06/27/12 - So, previously, back in August of last year, Reo went through this weird period where she shed her skin and coat - like nearly all of it. (Previous blog post HERE). I referred to this as her molting phase. :)
I noticed Reo shedding a bit lately, but didn't think anything of it, since it's been over 100 degrees for the past week. I thought it was a heat thing. Well, I noticed a day ago that there was a little skin clump attached. Sure enough, when I examined her skin, it was the same thing. There were pale yellow little "scales" all over her skin, and her fur was falling out in little clumps! I brushed her like crazy, then gave her a bath, and then brushed her again.
As before, her fur is VERY soft. I can't help but make the correlation between her hormones coming into balance and this "molting" process that she goes through. There are no bald spots, or anything like that - she looks gorgeous, and her remaining coat is super silky and lustrous.
Secretly, I'm hopeful that this means her hormone levels are back to normal, or close to it, and maybe that means that better vision is not far behind. We shall see, given the blood tests coming back next week!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Uveitis and blood work
06/26/12 - Reo and I went back to the vet yesterday. Her eye condition seemed to respond to the antibiotics (oral and eye drops), and the scary blue cast to her cornea has disappeared (whew!). Dr. V was also able to measure her intraocular eye pressure on this visit, and she was normal in both eyes (both eyes were 13 mmHg).
I read online that uveitis is of unknown cause in about 75% of cases, which is not very satisfying. So, I suppose we'll just be happy that it was solved by a course of antibiotics, and we'll watch closely to make sure no changes come about.
When we went to the vet on Friday, we did a chemistry panel and CBC. I am very happy to report that Reo's chemistry panel (liver, kidneys, cholesterol, etc.) was normal! This is good news, and means that she's tolerating her Medrol therapy well. She had some highs and lows on her CBC - certain blood cells were either elevated or reduced - but Dr. V was not worried about any of the fluctuations.
We also pulled blood for another EI-1 panel from NVDS, as well as another "baseline" panel from UTenn. I never followed up with UTenn for further testing after deciding to pursue treatment according to Levin/Plechner. UTenn diagnosed Atypical Cushing's in Reo, and suggested melatonin and flax lignans. I decided not to pursue this treatment for Reo, and go with Medrol therapy. As I posted about earlier, HERE, Levin has published a small study about treating Atypical Cushing's dogs with Medrol, to good success. Even though it's been more than a year since our initial adrenal panel and ACTH stim test from UTenn, I will be interested to see how Reo's baseline results have changed!
Stay tuned...
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Possible uveitis
06/21/12 - I've had a rough day! I found out that our new vet is no longer with the clinic - she moved too far away to commute. :( The good news is that the clinic owner saw us today, but I didn't feel like she was as interested in Reo's case as our previous doctor. We'll see how it goes!
I took her into the clinic today because Reo's right eye had been bothering her for a couple of days (today was the third day). I suspected that she got something in it (dirt, grass, etc.) and wanted to see if it would resolve itself. Today it seemed a little worse, swollen. So I flushed with saline a few times, but it didn't seem to help. Then, in the outdoor sunshine, I noticed a frightening bluish cast over Reo's cornea. I panicked, and thought that she had developed glaucoma in that eye!
The vet doesn't suspect glaucoma because the eye didn't seem too painful to Reo. But, their device to measure intraocular pressure was not working correctly, so they couldn't rule it out. We'll go back on Monday and hope they can get a reading.
In the meantime, Dr. V suspects uveitis (kind of the opposite of glaucoma, since it is indicated by low intraocular eye pressure, while glaucoma is high IOP). She gave Reo some oral antibiotics, as well as antibiotic eye drops for us to use the next few days to see if she improves. Fingers crossed!
We got a chemistry panel and CBC for Reo when we were in there, as part of her bi-annual check up, so I am curious to see how those results come back. I was planning to get blood drawn for another EI-1 panel as well, but want to wait until next week due to hot temperatures/overnight shipping. I also need to find out if Reo being on antibiotics will affect the test results at all...if so, we may need to wait to have the bloodwork run.
