If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
Hi all - I'm new to this group and while I have a dog and I'm rabbit and cat
experienced, I'm not a dog expert and need some help for my bf's 5 yo terrier mix. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea and various diagnoses beginning with possible food allergies, a super regional specialist has finally given a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Concern: After yesterday's testing she seemed to rebound emotionally and ate first bland meal about 7. Had runny bm in bathroom between 10 and midnight and then woke up bf about 1 to go out again. Came in and threw up first rice/cottage cheese and then about 30 min later threw up chicken. Of course bf is trying to get hold of specialist etc to see what to do as now she seems worse than ever. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? TIA - Laurie -- |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
I suggest you join the following group if anyone can point you in the right
directions for dealing with the combination of this and a tick disease it's the people on the tick group. They have tons of experience with tick borne diseases. There are lots of links to information but the group can help you the most. http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm The very top link on the page is where you subscribe Celeste "Laurie" wrote in message news:LxxAj.1924$HA3.924@trnddc02... Hi all - I'm new to this group and while I have a dog and I'm rabbit and cat experienced, I'm not a dog expert and need some help for my bf's 5 yo terrier mix. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea and various diagnoses beginning with possible food allergies, a super regional specialist has finally given a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Concern: After yesterday's testing she seemed to rebound emotionally and ate first bland meal about 7. Had runny bm in bathroom between 10 and midnight and then woke up bf about 1 to go out again. Came in and threw up first rice/cottage cheese and then about 30 min later threw up chicken. Of course bf is trying to get hold of specialist etc to see what to do as now she seems worse than ever. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? TIA - Laurie -- |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
Thank you Celeste - that's exactly where I will go. I really appreiciate
the referral! Laurie Spot wrote: I suggest you join the following group if anyone can point you in the right directions for dealing with the combination of this and a tick disease it's the people on the tick group. They have tons of experience with tick borne diseases. There are lots of links to information but the group can help you the most. http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm The very top link on the page is where you subscribe Celeste "Laurie" wrote in message news:LxxAj.1924$HA3.924@trnddc02... Hi all - I'm new to this group and while I have a dog and I'm rabbit and cat experienced, I'm not a dog expert and need some help for my bf's 5 yo terrier mix. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea and various diagnoses beginning with possible food allergies, a super regional specialist has finally given a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Concern: After yesterday's testing she seemed to rebound emotionally and ate first bland meal about 7. Had runny bm in bathroom between 10 and midnight and then woke up bf about 1 to go out again. Came in and threw up first rice/cottage cheese and then about 30 min later threw up chicken. Of course bf is trying to get hold of specialist etc to see what to do as now she seems worse than ever. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? TIA - Laurie -- |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
Thank you Jerry. That was some useful information and I have printed it to
enhance what has already been shared with me from this and other groups. This dog may have been immuno compromised by either the ehrlicchia or possibly IMHA (from another forum) since she is also severely anemic. Test results should be informative tomorrow. Laurie |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
"Laurie" wrote in message news:LxxAj.1924$HA3.924@trnddc02... Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea snip a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. ........I'm confused here. Dog was diagnosed with Ehrlichia 3 years ago? I hope you went to the Tick List that Celeste suggested as you need some expert answers on this question. Periodic administration of doxy won't do it I think. Dog needs at least a month or more on doxy at appropriate dose, which apparently is much higher than a lot of vets realize. Then there is the issue of whether or not the dog still has Ehrlichia. What does your dog weigh? http://www.minden.com/nowhereelse/ca...ck_disease.htm *Important! Here is the treatment your dog should be given for Ehrlichiosis or Lyme disease. Doxycycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline, is the drug of choice, the most effective against Ehrlichiosis and Lyme. It is given at 10 milligrams per kilogram (1 kg = 2.2 lbs.) of the dog's body weight every twelve hours for six to eight weeks. Another way to figure this, on the basis of pounds, is 5 mg. per pound of body weight. The result for the dog is exactly the same as doxy comes in 100 mg. tabs and the result of figuring in milligrams is usually adjusted up accordingly. If nausea is a problem, you can divide the dose further, as long as the dog gets what he needs in any twelve hour period. This is twice the amount recommended in the Merck Veterinary Manual and is given for a longer period of time than the VMM recommends; however, vets who deal with tick disease all the time say that the higher doses and longer administration are successful far more often in treating this disease and preventing its recurrence.