What Is The Medical Name For Ls?

[Guest dwolfe711]

Our 13yo Ellie is having a lot of rearend issues which have recently worsened - i'm not sure we're dealing with arthritis as we thought. I'd like to read some threads about LS but the search engine here won't search for just two letters LS - how can i find threads or posts about dealing with LS?

 

Any thoughts on treatment would be appreciated also. She's been on Deramaxx for pain but was just switched to Prevacox this week due to Deramaxx being unavailable. She gets accupuncture which will be more regular since we've recently discovered an accupuncturist in our town who does house visits - this is a great relief since we were driving 35 minutes to MD and could not take her as often as she needed due to scheduling conflicts with the vet. She would be stressed out during these trips and sometimes I think her stress negated the positive effects of the treatment. Hopefully more frequent visits by the new accupuncturist in our own home will be helpful.

 

She is a tiny girl - about 43 pounds - and is not carrying any excess weight as we feed raw and her weight is steady. She's active when she feels well but more often than not lately we can tell she is not feeling 100%-

 

How is LS diagnosed? Do we need to do x-rays to diagnose?

 

Any help would be sincerely appreciated. She has been with us since she was 7 - she was a return - she is my heart dog and I want to help her feel better - although we know she will tell us when it is time -

 

Hope I can get some good info from all of you who have dealt with this to help her feel better -

 

Donna

[4My2Greys]

Lumbosacral stenosis.

[Brindles]

Lumbosacral Stenosis. You can also search Cauda Equina. It cannot be diagnosed with radiographs. Only an MRI will give you the whole picture. Osteoarthritis drugs don't often help in LS cases because the problem isn't in the bones or joints. Narrowing of the spinal column causes pain in the nerves. It can often be treated successfully with Gabapentin, which is for nerve pain.

[Guest bernadette]

This is what I suspect with my Vinnie. His xrays are negative for arthritis. What sort of symptoms does your girl have?

[NeylasMom]

Lumbosacral Stenosis. You can also search Cauda Equina. It cannot be diagnosed with radiographs. Only an MRI will give you the whole picture. Osteoarthritis drugs don't often help in LS cases because the problem isn't in the bones or joints. Narrowing of the spinal column causes pain in the nerves. It can often be treated successfully with Gabapentin, which is for nerve pain.

This. You can also treat with steroid injections if/when the condition is not managed well enough by medication alone. There is also a surgical option, but most dogs by the time they show symptoms severe enough are too old to justify the surgery.

[Guest dwolfe711]

Thanks for the info.

 

Bernadette - she is weak in the rearend and sometimes walks like she is drunk! She sometimes has involuntary poops if she struggles to stand up. We had a scary incident on Monday at lunch where she came in from the yard lame on her right rear leg - she would not put weight on it. Having lost four greys to osteo, I thought the worst! If you touched her leg between the knee and toes at certain places she would have what I would call a violent involuntary spasm - the leg would flail. At that point I thought it might be nerve-related. The vet also thought is was neurological but by the time we got to the vet and waited to see her we tried putting her down on four legs and she did gingerly walk on that leg. Problem is her weakness is so bad the left leg had a hard time picking up the slack. The vet suggested putting her on prevacox for a few days and reassessing her at the end of the week. She seems to be feeling better after two meds doses and is getting around at about her normal pace and speed - which is basically a slow drunken sailor stagger! She does seem today to maybe have a bit of an upset stomach - she ate her breakfast but did not want a treat when I left for work - I will be home for lunch shortly to see how she is doing.

 

Donna

[mom2four]

I would second asking the vet about Gabapentin. When our tripod Jamey was not doing well Dec 2010 - he could not walk, I had to carry him outside- it was added to his regimen of pills and it made a huge difference. He was with us, and doing quite well for about 9 months until he passed in Sept 2011 due to his osteo. If it were not for the Gabapentin I'm sure we would have lost him in December 2010.

 

Good luck to your little Ellie.

[Guest bernadette]

Poor thing... Good luck to you, Donna, please keep us posted.

[tbhounds]

I would second asking the vet about Gabapentin. When our tripod Jamey was not doing well Dec 2010 - he could not walk, I had to carry him outside- it was added to his regimen of pills and it made a huge difference. He was with us, and doing quite well for about 9 months until he passed in Sept 2011 due to his osteo. If it were not for the Gabapentin I'm sure we would have lost him in December 2010.