Silly Reo, always keeping us on our toes! Good thing I love her like crazy... :)
I took her into the clinic today because Reo's right eye had been bothering her for a couple of days (today was the third day). I suspected that she got something in it (dirt, grass, etc.) and wanted to see if it would resolve itself. Today it seemed a little worse, swollen. So I flushed with saline a few times, but it didn't seem to help. Then, in the outdoor sunshine, I noticed a frightening bluish cast over Reo's cornea. I panicked, and thought that she had developed glaucoma in that eye!
The vet doesn't suspect glaucoma because the eye didn't seem too painful to Reo. But, their device to measure intraocular pressure was not working correctly, so they couldn't rule it out. We'll go back on Monday and hope they can get a reading.
In the meantime, Dr. V suspects uveitis (kind of the opposite of glaucoma, since it is indicated by low intraocular eye pressure, while glaucoma is high IOP). She gave Reo some oral antibiotics, as well as antibiotic eye drops for us to use the next few days to see if she improves. Fingers crossed!
We got a chemistry panel and CBC for Reo when we were in there, as part of her bi-annual check up, so I am curious to see how those results come back. I was planning to get blood drawn for another EI-1 panel as well, but want to wait until next week due to hot temperatures/overnight shipping. I also need to find out if Reo being on antibiotics will affect the test results at all...if so, we may need to wait to have the bloodwork run.
Silly Reo, always keeping us on our toes! Good thing I love her like crazy... :)
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Endocrine-Immune Disruption Syndrome
06/14/12 - I found this article in one of my web searches, and wanted to share. It's written by Dr. Michael Fox, former Vice President of the Humane Society, veterinarian, author (and whatever else is designated by all of those letters after his name!).
His perspective gives more credit to Dr. Plechner's theories. The original article (plus references) appears here on his website: http://drfoxvet.com/info/Endocrine-Immune-Disruption-Syndrome
Food for thought!
ENDOCRINE-IMMUNE DISRUPTION SYNDROME
by Michael W. Fox, B. Vet. Med., Ph.D., D.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.
Chemical compounds called endocrine disruptors may play a significant role in various chronic diseases in both companion and other animals and also humans. These diseases include allergies, chronic skin diseases, recurrent ear, urinary tract, and other infections, digestive system disorders such as chronic colitis, diarrhea, and inflammatory bowel disease frequently associated with immune system impairment, and metabolic and hormonal disturbances expressed in a variety of symptoms from obesity to thyroid and other endocrine disorders especially of the pancreas and adrenal glands.
Veterinarian Dr. Alfred J. Plechner’s clinical findings that link elevated serum estrogen levels , thyroid dysfunction and impaired synthesis of cortisol with a variety of health problems in animals warrant careful consideration, and more detailed research and randomized clinical trials. His claimed benefits of very low doses of cortisone, often in combination with thyroid hormone replacement, may hold true for some patients suffering from what I term the Endocrine- Immune Disruption Syndrome (EIDS) . But long term cortisone treatment may aggravate the syndrome, especially in the absence of a holistic approach to improving the animal’s immune system and overall physical and psychological well being.
Adverse reactions to vaccinations, anti-flea and tick medications and other veterinary drugs, and hypersensitivity to various foods and dietary additives, may be consequential and contributory elements in what I interpret as a widespread and not yet well recognized Endocrine-Immune Disruption Syndrome. I receive many letters from readers of my syndicated newspaper column Animal Doctor,concerning dogs and cats with the kinds of chronic, complex, multiple health problems that conventional veterinary treatments have at best only temporarily alleviated.
The primary cause of these hormonal imbalances and associated neuro- endocrine and immune system dysfunctions is most probably environmental in origin, specifically the endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC’s) in animals’ food and water. Through bioaccumulation these compounds become concentrated in various internal organs of companion animals, in farmed animals raised for human consumption, including aquatic species, and also in wildlife and humans at the top of the food chain.. Since many EDC’s are lipophilic, they especially accumulate in animals’ fatty tissues, brains, mammary glands and milk.
While I would agree with Dr. Plechner that animals’ genetic background and stress are also contributing factors to an animal developing what I believe to be endocrine disrupting compound toxicosis, I do not accept his contention that "this disturbance appears to be largely genetic." On the contrary, certain breeds and lines of domestic animals, and domestic animals in general who develop often multiple symptoms of EIDS are like the proverbial canaries down in the coal mines, signaling environmental conditions also hazardous to humans.
