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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Mercedes Update
| Hi Everyone Just a quick note to say that we got Mercedes latest test results. Do not have them in my "hands" yet but the vet says the hemocrit is up to 36 (from 34)this time and the liver numbers are slowly dropping. It is encouraging to see the crit up, even though we have been slowly weaning the pred for the past month. We will be discontinueing prednisone (curently at 7 1/2 mg. every second day) the middle of next week and dropping the azathiopine to every second day. (I find this somewhat scary, but suppose it must be done some time.) Unfortunately my vet is relocating to another province as of today, so I am feeling somewhat abandoned at a very crucial time. Dr. Stover has also advised that I stop the thyroxine, as Dr. Dodds had said to presribe it for 6-8 weeks, and we are at the 9 week phase. I'm thinking I should run all of this past Dr. Dodds, "before" I go ahead and quit everything but the azathiopine----especially since I do not have a "back-up" vet, who is well versed in Mercedes case. Did any of you encounter problems when you stopped the pred?? I am just feeling soooo nervous about doing all of this next week. Outwardly, Mercedes seems very well indeed!--(except her coat, which is very "sparse" at the moment, and still falling out). She is back to her "very busy" self, barking and playing with the other dogs and family members. Her appetite is good, and we are even getting to sleep through the night, with no potty breaks! LOL!! We plan to attend the Canadian National Agility Championships in Calgary the first week in August, with our other two standard poodles, (and Mercedes will accompany us). This is only 3 weeks away. I have some concerns about stressing Mercedes with the travel, but wonder if it would stress her more to be separated from us and her sisters. Does anyone out there have any thoughts or experience in this regard. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Maureen and Mercedes |
| Maureen BC Canada |
| Maureen, That is great news on the numbers. Sorry you are losing your Vet and have to break in a new one. I never got far enough to begin reducing anything but the Pred but I wonder if it is a good thing to do so many reductions at once? I would definitely run it by Dr. Dodds. I think like you do that the stress of being left behind may be greater than the trip. Best of luck. Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
| hi Maureen, Wonderful news that Mercedes is doing so well. I think you should run everything past Dr Dodds, and I agree with Penny that I would reduce only one drug at a time. Unless Mercedes cannot tolerate the meds, it cannot hurt to take your time. It took me over a year to reduce Mille's meds to her current dose of Imuran twice a week. Slow and steady for us worked, and Millie is happy and healthy and I was spared all the extra worry! Good luck with the trip, like you, I was worried to leave Mill, but our first weekend away three months after Mills was diagnosed, and she was fine being away from us.... I struggled being away from her! Good luck, Sam and Millie. |
| Samantha Geelong Australia |
| Maureen, I agree with all that has been said thus far. 6 months ago we were at the point that you are at trying to make the decision that is gut wrenching. In our case we waited until Cooper's PCV was in the mid 40's before we dropped Pred. entirely and yet we continued AZA for another 2 months before completely eliminating all meds. Every dog is differant in their recovery. Unquestionably Dr. Dodds will steer you in the right direction. Best of luck to you and Mercedes. Ron and Cooper |
| Ron Florida |
| Hi Maureen, how's Mercedes been doing? Hope all is going well. Johnny & Tessy |
| Johnny |
| Hi Maureen, we are up in Yellowknife right now, but Joanne and Cheryl checked in on facebook, so I could not help and see how things are on vetnet. We travelled with Kahlu when he was stil on pred and Aza. Sorry I don't have the exact doses with me. I think it was 5mg pred every day and 25mg Aza. We travelled for 3 weeks and I did a check just before we left and did not change anything during the trip. Kahlu did fine on the trip, he enjoyed being with us. He was used to traveling aswell. I got a cooling vest for him, because I was worried about the heat. Keep in mind, that dogs on pred have a messed up metabolism and have a hard time with the heat. Kahlu's relapse came 6 months later. I don't know what caused it, we certainly reduced the meds slow enough. It happened when he was on 2,5mg pred eod and 25 aza 2x per week. Should we have left him on a daily dose of pred? I guess we will never know. I just had to try to have him med free. Dr. Dodds checked his blood 3 weeks before his relapse and all was good. I guess it was just not meant to be.... Sorry for rambling about Kahlu. You HAVE to believe Mercedes will beat this. You are in good hands with your vet and you are a dedicatd poodle mom so I have no doubts! Best wishes from the North and good luck at the Nationals! Brigitte |
| Brigitte BC Canada |
| Hi Everyone, Thanks for all the feedback re: Mercedes meds and travellling. Haven't been online for a few days as we had a crisis with one of my other dogs, who ended up having emergency surgery at 2 a.m. on Friday night. She is still at the vets and we are awaiting lab results from the coast to determine what we need to do to get her better. It has been extremely stressful, and I still don;t know exactly what is wrong with her and whether or not she will recover. She was vomitting and had intense abdominal pain. The vet suspected a blockage and the only way to determine that was to open her up. When he got inside and checked there was no blockage! She had huge amounts of "fat" in the blood sample we drew, and I now suspect that she is suffering from secondary hyperlypidemia, triggered by her Addisons Disease. Mercedes is doing exceedingly well. She is "very" active again, and full of pee and vinegar, as the old saying goes! LOL!! It is so good to see her back to her old self---a typical mischievous standard poodle adolescent. I decided I was "not" going to dispense with the prednisone this past week. Instead I have cut her down to 1-5mg pill every second day (from 1 1/2). This week I will make a further reduction to 1/2 a pill every second day followed by a total withdrawal the next week. Once we are no longer doing pred. I will reduce her azathiopine to every second day. I know this is not the way Dr. Stover told me to go before he left for Alberta, but I just was not comfortable stopping the prednisone altogether, with a hemocrit of only 36. It just seemed to soon and too fast to me, so I went with my gut. I don;t think a couple more weeks of low dose pred. is going to hurt at this point in time, and I didn't want to eliminate it altogether, too soon. Bridget: I don't know if I'll get to Nationals now, with Kalli so sick and all. Guess we will just have to let this play out and make a decision some time before Aug. 4th!! Right now, kalli is our priority! |
| Maureen BC Canada |
This thread was discussed between 16/07/2010 and 26/07/2010
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