Anjie's Cushings Diagnosis

[Trish24]

Hello, this is my first post.
My Anjie is an 11 year old lab. She has enjoyed good health till recently.
On 23 June, 2015, she appeared "unwell", had excessive thirst and frequent urinating. The vet was also concerned about her weight loss (22kg)
She had Full Blood Profile and Urinalysis. All normal
On 26 June, she had ACTH stim test and Cushings diagnosed
She was prescribed Trilostane at 60mg per day. She remained on this until 21 August and improved steadily.
On 22 August and 23 August, she was lethargic, disoriented, panting and back legs kept collapsing
0n 24 August, she had Full Blood Profile, Ultrasound, Digital X ray High Digital Xray.
All within normal range
On 24 August, she had T4 blood test which was normal and another ACTH stim test to "confirm the dosage of Trilostane".
My problem is that I am wondering if the Cushings diagnosis is accurate. The episode on 22/8 and 23/8 was similar to a previous episode when she ingested marijuana on a neighbouring property (she is very good at escaping) Also, there was a lot of stress in our home as we were moving house.
I asked the vet about withholding the Trilostane for a few days and doing the ACTH stim test again just to check.He said that it would take a long time for the Trilostane to leave her system and she would get sick again. He expressed 100% confidence in the diagnosis and said she needed to stay on the medication for life.
I have no problem with this and appreciate her life being extended but do have some misgivings
I would appreciate any comments
Trish

[mytil]

Hi Trish and welcome to our site.

Cushing's can be very difficult to diagnose as a lot of the symptoms mimic other conditions and ruling these out is important as well - i.e. diabetes, thyroid (I see you had tested for that), liver problems.

To test for Cushing's there needs to be several --- LDDS, ACTH and an ultrasound is typically performed. Symptoms are also very important in the diagnosing when combined with these tests. There also are typically elevated values in a blood panel too (ALT for example).

Let us know what symptoms your girl was exhibiting that prompted your vet to test other than excessive thirst and urination. Weight loss is not a typical symptom associated with Cushing's --- excessive hunger is.

Take a look at these links that will provide loads of information on testing etc http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180

I see you had lots of blood panels done too and they all came back normal.

Now the marijuana can certainly cause those symptoms she has and more. The neighbor should fence off this area!!!!

Keep us posted
Terry

[Squirt's Mom]

Sorry but your vet is wrong about at least one thing - Vetoryl (Trilostane) has a very SHORT life in the body - it is leaving the system in 2-12 hours. So based on that one thing alone, there is a red flag about your vet's understanding of this disease and the drugs used to treat it. Cushing's doesn't come on suddenly either - it takes years typically before signs are seen and recognized as the disease. If I were you, I would stop the Trilostane and get a second opinion asap. ;)