Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Pink Elephants

Iris had a rough couple of days last weekend. Eleven seizures in 36 hours.

She started seizing every couple hours Fri night. I got her in to see her regular vet first thing on Saturday morning (lucky us! Her regular vet happened to be the vet available to squeeze us in), and we decided to start Iris on a low does of Phenobarbital. Iris didn't tolerate a high dose well last time we tried it. Also, she got a Valium injection while we were there. Usually the side effect of Valium is drowsiness. Not so for Iris. She gets really loopy and off balance, but not drowsy. Not quite on this planet mentally but not ready for dreamland either.

We decided to start Iris on a very low dose of Pb to help her adjust to it (about 1/3 of what a dog her size would start on if starting on only Pb). She'll also stay on her full dose of Keppra so that we can keep her on a lower amount of Pb. In 2 weeks, we'll double her Pb (so 2/3 of a "normal" dose).

The Valium on Sat bought Iris roughly a 6 hr break from seizing. Dr K sent me home with a couple doses of Valium, which bought us another break from seizing but still didn't interrupt her cycle. She was back to seizing as soon as it wore off. At that point, I gave her a higher dose of Pb and that seemed to do the trick. No more seizures since Sunday morning, and I've weaned her back to the very low dose.

Interesting enough, Phenobarbital doesn't make Iris drowsy either. She's been very out of it mentally, and at the beginning of the week she would not relax. She was very sniffy, sniffing everything in the house multiple times. Acting very nervous, pacing, panting, not sleeping through the night. Jumping at little sounds. She was so mentally out of it that she was having trouble with basic commands and housebreaking. Iris never has accidents in the house, but unless I was taking her out every 2 hrs, she wasn't remembering to go outside. Pb makes her thirsty so she was drinking more water than usual which wasn't helping. Also, Iris really looked like she was hallucinating? She was very worried, eyes darting around the room looking at nothing in particular. It was taking her longer to recognize people/things. I'm pretty sure she was seeing pink elephants. Or maybe heffalumps and woozles.



Thankfully, Iris seems like she's finally getting back to normal. Last night was the first night where she didn't look like she was hallucinating and she was actually able to relax on the couch while I worked on a project. We both got a good night's sleep.

This was by far her worst round of seizures yet. I'm not sure what triggered it. I've been without a car for the last couple weeks and have been running on my roommate's schedule. Her schedule is a lot less consistent than mine meaning Iris' schedule was really varied. Did that throw Iris off? Or my roommate had been working on an art project on Thurs. Did the glues from that set her off? I wish I knew.

For now, the plan is to keep Iris on both Pb and Keppra in hopes of keeping her on a lower dose of Pb long term. The goal is to go 2 months without any seizures, and at that point we'll think about lowering her meds, probably the Keppra dose. I've also been doing some research on acupuncture. Some dogs have pretty positive results, so I think that's going to be our next step. Does anyone know a vet who does acupuncture in the area that they'd recommend?

9 comments:

Jules said...

Oh Blue. I am so sorry. This is terrible. I know Slade in Framingham offers accupuncture but haven't heard anything about the practioner. I have had friends use Dr. Kris Blumenstock at Lloyd's Animal Hospital in Stoughton. Someone else mentioned someone - I'll follow up with her and give you the info.

Healing thoughts for Iris.

Rohan Shelties said...

Hi! Im sorry to hear about Iris' continuing seizures. I work at the Essex Co. Veterinary Referral Hospital in North Andover; we see a lot of seizures come in through the ER and I dont know how owners stay so calm some times...every time I see one come in, it just breaks my heart...
On a related note, we have a certified acupuncturist on staff who sees appts at both our location and at our Woburn facility. Her name is Dr. Beth Innis (she is my girls new dr. as our old one moved to Maine) our hospitals website is:
www.intownvet.com
Best of luck, wherever you go!!!

Heidi, Shelby and Sheltie-Mom Jenn

Katrin said...

I've used both Dr Kris at Lloyed and Dr Marc Russo at oh drat I can't remember the name of the clinic it's in a town near Plymouth. I think it starts with a 'K'. Oh heck I'll think of it at some point for you. Sorry to hear about the increase in sz activity though.

Jules said...

Dr Mark Russo at the Kingston Animal Hospital - I just asked Jenn. She said he is awesome.

Blue said...

Thank you everyone for the advice!

Jenn said...

Hi Blue - sorry to hear about Iris's seizures! Jules emailed me for some acupuncture recommendations. I do love Dr Mark at the Kingston Animal Hospital but understand that would be a bit far to travel on a regular basis from where you are. My friend lisa has been very happy with Dr Caviness in Bolton - though I don't believe that she sees him for acupuncture. I think Julie was going to forward you a few other options as well. I hope that the acupuncture helps! Iris is a gorgeous girl! And it sounds like we probably know many of the same people. :-) I generally train mostly at Masterpeace these days since I moved to the south shore - I used to train up your way. If you are still checking out new places to train (i've been reading past blogs but didn't keep track of dates) you could also check out Four Paws in Boxborough in addition to Gemini.

Healing thoughts for Iris from me and my crew!
jenn

Lauren said...

Poor Iris!! What a terrible ordeal! We're thinking about you and sending good wishes your way for our favorite blogging doggess.

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Blue said...

Hi Jenn!

Thank you so much for all of the info on acupuncture. Julie forwarded me a bunch of info from you :) And it does look like we know a lot of the same people!

I am still looking for a place to train. Between Iris' seizures and herding lessons, agility got put on the back burner. I'd really like to get her back into agility now especially if winter keeps us from herding. I have to get her to burn some energy somehow! I'll definitely check out Four Paws.