From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Saturday, October 16, 1999 10:12 AM To: mjanke@miamiferret.org Subject: (Fwd) Adrenal List #38 Forwarded message: From: Self To: @SENDLIST.PML Subject: Adrenal List #38 Reply-to: Lynn McIntosh Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:45:44 WELCOME BACK OLIVER!!!!!!!! Oh, my biggest nightmare is one of my babies slipping out. Actually Petey did one night (he lays for the door), and had the pizza restaurant patrons 1/2 block away standing on their chairs. A neighbor knew of us and told two sweet, young employees (who hid him from their boss) to just "look for the rose bushes" in the next block... and he was back before we knew he was lost... what a nightmare. Our "sweet" :0 neigbor next door said she's seen Pete (didn't know we had ferrets then) being chased by a cat and thought it was FUNNY - where do some people put their minds???? I'm so, so glad Oli is safe and back! ...Of course, then there's the time we THOUGHT a fuzzy had escaped, though the door hadn't even been opened, but maybe, we pondered a cat came in a high window... and we spent hours searching (with Bhudda temple bells and squeek toys; a scary guy started following us and I turned and said, "you leave us alone; we're looking for a lost pet - Go Away!"... and he did... We finally dissolved into tears, then went off to bed and heard a little shuffling under the covers, and voila! Gadzook, the relief of a lifetime! Oh, the trials. Such as Max. I'm glad he's better, Michael, and don't worry about length of post! I'm glad we're finally getting some insulinoma posts, as it will come up in treating with Lysodren and is otherwise related to adrenal. Barbara, I'll get those Lysodren posts together tomorrow, and try to find the one with Cathy's protocol especially. Pam Franklin (on the list) has recently begun Lysodren with Oreo and is using a similar protocol. Pam, do you have it handy? Fuzzy hugs! Lynn Adrenal List #38, dated August 19, 1997 1. post: chromium picolate 2. Max (POST) 3. Tippie: Adrenal list or not (it's up to you) 4. Reply: Tippie: Adrenal list or not (it's up to you) 5. Post: Update on Oliver 1.---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 00:14:27 -0700 From: Gary Holowicki Subject: post: chromium picolate The way I understand it, the picolinate is a chelate of chromium. It apparently was invented by the USDA and is patented. I think I remember it is very absorbable is why they bothered patenting it. Twinlabs is the brand I have on hand. Hope this helps:) Gary & the gang of fur Timmy's web site= 2.---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 17:33:12 -0400 From: "Michael F. Janke" Subject: Max (POST) Well, it's been one helluva week here in Miami. I took Max in on tuesday to have Dr. Chavez look him over one more time before scheduling surgery for his right adrenal. His left had been removed in March, but his problem has only worsened. While I was there for the once over, I figured I might as well get him his distemper shot (no rabies). That was done and I waited the usual half-hour in the waiting room to watch for any reactions. There were none, so off we went. Everything went fine until the next morning when I noticed that the lymph nodes in his neck appeared to be swollen. I called Dr. Chavez and told her, and like me, she thought it might be some sort of reaction to the distemper shot. He was eating and drinking ok, and he seemed as active as usual, so it was decided that I should just watch him. Because of the odd reaction, surgery for friday was cancelled. Over the next two days he developed what seemed to be a cough, but I would describe it more like he was trying repeatedly to clear his throat of something. So, off to the vet we went on Saturday morning. Of course by then the cough had disappeared and his lymph nodes appeared to be returning to normal. Dr. Pane looked him over and found nothing (temp normal, etc.) and again it was decided that I should just keep an eye on him and worry about the surgery down the road when he was totally up to snuff. Yesterday (Sunday) Max seemed more tired than usual, but I didn't pay it too much attention since he goes through days when he sleeps a lot and days when he's relatively active for a six year old. Around 9pm I went into the bedroom to check on Max and found him limp, unresponsive, looking like he was gasping for breath about every 30 seconds or so and his eyes were a vacant stare. Needless to say, I FREAKED!! I scooped him up, ran to the family room and told my wife that something was wrong with Max and to call the vet. He was drooling copious amounts of saliva and that triggered the thought that perhaps it was a seizure brought on by low blood sugar. So, while my wife called the vet, I grabbed the Karo syrup and rubbed it on his gums. Dr. Chavez was the doctor on call (thank God!) and she agreed to meet us at the clinic as soon as she could get there. We honestly thought Max was dying and wouldn't last until we got there, it was that terrible looking. Wanda was crying and I was running red lights all the way. Thank goodness it was Sunday evening and there was little traffic. While on route I called Angela, our shelter operator, and she made me feel a little better by saying it sounded like a seizure, which I knew probably isn't fatal. We got to the clinic just a minute before Dr. Chavez and as soon as she got there she said, "he looks bad." That made me feel real good! She put him on oxygen right away, shaved a leg, found a vein and gave him a shot of glucose (I think). Within 2 or 3 minutes, Max started to come around and looked more like he had a little life in him. SubQ fluids were given and within 5 or 10 minutes, Max was eating A/D eagerly from Dr. Chavez's hand. Within a half-hour we were on our way back home with a much happier and relatively normal looking ferret. We're assuming that Max did not feel well enough at any time on Sunday to eat, and that's what made his