Prednisolone cause heart gallop?

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NateB323 - 16 Jul 2005 05:55 GMT

I have been posting about TB, my poor boy that is battling chronic live
disease. My vet had given him prednisolone when he first showed sign
of the disease back in October of '04. He responded very well, eatin
all of his food and acting totally normal. After a couple week
though, he got sick again and wouldn't eat much of anything, becam
lethargic, and had a "lost" look about him. He appeared to b
breathing with his mouth open a lot too. I took him back to the ve
and they even found that he had a heart gallop. That was the firs
time he was ever diagnosed with a gallop. I stopped the prednisolon
because I was pretty sure it caused him to act like this. Since then
he has had recurrent bouts with this awful liver disease, and I'
currently going through one of the worst bouts yet. The vet wished w
could put him back on the prednisolone to help with his ongoin
inflammation problems. I had some left over from before and I decide
to experiment by giving him half the doseage, approx. 2.5mg a day for
week. He responded by eating and drinking, but then presented the sam
side effects as he had before. The vet again found a gallop hear
beat, which had subsided during his time not on the the pred. Doe
anyone else know of Prednisolone causing these side effects??? H
really needs to be on it to control this God awful inflammation

--
NateB323

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Philip - 16 Jul 2005 08:07 GMT

<NateB323.1s90yy@news.catbanter.com>NateB323 stated unanimously:

> I have been posting about TB, my poor boy that is battling chronic liver
> disease. My vet had given him prednisolone when he first showed signs
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> anyone else know of Prednisolone causing these side effects??? He
> really needs to be on it to control this God awful inflammation!y

I can tell you from personal experience that when I was on Prednisolone the
I started retaining water, developed a "moon face", my average blood
pressure rose about 20-30 points systolic, my heart would race at times, and
sleeping no more than two hours became the norm. Got very short tempered
too! To correct for the side effects, I had to take an ACE inhibitor to
reduce blood pressure, a water pill to reduce water retention, and a beta
blocker to get my heart rate slowed and more steady.

Look up Prednisolone on any drugstore website or medscape. Side effects
will be listed.

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Barb - 16 Jul 2005 18:22 GMT

My Moonshines was given that drug when she had a recurrent cystitis for 2
years and nothing else was working. The vet told me she could not be on
this forever and so he had me ease up on the dose gradually over the course
of a couple months. Eventually she was off the drug and lived another
healthy ten years.

--
Barb
Of course I don't look busy,
I did it right the first time.

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Philip - 17 Jul 2005 15:17 GMT

> My Moonshines was given that drug when she had a recurrent cystitis for 2
> years and nothing else was working. The vet told me she could not be on
> this forever and so he had me ease up on the dose gradually over the
> course of a couple months. Eventually she was off the drug and lived
> another healthy ten years.

One of the bad side effects of using prednisolone at moderate and higher
doses over a long term is bone loss ... at least so it is with humans.

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PawsForThought - 16 Jul 2005 18:26 GMT

>He responded by eating and drinking, but then presented the same
> side effects as he had before. The vet again found a gallop heart
> beat, which had subsided during his time not on the the pred. Does
> anyone else know of Prednisolone causing these side effects??? He
> really needs to be on it to control this God awful inflammation!

Nate, you might want to talk to your vet about a natural hydrocortisone
that might not have the side effects that Prednisolone does. Our
asthmatic cat gets a natural cortisone. If you'd like more
information, you can email me.

Lauren B.
(and Mickey & Meesha)
Raise Your Paw for Raw!

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Phil P. - 17 Jul 2005 08:34 GMT

> I have been posting about TB, my poor boy that is battling chronic liver
> disease. My vet had given him prednisolone when he first showed signs
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> could put him back on the prednisolone to help with his ongoing
> inflammation problems.

I had some left over from before and I decided

> to experiment by giving him half the doseage, approx. 2.5mg a day for a
> week. He responded by eating and drinking, but then presented the same
> side effects as he had before. The vet again found a gallop heart
> beat, which had subsided during his time not on the the pred. Does
> anyone else know of Prednisolone causing these side effects???

I guess its possible to develop a murmur from prednisone. Prednisone does
have vasoconstrictive properties coupled with the increased blood volume it
produces could raise blood pressure which in turn could cause a physiologic
murmur without having any heart disease. You might want to ask your vet to
check your cat's blood pressure.

He

> really needs to be on it to control this God awful inflammation!

Speak to your vet about every other day dosing (EOD). EOD usually minimizes
the effects of prednisone. Just make sure to stick with short-acting
prednisone. Steroids with longer action will defeat the purpose because the
doses will overlap.

Best of luck.

Phil

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