Payton’s battle with PDE…treatment

If you missed the previous post in this series, please check it out.

Hi! It’s Christy. Payton has been gracious enough to have me back to continue her story. So let’s talk treatment and medication. First, I’ll explain our interpretation of the treatment philosophy. This is the key to keeping a realistic expectation. I remember asking Dr. Podell over and over how long she would live. The problem is that despite the hope we have, there are still so many unknowns. As destructive as the disease is, the medication that helps can have some bad side effects. So many drugs, at such high levels, can take its toll on the rest of her body. The key is to finding the lowest levels of drugs to minimize the impact on her body’s other organs (specifically the liver) yet keep away the disease in her brain. If the disease doesn’t progress beyond treatment, then eventually the medications (or at least some of them) will cause organ failure. So the sad news is that Payton is not likely to live the “normal” 12 to 15 years for small dogs. We are still shooting for that though and so far our prayers have been answered!

When developing Payton’s treatment, the very first thing Dr. Podell did was take her off of the potassium bromide given at U of I. He said that it was more harmful than good and no dog really should take it when there are so many other options available. Aside from that fact, I don’t think I can remember how exactly Dr. Podell’s prescribed medication list has evolved from day one, but I can say that we have only added meds and/or changed dosages over the last 5 years. Everything she was on from the beginning is still part of her routine. As such, I’m just going to list all of her current drugs by category or purpose. They are all human grade and it was surprising to find out that my grandfather takes (or has taken) many for his epilepsy.

Payton’s drugs (aka “legal dog pharmaceuticals”...you crack me up Puglet):

Anti-seizure
Levetiracetam (generic for Keppra)
Phenobarbital
Zonisamide
Gabapentin
Diazapam (aka valium, for emergencies only)

Anti-inflammatory/pain
Prednisone
Gabapentin

Immunosuppressive
Cyclosporine

Liver supplement
Ursodial
Denamarin
Vitamin E

Upset tummy
Famotidine (generic for Pepcid AC)

***updated January 22, 2012***
Muscle supplement
Coenzyme Q-10
Quinicarn (L-Carnitine, which according to a few websites is also helpful to combat liver disease)
***updated January 22, 2012***

As you can see from the picture, this is a lot of drugs! She has to take them throughout the day (and even at night). My husband and I don’t know what we’d do without the alarm clocks and pill tray! Luckily, Payton looks forward to taking them and gets excited if she hears the alarm. She thinks they are treats.  (ssshh! This has to be our secret!) We just wrap them in bread and put a dab of peanut butter on it if she get’s a whiff of one of the pills.

One minor side effect of certain drugs is an increased hunger. Pugs are already food obsessed dogs, so it may be hard to imagine a medically-induced food-coma pug! To help her cope, with the advice of Dr. Podell, we changed her food to the Science Diet prescription weight loss formula (WD) so she can eat more of it and more frequently. The last thing worth noting is that because of Payton’s compromised and suppressed immune system, she can’t take any of the normal vaccines, but she is still on a once a month topical flea/tick/heartworm treatment.

Like always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments sections, or contact us privately via email. And my disclaimer…I am not a vet so please make sure to consult your own vet before giving your dog any of the medications listed above if you have fears that you or some dog you may know is ill.

I really hope this information is useful. I’ll be back later this week to talk about Payton’s life since the diagnosis.

Love,
Christy (and Payton)