No pain meds when starting Adequan?

[mysweetkaos]

So I just spoke with Kaos' vet. His injections are in the office. We have an appointment for Thursday for educating me and for the vet to show me the ropes and give the first injection. They told me to stop his tramadol tonight, as it is dangerous to keep him on it with the adequan? Is that common practice? As any of you with seniors on meds for arthritis, it can be a struggle without meds...so I am concerned. I have read adequan takes awhile to take effect, so is he going to be miserable in the meantime?

[Good_Karma]

I don't have an answer to your question, but can you let me know how it goes with learning how to do the injections? It's something we may one day consider for one of our dogs.

[arycrest]

Originally Posted by mysweetkaos

So I just spoke with Kaos' vet. His injections are in the office. We have an appointment for Thursday for educating me and for the vet to show me the ropes and give the first injection. They told me to stop his tramadol tonight, as it is dangerous to keep him on it with the adequan? Is that common practice? As any of you with seniors on meds for arthritis, it can be a struggle without meds...so I am concerned. I have read adequan takes awhile to take effect, so is he going to be miserable in the meantime?

I can't answer this since times change ... new studies ... new data, but several of the Hooligans took Tramadol along with their Adequan injections and several other meds.

[mysweetkaos]

Goodkarma I will definetely give an update after my "learning" session. I have worked as a nurse and been a dialysis tech (life before children) so it shouldn't bother me too much....funny though with it being Kaos I am struggling with the thought!!
Arycrest....I can't find anything online (not that that means anything) about bad side effects of doing them together. Albeit my vet is dead set he won't do it...said he feels it is too hard on the dogs kidney/liver as well as posing a bleeding issue.
I am so nervous at the thought of him being off his pain meds. He is so grouchy and in pain without them. I called the vet back and liberally voiced my concerns...he said he doesn't think it will take long to see the benefit of the adequan, and to bear with him in remembering that he is searching for long term relief for Kaos as opposed to short term. Still scared for my ol' guy...not to mention he will be in no mood for the 7 month old puppy antics of Sherman Tank, so it looks like I should just crate and rotate until we are sure it is working

[Samba]

I will ask my vet tomorrow if he is in when I stop by. I give Adequan, Tramadol and Prevacox at times.

Drugs have to be processed through the system in some manner. Generally through liver or kidneys. The vet may have concern for the load on these organs.

Is the restriction just for the loading dose time?

[mysweetkaos]

Thank you Samba....I would appreciate it very much. This adequan is sort of a "hail Mary" last attempt to make him comfortable, so it pains me to think I am going to make him more uncomfortable even for just a bit with a chance this doesn't work. I have been second guessing myself as to whether we are doing the right thing....but honestly I don't always want to think what if it had worked....no price is worth constantly wondering if you could've had more time.

[mysweetkaos]

Kaos had his first appt to start his loading dose last night! First off our regular vet had a family emergency, so he had another vet filling in and covering his appts (he is a 1 vet private practice). Can I just say I like the new vet....A LOT. She talked w/me about suppliments, Kaos didn't have to be muzzled, it was a dream I wanted to ask her where her normal practice was....but my vet's techs were always in the room, so I didn't want to be rude.
She was ok with certain pain meds on adequan (gaberneurontin is the word stuck in my head....I'll do more research) She even said tramadol is ok to use....but when we talked about it, most of the behavioral changes we've seen in Kaos are side effects of tramadol, so she feels it is not a good choice for him.
The injection went good....although his weigh-in was 120, so I need to work on getting more weight off him. When he was young and active he never went over 105ish. She showed me IM but said feel free to do SQ at home. Simple procedure pull the area to be injected up into a tent with one hand and inject with the other. She said doesn't matter what spot I choose as long as it is ID (in dog) Last night he was happy and in our face, so there was no immediate side effects. This morning he has yet to get off his bed, probably a bit sore I know IM can cause more injection site pain then SQ. So I will continue to watch and update. I don't think I am forgetting anything.....oh yeah any suggestions on how to find out where she normally works? I like her SO much better...she also recommended acupuncture if K does appear to still need help with pain after getting "loaded"!!

[mysweetkaos]

Gabapentin...which is another name for neurotin

[mysweetkaos]

So let me first say Kaos had his first adequan injection on Thursday. We noticed an immediate difference. I am not sure if it was a result of being clear headed from being off pain meds or the adequan, but WOW ! All weekend, Kaos was much more active, using his back legs seperately rather than hopping up the stairs like he is used to, much more affectionate and present with the family....it was great. So Sunday was the first day we had to do an injection at home. Granted I am not a newbie to injections. I worked as a nurse and even did my grandpas dialysis and insulin injections before he passed, but that was years ago. Anyhow....we ended up muzzling Kaos and giving him a frosty paws to concentrate on to ease my nerves. I opted for SQ rather than IM. For a dog who's never even noticed procedures at the vet, he sure cried up a storm (played up the guilt card), but it went well. Other than good side effects all I notice is a bit of loose stools, but it passes quickly and is worth the improvement I see in him already. I sure hope his good streak keeps up

[LisaT]

So glad that he responded so well, that is GREAT news!