Guest BradyzMommy Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Maddi is 8 and has been having petit mal (very small) seizures for a couple of years. They have never been very bad or lasted very long until a few months ago. We tried Potassium Bromide and she reacted as though she had been poisoned. We weaned her off of that and a while later, started her on Pheno. Initially, all of the signs were there; excessive eating, drinking, rear leg weakness, that "spacey" look, etc. Well, she's been on it for over two months now and the rear leg weakness is getting worse. It is to the point where she cannot jump on the couch or bed and even has trouble getting up off of the floor. We have decided to wean her off of the Pheno now and are hoping her seizures dont come back any worse than before. Has anyone experienced this with Pheno? Has the rear leg weakness gone away? Has anyone taken their dog off of Pheno and then never had another seizure? We want to do whats best for Maddi but we are fairly certain Pheno is not whats best for her. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zombrie Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 We had Manny on Keppra. When he got stuck in his cluster seizures they we put him on Pheno to stop the clusters and it did make him very wobbly and unbalanced. but he was never on it long enough to find out if would go away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFullHouse Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 It took Saint a couple of months to get to the point where he was steady on his feet and his rear end wasn't on the floor. We're now 6 years into the pheno plus Potassium Bromide and he still has rear end weakness. He has difficulty getting up but once up he's fine. He even trots and runs in the yard. Quote Judy, mom to Darth Vader, Bandita, And Angel Forever in our hearts, DeeYoGee, Dani, Emmy, Andy, Heart, Saint, Valentino, Arrow, Gee, Bebe, Jilly Bean, Bullitt, Pistol, Junior, Sammie, Joey, Gizmo, Do Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inugrey Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Gabapentin is now being used for seizures, talk to your vet about this option. Quote Colleen with Covey (Admirals Cove) and Rally (greyhound puppy)Missing my beloved boy INU (CJ Whistlindixie) my sweetest princess SALEM (CJ Little Dixie) and my baby girl ZOE (LR's Tara) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BrianRke Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 It took Saint a couple of months to get to the point where he was steady on his feet and his rear end wasn't on the floor. We're now 6 years into the pheno plus Potassium Bromide and he still has rear end weakness. He has difficulty getting up but once up he's fine. He even trots and runs in the yard. My parents have been giving their dog the same pheno/k bromide mix for about 4-5 years. He's 14 now but is still very wobbly and has bad hind end weakness and falls quite often. It seems to be getting worse but im sure his age is a factor in that also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBass Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Piper takes both KBr and Pb for his seizures. His seizures are not mild ones so not medicating him has really never been an option. After 8 years on these meds he does have noticable hind end weakness and general clumsiness--some balance issues, a bit of a struggle to get up. My memory is that all this was worse in the early days of being on the drugs and that there really was an improvement after a while. Certainly the side effects have not gone away and certainly they affect him on a daily basis but I don't see them as making him miserable. He happily prances around in the yard, runs a bit, and loves his life. He discovered the couch about a year ago and hops up and down quite happily. My recollection is that it took longer than two months to see the initial really bad side effects diminish. You may actually want to consider giving it up to 6 months to see how his body adjusts, adapts, and balances itself on the meds. I've also found that sometimes Piper needs an adjustment in the dose of KBr. When I see his ataxia increasing and when I see him begin to dribble pee I know that I need to talk to the vet about pulling back a bit on the KBr dose. It really is a carefully orchestrated balancing act to get enough meds to provide decent seizure control and yet keep the side effects manageable. I hope things work out well for you and your hound however you decide to approach the medication and side effect issues. --Lucy Quote Lucy with Greyhound Nate and OSH Tinker. With loving memories of MoMo (FTH Chyna Moon), Spirit, Miles the slinky kitty (OSH), Piper "The Perfect" (Oneco Chaplin), Winston, Yoda, Hector, and Claire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BradyzMommy Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Maddi's righ hock is completely swollen. It looks as though her weird walking and weakness was not a result of the pheno. She is having more bloodwork done and our vet is going to take a biopsy. At this point, he has no idea what it is but he is thinking an infection of some kind. All i know is that Maddi HAS TO be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFullHouse Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Oh dear, good thoughts headed your way. Quote Judy, mom to Darth Vader, Bandita, And Angel Forever in our hearts, DeeYoGee, Dani, Emmy, Andy, Heart, Saint, Valentino, Arrow, Gee, Bebe, Jilly Bean, Bullitt, Pistol, Junior, Sammie, Joey, Gizmo, Do Bee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlackandBrindle Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 We have a dog in Tucson Greys who cannot tolerate pheno and is on Keppra. Thus far his seizures are controlled. His are grand mal... Seeing your last post we are sending good thoughts for your girl. I don't know where you got Maddi from, but valley fever is something you might want to test for too. (Fungal infection) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lones_human Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Our grey (7 year-old male) starting having very bad stability in his hind legs after a series of bad cluster seizures. However, even after being on Phenobarb for 4 months now, his leg coordination is improving. About once a week or so, we'll notice they give out while he's just walking along. I surmise this is more due to side-effects of the seizure itself rather than the Pb, since the problem is gradually dissipating. Otherwise he jumps around and plays as usual with no problems. A foster dog (2 year-old male) we have right now also has a seizure disorder and shows no signs of leg coordination problems; he is also on Pb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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