kept in the liver, not a hormone. The counter-regulatory hormones release it, it gets converted back into glucose, and up the blood glucose goes.
Click to expand...
Thank you! It makes it so much easier to deal with when I have some idea of what's going on and why! :) It's so hard to be calm and patient when you're so worried about them!
 
Squalliesmom said:
Lyresa, thank you so much for bringing me back down to earth. When I saw 463 I just went into panic mode, because I know it's just going to keep going higher.

Thank you and @BJM for explaining to me what's going on in terms I can understand; that makes it a lot easier for me to cope with it.

Okay...purple patience pants on, and I'm following his regular schedule. :nailbiting:
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Ah, Lucy hang tight sweetie!! Sending you and Squallie good vibes and calmness. :bighug:
 
granadilla said:
I don't know enough about Vetsulin either. @BJM do you have any thoughts? Who else knows about Vetsulin?

Lucy, could he have gone low last night? Could this be a bounce?
Click to expand...
I didn't think it was a bounce, because his BG has been fairly consistently higher the past few days, and I was blaming it on the Young Again food we tried, but I guess it could be a bounce. I just don't know, and I guess that's one of the reasons I panic; I don't know what's going on.
 
Vetsulin may last less than 12 hours in cats, and when it wears off, the glucose will skyrocket. This may be what happened. Some testing in the +9 to +11.5 range may help clarify if it is a duration problem.

Although, look back at that morning with the 409 mg/dL pre-shot and the drop of 247 mg/dL from just 1 unit. I'm thinking there may be a time overnight where the glucose has a) dropped fast, b) dropped to an unfamiliar level, or c) dropped too low. Any of those 3 things can trigger a bounce.

As an experiment, I'm wondering if 0.75 units on pre-shots in the high 300s or greater might be prudent, and lower than that for anything below a pre-shot of 350 mg/dL. You can adjust the dose with Vetsulin based on how low you see a given dose drop in recent history.
 
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Robin&BB said:
Gee, Lucy - I'm sorry, but I don't really have any experience with Vetsulin, so don't feel qualified to advise you about what to do. Did you try posting this on the Vetsulin forum, too?
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Thank you! Sorry I didn't reply earlier but my computer started crashing, and I was trying to get Squallie to eat (a very long process when he decides the only way he'll eat is if I spoon feed him tiny bits at a time!) but I did see your post and really appreciate your help! :)
 
Squalliesmom said:
I didn't think it was a bounce, because his BG has been fairly consistently higher the past few days, and I was blaming it on the Young Again food we tried, but I guess it could be a bounce. I just don't know, and I guess that's one of the reasons I panic; I don't know what's going on.
Click to expand...
Well,the Young Again is zero carbs so I don't think that could be the issue. He had that blue number on 8/31 and the experienced ones say the bounce can last 3 days and some cats bounce for a week. So let the dust settle so to speak. And remember what they say " better to be high one day than too low" Bubba did a big bouncer today but, I expected it and will just hold the dose because we know it got him in lower numbers (a little too low early in the cycle ) so, it's just a dance we gotta keep on dancing. "Dancing with the Cats"
 
I thought the Young Agin would be okay, too, but I went to their web site and it says if you feed it in conjunction with any other food, even low carb, it can make the BG rise. I don't really understand how that works (eyebrow raised here) but Squallie still gets his DM or FF at shot times, soo...

I never seem to be able to dance fast enough to keep up, lol!
 
Squalliesmom said:
I thought the Young Agin would be okay, too, but I went to their web site and it says if you feed it in conjunction with any other food, even low carb, it can make the BG rise. I don't really understand how that works (eyebrow raised here) but Squallie still gets his DM or FF at shot times, soo...

I never seem to be able to dance fast enough to keep up, lol!
Click to expand...
That is interesting about their website statement. I fed YA along with other food and didn't notice any rise and I even spoke with the owner of the company several times and he told me about crushing it and putting in in their wet food. hmmmmmm
 
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