Makayla is an enigma

Those are the words you never want to hear from your vet - "She's an enigma."

Makayla went back to the ortho surgeon today for a re-check. Her MRI in November revealed bulging disks in her mid back. They told us right from the beginning that her symptoms didn't match their findings - they thought she should have lesions or disc problems in her lower back, not her mid back. She has deteriorated since her last checkup in mid December. Her loss of bowel control in the norm rather than the exception these days and she seems weaker/wobblier in her back end.

They do not feel the bulging discs are the cause of her problems in her back end and loss of bowel control. They have given a tentative diagnosis of degenerative myelopathy - in a nutshell, her spinal cord is deteriorating and she will eventually be incontinent and paralyzed. From what I understand there's no way to test for DM, it's basically determined to be DM after ruling out other possible illnesses/diseases. They feel they've ruled out other possibilities and DM is what's left. They did say they can refer us to a neurologist in Madison, which at this point I've chosen not to do. If it is DM, there is no treatment; it's a matter of managing her symptoms, which is basically what we're doing now anyway. The ortho doc is going to send her file and info to a neuro friend of his in San Diego - he obviously won't examine Makayla himself, but he will look through her file and give his opinion as to whether it may be DM.

Following that appointment, we went to the holistic vet for an acupuncture session - the first time we've tried it. (BTW, the ortho docs were very supportive of us trying holistic approaches, which is nice to hear from traditional docs!) The holistic vet wants to alternate acupuncture and bicom therapy once a week (today acupuncture, next week bicom, following week acupuncture and so on) for 4-5 weeks. After that we should see results - and be able to decide if one or both of the therapy types is helping. She did say some dogs won't respond at all to either therapy. So we'll try them out and see what happens.

I'm sorry, Rachel, as one mom of an enigma (Sophie) to another, it sucks. But it sounds like you have a game plan, and I'll be hoping acupuncture helps. It's nice to hear he is open to alternative treatments too.

I'm sorry you don't have any hard and fast answers, but it sounds like you are taking a very good approach to what you know you do know.

Sending you out hugs!!!

Rachel - sending many, many good thoughts for Kayla. I'm glad you are able to try to the acupuncture. What's bicom therapy? (I'm clueless!)

I'm sorry you didn't get any answers, how frustrating! It is great though that you have some options with the holistic vet. Hopefully something will help Makayla.

Sorry to hear this. I think our holistic vet also gives Peachy and Pugsley (and Clara too when she was here) a vitamin b12 shot. It helps with the incontinence for a short time.

It's nice to know your regular vet is going the extra mile to find out whats really going on. I hope you find the answers, it sucks not knowing what is wrong with our babies.
Good luck with the acupuncture, people I've known who have had it swear it works.

Interesting...I've wondered about degenerative myelopathy in so many of these pugs that we're seeing with problems like Makayla's. The symptoms are so similar. We tried contacting some specialists/universities and the PDCA health committee chairperson a couple of years ago about getting a study started but didn't get much interest since they're so focused on PDE right now. I hope that the acupuncture & bicom therapy help her.

makayla is in my thoughts. it sounds like you are doing everything in your power to help her cope with this and i know it's not easy.

I wish you had better news on your girl, Rachel. By all indications you are doing everything for her.

Sending good thoughts your way. How old is Makayla?

After PDE, I hate DM the next. Sorry that you didn't get better news, Rachel. I hope that the acupuncture and bicom can give her some good time.
Prayers out to you both.

TxAllieGrl wrote:Rachel - sending many, many good thoughts for Kayla. I'm glad you are able to try to the acupuncture. What's bicom therapy? (I'm clueless!)

Allie, it's hard to understand it or explain it, so I've copied this from the holistic vet's website:
"It is a non-invasive, painless therapy for hundreds of chronic diseases in animals. Information is gathered from an animal's electromagnetic frequencies through a computer called the "BICOM". Using the body's ultra-fine electromagnetic information, a self healing and self-sustaining process is set into motion as normal cell communication is re-established. It is a therapy that stimulates the self healing powers of the body and strengthens the body's own defenses. The aim of Bioresonance therapy is to reduce or eliminate pathological electromagnetic information and concurrently strengthen the natural information. This activates the body to normalize and maintain health."