An internet search and review of the existing literature and ongoing research in the field of environmental toxicology will reveal the ubiquitous presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC’s) in the environment especially from industrial pollutants, (from power plants and municipal incinerators to paper mills and chemically dependent industrial agriculture), and from untreated and inadequately treated sewage water (some 850 billion gallons of which are dumped annual into US waters). EDC’s are also being identified in a host of household and medical products especially plastics, in clothing, floor materials, and lining of food cans, ( notably phthalates and Bisphenol A ) and in the food and water we share with our companion animals, and give to farmed animals.
New EDC’s are being identified, detected in human breast milk, infant umbilical cord blood, and in ’signal’ wildlife species, from alligators to Artic seals. Researchers with the US Geological Survey, (USGS) Contamination Biology Program have found that PCB treated fish have lower resting plasma cortical titers and disrupted stress responses, impaired immune responses and reduced disease resistance. PCBs disrupt glucocorticoid responsiveness of neuronal cells involved in the negative feedback regulation of circulating cortical levels. I link these and other research findings on EDC’s with Plechner’s findings of low serum cortical levels in his patients, exposed undoubtedly to a number of EDC’s that can have enhanced toxicity through synergism. But his contention that dysfunctional adrenal glands are the cause of elevated estrogen levels is questionable considering the high level of "background" estrogen mimicking EDCs in every animal’s environment. DDE for example is one EDC that is known to accumulate in the adrenal cortex and impair cortical production. Ironically the USGS has found human birth control estrogens in river waters.
EDC’s not only disrupt endocrine signaling systems (estrogen, progesterone, thyroid, glucocorticoid, retinoid etc) and immune system functions, they can also cause profound behavioral, neurological and developmental disturbances. They may play a role in obesity and in animals’ adverse reactions to vaccines, other biologics and pharmaceutical products.
With regard to the health and welfare of companion animals---and the education and consumer habits of their owner/care givers, calls for much more than the immediate drug-correctives suggested by Dr. Plechner that could have harmful long-term consequences without adequate and reliable blood serum monitoring of thyroid, adrenal, and immune system (immunoglbulins) function.
There is an urgent need for the veterinary profession to address this Endocrine-Immune Disruption Syndrome, and to consider it when treating a variety of chronic diseases in animal patients. For a start, all veterinary practitioners should encourage animal care givers to provide sick, (and healthy animals as part of holistic health maintenance) with pure water, organically certified food, including diets with animal fat and protein derived from young animals fed and raised organically, not exposed to herbicides, insecticides and other agricultural chemicals, and veterinary pesticides and other drugs. ( Even synthetic pyrethrins are powerful endocrine disruptors). Sea foods in the diets especially of cats, should preclude species high on the food chain like tuna and salmon. Also livestock that is organically certified should not be fed fish meal because of the bioaccumulation of EDC’s. Many commercial dog and cat foods are high in soy/soya bean/ vegetable protein. Since soy products are high in plant estrogens, (those from genetically engineered soy being potentially extremely problematic in this matter), it would be advisable to take all animals suspected of suffering from EIDS off all foods containing phytoestrogen laden plant proteins, and for healthy cats not to be fed any diet that relies on soy as the main source of protein. Healthy dogs, who are more omnivorous than cats (who are obligate carnivores) may not be at such risk.
The use of so called xenobiotic detoxification enzyme and other therapeutic nutrient supplement treatment, as detailed by Dr. Sherry A. Rogers and Dr. Roger V. Kendall, is worth consideration for chronically ill animals that may have EIDS. These include essential fatty acids, as in flax seed oil, digestive enzymes (e.g. papain and bromeliad) and vitamins A, B complex, C and E, alpha-lipoic acid, L-carnitine, L-glutamine, taurine, glutathione, dimethylglycine, CoQ10, bioflavinoids, selenium, copper, magnesium and zinc (with caution as per breed susceptibility to toxicity).
