My Corgi has Meningitis
My Pippin just turned a year old on March 16 2011. A few days after her birthday, she couldn't move. she was lifeless. We brought her to the ER right away and they thought it might be lyme disease. She had high fever and joint pain. We were in Philly for the weekend, so the Vet in Philly did a blood test and the test for lyme came back negative. So we took her back to CT and brought her to her local vet. Her temperature was still at 105 and she had to be admitted to the hospital. A few days later, my vet called and suspect she may have meningitis. Her symptoms were stiff neck and high fever. She was then transferred to a specialist. Did spinal tap and MRI, which cost me almost $2000! Test came back that she has meningitis but not sure if its steroid responsive or bacterial.
While waiting for further test results to come back, she was treated with low dosage of prednisone for about a week. Just a week ago, she's confirmed that it is steroid responsive and the vet increased her to high dosage. She's been on high dosage prednisone for a week now. I know the side effects, increase in panting, excessive drinking and urination. But what I don't get is, she's so slow in walking, she's been depress. She doesn't like to walk up even a curb. whenever she stairs, she refuse to go up or down. just a day or two ago, she's showing signs of sitting constantly favoring her left side. She can't stand for more than 20 seconds, she then starting to sit. Just today i notice when she's trying to squat to urinate, she let out a small cry. is she developing hip problem now? The MRI came back said she has negative for hip problems. but that was almost three weeks ago. Do you think she can develop that over the past few weeks? Or is this a prednisone side effect? She walks a little weird, not limping, she tends to really waddle, walks absolutely very slow. crawling slow. and when she stops, she has to sit.
Please, anyone that can provide me any answer. The specialist and my vet can't even give me a definite answer and I am worried this prednisone will just end up killing her. She has to be on 15mg prednisone twice a day for 8 weeks! before slowly weaning her off to once a day for another 8 weeks! is this going to cause Pippin long term damage to her body?
is this also going to bankrupt me?
Thanks
Lynn
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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We have been through the prednisone cycle many times due to Sparty's allergies. It does often make them lethargic. Just be sure to follow the directions exactly because not tapering off will be very damaging. Make sure she has lots of water available even if you have to get up in the middle of the night to let her out. Hope she is better soon!
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Lynn, everything you've describe is NORMAL. These are the side effects of Prednisone, it is a steroid, as long as there's a weaning off plan, stick with it.
Prednisone is a very effective anti-inflmatory drug, yes, it will cause some damage to her body just like any other Rx and OTC drugs do, but she does need it for short term. No, meningitis is not going to bankrupt you.
As a human, I was on Prednisone for a period of time, I felt like a "zombie" when i was on it, it slowed me down, thin my skin, gained major weight, muscle loss, I was not myself, it altered my mood / personality..... absolutely terrible. I was on prednisone because my body was going haywire, i was allergic to anything and everything, my throat closed to 4%, had 2 episodes of anaphylaxis and had to be rescued at the ER twice. As a PA, I hated the drug and felt useless not being able to save myself, but it calmed my system down, allowing me to recover. Long story short, I'm off Prednisone, alive, still trying to lose the excess weight gain, my liver had some damage, it pushed me to borderline diabetic, but it saved my life.There are two types of meningitis:
Infectious meningitis
It's either bacterial, fungal, parasitic, viral, rickettsial or protozoal.
non-Infectious meningitis
steroid responsive meningitis - meaning immune-mediated (no known cause), since it only responds to steroid treatment, that's why it's call SRMA.
Hang in there, Pippin will do better after the cycle.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Lynn-
Wow. I'm so sorry! It sounds like you've had it really rough lately....
I'm inclined to think the slowness and inability to do stairs, etc. is from the swelling and pain in her brain/head. I had viral meningitis once, and it SUCKED. Meningitis is from the swelling around the meninges in your brain (the tissues covering the brain). Every movement is torture, every sight is torture, every sound is torture. Your head feels like it's going to explode. I suffered from severe headaches for 3 months after the initial sickness was over. I too, walked funny, talked funny. I'd give her time, hopefully it will just be short term. The side effects from the prednisone shouldn't have any long term effects, as long as she isn't on it her whole life.
Good luck...*hug*
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I am so sorry you are dealing with this and never even knew dogs could get meningitis. How scary!
Predisone is a very powerful drug, and as has been said it's very important to do the taper. Do not stop it abruptly for any reason and follow the doc's instructions to the letter. Lots of people are put on predisone for various reasons and the scary side effects you hear are most often for people who are on it long term. Best of luck and hope she feels better soon. I can't say anything about the disease exept to say it's quite possible that the pain and reluctance to move are from the meningitis and not the drug. My cat was on higher doses of predisone when she had cancer (mega-dose once every two weeks) and it made her hungry/thirsty but not especially lethargic. She was very old, though.
Best of luck.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Meningitis is a neurological disorder and it may be the side effects of the disease that is affecting her ability to walk. Hopefully with a full course of steroids she will make a full recovery. Franklin's brother had meningitis and after a long battle made a full recovery and is doing great. I had a dog on long term prednisone and he did fine. He suffered no ill effects, just give as directed and taper it exactly like it says. Also DO NOT overfed even though she is sure she is starving. Although prednisone is not a medication you WANT your dog to be on long term, many animals do fine on it. We have several cats and dogs being treated with chemotherapy and prednisone keeps them healthy. These pets are on pred for years and do ok. Its frustrating your vets can't provide any answers. Maybe it would be worth doing a recheck to see if the meningitis is responding? Is that even possible I wonder?
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Permalink Reply by Lynn Leong on
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Thanks everyone for all your wishes and advice. I unfortunately have to take Pippin to the vet again. To her neurologist. They had to do a repeat spinal tab on her. Poor Pippin, her head keeps getting shaven, twice before it even grows back. She's been bald for a while now.
The doctors just can't tell me if the Prednisone is giving her these major side effects. instead they do another repeat spinal tab which cost me another $880!
After the neurologist up her prednisone dosage, she became even more lethargic, weak hind leg muscles and still show signs on pain when we touch her or try to pick her up. She definitely hates walking, and would not even go near stairs. Neurologist said that Prednisone shouldn't be giving her these side effects? but i read on the internet that says otherwise.
So now that she just got her second spinal tab, we are waiting for the results.
So does anyone else know if there are any cases that Dogs do not respond to prednisone? and what are the most major major sides effects other than the ones listed? The vet thinks that the Pred is not working 100% on pippin.
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