Diva - Having major issues with calcium deposits

[missabear]

Hello All!

I must admit, I have been a bit of a creeper on here over the past month or so and have finally decided to register and reach out to all of you for hopefully some advice and assistance!

My sweet 9 year old chihuahua/shih tzu mix has been diagnosed with adrenal cushings and we have been treating with trilostane for about a month now. We have decided not to pursue surgery as the mortality rates we just something we were not comfortable with. We are seeing good results in terms of her tests and her levels.

The real issue that we are really struggling with right now are calcium deposits (calcinosis cutis). They are all over her abdomen and are open, oozing and raw. She also has some around her ears. She is on antibiotics and will continue to be until we can get these under control. Surgery was done to remove two large deposits on her abdomen and within less then two weeks, they were back and considerably worse then prior to the surgery.

We are washing her daily with hibotane and today were prescribed DMSO/Ketoprofen and will be applying this daily as well. We are also increasing her dose slightly of trilostane.

Does anyone out there have experience with calcium deposits and more so used the DMSO? Any feedback or advice you can provide, I would be so grateful! We are very discouraged as we are simply trying to manage this disease and keep her comfortable and cannot do so at this point. So incredibly frustrating. Oh and the poor thing has been wearing a cone for the last 3 weeks and will have to continue until we can get this managed.

Thanks in advance!

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and your precious girl! I do not have any experience with calcinosis cutis but we do have a few members who do. Here are some links to a staff member's post, Angela, about this:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showpost.php?p=53040&postcount=12

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showpost.php?p=41065&postcount=41

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showpost.php?p=29328&postcount=188

Please know we will help you in any way we can, so please do not hesitate to ask any questions.

Love and hugs,
Lori

[missabear]

Thanks so much for the links! I will check them out right now.

Much appreciated!!!

[littleone1]

Corky and I also want to welcome the both of you. I don't have any experience with calcium deposits either, but you have found a wonderful group of very caring, supportive and knowledgeable people.

Corky has a right adrenal tumor and is also being treated with Trilostane. He's been taking it for 19 1/2 months now, and he has been doing very well with it. He is not a good candidate for surgery.

I hope you will be able to get answers about the deposits. Lori has given you some good links.

Terri

[addy]

Hi,

I want to welcome you along with Lori and Terri. Lori gave you some good links to go through. I am sorry you are having such a hard time with calcinosis cutis. We are here for you and will help in any way we can.

I am certain our members that have dealt with it and/or are dealing with it will be along soon. Hang in there.

Hugs,
Addy

[missabear]

Thanks littleone1! That lifted my spirits when you said your little munchkin has been on the treatment for 19.5 months. We are just in a bad place right now with trying to manage this disease that I really needed to hear some good news! Thanks!

Addy - You are so right, the links were great and provided some good info so far. I am really hoping to find someone who has been working with the DMSO and see what their results were.

We applied the first dose today, so I am anxious to get home and make sure she didn't get ill or anything. My DH has to do all of the work with this drug as I am pregnant and cannot be around it.

Thanks for everything so far!

[Sabre's Mum]

Welcome!

I only have a moment to post ... just done a night shift and need to get to bed. Lori has kindly provided you links to replies I have previously posted so I will try to direct my post to DMSO.

As you would have seen on a post on Mocha's thread I made a comment about DMSO. In my research when Sabre first had his calcinosis cutis and was initally trying to find ways of dealing with it, I found that DMSO was a recommended treament. However we are unable to obtain the product in NZ. There was a fantastic article from South Africa but I am unable to locate this when I search! Also UPenn apparently has an article on the use of DMSO for treatment of calcinosis cutis.

From what I understood at the time ... DMSO will bring the calcium deposits to the surface and erode them.

I am sorry that I am unable to help you any further with regards to the DSMO.

If you have any further queries, please ask away. I will try to get back on around sleep and work.

Angela and Flynn

[MBK]

I don't have any experience or wisdom to offer concerning calcium deposits, but I can empathize with you concerning the adrenal cushing's, though. My Alivia has a problem with her right adrenal gland - there is some disagreement among her vets as to whether it is a tumor, hyperplasia or something else. Her tests so far have not been entirely consistent. She is 13+ and also NOT a candidate for surgery. I, too, felt the odds on that were more than I was willing to take.

