Thunder Still Having Seizures

[Wonder]

Thunder has been with me for 13 months. He retired due to seizures.

 

Currently, he's on

zoni 250 mg bid

pb 97 mg bid

keppra er 750 mg bid

 

He started the keppra middle of June and he's had more seizures since starting keppra.

Talked to his neuro today and she wants to increase the keppra to 1000. I expressed my concerns and she actually listened.

She suggested I up the pb instead so will do that tomorrow.

 

I've been asking what I can give him to stop the clusters. She really doesn't want me to use rectal valium because it doesn't last long in the body. I'm willing to try anything at this point.

I asked about clorazepate and she said I can try it but she has not had success with it.

 

Last weekend, he had 2 focals in the middle of the night- he woke me up at 1am and I knew it was coming. 1:23 and 1:32 am. He was sleeping by 2am, I was not. I was worried he would start to have grand mals like the last time (middle of June). I had given him melatonin that night. I won't be doing that again and his neuro agreed.

 

I'm going to try ocular pressure and can even do it every night before bed.

 

 

He's on RAW now and I started giving him taurine and he's been on milk thistle since starting PB.

 

His CREA is high. It was 2.7 a year ago and in June it was 2.1, Aug was 2.2. Rechecking in Sept. He might be in kidney failure. Going to run a few other tests as well.

 

At this point- I don't know what else I can do for him.

 

He's happy, runs around the yard, plays with toys, snuggles with me and is such a love.

 

I feel so damn helpless and I'm not used to feeling this way. It sucks and I hate it.

 

He loves to lay on me and I wish he would sleep on me so I can feel if a seizure starts

 

 

Even Passion loves him- she never snuggles with any of the other dogs. He was there first and she laid behind him. You can see in this pic, the missing fur on his legs from hitting the floor during seizures.

 

 

My favorite pic from last month when I had a party at my house. My friends said every time I left his sight, he whined. I had him in an ex-pen so he would rest and not run crazy all over the yard.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2013 by Wonder

[Charlies_Dad]

I am sorry you and Thunder keep going through this. I wish there was some way I could make it stop as he sounds like such a wonderful boy and it's just not fair. Good thoughts for him and please know that you have done a lot for this boy and I know you'll keep trying. He loves you for that.

[cristar]

Kari - can't remember but have you tried the bromide on him?

 

I couldn't use the valium on Ron either because his clusters lasted for 4-5 hours every time.

The only thing that worked was to give him an extra dose of his pb as soon as the first seizure started.

He was on 1 1/2 of the 64.8 mg's three times a day, but as soon as I knew he was going into a seizure, I gave

him another 2 pills right away, even if his last dose had been fairly recent. It's the only way I could control

the clusters. He was also on bromide too.

 

I feel your pain. It sure as hell ain't easy.

[greysmom]

Our foster Hopper is on

2.4 ml Potassium Bromide (liquid) bid

97 mg Pheno bid

1000 Keppra (extended release) bid

 

Plus he gets clorazepate (2 pills, I've forgotten the dosage) as soon after a seizure as I can get them into him, plus a 1/2 dosage (1/2 a tab for him) ob his pheno.

 

He's had one seizure since coming to live with us, and that one was my fault as I forgot to give him his morning pills. He hasn't been on this regimine long enough to see if it's going to control his seizures, but he did NOT cluster the last time, so that is an improvement.

 

The pheno is so hard on their bodies - liver and kidneys. I haven't heard of those issues with Keppra or Zonisamide (though I'm just now getting back into the know for current seizure treatments). I would try any of the other options before I upped the pheno dosage. But, in the end, it may all just be a crap shoot, and we are ultimately just managing their symptoms for as long as we can. Our Hopper is only four years old, and if we can't control his episodes soon, his future doesn't look long.

[Remolacha]

He is such a handsome boy, I am so sorry the two of you are going through this, but remember what you said "he is happy, runs around the yard, plays with toys, snuggles..." I hope you can find some combo that will control the seizures!

[MaryJane]

Lucy is now on:

 

1500 mg Keppra tid

300 mg Zonisamide bid

1.5 ml Kbr bid

and she has been on thyroid meds for about 3 weeks.

 

We switched from the KeppraER to the regular Keppra as the neurologist informed me that you get better seizure control with the regular but, the dosage does have to given about every 8 hours so it would be impossible for someone working a full 8-hour shift.

 

The thyroid just come up as a problem recently and her levels were fine last year. I really wonder if her seizures "going out of control" lately were due to her low thyroid - but no evidence one way or the other ...

 

We are at about 3 1/2 weeks seizure free which I'm hoping we can get back to the "once a month" which is where we were before things went out of control around the March/April timeframe of this year.

 

Recently, when I thought that she might be more seizure-prone, I was giving ocular compression every few hours to see if that could make a difference. Lucy also has most seizures around 1 to 2 am in the morning and when I thought she might be in a more susceptible period, I kept her up past that time. In both those cases, it just seemed to delay the inevitable seizure. With that in mind, I'm also investigating some acupuncturists in my area and considering a monthly treatment to see if that makes a difference in "discharging the electrical activity".

[JJNg]

I'm wondering what your concerns were about increasing the Keppra? From the standpoint of possible long term side effects, and concerns with sedation, I'd increase the zonisamide or Keppra before upping the pheno. For my IG patient (who I've mentioned before here) who has severe, refractory epilepsy, giving him an extra dose of both his pheno and zonisamide immediately after a seizure seemed to reduce the clustering. He just starting seeing a vet who specializes in traditional Chinese medicine for acupuncture and herbs (his neurologist was fine with trying this). Keeping our fingers that this helps, as he's been having seizures about every 2 weeks despite being on 5 different anti-seizure meds (pheno, KBr, zoni, Keppra, Topamax).

[LBass]

Piper's clusters were awful--a seizure about every 3 hours for 23 to 36 hours. Horrible. Because they were farther apart, rectal Valium didn't work well for him as a "cluster buster" since it dissipates fairly quickly. The neurologist suggested this combination of meds that worked for Piper: Give 2 Phenobarbital tablets and 10 mg of oral Valium after the first seizure. Then give that same combination of meds every 6 hours until the dog has been seizure-free for 24 hours.

 

Using that protocol, Piper never had another of his nightmarish cluster episodes. After some experience with it, I felt comfortable stopping the meds after 12 hours seizure-free. You already know that every seizure dog is different but something like this might be worth a try for your Thunder.

 

Lucy

[greysandmollie]

No advice Kari but hugs...

 

Thunder is lucky to have found you.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Hugs for both you and Thunder He is such a special dog Hope you can find a protocol that will work to get the seizures under control.

[SarahsBlackPack]

Hugs to you both! I remember the littermate to my girl Angel had Seizures. He ended up going to Northcoast Greyhound Connection in the Indiana/Ohio area. His racing name was My Mohegan Sun And he went by the name of Sunny. He was fostered by Suszie Q here on Greytalk. And if I remember right they found a holoistic vet that was able to insert gold bead under his skin to help with the Seizures.And if I remember right it did help until he had a massive grand mal seizure.

Edited August 29, 2013 by SarahsBlackPack

[MachosMom]

No advice, but Thunder has always been the boy with my heart. ((hugs)) for you both and thank you for everything you do for him every day.

[Wonder]

Neuro upped his pb yesterday instead of the keppra.