Seizures! Need quick advice please!

[RobbinRN]

They did give him the saline. I'll ask about the calcium gluconate. In the meantime, I stopped by the store and picked up some squash and applesauce baby food for him. I'm going to get him in about an hour. I haven't heard from them since I dropped him off, so no news is good in this case.

Robbin

 

[Jiffy]

Poor little guy. Hope he will be just fine. Keep us updated.

 

[tyryce]

Hello Robbin,

I saw your post and had to reply. My beardie was having terrible seizures like that in November of last year. I eventually got them to stop and we had determined it was a calcium deficiency issue. The vet was unable to ever give him a calcium injection because they could not get enough blood from him to check the calcium levels in the blood. What I ended up doing was made sure I had the proper lighting (I had to change mine). I started out with a Reptisun 10 and made it so he was witin 6" of it. I later changed to a mega-ray mercury vapor bulb but if you have the Reptisun 10 bulb this is a good bulb. I also started him on liquid calcium. It took a little time but the seizures eventually stopped. I would ask your vet if they think you beardie should be given liquid calcium or just powdered calcium. I now have mine on liquid calcium but this is only because he is now deformed and it is easiest to give him his calcium this way. With the Repti-sun 10 make sure he is stil getting the D3 as well.

One thing I had to do was make it so that he could not fall off anything because when he is perched on something he would often fall off while having a seizure. This can be tricky if he has to be 6 " from the Reptisun. At the time he was in a 40 gallon and I just built a stand (that was put in the tank) that allowed him to be that close and basically raised his entire floor up about 3/4 of a foot. You could do this until his seizures are gone but I highly recommend that you keep him from being able to fall off anything because you do not want him to fracture bones.

You also may find that he will not feed as well either because it seems to take a while after a siezure to be relaxed again enough to try and move and eat.

I feel for you right now because I now how awful the seizures are. Feel free to PM if you wish and if you have any question or just want to talk send me a PM. I will try and post some pics of the set up I had at that time if it will help. But not to worry. Your beardie can pull through this.

Danielle

 

[chancellor91]

yes that is great advice, the calcium helps, it stopped my beardies siezure, but the vet just gave the calcium injection without a blood test so i guess i was lucky?

anyway tell us how he doing when you pick him up thanks


chancellor

 

[RobbinRN]

Thanks everyone! I'll be honest and say that y'all have all given me more hope than the vet, but I guess it's their job to paint the darkest picture possible.

I picked him up and they said he had been resting quietly and would only have seizures when stimulated. She said they couldn't really give him anymore calcium because his body needed to process what they did give him. They instructed me to bring him home and leave him in a nice quiet warm place tonight. I should peek in on him frequently but I am not to offer food or attempt to handle him in any way. When I got him into his tank, he stiffened up in my hand and when I placed him on the paper towels, he threw his head back with his mouth open. I dripped a few drops of water onto his nose and he drank that. I took out his perches because I didn't want him falling, but that leaves him further from his UV light. I also put two extra lights for warmth in there but will shoot the temp gun in there frequently before I turn in (we stay up pretty late around here).

As far as his behavior, overall he seems more alert than this morning. His color is much better. He is moving about the tank, but he does seem to drag his back legs. One of the things the vet tech said was that there might be brain damage from the seizures. How would one know if a bearded dragon has brain damage? I guess I'm going to be a nervous wreck for my three days off.

She also said she had an opportunity to give him a short exam without him seizing and she doesn't feel as though he is impacted because his belly was nice and soft. I still keep thinking about the mealworms last night and the fact that he didn't poop today. There is so much conflicting information. If it's impaction, I should be bathing him and giving him some easy stuff to digest. If it's calcium deficiency, I should not touch him and leave him under his lights all night. Well...what if I go in one direction and the problem is the opposite one? This is so difficult.

BTW, I just peeked at him and he has a normal posture, including his back legs. Perhaps this is a good sign...I'll keep everyone posted.

