View Question

Agression/GI Upset Wheaton

by marneemadsen - December 21, 2009

HI Steve and all,
5 yr old FS Wheaton terrier presented 12/8/09 for chronic GI issues and aggression.
HX: Intermittent soft stool since young, often middle of night. Did not do great with raw food, now cooked homemade. Noise sensitive since 1 yr (she barks and attacks). False pregnancy when young. Very protective of female breeder and since then the female client and has bit husband viciously two times. Stalks and will attack him if wife is around - otherwise if husband and dog alone together there are no problems. If there is a confrontation between them (dog/husband), often will follow with acute vomiting that night or next day (the dog). Melatonin has helped take edge off aggression at 3mg AM and 6mg PM. GI issues worse since a trial of Prozac in 2008 which caused protracted vomiting and ileus. Now stools on and off good to soft, foul, with undigested food. Eats grass and stool gets soft with exercise. Vomiting and diarrhea have often come at same time. Vomit can be undigested food which progresses to bile.

LABS: 11/09 AST 18, ALT 31, ALP 26, HCT 58, USG 1.011. USG started running low a couple of years ago. Hardly drinks any water per client and urinates 2-3 times daily.

Tongue: Red edges, body red to purple

Pulse: deep, wiry, slippery

Pts: BL17S, BL22S (best effect on pulse), BL23S, GB25S

A: Sp Qi Def/Damp
Shao Yang pathogen
Blood Def

P: Sent home San Ren Tang to start, and recommended arsenicum if episode. Dog had episode over weekend that started with husband-stalking and then vomiting next morning and for several days. No diarrhea. Arsenicum 30C no effect. Female client very Earthy, husband losing patience. (They have found keeping her on long lead and he talks to her and controls her lead. They are able to manage ok, but obviously a drag).

Considered CHJLGMLT, but concerned too cooling?

Nux vomica?

Yi Guan Jian too Dampening here?

Client concerned with melatonin dose and effects...could it be affecting USG?

I am often finding Blood Def with TH/GB patterns. How to modify XCHT? CHSWT says for pathogens penetrating Terminal Yin (Jue Yin) - how to distinguish that from shao yang?

Thanks for your consideration, as always!

Marnee

by marneemadsen

December 21, 2009

Steve,
Additional info from client: Lots of gulping and swallowing, discomfort, wet and slobbery beard with borborygmus and discomfort. First vomit was at 5 pm and still had some breakfast.

Thanks!

by naturevet

December 22, 2009

Hi Marnee,

The first thing I think of when I hear of anger attended by so many digestive problems is a Liver Spleen disharmony. This is especially true if the symptoms are aggravated in the middle of the night at Liver high tide. The first formula I think of for that is Xiao Yao San. It is a hormone balancer, and we can look at pseudopregnancy as a form of hormone imbalance.

Going against the use of Xiao Yao San is all the heat that is suggested in the tongue, as well as in the very excessive nature of the attacks. So we can consider Jia Wei Xiao Yao San instead, which cools Heart Fire, moves Blood, and in some versions, drains Damp. Lachesis is also indicated when the motive for the attacks can be easily construed as jealousy, and when the attacks are severe and intense. It’s not a big diarrhea, remedy, though, and Nux vomica is much more famous for the aggravation from contradiction (in this case, confrontation). Another homeopathic to consider is Staphysagria. Like Nux, those patients are also worse with anger.

So I’d be torn between those three remedies, but would probably try Lachesis first, maybe with Xiao Yao San (or JWXYS) to better cover the digestive aspect of things.

Another decent formula for consideration is Yue Ju Wan. It relieves five different types of Stasis, including Damp, Qi, Heat, Blood and Food stasis. It’s helpful in Liver Spleen cases with lots of gastric upset and is more aggressively cooling. It doesn’t have any Blood tonic effects, however, and we have a strong hint we need that, since the dog responds well to melatonin (which is fine to continue for now at least, until we can do better). XYS nourishes Blood, so I’d use that over YJW, but maybe in its JWXYS form.

As for your other ideas: yes, YGJ is probably too dampening for this dog, given the weak GI. As for CHJLGMLT, I look for a superficial slippery pulse in dogs that benefit. Lastly, Si Wu Tang plus Xiao Chai Hu Tang is fine for Blood deficient Shao Yang dogs.

What of the points, then? Do we ignore them? They are all centered around the middle burner, and I wonder if the heat around GB 25 simply echoes that. Definitely the points signal stasis in the middle burner, however, making the formulas above appropriate.

You must be logged in to reply

CuredCases.com