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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Ruger decreasing prednisone
| Ruger's check up today went well. He weighs 39kg. His PCV is holding at 30. Last week we decreased his azzothiaprine to every other day. Seems to be helping his stomach immensely. He was originally on 120 mg. prednisone a day, when he came home it was lowered to 60 mg. Today they are decreasing it to 40 mg/day because his muscle loss is so severe. i am so nervous of relapse. I mentioned earlier that his paw was very swollen. Yesterday his leg opened and drained a lot of puss. They do not know what the infection is from but they are starting him on another antibiotic. Infection can trigger IMHA...I hope this is what triggered his but who knows. Does anyone know if you find the trigger then is relapse less likely? Thx |
| jaime Parker |
| Good news. Hopefully Ruger is on the upswing and will stay that way for a very long time. Congrats and good luck. |
| Mardi Northern Calif |
| Jaime, The very fact that you have asked this question shows that you are truly understanding the depth of diagnosing anemia's cause. And there truly is an answer to your question. I suspect in Ruger's case that this might be "anemia of chronic disease." And in this case it would be infection. It might be helpful for you to read about this a little. Here is Wikipedia's beginning paragraph that explains anemia of chronic disease: "Anemia of chronic disease, increasingly referred to as "anemia of inflammation",is a form of anemia seen in chronic illness,e.g. from chronic infection, chronic immune activation, or malignancy. New discoveries suggest that the syndrome is likely largely the result of the body's production of hepcidin, a master regulator of human iron metabolism." Read the rest of this page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemia_of_chronic_disease You don't need to understand every word on this page to get the connection between infection, inflammatory conditions, white blood cell production and slowed production of red blood cells. I hope that this round of antibiotics will be the turning point for Ruger. my best patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
This thread was discussed between 04/01/2010 and 05/01/2010
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