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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Why are dogs still on meds with high PCV counts?
| I was reading about Keikos great recovery and her being in the 50 range and still on meds, and I have read other threads anc posts where dogs PCV have been high and are still on different meds long term or life, why is this? Laurie |
| Laurie CA |
| Laurie, I have a 3 yr survivor so far of AIHA. He was weaned off the prednizone but is still on the aziothiaprine and neoral. We attempted to wean off the Neoral at one point, but the PCV decreased. It seems he needs his current dosage to keep his PCV up. Some dogs are just like that and some can go med free. It's a trial and error with the meds. Hope that helps. Kim and Spencer |
| Kim NY |
| Laurie, Boogie is down to 2.5 mgs. prednisone from 10 mgs. Her vet said yesterday that she might keep her on Neoral and Cell Cept for the rest of her life (she's 9 1/2 years old) because she was such a tough case when it came to getting her pcv counts up. She said Boogie was one of the tougher cases she has seen. Sue |
| Sue Moorpark |
| Laurie, In our case with Holly, our internist watches her retic count very closely. So when we decrease prenisone sometimes her retic goes back up and she tells us this means destruction is still going on. In Holly's case her original onset was a very slow one that happened over a period of months with her PCV dropping down to 8 and having seizures, and I guess they are afraid unless she is very stable that this could occur again, so that is why we go very slow with the prednisone reductions only 1 mg a month. It seems to be working so far. Linda |
| Linda Sapphire |
| I have a 5 year survivor, Sierra. She is still on meds because a reduction almost 3 years ago resulted in the appearance of another auto-immune problem (of her corneas). Her PCV (or HCT) has been in the mid 40s for years now. Also, because I personally know of 2 other related dogs with AIHA, both passed away from the disease and both at around the age of 3 or 4, I believe her case is likely to have a strong genetic component. All of her vets (conventional, holistic, specialists) agree that she should stay probably stay on cyclosporine for the rest of her life. If we can avoid a cascade effect, which seems to be what was starting to happen with her eyes a few years ago, then I'll do all I can to avoid it. I certainly don't like that she will be on cyclo forever - there are drawbacks to that as well, but the alternative doesn't leave much room for anything else. |
| Ronda So Cal |
This thread was discussed between 11/06/2008 and 12/06/2008
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