Lvmtjessie
08-12-2012, 11:36 AM
I am a licensed veterinary medical technician. I adopted a shih tzu Lhasa apso mix in 2005. Being suspicious of having cushings, it was not until 2010 until blood work proved my suspicion. During the past 6 months "Bart" has also become a diabetic. Which granted it is very hard to detect a diabetic because both diseases exhibit similar symptoms. Trying to manage a diabetic cushionoid dog is also very challenging.
During the past 1 to 1 1/2 month. Bart started doing odd things. He got to where off and on he was restless, lethargic ( seemed wiped out at times). Checked his blood glucose and he would register normal. Then he seemed to be losing his eyesight. My biggest concern was cataracts from having diabetes. Due to multiple scarring that occurred in his eyes from having corneal ulcers that went untreated prior to me adopting him, I thought maybe it would be difficult to visibly see any noticible changes. Taking Bart to an animal Opthalmologist, there was no reason as to why he appeared blind. Many times I would take him to the clinic I worked and had the 3 doctors there examine him. Still no clue as to why he was appearing to go blind. Then other things started to happen. He started urinating in front of me in the house. He has never done that before. He was always reliable on going through the doggy door. So again I started checking his blood glucose, checking electrolytes, and repeating a ACTH stimulation test in hopes that he was not developing Addison disease. All blood work appeared normal. Next he start demonstrating signs of confusion. He would go out the doggy door and could not figure out how to come back in. I catch him starring at the ceiling at times as if "nobody is home". So again I would take him to the clinic and he was examined by the veterinarians. Still no answer other then maybe he is becoming senile. But all I these symptoms would come and go. It just didn't make sense.
This past weekend I attended a CE seminar for veterinarians and technicians. One of the topics was "Cushings".
So I attended and I sat through the meeting and listened. All of sudden, the Doctor mentioned macroadenoma. And as she described the symptoms I realizes for the first time what was going on with my boy. I was not loosing my mind or being overly extrem about what was going on. After the meeting I went to talk to this amazing doctor. She concluded that he does exhibits all the signs of an animal with macroadenoma.
The next step is to do an MRI or CT scan. I have laid awake during the night thinking this through. Bart is almost 14 years old. If I do the testing all it will do is to confirm the macroadenoma. I won't treat because he is a diabetic, which will make it very difficult to heal from radiation or surgery. But I know now that I am not "crazy". The best part is, is that tomorrow I can go into work and shed some light on this. And maybe by telling the veterinarians of my new information, I hope that they will store in the back of their heads so when the next cushionoid dog starts to do abnormal things or have unexplainable blindness that maybe this "macroadenoma will come to their thought.
I am so glad that I found this forum. So glad to know their are others that have and are exhibiting the same frustration that I have. I sure hope this helps!
During the past 1 to 1 1/2 month. Bart started doing odd things. He got to where off and on he was restless, lethargic ( seemed wiped out at times). Checked his blood glucose and he would register normal. Then he seemed to be losing his eyesight. My biggest concern was cataracts from having diabetes. Due to multiple scarring that occurred in his eyes from having corneal ulcers that went untreated prior to me adopting him, I thought maybe it would be difficult to visibly see any noticible changes. Taking Bart to an animal Opthalmologist, there was no reason as to why he appeared blind. Many times I would take him to the clinic I worked and had the 3 doctors there examine him. Still no clue as to why he was appearing to go blind. Then other things started to happen. He started urinating in front of me in the house. He has never done that before. He was always reliable on going through the doggy door. So again I started checking his blood glucose, checking electrolytes, and repeating a ACTH stimulation test in hopes that he was not developing Addison disease. All blood work appeared normal. Next he start demonstrating signs of confusion. He would go out the doggy door and could not figure out how to come back in. I catch him starring at the ceiling at times as if "nobody is home". So again I would take him to the clinic and he was examined by the veterinarians. Still no answer other then maybe he is becoming senile. But all I these symptoms would come and go. It just didn't make sense.
This past weekend I attended a CE seminar for veterinarians and technicians. One of the topics was "Cushings".
So I attended and I sat through the meeting and listened. All of sudden, the Doctor mentioned macroadenoma. And as she described the symptoms I realizes for the first time what was going on with my boy. I was not loosing my mind or being overly extrem about what was going on. After the meeting I went to talk to this amazing doctor. She concluded that he does exhibits all the signs of an animal with macroadenoma.
The next step is to do an MRI or CT scan. I have laid awake during the night thinking this through. Bart is almost 14 years old. If I do the testing all it will do is to confirm the macroadenoma. I won't treat because he is a diabetic, which will make it very difficult to heal from radiation or surgery. But I know now that I am not "crazy". The best part is, is that tomorrow I can go into work and shed some light on this. And maybe by telling the veterinarians of my new information, I hope that they will store in the back of their heads so when the next cushionoid dog starts to do abnormal things or have unexplainable blindness that maybe this "macroadenoma will come to their thought.
I am so glad that I found this forum. So glad to know their are others that have and are exhibiting the same frustration that I have. I sure hope this helps!