Robbin

 

[blackrose322123]

I wish you and your lil guy the best! I have had lil ones come back to me in this state or worked with people who had them seizing. Don't think about the worst that can happen because from what I have seen a lot pull through! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you as I know how hard it is seeing him go thought this. He's lucky he's got a great momma. :wink:

 

[RobbinRN]

I appreciate the support! I wanted to let everyone know how he's doing in the last couple of hours. He started out moving from one end of the tank to the other every few minutes. He had pretty good range of motion, but when he arrived at his destination it would seem the exertion provoked a small seizure. However, he finally settled on the warm side of his enclosure (which I mistakenly told y'all was a 10g earlier...it's a 20g L...don't know what I was thinking). For approximately the last hour to hour and a half he has been basking on a piece of slate (I removed all of his high perches for the night) with proper posture and appears alert to his surroundings. I just went over there to offer him some water (spray bottle) and when I slid back the screen his back legs gave off just the slightest twitch. Other than that, he's just hanging out. I will stay up as late as I can and keep an eye on him.

If he's pretty stable tomorrow, I will offer him some baby food squash or applesauce and put a little calcium dust in it. If the weather is nice, I may take him outside for some real Texas sunshine.

More updates to follow!

Robbin

 

[chancellor91]

yes real sun is 100% better than the tanning bulbs we give them, me personaly have never been a person for a tan from a light but thats just me =P just trying to brighten the mood

hope he doing better

chancellor

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Great to hear he is doing a little bit better.
However, I do feel that the screen is going to filter out too much UVB light. Here is a link for you to read regarding UVB being filtered.

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/uvinnature.htm

I just want to ensure that he gets the best chance at UVB's for him to recover from metabolic bone disease. Is there any way to mount it directly underneath the screen?


Tracie

 

[RobbinRN]

Good morning everyone! Just wanted to provide an update on Little Man.

At 7:00 I checked on him and he was in same place under his lights, normal posture, alert and looking around. He was shedding. I left him alone and checked on him again a few minutes ago. He has moved a little and is still shedding, but the most exciting part is that he pooped! Yay! Sounds crazy to be excited about that (we nurses always get excited about poop) but that tells me he got those nasty mealworms through him.

My plans for him this morning are warmth bath, clean tank, sunshine, and something easy on the tummy to eat. I am sure he will continue to improve.

Tracie...not sure about mounting the light under the screen. I'll see what my husband thinks (he's a engineer). Everything I read on here though says that the light I have is the one to get and that it works well enough with screens since they do indeed filter out some of its rays. It isn't that far above him either. In the meantime, on my days off (4 per week, gotta loving nursing schedule) I will take him outside for real sunshine once or twice a day. It'll do me good, too!

Robbin

 

[Freeie]

Oh I'm so glad hes doing ok this am hes been in my thoughts and prayers! Woot for poo! Im glad those are thru his system. I'm sure hes on the road to recovery

 

[chancellor91]

great she sounds much better

keep us posted please

chancellor

 

[munchkins9802]

Please make sure you dust his crickets/feeders with calcium 5x/week. With that and the better bulb--hopefully it is a reptisun 10 or mvb (I forget what you said you had0. Mine did the exact same things, and once I increased heat and did calcium more often the seizures totally stopped!

 

[RobbinRN]

Well he got a bath. I cleaned his tank and put his perches back with more "ramps" so he doesn't have to jump if he doesn't want to. I filled his dish with fresh vegies and spritzed them with water. I offered him some crickets prior to his bath, but he didn't seem that interested in them. I took him outside for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure he enjoyed that...he turned very dark. However, we stuck it out because I know it's good for him. I offered him some squash baby food and I think that will take a little getting used to. He licked his lips after I put some on his mouth, but he's not interested in taking it from the tiny dish I put it in. I left it in there next to his other food. He's now on his basking perch under his lights and the blinds on the window (his tank is in a box window on the sill) are wide open. I will handle him minimally, offering water several times and crickets again in the evening. Another thing I've learned in all this is that I shouldn't feed him right before his lights cut off for the night. Even if it hadn't been mealworms, I feel he would have had trouble digesting his meal because it wasn't warm enough in his tank overnight.

The only thing that is a little concerning, but certainly not alarming like yesterday's events, is that he seems just a tad off balance when he makes sudden movements. I wonder if this is going to clear up as well or is it a permanent thing as a result of all the seizures. Has anyone else who has had beardie seizures noticed this?

Robbin

 

[RobbinRN]

Munchkins...it is indeed a Reptisun 10.0 fluorescent tube, 20" long over a screen top. Tank is 11.5" deep. Hopefully this is sufficient. I intend to give him more time outside to supplement.

Robbin