Re: New diagnosis - questions for other readers
Hi Audrey! Welcome to you and Vinny!
If I were in your shoes I would simply forget about Cushing's. For one thing, the liver mass can cause false-positives on all the cushing's test. These tests can only tell us IF the cortisol is elevated but not WHY. My own Squirt got false positives on the LDDS, HDDS, ACTH, and UTK panel due to a tumor on her spleen. Once that tumor was removed her cortisol returned to normal. So I would question any positive test result for Vinny with two masses on his liver. For another, liver disease can cause signs that mimic the Cushing's signs so another point of confusion. And finally, the drug most often chosen to treat Cushing's these days is Vetoryl which cannot be used in dogs with renal or hepatic disease. So that leaves only Lysodren as a treatment option....and even tho it is my personal drug of choice most vets are very hesitant to use it. All of these thoughts are in addition to the fact that you don't start treatment on a dog who does not display fairly strong signs since the signs are used to help determine if the treatment dose is working or not. So I would focus on the liver solely myself.
It is exciting to hear someone is researching cortisol for any reason! So thank you for sharing this information with us and I hope you will be able to keep us updated on the trial and anything you learn. It seems Cushing's and cortisol research always takes a back seat to all other diseases so this is great news to hear indeed!
I'm glad you found us and hope you stick around regardless whether you choose to treat or not. You and Vinny are now part of our little family here.
Hugs,
Leslie
"May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"
Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.