Controlling Multiple Seizures

[Debbie and Toby]

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or input .. Toby's seizure episodes are now lasting 3-5 days. He is on the max amount of phenobarb and potassium bromide. They have now added Gabapentin as a third med. He is having several grand mals with several "mini seizures" in between the grand mals. It goes on for 3 - 5 days, then he goes back to normal and it starts up again 3 -5 weeks later. Any ideas why this might be happening. Valium is no longer controlling these episodes so the vet said to give him a full dose of phenobarb after each seizure.  Having this much phenobarb in his system he gets very wobbly when he walks, but I don't know what else to do. Vet seems to think his age and severity of seizures may be taking a toll on him. When consulted with neurologist he feels the first seizure of these episodes is causing very unstable brain activity for a few days, resulting in the episodes that go on for a few days. They also feel he is having way too many seizures for the meds he is on. Any suggestions?

Does anyone else's furbaby have multiple seizures, and how do you control these?

[Kristi Trimble]

Cooper is now on phenobarbital, keppra, potassium bromide and the new one is felbimate. The last one is expensive but he had started to cluster really badly and the only way to stop ( 14 in 2 days) was to take to emergency vet. He sees neurologist and is considered end stage epilepsy. He will be 8 in March. Horrible disease! Coop is still a great dog! Great with everyone! People, kids and other dogs. His drugs run sbout 300 a month total. With some from Costco and the others from Walgreens. The clusters use to be only 3 in 24 hours. Since starting the felbimate he has gone 3 months with just occasional seizure about every 2-3 weeks and no clusters. Hang in there this is such a difficult disease. Coopers has no known cause and is considered idiopathic.

[Debbie and Toby]

Kristi, I am so sorry about Cooper. I can't even imagine 14 in 2 days. What is "end stage epilepsy"? Toby used to cluster, having 2 -3 seizures in a 24 hour period, but now they are several over a 3 -5 day period. What do you give Cooper when he has a seizure? Toby was on valium and it worked for a while to control the clusters, but the last couple years it hasn't helped at all. Now the vet has us give him a dose of phenobarb every time he seizures, until he goes 24 hours without. But the episodes are still lasting a  few days. So confusing! Do you think the age is a factor in these clusters? Cooper is 8, and Toby is almost 9. Still seems like a seizure every 2 - 3 weeks is a lot. Poor Cooper! and you!  I agree, it is a horrible disease!  Just wish there was a way to stop them. It sure can't be good for them with all the drugs. Toby will be 9 in March and this past few months is also clustering quite bad. He went over 6 months without a seizure while he was on the gabapentin, once the gabapentin was stopped, he started clustering quite often. Our vet was going to start him on Keppra as the third drug, but since he was seizure free while on the Gabapentin after surgery we decided to try adding that back in, so far he has been seizure free since November 11, which was when we started the Gabapentin back up. His meds are running us about $220 per month. Toby's seizure meds are not covered on our PetPlan insurance, our vet told us about GoodRx. Not sure if anyone has used this for prescription discounts, meds are still through our local pharmacy, just gives us a discounted rate. We'll see.

I will google this new drug Cooper is on, and if the Gabapentin doesn't work this time around, then I will mention it to our vet. Toby is also on Phenobarb and Potassium Bromide.

Keep me posted. ((HUGS)) to you and Cooper!