Your experience using bromocriptine

[RattusNorvegicus]

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where members can post about their experience with treating PT's or mammary tumors with bromocriptine. So if you have used bromocriptine, (successfully, or unsuccessfully) please post about it here.

 

[jorats]

I used it about 4 times, all unsuccessful. We also believed it was the cause of severe stomach pains in a few of ours.

 

[crumbilina]

I have used it twice now.
One case - Mia - is doing amazingly well! She was diagnosed around the middle of Dec 2012. She was given bromo but it took a bit for it to start working. I had to supplement with dex, every other day, for about 3-4 days. Once she was stable, I stopped the dex and for over a month she was fine. 2 weeks ago I had to start supplementing with Dex again, but she gets a boost every 3-4 days instead of the every other day. She still looks great! Nice thick coat, can eat well, still runs normally (lol well as normal as an old rat can run, her HED makes her running look a bit funny). All in all a pretty good response.
The other is my silly Lily and honestly, I don't know how much the bromo is actually doing. She had been getting both dex and bromo because it was a very unusual presentation for a PT and we weren't sure. Since the side effects are relatively minor in comparison to what she was experiencing, we put her on it. When she plateaued, I stopped all of her meds except for dex which requires the rat to be weaned off (she was on a tonne of antibiotics for respiratory and such - total of 6 meds). I almost lost her when she was off the meds so we started her up again on bromo and dex, I think the combo of the 2 are helping. I also think that the bromo was doing something since when I stopped the bromo but not the dex and she regressed pretty badly. She seems "ok" this morning... But its difficult to say with her, she is a very unusual case.

Its definitely worth a shot if a rat has a PT. Just a word of advice, when going to get the drug from your vet ask for a script and go to the human pharmacy if the vet will give you one. It is much much cheaper there (usually).

 

[SQ]

Godmother has used it several times and has gotten good results for some ratties.
Because of Jorats' experiences re stomach pain, Godmother gradually increases the dose and gives with food. This seems to help.
You might want to do a search for her posts on using bromocriptine, or pm her.

 

[Unepuce]

I used Bromo only once. Back then, I thought it was godsent as Cabotine improved so much, but taking a step back, I now wonder if the reprieve was due to Bromo or just putting her back on the Pred.

I had a thread for her: http://ratshackforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=30318&hilit=cabotine

God forbid I ever have another rat with PT, but if I do, I will definitely give it another try, trying to remove the steroid factor out of the equation to make sure the improvement is due to the Bromo. Sadly, this was the first experience with Bromo for both my vet and I, and to be honest, I would have done just about anything to get Cabotine back to her old self - so "experimenting" was the last thing on my mind.

 

[victoria]

I used it with Ginger from Sept. 3rd of last year until she passed away Jan. 28th. She did not do well at a full dose (she wasn't active, she seemed in pain and squeaked when touched, the cage started smelling like digested blood) but after experimenting with the dose, she did really well at a much lower dose (1/6th of the recommended dose). She even survived surgery to remove two small lumps.

She passed away after she developed three very invasive malignant tumours on her leg but the necropsy confirmed she had a PT and that it was still relatively small when she passed. She was only on steroids for 4-5 days when she first started the Bromo.

 

[Godmother]

Yes, my first experience was rough because my ratty began refusing the meds after the first day, and it took almost a month before she would trust me enough to eat anything I offered her by hand. The same thing happened with her cage mate. Despite that, even a day or so of treatment led to an extra three months of life and the ability of the two rats to from themselves and to eat unaided.

I had spectacular success with two others, whom I started on 1/4 dose and increased until they regained almost-normal function. They went from limp and clise to death (despite Pred) to walking and eating within a day. One rat, Stella, lived another seven months. The other lived another 3 1/2 months. Both died just short of the 3 year old mark.

 

[victoria]

Ginger would never take the Bromo willingly but I used to put the 1/4 pill in a 1cc syringe and draw in a bit of homemade syrup, wait for the pill to dissolve and administer it. I doubt she even ingested the entire 1/4 pill every third day, she drooled and wiped her chin a lot. Nevertheless it did help and I will use it again when I have another rat with PT.

 

[thegoldenrat]

I started my little rattie on Bromo very late in the game, however, I did see a slight improvement for a short while. The Dex shot helped significantly.
Should I ever have a rat with PT again, I would treat it with Bromo very early on. I have a feeling it would've helped and extended her life.