Beardie swallowed a pill

I was letting Tony run around my room a bit while i freshened up his cage, and he swallowed a pill I must have dropped on the floor. ? I got about half of it away from him, but he swallowed a chunk of 100mg Lamotrigine. This was earlier in the day, around 1pm, and i got him some activated charcoal asap but unfortunately that wasnt until around 7 30pm that evening. Ive been keeping an eye on him since then and he seems /ok/, but he's a bit jumpy and his movements have been a little shakey, and his beard is quite dark. Its now 4 30am and the nearest exotic vet doesnt open until 10; Is there anything else i can do until I can get him in to see the Dr? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hi there,

I weros definitely administer the activated charcoal again. Can you get any fluids into him to help flush things?

The black beard isnt a good sign unfortunately and you'll most likely need to do a couple rounds of AC.

How's he acting right now?

-Brandon

claudiusx":xksm2xsj said:

Hi there,

I weros definitely administer the activated charcoal again. Can you get any fluids into him to help flush things?

The black beard isnt a good sign unfortunately and you'll most likely need to do a couple rounds of AC.

How's he acting right now?

-Brandon

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Hi, thanks for your reply, I can definitely get him some water (or perhaps Pedialyte?) and another round of AC. He's currently a little shaky and not running around like he usually does, but his beard has lightened up. He's very alert though and tasting around for food. Would it be ok to offer him some greens or worms?

Yeah you can feed him. I'm glad to hear his beard has lightened up a bit. How much AC did you originally give?
How much does he weigh?

-Brandon

claudiusx":3fvb8orr said:

Yeah you can feed him. I'm glad to hear his beard has lightened up a bit. How much AC did you originally give?
How much does he weigh?

-Brandon

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He's 236g and I gave him roughly 65mg activated charcoal mixed into 2cc of water (the first dose was roughly the same). His beard has completely lightened up now, although he has those stress marks on his tummy, and he's alert and moving around. Limbs still a bit shaky. I offered him some mixed greens and meal worms and he snapped them up fast as ever.

Ok I'd up the dose a bit. 1-3 mg per g of bodyweight is a generally safe dosage protocol.

It can upset the stomach a bit so i'd probably go with 200mg or so of AC.

It's been a few hours, how is he doing now?
Did he eat at all?

EDIT: Just realized you already gave a second dose. Ok well ignore that advice above. Let's see how things progress

-Brandon

He ate quite a bit! A mix of arugula, cilantro, and turnip greens, as well as a few dubia and mealworms. His appetite definitely hasn't gone anywhere! He's currently having a little nap so I'll post another update in a few hours. Also tysm for all of your help so far, it's extremely appreciated!

Good I'm glad that he seems to be doing ok now!
It's been long enough that the highest concentration of the Lamo would have been achieved already, so from here it should continue to work it's way out of the body, especially with the two doses of AC you administered.

Keep us posted

-Brandon

A small update: His beard is black again.. he's also a little lethargic, but I can't tell whether it's bc of the pill or if it's just how normal night time sleepies. He also does not want to go back into his enclosure, whenever I try to put him back in he freaks out. I gave him another dose of activated charcoal mixed in water. I have him with me sitting on the bed right now and will keep monitoring him.

Darn, was hoping for a better update.

How much did you administer this time. This is the third dose correct?

-Brandon

I upped the dose to 150, so not quite as much as you suggested. He's currently asleep on me, beard is slightly lighter and he's breathing normally. I'm not sure what adverse signs to look for at this point, I assume I can only keep monitoring him?

Ok so in total it's been just under 300mg of AC today right?
The AC itself can cause a bit of an upset tummy which could cause a bit of black bearding, so I'd just say watch him tomorrow.
Although you really didnt give too strong of a dose. Dont be concerned if you see some odd poos. And try to keep him well hydrated.

-Brandon

What is the advice on action to take for overdose of that drug ?

Bare in mind it's a dose designed for a human who might be 100kg or more , and your dragon's bodyweight is less than 1% of this . So the effects will be severe unless you can deactivate / counter the active ingredient chemically , and flush it out of the dragon's system.

I'd be worried about effects on the dragon's renal system too.

serum concentration >25 mg/L, severe toxicity may occur (in adult humans)

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I've never heard of the med but found this : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28862044

In humans who overdosed - Overdose interventions included benzodiazepines (53%), propofol or barbiturates (14%), NaHCO3 (20%), lipid therapy (12%), and extracorporeal elimination (10%).
NaHCO3 yielded no response in four of nine cases with conduction delays; however, two of the four cases subsequently responded with lipid therapy.

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I'd show this https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5167082/table/table2-2045125316656707/?report=objectonly to the vet since it's unlikely a vet will bother researching himself. ref https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5167082/

I think you need urgent vet intervention here (to carry out a pharmaceutical intervention). I think activated carbon is not going to help since it's already in the bloodstream.

Kingofnobbys, I don't think my brain could process all that even if I wasn't panicked, but I looked over the links you sent and googled it as well and I'd much rather be safe than sorry. Gonna go ahead and bring him in to the emergency vet.

Hello,

Please let us know how your dragon is doing!
What kind of pill was it that he swallowed? That's good you had some activated charcoal to
give him right away. Perhaps, he needs more fluids.
You are getting him to the vet this weekend?
I hope he will be alright.

Tracie