Hi, all! Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and well wishes -- your support means more than you know! I'll try to answer some questions ...
RC: very, very simply, Cushings Disease (also known as hyperadrenocorticism -- whew!) results when the adrenal glands secrete an excess amount of cortisol. It is the most common hormone disease found in older dogs. Left untreated, too much cortisol destroys every organ in the body, including muscles, tissue and blood vessels. Interestingly, President Kennedy had Cushings Disease. There is no cure but, with treatment, life expectancy can be normal.
Monica: the most common symptoms of Cushings are excessive eating, excessive water drinking, a pot belly and hair loss. One of the reasons we doubted Maggie had Cushings was she had none of these symptoms except the pot belly but, when I did more research, the list of possible symptoms is extensive and, as I have learned in the past 11 years, Maggie is definitely not typical! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
Genie: I had not heard of melatonin as a treatment until Lora (of Lora & Tippi) posted that the UTenn doctors started her Tippi on it for atypical Cushings. The combination of melatonin and flax seed oil is a conservative treatment; the more aggressive treatment is the use of Lysodren (which Jen's Amber had been on). Unfortunately, even though Maggie's disease appears quite advanced, with Lysodren you have to do a loading period during which you pay particular attention to a decrease in eating and drinking as well as an increase in lethargy. As soon as these occur, the medicine is "loaded" and you move to a maintenance dose. Since Maggie doesn't have the eating/drinking symptoms and she is already lethargic, there would be no way to determine if she is loaded without doing a major blood test every day. So we start with conservative treatment and pray it works ... my vet is leaning towards going with a melatonin implant that lasts for 4-6 months so we don't have to give Maggie another daily capsule. She will also continue on the Reglan and Flagyl to help her digestive system.
The internist said he definitely wants to do another ultrasound and another liver biopsy. That is scheduled for next Wednesday at the hospital. I am really dreading that because, after the last one, Maggie had a major anxiety attack due to the post-biopsy pain. My vet agrees, and will discuss with the internist, that Maggie will need to be sedated with heavy duty pain meds after the procedure and more will be sent home with me for a few days.
Boy, this is long -- sorry! Again, thank you for your concern.