* In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? .......If this dog has Histo she needs to be on an anti-fungal ASAP. Doxy is not going to take care of a fungus. When is the path report due? Any way you can hurry it up? A bit of research below on various topics. Other questions I'd have which I didn't research: long term off and on doxy - what are the side effects?; any chance dog also has concommitant infection with Babesia or other infectious non-fungal organism?; does GI histo presume systemic histo? I'd also do a good search on the drugs used for histo - side effects, etc. Apparently these fungal drugs can be hard on the liver, so frequent chem panels might be in order. This dog had ehlichia, Histoplasmosis and lymphoma. Not meant to scare you (as I doubt lymphoma is an issue), but since it came up on an initial search on Ehrlichia and I was wondering about Ehrlichia weakening the system enough for fungal infections to occur. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1800954 B-cell lymphoma in a dog with ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis) and systemic histoplasmosis (Histoplasma capsulatum) Fungal infection in dog with Ehrlichia: http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/full/43/6/988 Top paper on this page says (in first few months at least) immunosuppression is not a problem with Ehrlichia. Don't know if that holds true if the Ehrlichia is chronic: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:16169601 I was really wondering if there was such a thing as GI Histo. Apparently it can be primary infection site in dogs: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...m/bc/51108.htm Infection is commonly via aerosol contamination of the respiratory tract, and the lungs and thoracic lymph nodes are the sites of primary infection, although the GI tract may be a primary site of infection, especially in dogs. The organisms enter the bloodstream from a primary focus and become disseminated throughout the body; I wonder if this dog still has Ehrlichia. The first paper I listed mentions that due to antibody presence for a long time after infection , it's impossible to tell from usual ELISA tests for this disease. It mentions that systemic Histo and Ehrlichia can be definitively identified in the body through bone marrow tests. Or there is apparently a DNA test available. This site assumes lung involvement. http://www.healthgene.com/vet/d413.asp Histoplasma capsulatum can be cultured from tissue specimens, fine-needle aspirates, and body fluids by specialized laboratories but the process may take anywhere from 7 to 10 days. The newest generation of DNA diagnostic tests are much more rapid (2-3 days) then conventional methods, and avoid the problems associated with serological testing since antibodies are not used. A DNA test for the detection of Histoplasma capsulatum in a sample is now available. This test offers veterinarians a sensitive, accurate and rapid means of detecting Histoplasma capsulatum, and confirming infection Here's a report of GI histo. I note that they say they find Histo like organisms. I don't think a histopathology sample can definitively diagnosis this without culturing. It can be highly presumed I guess: http://www.tanuvas.tn.nic.in/tnjvas/vol2(4)/11.pdf HISTOPLASMA COLITIS IN A DOG - A CASE REPORT* Diagnosing bowel disease: http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/cli.../1999/4-99.htm Excellent paper describing Histo, symptoms, treatment. They cultured fungus. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1899848 The treatment of choice for disseminated histoplasmosis is itraconazole, but ketoconazole can be used if the side effects of itraconazole preclude its use. If the clinical signs are severe, debilitating, or life-threatening, amphotericin B therapy can be combined with itraconazole for the first few days for improved effect (4). Antifungal therapy should be continued for at least 60 d, or until 1 mo past resolution of clinical signs (5). As with any infectious disease, corticosteroid therapy is contraindicated in cases of disseminated histoplasmosis, as the immunosuppressive effects of these drugs may lead to worsening of the disease A dog with cutaneous Histo took 6 months on anti-fungal meds to resolve: http://www.ava.com.au/avj/may97/362.htm Infectious causes of anemia (geez this vet's pix looks like a mug shot!): http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...A2002&PID=2594 ........Would appreciate your posting back and keeping us up to date on findings and treatment. Hope you can get proper diagnosis quickly and meds to take care of it. If Ehrlichia, dog may need different meds if she has had it for 3 years. buglady take out the dog before replying |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
"Laurie" wrote in message news:QnZAj.2683$HA3.2550@trnddc02... Thank you Jerry. That was some useful information and I have printed it ......If you're referring to the post by our resident troll, toss it out. I don't normally see his posts as they're all filtered out, but had to look this time. He quoted from the human Merck manual. Would have been more useful to have quoted from the VET Merck manual, which, as I indicated in my post, can have GI symptoms of Histo as it can be the primary infection site. ......Look at his other posts. They all say the same thing. Don't waste your time with this repetitive abusive nonsense. buglady take out the dog before replying |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
Wow - an AWESOME reply buglady, thanks!
