Question Details
Epilepsy In A Dog
by CorinneC - July 22, 2021    View Case Report
Starr is a 4yo FS Boston terrier with chronic inflammatory bowel issues and epilepsy. She is on KBr and Keppra but still has break through seizures. Her seizures are always preceded with the need to eat grass and vomition. She has been previously treated for "irritable bowel dz" by another holistic Vet using Easy Digestion tableets. In winter she is prone to constipation, won't go for 2 days then watery diarrhea. As a pup had a lot of ear infections so O has switched to homecooked diet of lamb and beef which she has been fed for over a year.

I met her in April 2021 and her stools at that time were WNL, she had had only one seizure last Han 2021. Her tongue was dk pink-purple, dry. Her pulses were slightly narrow, rapid, and seemed of decent tone. She is a sweet nervous girl who trembles most of her visit. She was slightly overweight. She has bilateral patellar luxation Gr 2-3/4. At that time I was more concerned about her bowels and thought she was more of an irritable bowel girl over IBD so I oput her on Aventi probiotcs and Xiao Yao San.

In June we talked by phone, had had one bad seizure May 31 = very different from previous seizures (out in yard and collapsed, yellow froth from mouth, lat recumbent, eyes rolling, legs paddling, and took a few days to recover and smelled bad/putrid for 2 days). Stools are still off and on loose. Through June had 1 more seizure, both seem to start first thing in am where she starts with grass-eating and gagging, goes into a "stance", seizes and vomits. Both long recovery times, very subdued.

July 2 I got to examine Starr again. Seizure events Jan 19, May 30 5am, June 12 3:30pm, July 5 6am. She'd been stung by a wasp on Canada Day and had a severe rxn with ++ hives all over her belly, gave Benedryl. I saw her July 9 and the hives were just started to receed but O thought they were getting worse? Her tongue was now pale purple and slightly swollen, pulses toned. At this point I felt I was seeing more Dampness with Wind so I started her on Ban Xia Bai Zhu Tian Ma Tang. Phone call today and o very upset with cost of herbs (argh) and doesn't feel she's seen any changes in GIT. No seizures to date but stools still loose, still eating grass and compulsively eats things off the ground, and gaggling a lot after (coughing/gagging mostly in the evening). I still think this is Dampness but pica makes me think more Damp Heat. I'm wondering about Wei Ling Tang and Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin together? Or even San Ren Tang with respiratory issues?
Replies
by naturevet
July 23, 2021
Hi Corinne,

How ironic that someone having to give Keppra would pick herbs as the expense to complain about. Oh well. What it really tells us is this owner has a distrust of herbs, so it would be nice to get this one right. Hopefully I can help with that.

I agree that of all the possibilities, Dampness seems the most likely culprit given the GI signs and seizure timing. Are there any carbs in her diet? Eliminating those may help reduce all symptoms.

I don't know there is a lot of benefit to adding TMGTY, and if the dog is so easily inflamed, WLT may not be your friend here. If you do add in another anti-Damp formula, I'd wonder about Si Miao San. I've resolved seizures in Damp animals with it, too.

It's a little odd to have Dampness persist as an issue if it's just a meat and vegetable diet that is being given, but it's common if the dog has Shao Yang disharmony. The nocturnal gagging also makes me think of Shao Yang disharmony, as do a few other features of the case. We can even make the timing of the seizures fit. If you want to go that route, we've lately just been using Xiao Chai Hu Tang 100g + 12g Gui Zhi + 15g Bai Shao + 20g Tian Ma and that has seemed to work. It has a good chance of resolving the IBD if it resolves the seizures.

We also use homeopathic Aconitum in those Shao Yang dogs, at least to get them started. 30C a couple of times daily for a week or so.

Hopefully this helps you out

Steve
by CorinneC
August 5, 2021
Well low and behold the O emailed that Starr is improving! Begrudgingly she admitted that her stools have mostly solidified and there have been no further seizure events!

Now my next problem: O wants more of these "expensive" herbs and I did not pre-order as I prefer not to have a big overhead. While we are waiting for Health Canada to get rolling, do you have any further suggestions on what I could do regarding herbs? Should I now switch to the option you gave in your previous reply? Or should I continue with the BXBZTMT?
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