Atopica (cyclosporine) contributing to high glucose reading?

Hello~
I'm pretty new to this board. I'll try and keep this post as short and sweet as possible(no pun intended on this diabetic board ;-) )

Anyway, my cat was diagnosed with the auto-immune disease pemphigus foliaceus this last April. Since then we've been using steroids and Atopica to get her into remission. While finally over the last month or so we've gotten to that point...until recently she's having a flare up of the disease because I think we tapered to too low of a dose...unfortunately that's how we found out what her maintenance dose is, we see a slight flare up like we're experiencing now.

Anyway, with all this steroid use (she's on triamcinolone now which is stronger than prednisolone which was what she was started on but then it wasn't strong enough) we're borderlining the diabetic zone...home testing has her at the low to high 200s depending on when I check her...and if I truly trust my Relion Confirm since the vets glucometer reads in the high 300s when we go.

So, to my point finally.....my vet feels very strongly that we need to get her solely on the Atopica and off the steroid because she feels 100% that the steroid is making her borderline diabetic. I'm finding though on the days that I give her the Atopica, her sugars read higher! I have found online that Atopica warns the below statement:
"ATOPICA for Cats may cause elevated levels of serum glucose, creatinine, and urea nitrogen. ATOPICA for Cats should be used with caution in cases with diabetes mellitus or renal insufficiency."
I know the steroid can eventually wreck havoc on her organs too but if we're worried about the sugars right now and kicking this disease back in remission, maybe i should really just be using the steroid solely and cross that bridge if it ever comes? I just feel so iffy about this Atopica helping her.

Anybody have any experience with higher readings when your cat is on Atopica?

Thanks in advance!!!

Katy

 

Re: Atopica (cyclosporine) contributing to high glucose read

Our approach is that when a diabetic needs to be treated for another condition and that treatment elevates the glucose, you adjust the insulin dose to compensate.

How is it dosed?
If once a day, you might dose in the evening as there is a natural tendancy for the glucose to decrease overnight which might offset it a bit.
If its once a day and could be spit into 2 doses, that might help temper the impact on glucose level.

What are you feeding? Low carb canned or raw food will help offset the drug's impact on glucose levels, preferably fed in several mini-meals across the day. Cat Info has a food chart listing the percent of calories from protein, fat, and carbohydrate. Pick foods as low in percent calories from carbohydrates as your cay will eat, again, to help offset the medication's effect.

 

Re: Atopica (cyclosporine) contributing to high glucose read

Well the thing about adjusting the insulin dose is that we're not actually treating with insulin.....we're trying to control on diet alone and the thought that she'll be decreasing the steroid soon.

She eats about 1 can of Fancy Feast Chicken total a day given at multiple times a day (I'm lucky enough to work from home so this is easy for me to do) and then she nibbles on Purina DM at night and in the am...I know, I know. I should probably be thankful that her sugars are "just in the 200s" as I think if I wasn't feeding her this diet it would be off the charts!

Right now the dose is once a day~in the morning, same time as the triamcinolone. Atopica is in the liquid form. I could probably easily split that into 2 doses a day to lessen the amt at one time.

Thanks for your time and the tips!

 

Re: Atopica (cyclosporine) contributing to high glucose read

Maybe doing the steroid am and the Atopica pm?