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Izzy Has Histoplasmosis


Guest SillyIzzysMom

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Guest SillyIzzysMom

Well, I took Izzy to the small animal clinic at Texas A&M this morning (a three hour drive) and met with the vet for a lengthy history and then left my sweet baby for them to figure out what's been going on. (Some of you have read her saga:7 months of diarhea, weight loss, occasional loss of appetite etc. . .)

 

It's histoplasmosis. On one hand I'm grateful to finally know WHAT IS GOING ON. . .yet at the same time. . .the vet I spoke to was very guarded regarding her prognosis. It's not only in her GI tract it's in her lungs, liver, spleen. . . Apparently her Ehrlichia left her a bit immuno suppressed and the histoplasmosis had time to really settle in everywhere. Then we've been treating the GI flare ups with Prenisone which has probably made it get worse even faster.

 

I'm picking her up tomorrow afternoon, and we're going to get started on the treatment ASAP. I'm an optimist--she's young and I'm certainly willing to work at this. I think that now that we have the diagnosis, this can be handled locally with my vet which is good. But, on the phone just now, this vet's tone was very kind but definately had a "this is not good news" tone. Sigh.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to post this since i have posted several "what could this be????" posts.

 

Please keep us in your thoughts as we start fighting this battle!!

 

Melissa

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Sending prayers and white light. :grouphug Come on sweetie...you have to fight this demon. :grouphug

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Sending prayers and :getwell wishes to your Izzy. It's good to have a diagnosis finally. What IS the treatment? :blink:

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....and Beloved Bridge Angels Sandee, Shari, Wells, Derby, Phoenix, Jerry Lee and Finnian.....
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Guest SillyIzzysMom

Here's the type of stuff I've found on the internet:

 

"Itraconazole (10 mg/kg/day) is the treatment of choice for disseminated histoplasmosis in dogs and cats. Ketoconazole, 10-15 mg/kg, bid for 4-6 mo, may be effective in early or mild cases of histoplasmosis in dogs. For severe cases, concurrent treatment with amphotericin B or amphotericin B lipid complex is suggested."

 

Doesn't mean much to me. What I hate is the stuff like what I've copied below about dogs with widespread infections. . .and that's my girl.

 

"Presence of the fungus is determined by rectal scrapings in dogs with diarrhea or needle aspirations of the lymph nodes and lungs. The more acute and widespread the infection is, the less promising is any drug therapy, but with early diagnosis, antifungal drug therapy with ketoconazole may improve the outlook. Since Histoplasmosis is primarily a chronic diarrhea disease, the illness can progress so rapidly that not even the antifungal drug can help if treatment and diagnosis is delayed... For severe cases, concurrent treatment with amphotericin has been used with success. "

 

I don't know if there's a less expensive way to test for this, but. . .whatever we could have done, I sure wish we'd done it earlier. All the months on Prednisone to treat the GI problems treated those symptoms but almost certainly spread this infection much worse than it was to start with (since pred is such an immunosuppressant). I just hate that. I'm giving her this medicine that's killing her. Jeeze.

 

Although I know that Izzy qualifies as a dog with widespread infection, but she still has that sparkle. . .know what I mean? I think there's a really good chance we can beat this.

 

Thanks so much for all the hugs and wishing well. We'll take it. :(

m

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Izzy will be in my prayers as well.

Mary, mom to kitty Rebel.
Always missing Sherri (SO DELICIOUS) (12/6/2005-8/29/2018) kitties Marley (4/2000-12/3/2015) and Beady (4/1998-2/24/2006) and Dalmatian Daisy (7/25/1984-5/13/1999).

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and give to those who would not - Thomas Jefferson

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Guest SillyIzzysMom

Okay I'm going to stop researching this on the net.

 

I just found a study that A&M did a couple years ago with 24 dogs with Histoplasmosis. Apparently they had to euthanize 17, then treated the other 7. Wanna know how many of these dogs survived?

 

One.

 

The article states an 80% morbidity. I hope I'm not understanding this study. . .

 

I'm going to bed now.

m

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{{{{{{{{{{IzzysMom}}}}}}}}}}

 

I think you're hitting all the unfavorable references at once. As far as I know, histoplasmosis treatment has a higher success rate than that. It isn't a sure thing -- it's a very serious illness, and the meds can be hard on a pup -- but still.

