? Stumbling and Neuropathy

Hello everyone! In the last 2 weeks I have observed Sabrina stumbling, losing her balance, and/or having a hard time getting up. Initially I thought it was hypoglycemia but her BG has been 259-307 each time I tested when she was wobbly. When she tries to get up from lying down, she'll stumble. She has seemed to fall off the couch a few times. I have not observed her walking flat-footed on her hocks at all, so I wasn't thinking it was neuropathy. But I have since researched more and it does seem that her hind legs are the problem. Has anyone else observed more stumbling and faltering with neuropathy? Is that more common in the early phases, or a sign that it's more severe?

She was diagnosed and started on Lantus 5 1/2 weeks ago. But the stumbling is a newer symptom and seems to be increasing. That has me concerned. Shouldn't treating her with insulin make neuropathy less likely? Why would this be newly happening, and getting worse?

I am finding limited information online about neuropathy and everything mainly talks about the plantigrade stance. Ear infection or vestibular syndrome are also causes of stumbling, wobbliness, losing balance, but her symptoms don't match that well either. When she has stumbled/fallen/failed to get up, she recovers within a minute. She sometimes stands there looking a little taken aback, but that's probably her being surprised and having her pride hurt. As I've thought about it more and watched more closely, she doesn't seem dizzy or weak. The first few times we hurriedly got out high carb food and syrup, and she quickly walked over to it and ate it up. This, along with her BG levels at the wobbly times, seem to point more towards neuropathy than anything else. What do you think?

I was worried about giving her too much insulin when I thought this was a sign of hypoglycemia. But if it's neuropathy, is it more important to be increasing her dosage soon, to get her stabilized and hopefully reverse the neuropathy? She's been on just 1 unit of Lantus since diagnosis 5 weeks ago. It seemed an increase would be warranted after a few weeks, given her numbers, but then she started stumbling and I got scared about hypoglycemia! Any experiences, suggestions, and advice are appreciated!

 

You might want to make a video of her stumbling and send it to your vet. While it could be neuropathy, it could the any number of other things. I would want a vet to take a look.

 

Thank you. That's a good idea and I've been trying to get a video, but it happens randomly and so quickly that I've only been able to get her right after she stumbled over. Trying to be proactive, I now have plenty of footage of her just walking around and looking at me wondering why me and my phone are watching her! I'll keep trying!

 

Hi Cara and Sabrina!

I've experienced similar issues with Nico. His numbers were never really that high (usually in the 400s) but he had a few days of bad bouncing that left him extremely week in the hind legs, stumbling, falling off of things, basically unable to keep his balance.

I took him to the vet and they did a workup on everything - he had a bad UTI even though he showed no symptoms! She said this would cause his numbers to stay high, and neuropathy had manifested this way with him. After a few weeks on antibiotics, he started to regulate on insulin and gain his balance/muscle strength back. Still a little weak, but at least he's no longer falling off the couch!

I agree, it may be best to get a vet check up in to make sure it's nothing else going on.

Bella and Nico

 

Thank you. I realized that her problems may have been because I dosed her very late the night before, at +16.5 hours after the a.m. dose, due to me having to go to my part time job right after my full time job. I think it threw her system off. It seems that perhaps when her body is adjusting to changes or not being stable, this happens. Or perhaps it's the onset of neuropathy, because it's very inconsistent and comes and goes.

 

Carla -

Basaglar is different than many of the other insulins. If you have to move your shot time, your next dose is due 12 hours later. You can change the shot time to get back on schedule by moving the time by 15 min. at every shot (i.e., twice a day) or by 30 min. once a day.

I'm not sure why you didn't increase Sabrina's dose to 1.5u. Why the increase to 1.6u? I'm really confused about your dosing. I'd encourage you to post on the Lantus/Basaglar/Lev forum to get more feedback about using SLGS.

 

My work schedule does not allow me to slowly readjust shot time back like that. Is it better to skip a shot all together if it's past 2 hours late?

 

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) please see #7
Cara can you please update your SS
What are your shot times?
Thank you Wendy

 

How to I add shot times? I asked that in a recent post.

 

If you can’t move the shot time, it’s best to skip.