alex the wonder dog and a cluster

[lizbud]

I am sorry to hear about Alex. This seems to be an excessive amount
to be having & so close together. Does your Vet think a change of meds
would help him?

[joycenalex]

this cluster group was 12 over 4 days. alex has had seizures (SZ) for 10 years this month (woo-hoo, such an anniversary ). fevers can cause sz, but i strongly suspect thet he's been having sz so long , for unknown reasons, that the scarring in his neural pathways is so well set, that the szs' just are going to keep occuring. he went toxic on a second line sz med, potassium bromide in july. the next line meds, neurotonin, felbamate, topomax and the others aren't long enough lasting to get good sz control, in dogs metabolism, or they are very expensive, out of pocket. i am newly on neurontin, and i did consider giving alex my meds, but having my insurance company pay for them, seems like a form of insurance fraud, and not a good idea. if and when alex cannot tolerate phenobarb, any longer, i'll make necessary decisions with his vet them.
alexs' sz time is short, 2-4 minutes of seizure, 10-15 minutes immediate unconsciousness, then as short at 15 minutes, long as an hour post ictal pacing. he, and peanut get a scrambled egg and cottage cheese (alwys in my fridge) to bump up his blood glucose. i know some use all natural ice cream, but ice cream never lasts here. thanks for all the prayers, it does help

[Glacier]

Oh, I missed this thread. I hope Alex is continuing to do better! How scary for both of you!

[Lobodeb]

Has he been on dilantin? What about depakote? Again, I know these work well on humans, and am just throwing them out there. Pardon my ignorance.

Either way, 24 hours seizure free is great. Keep it up, Alex!

[shais_mom]

I'm so sorry Joyce -
Alex the WONDER DOG will be in my thoughts and prayers - AND his momma too of course!

[joycenalex]

48 hours!!! woo hoo! and now hoping for another day, so i can relax. he's never been on depakote or dilantin, they metabolize pretty fast in dogs and need 3-4 daily doses in dogs to get to a theraputic level. if i didn't have to work, that might be possible, but that dang J_O_B thing gets in the way sooo often ya know,,, . and no you're not ignorant lobodeb, i learned all this stuff the hard way. thanks for the support.

[shais_mom]

glad to hear it!
continued thoughts and prayers!

[anna_66]

48 hours!!! woo hoo!

AWESOME Hope you get lots more time to relax Joyce!

[Lobodeb]

48 hours!!! WOO HOO!!!

he's never been on depakote or dilantin, they metabolize pretty fast in dogs and need 3-4 daily doses in dogs to get to a theraputic level. if i didn't have to work, that might be possible, but that dang J_O_B thing gets in the way sooo often ya know,,, .

Don't I know?

Actually, dilantin is time release (in humans, that is), so it may be something is worth looking into.