Methimazole vs. Rx food?

[sweetblackpaws]

My girl's liver numbers are quite elevated since being on methimazole for hyperthyroidism. The meds are helping her (T4 now in normal range), but liver numbers are rising (in "high" range). Vet wants to increase meds. Does anyone have experience with this? What did you do?

Maybe an Rx diet would be preferable to meds?

I will not do radioactive iodine.

 

[sweetblackpaws]

No one has had this complication from methimazole?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Sorry no one has responded to your thread yet. I am guessing you already did a search on this site for previous threads that might contain some information about methimazole? If not, see link below. At least it gives you some other posts to go through in case there might some helpful information in them.
Search Results for Query: methimazole

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Did you happen to ask your Vet why they would want to increase a medication that appears to be causing liver issues? I would ask that question of them to find out their thoughts before doing it. Sometimes things seem counterintuitive but there is a reason . If they cannot give you one to your satisfaction, you can always get a second opinion.

Logic says to stop the medication and either use another one (if there is one) or go with the diet change, but as I said, perhaps your Vet has a good reason for their advice.

 

[sweetblackpaws]

She said that often as the thyroid numbers come down, the liver enzymes will come down, as well. This did happen back in December, so I can see why it could be worth a try, but her liver enzymes were never this high.

I will call her today - she has been away, so I had spoken with the relief vet, not my regular vet.

I agree, it seems more logical to me to try the diet change (assuming that doesn't impact her liver).

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I didn't realize they wanted her T4 to decrease as well. I figured since they were in normal range that would be an issue if her meds were increased. My thoughts would be that she might go into hypOthyroidism with liver issues. A double whammy .

But, yes, it does may sense if her thyroid values were still high. High thyroid values can themselves cause high liver values (or so i've read) even without any meds.

 

[fionasmom]

Your vet is using methimazole for cats, right? Not off market for people which some vets do and it is not considered safe. My cats with hyperthroidism took felimazole which is basically the same thing; however, I would want an answer to the liver numbers since there is a small chance of liver complications with that drug and would want to discuss the dosage. Hopefully this is going to be resolved by your regular vet.