raided 1 and 1/2 years ago. Assume he is around 4-5 years. He has severe
hydrocephalus and 1 week ago (the day before I left for IVAS congress) had
5 seizures 5 minutes apart - grand mal though no loss of consciousness, no
loss of fecal/urinary continence and each one lasted around 15 seconds
with minimal post-ictal. Stopped them with a shot of dexamethasone and a
shot of phenobarb - has been mainteined on a tapering dose of pred at the
e-clinic with no further seizures. Now that I am home, I would like to get
him treated with herbs and possibly laser acupuncture as he does not
tolerate any needling and literally freaks out and I am concerned about
increasing his intra-cranial pressure. His tongue is thick and purple/red.
His pulse is deep, bounding and broad - surprisingly strong for auch a
small and fragile appearing dog. When I returned from IVAS congress, he
had also developed some very moist hot-spots - large one on his dorsum
and 2 small ones on ventro-cranial chest (never had any skin problems
before). When I rescued him he had severe periodontal disease, a
symphyseal fracture secondary to the dental disease eroding his cartilage
- he had multiple extractions and his jaw was wired for 2 months but the
fracture did not mend. He has severe luxating patellas. He is often out of
alignment in his lower lumbar and mid-thoracic region. He has multiple
congenital defects in his skull including a large open fontanelle (around
1/3 of his skull, and multiple small holes including his occiput and his
frontal nasal bone so that he chronically sounds congested. When I rescued
him he was mentally dull and couldn't stand from all the hydrostatic
pressure. His hydrocephalus is on the left side. When first rescued state
animal welfare had an MRI done and he was not a candidate for a shunt as
they felt it would cause more damage because the left side of his brain
was completely taken up by left ventricle with the remainder of his left
brain and right brain compressed to the right. Also he had damge to the
cerebellum from the pressure. At that time they did not know how long he
would survive and assumed it would only be around 6 months. He does have
chronic cervical pain from the pressure but this seems alleviated with
massage and adjustments.
I placed him on a chicken and turkey based raw meat diet and do mutliple
small cervical adjustments regularly which resulted in his growing some
hair back on his skull (he was bald from the pressure) and his head not
being overtly inflamed any more. He also developed a great personality
seeking affection, great with people and other dogs and was able to run
and play. He does have a clear fluid discharge from his mouth, eyes, nose
which increases when his pressure is high and when I do neck
adjustmentswhich seems to allow some of the moisture to drain. I have
tried dry needling in the past but he got too stressed to continue. He
does not get vaccinated, he does take heartgurad seasonally. He had blood
work done once a year ago with everything normal - we have not been able
to get more blood from him to repeat anything because he does get so
stressed. I know he has a major dampness accumulation and that this needs
to be drained as well as stasis and heat. I know that most hydrocephalus
are spleen qi deficient though I do not see this pattern in him. I was
going to dry to dry needle just LI 11 to drain some fluid and then wait
for my laser unit to arrive. I gave him a dose of calcarea carbonica 30 c
3 days ago (the day I returned and picked him up). In the past he never
had signs of heat or dampness anywhere but in his head until this ( his
head often radiates heat and his ears are always cold). He often has
infra-orbital pressure, especially behind his left eye. He does get cold
easily but if it is very hot out gets overheated - I think his thermal
control is affected by the pressure.
Now the reality is that it is probably my fault that he seizured. I
occasionally feed him some raw beef formula - rarley and some canned food
and this has not been an issue as both are infrequent but I ran out of raw
and with my shelter I had some donated canned wellness and fed him that
for 5 days prior to the seizures and it turned out it was a lamb formual
that also had some grain in it and I know that sent him over with heat and
damp. Since then he has been back on the raw chicken/turkey based food, no
grain and occasionally fish. He does take a
glucosamine/msm/tumeric/chondroitin/grape seed extract chewable supplement
for his knees. I really have become quite smitten with this little dog and
need to help him and get him off the steroids. I was unsure of what
formula would be best for draining his dampness that is primarily in his
head. Also was thinking of doing some food therapy such as adding some
mushroom to his diet to help drain the damp but what other I should add.
Also, if I am only able to needle one or 2 points am I right in thinking
LI 11 or should I choose other points?