Wild swings in blood sugar

[davect]

Andy's BG was once very stable and predictable but lately it's a little flaky. As of the past few months he has been trending toward high readings under 250. But as time goes on I'm finding some readings near normal and others very high. A typical situation would be morning BG is 140. In this case I would give 0.5 unit or none. BG 12 hours later could be 350 at which point I give him the usual 1 unit. BG 12 hours later might be around 200 and I give him 1 unit as usual. Last night his BG was 300 and I gave him 1 unit. This morning it was 95 (I rechecked and got 97). Needles to say I gave him no insulin this morning. This evening it was 450! Similar swings have happened a few times. WTF? He is on heart medications and has lost significant weight. When diagnosed as diabetic he was 26 pounds. He has slowly lost weight over several years and he is now all the way down to about 12 pounds. Literally half the cat he once was. I'm starting to think we might be experiencing the rebound effect. Of course I'll consult my vet, but does anyone have any initial thoughts about this?

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Hi Andy,

I don't use Lantus, but I would encourage you to read the starred threads at the beginning of the Lantus forum. viewforum.php?f=9

Lantus has a shed which can be depleted when you skip a dose. Ideally, you want to find a dose that you can give consistently every 12 hours. Otherwise, you risk wild swings like the ones you are seeing.

 

[davect]

Ideally, you want to find a dose that you can give consistently every 12 hours.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I may try 0.5 unit. My other cat has an appointment with the vet Wednesday. Perhaps I'll ask about this while I'm there.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

I would recommend the .5 units also. It sounds like you may have a little pancreatic action starting.

One thing that I did experience with both Witn and Spot was that at least once a week I would get a significant drop in their BG levels. Normally their preshot readings was in the low to mid 200's. But at least once a week, each of them would have a preshot below 100. It happened frequently enough that I could determine it was a pattern, but not consistently enough to determine which day they would have their drop. This happened while they were on Lantus and also continued happening when I tried switching them to BCP PZI. It may be possible that something similar is going on with Andy.