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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Maddisons progress
| Hello, I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Just checking in and had a few more questions. Maddison was diagnosed with this on Feb. 18th. She had a blood transfusion on the 19th (her pcv was an 8) and spent a little over a week at the vet on iv fluids and meds. She continued the meds when she came home and seemed to be doing ok but had no interest in food. She has some kidney issues but has been able to gt passed that. About 2 weeks ago she started taking Atopica because her pcv dropped again. The Atopica was making her sick and she continues to lose weight. (She also quit taking the doxycyline a while ago in hopes that she would regain her appetite.) At her last blood work her pcv was at 33 but her electrolytes were way off and her thyroid was at 0 (not working at all) so she is now taking meds for that. She is still not eating very much and is very picky, last Friday she weighed 43 pounds (down from 63) and is very skinny. She has a hard time getting up by herself and can't walk up or down stairs. Just wondering if this is normal for it to be taking this long to "recover" The vet seems concerned that she hasn't started to do better by now and wants to do an ultrasound this week. She is still taking: 80 mg of Prednisone 20 mg. of Pepsid pet-tinic the thyroid med (im not sure what it is called) and immuran/azothioprine a day. Just wondering what your thought were...thanks (and sorry this is so long!) |
| Kathy N.C. |
| Kathy, It sounds like you are really frustrated and don't know how to help Maddison. Are you still seeing a specialist or is it just your regular vet? Can you see a specialist? My immediate reaction is that she sounds like she has Addison's disease. This is when the adrenal glands don't produce enough mineralocorticoids and/or glucocorticoids for normal body activities. The mineralocorticoids help the body adjust the electrolytes and the glucocorticoids help the body produce cortisol. This helps regulate the body in times of stress and generally keeps things humming along ok like blood pressure and other important body functions. Addison's disease can have several causes, one of which is the withdrawal of prednisone too quickly. I am confused because you are still using a very high dose of prednisone. This leads me to believe there is more going on that I don't quite understand. Addison's disease can be serious and diagnosis should be under the care of a specialist. The test for it is called the ACTH test. Basically, a blood sample is taken, a shot of ACTH is administered, an hour passes and another blood sample is taken. From this they can determine if the adrenal glands responded properly. Really simple.. but the key is the dog has to be clear of prednisone for at least a week or two. I don't know if you can do that right now. You really need someone who knows this condition forwards and backwards. Here is a link to a basic website to read about it. http://www.addisondogs.com/addisons/whatis.html My other thought is that dogs with Addison's are given medication called Florinef(fludrocortisone acetate) or injectable Percorten-V (desoxycorticosterone pivalate or DOCP) when they are diagnosed with this disease. Perhaps some vets might administer the drug to see if it resolves the problems with the electrolytes? I don't know this one way or another. This is a question for your vet or specialist. If the electrolyte problem isn't resolved, Maddison could get very sick. The low thyroid can also contribute to behavior like apathy, poor coat, potty looking body. It certainly plays a role in the production of blood. You are probably using Soloxine. There are several brands that are marketed, Soloxine seems to be the better brand. We use that one for Chance. Get back to me with what you find out or if you need more links to read. Patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Kathy the Atopica will make dogs sick (diarrhea and vomiting) and those two in combination can cause the dog to loose electrolytes and become dehydrated. Teytracycline can do it also. The dehydration can cause the PCV to look higher on tests because the liquid volume to cells is lower. When babies get prolonged diarrhea they are given "Pediolyte" to replace the lost electrolytes and to keep them hydrated. Depending on how "sick" Maddison has been that may be part of the cause. A 20 pound loss of weight is quite a bit, and I suspect part of it is fluids. Most dogs with AIHA are gaining weight because of the increased appetite from the prednisone. |
| Ron B San Mateo |
This thread was discussed between 27/03/2008 and 28/03/2008
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