I am happy to hear the Trilostane treatment seems to be helping. I hope you can get the other problem resolved soon. Your poor baby must be miserable in that cone! What is her name?

[jrepac]

this simple home remedy may help....buy a bottle of liquid milk of magnesia (Philips or similar)....shake well and apply topically to the affected area [easiest to smear on with your fingers, I have found.] It seems to have a healing affect and may actually dry out some of the oozing spots. It's inexpensive and worth a shot. I read about this from some tests that were done using vinegar, magnesium and a few other things. etc. Magnesium seems to help based on what I read.


I hope you have some success!

Jeff & Angel Mandy

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi,

Welcome to you and Diva! :)

I found several informative sites on DMSO and wanted to share them with you. I had never heard of it but it sounds as if it has many uses across many species. Quite interesting reading! ;);)

Here are the links I found most informative -

http://www.dmso.org/

http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm

http://www.herpes-coldsores.com/dmso.pdf

http://www.gaylordchemical.com/bulletins/bulletin106b/Bulletin106B.pdf

http://www.bevanpotter.com/DMSO_bp.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1124535

http://curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=1249191

http://books.google.com/books?id=CvHazimbX5oC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=dmso+and+calcinosis+cutis&source=bl&ots=DHk1CN2Ncd&sig=wrVXZXaL3D2IvLT-Xc7MIpwCmcs&hl=en&ei=VGvhTe_6Jsaltwf13bX9Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=dmso%20and%20calcinosis%20cutis&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=x6cI0h49OS8C&pg=PA549&lpg=PA549&dq=dmso+and+calcinosis+cutis&source=bl&ots=7YQpmfjybZ&sig=o0D3T-dA4HBxK5LWWRRsAViQdhg&hl=en&ei=VGvhTe_6Jsaltwf13bX9Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=dmso%20and%20calcinosis%20cutis&f=false

http://www.itchnot.com/images/_7_Endocrine_Alopecia.pdf

Hope this helps!

How is Diva doing? How is she handling the DMSO? Any sign of improvement yet? Let us hear from you when you get a chance!

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[apollo6]

Welcome to you and Diva
My Apollo has the pituatory cushing and is on the Trilostane since JUne of last year. I stopped in November 2011and restarted again in March 2011.
Apollo has the calcium deposits and the calcinosis cutis. I have squeezed out the stuff. But I don't think that is a good idea. I also apply Thayers Alchol-free Toner unscented Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera(gentle moisturizes and cleanses)
If you give it some time a few months , some of the skin issues should clear up.
Hugs Sonja and Apollo

[missabear]

Thank you all so much for your words of support and advice. Diva has been on the DMSO for 3 days now and we are seeing some changes with the spots. They seem to be much more red, but it is too soon to tell if it's "working". We are taking her in tomorrow to have her calcium levels tested as my vet indicated their have been mixed reports on whether DMSO has an effect on their internal levels of calcium so we are just being cautious and testing after fours days to make sure she is ok.

Squirt's Mom - Thanks so much for all of the links, that is fantastic! I will most definitely continue to update this thread as we continue with this treatment.

Diva is in good spirits, but that is just because she has such a great nature. She is a major trooper as we have to apply the DMSO and other anti-bacterial wash each once daily and although it is uncomfortable is such a good girl. We are giving her codeine as well just every once in a while as this condition (when inflamed) is quite painful.

Thanks again and keep any feedback and comments coming.

[andysmom]

You haven't posted for quite awhile so I sincerely hope your baby is doing ok.

My boy Andy had dx of Calcinosis cutis iatrogenic. That means he had a severe reaction to the steroid he was taking, Dexamethasone. It was also suggested to me to try the DMSO. This may have temporarily helped. But Andy declinded so rapidly we didn't even have time to try it. It was all we could do just to keep up with every debilitating symptom that developed.

Andys steroid dose was drastically increased by a very stupid vet who reassured me the dose was correct. As soon as I saw adverse reactions, I immediately decreased the dose, but couldn't decrease it too fast. The damage had already been done to Andys Adrenals which shocked them to shutdown. They didn't respond even when the dose was lowered. Despite full out efforts to save him, it just wasn't meant to be.

