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Dr. K called with test results yesterday, and as we suspected, Saki's thyroid is rocketing, which can explain all the symptoms she has right now, so the advice was to go up on her thyroid meds. I do like everything about her approach that I'm picking up from what she says and how she reacts. I think I've got a good medical guide for Saki now, and that is a big relief for her senior years.
The problem now is that going up on the thyroid med is suppressing Saki's appetite and is wiping her out, and I'm still worried if maybe we're going up a little too fast, so I may need to call back tomorrow. Poor thing has been through a hormonal roller coaster the past 4 months with the prednisolone lowering her thyroid levels and making her miserable, and then her thyroid levels shooting up when we went down to a pred dose she could tolerate. The pred shot her up over a pound and a half, and then with its lowering she's gone down more than 2 and half pounds, which is a lot on her little frame. And it's going to take a while for her thyroid to stabilize, and if the meds suppress her appetite she might lose even more weight, and that's worrisome. And hopefully, she's not having an IBD reaction from the drop in the pred in addition to the thyroid rise. So we're no way out of the woods yet. At least her kidney values look good now, because the rise in blood pressure that comes with hyperthyroidism flushes them out nicely, so her renal disease is in check.
In praise of fatness, I'm really glad Saki started from a point of being a little overweight. If she started from the prescribed weight, she wouldn't have room for a weight drop like this. Yes, being very overweight is generally hard on the body, but I think in more cases than not, being a little overweight from what is considered standard for pets, as well as humans, is actually better for health and shores the body up against the wasting away that is part of advanced aging, and eventually, the medical establishment is going to stop trying to blame obesity for causing conditions where there is no scientific basis and catch up with me. (-;
Here's a portrait of Her Sakiness I took Thursday:
It's a bit of a stuffy, William F Buckley, Jr. look for her; she is a much more spritely, sunny, and loving person than this pic might suggest. But I love how her nose is shining in it. And luckily, she likes that nose being pet. If you gently run a finger down her nose, it will be licked and nuzzled.
( And let's try another angle . . . )
The problem now is that going up on the thyroid med is suppressing Saki's appetite and is wiping her out, and I'm still worried if maybe we're going up a little too fast, so I may need to call back tomorrow. Poor thing has been through a hormonal roller coaster the past 4 months with the prednisolone lowering her thyroid levels and making her miserable, and then her thyroid levels shooting up when we went down to a pred dose she could tolerate. The pred shot her up over a pound and a half, and then with its lowering she's gone down more than 2 and half pounds, which is a lot on her little frame. And it's going to take a while for her thyroid to stabilize, and if the meds suppress her appetite she might lose even more weight, and that's worrisome. And hopefully, she's not having an IBD reaction from the drop in the pred in addition to the thyroid rise. So we're no way out of the woods yet. At least her kidney values look good now, because the rise in blood pressure that comes with hyperthyroidism flushes them out nicely, so her renal disease is in check.
In praise of fatness, I'm really glad Saki started from a point of being a little overweight. If she started from the prescribed weight, she wouldn't have room for a weight drop like this. Yes, being very overweight is generally hard on the body, but I think in more cases than not, being a little overweight from what is considered standard for pets, as well as humans, is actually better for health and shores the body up against the wasting away that is part of advanced aging, and eventually, the medical establishment is going to stop trying to blame obesity for causing conditions where there is no scientific basis and catch up with me. (-;
Here's a portrait of Her Sakiness I took Thursday:
It's a bit of a stuffy, William F Buckley, Jr. look for her; she is a much more spritely, sunny, and loving person than this pic might suggest. But I love how her nose is shining in it. And luckily, she likes that nose being pet. If you gently run a finger down her nose, it will be licked and nuzzled.
( And let's try another angle . . . )