My Kitty Alex: seizures/atrophy

[Guest guest]

Hi all, I'm really hoping that I can gain some insight into helping my

poor sweet little kitty Alex. He's very ill and we are just

devastated about it.

 

It started last Monday with the only symptom being walking funny as if

he had low back pain. However he did not seem to experience pain upon

any touching or rubbing or movement--he just was walking funny with

his low back lower to the ground.

 

We went to Western docs--got anti-inflamatories, narcotics (Buprenex),

and he was also given Remeron (an antidepressant) as an appetite

stimulant.

 

From Monday to Friday nothing changed--the meds did not seem to help

much if at all. The only noteworthy thing is that he was doing a lot

of pacing around and around the bed. I wondered if it was akithisia,

which is a side of effect of psychiatric meds, but rarely Remeron.

 

Since he had this side effect they changed his narcotic to Torbugesic

after we took him in for blood work on Friday. He had to stay at the

vet clinic for about6 hours which is very stressful for him because

although he is the sweetest kitty in the world to us, he is terrified

of strangers (ever since he was traumatized at the vet by a technician

who got soap in his eye and then proceeded to aggressively wash it

out--prior to that he was very, very friendly to people). I mention

this stress because I wonder if it is a factor in what happened next:

 

Saturday morning we found him completely immobile laying on his side

and having what appeared to be seizures. We called our vet--they said

that his blood work had come back completely normal except for a

slightly raised thyroid--too slight to account for all of this.

 

We took him to the emergency clinic and they said they had no idea

what was going on--could be viral, bacterial, cancer, stroke, poison,

or any neurological condition. They decided on the " shot-gun "

approach and sent him home with steroids and broad spectrum

antibiotics. I decided to wait on giving the meds and see what

acupuncture could do:

 

I did a treatment on him and right afterward he was much, much better.

He was able to stumble around the room (a huge improvement after near

paralysis). But then that night he was taking a turn for the worst

again so we gave him the antibiotics and steroids.

 

Today he has been much worse--even worse than yesterday morning

because his seizures have been coming at least every 10 minutes. I

have done a lot of acupuncture and probably too much today--I got

obsessed out of desperation.

 

Finally I went to my clinic and made a formula and came home and gave

it to him about 1 1/2 hours ago. He has only had one seizure since,

so its definitely an improvement. But he is still just laying on his

side seemingly immobile. Since I do not know what is going on with

him I did my own version of a shot-gun approach. Part of my thinking

is that he has been very constipated and has not had a stool in a week

(they got some out with an enema but said there was still a lot there)

He goes to the litter box and tries and tries but is unable.

Urination is also a strain but possible:

 

Da Huang

Wen Dan Tang (has zhi Shi to help with the constipation along with

other phlegm herbs for wind phlegm for the seizures)

Huang Lian

Huang Bai

Huang Qin

Tian Ma

Gou Teng

Shi Chang Pu

Yuan Zhi

Mai Men Dong

Shi Gao

Dan Nan Xing

Jiang Can

Dan Shen

 

There might be something I am forgetting, but that is most of it. I

would love to hear any feedback or ideas. I wonder if I should add qi

tonics since he appears so weak--but maybe the weakness is from the

power of the pathogen and I do hope to purge things down and out

through the stool. I was reading recently about how important it is

to treat the constipation if it is there and there is a head-wind

strike situation.

 

My plan is to continue the antibiotics plus the herbs but stop the

steroids. The steroids, from what I understand, can either be life

savers or make things worse. Since he was so much worse today I think

its a good idea to stop (but am open to opinions).

 

I sure would appreciate any thoughts or sharing of experiences.

 

A very sad mommy on Mother's Day,

 

Laura

[Guest guest]

One more thing--I would appreciate any guidelines on dosing. I am

using granules and I have shots for fluid injection that are about 6

milliliters. I put 5 scoops in a cup of warm water and gave him about

12 milliliters total. Also, I wonder about adding yin tonics to

ground the seizures, but I also have to keep in mind that there quite

likely is a very strong pathogen in him and I don't want to tonify the

pathogen. I was looking at the main seizures formula as a basis of

the formula--I think its called Ding Zhi Wan (something like that).

Then I also added heat clearers--all the Huangs plus Shi Gao.

 

 

 

 

, " heylaurag " <heylaurag

wrote:

>

> Hi all, I'm really hoping that I can gain some insight into helping my

> poor sweet little kitty Alex. He's very ill and we are just

> devastated about it.

>

> It started last Monday with the only symptom being walking funny as if

> he had low back pain. However he did not seem to experience pain upon

> any touching or rubbing or movement--he just was walking funny with

> his low back lower to the ground.

>

> We went to Western docs--got anti-inflamatories, narcotics (Buprenex),

> and he was also given Remeron (an antidepressant) as an appetite

> stimulant.

>

> From Monday to Friday nothing changed--the meds did not seem to help

> much if at all. The only noteworthy thing is that he was doing a lot

> of pacing around and around the bed. I wondered if it was akithisia,

> which is a side of effect of psychiatric meds, but rarely Remeron.

