From:
faiml@yahoo.com
Date: 2001-06-23 01:04:00 UTC
Subject: Methylprednisolone
Hi. My address is actually faiml@u..., but this website insists
it ends in yahoo.com. Please send replies to my uswest address and/or
post if you would be so kind. I am wondering if vets or anyone else
has any info about using methylprednisolone to treat insulinoma
disease? My experience is that pediapred does, of course, keep the
blood sugar up and is a lifesaver, in a way, as an alternative to
surgery (my first choice) but it is also somewhat of a death sentence.
The ferrets I have had treated with pediapred for insulinoma gained
considerableweight and their quality of life slowly slipped away, i.e.
ability to walk, desire/ability to play. Anyway, I have a
seven-year-old gal with a considerable congenital heart murmur (three
or four on a scale of six), that is yet symptom free! She is a little
miracle, but is now insulinomic. Our vet has read good things about
the use of methylprednisolone in humans, in terms of having fewer side
effects than prednisone. I have read here and there that prednisolone
is not as effective in treating low blood sugar in ferrets as
pediapred or regular pred. Methylprednisolone, however, is different
than prednisolone. Any thoughts or experience with this drug and
insulinomas in ferrets would be greatly appreciated. Minnie, who was
a runt, has already gained five ounces (up from 20 ounces, barely
bigger than a coke!), and she has only been on .2 ml pediapred (6.75
mg/5ml) for a couple months. She is not overfed and is still quite
active. She is a little princess doll and I hate to see her gaining
weight. We are thinking about surgery; however I just lost our
8-year-old Gadzook, our first fur kid and the sweetest silver mitt you
ever saw, after insulinoma surgery. His heart was okayed for surgery
through ultrasound (a ferret-experienced radiologist did the
ultrasound with our excellent vet), but on necropsy appeared
enlarged and very hard. The ultrasound had shown it slightly com-
promised, but it was deemed fine for surgery, but our vet says it was
the cause of death and she would not have operated if she had been
aware of its condition. For this reason I'm very leery of
trying surgery with Minnie. Anyway, just thought I'd ask about the
methylprednisolone. Thank you very much! Lynn McIntosh