From:
Lynn McIntosh
Date: 2002-03-24 15:04:00 UTC
Subject: Proglycem: Insulinoma with heart murmur
Hi. I posted a bit ago asking for less costly sources of Proglycem. I have found one;
the pharmacy compounds the diazoxide from a generic powder at 50 mg/ml at a
reasonable price. In the past we have used the commercial brand, which fillers
include alcohol (though we checked into these and decided it was okay to use). The
suspension seems to be better tolerated.
Our vet and we had decided to try and help our 7 3/4 -year-old Minnie lose weight by
cutting back on pediapred and adding diazoxide. The result is wonderful! Minnie has
lost eight ounces and is acting herself again, not just eating and waddling off to sleep.
She even stashes raisins! She can walk much better. The process has not all been a
bed of roses, though. At first we tried to wean her off the pediapred, very slowly, as
we raised the dose of diazoxide. First I noticed her drinking less, then she became
anorexic. This was about the time she was nearly weaned from pred so I don't know
if it was withdrawal from the steroid or the diazoxide. In any case with a little
experimentation we hit upon a good balance of pediapred and diazoxide dose, one
that keeps here lapping up her chicken soup, but not gaining weight from the
pediapred. She is on the low end dose of both diazoxide and pediapred, which
combined are about where she was at with the pediapred alone.
The weight issue is extremely important with her as she has has a heart murmur
(rated 3 on a scale of 6; recently rated 5!) since birth. She is a runt who weighed 1 lb.
4-5 oz. all her life, winter or spring, then jettisoned up to 2 lbs. 2 oz. after a few
months on pediapred. she is now at 1 lb. 12 oz. and looks and walks much better. At
the high end of weight she was needing a dose of lasix once a week, which she no
longer needs (not sure if this was straight bronchitis though, rather than heart
overload; x-rays indicated bronchitis but coughing could have been caused by heart or
bronchitis; coughing has cleared up so we haven't gone to ultrasound).
What I have learned is that diazoxide, like Lysodren in the days before Lupron with
adrenal disease, is a drug which doseage needs to be monitored very carefully (at
least with ferrets sesitive to it) and adjusted in relationship to side effects. With
Lysodren, not used much anymore for adrenal disease, we used pulsed doses and
stopped administration immediately upon side effects. With Proglcyem I watch for
anorexia and balance the dose with pediapred.
Anyway, I know that some ferrets have extreme reactions to Proglycem and cannot
take it but just wanted to relate our story with a ferret who can tolerate it but with
very careful, monitored doseage. Of course, I would prefer to have gotten her surgery
for the insulinoma (diagnosed a year ago) but between her heart murmur and age we
decided to treat her medically.
Lynn McIntosh <faiml@u...>