New to Cushing's

[Claire82]

Hi

I am new the whole Cushing's thing. My CKCS was diagnosed back in early March. Put on 30mg vertoyl reacted badly. We went down to 10 then 20 now up at 30. Beginning to see an improvement.

He is back going walks not far and slowly, water intake down. I've been reading about chasteberry and wondered whether anyone else uses this?

Claire

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and your boy!

It would be very helpful if you can give us as much information about your boy as possible and provide answers to the questions below:

1. What was going on with your boy that prompted you to take your dog to the vet and what prompted your vet to test for Cushing's?

2. Does he have symptoms associated with cushing's such as excessive drinking and peeing; voracious appetite; panting; loss or thinning of coat; skin issues; muscle wasting; muscle weakness, especially in the hind quarters; exercise intolerant; difficulty or unable to go up steps or jump on furniture?

3. Can you please get copies of all testing that was done by your vet and post the results here. With respect to the blood chemistry & complete blood count (CBC), we need only see the highs and lows, and please include the normal reference ranges.

4. I see he is taking Vetoryl, this is brand-name Vetoryl, right?

5. What tests were performed to diagnose his Cushing's and could you post those results?

6. How many monitoring ACTH stimulation tests have been done and could you post those results along with their timelines?

7. How much does he weigh?

8. Did your vet tell you which form of Cushing's he has? Approximately 85% of dogs have pituitary dependent disease and 15% have an adrenal tumor.

9. Does your boy have any other underlying diseases and if so what are they and what meds is he taking for it?

10. There are other conditions that have overlapping symptoms with Cushing's, such as hypothyroidism and diabetes. Did your vet rule these out?

I am so sorry for so many questions but your answers will aid us in providing you with meaningful feedback.

We will help in any way we can so hang in there, ok

Hugs, Lori

[labblab]

Hello Claire, and welcome from me, too! Lori has already asked a number of helpful questions, and we will be anxious to hear back from you.

In the meantime, I was curious to find out more about chasteberry because that is not an herbal preparation with which I am familiar. In terms of veterinary use, I saw it mentioned most often in relation to treating horses with Cushing's. Unfortunately, per a research study performed at the University of Pennsylvania, it did not prove to be helpful in treating the disease.

http://www.equinescienceupdate.co.uk/vitex.htm

Once again, welcome and we look forward to learning more about your boy.

Marianne

[molly muffin]

I just want to say hello and welcome to the forum.

I hadn't heard of the use of chasteberry either, but the study from University of Penn is not promising. :(

[Claire82]

Hi,

I took Morris to see his vet back February with excessive drinking, eating and panting. To the extent he was drinking 2-3 litres a day and and urinating in his house.

He a blood test done that came back inducating Cushing's, the vet starter him on 30mg of vetoryl ( only drug licensed in the uk) but he reacted badly to it. He was put on
10mg. He had a acht test done prior to me going on
Holiday vet said it was still high but back with in normal range and due to me going away would leave it as it was encase he reacted badly again.

When I was away he went respitory distress and needed to be put on oxygen. Managed to get him stable to get him home. Vet at parents put him 20mg vetoryl. He then went into hospital for 7 days after I got home. Another acht test was done but he had only been the tablets a week so left it. in the meantime he went for a life saving operation to shorten his soft palate and remove his tonsils and was diagnosed at the same time with larngeal collapse grade 2 (moderate).
2 weeks after having the operation he had another acht test and the levels were upt to 30mg. He due another blood test a week Wednesday to see if that's the right levels.

Since then he has been diagnosed with a grade 3 heart murmur and is on vetmedin for it.

He has a very enlarged liver caused by Cushing's which is pushing against his diagram and causing him issues breathing.

The Cushing's he has is pituitary. He has had a ultrasound done at a specialist hospital which indicated big red liver and bright red adenal glands concurrent with Cushing's.

I read about chastberry on a turmeric users group I've joined they recommended trying that as well.

I have read that changing his diet to raw could help as well. He currently weights 12kg after putting 1/2 kilogram on In a week which turned out to be liver

[Claire82]

He can't jump up on to the furniture or into the car. He does still manage sometimes to climb the stairs

[Claire82]

Morris water intake has definitely improved gone from 1050 ml down to 850ml today. He has been on the vertoyl 2.5 weeks. Do you know when I should roughly see a difference in the eating?

[molly muffin]

It usually all goes together, the water intake decrease, the ravenous appetite decreases, it just all goes together, do you notice it more at night than in the morning? I assume you are giving him his meds in the morning?
Every dog has their own little special symptoms it seems and they don't always all resolve at the same time. Coat and skin for instance can take months and months to see differences, but food and water are usually fairly close to each other.

Can you get the ACTH results themselves as the numbers along with the how he is doing can make a difference in how he is treated. How much does he weigh?

[Claire82]

Last week he weighed 12kg he is due another blood test next can get the results for that