Andy went to Rainbow Bridge June 8th, 2011 (37 days from dx.)

Perhaps you can updates on how things are going. We do want to know. They've been very supportive.

[missabear]

Thanks Andysmom! I am sorry I haven't posted for quite some time. It has been a roller coaster ride and we have just been trying to manage old and new symptoms as they come on rapidly. Where do I begin.....

Well since I posted last we continued with the treatments as perscribed with the daily washes of hibtoane and DMSO. After about a week on the DMSO, we began to see improvement of the calcinosis cutis. After about 4 weeks, it had almost all went away with just a few small spots left. We beleive that with the DMSO to remove the exsiting spots and the triolstane working on reducing the steroid production, we were finally able to clear this up. I honestly thought it would never happen as it was SOOOOO severe. The other small spots actually cleared up on their own without any further DMSO treatment, just Trilostane. I would absolutley reccomend treating cushings related calcinosis cutis with the trilostane and DMSO. I am not sure that i mentioned it previously, but prior to this treatment plan, Diva had actually undergone surgery to remove the deposits and they began to re-appear about two weeks after surgery. With anything, there are downsides to DMSO, it is not all roses. In fact, one of the biggest pains is that Diva wreaked of a rotten garlic like smell and it also very absorbant that you must not get it on your skin at all as it will absorb into your system quickly. All worth it!

Diva has started to lose a lot of hair. Although this is a common symptom of Cushings, I was not expecting it as we are just starting to control the disease and she never had any hair loss before and this new symptom just pops up. On a postive note, her tests have finally come back with stable levels and we are just maintaining her dose of Triolstane for the next 3 months and will go back for testing at that time to see how things are going.

Once we were notified of her levels coming back normal, we began to notice her becoming EXTREMELY itchy. In the past she has been diagnosed with minor allergies and skin irritations, but have not had any issues for quite some time. Turns out, being that Cushings causes an over production of steroid, it actually served to self-medicate her severe allergies. Now that we have removed the excess steroid, her allergies have reared their ugly head. We obviously cannot give her steroid to control this, so we tried an antihistamane (dont recall the name), but that did not help. Now she has been on Atopica (cyclosporine) for 3 weeks now and her symptoms are subsiding. We are bathing her with Dermamagic, which is also helping her allergy symptoms.

We are currently also battling an ear infection and will be trying new meds today.

This has been a crazy ride and we just continue to deal with her symptoms as they come up. We are happy to report her levels are stable, her alleriges have eased up for now and all and all, she is a happy little girl with tons of energy and a good appetite, so we can't ask for anything more!

I bet your sorry you asked for an update! lol! Sorry I have been MIA, but as you can see from the above, we have been busy!

Thanks for all the wonderful support. I really appreciate it!

[labblab]

Thank you so much for your update on Diva. I am sorry to hear that her allergies are resurfacing, but so relieved to know that you are gaining control over the calcinosis cutis -- that is a huge accomplishment!!

Also, I want to offer some encouragement regarding her hair loss. Many of us have experienced massive shedding once our Cushpups reached therapeutic cortisol levels subsequent to effective treatment, either through trilostane or Lysodren. We speculate that the loss reflects the shedding of the old, stagnant coat once a normal hair growth cycle resumes. It can be pretty shocking at first, but new healthy hair soon follows. Here is a link to another thread in which this issue is discussed in more detail:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2527

Hope this info may help to relieve your mind. Keep up the good work, and please do keep us updated!

Marianne

[apollo6]

Welcome to you and Diva
My Apollo has been on Trilostane since June of last year, took him off in Dec and restartee him this year again March. The calcium deposits are part of the skin infections with cushings. Trilostane should resolve them after a month or so. Not much else you can do.
Hugs Sonja and Apollo

[missabear]

Thanks Marianne and Sonja!

I really appreciate the feedback regarding the hair loss because you are right, quite shocking at first and indeed assumed it was a set back instead of perhaps heading in the right direction. Good to hear!

Diva is still itchy, but not near as severe as she once was. This is a bad time of year as well for her allergies. We actually have her brother too and he has bad allergies and this time of year is the worst. So all and all, she is being fairly well managed so far. Yay!

Melissa