blood sugar crash. I never thought to watch to make sure he was eating since he's always been a good eater, even when not feeling well. When Max is feeling better he'll be getting a fasting glucose test to confirm what seems pretty obvious right now. He'll also be watched closely and fed A/D if at any time it appears he's skipping a meal. If anyone has a ferret with insulinoma and you've never seen them seizure, be prepared! It's the most frightening experience I've had with my fuzzies and I'm just glad I had the presence of mind to grab the karo syrup. It didn't bring him totally out of it, but I believe it helped some until we got to the vet. Since you mentioned insulinoma Lynn, I thought this post appropriate. Sorry for the length!! For the ferrets, Mike * Michael F. Janke - mjanke@gate.net * Member, South Florida Ferret Club & Rescue * * Shelter Home Page - http://www.gate.net/~mjanke 3.---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 19:29:36 -0600 From: Barbara Gustafson Subject: Tippie: Adrenal list or not (it's up to you) Hi Lynn, I've stopped to have a chat with my vet today and after much discussion have decided to start Tippie on the Lysodren. We also talked about the diprenyl (?) and he said he's been doing some studying on it and gee I wish I could remember all the technical stuff he said but basically he didn't think it would work as well on ferrets as the Lysodren would. So Lynn I do seem to recall that you were asking for some specific information about dosages etc and I was hoping you could pass what you've learned on to me. I guess what he does is phone the prescription into a pharmacist and they make it up. Apparently its in a liquid form, it that right? I'm still really nervous about this but he says the worst it would do is make her sick to her stomach in which case I would just stop giving it to her. Does this sound right? Would she have to take it everyday. It's awful how you read and read over and over about this stuff but until it's happening to you it just seem to go in one ear and out the other. I will go back over past postings but would sure appreciate any additional information. Fuzzy hugs and kisses Barb Gustafson (aka Boots) 4.---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 20:07:26 -0700 (PDT) To: Barbara Gustafson Subject: Reply: Tippie: Adrenal list or not (it's up to you) Hi Barb! I've thought about Tippie having those three surgeries and nothing being found, and I'm glad you're going to try her on Lysodren. Wally will probably go this route, and it makes me sad, but I feel it's better to try this then let his disease go unchecked... and I think many people and vets are just now realizing what havock these hormones (unchecked) reek on the system, and the threat to life they pose (females the swollen vulva and aplastic anemia as risk; males a urinary blockage as risk... etc.). It seems the symptoms can come and go but when the hormones are checked they may not have dropped at all. I'll look for Cathy Johnson Delaney's postings on Lysodren and forward them to you and maybe (since I have her permission to post them) make up a separate list about Lysodren protocol. I'll probably get to that tomorrow. Lysodren kills off adrenal tissue; while Lypron and L-diprenyl (sp?) have some effect on the pituitary-adrenal feedback loop which Cathy feels is proven to be having some negative effect, as confirmed in cases like Tippie's, where no diseased adrenal tissue is to be found... and then we have cases where disease adrenals are found and no obvious symptoms... Here in the Northwest, little Oreo (Pam F.'s Oreo) is on Lysodren, and she had a close call, but will get an estradial level done soon to see if her overall disease condition is improving. Wally will probably start, and we have another oldster (someone not on the list) who's dad is opting for chemo rather than surgery, since he doesn't want to go adrenal-less, and his fur kid has already had a left adrenalectomy. I'll work on the Lysodren info soon. Cathy's dosage is higher, but with days off, and she feels it is more effective than the lower dose more frequently.. but more on that later. We'll be in the same boat most likely and I've wanted to gather this info together anyway.. shouldn't take long. Hugs to Tippie (and mom), Lynn 5.---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 23:25:27 -0500 From: Jason & Alison Overstreet Subject: Post: Update on Oliver Hi, everyone! Just wanted to let you know we haven't forgotten any of you! Been quite busy around here lately...if you read the FML, you know that last Thurs. (8-14), Oliver was lost for about 16-18 hours! =( He scared us to death!!! But he is fine and we are so happy to have found him... Oliver had another check up today at the vet's for his ? adrenal problem. We have not had any more loss of hair, but he still itches terribly and started hacking quite a bit about 3 wks. ago. His throat is really red, and the pads of his paws are red too (which may be from the itching or his escapade last week). For now, we are going to continue to monitor everything...our vet put him on Ditrim antibiotic for the itching and a special shampoo (Relief) to help as well...hopefully it will at least help the constant itching subside a bit and make him more comfortable. We have not done the Estradiol blood test yet. That is still an option...for now tho, he hasn't lost any more weight, and we feel to do anything more at this stage is not really strong enough to act upon. Please let us know if you have any more comments about Oliver. We love him to pieces (as you all do yours) and just want to do the best that we can for him. Fuzzy hugs and kisses to all... Alison and Jason Petey, Oliver, and Chloe /`\ ____ ,^.-, Jason,Alison,Petey,Oliver, & Chloe ,-o^, ___ /'\ ``-,' `-';~~ email: jalison@primenet.com ~~;'-' `-'' .',-'~`../' web: http://www.primenet.com/~jalison/ `\..'~';,' `^^ `^^ ^^ ^^ -----------------------End of Adrenal List #38------------------------