I'm Afraid Phaelin Is Back On His 17 Day Seizure Schedule

[greypuppyluv]

Phaelin had a seizure this past Saturday, 17 days after his last seizure. He's been able to go about a month between seizures before this one. I've tried treating Phaelin's seizures through the care of his regular vet, but since he moved out of state (there are other vets we'll now see at the practice for his regular care), I'm thinking this is the time to switch to a neurologist. A year ago, Phaelin had a period where he had 5 seizures that were all 17 days apart. That freaked me out and I don't want to go through that again, so I'm hoping the neurologist will be able to help him get some relief from the seizures.......or at least give him a little more time between them.

[TheFullHouse]

I'm so sorry. Hopefully the neurologist can get you on the right meds to better control Phaelins seizures. You're both in my prayers.

[Guest snakes]

Good luck! I don't know if it is a good thing or not that he is on a schedule, i bet day 17 is very stressfull for you all.

[sweetdogs]

Best wishes for Phaelin. I hope this 17 day seizure was just a blip.

[ShantisMom]

Thinking good thoughts for Phaelin. I believe he went to the specialty office Shanti went to. They are good!

[iluvgreys]

Oh dear. Holding your sweet Phaelin in my prayers.

[greypuppyluv]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll feel better having him seen by someone who is more specialized than my regular vet.

 

I'm so sorry. Hopefully the neurologist can get you on the right meds to better control Phaelins seizures. You're both in my prayers.

I hope she can also. Adding pheno to the sodium bromide helped reduce the severity and length of his seizures (and got rid of the 17 day schedule), but I'm hoping we're able to get him more relief than what he has now.

 

Good luck! I don't know if it is a good thing or not that he is on a schedule, i bet day 17 is very stressfull for you all.

We do tend to like schedules at our house .....I get migraines every Monday and Tuesday so when Phaelin's seizures started occuring every 17 days, it was a little weird at first, but I almost got used to it. It was good when we were able to lengthen the time in between them.

 

Thinking good thoughts for Phaelin. I believe he went to the specialty office Shanti went to. They are good!

It's in Tustin. There are quite a few other specialty practices right in the same area, so it's probably in the same complex Shanti went to. Phaelin's appt is with Dr. Murray in the neuro building. She works with Dr. Hanson, the neuro Jenny (sweetgsmom) takes Aidan to for her seizures.

 

One thing I'm concerned about with Phaelin is his front left paw.....he injured it during a seizure back in February, but it hasn't gotten better since then and I'm worried there's some sort of nerve damage. It's a little weak and buckles under every once in awhile.

[LBass]

That sounds like a good plan. I hope you'll like the neurologist and that she'll be able to help get more time between those seizures.

 

--Lucy

[seeh2o]

Good luck tomorrow, I hope they can help Phaelin.

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

Poor Phaelin!

 

Hang in there. I hope you both get the relief/answers you need at the specialist. Sending lots of good thoughts for your handsome fella!

[Guest eaglflyt]

I hope the neurologist visit can come up with a successful plan for better management of Phaelin's seizures and figure out what's going on with his paw, too.

[Xan]

Poor guy! Poor you!

Phaelin and you are in my thoughts. I hope it works out that this neurologist nails it first time! *crossing my fingers!*

[duncan41]

All appendages crossed for seizure free days in multiples of 17!

[Guest LindsaySF]

Well at least he's being predictable?

 

Sorry to hear about his last seizure. I hope the neurologist can help. What was his pheno level last time you checked the bloodwork? If it's low they will probably increase it, especially since adding it helped in the beginning.

 

Weird about the paw. Is that the only paw that knuckles over? When Sophie was on a higher KBr dose all of her feet would take turns knuckling over, it was a side effect of the meds. She doesn't do it anymore.

 

Good luck at the vet!

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[greypuppyluv]

Sorry I didn't update this right away but I wanted to see how things would go. We saw the neuro two weeks ago and she added a half pheno tablet to his nighttime feeding (so that he was taking 1 tablet in the morning and 1 1/2 tablets at night). She did a neuro exam and said that almost everything seemed fine. She said the iris in his left eye wasn't completely round on top (although I don't quite remember what that meant or if there could be any problems down the road because of it....I don't think she really knew). She also said his left front leg seemed ok to her......of course, it wasn't knuckling under when we were there. She also wanted to run some more blood work shortly if we could get his seizures a little more under control with the new med dosage.

 

I'll be calling her today because, although he got past the 17 days, it was just barely. He had a seizure yesterday, which was day 21. The extra 1/2 tablet helped a little in that it gave him a few extra days, and the seizure was a short one, but man, this just sucks for him. There are some other things I want to talk to her about so we'll see what she wants us to do.

 

Well at least he's being predictable?

