Lowering his pred dose

[momofmany]

Sending continued vibes for Jordan!

And idiopathic means "of unknown origin". Both Muddy and Stumpy's diseases are idiopathic. I hate those diagnoses!

 

[rang_27]

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Sending continued vibes for Jordan!

And idiopathic means "of unknown origin". Both Muddy and Stumpy's diseases are idiopathic. I hate those diagnoses!

I hate that diagnosis too. I think the vets hate admiting that they don't understand something because they sure were convinced he had lymphoma.

 

[kara_leigh]

Wow, cats are on such high doses of pred! I'm a 120lb human and I only take 7mg, and that is high for a maintenance dose. I have Addison's Disease, which is autoimmune in my case. My adrenal glands don't produce Cortisol, so I need to replace it with either pred or hydrocortisone.

Can cats get Addison's Disease from being on pred for too long and then stopping it? It happens to people, could it happen to cats? I know dogs get Addison's disease.

 

[rang_27]

Originally Posted by kara_leigh

Wow, cats are on such high doses of pred! I'm a 120lb human and I only take 7mg, and that is high for a maintenance dose. I have Addison's Disease, which is autoimmune in my case. My adrenal glands don't produce Cortisol, so I need to replace it with either pred or hydrocortisone.

Can cats get Addison's Disease from being on pred for too long and then stopping it? It happens to people, could it happen to cats? I know dogs get Addison's disease.

I've actually always wondered what normal pred dosage was for a human. I am not positive about addision's, but I thought I remember my vet saying that there has never been a cat diagnosed with addisons?? I do know that just like people pred can not be stopped suddenly or it causes problems. That's why I'm working with the vet to slowly get his doseage down.

 

[momofmany]

My vet keeps assuring me (I worry a lot), that pred is far easier on cats than it is on either dogs and humans. The risk you read most about is diabetes, which according to my vet, is usually self healing after a few months in cats.

I just keep reminding myself that the alternative (no pred) is worse.

 

[kara_leigh]

Originally Posted by Rang_27

I've actually always wondered what normal pred dosage was for a human. I am not positive about addision's, but I thought I remember my vet saying that there has never been a cat diagnosed with addisons?? I do know that just like people pred can not be stopped suddenly or it causes problems. That's why I'm working with the vet to slowly get his doseage down.

I am on Hydrocortisone now, because pred does bad things to me. I'm on 30mg (15mg twice per day because it has a short half life), which is equivalent to 7.5mg of pred, and that is the highest they will let me go. Any more and I will start becoming "Cushings".

At least in humans, even if cortico-steroids are stopped slowly, if they have been taken for a long time the adrenal glands stop working and you end up with Secondary Addison's Disease. Secondary meaning it was caused by a non-natural origin, I have Primary Addison's from adrenal antibodies that have attacked and destroyed my adrenal glands. Normally this only happens with individuals that take extremely high doses due to asthma, such as 40mg, etc. It has been known to happen with people taking lower maintenance doses though also.

 

[kara_leigh]

Originally Posted by Momofmany

My vet keeps assuring me (I worry a lot), that pred is far easier on cats than it is on either dogs and humans. The risk you read most about is diabetes, which according to my vet, is usually self healing after a few months in cats.

I just keep reminding myself that the alternative (no pred) is worse.

That is true! I looked it up and it says that Addison's Disease is very rare in cats, but then again it says the same thing about AD in humans. lol It took close to two years and two doctors to diagnose me, because my first doctor insisted I was way too young to have it. My second doctor diagnosed me on the second visit. lol I was the only patient my second doctor had ever had with Addison's Disease, same with my current doctor.