Re: Skylar - loving ten year old rescue
Oh ~~whew~~ so glad for the clarification. I feel better about that now.
It is during the first 30 days of treatment that you don't want to increase the drug because the cortisol can continue to drop during that period on the same dose. After that period has passed then increases are based on both the test results and the signs. If the recent test results are good, within optimal range, then I would be hesitant to increase just yet myself in spite of the continued excess urination/drinking. However, if those test results were still higher than desired an increase would be the best option. Sooooo it all depends on what those test results are. Did you get copies of the tests?
As for Cushex....I wouldn't waste my money. It will have no bearing on the cortisol, which is the enemy in Cushing's. As for Milk Thistle...it can help with the liver if needed. But I would want to wait until all the cush signs were controlled and the cortisol within optimal range before looking at adding that. The elevated cortisol will cause the liver to work extra hard, elevating many of the values associate with that organ. But once the cortisol is better controlled those values often return to a more normal level because the liver isn't working as hard as it was. Milk Thistle can cause some digestive upsets in some dogs, mine was one of them, which can cloud the picture by mimicking signs of an overdose/cortisol going too low. So I would hold off on the MT for now....and just forget about the Cushex.
Thanks for the quick reply and setting my old mind at ease!
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.