Homeopathic practitioners use Nux vomica and Sulfur to help detoxify a patient.
Detoxification can also include a bland, whole food, natural diet for 3-5 days (individual food-hypersensitivity being considered), including steamed carrots, sweet potato and other vegetables, cooked barley or rolled oats, and a little organic chicken or egg, plus a sprinkling of kelp (powdered seaweed), alfalfa or wheat grass sprouts, and milk thistle. A 3-4 day course of treatment with psyllium husks, activated charcoal and aloe vera liquid extract can also help cleanse and heal the digestive system. For cats, the amount of animal protein should be at least two-thirds of the diet, while one-third is sufficient for dogs. After this cleansing diet, a whole food , home-prepared balanced diet is advisable. In some cases, fasting for 24 hours may also be beneficial prior to giving the detox. diet, but caution is called for since this could put some cats at risk.
The use of lawn and garden pesticides and other household chemicals, especially petroleum-based products, that could be endocrine disruptors should be avoided, and also plastic and water food containers for all family members, human and non-human. New carpets, plastic chew-toys and stain-resistant fabrics and upholstery may also be potential hazards
The medical and veterinary evidence of an emerging EIDS epidemic is arguably being suppressed for politico-economic reasons, as witness the US government’s foot-dragging from one administration after another to take effective action to phase out hazardous agricultural chemicals and industrial pollution to protect consumers from dioxins, PCB’s and PBB’s---all potent EDC’s. These compounds in particular, contaminate, through bioaccumulation, foods of animal origin, the discarded and condemned parts of which are recycled into pet foods and livestock feed.
Postscript:
Recent research into the epigenetics of disease has shown for example, that the offspring of rats exposed during pregnancy to pesticides were more prone to breast and prostate cancer, immune system dysfunction and other health problems. These rat offspring, even when fed a diet free of such agrichemicals, passed these health problems on to their offspring, and thus on to subsequent generations. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, especially phthalates in the plastic of food and beverage containers and liners, play a major role in epigenetic diseases.
His perspective gives more credit to Dr. Plechner's theories. The original article (plus references) appears here on his website: http://drfoxvet.com/info/Endocrine-Immune-Disruption-Syndrome
Food for thought!
ENDOCRINE-IMMUNE DISRUPTION SYNDROME
by Michael W. Fox, B. Vet. Med., Ph.D., D.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.
Chemical compounds called endocrine disruptors may play a significant role in various chronic diseases in both companion and other animals and also humans. These diseases include allergies, chronic skin diseases, recurrent ear, urinary tract, and other infections, digestive system disorders such as chronic colitis, diarrhea, and inflammatory bowel disease frequently associated with immune system impairment, and metabolic and hormonal disturbances expressed in a variety of symptoms from obesity to thyroid and other endocrine disorders especially of the pancreas and adrenal glands.
Veterinarian Dr. Alfred J. Plechner’s clinical findings that link elevated serum estrogen levels , thyroid dysfunction and impaired synthesis of cortisol with a variety of health problems in animals warrant careful consideration, and more detailed research and randomized clinical trials. His claimed benefits of very low doses of cortisone, often in combination with thyroid hormone replacement, may hold true for some patients suffering from what I term the Endocrine- Immune Disruption Syndrome (EIDS) . But long term cortisone treatment may aggravate the syndrome, especially in the absence of a holistic approach to improving the animal’s immune system and overall physical and psychological well being.
Adverse reactions to vaccinations, anti-flea and tick medications and other veterinary drugs, and hypersensitivity to various foods and dietary additives, may be consequential and contributory elements in what I interpret as a widespread and not yet well recognized Endocrine-Immune Disruption Syndrome. I receive many letters from readers of my syndicated newspaper column Animal Doctor,concerning dogs and cats with the kinds of chronic, complex, multiple health problems that conventional veterinary treatments have at best only temporarily alleviated.
The primary cause of these hormonal imbalances and associated neuro- endocrine and immune system dysfunctions is most probably environmental in origin, specifically the endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC’s) in animals’ food and water. Through bioaccumulation these compounds become concentrated in various internal organs of companion animals, in farmed animals raised for human consumption, including aquatic species, and also in wildlife and humans at the top of the food chain.. Since many EDC’s are lipophilic, they especially accumulate in animals’ fatty tissues, brains, mammary glands and milk.
