Lily Seizures Updated

[Lisadale]

Hello,

It's been awhile since I posted. Lily had gone one full year without a seizure, and I'd begun to hope that she had somehow outgrown her idiopathic epilepsy.

Unfortunately, her seizures came back with a vengeance in April. She's had five and one focal seizure.

I'm going to make an appointment to see her neurologist as soon as I can, but in the meanwhile, other concerns are surfacing.

She is losing fur. There are patches behind her ears that are bald. At first, I thought the fur loss was due to fleas (which I try to control without medicine due to her seizures), but I don't think that's the problem.

Her cholesterol is extremely high, and she has an ongoing problem with vaginal discharge which seems infected.

One of her recent CBC came back indicating low thyroid, but since she takes Potassium Bromide, her neurologist felt it was a false positive for hypothyroidism. (Potassium bromide can affect the thyroid count somehow).

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm afraid it's something serious like a tumor in her pituitary or adrenal glands.

Lisa and Lily (5 years old)

 

[Chris]

Dear Sr. Francis, please send guidance and support to Lily's doctors. Help Lisa as she cares for her beloved Sheltie. In His name we ask, Amen

 

[ghggp]

Thank you Chris for your beautiful prayer...
I will pray for Lily also...

Please keep us updated on her progress. I am so sorry for both of you. Blessings...

 

[Caro]

Sorry to hear Lily's having setbacks.

The Potassium Bromide can play havoc on various levels - might account for her cholesterol. Do you have her on a prescription diet - it may with trying for a while to even out her levels.

Deska's had fur loss issues for a couple of years which has recently been resolving. I've added a multi-vitamin to his diet and that seems to have done the trick. I'd used supplements specifically for skin (incl a vet-only one) and they didn't make any difference, so whatever he was lacking was something not in the skin supplements and not showing up in his blood work. I'm sure it's one of his daily medications that's impeding the absorption of some minerals. That's something that human research has recently uncovered, but not something that's seen in veterinary literature. It's just that I used to work in human health so came across the info that way.

That all makes me wonder whether the Potassium Bromide is impacting on her iodine levels which in turn is impacting on her thyroid. There's some debate about the role of KBr in iodine deficiencies in human populations, so you never know. Introducing a multi-vitamin that includes iodine might help Lily's fur loss too. You may even want to introduce an iodine specific supplement but don't do that without talking to the specialist first (in case the higher levels interfere with her meds)