>

> Since he had this side effect they changed his narcotic to Torbugesic

> after we took him in for blood work on Friday. He had to stay at the

> vet clinic for about6 hours which is very stressful for him because

> although he is the sweetest kitty in the world to us, he is terrified

> of strangers (ever since he was traumatized at the vet by a technician

> who got soap in his eye and then proceeded to aggressively wash it

> out--prior to that he was very, very friendly to people). I mention

> this stress because I wonder if it is a factor in what happened next:

>

> Saturday morning we found him completely immobile laying on his side

> and having what appeared to be seizures. We called our vet--they said

> that his blood work had come back completely normal except for a

> slightly raised thyroid--too slight to account for all of this.

>

> We took him to the emergency clinic and they said they had no idea

> what was going on--could be viral, bacterial, cancer, stroke, poison,

> or any neurological condition. They decided on the " shot-gun "

> approach and sent him home with steroids and broad spectrum

> antibiotics. I decided to wait on giving the meds and see what

> acupuncture could do:

>

> I did a treatment on him and right afterward he was much, much better.

> He was able to stumble around the room (a huge improvement after near

> paralysis). But then that night he was taking a turn for the worst

> again so we gave him the antibiotics and steroids.

>

> Today he has been much worse--even worse than yesterday morning

> because his seizures have been coming at least every 10 minutes. I

> have done a lot of acupuncture and probably too much today--I got

> obsessed out of desperation.

>

> Finally I went to my clinic and made a formula and came home and gave

> it to him about 1 1/2 hours ago. He has only had one seizure since,

> so its definitely an improvement. But he is still just laying on his

> side seemingly immobile. Since I do not know what is going on with

> him I did my own version of a shot-gun approach. Part of my thinking

> is that he has been very constipated and has not had a stool in a week

> (they got some out with an enema but said there was still a lot there)

> He goes to the litter box and tries and tries but is unable.

> Urination is also a strain but possible:

>

> Da Huang

> Wen Dan Tang (has zhi Shi to help with the constipation along with

> other phlegm herbs for wind phlegm for the seizures)

> Huang Lian

> Huang Bai

> Huang Qin

> Tian Ma

> Gou Teng

> Shi Chang Pu

> Yuan Zhi

> Mai Men Dong

> Shi Gao

> Dan Nan Xing

> Jiang Can

> Dan Shen

>

> There might be something I am forgetting, but that is most of it. I

> would love to hear any feedback or ideas. I wonder if I should add qi

> tonics since he appears so weak--but maybe the weakness is from the

> power of the pathogen and I do hope to purge things down and out

> through the stool. I was reading recently about how important it is

> to treat the constipation if it is there and there is a head-wind

> strike situation.

>

> My plan is to continue the antibiotics plus the herbs but stop the

> steroids. The steroids, from what I understand, can either be life

> savers or make things worse. Since he was so much worse today I think

> its a good idea to stop (but am open to opinions).

>

> I sure would appreciate any thoughts or sharing of experiences.

>

> A very sad mommy on Mother's Day,

>

> Laura

>

[Guest guest]

I'm very sorry to hear about Alex. I haven't treated cancer with herbs, but

will share what I'm using for my Great Dane with epilepsy, in case that

might be helpful in any way for the seizures.

 

Casper, a " lethal white " Great Dane who is deaf and visually impaired, had

very severe separation anxiety in addition to epilepsy. Casper got gold bead

implants one year ago, and then I added in the herbs last summer. His

anxiety is gone, and he has now passed the 4 month mark seizure-free. He had

multiple daily myoclonic seizures, had several psychomotor seizures per

month, and a few grand mal seizures per month, but hopefully, all of that is

behind him now. He'll be celebrating his 2nd birthday on Friday, (and has

been with me for 1 1/2 years), so we've got lots of reasons to celebrate. He

is not taking any medication.

 

I started with a formula based on Ding Xian Wan. Dosages were based on him

being about 100 pounds at the time, but have been increased, since he's now

150 pounds. The number after each herb is grams, and each " bag " of herbs is

a 2 day supply. I make minor modifications in the formulas as I go along,

based on what I'm seeing, but these are the base formulas for Casper.

 

Initial formula (first month):

Tian Ma 6,

Ban Xia 3,

 

Fu Shen 6,

 

Shi Chang Pu 4,

 

Jiang Can 6,

 

Chen Pi 6,

 

Yuan Zhi 3,

 

Dan Shen 3,

 

Gan Cao 3,

 

Bian Dou 3,

 

He Huan Pi 6,

 

Di Long 3,

 

Chan Tui 4, and

 

Bai Shao 6.

 

 

 

Here are the current formulas that I alternate between:

 

Gou Teng 6

 

Dan Nan Xing 3

 

Yi Yi Ren 6

 

Jiang Can 6

 

Chen Pi 6

 

Yuan Zhi 3

 

Gan Cao 3

 

He Huan Pi 6

 

Lian Zi 4

 

Da Zao 3 pieces

 

Chan Tui 4

 

Bai Ji Li 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And:

 

Tian Ma 6

 

Ban Xia 3

 

Fu Shen 6

 

Shi Chang Pu 4

 

Di Long 6

 

Bai Zhu 6

 

Long Gu 6

 

Mu Li 6

 

Gan Cao 3

 

Yu Jin 6

 

Bai Bian Dou 3

 

Bai Shao 6

 

Fang Feng 4

 

 

 

 

I hope that you can find an effective way to treat Alex.

Jeri