Lexie’s Journey With SARDS

Lexie’s Journey With SARDS

This is a guest post by Jacob Roethler.

Lexie was said to be legally blind in July 2013 when she was diagnosed with SARDS at Iowa State University. We were told to go home and help her adapt to being a blind dog. Things like not moving the furniture around and putting a bell around her neck to hear when she's moving.   This video is taken in November 2013, after 4 months of Dr. Plechner's advice/ protocol. Today, Not only her vision but her personality is fully restored. Here is a video of her tracking and retrieving through an obstacle.

Dr. Plechner

The following is a copy of the original e-mail suggestions I sent to Dr. Roethler before the proper tests and therapy had begun. Lexie had been blind with SARDS for a month prior to contacting me.

Lexie is text book for the endocrine immune imbalance that causes SARDS.
Her cortisol production from the middle layer adrenal cortex is deficient which cannot fund the negative feedback to the pituitary.
The pituitary gland keeps producing its hormone, ACTH in hopes of having the middle layer adrenal cortex produce more active cortisol which will not happen.
The inner layer adrenal cortex responds with a direct feedback and produces elevated amounts of adrenal hormone.
The elevated adrenal estrogen does the following;
It binds the receptor sights of T3 and T4 and that is why Lexie needs to take .1mg. of a T4 supplement AM and PM.
It deregulates the immune system so that the immune cells lose recognition of self-tissue and begin to destroy the retinal tissue.
It also causes the B-cell to reduce its production of immunoglobulin which in turn not only does not protect the eye, but when the IgA is below 58, oral steroids will not be absorbed along with other orals supplements.
Therefore, I would suggest the following, however by law all I am only allowed to do is make suggestions, and you and your veterinarian can decide to implement these suggestions or not.
With an IgA of 50, Lexie will need three intramuscular injections of a combination of 1 mg of Vetalog mixed with 30 mgs of Depomedrol at 10 day intervals.
A follow up blood test can be done at the time of the 3rd injection to make sure the IgA is at 58 or higher.
10 days after the last injection, Lexie would take 1 mg. of Medrol daily orally.
If your veterinarian does not have the Depomedrol, you might ask him for a prescription so that you can order it.
Carefully following these exact suggestions will guarantee Lexie a 50 % chance for some sort of sight return.

The following test results will indicate why, with proper correction of a hormone antibody imbalance, which caused Lexie to develop SARDS, which is an autoimmune disease, why her sight once again returned.

Initial Test Results - 07/23/2013

TEST

RESULTS

UNITS

NORMAL RANGE

Total Estrogen

35.20

pg/mL

30.00-35.00

Cortisol

0.44

ug/dL

1.00-2.50

T3

114.38

ng/dL

100.00-200.00

T4

2.54

ug/dL

2.00-4.50

IgA

50

mg/dL

70-170

IgG

703

mg/dL

1,000-2,000

IgM

69

mg/dL

100-200

Test results during treatment

TEST

09/04/13
RESULTS

09/11/13
RESULTS

01/14/14
RESULTS

UNITS

NORMAL
RANGE

Total
Estrogen

35.22

35.16

34.98

pg/mL

30.00-35.00

Cortisol

0.98

0.84

1.35

ug/dL

1.00-2.50

T3

129.94

94.67

135.34

ng/dL

100.00-200.00

T4

3.30

1.87

3.83

ug/dL

2.00-4.50

IgA

52

54

73

mg/dL

70-170

IgG

731

753

1,105

mg/dL

1,000-2,000

IgM

72

74

109

mg/dL

100-200

Hopefully Lexie’s battle with SARDS and her ability to have her sight return will give many of you pet owners that have a dog that was diagnosed with SARDS, some hope that you don’t always “have to go home and learn how to live with a blind dog”.