Hi there.  Our Wally who has been doing so well on Lysodren therapy for an
inoperable adrenal tumor, and he has had a couple treatments of Lupron, for
adrenal also.  Now he appears to have a bacterial infection again.  Our vet
thinks he had a helicobacter infection last month (right before Christmas),
which responded immediately to amoxicillin, and some carafate.  We found him
ill with similar symptoms this morning again!
 
She palpated him before the infection came on before Christmas (noting that
his adrenal tumor is much smaller; and it WAS HUGE a couple months prior!),
and thinks some helicobacteria may have been released or stirred up (related
to gastric ulcers, though I haven't before seen signs of these) and caused
the infection.  He also got his second Lupron shot then, but she doesn't
think this is a reaction to the shot, as she says there isn't much to react
to in Lupron.
 
(As an aside, we had a viral bout run through six of our fuzzies in August
of 1996 (probably ECE).  One of those fuzzies, Percy, who died of urinary
tract blockage due to adrenal disease about 10 months later, had an enlarged
mesentary gland found in November, following the viral bout.  Some
prednisone seemed to have cleared this up, and an antibiotic.  I've heard
there can be complications with helicobacter following ECE illness, and that
an enlarged mesentary is most commonly caused by helicobacter infection.)
 
Wally's symptoms are loss of appetite and thirst, lethargy, some weight loss
(two ounces, but I'm working on that with turkey soup), dark, runny
diarrhea, hind-end weakness, gagging as if to vomit (haven't found any vomit
though he did vomit last time he was sick), and a gurgling stomach; a few
peeps and squeaks, too, vocally.
 
He seems to be getting better again, after one dose of antibiotic - stronger
hind end, better appetite and thirst, eyes more alert, a hard stool!  I also
gave him a prednisone tablet this morning, which may not have been the
greatest idea since it may suppress the immune system.  I was thinking he
might be having a reaction to the Lysodren, or his adrenals weren't working
strongly... so gave the pred.  But he last had Lysodren last Mon.-Wed., so
this probably isn't a reaction to that, so maybe I should have held off.
 
Any suggestions at all will be welcomed!  How to diagnose helicobacter?  How
to treat it?  Is it ongoing (as it seems now *sigh*), or can it be wiped out
for good?!  He isn't grinding his teeth, as if he has great tummy pain
(ulcers).
 
Has anyone else had this kind of recurring, probably bacterial infection,
with a fuzzy on Lysodren????  Could this have anything to do with the
Lysodren (let's hope not; looking at clinical symptoms he seems to be doing
well on it, though I worry about it causing low blood sugar and want to
learn more about this)...
 
Thank you!  And thanks from Wally, too...
 
Lynn
[Posted in FML issue 2205]