New here, with my Trixie, 12 yr old Boxer mix

[bellatrixie]

Hi...I'm new to this forum...a little lost on how to post...sorry...
My sweet trixie has been diagnoised with not severe cushings. She's 12, a boxer mix.
Excessive drinking, urination, panting...
Had her blood tested by the University of TN. They are suggesting Lignan from Flax Seed Hulls, not the Oil. 40-50mg once a day with Milatonin 6mg twice a day. The vet said let's try for about a month, see how it goes before we start her on the Lysodren.
Of course the Milatonin is easy to fine, the flax seed hulls in tablet form...not easy.
Any suggetions...I've searched many stores, no luck.
thanks so much...

[lulusmom]

Hi and welcome to the forum

It sounds as though Trixie does not have elevated cortisol but rather an elevation of one or more of the other five adrenal hormones. Can you get your hands on a copy of the UTK adrenal panel and post the results here? The more information you can give us, the better able we can provide meaningful feedback. With that being said, I'll ask a few more questions if you don't mind. What symptoms did Trixie have that lead you and your vet to suspect cushing's. Aside from the UTK panel, were any other test done? If so, can you post the results here?

I have two dogs with typical cushing's and one of them also has elevated intermediate/sex hormones. Her lignans come from pressed flax hulls purchased from www.flaxhulls.com. In the past, she has also taken lignans purchased from http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Flax-Seed-Lignans
Both are very good; however, improvements are not usually seen for three to four months. Therefore, your vets time frame of one month is probably unrealistic.

We look forward to receiving more information on your sweet Trixie.

Glynda

[StarDeb55]

Hello to you & Trixie, welcome to our group! I don't want to assume anything, so are you Bella?

Anyway, I must warn you that we tend to play "20 questions" with new members, but all the information you are willing to provide us, just helps us to give you the best information we can from the group's collective experience. From your description, it sounds like Trixie has been diagnosed with Atypical Cushing's based on the UTK panel results, rather pituitary or adrenal Cushing's that has an elevated cortisol result. I see Glynda has already asked some of the questions I was going to ask, so I will try not to duplicate. Along with the UTK panel results, there should be a treatment recommendations sheet, we would also like to see what those recommendations are. I'm in total agreement with Glynda about the length of time to allow the melatonin + flaxseed to work, it's usually 3-4 months minimum. I believe this is the timeframe that the UTK treatment recommendations also states.

When it comes to other labwork, was something like a senior wellness panel or comprehensive chemistry panel done? If you get a copy of those results, posting just the abnormal values, along with the reporting units, & normal ranges. There are some common abnormalities in our cushpups that show up on general labwork that we usually like to see, too. Just to let you know, I'm a medical lab technologist with 29+ years experience, so I'm used to looking at those kind of numbers.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Debbie

[gpgscott]

Welcome to you both as well,

I would ask about thyroid in addition. It is a common issue and usually late to be diagnosed.

Like the others have said it can take up to 3 months to see improvemnt.

Moria has been almost three years now on lignans and melatonin and is doing well, she is a little over a year on thyroid which seemed to improve everything.

Scott

[Barney's Mom]

Hello and welcome Trixie, and welcome to Trixie's human as well. :)

Cheryl