I have been to the Tick list Celeste suggested and have gotten some helpful info from the folks there. Yes, Stewart was adopted with the Lyme (actually Ehrlichia) 3 years ago. I guess it is chronic, although we are waiting to hear what the vet specialist says after receiving her prior scores. The tick titer just came back with her Ehrlichia score somewhere over 2300 with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever count also elevated (but not as seriously). She started vomiting on Sat morning and we had to take her in for fluids - they suspect it was the doxycycline that caused her to vomit. She has since been given an anti-emetic injection and we are trying to get her to eat so we can start the doxy again. The dosage was 100mg 2x/day from the primary vet that was reduced to 100 mg 1x/day by the specialist. I think the ehrlichia is of secondary concern to the histoplasmosis. He is going to get her prior 2 tick titers to see how the ehrlichia has progressed in the last couple years. IV doxy is an expensive possiblity we would like to avoid. Specialist also says we can expect the histo cytology tomorrow sometime (we had. They do suspect disseminated histoplasmosis, her respiratory tract is fine (thank God for that!) but some concern the fungus could have possibly moved up the GI tract to small intestine and I get the impression MAYBE the stomach as well. Not 100% sure as the vet talks non-stop on the cell and we can't get a word in edgewise to clarify until he takes a breath! ;-) They are saying the expect it to take 6-9 months to deal with the fungus infection - maybe longer. I think we're looking at ketoconazole due to cost. Ha - he said ONE of the treatments costs 3-4 thousand a month. We won't be trying that one... Good news is her reticulocytes are regenerating strongly so she is fighting the anemia - that eliminates the AIHA (AUto Immune Hemolytic Anemia) that one of the gals from the Tick-L list educated me about. Had Stewart had AIHA, she would have needed prednisone to treat and that would have caused the fungus to go crazy...in essence, a death sentence, so we are lucky there. One of your articles referenced that situation. Doc also felt lymphoma was not an issue. Stewart had fluids again today and another anti-emetic shot (Cereria) and we are tempting her with a variety of vet-recommended bland foods in hopes she will eat and get some strength back. She weighs about 21-22# right now. Lots of reading for me to do thanks to your references below - very much appreciated. In the meantime, I feel that Stewart is in good hands with these two vets since just about everything that you've raised has been touched upon in our conversations with them. Thank you again - I will let you know what comes with the comprehensive diagnosis tomorrow! Oh yeah - that vet's pic DOES look like a mug shot - scary! Laurie buglady wrote: "Laurie" wrote in message news:LxxAj.1924$HA3.924@trnddc02... Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea snip a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. .......I'm confused here. Dog was diagnosed with Ehrlichia 3 years ago? I hope you went to the Tick List that Celeste suggested as you need some expert answers on this question. Periodic administration of doxy won't do it I think. Dog needs at least a month or more on doxy at appropriate dose, which apparently is much higher than a lot of vets realize. Then there is the issue of whether or not the dog still has Ehrlichia. What does your dog weigh? http://www.minden.com/nowhereelse/ca...ck_disease.htm *Important! Here is the treatment your dog should be given for Ehrlichiosis or Lyme disease. Doxycycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline, is the drug of choice, the most effective against Ehrlichiosis and Lyme. It is given at 10 milligrams per kilogram (1 kg = 2.2 lbs.) of the dog's body weight every twelve hours for six to eight weeks. Another way to figure this, on the basis of pounds, is 5 mg. per pound of body weight. The result for the dog is exactly the same as doxy comes in 100 mg. tabs and the result of figuring in milligrams is usually adjusted up accordingly. If nausea is a problem, you can divide the dose further, as long as the dog gets what he needs in any twelve hour period. This is twice the amount recommended in the Merck Veterinary Manual and is given for a longer period of time than the VMM recommends; however, vets who deal with tick disease all the time say that the higher doses and longer administration are successful far more often in treating this disease and preventing its recurrence.