Rooney

[Rooney]

My 7 year old female Boxer, Rooney- was just diagnosed with Cushings this past Friday. Over the holidays her weight increased, she was having accidents in the house due to her increased water intake, excessive panting and her energy level has decreased. Today I am starting her on Cushex drops. I'm not a holistic guru - but would like to give this a try before subjecting her to Trilostane.

Wondering if anyone has used Cushex and what their experience has been. Appreciate any feedback to be able to help my baby girl... Thank you...

[judymaggie]

Hi and welcome to you and Rooney! I'll start out by passing on info previously posted by one of our administrators about the use of Cushex and Adrenal Harmony:


As far as holistic/alternate medications, unfortunately I don't know of any truly effective substitutes to the Rx medication when one wants to lower cortisol levels significantly. Having said that, if clinical symptoms are not that bothersome to the dog or owner, some members have told us that Cushex and Adrenal Harmony Gold worked very well in controlling symptoms but only for a short time period. Now, Cushex and Adrenal Harmony Gold have no controlled clinical testing whatsoever to back up their claims (we know this because we have contacted the manufacturers and we have been told that no testing has been done).

In order to provide our members with the best possible guidance, we do try to obtain the most information we can -- the best way to do this is to ask lots of questions! :D If you would be willing to do so, please provide us with the results of the diagnostic tests used to come up with the Cushing's diagnosis. This may have been the ACTH test which would have two testing result numbers, pre- and a post- numbers or it could have been the LDDS which would have three numbers, a baseline, a 4 hr. and an 8 hr. You may have also had an ultrasound done -- if you did, please provide us with as many details from the final report as possible, in particular any mention of the adrenal glands.

Additionally, if Rooney recently had blood tests and/or urine tests, please post any results that were high or low and include the range, i.e., GLU 68 (70-100). The urine test should have values for specific gravity and protein.

With regard to using either Lysodren or Vetoryl, we certainly understand the stress on both owner and pet as well as the expense. We will do our best to response to any concerns you may have regardless of the route you decide to take.

Others will be along with more thoughts (and probably more questions)!

[molly muffin]

Hello from me too.

I was wondering if they did an ultrasound to check adrenal glands and was an LDDS done to diagnose cushings? If so can you post the result?

Some people have noticed that cushex for instance, has a short term effect on symptoms, we don't have anything that shows it brings the cortisol down.

As Judy mentioned if you can post any out of range test results, that will help us to give you better feedback.