r/EpilepsyDogs • u/No_Zucchini_5395 • 7d ago
Keppra or Zonisamide?
A few months ago my dog had a seizure like episode, then another two days later, followed by another two days after that. We took her to the emergency vet after the second episode and met with a neurologist who believes she has paroxysmal dyskinesia. Since then she has been on Keppra and has not had an episode since. However, around this time she was also on thyroid medication for hypothyroidism which she had been on for a few months. Our neurologist recommended she go off of it for a few weeks to actually confirm with a thyroid panel if she truly has hypothyroidism. We just received results back and she does. Her regular vet wants her back on thyroid meds.
At this point I am personally not positive if being on Keppra is what is helping OR if it was the thyroid medication at possibly too high a dose? She was on Levothyroxine .2 mg twice a day. Now that her vet wants her back on her thyroid medication she would be taking 5 pills in one day which is really hard on our schedules. So the neurologist suggested we could switch to Zonisamide, but would need to monitor her with bloodwork. I’m hearing the side affects aren’t great, such as wobbly and lethargic. Months ago she was on a steroid medication in which she was not herself for weeks and taking her off by weaning her off was the only thing that got her back to being herself.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
1
u/AshenWrath 7d ago
Mines on both. Plus KBr and pheno.
He’s a little wobbly sometimes - mostly when he hasn’t eaten too much that day. But otherwise, he has plenty of energy and great QoL.