* In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? ......If this dog has Histo she needs to be on an anti-fungal ASAP. Doxy is not going to take care of a fungus. When is the path report due? Any way you can hurry it up? A bit of research below on various topics. Other questions I'd have which I didn't research: long term off and on doxy - what are the side effects?; any chance dog also has concommitant infection with Babesia or other infectious non-fungal organism?; does GI histo presume systemic histo? I'd also do a good search on the drugs used for histo - side effects, etc. Apparently these fungal drugs can be hard on the liver, so frequent chem panels might be in order. This dog had ehlichia, Histoplasmosis and lymphoma. Not meant to scare you (as I doubt lymphoma is an issue), but since it came up on an initial search on Ehrlichia and I was wondering about Ehrlichia weakening the system enough for fungal infections to occur. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1800954 B-cell lymphoma in a dog with ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis) and systemic histoplasmosis (Histoplasma capsulatum) Fungal infection in dog with Ehrlichia: http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/full/43/6/988 Top paper on this page says (in first few months at least) immunosuppression is not a problem with Ehrlichia. Don't know if that holds true if the Ehrlichia is chronic: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:16169601 I was really wondering if there was such a thing as GI Histo. Apparently it can be primary infection site in dogs: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...m/bc/51108.htm Infection is commonly via aerosol contamination of the respiratory tract, and the lungs and thoracic lymph nodes are the sites of primary infection, although the GI tract may be a primary site of infection, especially in dogs. The organisms enter the bloodstream from a primary focus and become disseminated throughout the body; I wonder if this dog still has Ehrlichia. The first paper I listed mentions that due to antibody presence for a long time after infection , it's impossible to tell from usual ELISA tests for this disease. It mentions that systemic Histo and Ehrlichia can be definitively identified in the body through bone marrow tests. Or there is apparently a DNA test available. This site assumes lung involvement. http://www.healthgene.com/vet/d413.asp Histoplasma capsulatum can be cultured from tissue specimens, fine-needle aspirates, and body fluids by specialized laboratories but the process may take anywhere from 7 to 10 days. The newest generation of DNA diagnostic tests are much more rapid (2-3 days) then conventional methods, and avoid the problems associated with serological testing since antibodies are not used. A DNA test for the detection of Histoplasma capsulatum in a sample is now available. This test offers veterinarians a sensitive, accurate and rapid means of detecting Histoplasma capsulatum, and confirming infection Here's a report of GI histo. I note that they say they find Histo like organisms. I don't think a histopathology sample can definitively diagnosis this without culturing. It can be highly presumed I guess: http://www.tanuvas.tn.nic.in/tnjvas/vol2(4)/11.pdf HISTOPLASMA COLITIS IN A DOG - A CASE REPORT* Diagnosing bowel disease: http://www.antechdiagnostics.com/cli.../1999/4-99.htm Excellent paper describing Histo, symptoms, treatment. They cultured fungus. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1899848 The treatment of choice for disseminated histoplasmosis is itraconazole, but ketoconazole can be used if the side effects of itraconazole preclude its use. If the clinical signs are severe, debilitating, or life-threatening, amphotericin B therapy can be combined with itraconazole for the first few days for improved effect (4). Antifungal therapy should be continued for at least 60 d, or until 1 mo past resolution of clinical signs (5). As with any infectious disease, corticosteroid therapy is contraindicated in cases of disseminated histoplasmosis, as the immunosuppressive effects of these drugs may lead to worsening of the disease A dog with cutaneous Histo took 6 months on anti-fungal meds to resolve: http://www.ava.com.au/avj/may97/362.htm Infectious causes of anemia (geez this vet's pix looks like a mug shot!): http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...A2002&PID=2594 .......Would appreciate your posting back and keeping us up to date on findings and treatment. Hope you can get proper diagnosis quickly and meds to take care of it. If Ehrlichia, dog may need different meds if she has had it for 3 years. buglady take out the dog before replying |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
buglady wrote:
"Laurie" wrote in message news:QnZAj.2683$HA3.2550@trnddc02... Thank you Jerry. That was some useful information and I have printed it .....If you're referring to the post by our resident troll, toss it out. I don't normally see his posts as they're all filtered out, but had to look this time. He quoted from the human Merck manual. Would have been more useful to have quoted from the VET Merck manual, which, as I indicated in my post, can have GI symptoms of Histo as it can be the primary infection site. .....Look at his other posts. They all say the same thing. Don't waste your time with this repetitive abusive nonsense. We all have our residents - I did notice he was cross-posting, which I frown on so I clipped the list. I did note it was the human manual but he did suggest probiotics and a few other things that weren't necessarily bad. LOL - I just wish I could destress my life as well as the animals' and avoid all evil! ;-) Laurie |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
