Autoimmune disease symptoms and treatment - Page 2

SimonandSyril · 05-03-2018, 11:27 AM

It's so promising that soybean is moving in the right direction, good luck on the future!

IamKat · 05-18-2018, 08:38 AM

Argh, so, Soybean was looking great for a few weeks, she grew the hair back on her tummy and pretty much completely stopped itching. She has been eating and drinking well and has had tons of energy so a lot of out of cage time. However... the last week or so has seen an odd turn where her eyes have become verryy bulgy and uncomfortable looking. The vet is unsure if this is an additional symptom of the disease that's not improved by the steroid or a symptom of the steroid itself... so we are trying her on half a tablet every other day instead of every day. She also has some drops to keep the eye moist but she hates them and that makes it difficult as i'm very loathe to restrain her considering the eyes. Has anybody had anything like this happen with steroids before? I'm really concerned about coming down one morning and finding a prolapse. Poor Soybean.. i never expected all this for her.

Pebbles82 · 05-18-2018, 03:47 PM

So sorry about this. In humans steroids can cause eye bulging (and also something called "moon face" where the face becomes larger). But other diseases can cause it too. Difficult to know. Hope the dose reduction helps.

BorisPasha · 05-21-2018, 09:25 AM

Aww poor Soybean, that is such a shame when things had been going so well for her. I really hope that the reduced dose of the steroid will help and that the half dose will still keep her auto immune condition under control. Keeping my fingers crossed for her x

dreamtree1234 · 05-21-2018, 11:12 AM

Aww, poor little Soybean. I am really sorry that she is now having this symptom after things have been looking up for her with her treatment. I really do hope that her bulging eye symptom goes away and her autoimmune disease is still controlled after you reduce her dosage. I will be wishing her and you all of the best. Hugs to you and cuddles to Soybean and the rest of your hamily.

IamKat · 05-22-2018, 04:07 AM

Thanks so much for the well wishes guys. It's impossible for me to put drops in now as it causes her so much stress and obvious discomfort - the benefits of the lubricant seem to be outweighed by the negatives. So I'm not bothering any more. It didn't seem to help much anyway.

Since dropping her dose her eyes do in general seem a bit better - she has up and down days with sometimes the eyes looking normal and sometimes super bulgy. But she has been itching again under her chin and lost a little fur again - goes to show how much the steroids were helping in that regard. So not sure where to go from here. I guess when I see the vet again in a few weeks we will re-assess.

Feeling pretty demoralised. Obviously I don't want her to suffer, but will do absolutely everything in my power to give her net happiness even if some days she feels poorly.

Thanks again all. xx

dreamtree1234 · 05-22-2018, 04:21 AM

I am SO sorry that she is getting stressed by the steroids and now her symptoms are beginning to reemerge. I do hope that the vet will be able to give you some good suggestions as to what is best at this point. I hope there will be a good solution to help dear Soybean; bless her. Hugs to you, IamKat. I will definitely be keeping you both in my prayers and wishing the very best always. xx

BorisPasha · 05-22-2018, 07:59 AM

I'll be keeping everything crossed that the vet will be able to come up with an alternative for Soybean. It's a shame that she has a little fur loss again. Maybe it's been caused by the stress of the eye drops rather than the reduction in steroids, I hope so anyway xx

IamKat · 05-23-2018, 06:41 AM

Thanks so much guys. And that's a good point about the eye drops BP.. I guess we will see how things go over the next week or so. xx