My poor Lucy...her world is spinning

Arf2184 · 01-04-2006, 01:31 PM

I was in a panick yesterday morning. Just after I woke up, while I was still upstairs, I heard Lucy, my 13 year old dog that I've had since I was 10 years old. She was coming up the stairs. It sounded like she made it about half way up and then I heard her fall down the stairs. I rushed to look over the railing and see if she was ok and she was spinning in circles at the bottom of the stairs.

I went downstairs to get a better look at her. She didn't look injured, but something was wrong. I went to take the other dogs outside and Lucy followed me. She fell down twice in the kitchen. She was very disoriented and seemed like she was blind. She kept falling over and running into things. I don't know who was more scared, me or her. I didn't have a car so I called my dad bawling and told him to come home from work. While I waited for him, I had Lucy lie down so I could look her over again. She had a noticable head tilt, her eyes were twitching like crazy, and she was very scared.

My mom called to ask about a computer and I started bawling again. All I could manage to say was "Lucy" and my mom thought she had died. After a few minutes I was able to tell her she wasn't dead, but I was afraid she might be soon. My mom said she was fine that morning, so what ever happened was quick and occured between 7:00 and 8:30 AM. Mom thought it was a stroke. I didn't know, but I was very worried.

That was my scary morning Tuesday. It's Wednesday now and Lucy is still here and she's not going to die. She's not blind and she can walk (sort of). She has Canine Peripheral Vestibular Syndrome, which I've never heard of before, but they say it's fairly common in old dogs and sometimes misdiagnosed as a stroke. There's not much the vets can do, but that's ok...I'm just glad to hear she'll be ok. They just say to wait it out and it can take up to three weeks to correct itself.

As I understand it, the nerves connecting her brain and her inner ear are inflamed, causing her to be exteremely dizzy. So she now walks like a drunk and needs help to keep her from falling over. Last night she started actually looking at people and trying to focus on them, though her eyes are still shooting back and forth constantly. She wouldn't or drink anything yesterday morning and afternoon, but towards the evening she did drink a little and ate a few bites.

This morning the first thing she wanted was water. I think thats good. She's still very wobbly, but her eyes aren't as shaky as they were yesterday. I'm going to try and get her to eat some in a little while.

Mollymitten · 01-04-2006, 04:44 PM

Poor old lady. Both of you must have been terrified - I hope it all sorts itself out soon for you both.

najiwench · 01-04-2006, 05:41 PM

that's so scary...what kind of dog is Lucy?

my Lucy is a basset hound :P

i hope she's feeling more like herself soon *hugs to Lucy*

Brandy · 01-04-2006, 06:28 PM

oh my goodness,,,,how scary for both of you, Im glad Lucy will be okay

fertmom · 01-04-2006, 08:15 PM

I hope Lucy recovers fully soon! Did the vet prescribe any medicine at all? Like anti-inflammatories or anti-vert?

Banshee · 01-04-2006, 08:34 PM

That must have been terrifying

It's good to hear that Lucy is recovering.

I've never heard of that before and was wondering about anti-inflammatory drugs as well, but from what I've read, they're not much use:
http://www.vara.org/VestibularSyndrome.htm
http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/devestib.html

On this site they mention using anti-oxident steroids and anti-vert, though: http://neuro.vetmed.ufl.edu/neuro/vestibular/vestib.htm

Quote:

There is no treatment which will hasten the recovery from idiopathic vestibular disease. Corticosteroids probably do not offer an effective treatment. On the other hand, since idiopathic vestibular disease may represent an immune disease, anti-oxidant steroids (such as Solu Medral) may decrease severe symptoms. During the early phases, anti-vertigo drugs might make the patient more comfortable. Generally, I use diphenhydramine at 2-4 mg/kg every 8 hours as needed. Diphenhydramine is a centrally active anticholinergic, antihistamine which helps reduce vertigo and nausea. Assuming that the regressive course becomes evident, then I monitor the patient periodically for the signs of continued improvement.

Arf2184 · 01-05-2006, 02:25 PM

Nope, no drugs for Lucy. Her symptoms aren't severe (I'd hate to see what severe symptoms are like...her's were bad enough). Dad did give her some Niacin which really helped calm her down during the worst part of it when she (and I) was really scared.

Lucy is a mix. I'll see if I have a picture of her around here somewhere. We adopted her from an animal hosptial in California when I was 10. She was supposed to be a guard dog, but she loves everyone so isn't very good at the whole guarding thing.

Lucy's much better today. when I took her out this morning, she didn't want to come back in (typical Lucy). It's sunny out (been raining/snowing for weeks) so we stayed outside for a while. She walked/wobbled around and visited the other dogs and drank a lot of water. When she was finally ready to come in, she didn't want to lay on her bed, so she followed me around for a while. Now she's laying on the floor next to me.

She's still staggering a little bit and if she moves her head to much she'll almost fall, but now she's able to catch herself. Her eyes are only slightly twitchy and her head tilt in not as bad.

pamm013 · 01-05-2006, 06:16 PM

Im glad Lucy is going to be okay.. that would definately be scary... I could imagine that she was totally freaked out.. poor girl..

petkeeper · 01-05-2006, 11:43 PM

I am happy to hear that Lucy will be okay. That must have been so scary for you. I am glad it wasn't a stroke, hopefully after this she will live out the rest of her years with no major incidents!

S.

theratlady · 01-06-2006, 12:05 PM

you can try giving her something for the nausea (if you think she has any) my old dog had idiopathic vestibular dz as well. i nursed him through his first bout of it, he never fully recovered, and when i found him the morning lying in a pile of vomit and couldnt get up i knew it was time. i cant belive its been over a year now.(good thing this is written on a computer since if it was on paper it would be obliterated by tears)
you can do a course of antibiotics/steroids just to rule out other causes of the dz but prob wont help.
good luck and hugs to you and lucy