Dog with low blood platelet count

[Dr. Jeff]

Exactly Ginny! Manual therapies like healing touch, massage and acupressure can all help Rush's body work better.

They all help smooth out the flow of intercellular information to let healing happen.

Promoting petting, massaging, sniffing, offering favorite treats or doing whatever makes Rush happiest are great bio-hacks. These things all help him "overflow with joy" and activate his natural healing mechanisms.

 

[GinnyW]

So where is Rush? How's he doing?

 

[PaulR]

So where is Rush? How's he doing?

Hello Ginny!
Rush is here at home and he is doing well except that his nerve condition appears to be getting slightly worse. I do think that his blood platelet and liver condition has improved but with the nerve condition Rush still can't get up at all and needs major assistance from two people to walk outside for bathroom breaks. I have also noticed that Rush has started to cross his front legs frequently while walking. I'm hoping that will be a tip to @Dr. Jeff or @Dr. Christina or anyone else that can help to diagnose Rush. The local specialist thinks that Rush's immune system was / is attacking Rush's blood platelets to the point that the platelets were severely low at only 8,000. That is why the specialist put Rush on the immune suppressant, Mycophenolate 500mg. However, the specialist also put Rush on a antibiotic, low dose aspirin and Prednisone which put Rush in liver failure by 3/18. After Rush's blood work on 3/18 showing the good blood platelets but also the liver failure we started rapidly reducing the prednisone and we stopped the other drugs completely and I also started the liver support supplements from the pethealthandnutritioncenter dot com and I'm happy to say that I'm confident that Rush's liver has bounced back. I had a urinalysis done last Thursday 3/25 and the results were good. Rush will have a CBC panel done on 4/1 along with a t4 test for his thyroid which Dr Jeff requested. My concern now is his nerve condition. Dr Jeff thinks that the nerve condition is a auto-immune condition so now I'm thinking maybe I should give Rush the immune suppressant drug so that his platelets don't get destroyed and so that maybe his nerves can regenerate(?) until hopefully through diet and natural supplements we can get Rush's immune system to balance out. I'm worried that the Mycophenolate will be hard on his liver though. I really need advice about that and anything else that can help him. One of the latest developments is that yesterday Rush would bark constantly when he knew he was about to be fed but today Rush has been trying to bark most of the day unless he was actively chewing on a chew toy or eating until tonight when I gave him one Gabapentin and a 3 course meal. That finally made him calm down and go to sleep. I was seriously thinking Rush was loosing his mind barking so much. I wondered if he was barking because he was in pain but his body language just didn't say pain. His ears were up and he was very alert with a crazy look in his eye like he gets when he's really hungry on Prednisone. Earlier today Rush was barking non stop and then I fed him a big meal and he calmed down and went to sleep. Can rapidly decreasing Prednisone cause eradic behavior like this? I look forward to hearing any advice you care to give.
Thank you,
Paul

 

[GinnyW]

Paul, the mycophenolate scares the crap out of me, too.... Don't know what to tell you, but I'm sure Dr. Jeff will advise. That's good that you have him on the liver support. I hope the barking is not a sign of mental deterioration. I know that Rush knows all you are doing for him - and I know you'll love on him as much as he can stand I don't think what he's doing is a Pred withdrawal, and I'm glad he's off it. Again, I think there are homeopathic remedies that can deal with these symptoms - none of us will give up trying. All my best to you all, and tell him he's got a guardian angel here...

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi Paul-

I'm glad to hear that Rush is still so eager to eat and is engaging with his environment even more (the crazy barking)!

I suspect that some of what you're seeing is a rebalancing of his internal equilibrium in response to the remedy he received last week. The crossing of the front legs may also be the beginning of a response. However, this symptom will need to be evaluated in context.

Is he still enjoying getting outside?

How much pred is he currently taking?

It might be a good idea for us to book a recheck for Friday.

 

[PaulR]

Is he still enjoying getting outside?

How much pred is he currently taking?

It might be a good idea for us to book a recheck for Friday.

Hello Doc.
I feel like I need to speak with you today but the soonest time I could book a appointment with you is April 6th. Is there any way to speak to you sooner than that? (I'm willing to pay of course)

Rush took 10mg of Pred today, no dose tomorrow and then his last 10mg dose is this Thursday. Thursday is also when he gets his blood work checked. Rush is relatively calm today as we are laying outside in the sunshine. I do think that his nerve condition is getting worse because he's getting weaker and trying less to walk while on his bathroom breaks. Also, the sores that are BETWEEN his rear toes are getting worse and I don't think they are caused from dragging his feet because they aren't on the tops of his knuckles. I am wondering if the cause of Rush's suspected auto-immune condition is leaky gut from his diet over the years.

I plan to introduce L-Glutamine, NAG, aloe vera juice to his diet to help combat the potential leaky gut.

I also plan to remove all starches from Rush's diet so I will be feeding lean ground beef, beef liver, pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, blueberry kale smoothie and goat milk yogurt along with the current supplements.

Should I start the Mycophenolate to suppress his immune system from attacking his platelets and nerves?

Also, please provide the dosing instructions for the Arnica and Costicum that I purchased from you!
Thanks,
Paul
269-217-7414