Addison's disease.

I had almost the same experience as the person who wrote you about losing their dog to Myasthenia Gravis. My dog had just turned eleven when he passed. He was always a very healthy dog with no physical problems until last spring when I started seeing symptoms like tiring quickly after walking thirty or forty feet, balance problems, a slight cough and change in his voice. All vets I took him to said old age, arthritis, allergies (he never had allergies). Had full xrays done to eliminate any cancer or heart problems but they found nothing. Finally called a vet I used to use but no longer live anywhere near suggested testing for MG. Test sent to Shelton's lab but came back negative but he was on a low dose of Thyroid med and also of Prednisone at the time and 20% dogs test negative even though they have MG. Vet then DID ACHT test for Addison's and came back positive. He gave Dakota a shot of Percortin V on a Saturday. By Wednesday he was full of energy and I thought I had my boy back. By Friday the signs of weakness, imbalance and tiring came back. I told the vet but he seemed unconcerned. Saturday he threw up and I called but the vet said probably an upset stomach from the meds. Sunday morning he was not doing well and I rushed him to the vet -- he had spiked a 107 fever. We lost him within hours -- was told his system crashed. Not looking to blame anyone -- just seems like everyone missed the signs until it had progressed for six or seven months. Problem is that I am left wondering what the heck happened. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Yes, it was the atypical Addison's that he had and the test was the ACTH. I thought with the positive response to the percortin v that we were on the right track so it was whiplash to lose him a few days later. Also the symptoms he had were all of the ones listed for MG -- that's what has me confused because he had none of the symptoms listed for Addison's. I've also read in my research about PAS II and Schmidts so I know it could have been a combination of things. I guess my question to you was if there was any way to have known he was going into an Addisonian crises so soon after getting the shot of Percortin.