I took samples on my oldest... She was symptomatically diagnosed at age 24 or
so, here she is 29, and not fully shed this year. She's on just Thyrol-l,
three scoops... so I expected to get back horrible results. Imagine my
consternation and surprise, cortisol levels NORMAL, insulin levels NORMAL,
thyroid levels NORMAL. So what the heck is going on? Why isn't she
shedding? Does she even HAVE cushings, and if not, why did she quit shedding
back at 24 and ever since, unless on thyroid supplements? Why did the few
months I had her on cyproheptadine seem to help, until they quit working?
I'm very very confused now. Any thoughts? I will be talking with their
endricrinologist, just a question of when I catch up with him...

What was the cortisol rhythm? Was that above the 30% level that they
believe is the range of normal horses? I think we are only at the beginning
stages of understanding endocrinology. It is an elusive target with its
changing rhythms and measuring the rhythms vs. levels at a particular time
seems to make sense. If her rhythm was also in the normal range, it may
just be that her pituitary problems are mostly solved by providing support
to the thyroid so that it isn't 'screaming' to the pituitary for help. Just
my thoughts...

Did you just run the blood work to see how she was doing or was there a
problem that you were trying to find out about?

Take care, Makyla & 4-legged friends

She was symptomatically diagnosed at age 24 or so, here she is 29, and

not fully shed this year.

Sorry - I didn't catch this part that she's not shedding this year so you
ran the blood work. Again, what was her cortisol rhythm? Did your vet talk
to BET to see if they've seen this before and have any ideas?

Makyla

Marvin tested within "normal" ranges for years before finally being
diagnosed a year ago. Since being on Permax, he has shed out and has a
nice coat. Cushings can be very hard to diagnose sometimes. I've been
told even the time of day the blood is drawn can effect the outcome.
My vet did the "Dreaded something or other suppression test", in which
blood was drawn over a 2 day period. With Azium injected in between.
No complications arose from the test, by the way. he has had the test
done twice now and has shown much improvement since being on the permax.
Mary G.

Eclectk1@... wrote:

---This is kind of what I've been going through for the past 2 years
with my horse, very conflicting blood work results. This last vet
that put her on meds said that she's reluctant to use blood work as
the sole criteria for diagnosing cushings since it can fluctuate so
much. I can only tell you what she said, which makes sense to me,
she
believes that although my horse has had some vaque symptoms now for
years, that she is still early cushing's, she also believes that her
high cortisol levels in the past were from stress as well as her
early
cushings and that they are lower now indicates that my management
program has reduced her stress, also since I'm no longer feeding a
high sugar feed, and am able to break it down to 4 feedings a day,
that has helped her glucose and insulin levels. As far as hoof
problems, my horse has been barefoot for years and was competed and
worked hard barefoot, she's always had good feet and does not live
inside or on bedding but walks around all day, she never had an
abcess
or foot problem in the past, this vet said that may change but feels
since she's had problem free feet, unless she goes into a crisis,
that
her feet should be ok.
We've based the diagnosis mostly on her symptoms of not shedding in
absence of low thyroid and her increased thirst, although she's not
drinking as much as she used to. I have her on permax because I'm
thinking I've just been lucky she hasn't foundered or developed other
problems and if she has cushing's don't want to wait until she has a
major complication to start meds. As I said before, the only thing
that alerted me to any problem with her was that she was absolutely
wasted after a 25 mile ride a few years ago and then fell down at the
end of a cross country course, she was very fit at the time, so I
thought there was something wrong with her.
I've so far gotten 4 opinions and although each vet has said
something
different about some things, they all feel she has cushing's except
for one that just said she was old and leave her in peace to meet her
end.
I know how you feel, it's very frustrating.
Linda