Experience With Enalapril

[AstasMinion]

Asta has been getting treatment for back problems/suspected LS since last year. She has come a LONG way and now has no limp and takes pain meds only as needed. She also gets regular acupuncture. Things had been going so well for a few months!

 

Over this last Thanksgiving weekend, she started having seizures. She's been on a low dose of Gabapentin for that. All her blood work has come back normal so far. And she had a normal neurology report.

 

She is very clearly improved when she's taking the Gabapentin, and when we've reduced the dose as a test, she exhibits confusion and anxiety + the symptoms she had the day before she had her definite seizures. In general, we're characterizing her current behavior as "off." She's calm at home but also very sensitive to noise. She startles at the rustle of a newspaper or someone setting something down -- and lots of other things. She also sometimes gets confused, poor baby. As in, it's time to go outside, and she'll go stand by a door that doesn't lead outside. We have not done an MRI because the top suspect (with all her other normal tests) has been hypertension.

 

We've been in now for several separate blood pressure readings, and they are consistently very high (200 for a typical systolic reading). The reading today was the highest yet. The vet took another blood draw and urine sample, so we'll see if those have changed in the last 6 weeks. And he prescribed Enalapril. He thinks the readings are too high and too consistent to chalk them up to nerves (and she is nervous, but they give her a LONG time to calm down — and one of the vet techs cuddles & comforts her).

 

The Rx is for on 10 mg Enalapril pill every 24 hours. I'd love to hear any experience with it — as well as specific stories about trying to diagnose hypertension or just thoughts about any of it!

 

Thanks for any comments!

Edited January 7, 2011 by AstasMinion

[Guest Grhndad]

My Pansy, 11.5 yr old, has CHF and has been on Enalapril for a little over a year. 1 1/2 5mg tablets twice a day. It's worked good for her with no side effects.

[Remolacha]

Sugar was on Enalapril for her heart problems. I forget the dose right now, and it did change, but all together she was on it for about 2 1/2 years with no problems or side effects.

 

BTW, it is a human drug, and is available on most of the WalMart/Walgreen/ etc. discount prescription plans, which helps a lot

[joejoesmom]

My 14 year old Twister has been on enalapril for two years with no problems or side effects. She is not a greyhound (mom was pure whippet, we guess dad was a black lab). Without medication her BP was about 160 to 170. With 5 mg enalapril (she is 42 pounds), it is down to 140. This is in the vet's office where she is very nervous. I double checked with Dr. Couto during and he agreed that this was an appropriate treatment for her. Her littermate has kidney disease and Twister is starting to show some signs of early kidney problems, so he thought it was especially appropriate, even if her "real" blood pressure was somewhat less than tested in the vets office.

 

He did say that greyhound (actually most sighthound) blood pressures are a bit higher than normal. However 200 seems to high to me. Perhaps someone else knows what the typical greyhound blood pressure is?

 

Jane

 

p.s. If you are concerned about getting an accurate reading, could you pay your vet to bring the BP monitor to your house? The ones that I have seen are very portable. Also, my vet takes at least 3 readings to try to get a consistent value.

[Guest KennelMom]

Our Stella is on enalapril...one blue tablet a day (10 mg sounds right). Her blood pressure at the vet reached a dangerous level. They sent us home with the BP cuff and it measured normal at home...White Coat Hypertension can happen in dogs too! Just something to keep in mind. Stella is a spooky, nervous girl so none of us were surprised she had normal BP at home.

 

She's on enalapril for kidney disease...she also has cushings which she's being treated for. At some point she may come off the enalapril. I've seen no difference in her at all on the meds.

[AstasMinion]

Thanks for the replies! Glad to see your pups have tolerated the medication well.

 

I will check into getting future prescriptions on our plan, Remolacha -- thanks for the tip.

 

Jane, thanks for the Dr. C info. Our vet says he wouldn't be as concerned if she was reading at even 180, but that having so many readings at 200 and above makes it more likely (in the absence of other issues) that it really is too high even when she's not nervous. We've done 4 separate visits for the BP, and each time they've used two different methods and taken a reading several times over 30-45 minutes.

 

Thanks, KennelMom -- that helps, too. I know she has the white coat syndrome but also understand the vet not wanting to not act on so many high readings. Had not thought about trying to do it at home, but I'll look into that too.

[Batmom]

My angel Zema was on enalapril for high blood pressure. We didn't get a reading at home but signs/symptoms tallied with bp being higher than desirable. It was way over 200 at the vet's office (no surprise; she did have serious white coat syndrome). She took her 10mg/day split into 5mg a.m., 5 mg p.m. as I found that 10mg in one dose zoned her out a little bit; 5 and 5, she was herself, no problems at all. We also fed a homecooked very low sodium diet.

[Guest onedollar]

My boy Dollar has been on 15mg/day for a heart condition for years with no side effects.

[packmom]

Angel was on Enalipril for years along with a combination of other things for her blood bressure and heart problems and had no issues with it. It was a delicate balance between her heart meds and her PPA but she did well for years and actually went to the bridge because of age and spinal problems. It's not an expensive drug as these things go.

