Anyone else with pemphigus?

[Coffeebuzz]

Hi - I did a quick search, but haven't seen a lot on this. Dee Dee was just diagnosed with Pemphigus foliaceus. It took almost 6 months, a visit to a dermatolgist & biopsy to narrow down the diagnosis.

Has anyone been through this? We started a lower dose of prednisone last week with a new antibiotic while waiting for the biopsy results. Now the dermatologist recommends starting a higher dose of prednisone concurrently with Imuran and the antibiotics. He's hoping that by treating it aggressively we can knock this down and start tapering down the doses after 3 weeks. I hope he's right because the peeing and drinking are already going way up on the prednisone, and I imagine it will only get worse on the higher dose...

Thanks for the help....

 

[msjosi]

I have no experience with that condition, actually never even heard of it...but I just wanted to send DeeDee some get well <<vibes>> for a speedy recovery I would think you are correct in your thinking that the peeing and drinking is only going to increase with the increase in prednisone. Hang in there and please keep us posted on how DeeDee is doing

 

[rupertpeeter]

Hi,

Can you describe the symptoms?
I think I went through something similar last year. We didn't get definitive diasgnosis, and I'm still under the impression that they just put names on the so called autoimmune disorders. Anyway, pemphigus was mentioned among other things.
Long story short, hes paws were quite bad. I said no to hormones (a dog wearing boots is better in my book than a dog tortured by hormones), had one course of antibiotics, which didn't help, and switched him to raw. Paws got a little better. Homeopathy helped a lot with the abcesses. Then four months into "barfig" I decided to drop the veggies, and his bad looking paws healed in a week or so.


I really think with "autoimmune disorders" it pays to try species appropriate food.

Hope this helps...

 

[Coffeebuzz]

Her symptoms started pretty innocently. She had a red bump on her paw and one on the bridge of her nose, that eventually scabbed over. They looked like bug bites, and since we had been outdoors a lot, I just assumed that's what they were...until they didn't heal. She also had a raised area where her nose met the rest of her skin...hard to describe what it looked like - basically a little line of bumps. Then she got a bump on her back, which flattened out, scabbed/crusted over and was very itchy. Her paw pads just started crusting and scabbing a few weeks ago (about 4-5 months into this whole thing).

We took her to the vet several times, and it was assumed to be a bacterial infection so we tried an antibiotic...many more bumps, crusts, antibiotics and a biopsy later, we are down to pemphigus as the diagnosis. Her symptoms have already improved a lot on the lower dose of predisone, so we're hoping that we'll be able to use the higher dose for a very short time (dr thinks her crusting and scabbing should resolve in about 3 weeks) and be able to taper her off the medications. Her feet have already healed over, and she is running around again, so I definitely think we're on the right track with the treatment.

I'm glad you've had good luck with raw! I am not in a position to start that with my pup, but I'm glad you've found it helpful.

 

[rupertpeeter]

It was such a relief when it cleared up! His were never itchy though, just painful to walk on. And it started really innocently too, it looked like he had walked over shredded glass, little half-invisible red spots...

When I was searching information on this subject, I remember pemphigus being mentioned somewhere here at least once. The thread may be years old.

Let's hope the current treatment plan does the trick. Best of luck!

 

[lafsalot]

Our Mya, now at the bridge, had several serious health issues, including pemphigus. She too started out at a high dose of prednisone and was also on Imuran (btw, we got it directly from the pharmacy that the vet did, and saved a ton of money). Her prednisone dose was ultimately lowered after only a few short weeks, and although her condition was well managed for quite some time on the medication, I only wish we had decided to feed our dogs (four) raw much earlier - I truly believe she would have benefited from it as have are other dogs. Good luck, and keep us posted ~ Cathy

PS Since pemphigus is an autoimmune disease, her internist strongly advised us NOT to have her vaccinated again.

 

[Coffeebuzz]

Thanks for the heads-up on the vaccinations - I will look into that. I'm glad to hear that Mya was helped with the medications - how long were her symptoms under control? Did they resolve completely or did she still have some signs? Did you take her off the meds completely?

I found that the pharmacy at Costco was extremely reasonable. Imuran is available as a generic (azathioprine is the generic name), and it is less than $20/mo. I was so happy to have found that, since the brand name would have cost ~ $100/mo.

 

[lafsalot]

Mya's pemphigus was well managed for several years while on medication. However, she ultimately developed chronic pancreatitis and we reluctantly had to stop the medications. ~ Cathy