CIMDA

Hi Jo,

Yes I think waiting until the ratio is approx 32 is a good idea before the next injection.

I too am aware re the preds which causes excessive drinking & weeing...as happened when many moons ago I was battling the vets to lower the preds dose. I know Walter is on a very low dose but wanted your thoughts after the vet suggested lowering the dose.

When Walter was on Florinef he only received preds at times of stress. I will see how things settle down with the Zycortal before lowering the current dose of preds as the small amount is simply replacing the glucorticoid/Pred effect that was in the florinef.

Thanks as always


Steve

Hi Jo/all,

Walter had his 25 day blood test on Monday:
Na= 153
K= 3.7
Ratio = 41.35

10day ratio was 41.94

Initial 2.37mil of Zycortal given approx 25days ago

2nd dose of Zycortal was 2.1mil given yesterday Tues 5th July.

Daily dose of 2.5mg of preds

Walter appears well, though has increased thirst/urination. The vet suggested lowering the amount of preds being given......I was thinking this is a side effect of the Zycortal, so any thoughts are appreciated.

Regards

Steve

Hi Jo / all,

Walter had his "ten day" blood test after the first dose of Zycortal was administered. Also to confirm the vet initially administered 2.37mil of Zycortal .... 2.2mg per kilo.

Blood results today
Na= 151
K= 3.6
Ratio= 41.94

I will read up on the information via the links above.

Thanks as always

Steve

Hi Jo,

I called the vet this morning and obtained from the admin staff the info re 25mg/4ml Zycortal given to Walter. After your post below I phoned the practice and asked them to check with the vet for the actual amount given to Walter as I feel the admin staff can only see that the vet charged me for a full vile opened i.e. a full vile is 25g/4ml........well I hope that's the case. Still awaiting a response from the vet.

Steve

Just found the advice sheet.....Walter was on .1mg X 10 a day,  so looks like that's 2.5mg preds to now give per day.

Steve

Hi Jo/all,

Unfortunately the high cost of the drugs are due to where we live, it is common for high cost of all professionals services. The only way I can reduce the cost is to obtain the drug and inject it myself. I will however mention your info regarding another UK vet charging £53.00 total.

I can't find the advice sheet I previously read re. the amount of preds to now give daily. Walter weighs 26.3 kilo, could you kindly advise what the dose should be as he is due to get it today. I will check again and  update this post if I find the advice sheet.

Walter weighs 26.3 kilo and was given 25mg/4ml of Zycortal.

Regards

Steve

Hi all,

I attended the vets today to collect Walters florinef tablets. The vet obviously made me aware of the change to Zycortal. After a discussion and although I have some florinef still to use, I opted to have Walter injected with the Zycortal. Blood test in 10 days time so hopefully all will go well. I will of course now give Walter the required amount of preds on a daily basis as per the advice on this forum (separate thread).

Walter is a bearded Collie, weighs 26.3kilo. I will find out the dose given today and update this post tomorrow.

My vet charges £80.00 for the Zycortal and £25.00 for the injection to be given= £105.00 per month plus the additional cost for preds. I will definitely be having the chat re sourcing Zycortal and giving the injection myself....lets hope the vet is in agreement with this but I won't hold my breath.

Fingers crossed all goes well for everyone and their dogs switching to Zycortal.

Steve

Hi Jo & Catherine, thanks for your replies/advice.

Walters prolonged weeing has since passed, though a couple of weeks ago he was weeing excessively long when he needed to go. Without putting a time or amount of urine on each occasion, the period of weeing was far too long, so much so it would be like something so extreme you would see it on YouTube and think it could not be real. There have been no skin changes, he is eating normally (he does not get the option of eating more). Walter had a full blood test, if it's useful to type out the full report then Inwill, however the values you ask about are below:

Urea 7.8 ....low 2.5, high 9.6
Crea 98 .....low 44, high 159
ALT 48 ...... low 10, high 125

Hi Jo, long time no speak, I hope you are yours are keeping well. I have started Walter on 5 X tablets twice a day, so will keep an eye on him & get his bloods tested in a few weeks. I will not get the liver test done until we see the results from reducing the florinef. It also sounds like a good idea to have a throne test on the next test.

Thanks again

Steve

Hi all,

I hope all are keeping as well as possible. I have not logged in for a while, though every now and again have glanced over the topics being discussed 

The reason for the post is Walters most recent blood results on 15th Jan.

