Addisons Disease, has anyone got any experience ?

My 5 yr old German Shepherd Dog is in the process of being diagnosed with Addisons disease.

He had his first crisis yesterday, I thought he was dying, never been so terrified in all my life.

The Vets are treating him for AD as thats what he is responding to. Blood tests have been sent away to confirm diagnosis, they should be back on Monday.

So I am now looking for as much info as possible on the diesease.

Only know about this disease in humans, never come across it in dogs, but very sorry to hear about your shepherd and only 5 years old

Can I asked what his symptoms were please for you to rush him to the vets? Is it something that came on very suddenly then? I'm sure once he's got the diagnosis it can be treated with drugs and he should be able to live a normal life, I'm really hoping that'll be the case for him. You must be worried sick, I'm so sorry.

It started when he was sick in the car whilst I was driving into town. I let him out, poped him on the lead & he collasped on the pavement.

Thankfully my hubby was with me so he could easily pick him up & put him in the car. The Vets were only 2 mins round the corner, which was very fortunate. His heart rate was so faint that he had to be wired up to an ECG machine.

After 4 hrs of being on a drip etc. he walked out of the vets a happy boy & jumped into the back of my car, which totally blew me over.

I have been so happy to get my baby boy home.

I have only had a small amount of experience with humans with it.

They often went into crisis after being sick.

They generally had a normal life apart from having to carry injections with them everywhere and in a period of say 5 five years I have known them to have to use the medication once.

Well in case (and hoping for you!) those blood tests come back negative for this disease, I would just like to tell you about something that happened to me with my gsd when she was only 6 months old. We were out on our usual morning walk, her ball rolled into something nasty which I didn't actually see coz I was too far away, but from her reluctance to pick it up, I know that's what happened. Anyway, as she started running back to me, she started vomiting violently, and I thought she'd be ok once she had been sick, but that was not the case. She was vomiting every few steps and then she couldn't walk, she collapsed on me, I thought she was going to die, so I got on the ground with her, tried to encourage her to walk again, but to no avail, she went over onto her side and her eyes started rolling back, and I noticed her gums had gone white. Long story short, ended up having a heart scan a few days later, and nothing wrong was found, BUT, the heart specialist explained to me that when a dog vomits violently, it can cause the blood pressure to plummet, and sometimes they recover, sometimes they don't, and from what you are describing, with your boy vomiting like that it just rang a few bells with what happened to me. My vet found nothing on the bloods, so I'm hoping, it could end up being the very same for you.

thank goodness he's back to normal now, let's hope you find out the real cause of whatever it is, and even if it is this AD then let's hope he can get some medication for it. Good luck with him.

Hi there

My Poppy had Addisons Disease. She spent about 2 years of being 'under the weather' with the vet being unable to diagnose what was wrong with her. She was frequently sick or had a burbly tummy, lethargic with very white gums and poor capilliary refil. I kept persisting at the vets that something was wrong and was eventually referred to a specialist who diagnosed her. Poppy's story is on my website.

You will find you dog will recover well on the medication and can live a relatively normal life except he must avoid stress which can bring on another crisis. It cant be cured and he will be on the medication for the rest of his life. There is no reason why he cant continue to have a full and active life.

Thalice's Mum

Thanks for your lovely positive reply. I will let you know when the results come back next week.

I would love to read Poppy's story, where is your web addy please ?

Yes a good friend of mine has vast experience of it....I put you in touch with him...you know the rest !!

Good news, the bloods have come back negative