Sunny Day

Glucose Curve w/the NEW AlphaTRAK2

Here is Buzz's blood glucose curve from this past weekend. A glucose reading was taken every 2 hours between breakfast (8AM - 1.5 cups of Hills z/d, 9 units of insulin) and dinner (8PM - 1.5 cups of Hills z/d, upped to 10 units of insulin).

 

First, the numbers are horrible. Way too high. We've increased his insulin and will be re-doing the curve this weekend.

Second, I sort of have mixed feelings on the new AlphaTRAK 2. Here's why. His 10AM reading was 398. My husband wanted me to get two readings from two test strips, both on the new meter, at the same time. The second reading (taken immediately after the first) was 40 points lower (and NOT reported in the above graph). No idea why.

Third, Buzz is showing me that I don't think he's ever really going to be regulated. Every time we increase his insulin, it holds for about a month - but then he needs more.

Thoughts?

AlphaTRAK 2

I splurged and bought the new AlphaTRAK 2. And it's amazing.

I've only used it twice, but I am going to do a glucose curve on Buzz this weekend and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to try to compare it to our original AlphaTRAK - but I make no promises because it hasn't exactly been working lately (hence why we bought the new one)!

new glucometer

Has anyone used the new AlphaTrak 2 glucometer? Our original AlphaTrak meter was giving us the 'Er4' message for a while, and now is super unreliable if we can manage to get a reading. So we are looking into new glucometers.

With that said, we have 100 unused AlphaTrak test strips if anyone wants them! Just send me an email at mydoghasdiabetes@gmail.com

Thanks!,

Our favorite little diabetic...

...is sick once again. Will he ever get healthy?

Hopefully, we caught it early enough and he won't require any hospitalization. He's going back on antibiotics and we are going to keep a very close eye on him these next few days. The antibiotics should clear anything/everything up before we get started on that slope that always seems to progress to a vet visit. :\


But I do have some good news... drum roll please... Buzz's diabetes is back on track! I did a glucose curve this weekend and his numbers were excellent. So, yay for that! We gotta celebrate our victories when we can, right?

Happy birthday Buzz!!!!

This post is a few days late...

but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. BUZZSAW! We love you so very much.

Buzz has officially been with us for 2 years now (as of March 6) and we think he turned 6 years old right around this time of year as well!

Update!

Buzz went for his annual check-up last weekend, and here is what I have to report:

• He weighs 19.2 lbs! That's awesome.... like, really, really awesome.
• He still has PLE (protein-losing enteropathy). His albumin levels are still low. Higher than the last test - but lower than normal.
• Instead of doing his annual vaccines (minus the rabies), we did a blood test to see what his antibodies are for those vaccines.
• Since he's now considered an 'anti-immune dog' (meaning he has issues with his immune system attacking himself), all of our vets agreed we should check to see if he even needed vaccines. Vaccines activate the immune system - so if we don't have to activate it, we reduce the risk of him getting sick. And good news - no need to vaccinate! All his vaccine titers were within normal range for a vaccinated dog.
• Overall, he's in a good place right now. His diabetes is still wonky (will it ever get regulated, sheesh?), but his overall health is listed as 'good'. Yay! We have no further plans for vet visits unless 1) he gets sick again (quick, knock on wood) or 2) we continue having trouble regulating his diabetes.

it's been a rough few months for Buzz

Buzz is tired of being sick.

Buzz was back at the emergency vet last Saturday (Feb 11). He ended up staying the night there because he couldn't stop vomiting.

We found out that he had low albumin via a blood chem panel. Albumin is a protein that keeps blood in the vessels, so when it's low, there can be swelling. His face was swollen and he was a bright shade of red, so that seemed to fit the symptoms pretty well. They started him on cerenia and metronidazole (as always) and gave fluids through IV (though he wasn't too dehydrated thank goodness, as that seems to be the trigger for really going downhill). He improved on Sunday, but was still swollen and red. On Sunday night's blood test, his albumin was higher, but still too low. We took him home because there wasn't much else that could be done.

On Monday morning, I woke up to Buzz being incredibly red and swollen - so back to our normal vet he went. He stayed there all day (no fluids), and they rechecked his albumin Monday evening - which was higher than Sunday night, but still lower than normal. His swelling had gone down, but the redness was still very much there.

With all of this (plus his vet visit a mere 2 weeks ago), he was diagnosed with PLE - protein-losing enteropathy. PLE occurs when the dog loses albumin, probably via Buzz's intestines, which leads us to the 2nd diagnosis:

Buzz was unofficially diagnosed with IBD - irritable bowel disease. I say unofficial, because to officially diagnose IBD, an endoscopy is done with a biopsy taken from the intestines to confirm. We opted against this for several reasons. First, Buzz is a diabetic and anesthesia is definitely going to mess with his system (plus, right now, he's an unregulated diabetic, the worst kind). Second, he was recovering. A biopsy is usually going to show abnormal pathology when the bowel is inflammed, and it's likely that at that point in time, the inflammation was decreasing. Third, the only course of treatment is steroids - which Buzz cannot have - and a switch to hypoallergenic food, which we have made. Steroids can be used on Buzz in only extreme circumstances, like if his life is in danger, as they make diabetes worse.

