Problems With Potassium Bromide?

[Guest BradyzMommy]

Has anyone's seizure grey ever had a toxic reaction to Potassium Bromide?

[TheFullHouse]

Saint didn't have a toxic effect but the side effects were a pretty bad for about 2 weeks. If you have levels taken, you should have a problem with toxicity.

[Tallgreydogmom]

If it is a new prescription make sure it was mixed correctly and the dosage is correct. We've used it for years but we mix up our own.

[Trudy]

Nope, but like Judy mentioned, when Ryan first started, it took a while for the side effects to drop down (about a month + for RYan)

[TheFullHouse]

The side effects can be pretty dramatic. Saint walked around like he was drunk. He walked into walls, would fall on the floor, generally stumbled around quite a bit. I had to pick up his rear end several times a week. Gradually though, they subsided and after two weeks he wasn't as bad, just some residual rear end weekness. Now you wouldn't even know he takes it and he gets 600 mg. twice a day along with his phenobarbital.

 

If you're really concerned, have blood drawn and the levels checked.

[Guest BradyzMommy]

We expected the side effects mentioned, but when she came down with a temp over 104 we rushed Maddi to the e-vet. That was after only two doses (pre-mixed) of the "loading dose". She had bloody and loose stool, was completely out of it, hind leg weakness, etc. She had bloodwork before and after. Most of the levels were fine. The ones that were slightly off were expected because of the fever and stomach issues. It's been 8 days since that e-vet visit and she is hardly better. Getting her to eat is becoming difficult, but we dont want to add more meds to her body right now, so the appetite stimulant is not an option. Our vet said, after talking a neurologist, that if we could get her to eat food with salt, the sodium would "attract" the bromide and flush it faster through her kidneys. They gave her sub-q sodium chloride a few days ago. The half life of the K Br is about two weeks, so our vet expects that in another three weeks she should be fine. It's frightening to see her like this...

[TheFullHouse]

Did they suggest something for her stomach? Maybe something to coat it so the intestinal stuff will subside. Poor girl, she's really having a tough time of it. We're very lucky, Saint has a cast iron stomach so nothing seems to bother him.

 

Good thoughts and prayers for Maddi.

[greypuppyluv]

I haven't seen anyone on the EPIL-K9 list have this problem yet. The canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels website has this about potassium bromide toxicity:

 

Bromide toxicity is uncommon, however, it is a potential side effect of bromide use and most of the potential side effects that have been discussed on our list are from bromide toxicity. Bromide toxicity can occur in dogs with renal insufficiency or those that are on a very high dose of bromide. Signs of bromide toxicity include severe ataxia, sedation or stupor and muscle spasms. Usually, reducing the dose by 10% to 25% is sufficient to take care of these signs.

 

Nothing is mentioned about high fever though. You may want to talk to your vet about putting her on sodium bromide instead of potassium bromide since it tends to be easier on the stomach (from everything I've read). It's what Phaelin is on and we've had no problems with it.

[Guest hlpnhounds]

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with your hound's history or how long you've been going through treatment for seizures......I'm just wondering if the KBr has been given with food or by itself ? I know it can cause a lot of GI issues if given alone.

[Guest BradyzMommy]

She is on Pepcid for her stomach.

 

The medicine was given to her after she had her dinner.

 

Paula, I read that on the website and think that we should stay away from the bromides and go with pheno in a couple of months.

 

Seeing her like THIS is worse than the seizures we were trying to prevent.

[greypuppyluv]

I know you were worried about the liver issues with the pheno, but if you keep up with the blood tests, you should be ok. Also, the pheno gets in and out of their system quicker than the bromides, so if she has another reaction, it shouldn't take as long for her to recover.

[LBass]

Piper had an episode of what I think is called "bromism" several years ago. He became even more ataxic than usual and he began to leak and dribble pee. His bromide level was not higher than it had been when tested in the past, but after much reading and discussion with the vet, we decided to lower the dose of KBr somewhat. That decrease resolved the problems without compromising his seizure control.

 

--Lucy

[Guest Heehoo]

With Gabby, she had the same symptoms as Saint. She was eventually taken off

of potassium bromide and is just on phenobarbital. Halo had no symptoms at

all but he was only on there a month when he died.

No fever though. I would sure keep my vet informed of what she's doing.

[Guest BradyzMommy]

I know you were worried about the liver issues with the pheno, but if you keep up with the blood tests, you should be ok. Also, the pheno gets in and out of their system quicker than the bromides, so if she has another reaction, it shouldn't take as long for her to recover.

 

Worried??? LOL Try TERRIFIED!

[TheFullHouse]

Saint's been on phenobarbital for 6 years now with no effect on the liver what so ever. I have to agree, if you get her tested every 6 months it shouldn't be a problem.

[Guest LindsaySF]

I have heard of KBr having stomach/gastric side effects, so people usually lower the dose or switch to NaBr. The fever is new to me though, is the vet sure that's related to the KBr? I suppose it could be a stress reaction. Did they do a blood level check for the KBr?

 

It's possible that Maddi can't tolerate the very high loading dose. You might need to raise her KBr slowly over time. (We've had to raise Sophie's slowly or she has bad ataxia).

 

The salt thing (NaCl) is true. The sodium (Na +1) binds to the bromide (Br -1) and they pee it out.

 

I hope she feels better soon!

 

 

 

~Lindsay~