PugLady3 wrote:Interesting...I've wondered about degenerative myelopathy in so many of these pugs that we're seeing with problems like Makayla's. The symptoms are so similar. We tried contacting some specialists/universities and the PDCA health committee chairperson a couple of years ago about getting a study started but didn't get much interest since they're so focused on PDE right now. I hope that the acupuncture & bicom therapy help her.

Brenda, it's amazing - once I started doing research on DM last night, I was amazed at how similar the symptoms are to bulging discs/spinal lesions. There's quite a lot of information out there on DM - I'm amazed there isn't a study underway with regards to DM in pugs.

sallyandtilly wrote:Sending good thoughts your way. How old is Makayla?

Sally, Makayla is about 8 years old. A rather young girl to get such a grim diagnosis.

northernwitch wrote:After PDE, I hate DM the next. Sorry that you didn't get better news, Rachel. I hope that the acupuncture and bicom can give her some good time.
Prayers out to you both.

Blanche, I am in total agreement with you. From what I've read, the course of degeneration is typically 6 months to a year from onset of symptoms until total paralysis - it's a rather quickly progressing disease. I'm really hoping and praying that acupuncture and bicom help us.

This is an excellent site on DM. I thought is was mainly german shepherds, but this site is highly recommended by the other moderators on my diabetic board
http://www.mzjf.com/main.htm

also
http://caninesupportgroup.yuku.com/forums/93

I'm sending lots of hugs

Rachel, this won't help the dm, but it will help your house and Mikayla's dignity.

With all our handicapped pugs, I stimulate the bowels twice every day outside, and they will pretty much poop on demand. That will practically eliminate the accidents in the house and in their beds. Just rub their bum gently in a circular motion, and they will poop in less than a minute. It takes a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, easy and quick. I have seen a video of how to do it somewhere, I will go and see if I can find it, and post it back here.

any questions, let me know. Joan

found it, it gives lots of different methods, I use the rubbing on all 5, and it is really a life saver.

http://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Bowel_management_in_incontinent_pets

Oh, Rachel, this really stinks for Sissy. And for you. You do have an amazing dogtor who will go the extra mile and is not afraid of complementary therapy. Fingers, toes, and paws crossed here that the acupuncture and/or biocom help. Gentle hugs to Makayla and to you.

Prayers to you and your girl. I hope the acupuncture works. I know for Winston it did for quite a while. While he doesn't have DM, his disease is progressive also and the acupuncture gave him several good months.

Rachel your a wonderful Pug Mom and I'm so sorry your having to go through this. I know when my foster Toby came to me I started researching DM I don't know if you've already found this site but I found it very interesting and very easy to read and understand.

www.caninegeneticdiseases.net

Continued prayers for you and Makayla.

I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this! And poor puggy! I just went through a major medical incident with my beloved Lucky who we sadly loss to PDE at the very young age of a 1 year old. So hard when you arent totally sure what is going on and you are exhausting everything but yet still in the dark. I pray for both of you that you get all the info you need :)

Joan, thank you for the links and the video. I haven't watched it yet - I think the reality of this being a possible diagnosis for Makayla has hit me hard today and I just cannot deal with it tonight - I just need to completely wrap my mind around it and then I can start knowing what our life is about to become.

Carol, thank you for the link. It's amazing how much information there is out there - it's so useful to know everything I possibly can.

Lucky's mom, I'm sorry for your loss. It is hard when we can't fix what's wrong with them and we dont' always know what's going on. It's frustrating to be a mommy and not be able to fix everything that's wrong.

I'm sorry Rachel. I know this isn't the kind of news anyone wants to hear. It sounds like you have have a good team in place and that everything possible is being done. I'm very intrigued by the bicom. I'm glad someone asked because I've never heard of it. Do they do it for humans too? I hope Makayla is responsive to one or both treatments. Big hugs to you both.