Epilepsy treatment,is it worth it?..

[mayanbilly]

Hi All,Dreaded attacks again,my pet a Staffordshire bull terrier Bullseye has been a victim of Epilepsy since he was one year old,he is now 4 years and 5 months,he gets worse as time goes by,he is on 150mg Epihen daily and 1000mg Epilease daily,my problem is is it right to keep him on these drugs when they just dont seem to be doing anything for him,he has just today come out of a 7 seizure cluster over 24 hours,he has never had that many yet despite the drugs,he usually has 3 or 4 clusters then is ok for about three weeeks,he never goes more that 21/24 days without an attack,so is it worth risking further damage to his health by keeping him on these drugs,I believe that these drugs can cause liver damage?.I am thinging along the lines of weaning him off them but would like to know if anyone else has done it and if so what were the results,these drugs must be stopping him from having a normal life,and I am begining to question whether it is worth it,Of course I would consult my vet first but I want whats best for my dog not me,I also keep a detailed record of every seizure he has ever had and can only conclude that he is getting worse as time goes on..good luck to all who have Epileptic pets...mayanbilly

[MK's mom]

if he's having problems on the drugs he's on and you wean him off, you're headed for some very bad things. Have you tried potassium bromide? That's a very common add on drug and it helped my boy a lot. It tends to cause hindleg weakness, but we have to decide if we want a romping dog or one with limited seizures.

No, I don't think it's time for you to give up!!!! Some dogs are very hard to control and it might be a matter of you finding the right dosage or drug. Is Epiphen called valium here? I'm thinking you're giving phenabarbitol and valium, but I want to be clear. Another drug that I am now using is Keppra (levetiracetam) and I know you can get the generic in Britain because I buy thru Canada and that is where my bottles have been coming from. It's pricey over here, but it has no side effects. It's used as an add on drug, too, so you wouldn't want to eliminate what you're using now.

Vivian

[mayanbilly]

Thanks Vivian for your reply,sorry I gave the impression I was giving up,I would never never do that to my boy no matter what,it`s just that sometimes it seems that whatever I do does no good for him,I was under the impression that Epilease was Potassium bromide??and Epihen is Phenobarbitone under a new name,would it be possible for you to give me the address were you can get the Keppra,and doe`s it go under that name in the UK,thanks again for your concern.mayanbilly

[MK's mom]

I buy the levetiracetam (generic Keppra) from Canadadrugs.com. You'll need the vet to call or fax a prescription to them. the pharmaceutical company where the bottle I have came from is Cobalt and I think that's in Britain.

Have you had the blood levels done on both Pb and KBr? maybe your vet needs to adjust your pup's dosages to help him go longer between seizures.

Vivian

[skrpio]

Hi Mayanbilly,
Have you had Bullseye checked for thyroid? If not I really recommend that you do. You need to check with your vet on PB doseage and consider adding another drug as Vivian has suggested. But if you decided to reduce or wean him off of anything please be very careful. My vet decided to wean my girl off of PB and I lost her.
Not sure what epilease is? I am in NZ and Epiphen is PB (Phenobarbitol).

[bobmorton]

Hi. How's your Staffordshire now, I feel so sad knowing what happen, I hope that with the proper medication your pet will survive in Epilepsy.