Vet Vist

Time for a more positive update! Iris had a visit with Dr C on Wednesday morning. We had been planning on switching to acupuncture every two weeks with this week being our week off. With Iris' seizures last weekend, we decided to do a visit this week and have next week be the off week.

We had a very nice appointment with Dr C, and I feel a lot better about her seizures last weekend. I felt like it was a big set back, but Dr C thinks we actually saw some good improvement. She went about 5 weeks between seizures, which is a little longer than her usual roughly 4 weeks. Also, she had 3 seizures with about 10 min between them. I thought this time period seemed worse than before when she was going 2-3 hrs between seizures. Dr C pointed out that last weekend her entire episode lasted about 20 min. In the past, it's been an 8-10 hour affair. Interesting, I hadn't looked at it that way. Also thinking about it some more, she recovered from her seizures faster than she has in the past. After the seizures, I fed her breakfast and we curled up on the couch and went back to sleep. No pacing, no desperately trying to steal food (in the past, even breakfast wouldn't have been enough). By the afternoon, she was acting back to normal. Not spacey like she usually is.

We're going to continue with the acupuncture on an every-other-week schedule for now. Also, Dr C put Iris on Cholodin, a Choline supplement.

Choline is a B vitamin-like molecule that is naturally produced by the human body. The body uses choline to produce certain brain chemicals, to mobilize fat, for normal transmission of nerve impulses, and is used for a range of body functions... Studies show that it may be an excellent memory tonic having positive effects on our thought processes and mental well-being, as well as muscle control. (NutriHerb.net)

In addition to being good for the brain, choline also has positive effects on the liver. Even though that's not the reason Iris is getting it, it's a nice little bonus given the possible side effects of phenobarbital she's also on.

Dr C also wants to start Iris on a Chinese herb. I can't remember the name of it right now. It was back-ordered so Dr C didn't have any when we were in there. I got a call on Fri saying that they did get it in, so I have to go pick that up too. I feel like we're slowly getting on the right track even if my kitchen does look like a pharmacy of doggie prescriptions and supplements!