Pharaoh Hound with epilepsy
Baby Isis is a Pharaoh Hound with epilepsy. She was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy at 16 months old. She suffers from frontal lobe focal seizures with auras. The auras ‘scramble’ her brains to the point she becomes a different dog. Her personality is totally warped by this disease. And although her seizures are isolated to her head, they can last up to 45 minutes.
In the beginning, her seizure cycles were almost continuous. If she wasn’t having a seizure, she was enduring an aura. During the aura she is haunted by confusion, impending doom, high anxiety, agitation and massive fears. These auras can last up to three weeks prior to an actual seizure and for the first 2 years after the initial diagnosis of epilepsy this vicious cycle would consume her life as well as ours.
She became depressed, reclusive and anti-social among other things. She was very anxious, always pacing and would sleep only about 20 minutes at a time. It was like living with Jekyll and Hyde. Only after a neurologist prescribed Keppra, along with her phenobarbital, I started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Slowly, as the months progressed, I saw my baby girl returning to me. Her seizures became less frequent and her normal personality began to dominate.
But, to this day, her seizures persist. It starts with a waning confidence that moves to full blown fear of everyday objects. The depression sets in and I watch as she mopes about the house not showing interest in anything. She becomes cranky with her dog siblings barking and snarling as they try to climb into bed with us. Her seizures are less frequent but the auras are still weeks long and when the actual seizure occurs, it is for 30 plus minutes. The first few years became a blur of sleeping when she slept and get up when she got. Watching her closely just to make sure that if she did have a seizure, she wasn't alone. waking up to every vibration just to make sure she wasn't having a seizure while in bed. Living on the edge, watching my baby girl suffer and all the while feeling helpless.
The auras give me plenty of warning of the impending seizure and if I could stop the cycle right then and there at the beginning of her aura; it would be a god send.