While I would agree with Dr. Plechner that animals’ genetic background and stress are also contributing factors to an animal developing what I believe to be endocrine disrupting compound toxicosis, I do not accept his contention that "this disturbance appears to be largely genetic." On the contrary, certain breeds and lines of domestic animals, and domestic animals in general who develop often multiple symptoms of EIDS are like the proverbial canaries down in the coal mines, signaling environmental conditions also hazardous to humans.
An internet search and review of the existing literature and ongoing research in the field of environmental toxicology will reveal the ubiquitous presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC’s) in the environment especially from industrial pollutants, (from power plants and municipal incinerators to paper mills and chemically dependent industrial agriculture), and from untreated and inadequately treated sewage water (some 850 billion gallons of which are dumped annual into US waters). EDC’s are also being identified in a host of household and medical products especially plastics, in clothing, floor materials, and lining of food cans, ( notably phthalates and Bisphenol A ) and in the food and water we share with our companion animals, and give to farmed animals.
New EDC’s are being identified, detected in human breast milk, infant umbilical cord blood, and in ’signal’ wildlife species, from alligators to Artic seals. Researchers with the US Geological Survey, (USGS) Contamination Biology Program have found that PCB treated fish have lower resting plasma cortical titers and disrupted stress responses, impaired immune responses and reduced disease resistance. PCBs disrupt glucocorticoid responsiveness of neuronal cells involved in the negative feedback regulation of circulating cortical levels. I link these and other research findings on EDC’s with Plechner’s findings of low serum cortical levels in his patients, exposed undoubtedly to a number of EDC’s that can have enhanced toxicity through synergism. But his contention that dysfunctional adrenal glands are the cause of elevated estrogen levels is questionable considering the high level of "background" estrogen mimicking EDCs in every animal’s environment. DDE for example is one EDC that is known to accumulate in the adrenal cortex and impair cortical production. Ironically the USGS has found human birth control estrogens in river waters.
EDC’s not only disrupt endocrine signaling systems (estrogen, progesterone, thyroid, glucocorticoid, retinoid etc) and immune system functions, they can also cause profound behavioral, neurological and developmental disturbances. They may play a role in obesity and in animals’ adverse reactions to vaccines, other biologics and pharmaceutical products.
With regard to the health and welfare of companion animals---and the education and consumer habits of their owner/care givers, calls for much more than the immediate drug-correctives suggested by Dr. Plechner that could have harmful long-term consequences without adequate and reliable blood serum monitoring of thyroid, adrenal, and immune system (immunoglbulins) function.
There is an urgent need for the veterinary profession to address this Endocrine-Immune Disruption Syndrome, and to consider it when treating a variety of chronic diseases in animal patients. For a start, all veterinary practitioners should encourage animal care givers to provide sick, (and healthy animals as part of holistic health maintenance) with pure water, organically certified food, including diets with animal fat and protein derived from young animals fed and raised organically, not exposed to herbicides, insecticides and other agricultural chemicals, and veterinary pesticides and other drugs. ( Even synthetic pyrethrins are powerful endocrine disruptors). Sea foods in the diets especially of cats, should preclude species high on the food chain like tuna and salmon. Also livestock that is organically certified should not be fed fish meal because of the bioaccumulation of EDC’s. Many commercial dog and cat foods are high in soy/soya bean/ vegetable protein. Since soy products are high in plant estrogens, (those from genetically engineered soy being potentially extremely problematic in this matter), it would be advisable to take all animals suspected of suffering from EIDS off all foods containing phytoestrogen laden plant proteins, and for healthy cats not to be fed any diet that relies on soy as the main source of protein. Healthy dogs, who are more omnivorous than cats (who are obligate carnivores) may not be at such risk.
