THANK YOU!

I just have to shout out a great big ole THANK YOU to this board and its members. You saved my boy's life last night.
I ran out of test strips a couple of days ago and hadn't opened the new ones right away. Blaze's numbers have been stable if not great, and I thought we'd be okay for a day or two (you know, the way my vet wanted to do things when we started).
At midnight last night I gave my boy his usual meal and his usual shot, and I dozed off. About a half hour later something jolted me awake. Blaze was stumbling around the room, sniffing at every single thing, trying to eat plastic bags, and clumsily walking into and over things (stepping on his sibs and into his food bowl) like he couldn't see them. His ears were at high pointy alert, and his eyes were huge and glassy. I put food in front of him, but he only tasted it and staggered on. Because he kept going in circles, at first I thought it was neurological, that he was having a stroke or a seizure. He resisted being held, didn't respond when I called his name, and really didn't seem externally aware.
Then (cue the herald horns) I remembered all the FAQs and "start-up" messages I'd read when I first joined the board, and the word SUGAR! flashed through my brain practically in neon lights. I grabbed the test kit and found that the poor guy's sugar was only 32! I fingered some honey into his mouth, and when he finally settled and started to come back to himself, offered food again, including a small amount of high-carb crunchies, and this time he ate ravenously. When at last he pressed the length of his body up against me and started purring I could have wept with relief. He slept deeply. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much after all that! Today he seems well recovered and back to his sweet normal self.
Thank God and thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I am SO glad this board exists!

 

Just so glad you caught it and knew how to work it thru. thank god you woke up and saved your precious baby.
:razz:

 

So glad you caught it! It's scary, isn't it? But you knew what to do and did it. You did good.

 

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Awwww, how wonderful that he's saved and back to normal. To what might you attribute the sudden change?

 

Ruth, I'm not sure which change you mean -- going into hypo or coming out? If in, I can only assume (because I didn't test) that he was already in the low-normal range when I gave him his usual dose, and it was too much, so he went into insulin shock. As for coming out, the honey's glucose could be quickly absorbed. (Karo syrup would have worked as well.) I knew from experience that the regular dry food would raise his glucose quickly also, which is why I only gave him a couple of tablespoons. After that he got his regular low-carb wet food to stabilize him, and I monitored him all night until I was good and sure he was okay.

It wasn't quite as scary during as after. During, I was too concentrated on trying to figure out what was going on. After, I was afraid that his levels would bottom out again or that he'd just quit breathing. But the worst came with the day: I was so afraid to give him his shot and leave him, to go to work and school! I think it'll take me a few days to get past that.

 

Well done to you for catching his hypo.

Jean I wanted to ask-have you considered a better insulin?
Humulin is very outdated now and considered a harsh insulin in terms of how fast it kicks in and doesn't have the 12 hour duration (as a general rule).
Do you know what his nadir usually is and what bg number he usually comes in at?

Lantus, Levemir or Prozinc (form of PZI) are the firm favourites and Lantus/Levemir in particular have had a lot of kitties achieve remission and become diet controlled.
Have a look in the isg's and read the stickies, see what you think. If you have questions just post.

One other thing I wnated to say, dry food won't raise bg fast. Takes quite a while to hit the system, hence recommendation that you have high carb wet food as part of your hypo toolkit. Also dry can have a tendency to send kitty's bg's to the moon and last well into the next shot or two.