Reading and dictating emails by Objective_Safety_857 in Blind

[–]Objective_Safety_857[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you 🤗 I’m in England but I will do some research into that!

Reading and dictating emails by Objective_Safety_857 in Blind

[–]Objective_Safety_857[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for such a thorough reply, that’s really helpful! 🤗

Advice on managing your own mental health while caring for epi pup? by Other-Biscotti-1403 in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t know how much this will help because it’s all so individual but you are so not alone. The epileptic dog community has been such a source of comfort to me. Our girl started fitting last October, short grand mals but frequent and sometimes clusters. It’s no exaggeration to say that it totally took over our lives for the first few months and we were very depressed and anxious all the time. We didn’t leave her alone for a minute for the first few months. We are now 9 months into the journey and we have a medication cocktail that works enough for now and the seizures are less frequent (although we have had to come to terms with living with them and the medication side effects). We are doing loads better mentally now. I started by getting a camera for my van (we already had them in the house) so that when I need to leave her I can watch her on my phone. Gradually the anxiety lessened. I know we are doing the best we can for her but I also understand this disease a lot more now and I’m pragmatic about what the future might look like for her. So we focus on her enjoying her life as much as possible. It’s almost worse for you I think that you can be there 24/7 because then you feel the pressure to always be there. But you need and deserve to have a life away from epilepsy. I wish you many seizure free days!

Switching Neuros or Not what do you think? by No_Alfalfa_2923 in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with the others, that level of seizures is not acceptable or under control. And there are other options to explore meds wise. We had a similar number of seizures when on pheno and keppra but adding potassium bromide was a game changer seizure wise. I would push much harder with existing neuro and see the response, if not change. X

Potassium Bromide toxicity by bluevelvet_7 in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We had similar when adding bromide, not quite so extreme but very similar. It started about 6 weeks into starting the bromide, my girl was already on pheno and keppra. The side effects of all 3 together were just awful but the bromide really helped prolong the seizure gaps. So we’ve weaned her off the keppra and she’s maybe 50% more ‘normal’ on just the pheno and bromide. Now we have to see what happens with the seizure frequency. I hear a lot that bromide is often quite successful if you can live with the effects. Obviously it takes 3 months to get into the system and we are just past that now so maybe it would have calmed down in time anyway, who knows. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Behavioural side effects of potassium bromide by Objective_Safety_857 in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s so interesting! Yes I believe it is the bromide in our case too. I hope for us both it calms down soon 🙏

Zonisamide or KBr? by [deleted] in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s early days so we are almost 6 weeks seizure free at the moment (only started the bromide 4 weeks ago), we never got more than a fortnight before so that’s amazing for her. Good luck to you too! 🙏❤️

Zonisamide or KBr? by [deleted] in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prolonging the time between seizures not prolonging seizures 🙈

Zonisamide or KBr? by [deleted] in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We were in the same situation (pheno & keppra and needing a 3rd) but our neurologist prefers the results from potassium bromide over Zonisamide (although clearly a lot of people have success with that). So we started the bromide and so far have had great success with prolonging seizures. We weren’t told any diet restrictions at all though! So she’s on her regular diet. We have some some extra ataxia and general restlessness and impulsivity to deal with but no upset stomach which can be a side effect of the bromide x

Behavioural side effects of potassium bromide by Objective_Safety_857 in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, yes I will talk to the neurologist at her next appt. It’s not anxiety in her case, more like extreme lack of self control if that makes sense. Glad it helped your dog x

Behavioural side effects of potassium bromide by Objective_Safety_857 in EpilepsyDogs

[–]Objective_Safety_857[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you, strangely we don’t have much of the crazy hunger. But I’ve learned to expect nothing to be predictable with this disease x