 

Keeping your girlie in my prayers.

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We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Knowing is half the battle right? So know you know and you can focus on making her feeling better. When Carrier was diagnosed with bone cancer, we knew that we were dealing with something that could not be cured but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to try my hardest for him. And it sounds like you are going to do the same. Don't torture yourself with the internet and statistics. Focus on new advances and look for people that have gone through it. There you will get the best advice. Have you joined Circle of Grey on Yahoo?

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Sending lots of prayers! You have to do the treatment, so don't research anymore :grouphug Talk with them extensively as what to watch for going forward, bad and good.

 

 

Ditto above!

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Guest MrsDooLittle

My husband had this about 13 years ago. It was discovered after doctors did a lung biopsy because they could not figure out what was wrong with him! He had to take a series of medication for several months and has been fine ever since. I know humans and animals are not the same, but now that you know what is wrong your vet can aggressively treat this and hopefully clear it all up once and for all. Just as a side note, my husband had been training for a marathon and doctors said that left his immune system suppressed; hence, he more than likely contracted histoplasmosis while out running and breathing in bird poop. He lived in Indiana at the time and they said it was fairly common in the region. ?!?!?!

 

Healing thoughts to your Izzy......

Cindy

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Lots of good thoughts and prayers going out for you and for Izzy. Remember, there is nothing that says that your hound won't be one of the ones that make up the successful percentage. If she still has her sparkle, she's doing her best to be one of the ones who recover.

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I tend to over-research too & sometimes that's not so good. :rolleyes: What is good is that you have a diagnosis & a treatment plan & sparkle. :yay Many good wishes to you & Izzy!

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Guest SillyIzzysMom

Quick update. I'm not picking her up today.

 

They're keeping her until the middle of next week so they can give her a round of IV meds to help treat this. Ideally, she would get these IV meds three times/week for 3 to 6 weeks, but given the distance from home, that might not be possible (apparently she'll need to spend the night after/during a treatment and there aren't any vets in my town who are staffed at night--except for our e-vet and they can be a bit of a mixed bag treatment wise apparently). But my vet will call and talk with them tomorrow and hopefully we'll work out something. Even if she only gets this one round of IV meds it will help jump start the treatment.

 

Now I need advice on how to calm an annoyed husband who finally asked me what the grand total will be when I pick miss izzy up next week. I think he had to take several deeeep breaths not to fuss at me. Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg, expense wise. . .I think all the anti-fungals are pricey. Ah well. He'll get over it.

 

I'll let you know if there's any news. . .

thanks again for all the support

melissa

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Guest greytloves

send the DH to the next Tyler MnG....us girls will have a talk with him ;)

 

btw, A&M would be the best place I could imagine for Izzy to be.

 

 

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Now I need advice on how to calm an annoyed husband who finally asked me what the grand total will be when I pick miss izzy up next week. I think he had to take several deeeep breaths not to fuss at me. Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg, expense wise. . .I think all the anti-fungals are pricey. Ah well. He'll get over it.

 

The good news is that Sporanox (itraconazole) is available as a generic; it came off-patent a few years back. Worst comes to worst, get a prescription filled elsewhere- don't be afraid to shop around. Similarly, amphotericin has been around forever- it's not expensive, but for best results it is used intravenously. Unfortunately, amphotericin has earned its nickname- "amphoterrible"- from its side-effects, which are almost certainly the reasons to hold your pup overnight. Moreover, it can sensitize the animal so subsequent treatments become riskier. It's tough on the liver, and hard on the kidneys. But for disseminated fungal infections, it can be the biggest hammer in the toolbox.

 

Last I checked, amphotericin was administered as a liposomal complex, which reduces the side-effects. It's more expensive because many (all?) of these treatments are still on-patent, but they're presumably safer. Ask to make sure they're using a liposomal complex- probably something like Fungisome, made in India and less expensive than other brands.

 

As a caver, I'm real familiar with histo; colloquially, we call it "guano-head." Just about every caver who crawls through guano gets it at some point in their lives; most get over it, but some can get it pretty bad.

Coco (Maze Cocodrillo)

Minerva (Kid's Snipper)

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Sending many prayers for Izzy. :hope

 

I agree with the post above, A & M is the best place for Izzy to be. :grouphug

 

And your DH....tell him you and he can discuss this later, but now is not the time. :bighug

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