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Hi Patti,
Thanks for the link, I read quit a bit of it, very hard material for a
layman. We sure lost a great mind when Tom Ivers died. I am still using 2
meters and still getting consistent readings on both meters but still 20
points apart on average. After 8 hrs of no food the glucose readings are
60's & 80's. I was using one of the meters incorrectly for a few days
and both meters were getting the same readings....60's. Now I'm back to
20 points apart. The problem was in how I put the blood on the test
strip. AccuCheck tech support says the test strip must touch the skin
when getting the blood, I didn't know that, I was touching the strip to
the top of the blood drop with the AccuCheckActive meter which lowered
the readings for some reason. The AccuCheckAviva strips are different and
you have to touch the skin to use them and it consistently gives a
reading 20 points lower than the Active. I am going to have blood drawn
by the vet, test it with my meters, have it sent to a lab for a complete
blood panel and see how the glucose readings compare. The vet says he
will spin the blood right away then it sets in a cold pack till evening,
then shipped somewhere up north and tested sometime the next day. This
seems to be the best that San Diego has to offer. Do you think the
results will be reliable with that much time delay or does it not matter?
Thanks,
Don Huston

At 09:53 PM 2/1/2007 Thursday, you wrote:

Hi Don ~
 
I was reading through Tom Ivers' "Optimized Nutrition for the Athletic Horse" to see if he had a succinct description - I think you would find it enjoyable (it's in the late ti's indomitable style)
http://www.equineracing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ERSI&Product_Code=1210
It's an "e-book" and I think it's available as either a CD (which I have) and as a download.
Although a lot of it covers carb loading, its got some interesting info on timing of feeding, maintaining glycogen stores, etc. I think it could be useful in understanding applying the concept of the glucose curve to competition. His "Fit Racehorse II" I believe also has some good stuff which relates to endurance (I've only read excerpts from this one).
 
Basically, people with glucose that is too high can have confusion, diabetic ketoacidosis and coma. Long term hyperglycemia can damage blood vessels and nerves (eye problems, foot ulcers, etc.). Symptoms include increased thirst, urination and appetite - always hungry as the "fuel" (glucose) isn't being transported into the cells. Horses rarely develop "true" diabetes - when they are "hyperglycemic" they also tend to have high insulin levels and are insulin resistant (IR). Interestingly, Arabs are one of the breeds often seen on the Cushings List as IR - often they are horses who were once conditioned/exercised then became idle but their rations weren't adjusted down with their activity. A lot of IR horses when put back into work are able to return to a higher carbohydrate ration to feed that work.
 
Low blood glucose in people will cause confusion, nausea, agitation, clammy skin, coma. Some people "live" at 60mg/dL, while 60 will knock someone else flat.
Hypoglycemia in a competitive horse will result in fatigue, which is the precursor to injury (how many lameness pulls are actually metabolic in origin...?). Again from experience on the Cushing's list (I am a moderator there though have been inactive for a few months) we've seen a lot of horses test pretty low on glucose (in the 20's to 40's) when changed to a low-carb ration but not show any obvious signs/symptoms of hypoglycemia. But I would expect an athletic horse to be a bit sluggish at levels this low. And, if he's frequently worked to below his baseline (as established by his glucose curve) his muscles, tendons and other tissue will suffer as the body goes looking for fuel.
 
If you Google "diabetes symptoms", "hyperglycemia" and "hypoglycemia" you can get a lot more detail on how/why low/high blood glucose affects the body.
 
A dehydrated horse may have a higher blood sugar level because of hemoconcentration (and will also have high levels of other blood components).
Most equine lab "normals" have been established with TB's - racing provides a huge pool of horses that have blood tested more often than other breeds. When we see "easy keeper" breeds who are pasture ornaments and have blood glucose over 100, they often have high triglyceride levels - once only thought to occur in ponies and donkeys.
 
I'd be interested in seeing what kind of results you get (and how you use them : )
 
Patti

 
On 2/1/07, Don Huston <donhuston@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Hello Patti,

Thank you very much for the glucose lesson, you answered my question about different blood sites not really mattering and that the time delay between drawing and spinning blood lowers the glucose reading. I am going to do some 5 hour curves over the next 2 months. Do you know what the physical and emotional clues are when glucose is too high or too low in people and would they be similar in horses? Thanks for letting me pick your brain.. ;-)

 
--
~ There are no Magic Bullets in Equine Nutrition ~
Desert Equine Balance
Patti Woodbury Kuvik
PO Box 759 Vail AZ 85641
DesertHorses@xxxxxxxxx
http://DesertEquineBalance.blogspot.com
http://DesertHoofPrints.blogspot.com

Don Huston at cox dot net