 

Sorry to hear about his last seizure. I hope the neurologist can help. What was his pheno level last time you checked the bloodwork? If it's low they will probably increase it, especially since adding it helped in the beginning.

 

Weird about the paw. Is that the only paw that knuckles over? When Sophie was on a higher KBr dose all of her feet would take turns knuckling over, it was a side effect of the meds. She doesn't do it anymore.

 

Good luck at the vet!

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

Thanks for trying to make me feel better. I thought I had his pheno results here, but I think I gave them to the neuro and I forgot to get the note back. Another thing on my list of things to do today. His level was right in the middle, so we had room to play with his dosage.

 

The left paw is the only one that knuckles under. It's gotten better since the first seizure he had, but it's mostly a problem when he first gets up.....it's like he forgets to put it down and then he quickly corrects for it and remembers to put it down. I think it's neuro related, but I'm not a dr. so what do I know.

[Guest JudiK]

There was a veterinary neurologist presenting at Greyhounds in Gettysburg - she was from Bush Veterinary Neurology in Leesburg, VA. She said that her practice has been using three new drugs (at least it sounded like she paused two times between the Latin syllables that she rattled off) - that they were human epilepsy drugs, recently released in veterinary form. If Rose were still alive, I would be asking everyone about trying them with her because nothing else ever worked - at all. Maybe one of them will be magic for Phaelin.

[greypuppyluv]

There was a veterinary neurologist presenting at Greyhounds in Gettysburg - she was from Bush Veterinary Neurology in Leesburg, VA. She said that her practice has been using three new drugs (at least it sounded like she paused two times between the Latin syllables that she rattled off) - that they were human epilepsy drugs, recently released in veterinary form. If Rose were still alive, I would be asking everyone about trying them with her because nothing else ever worked - at all. Maybe one of them will be magic for Phaelin.

A few of the drugs that are mentioned on the EPIL-K9 list are Keppra, Gabapentin (Neurontin) and Zonisamide (Zonegran), which is actually something I take for my migraines. I wonder if any of these are the ones that were discussed at the presentation. From what I've seen on the list, the pheno has had the best results and the other 3 have had mixed results or are expensive. But, we will probably consider trying them if we keep upping the pheno and sodium bromide and that doesn't help.

[Guest JudiK]

I think that you got them right. I still get the Epil-K9 list. It's been two years, but I can't bring myself to tell them that Rose is gone... it sounds like you are on top of everything. I will add Phaelin to my prayers.

[Guest LindsaySF]

If the paw knuckling only happens when he first wakes up, it might be a medication thing. Sophie is really clumsy when she first wakes up, and she sleeps very deeply, I think that's due to the sedative effect of the meds. She sleeps deeply in the car too and will literally tumble out unless I steady her. But if she's been awake for a bit, she doesn't have these stumbling/clumsy issues at all, she runs in the yard, jumps around, does stairs, etc. Weird that it would only be one paw though, Sophie seems to do it with all feet equally. It's good though that Phaelin didn't have the knuckling when he was at the vet. It sucks because then she couldn't see it, but it's good because it means it's not an issue he has 24/7, which makes me think he's just not waking up all the way and not something more serious. (Did that make you feel any better? )

 

 

It depends on what you and your vet consider good control over the seizures, everyone has a different opinion on that magic number. If 21 days is too short a time, and he's mid-range on the pheno bloodwork and liver values are ok, I would have the pheno increased. Sophie started out on 1 tab twice a day (in addition to her KBr). She was still seizing too frequently so the neuro went to 2 tabs twice a day, but such a big jump caused a lot of ataxia and other side effects. We tried 1 tab in the AM and 1.5 tabs in the PM, but still too many seizures so we increased to 1.5 tabs twice a day. That worked for a while, then not so much so we increased to 2 tabs twice a day. The grand mals were further apart but we kept getting a lot of focal seizures, so now we're at 2.5 tabs twice a day. (Sophie weighs 75 lbs and started the pheno in October). According to her last bloodwork we still have room to go up. Johanna's boy Owen was taking 4 tabs twice a day, and some dogs take even more and their liver values are fine. Maybe Phaelin needs another pheno increase. (Right now Sophie's grand mals are around 40 days apart, but I'm hesitant to increase the pheno any more because she still has side effects (urinary incontinence when sleeping deeply, and major hunger urges)).

 

Yeah from what I've seen they go to Keppra and then Zonisamide if Pheno or KBr don't work (or the dog has liver issues), both because they can be expensive and they are fairly new. I would exhaust your pheno possibilities first, at least that's what the vet recommended for Sophie.

 

I hope some of my babbling helped.

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

 

[Guest tricolorhounds]

Hi Paula... just seeing this. I'm sorry poor Phaelin is having so much trouble getting his meds regulated. I hope the Neurologist will figure out something soon.

 

 

P.S. I called you back... am at work tonight