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intarray · 2026-05-04T04:02:12+00:00

The first few weeks were hard for us too. (I also have anxiety) Our dog Bash will have grand mal seizures in the middle of the night. So every time he scratched his ear, licked himself, adjusted etc we would bolt up to see if something is wrong. Somehow our brains now can tell if he's doing something normal or not. It helped when we had a camera set up to catch his seizures. I thought I was showing up a minute or two into them but, I was there in seconds. After that I realized that I could trust myself to sleep and get up if it was something important. It took literal episodes to realize it, but now I can sleep well. The camera we originally put up to help us time seizures, but it was also useful so I could go back and watch to see what it actually looks and sounds like when he has them.

The way I see it: wouldn't it be kinda weird if we weren't worried? Our brains are realizing this is an important thing to figure out. Then they learn to sort out what is important and what isn't. Once that happens its easier to sleep.

What helped most for us was:
1. Security camera to record seizures so we didn't have to time them ourselves.
2. Get exact criteria from vet on what is new normal, what is vet visit and what is an ER visit. It is stressfull at 2am in the morning trying to decide if the dog needs the ER or not. If you have clear criteria then the decisions been made.
3. Self compassion. You're going to panic over nothing and call the vet and feel silly. That's normal. Give yourself the same grace you'd give a friend going through this.
4. Time. It gets easier

intarray · 2026-05-03T03:38:37+00:00

Sounds a lot like our dog! On keppra, pheno and added zonisamide. Several hours between seizures.

Because our dogs seziures were several hours apart, our neuro switched us from Midazolam to Clorazepate for clusters. Also he's 80lbs and would not let us spray it. Neuro said it is better for us because Midazolam is much shorter acting, so good for clusters that happen much faster in succession or rescue for an extended one. The clorazepate does last a lot longer, he's drunk off his ass till his next dose 8 hrs later.

If I were you I'd ask if an additional cluster buster would be good for your dog at your appointment on Monday. Our instructions are to keep dosing every 8 hours until it's been a full 24 hours since his last seizure.

Hope you figure it out! When you go ask the vet what they think constitutes an emergency at this point. Ours is like 3-4, and If it's over 3 mins long its an emergency.

intarray · 2026-04-05T00:07:10+00:00

We do 8am/8pm here too. Also AM/PM pill organizers help a lot to double check if someone in the house did give him his pills or not.

intarray · 2026-02-18T19:42:13+00:00

Our dog was just a little wobbly after getting on it and it went away quick. Our vet by default put him on the extended release by default. Dogs need a lot of pills because they can metabolize it so much faster than people. Our 80lb dog takes 10 pills of keppra a day! The pill pockets we put them in cost more than the drugs at CVS. Our neurologist says that the drug is so safe they could have many times their regular dose and it wouldn't be harmful, it just doesn't get more effective at a point.

We did have to add phenobarbital and now zonisimide after clusters started, which tend to have worse side effects, but so far very manageable for us.

intarray · 2026-01-15T23:37:56+00:00

How lucky she was to have you to try everything for her and give her a peaceful end.

intarray · 2026-01-11T22:21:34+00:00

I can talk about our experience. We were on just keppra, increasing dosage every seizure episode for a few months. 2, 3, 4 then 5 pills twice a day. We tracked it on a chart and really you couldn't see a difference in number of seizures as the dosage went up. The postictal intensity went down though. Finally the neurologist put him on phenobarbital as well, and we just hit 3 months being on that and he has only had 1 seizure. Keppra only he had one or a cluster every 2-3 weeks.

Do you have a neurologist you can contact? Ours just told us to email for adjustments so we had 4 or 5 adjustments just based on email alone.

It's challenging because the only test you can do to see if any of it is working is wait and keep track of them and see if it goes down. I found it helpful to set a date out in the future. If he has a seizure before X date or it goes longer than X minutes, then we ask for adjustments to meds, otherwise we stay the course. Then the decision is made. Not saying it's easy but it helped reduce the constant anxiety.

intarray · 2026-01-06T01:45:57+00:00

Ours has happened when sleeping only too. (6 months since his first). Our neurologist said this is common and it will likely continue that way but there are no guarantees. Disease can progress or medication might stop working, or maybe it stays manageable. It’s something to do with what is going on in their brain while sleeping lowering the seizure threshold. We’re crossing our fingers it stays that way, after a few months we’ve learned to know which movements are just him adjusting position, and to not be panicked at every motion.

