HELP...High Glucose and possible Somatostatinoma

Hello, I'm now so devastated right now because my beardie, Angchew, is sick. I do not know anyone other than my vet to ask about her symptom, so I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could give me any advice to ease my mind and save my best friend. Angchew is a female and 1.5 years old and she used to have a good appetite and was very active. For the past few days, she lost her appetite, slightly lethargic than before, and slept a lot. So my family thought she was going through brumation. But last Thursday, she had a blood in her stool so we took her to an emergency with her stool sample. We took a stool sample and fortunately there were no parasites, but her blood glucose level was screaming above 900+ (970ish). The vet said possibly she is having a malignant cancer called Gastric Neuroendocrine Carcinoma and I couldn't help but crying. Angchew is going to get an ultrasound exam on Monday (tomorrow) for an accurate result, but my family is devastated. Her WBC is slightly higher, about 20%, than normal and the vet said it is possible that she is trying to fight against some kind of infection. We've been feeding her Emeraid twice a day, Metronidazole and Tramadol every 48 hours. She looked active sometimes but today she tried to poop 3-4 times in 30 minutes, and there was a blood in her stool again... and diarrhea. We were shocked and gave her a warm bath and massage, and she pooped again and this time it wasn't a runny poo but there was a blood again....I can't stop crying right now. She doesn't have a black beard and her color is just fine (goldish yellow). She looked alert today but she's now taking a nap (or maybe exhausted) on her basking spot with her eyes barely opened, but I'm scared to lose her because she is everything to me and my family. I fed her about four hornworms a month ago, and I think she gradually started to lose her appetite ever since, but I don't know if high glucose level has a direct correlation with hornworms. I hope what she is going through is just a mild impaction, not cancer. Is it possible to have a high glucose if she has curable diseases, other than Gastric Neuroendocrine Carcinoma? Is it ok to give her a surgery or even an exploratory surgery if she has any chance to become healthy again? Also, is there any successful cancer recovery story of your bearded dragon? I am willing to do everything I can do to make hher comfortable and happy. Thank you very much for your help.

Hi there, first off I'm so sorry that your family + beardie are going through this. I don't know if I have anything valuable to offer but I truly hope it's not cancer. You'll get more answers tomorrow.....in the meantime you can Google bearded dragon cancer + high blood sugar to see experiences of other beardie owners.

I would hope the bleeding is from impaction but it's not too likely, unless she ate something hard to digest....then there's a chance.

One of the mods. will be on later in the evening, or ypou can send her a p.m. Tracie [user name is Dache613 ] is usually helpful in these situations. Best wishes to you in this difficult situation.

Hello,

That sounds very serious, I am sorry to hear your girl is so ill. I know it's a horrible feeling.
They already did blood work? Do you have a copy of it I could look at, if that's alright? You can
PM me & I will send my email to you.
Did they consider possible egg issues, like peritonitis, etc which could possibly cause impaction
or bleeding? That is also something to consider.
It is surprising that she doesn't have a black beard though! Does she seem bloated at all?
I don't think the hornworms would have anything to do with the situation though, after this
long. Where did you get the hornworms from & what were they fed before she ate them?
Do you know what the uric acid levels were & AST enzymes too?
The pancreas could be having some trouble, leading to diabetes or just hyperglycemia which
will pose problems! Have you tested her for Adenovirus?
Keep her around 75-80 overnight right now, to boost her system & make her comfortable.
When are you taking her back to the vet?

Tracie

I'm very sorry you're going through this, this is not easy no matter what the cause is. You'll get definitive answers about a tumor from the ultrasound today, but to answer your question yes, there are a lot of things that could be causing her glucose levels to rise that high, and a form of cancer is just one of them. As Tracie already mentioned a few of these, and there are many more. So don't lose all hope until you see the ultrasound and see what it says. Hopefully it's not due to any type of serious disease.

And the Tramadol will make her very sleepy, so that's completely normal...why did they put her on the Flagyl? I supposed because of the high white cell count, but keep in mind that Flagyl is a harsh medication that will most likely make her tired and feel badly too, and on top of the Tramadol it's no wonder she's sleepy. That's completely normal...keep us posted on the ultrasound result...