I have an 8 year old male entired chihuahua with idiopathic epilepsy since young. Initially the seizure was only noticed in winter time but then slowly progressed to all year round. The dog was put on phenobarb since Jan 2006. The problem was not well controlled and the dog started to have status epilepticus in Dec 2006. It was then put on phenobarb , neurontin, KBr an dliver supplements and only mild seizure was noticed intermittently for another year.
From Nov 2007, the dog had 3 episodes of Status epilepticus, once monthly, that could only be resolved with IV phenobarb and propofol. After each episode, the dog had very poor recovery that it was very drowsy and sedated for at least a week. I then treat it with weekly acupuncture from Jan 2008. The dog showed satisfactory response and no more status epilepticus was noticed since. Only mild seizure was seen once monthly. The dog is much brighter and lively now.
Although the problem is well controlled at this stage, the owner is hoping to put it on chinese herbal medicine and see if it is possible to wean it off western medicine.
Here are some physical findings of this dog:
always sleepy, like to stay in cool environment, drinks water well and has good appetite.the dog is slightly overweight. The hair coat was dull and dry before having acupuncture but now is soft and glossy.
Tongue: slighlty lavender and dry
Pulse
Left side: deep and weak
Right side: forceful and slippery
My TCM diagnosis was Internal Wind invasion of the Liver with Blood Stasis.
The acupuncture points that I 've used are: LI 4, SP 6, LIV 3, KI 3, KI 6,GB 20 GV 16 GV 20 BL 17 BL 18.
My question is which formular is a better choice for this dog? "Ban xia Bai Zhu Tian Ma Tang" or "Long Dan Xie Gan Tang"?
Thanks very much for your advice.
Best Regards,
Doris