Valium!

I have posted a couple times about our experience with Valium. Valium has most definately saved Henry's life. I have read on the EPIL-K9 list, that some find Valium suppositories take too long to kick in.

The kind I use is liquid, here is a pic.~

The liquid apparently absorbs right away, as opposed to the suppositories. I havent actually used the suppositories myself, so I can't give an actual comparison based on my own experience. But I can certainly tell you the kind of Valium pictured above has been very helpful and that Henry responds well to it. He is dopey for awhile of course, but the Valium certainly ends clusters for Henry. Different dogs respond differently. If your dog is not doing well with the suppository form of Valium, I highly reccomend you ask your vet for the liquid kind. It still goes in the bum, just like the suppository.

While liquid absorbs fast, it does still take 8-10 minutes to kick in.

While on the topic of Valium, I want to show you my emergency seizure kit that I keep in my purse. This is a rigid zip close type deal, that came with my hearing aid. I took all the hearing aid accesories out of it, and put in Henry's seizure stuff instead. In it I have, 3 full doses Phenobarbital in small ziploc bag. (Just in case we get stranded away from home for whatever reason) peanut butter in small ziploc bag, and a fork for administering the Pheno. (Spoon would probably be more ideal) And then the Valium.

p.s. I would love to have comments from people relating what their pet's Valium experience was and which kind was used and etc.

Update

I am going to share our experience as Henry gets used to his Phenobarbital so others can know what to expect when starting their dog on Phenobarbiital. Keep in mind, it can vary for each dog. I believe part of how Henry is doing today is damage caused by his recent cluster that he is not finished recovering from yet.

The ataxia from the Phenobarbital has started. He fell twice today. This is something that is expected improve over the next few weeks/months. He is also restless and rooing quite a bit. His last Valium dose was Tuesday morning at 2:45 am. Tuesday night we slept through the night. Last night he was pacing alot and rooing and crying, so we brought him up in our bed and he slept much better after that.

Every day will be a little better.

Henry was throwing up every day, but has stopped. We are foregoing the Potassium Bromide, at least for now, and going with the higher dose of Phenobarbital. The Potassium Bromide wasn't going to kick in for awhile anyways, and the vet was planning to wean Henry off the Potassium Bromide later, and with Henry's sensitive tummy, we have just decided to forego it for now.

When your pet is on a lifesaving addictive med like Phenobarbital, measures must be taken to make sure a dose is NEVER missed. We have programmed into our phones, the phone # of 3 different pet sitters as a back up. If it has been to long since a pet sitter has been by, we have her visit for a bit, especially as Henry scares easy.

And about Valium, I hear many others who have dogs with epilepsy, saying their dogs did not respond well to the Valium and they even felt the side effects of the Valium were worse than the seizure. It seems to be on a case by case basis on how your dog does on it. Henry responds extremely well to the Valium and we are VERY glad for Valium and will ALWAYS have Valium on hand.

Something I like about Phenobarbital, you can give your dog an extra dose after a Grand-mal, and it helps prevent another Grand-Mal from coming on.

Seizure Monster

Well. ALOT has happened since I last posted here, actually, in just the last few days. Henry went into the worst cluster of his life. The seizure monster had decided it was determined to kill Henry. 7 am Sunday morning we rushed Henry to the vet. He was panting very hard, crying and shivering. The vet immediately gave Henry a hefty shot of Valium. She was barely done giving the shot when Henry started to go into a sixth Grand-Mal, paddling legs and stiffening up, but that Grand-Mal never took effect, thanks to the Valium.

It was then unanimously decided by everyone involved, this dog needs DRUGS, and he needs to be kept on them for LIFE. If it were not for drugs, Henry would have died that day. We took Henry home, and watched him like a hawk. Every time he stretches out, groans or shakes, my heart freezes fearing he'll go into another Grand-Mal.

Henry slept for all of that day, and then at 10PM, the Valium wore off, and Henry began to pant very hard. I knew what was coming next. Crying, shivering, then WHAM! Seizure monster was gonna try again to kill my dog. I promptly gave Henry rectal Valium. Within ten minutes the panting stopped and Henry seemed much more comfortable. For the next two days, the seizure monster kept trying to come back every time the Valium wore off, so I had to keep drugging him with Valium. I am pleased to report that the Phenobarbital has kicked in, and today is the first day he no longer needs Valium.

I expect recovery to take a while. He is still very confused and his eyes don't compute vision correctly. It's hard to explain the vision thing. He's not blind, but he bumps into things and he has great difficulty getting off the bed because he seems to think the floor is 50 feet down. When awake, he follows my every step, like a baby duckling. If something got in his way and he loses me, he stands there and cries until I come get him.

Yesterday I was in tears because Henry is showing so much brain damage and I started to worry about his recovery. I posted through Epil-K9, and received an overwhelming # of responses relating what their experience was in recovery after a big cluster and that it can take up to a month for recovery. So, that comforted me greatly. And today, he does show more improvement. He's on his way to recovery.

I am truly fortunate that he is still here. Every day is a gift with him.

I know the Phenobarbital will have negative side effects, but trust me, the side effects of the Grand-Mals~ heavy panting, crying, shivering in fear, blind, confused is just way worse than the side effects of the Phenobarbital.

So, bring on the ataxia, bring on the incontinence (which has already started by the way), bring on the extreme hunger and thirst. That's a piece of cake compared to what we just went through. We can do this. We are officially survivors.