Edited January 7, 2011 by packmom

[MP_the4pack]

Pearl had uncontrolled hypertension for most of her life with me. I did talk to Dr. Couto about it when she went there for cancer treatments. He stated that greyhounds do seem to get idiopathic hypertension (means no known cause).

200 is very high. One of the signs that we had lost control of Pearl's BP one day was when she threw a clot. She had a TIA.

 

I don't remember the dose of Enalapril that she was on, but it was high. She had no problem with it.

She ended up on that, Norvasc, lasix and phenoxybenzamine in attempts to keep the BP under control. We fought for years. She went for BP checks at her cardiologists every 6 weeks. I called to let them know I was 10 minutes away so that they could set up. We were wisked in immediately and the BP done. That helped to get a true reading, not a white coat reading. I also got an infant BP cuff and tested her at home. I didn't have the doppler to hear the blood flow, but I watched the needle. When it started to bounce that was her BP. It was crude but accurate enough for me to know when to go in for a real BP checkup.

 

If meds are expensive, most of them can be found at Costco. I was paying $60/month there when drugstores would have cost me $400.

 

Also, there is a tumor called pheochromocytoma (of the adrenals) that causes high BP. Pearl's cardiologist kept having her tested for it. Luckily there is an easier test now than CT scans. They can test for corticosteroids in the urine. High amounts could be caused by stress, but if it's low, there's no pheo. So, a positive can mean several things, but a negative is definitive for no pheo.

 

Good luck. PM me if you need more information. Pearl lived about 5 yrs with out of control hypertension. Took a total of 21 pills a day, 8 different meds.

 

Cancer too her this year.

[Guest Energy11]

My Curfew had a major "episode" about two years ago. I now think it was definitely a stroke. Anyway, the vet her did an EKG and we did a few blood pressure readings... always VERY high. Systolic 240 many of the times.

 

Curfew is on Enalapril 20 mg, which I give 10 mg a.m., and 10 mg p.m. Working WONDERFULLY!

 

I take his blood pressures with an infant cuff, and by palpation *hard to describe ***, but as a retired paramedic, we had to do this at times. Anyway, his systolic runs about 140/P which is great!

 

I swear by the Enalapril, and think it has really made a difference for Curfew~! Per Dr. Couto, he also gets 1/2 81 mg low dose aspirin with a Pepcid AC daily.

 

Good Luck with your baby! Many hugs!

[racindog]

My precious old lady Queen Aggie was on Enalapril for a couple of years to keep her BP down as an aid to help her kidney function. I typically don't like any drugs but I give A++++ to the Enalapril. I think it did help her and she had NO side effects whatever and it was fairly cheap too. I think it helped her to reach a wonderful 14 1/2 years old before she crosssed over.

[AstasMinion]

Oh my, thanks for all the replies and extra info. Greytalk is the best!

 

Last night, just after I posted here, she had another seizure — she was up and squeaking a toy one minute (trying to get my attention for dinnertime!), then lying flat, stiff, and unresponsive on her bed the next. That went on for a few minutes, then she seemingly "came to" and acted like nothing happened! That has been the typical description of her seizure activity (except for the first two we were aware of, before getting put on Gabapentin).

 

Anyway, she had her dinner after that and I gave her the first dose of Enalapril. So far I've noticed no issues, and she was up extra early today wanting to start her day.

 

I'll hear the results of her workup later today. The vet has been thinking the BP issue indicates she is throwing clots -- he's called it "trending toward stroke." And I'll let him know about last night. We are hoping to get everything under control so she can keep on keepin' on as her sweet, happy self.

[Guest ss556]

Alan was on benazepril, norvasc and as per Dr. Cuoto, spironolactone. I can't say he had any reactions to all of that except that when they were first started, he seemed tired. I got all of them generic at Costco or Target, MUCH cheaper than brand name and from my vet. He was on those drugs for 2 1/2 yrs. and did well.

[AEB]

My Sadie was on Enalapril for probably her last 1.5 years for BP in her kidneys. What we did because she got so nervous at the vet's (even though they all loved her an would cuddle her) was put her in the car and let her calm down and the tech would go to the car a little while later and take the reading. The car was her cocoon of safety. Seeing a high reading (and yes, greys have higher normal readings than other breeds) in the car convinced us to put her on Enalapril, 10mg. The first day on it she vomited like she hadn't in years. poor thing. It was terrible. But we called the vet (a Saturday morning- I was upset and worried she was on too high a dose). The vet was sure she had eaten something that did not agree with her. Sure enough, no more vomiting and she was pretty much herself after that. Later she went to 20mg. She did better than I thought she would.

 

I'm not sure what is going on with your girl and the seizures. She didn't suffer any head trauma did she? Does your vet feel the medication is controlling them adequately? Also, the "symptoms" she's exhibiting sound as though they could be related to medication adjustment (complex and long process sometimes) and/or her neurological condition. She's going to be more sensitive to sound, light, movement, etc. Please also consider talking to someone about her nutritional requirements- perhaps a holistic vet. In humans, and so maybe in dogs, medications used to control epilepsy strip many nutrients, vitamins and minerals from the body, vitamin D being one of primary ones. I sure hope she feels better and improves soon.