Elderly just had seizures, vet has given epiphen, side effects?

[AnnieLobeseder]

Does anyone have experience with dogs having seizures and being prescribed epiphen?

Our 14 yo small pavement special had 3 seizures yesterday. He's only ever had one before, back in summer after a long walk on a very hot day.

DH took him to the vet after the first one in the morning, the vet said it was probably a one-off and gave him some Aktivait (for cognitive dysfunction in elderly dogs). He then had another seizure mid-afternoon, we phoned the vet who prescribed epiphen, a drug specifically for epilepsy. He had one further seizure yesterday evening, but has been okay since (a bit slow and confused, but no more seizures).

The vet nurse warned us the epiphen would have a sedative effect and he'd be a bit confused and floppy, which he is.

I've had a look on the internet, and it says that the sedative side-effects should wear off in a while, but I'm just wondering how long. Poor little fellow just looks drunk, and that can't be a fun state to be in for too long.

Has he had blood taken? Don't stop the epiphen without talking to your own vet, but I don't usually start it without at least a basic set of bloods to check out the liver.

Epiphen side effects often reduce after a couple of weeks but some may remain. There is an alternative, Pexion, which I have had good results with and which appears to save a better safety profile than epiphen. But in a 14 year old dog it would be sensible to investigate the liver. It's also important to remember that there is a possibility that the seizures are occurring as a result of an abnormality developing in the central nervous system, in which case medical treatment is sometimes of limited benefit.

Hope he feels better soon.

Thanks, DeathByLaundry. The vet did do blood tests (sorry, should have said) and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Our vet is annoyingly off on leave for the next 2 weeks. Bad timing!! There will be a locum in if there are any major problems but obviously we'd prefer to keep our regular vet in the loop. When he gets back we'll take Little Dog in for an update and I'll ask him about the Pexion if he's still struggling on epiphen.

I have also used Pexiom with really good effect. I have had a few dogs be weird for the first two weeks with Pexiom.
Most of key neurologists now feel Pexiom should be our first line drug.

My setter has been on epipen for about 3 years. The side affects do wear off. We have a yearly blood test to check his liver and that's it. Now if we see a fit is coming on we up his doseage . He's doing great , good luck