Any Experience With Gme?

[LBass]

Piper has been diagnosed with this autoimmune disease. For him, there are collections of white cells at several points on his spinal column, affecting his ability to use his hind end and now his front end as well. Currently he is being treated with high doses of Prednisone. Last week he had his first treatment with Cytosine. There was a slight improvement immediately after the initial Cytosine treatment but not much else in the ensuing week. He saw the vet yesterday for blood work to make sure his immune system was not being suppressed too much by the Pred/Cytosine combo. Per the vet, he's good to go for the next monthly Cytosine treatment and I scheduled scheduled that.

 

I understand that treatment may not be successful. I understand that if it is successful, improvement will be slow. However, I'm having a hard time getting a sense of how slow is "slow" and when does "slow" dwindle to "its not working".

 

I'm wondering if anyone here has dealt with GME before and can share insights and experiences.

 

--Lucy

[turbotaina]

I have not dealt with it personally, but my friends (and the foster parents of Turbo) did deal with it with their greyhound.

 

This is a few years ago now, so I'll try and remember this as well as I can. Cosmo (their dog) was diagnosed after he went temporarily blind. When he began treatment, the pred reduced the brain swelling so he did regain his sight. The first four or five months, I think, he did pretty well. He would cycle on and off the medications, but it was a tough road. His remissions became shorter and shorter, and the steriods had adverse effects (muscle wasting, aggression, skin lesions/infections). I believe they fought it for about a year or so, but his quality of life had deteriorated considerably: on the meds he was a behavioral wreck and not safe to be around, highly food aggressive and he attacked my friend while she was holding her baby because she was trying to keep Cosmo out of the trash; off the meds the GME came back with a fury and he was essentially having no remissions at all.

 

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. It's a tough disease to manage.

[Guest larock]

Our Ward was diagnosed with GME in 2004 when he was 8 years old. He lost motor function, his sight and would scream if you touched between his shoulder blades; he was basically out of it till the medication kicked in. Once on prednisone the turnaround was remarkably quick. Before diagnosis he had 2 really bad episodes that eventually left him blind in the right eye and then one about a year later when we tried to ween him off the pred. After 18 months of pred we started the cytosine, he was on this for an additional 18 months (with pred also), roughly 4 doses every 12 hours, 3-6 weeks apart. Ward's GME responded well to the medications but it was a constant balancing act that we eventually got fairly good at. Ward was a happy guy and lived a full 3 years of quality life after diagnosis. No telling how long he could have trucked along if his LP and an brutal fall hadn't taken him from us.

 

We hope Piper feels better soon.

[TheFullHouse]

Gosh Lucy, this on top of Piper's seizures. Keeping you both in my prayers.

[sweetdogs]

I don't have any experience but wonder if giving some liver support might help keep any toxins moving out. Milk thistle or sam-E would be good but I might jump to Liver Support Factors (NAYY with vitacost). Antibiotics would be another thing I might look into. I know you've been in touch with The Man so if there's something out there, he would know but I always like to keep reaching.

 

Another thought I had is, is it possible he's had this forever & it's what caused his seizures all these years? Some sort of brain/spinal infection that he's kept at bay, although seizing & now has the upper hand? That's what leads me down the antibiotic path.

 

I've been hoping & praying that Piper the Perfect would respond to his new drugs. I'm think I'm gonna keep hoping & praying....Very best wishes for you both.