[Taylor R]

Posting an update, we started a Facebook page with a couple other dog owners going through similar issues. Trying to send an invite to all the people who have emailed me about my video of Scarlet the last couple years to be a dog community resource for those still struggling and looking for solutions. Please join!
Dog Swallowing and Gulping Seizure Support Group
https://m.facebook.com/groups/366739769504579/?ref=share&mibextid=adzO7l

[Taylor R]

Haha I’m just seeing @Susan’s message, yes, duh, you need a vet to diagnose and prescribe meds. You also need to be your own best advocate for your dog. A lot of vets have never seen focal seizures present in this manner and immediately send you on a road of diagnostics and dietary changes. Hopefully it is just a gastro issue that resolves with diet change, but if it doesn’t, maybe you try something else. I’ve received dozens of emails from desperate dog owner who have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on diagnostic procedures, put their dog under anesthesia for exploratory surgery, MRIs, x-rays, expensive foods or diet changes, with no change or diagnosis.

So ask your vet this, “If potassium bromide works, or any anti-seizure med, can it be anything but a seizure disorder?”

[Taylor R]

UPDATE ON SCARLET! She’s 9 1/2 years old, still on the potassium bromide and doing really well! She gets annual bloodwork to make sure her levels are ok but we haven’t had to increase her dose in the last year. Her seizures are very well managed and infrequent. She occasionally needs an increase in the meds when she starts having breakthrough episodes. By breakthrough I mean very minor and short episodes, I give her an extra dose when that happens and resolves in 20 minutes or so. If that happens more than once or twice in a month, we see the neurologist and we up the dose which we do about once a year now. It took some time to get the dose right. She gets annual bloodwork. She is 9 1/2 years old. I hope that helps and you find a vet that works for you. One piece of advice my vet and neurologist did give me was that if the dog is positively reacting to anti-seizure meds, it can’t be anything but a seizure disorder. I get a lot of messages that vets tell them it is a gastro issue and put dogs through a whole ringer of diagnostics/mri/dietary changes because this is not how seizures typically present. But they are focal seizures. Potassium bromide is not harmful and relatively inexpensive. If it works you know it’s not gastro. I hope this helps please keep me updated. Scarlet has been taking the potassium bromide and has required dosage increases over the last 4 years but it continues to work really well for her.

[Taylor R]

Hi Eileen L.

UPDATE ON SCARLET – 3 YEARS ON POTASSIUM BROMIDE WITH EXCELLENT RESULTS!

Please feel free to contact me by email to discuss further, but as my previous posts indicate, I adamantly disagree with the advice that Susan keeps putting forth. We changed Scarlet’s diet 10 ways to Sunday, and it didn’t work, so have several people on this thread who emailed me saying they have tried everything.

Potassium bromide worked miracles for our boxer Scarlet (now 7 years old) who has been mostly seizure-free on the meds for over 3 years. She needs occasional increases in doses when she has minor breakthrough episodes but has not had an increase in over a year and a half. She currently takes 5 ml of potassium bromide under the care and direction of her doggy Neurologist, Dr. Gregg Kortz in Sacramento, Ca. I will say that 3 episodes in the past 9 months may not be frequent enough to trigger treatment. Scarlet’s seizures (videos linked above) were occurring multiple times a week and would last for hours. I would say Scarlet still has an episode approximately every 1-2 months but they are much less severe. Her vet told us to give her an additional 5ml of the potassium bromide when this occurs and they go away within 20 minutes. We have not noticed any side effects and neurologist told me that most dogs don’t live long enough for potassium bromide to have adverse effect on liver, as compared to people who live much longer. Please feel free to reach out with additional questions.

taylor.rhoan@gmail.com

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Taylor R.

[Taylor R]

Understanding that everyone is well-meaning on this site and just trying to find a solution to help their dog be at ease. While some of your dogs may be experiencing digestive/acid reflux issues, I CAN TELL YOU, beyond any doubt, and pursuant to our dog’s NEUROLOGIST, that my dog’s episodes are in fact seizures, and they DO last for hours. They are not at all related to any digestive/acid reflux issue but we had several run-of-the-mill vets diagnose it this way before the neurologist got involved. Omeprazole/prilosec, changing her diet, and other organic homeopathic meds did no good.

The official diagnosis from the neurologist is complex partial seizures or focal seizures. They are a series of small seizures and mis-fires in the synapses in the brain. One common way they manifest is through gulping or repetitive swallowing.

