Tremors in Cushings dog?

[TessWoods]

My dog was diagnosed with Cushings in April of this year. Symptoms started early last Fall but we had a few misdiagnosises and took a few wrong turns. She is on 15 mg of Vetoryl twice daily. She has been having tremors since last Fall and still continues to have them even on Vetoryl. Has anyone on here experienced tremors in their Cushings dog? If so, have you been able to treat and control them?

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and your sweet girl!

Could you get the results of all tests that were done on your girl and post them here? With respect to the CBC/chemistry blood panel you need only to post those values that are abnormal with the normal reference ranges and reporting units. Was an ACTH stimulation test performed recently, and if so, could you post those numbers too? How much does your girl weigh? Is she taking any other herbs/supplements/medications? Does she have any underlying health problems?

Tremors are listed as a side effect of Vetoryl and we have seen it mentioned many times on the forum. The reason/s why this happens is not thoroughly understood, maybe the large change in the cortisol level has something to do with it :confused:

I'm at work so this post is short, sorry :o I'll try to stop back later on. I'm glad you found us and we will help in any way we can.

Hugs, Lori

[Carole Alexander]

Hi and welcome; we would love to know more about your dog too. How old is she? How much does she weigh? What's her name? ;) Tremors are mystifying and can mean many things. My dog had tremors after starting Vetoryl and then had them again when we tried to up the dose to get his cortisol under control. Ultimately he was diagnosed with a macro pituitary tumor and recently had tremors that I think were indicative of pain. But you shouldn't jump to any conclusions with out much, much more information. Best to you.

[labblab]

Hello, and welcome from me, too! Tremors and "shivering" episodes are indeed complaints that we've heard before. My own Cushpup was one who suffered unexplained tremors before starting treatment, and for a period of time afterwards. There is still a lot that is unknown about Cushing's, and episodes like this seem to remain one of the mysteries. As Lori says, tremoring has been listed as a possible side effect of trilostane, but my own dog started his tremoring before he was even placed on the medication. I'm going to repeat here a reply that I have posted previously:


Through the years, we have had other members who have worried over unexplained tremoring episodes. My own Cushpup, a Lab, suffered from intermittent involuntary tremoring episodes across his shoulder blades that made him look as though he was shivering. For him, the episodes happened most often when he was sitting down or at rest -- even when he was sleeping. Sometimes he would jerk himself awake, they were that severe. But just as is true for your boy, he would usually just stretch afterwards and never seemed to be in any particular pain or discomfort. The tremors began before he started trilostane treatment, worsened significantly when he first started the drug, and then ended up stopping entirely a few months down the road.

We never did figure out what caused them. Through the years, other members here have reported similar issues with their dogs under a variety of circumstances: some using trilostane, some using Lysodren (another medication), and also dogs not yet being treated at all. For this reason, it has been hard to point to a single "trigger." It is true that tremors are now listed as a possible side effect of trilostane. But I've always wondered whether such tremors more often just somehow relate to rapidly changing cortisol levels. But the good news is that they didn't really seem to bother my dog at all -- it was ME who was going crazy trying to figure them out!

So once again, welcome, and we'll be very interested in learning more specifics about your dog.

Marianne

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome. As the others have said we would love to hear more about your furbaby.

My dog experienced tremors also. Not all the time but periodically. I was never 100% sure if it was from the vetroyl or a pain issue from something else. (she had kidney issues too)

[judymaggie]

Hi and welcome to you and your pup! I am also looking forward to learning more about your girl. The more information that you can provide to us, the better we can focus on answering your questions and offering suggestions. Do spend some time reading in our resource forum -- there is a great deal of valuable information there.

[wftmomx2]

Thank you so much for this post about tremors. I just talked to my vet about my Sweetie's tremors. 3 out of 4 of my terriers have had what we call "terrier shakes" (or Elvis legs). Sweetie's are far worse so maybe it is the Vetoryl. Hate to see shakes on any dog but glad to know I'm not alone.

[Carole Alexander]

Has anyone talked with Drecha regarding Vetoryl causing tremors for whatever reason? I'm not absolutely certain but I believe my dog was tremoring before he began treatment. His tremors of late started when I started him on Clavamox to treat pneumonia.

[labblab]

Hi Carole,

Under the "Adverse Reactions" portion of Dechra's U.S. Product Insert for Vetoryl, "shaking/shivering" was reported in 10 dogs out of a total of 107 animals included in an American clinical trial. The big question, of course, is whether the shaking was truly caused by the drug or instead by something else. Since the shaking was observed in dogs during the time period they were taking the medication, it had to be listed as a possible side effect. But I don't think Dechra knows of a specific mechanism that would cause this effect.

My Cushpup definitely started tremoring prior to being treated with trilostane, so the drug couldn't have been the original cause. However, the tremoring did worsen after treatment was begun. So who knows exactly what was going on...:confused:

Marianne

[molly muffin]

Tremors can be scary to watch too, so of course you want to know why. It is a really hard one to determine for sure though.

[Carole Alexander]

I agree with both of you. Skippy tremors in a wide variety of circumstances. Sometimes in the car, earlier under many different conditions and recently, it seemed to be because he was in pain.