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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - RESULTS OF ULTRASOUND-FLUID IN STOMACH
| WE RECEIVED THE RESULTS BACK FROM ALIKIS ULTRASOUND BECAUSE THERE WAS FLUID IN HER STOMACH. HER RESULTS ARE FINE NOTHING MAJOR WAS SHOWN, HER LIVER IS ENLARGED AND THEY TOOK A SAMPLE OF HER CELLS TO MAKE SURE NOTHING ELSE IS GOING ON. THEY SUSPECT CLOTTING, THATS WHY THE FLUID APPEARED, THEY PUT HER ON ASPRIN. THEY SAID THE FLUID SHOULD DISAPPEAR LITTLE BY LITTLE. THEY SAID THE MEDS FOR THIS DISEASE CAUSE A LOT OF SIDEFFECTS ONE BEING LIVER ENLARGEMENT, THATS WHY AS SOON AS THE DOGS REACH THE PCV LEVELS THE VETS WANT THEY TAKE THEM OFF THE MEDS. WELL ALIKIS PCV LEVELS ARE NOW AT 32 WHICH VETS SAY IS WONDERFUL. AS LONG AS EVERYTHING ELSE IS GOOD WITH HER LIVER ETC WE ARE DOING GOOD. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP! |
| TINA NY |
| thats great his number is staying up in the 30's.. wishing aliki continued wellness |
| josh california |
| Oh! I am so happy to hear you got a diagnosis and that Aliki is on asprin. It is a good sign your vet recognizes this. I'm a little obsessive on this topic of bloating and fluid since I lost my boy Ollie to a clot, and he had substantial fluid in his abdomen that my specialist chose to ignore (he actually told me that he was going to ignore it, and only after Ollie died did he mention it was related to clotting) I also, after reading posts on here a bit, think it's important to distinguish between the "pred belly" and the abdominal bloating. My local vet initally confused bloating as pred related. Ollie actually had both, and there is a difference, at least thats my opinion from what I saw. I think your on the road to recovery! These are all very good things happening, and I feel you've got a good vet in your corner! Best wishes on continued progress! |
| mj ny/ut |
| Tina, I'm also happy to hear that Aliki is on aspirin. It sounds like you have a good vet. My dog also had a large amount of fluid in his abdomen - ascites. Dr. Dodds felt that it should be removed ASAP; however, the specialist that was treating my dog did not agree and chose to do nothing. I had no idea that fluid was connected to clotting - this was never mentioned to me. After treating my dog for five days, the specialist sent him home after he developed extremely labored breathing/panting - at that point, the specialist suspected that clotting was developing. Unfortunately, my dog died suddenly from a clot three days later. Although the specialist suspected that clots were developing, he would not prescribe aspirin or Heparin. I didn't know as much as I know now, or I would have insisted that more be done regarding decreasing the abdominal fluid and initiating aspirin. You and Aliki will be in my thoughts and prayers. Sue |
| Sue |
| EVEN THOUGH SHE IS ON ASPRIN THERE IS A STILL A CHANCE OF CLOTTING, VET SAYS. THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO EXCEPT ASPRIN THE TRY TO PREVENT THIS. THEY HAVE OTHER MEDS BUT THEY HAVE SEVERE SIDE EFFECTS. THEY SAID ONCE THE DISEASE GETS BETTER SHE IS LOWERING HER CHANCES OF CLOTTING. THERE IS NOTHING THEY SAW ON ANY TESTS THEY DID THAT THEY SAW CLOTTING, THEY SAID UNLESS THERE IS A HUGE CLOT IN VESSELS ETC THEN THEY WOULDNT BE ABLE TO TELL. HONESTLY, MY VET IS AMAZING BUT IT STILL WORRIES ME ABOUT THE CLOTTING. WHY DID YOUR DOGS DIE, WHY WAS THE FLUID IGNORED, MY VET ALSO TOLD ME THE FLUID IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS IF REMOVED, IT WILL GO AWAY BY ITSELF BY TIME, A FEW WEEKS. THANKS,TINA |
| TINA NY |
| Hi Tina and Aliki, From my understanding what your vet is saying is all true. I definitly can see how you would be worried, but it makes me real happy to see your vet address this with asprin. My Ollie died due to a blood clot to the lung. I had noticed slight bloating in the abdominal area, and an increase in labored breathing the day after we put him on pred. My local vet/roomate at the thought this was due to the pred. I thought this a little strange since we had just started pred less that 24 hrs before. Now that I look back at it I'm sure it was the clotting causing this all along. My roomate decided we should see a specialist, and he also mentioned it may be from pred or just because his spleen was huge. That visit we also did an ultrasound to check organs. The next visit 10 days later it was noticibly worse. He had put on 14lbs. of fluid. This appt. was for a bone marrow biopsy since he was non-regenerative. (unecessary in retrospect, learned nothing new) At that same visit the specialist said he was "concerned about the fluid but I am not going to do anything about it right now" Exact words. We also did a transfusion (while he was still under anethesia?) So to answer your question, he didnt do anything about it because he was incompetent in IMHA. He also prescribed cyclosphomide (NOT cyclosprine or Azath.) Talk about not being up to date on things... So, Ollie after coming out of anethesia from the biopsy actually got hugely bloated and had terrible breathing. I had thought that morning was going to be it, but then suddenly he got better for several days and his PCV was holding quite well and was breathing a lot better, but one night 10 days later the breathing became worse and by 5 he had a terrible look in his eye, and was panting for the first time ever, I knew something was wrong. My roommate had faxed the specialist the day before and he mentioned a dieuretic to reduce fluid. So that morning he first went to my roomates clinic for x-rays of the lungs thinking that fluid in the lungs was the problem, it wasnt. Then we gave him the dieuretic and he peed in the car for the whole 2 hours to the specialist (it breaks my hear to think of this, it was so unecessary) When we got there, the one specialist vet was not in, but I saw someone else that immediatly told me he should be put down right away, or spend 3500$ with little hope. I was a mess, that was not what I wanted to hear, and I fought her for quite a while trying to get her to prioritize the 3500, since there was a transfusion on it and he was holding at pcv 20, didnt need it. She said he was probably clotting in the lungs and that very rarely (but occasionally) they body can bypass the clots. She called the regular specialist at home finally to talk to him and he recommended a blood oxygen test, which they luckily had a machine for, and it tested at 30%, pretty low which explains some of the weird things I was seeing, there was red tissue bulging from his eyes and while trying to take blood, his veins had almost collapsed. While waiting for the oxygen tank to come the specialist came in from home and said these words to me as I was crying "he's probably been throwing clots all along, thats why he had so much fluid" I wanted to strangle him then and there. I took him home with some oxygen and we put him down at my house. I dont know if I would have done it without that test though.. Sorry this is so long. I'm really not being negative with this. I think that on this site you get a different response depending on if someone lost or won with this disease, but I think we all have something to give. In my case it's lessons learned and a 20/20 hindsight, but I think your totally on the right path and more importantly your vet is competent with this. Fighting this disease is a rollercoaster, you should prepare yourself for this but you are doing all the right things and there are tons of dogs coming out on top of this, some being treated with asprin. And you're here on this site which has loads of helpful people, I had found out all this information too late. I'll be thinking of you guys and wishing you continued success. Paws up! |
| mj ny/ut |
This thread was discussed between 10/03/2009 and 11/03/2009
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