Seeing into darkness is clarity . . .
This is called practicing eternity . . .

--Lao-Tzu

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Lottie's Eastern Medicine Adventure



It's been a busy summer for Lottie Moon and her buddies -- multiple trips to Michigan and camps, dog parks and lots of deaf foster puppies at the house.  But I wanted to write a bit of an update on Lottie's seizures and seizure-related behaviors, namely her OCD digging and barking and pouncing, and her night terrors.  I've noticed that many double merles seem to have similar problems, so I wanted to mention again what Lottie's vet is doing for her, and our journey towards successful management.

Lottie has been taking Chinese herbal mixtures 2 times daily that her vet has prescribed.  These are specifically chosen for Lottie based on her symptoms, her personality, and her chi, or energy, flow.  She is also eating about a teaspoon of black strap molasses with each meal.  This provides magnesium to help control seizures.  I have switched her food to a fish protein, instead of chicken.  In Chinese medicine, chicken is a "hot" protein, and fish is a "cool" protein, and seizure patients require a cool protein.

With these changes, there is a marked improvement.  Lottie has not had another seizure since the one she experienced originally (that I have seen, anyway), and her OCD behaviors have become much less frequent and much less intense.  Her night terrors completely stopped for several months, but recently she has begun them again, but in a different way.  Now she will periodically jump and snap at another dog, or a pillow, in the bed, then go back to sleep.  Previously she would jump and snap, but then get up and run away, vocalizing and snapping at nothing.  This less intense form of night terrors started when we moved to a different bedroom in our house, so I don't know if that change might be responsible for this.

Overall, she is a much calmer girl, and we have achieved this without drugs, for which I am thankful.  We will talk to the vet about the current night terrors, and see if we might be able to get that under control a bit more.  Lottie still remains a source of wonder and love for me, she has a piece of my heart forever!  Love my Lottie Moon!