symptoms from brain tumor, or the Phenobarbital?

[nycamberlady]

I am struggling with what I understand is the imminent loss of my 15 year old yorkie companion.  She had 10 fainting spells.. in one hour .... 8 days ago. Vet put her on phenobarbital immed and she has not had another seizure. He feels she has a brain tumor.  after the seizures, she was herself, with no noticeable behavior changes. Since putting her on the pheno,  I have watched her deteriorate ..  and I have spent hours researching this.  I read that dogs 'will stabliize after a few weeks on pheno"  but some are given steroids to lessen symptoms of brain tumor..  which is another question.  HOW do either I or the vet know if we should do the steroids? More side effects....
and
2nd question..which is which?  when I read the symptoms of brain tumor..and the side effects of phenobarbital , they are the same !  I don't know if these symptons are from the tumor, or sick from the pheno

then I read another post from one woman, who discontinued the pheno and two months later, her dog was himself pretty much with no further seizures.
I don't know what to think.  Dealing with the soon loss of my companion is hard enough but the fact that maybe I am not giving her the right treatment is devastating.    any one out there with thoughts on this?  I can't imagine my life without her, which is my problem: but I want to do the right thing for her.. I feel as though my child is in hospice and I'm not taking the right care...

[Margot49]

So sorry to read this.
Probably the only way to determine if it is actually a tumor would be an x-ray or MRI $$$.  
If it were me, after reading your experience, I would be seeking a second opinion.

[nycamberlady]

thank you misfits4me.  I had discovered the pheno thread before, but forgot about it. It was sad to read, but helpful in my decision making.

In reading all the posts and talking to TONY, I decided that my vet was wrong with the dosage. I told him, after the cluster seizures, she evidenced none of the symptoms of a brain tumor. all of these 'symptom's ' began after the pheno.
I called him, he suggested I cut it from 16.2 a day to 8.1  and watch and see.

It has been 1.5 days since I did.  She is still showing effects, but nowhere near the loss of function as before !! Her hearing has not returned.

! she is confused, I think about her silent world, but otherwise happy again, cheerful.. able to climb the stairs and rarely falls now.she was happy when she saw the leash.. and walked two blocks with me.   I am watching to see if any seizures come from lowering the dose, so far so good.  He also suggested coming in to the office in a week, .. I'm thinking? Too soon for blood test, I'm told it is 14 days to stablize new amounts in blood to determine therapeutic level.

I wonder why he even suggested bringing her in. I think he will look at how she looks, weigh her, and charge me $ 100.

My vet is a multimillionaire. I remember bringing a cat there once because she had  a generalized skin  irritation on her back. he looked at her for one min and said, she has a generalized skin irritation I can give you steroid injection , Lasts 6 weeks ( ?I think) I said no he gave me some pills, this was $120 for 3 min

[nycamberlady]

thank you, no.  no one has suggested that.  I will ask vet?

A little background.. she has had cognitive disorder for two years, bt dealing with it.  not completely senile at all.
last august on a road trip my vet suggested a tyical travel sedative for her
since she was stressed about it.
as a result of that, she had a seizure.  I almost crashed the car.
( it was not accompanied by vomiting and diareaha. but it I am quite sure it was a seizure) I thought she was dead.
In researching afterwards, I read that this is  highly unusual, but if the dog has a borderline prone to seizures.. which I hadn't known untilt that day, this reaction can occur from that med.
so
now, one year later, out of the blue she has this cluster of ten in one hour, where she passes out and collapses to the floor.
at 15, the general opinion is the general anesthesia is too much for her to have an mri

[Misfits4Me]

Also, In a 15 year old tiny breed, it's very possible that this is a Heart problem (Causing the fainting)  & NOT seizures at all......Has anyone ruled out heart disease?

[Misfits4Me]

Here it is:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Dogs/Phenobarbital-side-effects--how-long/show/1525013?page=1

If it doesn't work, let me know...There is valuable info. in this thread.....Karla

[Misfits4Me]

Welcome..We have a Pheno thread on this forum...Maybe it will help you....Let me go find it & I'll give you the link....Karla