Hello all,

Just waiting on a second confirmation/more detailed test result, but just want to know as much as possible so I can ask all the right questions when they come back.  Dexter has very mild fits/collapsing episodes and they seem to correlate with aggression.  After two years of trying to find out what's going on, there is a chance he is hypothyroid.  Been googling, and it all fits, but I was just wondering if anyone has experienced a dog with hypothyroidism who had neurological symptoms rather than skin/weight symptoms?  If so, was it managed with thyroxine treatment?

Thanks,

Clare

Yes - not fitting, but anxiety / aggression (part of it was behavioural - but the thyroxine certainly helped). And he did have a slight tendency to skin infections, but weight was not high at all. His blood results came back equivocal from the UK, so sent to Jean Dodds in The USA who confirmed - she is a US vet and knows a lot about canine hypothyroidiism - also very helpful - email hemopet@hotmail.com .

Will have a scout for some articles.

Is this your dog that has had problems for a number of years? Just wonderinng if it's congenital (equiv cretinism in humans) or early onset.

http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/article.cfm/canine_epilepsy

Bear in mind though that dogs can have a low thyroid level but normal function if they are ill for another reason. But I expect the vet will be bearing that in mind. :-D

I have a friend whose dog had fits along with slight weight gain and hair loss. Vets in UK tested thyroid and said all OK. More bloods sent to Jean Dodds and she said dog was hypo and start Soloxine. No fits for over a year, then friend ran out of tablets by mistake over a holiday weekend of course, and dog had a fit after 3 days off tablets.

She was wondering if the fits had maybe nothing to do with her thyroid but the gap in tablets obviously made a big difference, not a mistake she will make again.

Edited to add : I would recommend anyone with suspicions about thyroid to sent blood off to Jean Dodds, she really knows her stuff and is also very helpful. Sadly most vets dont do a full thyroid test then pronounce everything normal, its really a shame when dogs suffer needlessly, especially something as serious as fitting.

Thank you - standard test came back low, so more blood sent to a lab in USA (I assume it's the same one).  Obviously we don't know for sure, so I'm just trying to find out as much as I can.

It is reassuring that the thyroxine helped your dog, so if this is the problem maybe there is hope for Dexter :-D

Dexter's had 'fits' for 2 1/2 years (since he was 3 and a bit), and has been a bit iffy behaviour-wise since he was 18 months.  I'm convinced his aggression is partly a behavioural problem, it used to be predictable and manageable but now it is worse and much less predictable so I thought it could be linked to the worsening fits. 

Guess I just need the proper results back, but it's likely to take over a week!!

So hopefully results this week then. :-)

In a way it sounds bad to say I hope they find something - but I hope they do find it's thyroid because it's not a massive health problem compared with some and the treatment could make a huge difference to Dexter. :-)

Thanks, that's how I feel... I feel guilty hoping that it's his thyroid, but I'm sure it is the lesser of many evils!   I'll update when I hear back from the vet :-)

Hi,

Just to let you know, the lab in USA have confirmed Dexter's hypothyroidism.  They've done an antibody test too (didn't catch the name), to see if it was as a result of an autoimmune attack.  That came back negative, so we don't know the cause.  He's starting on thyroxine tomorrow, so hopefully this will sort out his collapsing episodes :-)

Clare

Excellent news, at least now you can get him treated and hopefully and end to his problems. You must be relieved to finally get a diagnosis. Hope he is seizure free soon. Friend's dog was behaving like a puppy again after only a couple of weeks on Soloxine so you never know he may get a new lease on life!

Good news Clare.  Hopefully a few weeks on the Thyroxine, Dexter will be more his normal self again..

Fantastic. :-D

Well not exactly, but you know what I mean, lol!! Hopefully you will see a big improvement soon. :-)

I am quite certain from what I ahve read that many cases of under active thyroid get misdiagnosed as epilepsy, and they get given anti seizure medication (soem vets prescribe these after any fits with no real investigation), where thyroxine would have treated the underlying cause and symptoms.

I've just been thinking about this, and I think you're right.  From what I can gather, not many vets would consider testing the thyroid in 'fitting' dogs.  The statistics suggest it is very rare that hypothyroidism would cause fitting, however this is surely ascertainment bias if people aren't testing their fitting dogs for thyroid function.  I think it's very worrying, and I'm just very lucky to have found a vet willing to do some serious investigation :-)

According to Jean Dodds articles Hypothyroid is a very common cause of fits.

One of the simplest and least expensive tests to have done, which could possibly reduce or stop seizures, is a test for low thyroid function or hypothyroidism. I have found from experience that thyroid testing is very important in every case of canine epilepsy.
http://www.showdog-magazine.com/medical/DoddsCarson.htm

Symptoms of hypothyroidism include........., sudden onset of seizures,
http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/article.cfm/canine_epilepsy

Thanks, that's odd.  The intern at my vet spoke to done of Jean Dodd's interns, who said they'd only one other case of hypothyroidism and fits.  Hmmmm.  Think there have been some crossed wires!!!

http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/bell/index.php

This doesn't mention seizures - I was wondering if they would be more likely if a dog had congenital hypothyroidism (equivalent to cretinism in humans).