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  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Addison's Disease questions.

    Nikki's senior blood panel came back with elevated potassium levels and low electrolytes. Or the other way around. It's been a few days. Our vet suspects Addison's Disease but I looked it up online and the symptoms are things like lower energy levels and weight loss. These things are definitely not occurring and our vet has only treated it a couple of times. She said that a crisis with this disease is usually brought on by stress and wants to check her blood again in a few weeks. I have a call in to our holistic vet to see if she wants to add adrenal support supplements to Nikki's regimen.

    Does anyone have experience with Addison's? Any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Best Friend Retriever Snowco Labradors's Avatar
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    All I know is elevated potassium in blood work can be a sign. If you don't test and the dog goes into addisonian crisis, it can be fatal. It is an easy test if I remember ( I had it done years ago on Abbey somewhere around 2003 or 4) you don't feed, do a blood draw, give a meal and then do another blood draw an hour later for results.

    I could be wrong on that but think that is how it goes.

    Here is more info. CJ Puotinen (who has one of our pups) and Mary Straus (dogaware.com) really are knowledgeable. Hope this helps.

    DogAware.com Articles: Addison's Disease: The Great Pretender

    Praying he comes back negative.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowco Labradors View Post
    All I know is elevated potassium in blood work can be a sign. If you don't test and the dog goes into addisonian crisis, it can be fatal. It is an easy test if I remember ( I had it done years ago on Abbey somewhere around 2003 or 4) you don't feed, do a blood draw, give a meal and then do another blood draw an hour later for results.

    I could be wrong on that but think that is how it goes.

    Here is more info. CJ Puotinen (who has one of our pups) and Mary Straus (dogaware.com) really are knowledgeable. Hope this helps.

    DogAware.com Articles: Addison's Disease: The Great Pretender

    Praying he comes back negative.
    Thank you for the article. It was more thorough than what I had found online. Nikki doesn't have any of those symptoms. The only thing that's coming through is the blood results. I feel much better. If it is Addison's, hopefully we caught it really early.

  5. #4
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Good thoughts for Nikki.

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    janedoe (05-22-2014)

  7. #5
    Best Friend Retriever Snowco Labradors's Avatar
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    If the only thing is the elevated potassium I would test for addisons to be safe. I may be overboard but Mary Straus stressed this to me years ago so I did it. Thankfully it was negative. Hoping your test is too.

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  9. #6
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowco Labradors View Post
    If the only thing is the elevated potassium I would test for addisons to be safe. I may be overboard but Mary Straus stressed this to me years ago so I did it. Thankfully it was negative. Hoping your test is too.
    We will definitely test her. I remember that we did it many years ago when she was having severe GI issues because an ER vet suggested it just in case but we were testing for everything at that point because we didn't realize that she had so many sensitivities. It came back negative at that point but it was just a shot in the dark, not based on anything in particular.

  10. #7
    Puppy bubbalover's Avatar
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    Have you noticed any muscle tremors, weakness or other neurological symptoms/signs? Or any hair loss or skin issues? My Cane Corso mastiff was diagnosed with Addison's disease back in the fall; he'd been sick on and off for about a week (legthargic, no interest in food, etc.) and the night before his vet appointment I came home from work to find that he could not support his own weight I rushed him to the vet and after a looooong overnight in the ER and some testing he was diagnosed with Addison's.

    It's been a long road since then (in large part because of his size, figuring out the dosages has been a challenge), but he has been doing pretty well over the past couple of months now that we have his prednisone and percortin injection dosages where they need to be. Turns out the skin issues, hair loss and the muscle tremors he'd been having since I adopted him were all related the Addison's as well, but have improved! The good news about Addison's is that if managed properly, most dogs live a normal, happy, healthy life!

    I'd LOVE to hear what your holistic vet has to say for additional adrenal support, if you wouldn't mind keeping me posted?

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  12. #8
    Best Friend Retriever LucyTudeOn4Feet's Avatar
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    Whole Dog Journal did an article on Addisons sometime in the last 12-18 months. I'm not near my copy to tell you what's in it, but maybe someone else here has it handy?
    Sorry to hear you're dealing with this.

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  14. #9
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    Bo was diagnosed with Addison's Disease about a month ago. He was really lethargic, no interest in food, and was starting to lose some weight. Went to the vet and bloodwork showed his potassium and sodium ratios were off. The vet suspected Addison's. The test was simple. Draw blood. Then a shot to stimulate his adrenal glands. Then bloodwork a few hours later to recheck his levels. Bo's cortisol levels were really low and didn't increase at all after the injection to stimulate his adrenal glands, so this confirmed Addison's. He gets a monthly injection of Percortin for the rest of his life. He just had his second injection yesterday. He is like a new dog with the injections. Like his old self. Within a week of the first injection he was noticeable improved. Our vet was very positive about Bo's prognosis and said that these dogs are treated quite successfully. So far, our experience had been good. I will warn you that the injections are dosed by weight and are quite expensive for a 80 lb lab.

    As someone else mentioned, I do think an addisonian crisis can be quite serious. Our vet gave us a prescription steroid to have on hand and if Bo shows signs of a crisis we are to give him the steroid immediately and call the vet.

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    janedoe (05-22-2014)

  16. #10
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bubbalover View Post
    Have you noticed any muscle tremors, weakness or other neurological symptoms/signs? Or any hair loss or skin issues? My Cane Corso mastiff was diagnosed with Addison's disease back in the fall; he'd been sick on and off for about a week (legthargic, no interest in food, etc.) and the night before his vet appointment I came home from work to find that he could not support his own weight I rushed him to the vet and after a looooong overnight in the ER and some testing he was diagnosed with Addison's.

    It's been a long road since then (in large part because of his size, figuring out the dosages has been a challenge), but he has been doing pretty well over the past couple of months now that we have his prednisone and percortin injection dosages where they need to be. Turns out the skin issues, hair loss and the muscle tremors he'd been having since I adopted him were all related the Addison's as well, but have improved! The good news about Addison's is that if managed properly, most dogs live a normal, happy, healthy life!

    I'd LOVE to hear what your holistic vet has to say for additional adrenal support, if you wouldn't mind keeping me posted?
    I'm sorry you went through that.

    I haven't notice anything unusual with Nikki. That's what is so confusing. I don't get it at all. When we had her tested before, she was having difficulty getting up but that was years ago. Now she jumps right up on the couch to snooze behind me, eats all of her food and weight loss is not a thing at all.

    I will definitely post. Our conventional vet wanted a urine sample before releasing the blood test results which I gave her today so I should know what our holistic vet has to say next week. She also wants to retest in a couple of weeks in case this is a blip. I suspect that our holistic vet will prescribe Systemic Formulas Ga Adrenal. I have another dog on it on a very small dose.

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    bubbalover (05-23-2014)

 



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