We also began to notice some loose stools, so we started feeding her ~1 tsp of pumpkin with each meal.
04/01/11 - It's the first of the month - what to do? The dogs get their heartworm medication the first of the month, but the Levin protocol suggests removing any unnecessary toxins. Because we live in a high-mosquito area, there is a huge rate of heartworm among dogs. I decide that it is not worth the risk, and give Reo her Heartguard Plus chewable.
(Note: I later learned from the SARDS dogs Yahoo group that ivermectin [such as Heartguard and Heartguard Plus] has been shown to cause blindness in high doses. Again, wanting to maximize our chance for success with Reo, I got a prescription for Interceptor right away from Dr. N.)
04/02/11 - Begin giving Reo her sulfasalazine, Medrol, and L-thyroxine in peanut butter separately, in case she didn't eat her breakfast. I thought she could do without the supplements if necessary, but I wanted her to get the correct hormone dosage.
04/05/11 - Today I emailed Caroline Levin regarding Reo's Medrol dose. I wasn't sure that the 0.75 mg dosage was helping her, so we agreed to lower it to 0.5 mg for another week to see how she does. Caroline mentioned that Dr. N had called her to discuss Reo, and Dr. N was extremely skeptical and uncomfortable with the adrenal exhaustion theory and treatment. This is a blow, and I begin to have the feeling that this isn't going to be straight forward. At all. :(
04/06/11 - Even after emailing with Caroline, for some reason, I kept thinking about Reo's inappetance and potentially low cortisol. I decide to keep her at the 0.75 mg dose. By the way, it is a huge pain to dose Reo at 0.75 mg, when all I can get is 2.0 mg tablets! It requires some creative pill-cutting, let me tell you!
We had another appointment today with Dr. Lanz. Reo did well in her treatment, but was definitely more alert this time as the needles were going in. She eventually relaxed and fell asleep. I'm not sure if you can see the needles, but here is a picture of Reo during acupuncture:
I also discussed Reo's "stomach aliens" (this is what I call the gurgling sounds coming from her belly - when we hear these, Reo is not interested in eating), and inappetance. We decided to start Reo on Standard Process Enteric Support. This will hopefully help with her digestion and GI absorption (remember Reo's IgA number was very low).
It's worth pointing out just how important the gastrointestinal tract is for dogs (and people for that matter!). A malfunctioning GI tract can have implications on the immune system, liver, and even the adrenal glands. Therefore, Dr. Lanz and I thought that supporting Reo's GI tract was a good idea. A likely cause of Reo's loose stool is that her colon was inflamed, and she was unable to re-absorb water. If the water can't be re-absorbed by the colon, it will be expelled with her stools = loose stools. We hoped that the Enteric Support, together with the sulfasalazine, would help to calm her GI tract down, and reduce any inflamation.
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