Another Acromegaly Diagnosis

Well, Kiwi was diagnosed with acromegaly today. His results were over 300 (test done at MSU). He is currently at 14 units of Lantus with readings in the 200's and 300's. Since he also suffers from pancreatitis, the vet suggested that we add Nutramax Denosyl tablets to his regimen. I will read the threads and stickies this weekend, but right now I'm tired from the work week and very overwhelmed.

 

Sorry about the diagnosis, but there is lot of information and people here to help you. One in four diabetics has acromegaly. By any chance, did the vet also test for IAA, insulin auto antibodies? A number of our extra sweet kitties have that too.

Feel free to ask questions, we all know the shock of the diagnosis. I had a million questions at that point. A couple things for you to think about. First, all all low carb wet or raw food diet is best and will help you get Kiwi regulated easier. The DM dry is not particularly low carb. Second, at some point younwpmay want to consider a switch to Levemir insulin. Lantus can sting at higher doses, and Lev seems to have better duration. Of course, not all cats feel the sting, just something for you to ponder. And lastly, let us know if you want help with dosing. The best thing you can do for a Kiwi isnget him as safely and quickly as possible to a dose where he spends most of his time under renal threshold. We will need your soreadsheet to be up to date if you want our help with that,

And lastly, take a big breath. It probably seems a lot right now, but just being here and home testing you are doing a lot to help Kiwi. By the way, most of the acrokitties are on Lev and Lantus, and we do spend a bit more time on the Lantus and Lev forum. Just in case you want more eyes.

 

Sorry to hear the diagnosis. Wendy is very experienced with Acro. The stickies have good info.

Also you can read thru Leo's thread (in my signature). He got SRT (radiation) at Ft Collins about the time he was getting 18 units/dose. Now, 15 months later, most of his Acro is gone.

 

Thank you both very much @Wendy&Neko and @JeffJ . SRT is out of our budget, unfortunately. The plan is to continue upping the Lantus right now, but our vet did suggest Levemir for down the road. I'm still at the stage where I have a lump in my throat! The one positive is that I no longer feel as though Kiwi's years of overeating and weight gain were my fault - it was the acromegaly.

Our vet did not feel that testing for IAA would be helpful, though I'm unclear on the reason.

 

Sorry to hear about the Acro but you've got a bunch of folks here that can help. It is overwhelming at first but it all gets better.
You can certainly treat Kiwi (love that name) with the insulin he needs. Once you've read through some stickies you can get help here with dosing and strategies.

 

IAA testing can be useful, it that it can modify a bit how aggressive we are with dosing. Most importantly, it is self correcting after about a year ( 9 months for Neko ), and when it breaks, the insulin needs come tumbling down. Important to know when you are at a large dose with a large depot. BTW, most vets don't think IAA testing has value, but it's a very cheap add on to the IGF-1 test.

If SRT is out of your price range (and boy has it got more expensive since we first went!), you might want to think about trying cabergoline. Here is a thread with a discussion on cabergoline. Some cats have had insulin needs reduced on it, one here went off of insulin.

 

Thanks to Chubba (post below this one). This post updated.
The general range of the cabergoline treatment is ~$90/month.

 

We are paying $90 a month for Gizmo’s cabergoline. But the price varies greatly. Call around to local pharmacies. A lot of people also use diamondback online.

 

I've never heard of cabergoline, but I will look into it. Thank you.