Glucose levels 420 gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma?? :(

[Davinci123]

Hello, we are really worried about Davinci. He is just over two years old. The past 2-3 weeks he has been very slow and not wanting to move. We thought he was impacted, after many baths we got him to poop. We were hoping he would be back to normal and running all over the house after this. Unfortunately he just got more sleepy and his beard has been black for the past week. He has been struggling to move and his right leg in particular shakes when we touch it. We took him to the vet and she ran blood tests. She has just called us and told us his glucose level is 420 and all his other results look normal. She didn't send us the full results but did say his phosphorus was on the low side but still in the normal range. She said it's most likely that he has Gastric Neuroendocrine Carcinoma; however, we have been researching and it seems that other beardies have super super high levels in the thousands.
We did feed him strawberries the night before his test and we know that they have slow metabolisms so could this have affected his results?

We are so so sad and so worried, hopefully someone has some answers or thoughts

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there, It might be worth it to retest in a week or two, and see what the glucose levels are.

You should get an x ray done too. If there is a tumor, it should show on the xray, then you'd know for sure whether or not its GNT

-Brandon

 

[Davinci123]

That's a good idea. Do you think 420 isn't too terribly high for glucose levels? He has also been showing signs of a painful or injured leg the past 2-3 days so I wonder if his leg is causing his black beard and higher than normal glucose?

 

[Claudiusx]

It's high, but it's not outlandishly high. Although it still can be an indicator of GNT.

Getting an xray will serve double purpose then, checking on the leg, and checking for a tumor in the GI tract.
Do you know how he might have injured his leg?

Would you be able to post all of the blood work on here?

-Brandon

 

[Davinci123]

We aren't sure what he may have done to his leg. That's the thing ... He was SO active three weeks ago. He'd practically jump out of his terrarium. The little guy was running everywhere!! It's possible he hurt himself when he was on his adventures although we are always watching him closely.

I'll ask the vet to send his blood work tomorrow so I can post it.

Would you imagine his glucose could be high because of an infection, something he ate (we fed him strawberries, just a tiny amount as he wasn't feeling good before the vet) or the leg pain? We are trying to think of anything other than the worse case scenario :''(

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Definitely post the blood test results if you can. I would say that strawberries could
increase the levels, so retesting in a few weeks would be good. As suggested, an x-ray
could be helpful also.
Do you have any pictures of him, does his leg appear swollen as it might be if he would
have injured it possibly?
Be sure to keep him a little warmer overnight right now since he isn't feeling well. Let
us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Davinci123]

Here are his bloods:

Glucose: 420 mg/dL
Uric acid 2.2 mg/dl
Phosphorus 3.3 mg/dL
Calcium 12.7 mg/dL
Sodium 149 mmol/L
Potassium 4.9 mmol/L
Total protein 5.2 g/dL
Albumin 3.3 g/dL
Globulin 1.9 g/dL
ALB/GLOB ratio 1.7
ALT 7 U/L
AST 17 U/L
ALP 849 U/L
LDH 210 IU/L
Cholesterol 237 mg/dL
Creatine kinase 586 U/L

Exotic CBC and plasma protein
WBC-EST 8.8-10.8 THOUS
WBC 9.8 k/uL
HCT 38 %
Heterophils 43 %
% Lymphocyte 47 %
% monocyte 0 %
Azurophil 7 %
% eosinophil 0 %
% basophil 3 %
Thrombocytes Adequate
Blood parasites - no parasites seen

Absolute heterophils 4214 /uL
Lymphocyte 4606 /uL
Monocyte 0 /uL
Absolute Azurophil 686 /uL
Eosinophil 0 /uL
Basophil 294 /uL
Plasma protein 6.7

Hopefully someone can read this and help us understand and give us good news.

We will take a photo of his leg when we are home. The vet gave us tramadol for him.

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm not sure what to make of the whole report, but the glucose levels are high but not insane (1000+). That might be good news. Interesting to me that the uric acid levels are low. My dragon had high uric acid levels and gout as a symptom of neuroendocrine gastrinoma. I'm not sure if that means much, but it may also be good news in this case. I'm hoping for the best.

 

[Davinci123]

I'm so sorry your dragon had Neuroendocrine Gastrinoma

You have given us some hope back, thank you <3 we are researching and looking at what this could mean.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your dragon doing this evening?
Those levels don't loo terrible, I have seen a lot higher.
What other foods are you feeding him & what type of gutload do you use for your insects?
Looking forward to seeing a picture of his leg also. Is his mobility any better?
The calcium to phosphorus ratios look fine & so do the AST or liver enzymes. The Uric acid
or kidney readings are well within range, too.
It doesn't appear that he has an infection based on the White blood cell count. The monocyte
levels are low so perhaps he just needs some immune system boosting. You can try some bee
pollen for help with immune system function & for appetite stimulation.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[Davinci123]

Hi Tracie,

He was black and sleepy all evening, thismorning he isn't black but this could be due to the tramadol. He's opening his eyes and watching us but not trying to move.

We feed him collards mostly, he doesn't love them. Sometimes he will eat them by himself and sometimes we blend them up. He eats bell pepper and melon. Occasionally blueberries and strawberries and apple. We know these aren't great for him so we only give them as treats. He probably eats 75% roaches and 25% veggies. (We know it should be the other way around he just hates the veggies but we are changing that) the dubias are dusted with calcium. We have just got some Emeraid IC herbivore for him and are giving him that daily. He's very sweet and allows us to easily feed him with the syringe.

I'll try to attach a photo of his legs once I send this message. If you touch his back left leg his body judders. He will do this even after we gave him the tramadol.

Recently we have been gut loading his roaches with strawberries. This is actually something we never do but we have done this for maybe two weeks. Usually we use collards.

 

[Davinci123]

Here is a video link to his leg issue. Watch at the end, his whole body jumps. This is the first day in weeks he's even moving his head.

https://youtu.be/0dJCT5_rkdU

Also, he always seems to turn his body like this. Maybe it's because of his leg or the gastric issue, if he even has one.

 

[CooperDragon]

The darkness in his beard tells me that something is bugging him. His movement looks like he is just trying to move away and may not like having his leg touched. It looks a bit dull like maybe it is going to shed. Not sure about that, but my dragon doesn't usually like it when I touch him near shedding areas and responds in a similar way.

 

[Davinci123]

Does anyone have any experience with coccidia? We have been reading and are wondering if this could be what Davinci has...?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your dragon doing this evening?
Have you gotten a fecal test for coccidia? If heavy loads of coccidia are present, that can
definitely cause a myriad of health problems. Can you get a fecal done on him by chance?
Is his beard still dark?

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie