Patty's Ali - my precious, beautiful angel

[farrwf]

Re: Patty's Ali

I caught another pretty good twitch on video today around the 25 second mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_An_uOMKPkU She was really bad before her 2nd meal last night. Thought she was going to fall down.

I can't seem to keep her bg down in the 100s for any length of time. She either drops through them or rises after touching into them. She was back in the low 300s after her meal + usual dose of Humalog that would cover it so I took her for a short ride. She hesitated coming but seemed to enjoy looking out the window and was able to stand while I drove about 10mph for quite awhile.

Geez, I sure hope the test results give you a clue as to what can be done.

Was watching Ali in your vid and, as I do with Otis, I was wondering what they think about all day?????

Hoping and praying for a good outcome.

[Rubytuesday]

Re: Patty's Ali

Crossing everything i have that you get test results soon and that it gives you something to help her.
Take care of yourself. You must be exhausted.

[peggy0]

Re: Patty's Ali

She seems to know its going to happen per the video. Poor thing. I hope you learn something patty. I did forbins and Abby's paws. Love having them. I guess they have tested her for all the tick borne diseases?

[eileen]

Re: Patty's Ali

Following along, Patty, and continuing with very positive thoughts...

Love the paw prints.

When I was stuccoing over some really ugly brick on my fireplace years ago I actually held Mil up and put her paw prints down one whole side of the fireplace.
Unless you know what you're looking for they really blend in...of course my eyes go right to them and I smile with the memory....guess I'll never be able to move.

[Patty]

Re: Patty's Ali

Was watching Ali in your vid and, as I do with Otis, I was wondering what they think about all day?????

That's a good question Bill.

I am exhausted Tara. Sleeping most nights downstairs.

Peggy, they did test for tick disease. All negative. Though we haven't been around ticks since NY thank goodness. I took a stool sample in the day of our appt after 1st seizure but the sample seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle and I haven't gotten a new sample close enough to when we've gone in to rerun it.

Eileen, I guess you've found your forever home then Gotta love those memories.

Test results did get emailed tonight. T3 is quite low and free T3 low but all other values within normal limits. Comments indicate T3 could be from a non-thyroidal illness such as diabetes.

Cholesterol 450 again. Triglycerides though were normal at 91.

I'll talk to doc but looks like we'll need to start the KBr. Her twitches tonight while she was outside were throwing her off balance. She backed herself into a corner sniffing around and twitched, throwing her off, and she needed help getting out. Hoping we don't have side effects like you read on the internet. But I think it's important to stop them early before they become more frequent.

Her bg is 'stuck' again tonight. Will need Humalog to eat her 2nd meal. Really not loving this pattern at all with our shot/skin troubles and potential for seizures with the fast acting in her system like the other night.

Patty

[CarolW]

Re: Patty's Ali

Patty - I think you're doing right to work on preventing seizures as far as possible. I read that scary article about the more seizures, the more likely they are to recur.

Wishing you and Ali all the best, and I also hope you can both get some rest.

Tons of love and hugs,
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:02:59 (PDT)

[momofdecker]

Re: Patty's Ali

Patty -
I'm sorry to hear that they thyroid testing wasn't the answer to Ali's challenges. Sounds like you you have a good plan to talk with the vet and start anti-seizure treatment.

Hoping you had as much as a restful night as you could under the circumstances and that Ali was able to get some rest as well. Wishing you all the best and keeping you in my prayers.

[Abby's Mom]

Re: Patty's Ali

Patty,

Sending lots of positive and healing thoughts (I wished I study Reiki ) to you and Ali.

I agree with Peggy, that it seemed like Ali could feel the seizure before it occured.. It would have been so nice to find that it was a thyroid issue, but at least it has been ruled out.

Her bg is 'stuck' again tonight. Will need Humalog to eat her 2nd meal. Really not loving this pattern at all with our shot/skin troubles and potential for seizures with the fast acting in her system like the other night.

Do you think that the fast acting insulin causing the Seizures to be worse? Do you see a connection between the two?

[heinzle]

Re: Patty's Ali

I'm sorry you're going through this. It sure doesn't look like Ali's in any pain which has to be a small blessing. All I can think of is I am so glad she has you for a mom. Lucky girl.

