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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Help from long term survivors still on meds
| My Callie is an 11 year old Min Pin and the light of my life. In the winter of 2006 she was diagnosed with IMHA and was put on pred and Atopica. She responded well and about a year later was almost off her pred. She then relapsed and had to stay at NC State Vet Hospital for a month. She had several blood transfusions, she had a blod clot in her lung, and had to be put in an oxygen container. This was so sad but she kept on fighting. She is such a fighter. I had a wonderful vet who did not give up. What finally worked was adding a third immune suppressent drug to the mix -- microfinalate-- A drug used on humans that have the disease. Callie finally came home and it was an uphill battle but she got stronger and we slowly lowered her pred levels. She never though fully went back remission. She has now been on all three drugs for two and a half years. She has had huge lynph nodes that were tested for lymphmona but that was negative. For a while she was happy and mostly side affect free. My vet at home says she is a miracle. This winter she developed COPD and this has been hard. She had to add other drugs to the regimine and she did well for a while. This week she has grown tired etc all the signs again. Her PVC droped form 33 to 25. The vet in Raleigh said she may be less regenrative due to infection so we added baytril to her doxy. She has not gotten better and now her gums are more pale then I have seen them in a long time. We will have new numbers tomorrow. To make it worse it may be that she got into a visiting dogs food by mistake which caused pancreatitis. It can't be after all the fight, emotions and expense that I could have messed up like that. Is there anyone out there that has been through a second relapse? Any advise? Anyone out there with a dog on long term drug therapy that has relapsed. Any help would be so apprecaited. Please pray for Callie. She is so little (7 pounds) but such a fighter. THANKS!!! Lisa |
| Lisa Gutierrez North Carolina |
| PRAYING HARD FOR YOU!!!!!! |
| Ronda Illinois |
| Lisa, I am so sorry to hear about Callie's illness When you mentioned microfinalate did you mean mycophenolic also called cell cept http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycophenolic_acid If you have not read the Success Stories at the Meisha's Hope Canine AIHA/IMHA Web site as yet, you might want to do so: http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/successstories.htm The main Success Stories page is on vacation for the summer but there are lots of AIHA/IMHA Success Stories in the archives. These Success Stories will show you what has worked for other dogs in terms of treatment options as well as give you a lot of HOPE. Just a thought, is it possible that all 3 of these medications are suppressing Callie's immune system too much and thus causing her PCV to drop? How much does Callie weigh and what dosages of medications is she taking? |
| Joanne MN |
| Lisa, I can only offer up thoughts and prayers for you and your dear Callie. I know that there are a few people on here who have had to deal with relapses and I am sure they will be posting soon. Take care Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
| Is Callie back on the Cyclosporine/Atopica? Ginger was diagnosed in 2007 and has had a few relapses she now remains on 5 mg of pred EOD and 125 mg of Cyclosporine everyday she weighs about 75 lbs. I will keep Callie in my prayers and please keep us updated on how she is doing. Cheryl & Ginger |
| Cheryl & Ginger Pineville PA |
| We are praying for Callie. It has been such a long battle for her. We hope she will be able to beat it again. We have dealt with a relapse and it is pretty much like starting all over again. |
| leslie ca |
This thread was discussed between 02/08/2010 and 03/08/2010
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