Elijah Cushing's symptoms (10 y/o German Shepherd mix) Trilostane

[jepaul]

Eli is a 10 y/o German Shepherd mix. He was diagnosed with Cushing's in December '10. We started tx with 130 mg Trilostane once a day and after a few ACTH stim tests decreased it to 100mg once a day. I haven't seen a lot of improvements in his symptoms. He is growing some of his outer coat back (after a trim last summer) slowly. His eating and drinking are still crazy. He still pants but he has nasal polyps filling up one side of his nose and partly on the other...so he breaths through his mouth a lot. We had another ACTH stim test today and will await the results. A diabetes test today was negative. My vet and I talked about trying twice a day dosing. Has anyone had an improvment after switching??

[labblab]

Hello and welcome to you and Eli!

I only have a few moments to post right now, and I hate to respond to your questions with some questions of my own :o. But your answers will help us to give you more meaningful feedback.

Can you tell us how much Eli weighs, and also some more details about the history of his symptoms and diagnostic Cushing's tests? Also, even though you may not have the results "in your hands" right now, it will help us tremendously if you can find out and supply us with the actual numbers for any diagnostic tests and also the monitoring ACTH tests since Eli has started on his trilostane.

Even though Dechra, the manufacturer of Vetoryl (brandname trilostane), recommends that dogs be initially started on a once daily morning dose, if monitoring ACTH tests come back within the desired range but symptoms rebound later in the day -- then twice daily dosing is recommended. So the big question is, what exactly have been the monitoring ACTH test results for Eli thus far? It sounds as though you will soon have the most recent testing results. And it will be great if you can also obtain the previous results, as well. Once we have that information, we'll be able to make additional suggestions.

In the meantime, I'm so glad you've found us. And I'm looking forward to reading more about Eli.

Marianne

[jepaul]

Eli's weight is 76lbs. Things I noticed were: his peeing in the house a lot, hunger and thirst. He also had his top coat cut in Aug of '10 and it was not growing back. The reason I initially took him to the vet was because he didn't seem like he was pooping. The vet checked out his stomach and thought he felt bloated and took some xrays. They revealed a significantly enlarged liver. After a radiologist read xrays and thought that the liver looked normal, just enlarged...that lead us to blood tests. I do have the results of the last test. His pre was .9 and the time before was .4. The only post reading I have is from the last one and that was 1.9.
The biggest problem right now is that Eli had a seizure early morning on Sunday and again at 11pm that night. I took him to the vet after the second seizure and left him to be monitored. He had another seizure Monday morning. The have him on Phenobarbitol and valium (of some sort). He stayed over again and had ultrasound today and a liver panel blood test. Hopefully results will come in soon.

[jepaul]

I have posted about Elijah recently. He had one seizure a little over a month ago...thought maybe it was a fluke. On Easter at 3:30am he had his 2nd and at 11pm had his 3rd seizure. Took him to my vet clinic after 3rd seizure and had him monitored. He had another the next morning. They are managing it with Phenobarbital and valium. Liver blood test and ultrasound performed today...awaiting results. Has anyone had any problems like this with Trilostane?

[Harley PoMMom]

Dogs that are taking Phenobarbital will usually drink a lot more water and urinate more. Also their liver enzymes tend to be elevated.

When Elijah's Trilostane dose was lowered was an ACTH stim test scheduled in 10 days to see where his cortisol levels are? The 1.9 post has me a bit concerned.

Keeping you and Elijah in my thoughts and prayers.

Love and hugs,
Lori

[littleone1]

Hi and a belated welcome to you and Elijah.

I'm sorry Elijah is having seizures. Corky had seizures prior to being diagnosed with cushings. He hasn't had one for over two years. He's been taking Trilo for 1 1/2 years and hasn't had any problems.

He started dosing once a day, was switched to twice daily dosing, and is now on three times daily dosing. He was started at a low dose, and the dosage was increased as necessary.

I hope Elijah's seizures can be controlled with the medication, and that there aren't anymore of them.

Terri

[jepaul]

Eli has been seizure free for 48 hours and I took him home tonight. After the last ACTH stim test, we are going to reduce his dosage to 37.5mg twice a day. Liver tests/bile tests good. We did discover that he also has hypothyroidism. He will remain on Pheonbarbital and now thyroid pills too. Just praying for no more seizures.

[littleone1]

I'm glad that Eli is home and hasn't had any seizures for two days. I'm also hoping that they are under control.

Corky is also on meds for hypothyroidism. He was diagnosed with this 11 years ago, and has been doing very good with his Soloxine.

Terri

[addy]

Stopping in to say hi and to tell you I have been following along. I am glad Elijah is back home and I hope the seizures are over.

Hugs,
Addy

[Harley PoMMom]

Seizures can be caused by underlying factors such as Hypothyroidism. I am glad that Elijah is home and has been seizure-free.

Love and hugs,
Lori