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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Aiha
| Hi..on oct.11/11 my 3 year old root mix was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia,and hypothyroid ..vet put him on predizone 20 mil ..3 pills a day for 3 days..then 2 for 3 days and then one every other day till gone..were 60 tabs in bottle...took him back for bod tests..they were good so vet said to give him 1 tab every 3 days and that he will be on this rest of his life..did this for 2 weeks or less and thought I should go to another vet ,,new vet said he is being weaned to fast and wants me to give him 2 pills a day for 30 days and then bring him in for tests and if he looks good then he will start weaning him off..does this sound right to you folks that have gone thru this? He is also taking 3 mil gram thyroid med for hypothyroid ...I had all the tests for him and every thing was ok..they don't know why this happened..I know his litter mates Are fine. |
| Carlene Missouri |
| That is pretty fast. Cookie was decreased every week usually and that was considered fast. Also there is no reason he should be on it all his life if he doesn't relapse. Prednisone is really hard on the body. |
| Monet Sammamish |
| Carlene~ So sorry you had to find us, but glad you did. This is a place where you can receive information and encouragement, plus lots of listening and caring people going through similar situations. THERE IS HOPE! I agree with Monet, you usually have to treat this disease aggressively with enough meds to get it in remission and then very gradually reduce the meds every 2-4 weeks depending on the CBC. (blood panel results). Yes, the Prednisone and other immune supressants are hard on the body, but you have to get a balance that is right for your pet. If too little, they can relapse and that can be even harder on your pet to stop the downward spiral and stabilize. We have a wonderful vet, Dr Jean Dodds of www hemopet dot com who is very good to help us and will consult with your vet for a modest fee. Her email address is on one of the other posts, as it escapes my memory right now.... She has helped so many of us get on the right track as she specializes in this area. We have followed her protocol, including adding thyroid med. It's working and all the numbers on the CBC are heading in the right direction!!!! Others on this site are far more knowledgeable than me and will respond, but time is of importance. I agree with you and your new vet, that your pet is being weaned off too quickly before the meds really have him safely on the road to recovery. This is a very hard disease to fight, but we have winners and many more who are in the fight, like my Tori who is in her second battle after relapsing. My pet will be on meds the rest of her life, too but we are grateful that her quality of life has been restored. Praying for you and your furbaby. Blessings, Cindi & Tori (IMHA & ITP) |
| Cindi FL |
| The new vet put him back on it..yesterday..2 a day..I wrote Dr.Jean Dodds...she said the second vet is right but that maybe the thyroid med is to high.I guess I will stick with this new vet..Bo was not eating much for about 3 days and then he threw up...next day I took him to vet I have always used..he said he has ulcers...a week went by with ulcer meds and I asked him to do the Coombs test,he said he don't need it..it's ulcers..and so I went to another one..and he is the one that cut him down so fast..He said not to go by what I read on the Internet but I did and found a vet in St.Louis ..they seem to know more about it then the country vets..it's a 2 hour drive there so I do worry about an emergency. |
| Carlene MO |
| I take it then that he is not on pepcid? Pepcid AC can be bought at human drug stores in the heartburn section. It protects the stomach from prednisone so as to prevent ulcers. You give 10mg 2x a day.. 30-60 minutes before the pred. For extra protection, which you may want since you know he already has ulcers, you can ask your vet for Sulcrafate. |
| Monet Sammamish |
| Carlene, any idea what the trigger was? Usually with the cases that respond as quickly as this one did there's a trigger like a toxin, poison, medicine, etc. Once this trigger leaves the body the healing is usually quick....much much quicker than the average case. Sucralfate is what you want to use to treat ulcers. Use this along side the pepcid for optimal stomach protectionj. Keep in touch with Dr. Dodds. She can help more than most think! HUGS |
| Johnny |
This thread was discussed between 09/12/2011 and 10/12/2011
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