Malka, I'm so very sorry I missed this last night and I hope that you will soon get some answers from your vet and that Pereg will be improving.

Poor you & Pereg

Have you tried an Ice Pack as treatment for her ?

Very sorry to here this. Poor your and poor Pereg.

I am please to here for that the time being Pereg has settled. Have withnessed both dogs and people (mainly my mum) with epi is terribly distressing

Hugs going to you both

Thanks everyone. I am trying to stay positive but it is very difficult. It is as if there are three stages. The Grand Mal itself, then once she is out of it there is the blind wandering about and if she will let me then I wipe her down with baby wipes and then a damp cloth that has been rinsed in cold water. Then starts the bad post-ictal demanding behaviour.

Only the seizure last night - she had come out of clonic seizure but could not stand, kept getting up, taking a couple of lurching steps then crashing down. At one stage she was half sitting half laying down but slumped against the wall - looking at me as if to ask what was happening. She was definitely out of the seizure itself, when she has no recognition of anything, but just could not do anything and she was looking at me almost pleading for help.

Then when she could get up she was blindly banging around, kept trying to wipe her head against things even though I had wiped her face and her body down, and that period lasted far longer and was far more desperate than previously.

So far today since her medication and the food she wanted she has just flonked down, hardly moving. She did "sing" a bit when she heard the icecream van chimes but only a bit - and a couple of times I have got my sticks, opened the door and she has followed me out - luckily she will pee on command - but then she came straight back in and slumped down again.

I am expecting the regular water delivery shortly and that is going to cause a bit of a performance as the current driver shrieks for me to get her out of the way [he is new and he will not listen when I say just ignore her] and that always sets her off. But they changed the delivery day and the time and the driver, so I cannot even get anything to eat until he has been as I do not want to be sitting here eating when he arrives. I think he is deliberately leaving me until last because of Pereg whereas I was always the first delivery on the round. I have been a customer for about 14 years and it is only this driver who appears to hate dogs.

So I am sitting waiting and worrying about how Pereg will react to his screeching - she does not like it at the best of times and the last thing I want at the moment is for her to get agitated.

She has never been like this the day after a seizure but then she had one yesterday morning and a partial cluster in the evening, so I guess it is understandable.

But I honestly do not know how much she can take as each seizure puts so much strain on her heart. I know she is not in pain during them and her post-ictal behaviour is involuntary and not "her", so she is not suffering at all. But what is it doing to her heart? She is so strong physically when she is like it and there is nothing I can do to calm her down.

I just feel so helpless. Ram said last night that there was nothing that could be done to help her and that I would just have to sit it out until she was calm. But twice yesterday I had the hours of trying to cope, and if it was hard on me how hard must it have been on her?

Just wanted to say I (and everyone here) am thinking of you both. X

Oh dear, having just read your latest post, I wish we could all do something to help you both, you must be in a total state having gone through the agony of watching poor Pereg, not sleeping, not eating yet, and on top of all that, you've got the nightmare of that water man yelling his head off which is going to upset her yet again, not forgetting you of course!

Can you make her comfortable in another room where you can get her off to sleep and quietly creed out the door and close it so that she doesn't have the worry of hearing him at all? Maybe you can get her comfy near to a window where you can see his arrival, and call out to him before he has a chance to yell at you? If she's settled and sleeping, you can quietly cree out to do what you have to do with him? Oh it must be a nightmare for you, but I hope it all goes smoothly, and more than that, I hope your dear Pereg gently drifts off into a nice, deep sleep and you can have one yourself when that man has been with the water. Can't you make a soup in a mug whilst you're waiting for him so at least you've had something inside you if you don't want to be disturbed eating a cooked meal? They always bladdy come when I sit down to my lunch too!!!

Keep us posted on how you're both doing, we get so worried about you going through this.xxxxxx

Hugs to Pereg.

Hello Malka
I feel so sorry for you both. I have been through exactly the same thing as you with angel-Murphy (GSD). Except for the hunger thing, he was satisfied with a small meal. Please don't be afraid if your vet says to increase the pheno. It does not always follow that they are on a maximum or minimum dose according to their weight. Murphy was on a hell of a lot of pheno, more than would normally be recommended but his regular blood tests always showed him as just under the 'normal' level. His clusters would mostly start in the early hours of the morning, say 3am. Therefore the last dose of the day was always higher than the morning one. This seemed to carry him through the nights better and kept the seizures to every 3 or 4 weeks. You did well to give Pereg a valium, it works quickly and that's what she needed. Murphy would have liquid anal valiium first, followed with valium tablets until the cluster was well over. He would then sleep and sleep ....... until the next time

Oh I am sorry, have only just read this thread. I am thinking of you and Pereg, big hugs x

I've only just picked this up too Malka. So very sorry to hear what you are both going through.
I had one terrible night with one of my dogs (nothing to do with epilepsy I would add) so can imagine how horrendous these episodes are for you. I am thinking of you both and sending hugs.xxx