Potassium bromide worked miracles for Scarlet who has been seizure-free on the meds for 1 1/2 years and needs occasional increases in doses when she has minor breakthrough episodes.

Another popular anti-seizure medication is zonisamide – read Hines’ story and watch video here: http://www.jasonbk.com/2014/02/hiness-gulping-a-cautionary-tale/

Phenobarbitol is another option.

Wish you all the best of luck in finding solutions for your pups.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Taylor R.

[Taylor R]

Scarlet’s episodes would last for hours as well. Also, we have seen no side effects with the potassium bromide, and she has had updated blood panels to confirm it isn’t affecting liver function. She has been on it for over 1 year. Very happy with results!

[Taylor R]

Hi Shari G,

I just watched your video and it looks identical to what my boxer Scarlet went through. I posted a video of her in the string above. In her more severe episodes she would drool a lot and lick to try and keep the drool down. Perhaps depending on the dog’s jowls drooling may be more common; like boxers. We have managed her symptoms and seizures very well since being on the Potassium Bromide. She needs occasional increases in the dose when she has breakthrough episodes.

Before starting meds, we were told that there is no point in doing expensive diagnostics if she responded to potassium bromide. If she responds to anti-seizure/anti-convulsant meds, its a seizure. If the potassium bromide does not work, they told us they would try the phenobarbitol which has higher frequency of side effects and is tougher on the liver. If after trying those 2 meds we saw no change, only then were we advised to do diagnostics. Another vet suggested an MRI and spinal tap before just prescribing her the potassium bromide, so watch out for overzealous vets!

Potassium bromide did the trick within a couple days there were no more seizures. My email is taylor.rhoan@gmail.com if you want to chat further! Good luck!

[Taylor R]

Update on my post of 2/26/17 – Scarlet has not had ANY seizures/gupling episodes since increasing her dose to 5ml of potassium bromide ALMOST 6 MOS AGO!

Scarlet goes to a neurologist in Sacramento, ca who confirmed that her responsiveness to the pot. brom. Means it is definitely seizures and not some gastrointestinal thing.

Sharing the video links again so people can see if what their pups are experiencing are similar to my situation.

Video of Scarlet’s gulping episode:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2hsoApFbGwXbnh1cXUwZE5jRUE/view?usp=sharing

Website that originally helped me diagnose her, read all the updates: http://www.jasonbk.com/2014/02/hiness-gulping-a-cautionary-tale/

My email is taylor.rhoan@gmail.com if anyone has any questions.

[Taylor R]

Hi Ceri,

Please read my post on 02/26/16 and consider trying the potassium bromide! What you are describing is EXACTLY what Scarlet went through. I remember how hopeless it felt as nothing worked. If you want to correspond directly my email is taylor.rhoan@gmail.com.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Taylor R.

[Taylor R]

SEE LINK TO VIDEO

My 5 year old boxer has the same gulping condition, initially investigated as a gastric/acid reflux issue but after seeing a Neurologist in Sacramento at the VCA, and doing a lot of research, changing her food to no avail, we have diagnosed the issue as complex partial seizures.

By process of elimination we realized that POTASSIUM BROMIDE, a low-dose, low side effect anticonvulsant medication, entirely stopped these episodes. I caution that over time she steadily develops a tolerance to the med and we have to up the dose every four-six months or so. The neurologist said we may eventually move to stronger meds like phenobarbitol but it has been over 1 year and she is still on the potassium bromide. When she starts having minor episodes, as opposed to the hours long, all-night epidsodes she was having, we make another appointment and up the does by a couple ml. She is currently on 5 ml/daily of potassium bromide.

Video of Scarlet’s gulping episode:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2hsoApFbGwXbnh1cXUwZE5jRUE/view?usp=sharing

Website that originally helped me diagnose her, read all the updates: http://www.jasonbk.com/2014/02/hiness-gulping-a-cautionary-tale/

Hines is doing well preventing these episodes with a med call Zonisamide, which my neurologist said may be an option later but wanted to start with the mildest type of drug which is the potassium bromide.

Hope this helps, we were so heartbroken watching her have these episodes, she would lick the carpet incessantly then hack up hairballs, feverishly eat grass, and eat strings out of our shoe laces; this is a dog that is not destructive at any other time.

Go to a Neurologist or specialist to try the medication, it is inexpensive ($60 for a 2-3 month supply). We saw several general practice vets who were entirely unequipped to diagnose the condition, to be fair, the neurologist was a bit skeptical when I showed him my research as well because it is such a rare and uncommon type of seizure manifestation.

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