Newly diagnosed and scared

[Harley PoMMom]

1/2 tablet twice a day

I am happy to say I can finally update with some good news! After almost a couple weeks and 3 very expensive ACTH tests, Rambo's post is finally below 5 and we are ready to start maintenance!! We will be doing 1/2 lysodren tablet on Monday's, Tuesday's, Thursday's, and Friday's. Rambo's drinking and urinating have almost returned to normal, it's so nice not to have to take him out several times in the middle of the night! Lol! Will do another ACTH rest in 3 weeks. Thank you for everyone's help and support so far it feels great to finally be able to share some good news!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm including these posts so I can get a handle on Rambo's loading dose, so please bear with me If I have this right, Rambo loaded on 500mg daily (250 mg given twice a day) and this was given for a couple weeks? Now, can you tell me exactly how long he was on this loading dose?

Generally with Lysodren the loading dose is 50mg/kg so for Rambo's weight, at that time, of 27 lbs his loading dose should have been 633 mg being split and given twice a day. However since Lysodren comes in 500mg tablets it was easier just to divide those pills in half and give that, right? Which would explain why it took longer for him to load.

Lysodren does involve tweaking to maintain the load and sometimes the dog may even need to be reloaded.

[Pbalca426]

Rambo has not been diagnosed with the adrenal or pituitary. At the time of his first appointment with the IMS which was back in January I believe we had talked about doing an ultrasound. The vet said for several reasons (which I cant remember off the top of my head right now) that he was fairly certain we could rule out adrenal so we didnt proceed with the ultrasound. As you said though, I'm thinking it may be wise to see about getting one now. What would the different treatment for adrenal vs pituitary be? I am also concerned about the high maintenance dose causing more damage to Rambo.

Rambo's last load was in March and it lasted very close to 2 weeks, I cant remember the exact number of days. He had several ACTH retest since then and was always in the 3. range and has been doing great, and still is, so it's a huge bummer to get this latest news! His most recent test which was done on Monday 9/10 at 3:00, his last pill before the test was on Friday at around 2:00. Could this have been too long of a time to make his post number rise?

[Squirt's Mom]

Treatment for both adrenal and pituitary are the same BUT the adrenal form will be more difficult to control because the tumor makes the gland just keep dumping cortisol requiring higher and higher doses to control. The big thing is that IF the dog is a candidate the Cushing's can be "cured" with the adrenal form via an adrenalectomy. It is a risky surgery for many cush pups but also offers the only possibility of a cure.

[Pbalca426]

Thank you so much! I'm going to talk with vet about doing the ultrasound!

[Harley PoMMom]

His most recent test which was done on Monday 9/10 at 3:00, his last pill before the test was on Friday at around 2:00. Could this have been too long of a time to make his post number rise?

Were all his monitoring ACTH stimulation tests done this way (2 days after last Lysodren dose)?

[Pbalca426]

The last couple tests have been done 2 days after lysodren, but usually in the morning. I doubt the 6 hours would make the difference, just trying to rule out any possible causes for the rise in post number lol