Thanks Celeste - I did join and have gotten some good info already from one
of the members who has been very sweet and suportive. I really appreciate the reference! Laurie Spot wrote: I suggest you join the following group if anyone can point you in the right directions for dealing with the combination of this and a tick disease it's the people on the tick group. They have tons of experience with tick borne diseases. There are lots of links to information but the group can help you the most. http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm The very top link on the page is where you subscribe Celeste "Laurie" wrote in message news:LxxAj.1924$HA3.924@trnddc02... Hi all - I'm new to this group and while I have a dog and I'm rabbit and cat experienced, I'm not a dog expert and need some help for my bf's 5 yo terrier mix. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea and various diagnoses beginning with possible food allergies, a super regional specialist has finally given a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Concern: After yesterday's testing she seemed to rebound emotionally and ate first bland meal about 7. Had runny bm in bathroom between 10 and midnight and then woke up bf about 1 to go out again. Came in and threw up first rice/cottage cheese and then about 30 min later threw up chicken. Of course bf is trying to get hold of specialist etc to see what to do as now she seems worse than ever. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? TIA - Laurie -- |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Urgent - histoplasmosis familiarity?
Hi Laurie,
My daughter is going through a very similar situation with her boxer, who is only 2. SHe also had lyme disease about a year ago.. She is at Tuft's in MA SHe's been in and out of the animal hospital for IV fluids. Has even vomited blood and blood in the diarrhea. May have histoplasmosis or cyptococcos. These are very serious and can be life threatening parasitic/fungal infections. The dog needs IV antibiotics for about 2 weeks, and then long term antibiotics by mouth. DOn't waste time, as the longer she is ill, the greater the chances it will become systemic, and that is what can be life threatening. Good luck. On Mar 8, 6:38*am, "Laurie" wrote: Hi all - I'm new to this group and while I have a dog and I'm rabbit and cat experienced, I'm not a dog expert and need some help for my bf's 5 yo terrier mix. After 2 mo of chronic diarrhea and various diagnoses beginning with possible food allergies, a super regional specialist has finally given a diagnosis of GI histoplasmosis subject to a lab review based on his view of slides from bowel scraping. Stewart is about 5 years old and is a spayed female diagnosed with tick-borne illness at age 2 prior to being adopted by bf. *He has treated regularly with Frontline and periodic doxycycline course to manage erlicchia (sp?). *Last vet JUST prescribed 100mg doxycycline 2x per day which specialist just reduced to 1x per day. In last week, dog has become progressively weaker and is now vomiting and experiencing back end weakness. No respiratory distress or findings. Abdominal sonogram found nothing. *All blood work is within range EXCEPT for severe anemia (count about 23) doctor does not feel warrants transfusion quite yet. *Last night he put her on cottage cheese/white rice/chicken diet 3-4x per day and 1/2 immmodium a-d tablet 2x/day. Concern: *After yesterday's testing she seemed to rebound emotionally and ate first bland meal about 7. Had runny bm in bathroom between 10 and midnight and then woke up bf about 1 to go out again. Came in and threw up first rice/cottage cheese and then about 30 min later threw up chicken. Of course bf is trying to get hold of specialist etc to see what to do as now she seems worse than ever. Questions: does this sound like a "going to get worse before she gets better thing after changing diet" thing? Does anyone have experience with severe GI histoplasmosis treatment that might be helpful? TIA - Laurie -- |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Blastomycosis - Histoplasmosis -- Please Help - Liver Damage | Karen5572 | Dog health | 0 | December 22nd 05 06:33 PM |
Urgent Help | [email protected] | Dog behavior | 8 | August 9th 05 01:19 AM |
OLD DOG NEEDS URGENT HELP!! PLEASE! | Lisa | Dog behavior | 0 | June 30th 04 03:02 PM |
URGENT help | Cin | Dog behavior | 0 | November 25th 03 09:01 AM |
URGENT help | Cin | Dog behavior | 0 | November 25th 03 09:01 AM |