 

Good luck to your little Ellie.

Ahhh- you beat me to it! Donna I would totally try gabapentin to see if it helps. Gabapentin is dirt cheap and usually is w/o side effects (they can get sleepy on it until their body adjusts so start with a low dose -100mgs and give more frequently-up to every 8 hours).

Edited to add-hugs to your girlie!

Edited June 28, 2012 by tbhounds

[3greytjoys]

Here is Dr. Stack's helpful link re: Lumbosacral Stenosis in Greyhounds:

http://www.greythealth.com/lumbosacral.html

[Guest avadogner]

I am so sorry your baby is going through this. We lost our beloved Ava in March after 2 year struggle with LS. You need to gether on the Gabapentin now if she is having bowel movements with standing. The thing about LS is that the narrowing of the spinal cord is irreversible. Antiinflammatory meds can easy some of the inflammation around the nerves but damage done is damage done. By the time Ava was correctly diagnosed and treated, her drunken rear gait was not going to improve. We also had difficulty getting her eat. Her pain created an intense dislike of any canned or food with smell. I hand fed her mini meals 4 times a day of high calorie kibble, Ensure Plus and numerous supplements. By last January, she was totally incontinent, unable to stand up unassisted and required pain meds every 8 hours. I am home awaiting a transplant so I was able to provide 24 hr nursing care to her. In early March two weeks after her 12th Birthday, she collapsed at the park and was crying out in pain at night . Our vet came to our home and we had to let her go. I was able to hold her in my lap the entire time until she was gone. We had 10 wonderful years with her. I miss her every day. With proactive treatment, your hound can have more time and slow the progression. Please keep us posted!

-AngelAva and Augie's Mum Alicia

[Guest avadogner]

P.S. Ava was on Ultram which I feel helped. Sorry for the typos. I am on my Nook which is touch screen and bit hard for long posting.

[kudzu]

Another vote for trying gabapentin. It can work particularly well in combo with NSAIDs if your dog can handle those & if inflammation is a component. If not, try it with tramadol. avadogner wrote, "Antiinflammatory meds can ease some of the inflammation around the nerves but damage done is damage done." Agreed. If the problems are coming from nerve damage & inflammation isn't currently a contributing factor then I'd try the gabapentin & tramadol combo. Pain management can be both science & art. Some drugs seem to work in a synergistic way, others sort of compete against each other. For me, gabapentin actually seems to nullify some of the effects of tramadol. The tramadol still has an analgesic effect, just not as strong as expected if I'm also taking gabapentin. Don't know if it is the same for my dogs but I do notice for Venus, who has hip arthritis & nerve damage in that leg, the combo of gabapentin & meloxicam (human generic version of Metacam) works better than gabapentin & tramadol. When she was at her worst though, adding tramadol to that mix helped a lot. However for my Luke, who had spinal arthritis, meloxicam & gabapentin was a big help but at times substituting tramadol for meloxicam was just as good.

 

My understanding is that lumbosacral stenosis & cauda equina syndrome are not the same thing. However, LS (or LSS) can cause CES. Once a condition has progressed to causing CES things are usually pretty bad. The symptoms of CES can be some of the same your girl is experiencing. However, those symptoms can have other causes. Pain can contribute to the problem for a variety of reasons some.

 

Hope you can find some help for your girl.

[Guest dwolfe711]

Thanks again to all of you for all the great posts and information. We will be talking to our vet about gabapentin - she just loves it when we come in with diagnosis and meds requests! Really, she's good with it and is actually surprised at the community of sharing among greyhound owners. Apparently most pet owners are not nearly so educated about their pets! For now Ellie seems to be over her episode - hopefully some of your suggestions will take her improvement to a higher level. I'll post again with an update in a week or two -

[RobinM]

On dr Suzanne stacks page is all the info you will need and also how to have your vet test for it. Elsie is text book LS patient. She gets the depo shot every 4 weeks, adequin shots and acupuncture. No NSAID with depo, only tramadol if necessary.

 

Is Ellie buckling?

 

On dr Suzanne stacks page is all the info you will need and also how to have your vet test for it. Elsie is text book LS patient. She gets the depo shot every 4 weeks, adequin shots and acupuncture. No NSAID with depo, only tramadol if necessary.

 

Is Ellie knuckling?

Edited June 29, 2012 by RobinM

[retread]

Lumbosacral stenosis also known as Lumpy Stegosaurus in some threads.