Walter has Addison's and a few of the blood values are in the high range:

ALKP 431...... low range 23 high range 212
GGT 16 ......... Low range 0 high range 11

Na 156........low range 144 high range 160
K 4.2..... Low range 3.5 high range 5.8
Ratio 37.14

This ratio is to the high side for Walter, he is normally at his best around 32. Walter overall appears well, has had episodes of prolonged weeing ( a few weeks ago) though this has settled down. Due to the high ALKP & GGT our vet has suggested bringing Walter in for a liver function test.

There has been generally no stress periods for Walter though we have adopted a little boy into the family within the time period of Walters blood test which may account for the high ratio ?

Walter currently gets florinef 0.1mg X 6 twice a day, and prednisolone only at times of stress.

If anyone has any advice on the above it would be much appreciated.

Steve

Hi all, I recently posted regarding trying to cut down on an approx £4,000.00 per annum cost of looking after Walter. We are at present dealing with the insurance side of things.....reducing it from almost ££160.00 per month. In addition to this I am seeking to reduce the cost of medication per annum. I received 400 0.1mg florinef this week from our vets, at a cost of £66.00 which last approx 1 mth at 12 tabs a day....approx £790 per annum.

Has anyone got any advice regarding reliable suppliers of floronef at a lower price. Our vets can provide a prescription if we order the tablets elsewhere.

We will always put Walters welfare first, however we are currently looking at all aspects of our lives where we are paying more than we should/ could be.

Thanks in advance

Steve

Thanks for your replies Polly & Jo,

I doubt there is anything as good as the Greencross network over here in the UK Polly. It sounds so unbelievably good that I'm certain people would be shouting it from the rooftops if anything close to that existed here.

Ta for the advice Jo, I will look into getting a prescription from our vet for the Florinef and order off the Internet at .08p a tablet instead of the vets .16p a tablet saving £350+ a year.

We are also chatting about getting a new insurance policy minus Addisons cover, and putting savings into a "just in case" account. The pro's are if there are no major issues with Walter's Adissons before he goes to rainbow bridge then the savings will be in our account and not the insurance company's......decisions decisions   

Hi all,

My better half is in charge of our finances, however I very recently seen our kennel club insurance document and noticed approx £150.00 per month that we are paying for Walter(8yr old bearded collie with Adissons). This made me look at the cost of having Walter per annum which works out at approx £4k...this includes food/dog walker/minder at times we go away.

This is obviously a lot of money to most people, so I am wondering if anyone has any advice regarding insurance options, whilst keeping in mind we order Florinef on. Regular basis (12 x .01mg tabs per day) and prednisolone orderedinfrequently and given only at times of stress. Walter also has approx 2 to 3 blood tests a year costing approx £90.00 a time. Our excess is approx £70.00.

An advice is much appreciated

Regards

Steve

Hi Penel, this does not answer your question but just to add to Jo's comments.......wWalter had the usual puppy vaccinations including booster, then a rabies vaccine (not close too close together) and was diagnosed within 6 mths of having Addison's.

Steve

Hi Geordietyke,

Walter started to display symptoms of Addisons within a reatively short space of time from receiving his booster and having his first rabies shot. For a number of years now Walter has received no vaccinations with no ill side effects.....and this "coincided" with Walter being stable when before he was up and down constantly.

I chose to stop vaccinations as each time Walter would receive a vaccination he would have an Addisonian crisis soon afterwards. I also found this to happen even when I put those chemical pippettes on his neck...so now I don't even give those.

Different circumstances can trigger a crisis and in my experience vaccinations also do the same.

It is difficult knowing what to do for the best..........especially when you throw insurance issues into the mix. We get Walter looked after at a friends home if we ever go away. This is someone Walter sees regularly and is very comfortable with her and her home, so no issues there.

Hello all,

Firstly I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year.........only another 51 weeks til we can no longer evn look at a turkey anymore 

I have Walter back down to 2 mg of preds a day, all is looking good ( no surprises there on that amount). lowering it more is when I generally start to see problems. However as previously stated I do not want him on preds so will try getting him onto an every others day dose.

Can anyone recommend the best way to do this from where we are at with the 2mg. Straight onto skipping one day? Cutting down the second day dose gradually?

Regards

Steve