Hi everyone,
I'm newly registered to this site, but I've been following it for a few months now, as all of you dispense such wonderful, helpful advice!
I have a 10-year-old, 45-lb petite pit bull/Boxer mix named Daisy (aka, best friend ever--haha). I have two vets for her: a holistic practitioner and a "conventional" vet, where I take her for all of her testing. My conventional vet suspected Cushing's in late 2015, after a pre-dental blood test revealed a high ALP (500). Daisy was also showing increased thirst and fur loss. They later ran an ACTH stim test (her reading was 35), and I started her on flax lignans and melatonin. After months on that natural protocol, Daisy was only losing more fur, drinking more water, and even presenting with flaky, bumpy skin problems--so I took her to a specialist for further testing, including an ultrasound. Their recommendation was: "treat with next level of medication for pituitary dependent hyperadrenocorticism." At that point, even my holistic vet suggested I put her on Vetoryl, and so our journey with Cushing's meds began....
I think I've done a pretty good job of following the testing recommendations, and I've kept a running diary of Daisy's ACTH stim test results. Here are the latest:
*7/11/17: Pre: 1.5; post: 6
*10/10/17: Pre: 1.6; post: 4.5
*1/31/18: Pre: 1.4; post: 3.7
*5/16/18: Pre: .8; post: 2.7
So her post numbers have been steadily declining...and after researching various threads on this site, I found others expressing concern that these numbers might keep dropping into unsafe levels. After this last testing, my vet and I decided to temporarily discontinue the 30mg once-daily Vetoryl that Daisy's been on for a year now, wait about a week, and restart her on a lower dose. My question is: Would the seasoned members on this site suggest I restart her at 20 mg, then wait 10-14 and retest her?
I tend to panic...but I am trying to keep my head about me, as Daisy is seemingly OK, for the most part. Since starting Vetoryl, her fur and skin have completely rebounded, and she's drinking a bit less water. Just recently, though, this generally VERY ACTIVE, BOISTEROUS girl had a couple funny moments. She usually bounces up from a seated/down position, but she seemed to have a little trouble getting up recently, and even seemed to have a little back leg weakness walking up the stairs. Looking back at past threads, I've taken notice of others posting similar episodes and wondering if cortisol dropping too low has something to do with it.... Thoughts?
One more question, for now: Even though her cortisol levels are now on the low side, her ALP level has stayed high. On this latest testing, all readings came back good except for two: CK, which has trended very high for a while now (436) and ALP (1200). Why would ALP not be coming down?
I'd greatly appreciate any insights, and thanks in advance!
Daisy's Mom