michael b
01-26-2012, 09:34 AM
Welcome to both of you! You have another Lhasa parents here. Unfortunately, anipryl is effective in only about 10-15% of pups who have in a lesion in a specific location in the pituitary gland called the pars intermedia. The fact that your vet wants to start with anipryl is a red flag for a lot of us concerning a vet's experience in treating Cushing's disease. My 1st Cushpup, Barkley, was successfully treated with lysodren for nearly 8 years, crossing the bridge at 15 from causes unrelated to his Cushing's. My little 15 year old Shih Tzu, Harley, was diagnosed 2 years ago. He is being treated with lysodren & is doing well. The other drug of choice is trilostane. I have never used it, so I will leave that for other other members who do. IMO, I would be asking the vet why they want to use anipryl, & not one of the 2 primary medications used to treat, especially since anipryl has such a low % of effectiveness.
If you could get copies of all of your pup's labs, & post the results for us, that would be great. Those results just help us to fine tune our feedback to give you the best advice possible. You have mentioned a couple of symptoms, the polyuria/polydypsia, (excessive thirt & urination). Does your little one show any other symptoms such as coat/skin problems, voracious appetite, muscle wasting, especially in the back end, pot belly, & repeated infections that are difficult to heal? Was thyroid & diabetes ruled out? I ask about these 2 things as their symptoms frequently overlap with Cushing's. Was routine labwork done such as a chemistry panel or urinalysis? We would be very interested in seeing just the abnormal results from any general labwork along with reporting units & normal ranges, from the UA, we would need the specific gravity result. Until you can post the actual results, can you tell us the name of the Cushing's diagnostic tests that were done? These may include a low dose dexamethasone suppression, ACTH, high dose dex, & possibly an abdominal ultrasound. Does your pup have any other health issues or is on any medication or supplements?
Don't feel bad about the delay in diagnosis. Cushing's literally moves at a snail's pace before it does its damage to a pup's internal organs. There are some reports in the literature that most pups go anywhere from 1 to as long as 6 years before being diagnosed. Once appropriate treatment is started, your baby should be able to live out their normal lifespan with a good quality of life.
We are here to help in any way we can. Looking forward to hearing more.
Debbie
I see you posted that the vet wants to use trilostane while I was typing. We have a lot of members who use this medication, so I'm sure other members will be along to comment on their experience.
howdy, my name is michael and my little lhasa Wrigley is in the very beginning stages of testing, but they all seem to point to cushing's and it's breaking my heart. i'm really glad to see other lhasa owners who have had their loved ones treated successfully for years and years :) i kept reading online that the average expectancy is about 2 years and i started crying to my wife i was so upset. Wrigley turns 8 years old feb 1st, is in perfect health, not on any medications and has never had any health issues except for a kidney stone removed 3 years ago. noticed that he's been peeing considerably more in the past month or so and drinking water way more than before, but just attributed that to getting older. other than that his hair looks normal, skin looks great, no huge belly as i can tell, same excited attitude when he sees mommy and daddy and no drop in his exercise or running/jumping ability. because he's getting older my vet recommended a string of blood, urine, etc.. tests be done annually and the first set of results showed higher levels in blood. she called me up and we added an additional urine test and those levels came back elevated too. (sorry, i wish i had the exact names of the levels, but this just occurred yesterday, will post results asap).
we're having him brought in first thing next week when his lifelong vet can be there for the 8 hour low dose test to help determine what's going on, but i'm already preparing myself for cushing's.
i was up all night last night reading website after website and it continues to break my heart. Wrigley is my best friend in the whole world and reading about all these hard medications and side effects is really affecting me.
anyway, sorry for rambling, but reading your post StarDeb 55 has really lifted my spirits and i'll keep you posted after the test results come back next week. Fingers Crossed!!
_Wrigley's Daddy
If you could get copies of all of your pup's labs, & post the results for us, that would be great. Those results just help us to fine tune our feedback to give you the best advice possible. You have mentioned a couple of symptoms, the polyuria/polydypsia, (excessive thirt & urination). Does your little one show any other symptoms such as coat/skin problems, voracious appetite, muscle wasting, especially in the back end, pot belly, & repeated infections that are difficult to heal? Was thyroid & diabetes ruled out? I ask about these 2 things as their symptoms frequently overlap with Cushing's. Was routine labwork done such as a chemistry panel or urinalysis? We would be very interested in seeing just the abnormal results from any general labwork along with reporting units & normal ranges, from the UA, we would need the specific gravity result. Until you can post the actual results, can you tell us the name of the Cushing's diagnostic tests that were done? These may include a low dose dexamethasone suppression, ACTH, high dose dex, & possibly an abdominal ultrasound. Does your pup have any other health issues or is on any medication or supplements?
Don't feel bad about the delay in diagnosis. Cushing's literally moves at a snail's pace before it does its damage to a pup's internal organs. There are some reports in the literature that most pups go anywhere from 1 to as long as 6 years before being diagnosed. Once appropriate treatment is started, your baby should be able to live out their normal lifespan with a good quality of life.
We are here to help in any way we can. Looking forward to hearing more.
Debbie
I see you posted that the vet wants to use trilostane while I was typing. We have a lot of members who use this medication, so I'm sure other members will be along to comment on their experience.
howdy, my name is michael and my little lhasa Wrigley is in the very beginning stages of testing, but they all seem to point to cushing's and it's breaking my heart. i'm really glad to see other lhasa owners who have had their loved ones treated successfully for years and years :) i kept reading online that the average expectancy is about 2 years and i started crying to my wife i was so upset. Wrigley turns 8 years old feb 1st, is in perfect health, not on any medications and has never had any health issues except for a kidney stone removed 3 years ago. noticed that he's been peeing considerably more in the past month or so and drinking water way more than before, but just attributed that to getting older. other than that his hair looks normal, skin looks great, no huge belly as i can tell, same excited attitude when he sees mommy and daddy and no drop in his exercise or running/jumping ability. because he's getting older my vet recommended a string of blood, urine, etc.. tests be done annually and the first set of results showed higher levels in blood. she called me up and we added an additional urine test and those levels came back elevated too. (sorry, i wish i had the exact names of the levels, but this just occurred yesterday, will post results asap).
we're having him brought in first thing next week when his lifelong vet can be there for the 8 hour low dose test to help determine what's going on, but i'm already preparing myself for cushing's.
i was up all night last night reading website after website and it continues to break my heart. Wrigley is my best friend in the whole world and reading about all these hard medications and side effects is really affecting me.
anyway, sorry for rambling, but reading your post StarDeb 55 has really lifted my spirits and i'll keep you posted after the test results come back next week. Fingers Crossed!!
_Wrigley's Daddy