Hi all, foster girl with Cushing's

[medusa]

Ηι , I have a good update, I went to the second vet, way more experienced. He agreed that 30 mg is too high , also he commented that her cortisol levels are too high. He suggested that she starts with a 15 mg a day. I am feeling better about this dosage and more willing to start the treatment.
Also thinking of start even lower at 10 mg , the cost of 10 and 5 mg medicine will be too much and we rely on donations for her meds.

I m thinking of starting at Monday, that doctor will be easy available in case something will go wrong.

[labblab]

I’m so glad to hear this news! I think that’s a good idea to wait until Monday to start the medication. And given the expense, I also understand why starting off with 10 mg. may work out the best — both in terms of cost and safety. I’ll be thinking of you and Lucy on Monday, and hoping all goes well!

[medusa]

Hi, we finally did not start the medicine yet, as it seems currently there is a problem with finding the 10 mg meds in Greece. After calling many pharmasists I found just one box available and we will have it tomorrow.

Also i found a pharmacist that splits the 30 mg, makes new capsules and can make them the right amount. Will be that safe? I met 2 people that did that in the past in the same pharmacist and everything went well. I ll start now with the 10 mg meds, but i kept the 30 mg also, so in case i can't find the 10 mg in future i ll continue with the split capsules in the dosage that Lucy will require after the first month.

Thank you

[labblab]

Yes, I think that should be fine to have the pharmacist repackage the 30 mg. capsules for you. We caution against people opening capsules and sprinkling out portions of the powder themselves, because it’s likely that the individual doses that they end up with can vary quite a bit. But I would think a professional pharmacist should be able to repackage all the capsules safely. There may still be a little variation in each individual dose, but far better than if any of us tried to do it ourselves. Good for you for finding these options, and hopefully you’ll already have the new 10 mg. capsules tomorrow.

[medusa]

hi! We finally managed to get the meds yesterday! Today Lucy took her first pill, i decided to start with 10 mg. She seems ok for now.

I arranged her test for 17 august, 13 days from now.

Hope everything will go well, Lucy is a tough girl.

[Harley PoMMom]

Just want to make sure you're aware that the Vetoryl has to be given with a meal to be properly absorbed. Also, those ACTH stimulation tests have to be performed 4-6 hours after the Vetoryl was administered with food...Good luck!!

Lori

[medusa]

Thank you Lori.
Yes I already read that in the forum, also the vet told me about the meal and that the test must be done 4-6 hours after the pill. I give her the pill with wet food , I believe it must be better than kibbles.

Lucy seems ok today, hope the meds will help with her appetite and thirst/urination , last days she is even more aggressive around food.

[medusa]

Hi. Lucy is now taking the meds for 6 days, I think the drinking/urination is less already. Yesterday I came back from work and for the first time the water bowls were half full.

I finally got the LDDS numbers also

there are 3 numbers
26.2 μg/dl [ref. 0.7-8.0]
11.8 μg/dl
8.2 μg/dl

(maybe this is not the correct order, i took printscreens)

[labblab]

So sorry for the delay in replying to you, but I’m so glad that Lucy is already doing better! And thank you for the test results. This result is indeed consistent with Cushing’s, and the form of the disease that is caused by a pituitary tumor. This is the most common form of Cushing’s. I hope that perhaps you’re seeing even more improvement by now. We’ll be anxious to hear :-).

Marianne

[medusa]

Hi, I was away for vacation, so Lucy spend her last 20 days in another foster house. She did her 14th day test, her cortisol levels are still high 11.4 μg/dl [ref. 0.7-8.0], but she seems to have some improvement. They told me her belly seems better and her drinking /urination is less. Tomorrow she will come back here so i can see on my own eyes, if there is a real improvement.

I'm currently looking for another doctor near me to continue her treatment, cause with the shelter vets its difficult to be sure that the test was done in the correct time (I have a strong belief that with so many strays and work, they didn't test her in the 4-6 hours frame), and we can't in general agree with the treatment plan, they don't agree with the smaller 10 mg dose. They also wanted to give her an even bigger dose before the 30 day period.