New to site - questions on holistic vs traditional treatments

[BetsyFoxhoundMix]

Looking for people to have intelligent discussion with about the pros and cons of treating Cushing’s disease in dogs with traditional medical management versus holistic management. If you had or have a dog who had Cushing’s disease or has Cushing’s disease I would love to know many details like what the testing is like and how often it occurs and what it is like to be on trilostane including side effects and how often dogs have to be monitored etc. etc. I have joined a couple Cushing’s groups on fb but there is not much discussion going on. From what I read testing results might not even be accurate. If ultrasound of the abdomen shows two enlarged adrenal glands and liver changes consistent with Cushing’s, and alkaline phosphatase is over 1500, what is the point of testing when you could get false positives and false negatives? ($500) Why not just try treating and why not try starting with Holistic? And if you treated holistically, I’d love to hear the details. Thanks so much. Her only symptom is excessive drinking and so I monitor her water or she would be peeing all over the inside of the house. As it is I let her out every 30 to 45 minutes in the daytime when I’m home. She also just had her first urinary tract infection a couple weeks ago (c/w Cushings) tested NEG for everything else. Also, she never took steroids. She is happy and energetic at age 10 with no other medical problems that we know of and on no medicines. I treated her holistically for the drinking problem last fall with HMR lignans and melatonin as per the University of Tennessee protocol. It didn’t do any good. I did that just in case she had Cushing’s.  had her tested in December 2020 and she was negative for everything including diabetes etc. Then she had a urinary tract infection a couple weeks ago and that’s where we found out about the sky high alkaline phosphatase and did an ultrasound of the abdomen. Uti resolved on CIPRO. I am a human nurse practitioner but not a vet. But I have done a lot of reading and have the above questions. It’s hard to ask all these questions of your vet because they just don’t have time. I only work 2 to 4 days a month now so I am home a lot with her and my other two pit bulls. Betsy the one with likely Cushings is a 22 pound primarily American foxhound with Pomeranian, Chihuahua, and Russell type terrier on embark DNA.

[BetsyFoxhoundMix]

It says I cannot attach attachments but I have for labs and ultrasound report. Can someone move this to a new thread, I think I posted under the wrong thread thanks

[mytil]

Hi,
I have moved your thread to the main discussion section.
How are you uploading the numbers? (pdf or jpg)?
Welcome to our wonderful group!
Terry

[BetsyFoxhoundMix]

Thank you I took screenshots on my iPad and then crossed out patient identifiers, and then tried to upload as pictures and I assume they are JPG but it says they are too big and I have no idea how to make them smaller. I am finding it confusing to figure out how to post or find things, I thought this group not been active in a year and suddenly I came upon a bunch of posts from today. ��*♀️

[BetsyFoxhoundMix]

I cannot figure out what I am supposed to click on in order to see responses to my post, I only find them after I click over and over on a bunch of different tabs. Which tab do you recommend that I stick to? Sorry to seem so stupid, I am used to computers and different programs etc. but I’m not able to figure this one out. Also lacking a little sleep as one pitbull had ACL surgery on Tuesday!

[BetsyFoxhoundMix]

I tried to post labs and ultrasound under my profile. Is there somewhere else I’m supposed to post them?

[labblab]

Hello and welcome from me, too! I’m going to keep this note brief so that we can first get you straightened out re: posting your replies and viewing the replies of others. I’ve now consolidated all of your postings in this one single thread, here on our main “Questions and Discussion” forum. From now on, you’ll always be returning here to post any additional replies. So here’s where we’ll start — more to follow.

Marianne

[labblab]

OK, I’m back once again. I’m hoping you’ve now found your way back to your thread here, and as you’ll see, you can just keep scrolling up and down in this thread to read any replies that have been posted, including your own. They’ll all be posted here in chronological order. To begin with, let’s not worry about trying to get your photos uploaded — let’s first make sure you’re able to navigate around here in your thread, OK? So when you have a chance, go ahead and post a new reply here so that we know you’re all settled in with knowing how your thread works. And then we’ll go from there.

[BetsyFoxhoundMix]

Thank you yes I found the link to this thread in my email. I got so confused when I first came on the site and saw that moderators wanted updates for July from everyone but I was the only one who answered, LOL. So I thought the site was in active and then all of a sudden I clicked on some thing and found a bunch of posts from today. Then I got really confused LOL. Anyway here I am!! And I’ve taken screenshots of all the labs from a couple weeks ago and the ultrasound of the abdomen. Basically she was peeing frequently so I took her to the ER vet because my vet was too busy, they did lab work and urine and alkaline phosphatase was too high which bought her an ultrasound of the abdomen. She spent the night on IV fluid and IV baytril for the UTI. I told him I felt she might have Cushing’s and to please zero in on the adrenal glands and liver during the ultrasound which they said they would do anyway. Long story short after the ultrasound an internal medicine specialist at the same Emergency And Referral hospital saw her and called me and wants to test her with the dexamethasone challenge test which I put off till the middle of August because my pitbull Little Mouse needed to have TPLO for ACL rupture on Tuesday. So she is five days postop now and I’m trying to keep my other pitbull and her calm and let Betsey out to P every 30 to 45 minutes etc. and also trying to figure out what to do about Betsey. She is 10 years old and happy and no skin issues but had her first urinary tract infection which may or may not be due to the Cushing’s. I noticed the hair on the back of her shoulders and neck has turned curly from straight over the last year. The drinking problem started last summer at the end of the summer. At that time I treated her myself with HMR lignins and melatonin as I knew it wouldn’t hurt her to see if it would help. It didn’t so I took her to the vet in December where she had a normal alkaline phosphatase of 85 and pretty normal other lab work but urine was spilling 1+ protein. Anyway she was still having her drinking problem but I was limiting water a little bit otherwise she would be peeing all over the floor every second which was a huge management problem with two other dogs. So now I’m wondering since she is happy and 10 years old and this excessive drinking and peeing which is more the more she drinks, and a little hind and wasting, and the abnormal ultrasound and lab work, should I test her or should I just try more holistic treatments? From what I read treating with traditional medicine does and does not lengthen their lifespan depending on what you read! So far she does not have diabetes. Thyroid was borderline in December but he felt not worth treating if she could lose a few pounds by dieting. So she did and then at the ER vets they told me she was too thin and I should have her gain weight which made no sense at all because I felt she needed to lose another pound or two to get back to what she was in 2019.

[labblab]

Yay!! You made it back to your thread, so now we’ll be able to keep everybody’s replies consolidated right here. That’s excellent. First of all, thanks so much for all of the great information that you’ve already given us about Betsy. In fact, you’ve been so thorough that I want to take some time to digest everything before writing a lengthier reply, myself. I apologize that it will likely be tomorrow before I can get back here, but I will indeed be back.

In the meantime, I see you’ve opened a photo album, and that is likely the best place to try to upload your screenshots. If you’re having trouble, try uploading them one photo at a time. I think the photo software is easily challenged by multiple large files. If that doesn’t work, perhaps you can just type the text of the ultrasound report into a reply here if it’s not too lengthy. And in terms of labs, all we need are any abnormal readings along with the reference range for that value.

So once again, I’m sorry I’m not able to add a lengthier reply right now, myself. But we’re truly very glad you’ve found us and I will be back.

Marianne