So now Buzz is on a new food (Hills Prescription z/d) and he's recovering. He's off antibiotics and the cerenia, but is still getting sucralfate for a few more days (to coat and protect his stomach).

We're back on the path to getting his diabetes regulated (again!) and he seems happier and happier every day.

Diabetes Update

With Buzz getting so sick last week, his diabetes has been all over the place. The final diagnosis was 'ketotic with mild pancreatitis.' We think the dehydration is really what did him in, but his glucose has been high for far too long, and we were just too lax in getting it controlled better.

So let's back up a minute and talk about the diabetes.

Early December we took him to the diabetes vet for a fructosamine test - which came back high. We began adjusting his insulin levels, and by last week, we had increased both AM and PM doses by 2 units.

When he started vomiting Tuesday morning, we gave him half his normal dose of insulin (when a diabetic dog doesn't eat, the normal protocol is to give that dog 1/2 the amount of their regular insulin dose). Tuesday night came, and he was still vomiting and had diarrhea, so we skipped his insulin - and took him to the vet.

Wednesday morning, his sugar was about 200 (higher than normal, but not too bad), but we took him back to the vet because he was still sick - and they gave him some insulin there, although I'm not sure how much. While the vet was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with Buzz, the vet techs were keeping a close eye on his glucose, which seemed to yo-yo - probably from the meds, lack of food, vomiting, etc.


Wednesday night our normal diabetes vet was busy with other dogs, so a different vet decided to give Buzz 5 units (way more than half of what his normal dose would be) on an empty stomach (still vomiting) - and surprise, he responded very well. His sugar did go a little too low (down to 60), but came back up with no karo syrup needed.


I got a call from our vet Thursday morning that since Buzz responded so well to this high dose of insulin, he wanted to increase Buzz's insulin at home to between 8 and 9 units (since the 5 units took the glucose a little too low, and 5u on an empty stomach is equivalent to 10u on a full stomach) with food and that should (hopefully) help him get regulated again.


Buzz was cleared to come home Thursday evening (!) because he had stopped vomiting and having diarrhea. When my hubby and I arrived to pick him up, you should've seen his face. It was pure love and excitement. I picked him up, and he couldn't stop licking me, thumping his tail, and trying to get me to go to the door (he hates the diabetic vet's office - every time he's there, he's really sick so you can't blame the guy). I was just really happy that he had responded so well, and not only that, but we got some insight on how to better control his diabetes. We never would've increased his insulin that much if it hadn't have been for the other vet giving him so much insulin Wednesday night. It could've been bad - but since he was at the vets all night, they would've had the ability to bring his sugar back to a normal level. But thank goodness that didn't happen.

I'll finish this post another time - I've got to get back to work!

Buzz Update

Buzz started vomiting early Tuesday morning and had diarrhea start later that day. He wasn't interested in any food or water, so we took him to the emergency vet clinic Tuesday night. They pumped him full of fluids and gave some anti-nausea meds to help with the vomiting and we brought him home.

Wednesday morning, Buzz vomited bloody water, so back to the vet he went. Our internal specialist vet did blood work, an ultrasound on his pancreas, and numerous other tests and concluded that he couldn't conclude what was wrong with Buzz. Ultimately, he decided to treat for pancreatitis and an upper urinary tract infection.

I visited Buzz Wednesday evening and he was looking a little better, but still pretty weak (he hadn't eated for almost 48 hours at this point). The vet tech informed me that Buzz was now known as the 'explosive diarrhea-er' since whoever took him out could hear it from 10 yards away. Ha. Poor guy. He stayed overnight to keep his IV fluids and antibiotics going.

The Buzz update as of this morning was that he hadn't vomited or had diarrhea all morning. And they fed him and he gobbled it all down in 5 seconds flat.

I just talked to our diabetes vet, and he said that Buzz is doing a lot better and we can take him home tonight. He wants to keep him on fluids for a few more hours but otherwise, Buzz is stable enough for home. He wants to increase his insulin (almost forgot about the diabetes, didn't you? I didn't mention it previously because his glucose was so messed up these past few days, I wouldn't even know where to begin) by a few units in both the morning and at night, which is a lot for a dog Buzz's size.

In conclusion, Buzz got sick. Really sick. 3 days later and we still don't really know what caused it, but we are going with pancreatitis and an upper urinary tract infection. His diabetes is all messed up, but once we get him home and back on a routine, it will be easier to deal with. Obviously the diabetes played a role in him getting sick (he's got a sucky immune system that likes to attack itself), but wasn't the major problem this time.


PS. I find it rather curious that Buzz always seems to get sick right before February, which is National Pet Dental Health month and our regular vet offers 20% off expensive dental services. Buzz has nasty periodontal disease (from years as a stray and throw-away dog) and desperately needs extensive work done, but our diabetes vet won't approve of him going under anesthesia when he's sick and unregulated. Hmm... maybe he's much smarter than we take him for? :)