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Re: Coolidge...
Hi Becky,
I gotta tell you....reading Coolidge's history is just scary. You seem to have had quite a farce of vets going on here, contradicting each other, giving poor advise, failing to communicate with you, not seeing Coolidge as an individual... How sad.
You and Coolidge have payed for it, too, in more than one way. If it were me, and were possible, I would be looking for some fresh eyes to look at her. Give all her signs, changes, etc but with no mention of a previous diagnosis or testing. It seems sometimes docs, both human and animal, get locked onto an idea and develop tunnel vision. I think you are on the mark to question her initial diagnosis! 
Since we don't have all the info from the other site, can you refresh my memory on how long it's been since she was tested for hypothyroidism and diabetes (DM and DI)? The signs you mention can indicate Cushing's but they are also connected with some other conditions such as those above. The weight loss is not usually seen with Cushing's, more often seen with diabetes, tho some cush pups do present with this sign. How long has it been since she had what Dr C calls a SuperChem - a full blood workup? You said "Her adrenal glands (at least as of the middle of January) were of normal size"; I am understanding by this that she had another U/S since the one listed 9/08 and that the adrenals had returned to normal size. Is this correct? If so, it makes sense to me that, with all she had going on when first diagnosed with the iffy LDDS, the adrenals could have been larger due to the extra work they were having to do in dealing with the physiological stress Coolidge was under at the time. (But that is my logic only, no medical backing.
) The IMS who wrote the adrenals were "bilaterally enlarged" in 9/08 sounds like the one Squirt first saw who didn't think it necessary to let anyone know she had a tumor on her spleen. Got their heads somewhere else rather than on our babies or they just don't care! 
Have you had your water checked? Having lived in a house where the water supply was contaminated, take some advice if you decide to do that...get samples from someplace like the outside faucet, someplace drinking pipe isn't used and no filtering process should be going on. There may be no difference between a sample from a source like that and the kitchen faucet but, then again, there could be. There was for me. BUT, like Alison said, the humans were the ones sick, not the dogs. So if you and your family don't have any issues then the water may not be the problem. I don't know enough about bacterias to know if some may target animals and not humans from the same source.
Keep your chin up, Becky. You are doing a great job in trying to find out what is wrong with Coolidge.
Your perseverance not only in getting to a correct diagnosis but in trying to learn all you can, is admirable.
Hugs,
Leslie and the girls
Hi Becky,
I gotta tell you....reading Coolidge's history is just scary. You seem to have had quite a farce of vets going on here, contradicting each other, giving poor advise, failing to communicate with you, not seeing Coolidge as an individual... How sad.
You and Coolidge have payed for it, too, in more than one way. If it were me, and were possible, I would be looking for some fresh eyes to look at her. Give all her signs, changes, etc but with no mention of a previous diagnosis or testing. It seems sometimes docs, both human and animal, get locked onto an idea and develop tunnel vision. I think you are on the mark to question her initial diagnosis! Since we don't have all the info from the other site, can you refresh my memory on how long it's been since she was tested for hypothyroidism and diabetes (DM and DI)? The signs you mention can indicate Cushing's but they are also connected with some other conditions such as those above. The weight loss is not usually seen with Cushing's, more often seen with diabetes, tho some cush pups do present with this sign. How long has it been since she had what Dr C calls a SuperChem - a full blood workup? You said "Her adrenal glands (at least as of the middle of January) were of normal size"; I am understanding by this that she had another U/S since the one listed 9/08 and that the adrenals had returned to normal size. Is this correct? If so, it makes sense to me that, with all she had going on when first diagnosed with the iffy LDDS, the adrenals could have been larger due to the extra work they were having to do in dealing with the physiological stress Coolidge was under at the time. (But that is my logic only, no medical backing.
) The IMS who wrote the adrenals were "bilaterally enlarged" in 9/08 sounds like the one Squirt first saw who didn't think it necessary to let anyone know she had a tumor on her spleen. Got their heads somewhere else rather than on our babies or they just don't care! Have you had your water checked? Having lived in a house where the water supply was contaminated, take some advice if you decide to do that...get samples from someplace like the outside faucet, someplace drinking pipe isn't used and no filtering process should be going on. There may be no difference between a sample from a source like that and the kitchen faucet but, then again, there could be. There was for me. BUT, like Alison said, the humans were the ones sick, not the dogs. So if you and your family don't have any issues then the water may not be the problem. I don't know enough about bacterias to know if some may target animals and not humans from the same source.
Keep your chin up, Becky. You are doing a great job in trying to find out what is wrong with Coolidge.
Your perseverance not only in getting to a correct diagnosis but in trying to learn all you can, is admirable.Hugs,
Leslie and the girls
) and ask what test they recommend. I would think that they might be able to tell more from the combination LDDS/ACTH with the adrenal panel than just the ACTH with the adrenal panel. Of course, I'm not sure but the U.T. people could tell you. I can tell you this...the written results we got after the combination test were very complicated. I contacted Dr. Oliver myself and he was great and told me that based on the test results, he thought Shi had an adrenal tumor.
(None of the other ACTH tests were done with fasting.)
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