lummel
03-20-2013, 08:31 PM
Hi! My dog was diagnosed just over a week ago with Cushings after an ultrasound and a 3 part blood test. (Normally I"m on top of the names of things so forgive me but I'm a bit exhausted right now.)
She was diagnosed as being diabetic in mid-February. Her glucose still isn't regulated, although it's better - it was a real nightmare initially because it stayed high (500 +) for two weeks until the type of insulin was changed and the dosage raised considerably. My understanding is that Cushings may have had something to do with this and that treating the Cushings may help in this regard.
Prior to being diagnosed as diabetic, she had - wait for it - insulinoma for 2 and a half years. For those unfamiliar with that disease, cancerous pancreatic cells create excess insulin, driving the glucose down. She had surgery and had recently been quite successfully treated with a drug called palladia. For her to go from insulinoma (at her worst, with glucose levels in the 30's) to diabetic (when diagnosed, glucose was mid-700's) is pretty weird. But again, this may have something to do with the Cushings.
Anyway, she started trilostane 60 mg/twice daily last Saturday. She has lost quite a bit of weight since becoming diabetic - she used to weigh around 54 lbs. and now she is about 40. I was worried about the dosage my vet gave her but he said it was right for her. She is a lab mix, 14 and a half years old.
She is a real trooper - just before her diabetes diagnosis in mid-Feb. she was acting like a dog much younger - still energetic, playful, able to go on longish walks, go up and down stairs quite easily, even repeatedly, etc. But she became really weak once she was diagnosed with diabetes - unable to stand on her own, having to lie down to eat, be helped or carried up even just a few stairs, etc. For the first couple of weeks it was really scary, but as soon as her glucose started to go down (although it still gets relatively high) this improved a great deal. She's not what she was, but she's much better. I know she's pretty old, but I really feel she has it in her to recover as much as possible with the proper treatment and I am committed to seeing that happen. (She did WAY better with her insulinoma than most dogs do.)
Right now I am still learning about both diabetes and Cushings. The entire thing has been very stressful and distressing, although it is much better than it was. This after a couple of years of dealing with insulinoma...it's a little overwhelming.
At the moment I am mostly concerned about the medication. Any feedback about that would be welcome. I have seen her trembling a bit on occasion. About an hour ago she was really trembling a lot and I got a bit freaked out. But this was after I did a good cleaning of her rear end (she's had diarrhea or soft stools for ages - even before diabetes/Cushings.) I think it's very sore and the distress may have come from my cleaning her. (She seems fine now.) But any feedback about shivering/shaking and/or side effects of this medication to be on the outlook for would be appreciated. I get a little paranoid sometimes - the more info. I have the more I can relax. I'm also looking at her elbow right now and it looks kind of red and sore. I put some vaseline on it but it looks kind of weird - is that consistent with anything to do with Cushings? (I've read that they bruise more easily, but this seems to have just appeared this afternoon.)
I just want to do the best I can for my dog. If anything bad happened to her because she wasn't treated properly or I missed the signs or it in some way could have been avoided, I'd never live with myself. I work at home and am with her 24/7 and therefore she is under close supervision, so that shouldn't happen if I am doing my job! My vet is close by and also will take calls when needed, but of course after hours is difficult (you need to be a millionaire to go to the emergency vet. I almost got held hostage the last time I went and said I couldn't pay them until the next day. If they had known that they wouldn't even have treated her!) It would help me so much to be able to distinguish between what is an emergency and what is just part of the process of dealing with this illness until we can get it (hopefully) under control.
That elbow looks really red...she's sleeping soundly now. I guess I really am paranoid but I'm determined to see her through this. Any suggestions or advice or pearls of wisdom would be very appreciated. I'm going to start wading through the info. on here but of course I've been a bit overwhelmed (after learning everything about insulinoma, now I have two more diseases to learn about! I was just getting going with diabetes...so I have a lot to catch up on.)
Thank you!
Linda & Lucy
She was diagnosed as being diabetic in mid-February. Her glucose still isn't regulated, although it's better - it was a real nightmare initially because it stayed high (500 +) for two weeks until the type of insulin was changed and the dosage raised considerably. My understanding is that Cushings may have had something to do with this and that treating the Cushings may help in this regard.
Prior to being diagnosed as diabetic, she had - wait for it - insulinoma for 2 and a half years. For those unfamiliar with that disease, cancerous pancreatic cells create excess insulin, driving the glucose down. She had surgery and had recently been quite successfully treated with a drug called palladia. For her to go from insulinoma (at her worst, with glucose levels in the 30's) to diabetic (when diagnosed, glucose was mid-700's) is pretty weird. But again, this may have something to do with the Cushings.
Anyway, she started trilostane 60 mg/twice daily last Saturday. She has lost quite a bit of weight since becoming diabetic - she used to weigh around 54 lbs. and now she is about 40. I was worried about the dosage my vet gave her but he said it was right for her. She is a lab mix, 14 and a half years old.
She is a real trooper - just before her diabetes diagnosis in mid-Feb. she was acting like a dog much younger - still energetic, playful, able to go on longish walks, go up and down stairs quite easily, even repeatedly, etc. But she became really weak once she was diagnosed with diabetes - unable to stand on her own, having to lie down to eat, be helped or carried up even just a few stairs, etc. For the first couple of weeks it was really scary, but as soon as her glucose started to go down (although it still gets relatively high) this improved a great deal. She's not what she was, but she's much better. I know she's pretty old, but I really feel she has it in her to recover as much as possible with the proper treatment and I am committed to seeing that happen. (She did WAY better with her insulinoma than most dogs do.)
Right now I am still learning about both diabetes and Cushings. The entire thing has been very stressful and distressing, although it is much better than it was. This after a couple of years of dealing with insulinoma...it's a little overwhelming.
At the moment I am mostly concerned about the medication. Any feedback about that would be welcome. I have seen her trembling a bit on occasion. About an hour ago she was really trembling a lot and I got a bit freaked out. But this was after I did a good cleaning of her rear end (she's had diarrhea or soft stools for ages - even before diabetes/Cushings.) I think it's very sore and the distress may have come from my cleaning her. (She seems fine now.) But any feedback about shivering/shaking and/or side effects of this medication to be on the outlook for would be appreciated. I get a little paranoid sometimes - the more info. I have the more I can relax. I'm also looking at her elbow right now and it looks kind of red and sore. I put some vaseline on it but it looks kind of weird - is that consistent with anything to do with Cushings? (I've read that they bruise more easily, but this seems to have just appeared this afternoon.)
I just want to do the best I can for my dog. If anything bad happened to her because she wasn't treated properly or I missed the signs or it in some way could have been avoided, I'd never live with myself. I work at home and am with her 24/7 and therefore she is under close supervision, so that shouldn't happen if I am doing my job! My vet is close by and also will take calls when needed, but of course after hours is difficult (you need to be a millionaire to go to the emergency vet. I almost got held hostage the last time I went and said I couldn't pay them until the next day. If they had known that they wouldn't even have treated her!) It would help me so much to be able to distinguish between what is an emergency and what is just part of the process of dealing with this illness until we can get it (hopefully) under control.
That elbow looks really red...she's sleeping soundly now. I guess I really am paranoid but I'm determined to see her through this. Any suggestions or advice or pearls of wisdom would be very appreciated. I'm going to start wading through the info. on here but of course I've been a bit overwhelmed (after learning everything about insulinoma, now I have two more diseases to learn about! I was just getting going with diabetes...so I have a lot to catch up on.)
Thank you!
Linda & Lucy