[jesse girl]

Re: Patty's Ali

i do think jesses epilepsy symptoms are better lately which i find strange and she seems to improve in the summer time really the only thing is different is drinking allot more water after her rabbit chase .

another thing i have noticed that her anxiety triggers that cause seizures doesn't seem to be appearing as they used to and the only thing i can come up with is her daily dose of honey with her snack that's different from the past as we know sweet delicious things can provide a release of dopamine from our brains thats why food can make us feel good i guess thats as good an answer as anything to bad dogs cant try medical marijuana that may have less side affects but i dont think our vets are ready for that

normally with no intervention symptoms just dont improve over time so as most times i just scratch my head puzzled and just enjoy any improvement even if it is short lived as we know nothing lasts forever in this world

i can understand not using the medication the side affects can play a big part and that why we never explored that possibility but it comes down to quality of life if it has reached a point where you are seeing more of the symptoms and less of ali then yes it maybe worth a try but if she is doing good then you might wait for a bit

my brothers scooter dog on prednisone has given her a second lease on life and yes there are side effects she is putting on quite a bit of weight but that's it and she is having fun and of course she would not be here without it due to the cancer

of course you have the other issue of blood sugar with seizures or the ticks and movements may create all kinds of fluctuations in blood sugar from going lower and higher . for jesse its mostly a higher equation and when i see that higher fasting i blame it on her body and possibly the epilepsy itself

it is possible you may have to change her routine if you get a consistent pattern that you can work with but time will tell you that you do have the fast acting to correct . is it possible large drops can couse symptoms ? it is possible stress of any kind can have an effect and you may see less symptoms with more stable blood sugar.

i know you have a lot more knowledge and experience than me and i am not much for research because everything i read just does not seem to apply to jesse and managing her disease is more of an art than facts and figures she gives me an equation and we work on it together to come up with a solution

the thing with jesse is her diabetes has shown me so many different faces and have changed her routine so many times and grown quite accustomed to it i have counted her out more times than i can think of and she proved me wrong just as many times

so we will continue she is almost eight now lifetime of seizures a quarter of her life with diabetes you would think the odds of much time left would be short but with jesse i would not count her out and i believe ali is the same as she is just an amazing girl

both of you are in me and jesses thoughts and to find a path that you two can figure out together that can calm things down a bit may not be the way it was but stable and still have fun and just enjoy each other

[Patty]

Re: Patty's Ali

Thank you Carol for your opinion.

It was a long shot Holli that the thyroid was a cause but definitely worth investigating.

Hey Barb, with the fast acting I was just meaning the potential to drop bg faster. The strenuous muscle contractions can be like running while insulin is active depending on the dog.

Thank you so much Karen.

Jessegirl, you have been dealing with this a lot longer than I have.

I do think the likelyhood that this is just late developing epilepsy is slim. My gut says brain tumor and the side effects that come with it. But that's just speculation. I know Dr. Becker's seizure info indicates she doesn't put dogs on meds unless they are having more than one seizure a month. Ali had 3 in one month and then the cluster on Thursday. With the increasing frequency and strength of her tics, I don't see this as a slowly moving process.

My doc said they had a dog that went on meds and enjoyed 3-4 more seizure free months before his brain tumor won out and there wasn't anything that was going to stop them.

I don't like the potential side effects and they will interfere with interpreting Ali's body language that I'm so in tune with in managing her diabetes. But the tics are doing that now as well.

As for her blood sugar and finding a pattern to deal with. I keep working on it. The added problem is her absorption and skin changing that's working against me as well so I've been testing at 30 min to an hour post shot to see how things are going.

Just looking at her numbers she seems nice and level. I'm not getting the big rises into hour 1 so much anymore, mostly because of the added Humalog helping carry over. But what it doesn't allow me is to feed her a complete 2nd meal on N only. I gave 2 shots of Humalog to temper her afternoon rise yesterday. It's so trial and error.

Last night's bgs:
7/16
317 - 6:17p 8 1/4+ NPH 118g Pheasant + vitamins
320 - 7:00p checked early as I had blood on the needle and was afraid of a drop
294 - 8:31p
269 - 10:21p HOUR 4 (drop of 25 points in 2 hours - not enough to feed 2nd meal without rising)
------10:54p 1/8u Humalog Fed 156g Chicken + supplements
254 - 11:13p
239 - 12:51a very restless
242 - 2:27a very twitchy and uncomfortable
7/17
222 - 6:13a 8 1/4+ NPH 118g Pheasant
226 - 6:47a
213 - 8:43a woke up, more active
189 - 10:01a almost HOUR 4 (drop of only 24 points in an hour) Giving Humalog is tricky with Ali in lower numbers, opted to manipulate food for bgs - fed little over 3/4 food 119g Chicken + supplements + Simplicef
203 - 11:28a - digging head into floor 4xs while laying down

