Siberian Husky Epilepsy days after effect, REALLY NEED HELP!

[huskyalaska]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could help me answer a few questions, im from UK but there aren't many forums for canine epilepsy.

I have a one year old siberian husky named Alaska, he started having seizures back in November 2013, he's on a medication called Pexion (not sure if its only used here in UK), he was taking one tablet twice a day and he seemed okay with them, months later he started having a few seizures which led him to have 4 in one day, our local vet gave a higher dosage to one and a half tablets twice a day, everything has been fine for months and this last saturday he started with his seizures again, they went on for two days with only a two hour gap in between making him have 9 seizures in 48 hours, our vet has told us to higher to dosage to two tablets twice daily, it seems to have worked...but is this going to be an on going thing, months later are we going to have the same problem and keep having to higher the dosage?

also, something else i REALLY REALLY need help answering, a while back when he had 4 seizures, he was non stop pacing and crying and howling for three days, he didn't know who anyone in our house was, after 3/4 days, he came back round and was back to his usual bouncy self. Now, the problem is after his recent 9 seizures, he seems to have forgot who we are in the house, hes really jumping, keeps pacing backwards and forwards all day until early hours of the morning, crying, howling and drinking A LOT of water...is this a normal thing to happen? how long will it take until he comes back round to his usual self? will he ever? has anyone else had this experience before? I REALLY REALLY need your help, want my husky back to how he used to be!!

Thank you!

[MK's mom]

Sorry to hear about your Alaska, it's so tough watching these poor pups go thru this.

Does your vet check the pexion blood levels? If not, he's poking around in the dark IMO. Alaska may need an addiotioal drug added to his regime, the clusterers often do. As for the pacing and whining, that is called post-ictal and I always found it to be worse than the actual seizure.

If you haven't visited this site yet, please do as they offer so much information. http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/

[ShilohsMom]

Welcome to the boards. I'm sorry that you are going through this with Alaska.

It can be really hard to find the right combination of drugs and don't think it's uncommon to have to either up doses and/or add another drug. Shiloh has had seizures for 4 years now and I've lost track of the number of times a meds dosage was changed. With Alaska having so many, it seems to me that the vet may want to add another med. I'm not sure if Paxion has to build up in his system like Potassium Bromide or not or if it's a med that would do better with a 3 times a day dosage, which can be a pain to make work out.

The post ictal stage for Shiloh can be exactly like what you've described for Alaska when he's had a series of clusters. The more seizures he has, the worse and longer the post ictal stage is for him. He'll pace, whine, all night long he's constantly putting his nose in my face to check on me, chews on EVERYTHING, walks into things, etc. It drives me nuts, but there isn't anything I can do that seems to help him get past that stage any quicker.

Best of luck with Alaska and keep us posted on how he's doing.

[Eley's Mom]

I'm not familiar with Pexion, but I think I've seen mention of it on these boards at some point or another.

I'm sorry Alaska keeps having the seizures!
It's not uncommon to have to keep readjusting the meds.
Anytime Eley's vet decides to increase the dosage on a medicine, we always do a blood test to make sure the increase isn't going to push her into a toxic level.

I agree with the others, often a second med will have to be added in. I would bring it up when you talk to your vet next.


The post-ictal phases are the worst!! While it seems like Alaska's seems to last a long time, it's not unheard of.
Everything you have described is exactly what mine does, only hers typically only lasts about an hour or so (but we usually have to administer Valium to pull her out of the seizures so I think that may just knock her out and she sleeps through the regular post-ictal phase)

I know it's difficult, but hang in there.

[cesullivan]

Here's some info on Pexion...don't think it is available in the US, which is why many of us don't know about it.

http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/doc ... 140843.pdf

[msersante]

Hi,

I am also in the UK. Sorry to hear about Alaska.

Amber is also on Pexion and she is taking the max dosage for her size which is 6 tablets daily. I don't know what was your experience with Pexion but in our case it only provided 14 days seizure free which is why we are now combining it with bromite.

After seizures Amber is also out of it for a while and it takes her 3 days to get back to normal. I think Alaska is just having a normal reaction as I believe these seizures take their toll..

However if you don't see much change maybe you should take her back to the vets to have her check.

I hope everything will work out for you!

[Sarah Dawn]

Hi

We are also from the UK. Dave was started on Pexion as a first line drug. He started on the lowest dosage for his weight, but this only kept the seizures away for a few weeks, it was then increased to 400 mg every 12 hours.

Since then, after a bad cluster we have had to add Keppra to the mix. I think we could have increased the dosage further with the Pexion, but as Dave was beginning to cluster our vet though that adding another drug would be worthwhile. This seems to be working so far, the only down side being the timing of the meds. The Pexion every 12 and the Keppra 3 times a day at 8 hour intervals - which is tough when we both work. It's still early days for us with this combination, It will be 4 weeks tomorrow since his last seizure and since the Keppra was added so will see.

I hope things calm down with Alaska. It's heartbreaking watching them go through this.

[cesullivan]

Sarah Dawn,
Have you checked into Keppra Extended Release? It is given twice a day. It can't be broken in half or anything, so it will depend upon the size of your dog if they have the milligram strength you need.
Chris