Dr. Shawn’s Blog

Reader Asks About Epilepsy

December 14, 2011 on 7:12 am | In General Posts | No Comments

Here’s a recent email I received from a reader regarding natural treatments for epilepsy.

Dear Dr. Shawn: My five-year-old male Boston Terrier was diagnosed with epilepsy last year. His veterinarian placed him on a medication called phenobarbital. While it has helped control his seizures, I am concerned about him getting my pet medications for the rest of his life. I’ve also heard that this particular drug could hurt his liver. Are there any natural alternatives to help dogs like mine that have epilepsy?

A:There are many causes of seizures in dogs with epilepsy being the most common. Epilepsy basically means that your dog is having seizures and the cause is unknown. Epilepsy is a rule-out diagnosis, which means testing must be done to make sure other causes of seizures are not present. If the testing does not reveal other causes, then the term epilepsy is used to describe his seizures. For younger pets, testing can simply include a physical examination, blood profile, urinalysis, and fecal analysis. Older pets may require additional testing such as an MRI or CT scan to look for brain tumors which tend to occur more commonly in older pets and certain breeds of dogs, including Boston terriers and boxers.

While phenobarbital is a wonderful medication for pets with epilepsy, as you mentioned side effects can and do occur including liver disease. For this reason if any of my patients need to take phenobarbital, I always supplement these pets with natural remedies to help protect the liver, including milk thistle and choline. Additionally, pets taking phenobarbital should be examined at least 2 to 4 times a year for possible side effects; these examinations should include a blood profile and urinalysis. When possible, I prefer natural therapies as they are generally devoid of side effects and do not typically require the regular evaluation of pets that are taking medications such as phenobarbital.

In my practice, I’ve found wonderful success in controlling seizures using supplements such as choline, dimethylglycine, and herbal products and homeopathics. In fact, it is very rare that any of my epileptic patients take drugs for their seizures. If possible, I would try to find a holistic doctor who can slowly wean your pet off of the phenobarbital (if you try to lower the dosage too quickly seizures may recur) and use natural therapies to keep him seizure-free for the rest of his life. Finally, I do not routinely vaccinate pets with seizures as I do not want precipitate a seizural event.