Scot F
05-07-2009, 12:06 AM
Mod note: Originally posted on John's thread (http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=753) but moved here to create a new thread for Yanni and Scot - Alison
Hi John,
I'm a new subscriber and fellow Cushings parent from your home town. Must say it's a huge comfort to read everyone's stories and know I'm not alone.
Little Yanni (Maltese X Shi Tzu 10.5 years old, 7.5kg), started showing symptoms at just over 9 years of age, was diagnosed about 9 months ago, and began the arduous and hugely expensive exercise of Trilostane treatment and monitoring about six months ago. In that time, we've done 6 stim tests at $300 plus, a specialist's visit at just over $600, plus about $400 in Trilostane. Finding that $2800 in after-tax money has been a real stretch for our family, but we'll be happy if we see him stabilize.
Yanni started with 1 x 30mg once a day, which did nothing. Still ravenous, constantly sniffing for food, drinking uncontrollably and very badly incontinent (a real blow given he's a house dog and my better half had a hard time embracing the idea of pets inside in the first place).
A couple of stim tests later we went to 1 x 30mg twice a day - still nothing! I came home one day to find my wife had inadvertently given him an additional dose during the day, with no ill effect. Desperate and broke, I continued with 1 x 30 three times a day, for a week or so till we could afford to go back for another stim test. The next test showed his cortisol levels still just outside the range. My vet quietly chastized me for verying the dosage, but then added that it really had been a waste because of the way the drug works.
Our specialist decided we'd take the gross of the 3 doses I'd been giving Yanni (90mg total) and split into a morning and evening dose of 45mg. This worked a treat on slowing up his appetite and thirst, pretty much straight away. However, we had a terrible episode after a week, when we got Yanni up in the morning to go outside for toilet, only to have him collapse in agony, on his side with all four legs locked out in spasm.
It was terrible. I'll never forget the crying. He was so distressed he lost control of both ends, so a whole night's full bladder and bowel ended up on the new carpet. Thankfully it calmed down after about 2 minutes, and he got to his feet. For the rest of that day he was shaky, and shaken. I stopped the Trilo for a whole day. By the next morning he was ok. I gave him his morning dose, and took him for a stroll in the park, where he seemed to have no difficulty getting around, albeit at a very gentle pace, with stops to sniff and ponder about every minute or so.
Reading your story, I'm assuming his cortisol got way too low, and his joints got too inflamed. Looks like another stim and another $300 coming up.
What do you think?
Scot from Sydney
Hi John,
I'm a new subscriber and fellow Cushings parent from your home town. Must say it's a huge comfort to read everyone's stories and know I'm not alone.
Little Yanni (Maltese X Shi Tzu 10.5 years old, 7.5kg), started showing symptoms at just over 9 years of age, was diagnosed about 9 months ago, and began the arduous and hugely expensive exercise of Trilostane treatment and monitoring about six months ago. In that time, we've done 6 stim tests at $300 plus, a specialist's visit at just over $600, plus about $400 in Trilostane. Finding that $2800 in after-tax money has been a real stretch for our family, but we'll be happy if we see him stabilize.
Yanni started with 1 x 30mg once a day, which did nothing. Still ravenous, constantly sniffing for food, drinking uncontrollably and very badly incontinent (a real blow given he's a house dog and my better half had a hard time embracing the idea of pets inside in the first place).
A couple of stim tests later we went to 1 x 30mg twice a day - still nothing! I came home one day to find my wife had inadvertently given him an additional dose during the day, with no ill effect. Desperate and broke, I continued with 1 x 30 three times a day, for a week or so till we could afford to go back for another stim test. The next test showed his cortisol levels still just outside the range. My vet quietly chastized me for verying the dosage, but then added that it really had been a waste because of the way the drug works.
Our specialist decided we'd take the gross of the 3 doses I'd been giving Yanni (90mg total) and split into a morning and evening dose of 45mg. This worked a treat on slowing up his appetite and thirst, pretty much straight away. However, we had a terrible episode after a week, when we got Yanni up in the morning to go outside for toilet, only to have him collapse in agony, on his side with all four legs locked out in spasm.
It was terrible. I'll never forget the crying. He was so distressed he lost control of both ends, so a whole night's full bladder and bowel ended up on the new carpet. Thankfully it calmed down after about 2 minutes, and he got to his feet. For the rest of that day he was shaky, and shaken. I stopped the Trilo for a whole day. By the next morning he was ok. I gave him his morning dose, and took him for a stroll in the park, where he seemed to have no difficulty getting around, albeit at a very gentle pace, with stops to sniff and ponder about every minute or so.
Reading your story, I'm assuming his cortisol got way too low, and his joints got too inflamed. Looks like another stim and another $300 coming up.
What do you think?
Scot from Sydney