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Ever heard of treating SM with Phenobarbital?

linderbelle

linderbelle

Well-known member
Ok today I got an e-mail from a gal from you-tube that just saw the video of Abbey that was taken a week ago. She actually works at Auburn University and took her dog to the Auburn Small Animal Clinic--this is where Abbey went to. I am not sure if she actually saw a neuro or not. She said the dog was no mri'd as she can't afford it. The vet or neuro said they were 90% sure the dog had sm. They are treating the dog with Phenobarbital. Have you ever heard of that?

She posted a video of her dog and it was just awful to watch. Was another good thing today and that is being very sarcastic. Hard to watch these dogs on videos.

I was just curious as to what you guys thought about the Phenobarbital
 
linderbelle said:
Ok today I got an e-mail from a gal from you-tube that just saw the video of Abbey that was taken a week ago. She actually works at Auburn University and took her dog to the Auburn Small Animal Clinic--this is where Abbey went to. I am not sure if she actually saw a neuro or not. She said the dog was no mri'd as she can't afford it. The vet or neuro said they were 90% sure the dog had sm. They are treating the dog with Phenobarbital. Have you ever heard of that?

She posted a video of her dog and it was just awful to watch. Was another good thing today and that is being very sarcastic. Hard to watch these dogs on videos.

I was just curious as to what you guys thought about the Phenobarbital
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I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination on this, but because of my Little Joe's epilepsy I have acquited a little knowledge of treatment for fits, one of which is this very same drug. If I remember rightly, it was once the treatment of choice for epilepsy in humans, used with varying results. Perhaps the neurologist wants to control the fitting by using this treatment, indeed he may have found that it works much better for dogs than humans?
 
I'm no expert either. Well, from my understanding gabapentin is an anti-seizure med for humans but didn't work very well. Thanks for replying.:badgrin:
 
It's also possible that she just mixed up prednisone with phenobarb. Some people may be more familiar with one drug over another and the name just slips out instead of the correct name. The only reason I say that is because I had a german shepherd who was on long-term phenobarb for seizures and very occasionally I will think "Oh, I need to refill Riley's phenobarb" instead of her prednisone. Just a possibility I thought of.
 
linderbelle said:
I'm no expert either. Well, from my understanding gabapentin is an anti-seizure med for humans but didn't work very well. Thanks for replying.:badgrin:
Click to expand...

GABA is actually an inhibitory neurotransmitter so what the drug does is help slow down it's degrading at the synapse causing the numbing effect on the neurons. So basically it is a numbing agent on the nervous system.
 
I haven't heard of pheno being used either (and yes, would wonder whether perhaps she got the names mixed up, or whether they are just using it for seizures. The pain sessions for SM do not tend to be actual seizures though and when there are seizures, it is still not established that they are directly related to SM). Gabapentin is actually used as an adjunct to other drugs for seizures in humans, as far as I understand, and is considered to be very helpful in that sense in some cases. I do not believe it is generally used on its own. I do not believe there is a clear understanding of why it works for neurological pain -- that is why it isn't actually licensed for such use (the topic of a court case against Pfizer, actually; though it is widely prescribed now for neuropathic pain). Nonetheless it clearly does help in this regard as Leo will go from scratching and sometimes, being sensitive to touch before his gabapentin dose then is fine within 30 minutes after. Pfizer could certainly establish its effectiveness in dogs for neuropathic pain! The before and after signs for most dogs using it are very clearcut.
 
Ok I have found out a bit more from this gh al. She works at Auburn U--not the small animal clinic part though---she went to the small animal clinic and saw a neurologist. I went into the website and saw one listed--its a woman neuro. I e-mailed this gal this a.m. and asked her if she had mixed it up and she looked on the bottle and she hadn't but then found out this. The neuro at Auburn put the dog on gabapentin but then she went back to her regular vet and her vet is the one that took the dog off of gabapentin and put the dog on the phenobarb. I e-mailed her back and told her the dog needs to be seen by the neuro and vets are clueless==well mine has learned alot since Abbey but you know what I mean. I running around here like my head is cut off trying to get stuff done and I'm going to tell her to come into cavaliertalk as she told me she's so confused. Aren't we all in regards to this disease.
 
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