[jesse girl]

Re: Patty's Ali

patty quite amazing how you work with the disease i thought i had to jump through hoops to keep jesse in a better range i always was so impressed how you used food to accomplish those goals and thats what helped jesse turn the corner from your understanding of blood sugar control through food

those levels are quite promising even with symptoms which can cause some big swings and sometimes there is nothing you can do about that

this is promising at least the ticks are not having any real stress on the body as blood sugar is telling you and that is a nice range

yes you maybe wright later symptoms can point to other things and thats where i was going with scooter dog with prednisone and cancer and its better to have more of her than less and if that takes medication than so be it

[Patty]

Re: Patty's Ali

Jesse girl have you ever heard of this ice pack intervention? http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-...om/icepack.htm

I think I remember you posting in the past that you don't use the Rescue Remedy for dogs but that for humans. Was that right? Why is that? And how/when are you using it (in water) for Jesse?

[jesse girl]

Re: Patty's Ali

yes i use the humane version which does have alcohol in it which has had no affect on her numbers

it comes with a curved dropper so i squirt some drops under her tongue during onset or after the seizure has relaxed they say it improves recovery time and i have seen some positive results

its weird every time i post to you jesse has a seizure and that was just a short time ago its been about a month and i could see she has been anxious today so i new i was going to see one to day

its just like how you did it with ali let them lay on there side and like i said at least for jesse i let it run its coarse usually after she poops thats the signal its almost over

i dont give her rescue remedy anymore like i suggested i do not try to interrupt the seizure or try to lessen it which it appears to me is shorter in duration she recoups much faster and seeing another seizure and she could have back to back ones i dont see that anymore where it seemed before when i tried to intervene the seizure would end and the the tremors would begin again and two can really knock her down for a longer time there is some research on this and it does make sense but it can be a helpless feeling but they dont feel anything

the thought process is to let it clear the system which takes longer to build back up so we have more normal jesse and not anxiety Jesse followed by a siezure the symptoms are like clock work and all the things you describe are very similar maybe displayed a bit different

i think what you want to look at if she has another siezure let it run its coarse and see how she acts better after no clusters or back to back and the ticks and anxiety seem to disappear for some time i know this seems the opposite approach but thats how it works with jesse just do the opposite than normal with her and things get better

i did see with jesse prolonged anxiety and how you describe ticks Jesse would just stand there stiff as a board and wanting me to do something for her most of a day but we do see less of it just maybe the day of the seizure

as you always said every dog is different i would try the rescue remedy i put a couple drops in her water bowl and like i said under her tongue before or after or both

the ice pack intervention is interesting it does make sense but once again it is intervention and i have pulled away from that concept over time and let it run its coarse and i believe i have seen benefits over the long term

i have almost the same concept as the doc once a month is good control but its like diabetes if you had 2 or even three on month that is acceptable

we do hope its just epilepsy and not anything else causing it and that is possible there are times jesse had some tough days coupled with the poor regulation that probably put her on a roller coaster ride but now it is much better good blood sugar the epilepsy has improved as far as accumulative and duration which does surprise me because time you would think you would see deterioration and like i said she is almost eight

if intervention sees more of a normal ali then thats a good sign if her ticks anxiety and seizures are suppressed then that maybe the best approach but if you see more anxiety and ticks during the day and you are more in a gray area maybe less siezures but overall quality is not acceptable you may explore less intervention as i have done with jesse

we are wright with you patty and do understand how you feel explore all possibilities it may take some time to really see what direction this is going so you may have better days and the not so good days but what you want to see is an established pattern its amazing diabetes really taught me how to manage jesses epilepsy with the same thought process

so i beleve there is hope yes she is a bit older but you have taken such good care of her it may take a month or two to estabish a pattern and what to expect

[Patty]

Re: Patty's Ali

I've been using honey only when I'm unsure exactly what's happening with her bgs. The night of the video she still had Humalog in her system with the potential to drop with all the activity.

I was thinking about the Rescue Remedy in her water for days she seems more keyed up or after a seizure when she drinks. Why did you use the human vs. dog blend? Just curious.

With intervention, I'm just thinking ahead to any cluster seizures. We do have rectal Valium we can use if necessary. She just was not going to stop that night.

I took her out with me for a short time today. Her tics seemed to increase on our way back home...blinking hard, then a hard head 'shake.'