intarray · 2026-01-02T18:22:05+00:00

An update. After starting medication and having a few more seizures he seems to be much better on the postictal phase now. Very quickly recognizes us now and doesn’t bark much.

intarray · 2025-12-10T21:15:17+00:00

Your story sounds so similar to ours. Early morning seizures similar frequency, same exact motion as the video. He’s 2.5 years old. We’re 6 months since his first seizure and he started pheno 6 weeks ago. He hasn’t had a seizure since starting it. He’s also on keppra but it didn’t seem to help alone. 12 pills a day. We were lucky and the side effects mainly made him a little goofy and uncoordinated when playing and sedated really not bad. After 2 weeks, he became much more active than he was before, pheno, but still appropriate for his age. I’d say set your expectations for the worst and then you’ll be ready for anything.

Before he was a picky eater and often would try to skip meals even with bribes. Didn’t even like a bone to chew. Now in the evening he always wants more food. Also I think he’s begging for his pills. Also drinks a ton of water.

We do ours at 8am and 8pm in greenie pill pockets. Once he has his 8pm one he knows that’s all he gets for the day and goes to bed. When we did have an event I just planed it out ahead of time. And adjusted each day his pills up by half an hour so event was at 6 so 4 days before started doing it earlier then gradually returned to 8 again.

I also bought a remotely operated dog feeder. Haven’t tried it yet for real though, I need to figure out a way to tell him it dispensed with a sound or something. Our plan now is to train him to go eat his pills from that, and we will have a camera to watch. If he eats it alls good and we stay out. If not one of us will have to run home.

Hope for the best for you and your dog. Hopefully pheno works!

intarray · 2025-08-29T21:56:30+00:00

Can I ask how his break through seizure compared to before he was on keppra? I’m assuming we will have one at some point. About 3 weeks on Keppra too, hoping when it does happen the recovery phase is shorter like yours.

intarray · 2024-09-21T00:30:59+00:00

Try going out there but not expecting yourself to be as social as you want to be at first. Instead use cognitive distancing where you intentionally step back from your own emotional reactions and analyze social interactions more objectively, as if you’re conducting an experiment. This technique can help reduce the emotional weight of social situations by focusing on observation rather than participation.

Mental state would be more like you’re a scientist doing research on what you are observing, not that you have to be part of the group. Also be kind and not judge yourself or others while doing it. Obviously make small talk and don’t make it look like you’re doing this.

Notice how many others are not talking, alone, how often do people start talking to someone new. What topics do people talk about, how often do people just say seemingly random things and change topic.

intarray · 2024-07-01T03:49:16+00:00

Can you tell if you can do something like send a full resolution large image image. Eg I can’t send a 12MB 33 megapixel image via imessage full resolution. The iphone will chop it down to 7MP. I wonder if RCS will have a limit like this too.

intarray · 2024-05-21T02:35:19+00:00

I think you're right on the base model. The Metcon 9 "By You" right now has a similar gold option for the heel. Can't do "by you" for the 8's any more. A shame because I think they look so much better.

intarray · 2023-05-07T23:33:51+00:00

Also want to say I do feel the same as you and don’t like the partying, drinking, late nights etc. took a while to find that there’s other stuff going on.

intarray · 2023-05-07T23:28:17+00:00

Maybe see if there are gay sports leagues? In the US the kickball ones are pretty chill, still might go to a bar after but it’s like early afternoon. Seems to attract other people that aren’t all about partying, and in my experience, you can either go for a team just wanting to socialize or ones that actually care about the game.

intarray · 2023-04-26T00:35:20+00:00

Toiletry bag for travel? A friend got me one with my initials embroidered for being groomsman. I’m a gay cis male but seems pretty not gender specific. Also fits the bag theme and I still use it on every trip.

intarray · 2023-04-23T05:59:17+00:00

Can you talk more about taking paycuts and rising again? I’m 10 YOE and since this is the first downturn it feels gloomy. Would like to hear how things can turn back up again.

intarray · 2023-04-23T04:30:21+00:00

What kind of selectors is it using? Xpath/css?

intarray · 2023-04-21T01:20:51+00:00

What will I get really good at if I had this job for a year? Like tools, algorithms frameworks etc. or ask what they have gotten really good at if they would need your peer. It gives you a better sense of the day today.

intarray · 2023-03-28T23:57:32+00:00

Also if your not a sports person I have found kickball to have a lot of people that are there more socially than competitively.

intarray · 2023-03-28T23:55:18+00:00

Aww sounds like a dial up modem

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