The use of so called xenobiotic detoxification enzyme and other therapeutic nutrient supplement treatment, as detailed by Dr. Sherry A. Rogers and Dr. Roger V. Kendall, is worth consideration for chronically ill animals that may have EIDS. These include essential fatty acids, as in flax seed oil, digestive enzymes (e.g. papain and bromeliad) and vitamins A, B complex, C and E, alpha-lipoic acid, L-carnitine, L-glutamine, taurine, glutathione, dimethylglycine, CoQ10, bioflavinoids, selenium, copper, magnesium and zinc (with caution as per breed susceptibility to toxicity).
Homeopathic practitioners use Nux vomica and Sulfur to help detoxify a patient.
Detoxification can also include a bland, whole food, natural diet for 3-5 days (individual food-hypersensitivity being considered), including steamed carrots, sweet potato and other vegetables, cooked barley or rolled oats, and a little organic chicken or egg, plus a sprinkling of kelp (powdered seaweed), alfalfa or wheat grass sprouts, and milk thistle. A 3-4 day course of treatment with psyllium husks, activated charcoal and aloe vera liquid extract can also help cleanse and heal the digestive system. For cats, the amount of animal protein should be at least two-thirds of the diet, while one-third is sufficient for dogs. After this cleansing diet, a whole food , home-prepared balanced diet is advisable. In some cases, fasting for 24 hours may also be beneficial prior to giving the detox. diet, but caution is called for since this could put some cats at risk.
The use of lawn and garden pesticides and other household chemicals, especially petroleum-based products, that could be endocrine disruptors should be avoided, and also plastic and water food containers for all family members, human and non-human. New carpets, plastic chew-toys and stain-resistant fabrics and upholstery may also be potential hazards
The medical and veterinary evidence of an emerging EIDS epidemic is arguably being suppressed for politico-economic reasons, as witness the US government’s foot-dragging from one administration after another to take effective action to phase out hazardous agricultural chemicals and industrial pollution to protect consumers from dioxins, PCB’s and PBB’s---all potent EDC’s. These compounds in particular, contaminate, through bioaccumulation, foods of animal origin, the discarded and condemned parts of which are recycled into pet foods and livestock feed.
Postscript:
Recent research into the epigenetics of disease has shown for example, that the offspring of rats exposed during pregnancy to pesticides were more prone to breast and prostate cancer, immune system dysfunction and other health problems. These rat offspring, even when fed a diet free of such agrichemicals, passed these health problems on to their offspring, and thus on to subsequent generations. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, especially phthalates in the plastic of food and beverage containers and liners, play a major role in epigenetic diseases.
Monday, June 4, 2012
House mapping
06/04/12 - Reo continues to do well, though vision is inconsistent/transient. She loves the Stella and Chewy's patties I've been giving her as part of her food/protein rotation. I might keep her on this for quite some time and rotate the protein. She seems to be doing quite well on it. Her weight looks great, and she is a healthy little dog!
I had a thought the other day, when watching Reo navigate the house. We haven't changed any furniture positions in at least 6 weeks, and yet Reo still has trouble getting around - she's been bumping into things regularly. I was wondering if this was more "proof" of her transient vision, because she hasn't figured out the locations of things in the house or yard. Yes, she has general awareness of where things are, but there is a clear distinction sometimes as to how she gets around - sometimes she bumps everything and looks like a ping pong ball, but other times she appears to see well and gets around without bumping anything! It's strange, because I would have thought that if her vision was limited or completely gone, she would have been able to map out the house and get around better.
Of course, we are just staying the course with the supplements, etc. as I posted about previously HERE. We're about 3 months post her last injections, so we'll see. We love her like crazy nonetheless. :)
I had a thought the other day, when watching Reo navigate the house. We haven't changed any furniture positions in at least 6 weeks, and yet Reo still has trouble getting around - she's been bumping into things regularly. I was wondering if this was more "proof" of her transient vision, because she hasn't figured out the locations of things in the house or yard. Yes, she has general awareness of where things are, but there is a clear distinction sometimes as to how she gets around - sometimes she bumps everything and looks like a ping pong ball, but other times she appears to see well and gets around without bumping anything! It's strange, because I would have thought that if her vision was limited or completely gone, she would have been able to map out the house and get around better.
Of course, we are just staying the course with the supplements, etc. as I posted about previously HERE. We're about 3 months post her last injections, so we'll see. We love her like crazy nonetheless. :)
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