If your doctor gave you a diagnosis which required medication that could severely impact your quality of life and the illness had no known cure; would you simply accept this and take the medication or would you seek a second opinion?  Most people I know would insist upon a second opinion.

Sadly in the canine world, many people simply accept the diagnosis handed to their pet and proceed accordingly.  To date, Delilah has had three (for lack of a better word) incidents;  finally after the third one, our vet said, “Without having seen it happen, I would have to say she is having a seizure.  If it continues or become worse, we will have to put her on medication.”

I was devastated.  I went online and googled seizure medication for dogs and found out that the side effects of the anti-seizure medications were horrible.  I remember saying to myself, no wonder people put their dogs to sleep, what a horrible way to live.  I e-mailed my friend Jo-Anne, who has two dogs and tries to keep her treatments as holistic as possible, I asked her if she knew of any vets who treated seizures holistically.   She immediately gave me her work number and said, “Call me.”

After chatting with her, I felt better.  Jo-Anne used a holistic Dr. who made house calls, and he was going to be at her house the next day!  She called Dr. Landau and asked him if he would have time to see Delilah, his time was tight so Jo-Anne generously gave up Dr. Landau’s time with one of her dogs.

Dr. Landau met Delilah at our house on March 31, 2010.

Look at her face, you can see how sad and miserable she feels.

While Dr. Landau examined Delilah we talked, he asked questions I answered.   Dr. Landau thought Delilah’s incidences sounded more like pain than seizures.  He thought Delilah might have a pinched nerve or slipped disc.  Dr. Landau gave Delilah an ultra-sound treatment and some acupuncture.

Dr. Landau said when someone has been traumatized their pulse should be fast and shallow; Delilah’s pulse was slow and deep.  He prescribed a Chinese herb called Xiao Chai Hu Tang which would get her pulse where it should be so her body could heal.  He also prescribed a herb called Body Sore, to help with any residual pain she might have.  He requested she be seen by him in two weeks and also wanted her to get an x-ray to see if anything obvious showed up.  He suggested she lose some weight as extra weight could be a factor by placing additional strain on her back

When Dr. Landau left, you could see the change in Delilah, she looked more relaxed and more like herself.  She even ran to the window to look at a squirrel.

Relaxed and feeling more like her old self.

Dr. Landau communicated his findings to our vet who thought he was wonderful; as do I.  Our follow-up visit was two weeks later and he gave his seal of approval.  Delilah had her x-rays last June and thankfully nothing jumped out.  So far, she is 13 months healthy and I for one am so grateful I didn’t just accept the diagnosis of seizures; I can’t imagine the life she would have had if we hadn’t sought a second opinion.

If you are interested in the details of what Delilah’s been through, I will be working on the complete story and will put that up on the blog.  I will let you know once it’s done.