Re: Trembling - please help me interpret
Hi Ashley and welcome to you and your sweet baby boy!
First, I am very concerned about the validity of the Cushing's diagnosis in your baby. Testing for this disease should NEVER be done while the dog is sick or under any major stress because those things will impact the results, often returning false positives. Meaning the dog does NOT have Cushing's but the other illness/stress caused the test to show as if it does. Cortisol is what these tests look at and cortisol is one of the fight or flight hormones in the dog's body, and ours for that matter. It's job is to rise when faced with any stressful situation to help the body be able to cope. This is why our cortisol rises when we get jet lag or are in a stressful situation at work or home. And this happens when the dog is sick with other illnesses of any kind, has had surgery, or simply is one of those dogs who become extremely stressed when they go to the vet or get in a vehicle. It is NORMAL for the cortisol to be high just after any surgery and any time something like an infection is present. So I am not in the least surprise at the positive LDDS result due to the timing of that test. Sadly, your vet just cost you money you didn't need to spend at that time and put your dog under more stress than was warranted at that time. Your baby should have been allowed to completely heal from the surgery and return to a normal life before any testing was even considered. Some illnesses will cause the same signs as Cushing's as well so signs that are present when an infection is present don't count nor do any signs seen just before or following any surgery. The signs would become important AFTER the dog has healed completely. THEN if you see signs it is time to look at testing. The fact that you baby has reacted to the Vetoryl in the way he has tells me the possibility of a false positive is VERY real for your baby. I know...it happened with both my dogs who were diagnosed with Cushing's. One did eventually develop Cushing's but the second one never had it. Both had other issues -a tumor on the spleen for one and a host of other health issues in the other. I learned the hard way how unreliable these tests are in the presence of any other health issue. The LDDS, while considered to be the "gold standard" for testing is the test that is most apt to return a false positive when other illnesses are present. The ACTH will also do the same. So I would simply stop treatment for now and let my baby recover fully and then if signs are present start looking into Cushing's...with new testing sadly because the value of the LDDS that has been given is close to nil.
If you don't mind, could you post the test results from the LDDS and the ACTH that apparently resulted in the reduction to 10mg. Being on the medication for a month means your baby should have had at least one ACTH by now. Also any testing that was done that shows things like BUN, CHOL, T4, etc. and the CBC that shows things like monocytes, eosinophils, etc. This will help us help you better.
I'm glad you found us and look forward to learning more as time passes. I hope your sweet boy is recovering nicely!
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.