I've been at my parent's house now for 2 days and already I've begun to go a little stir crazy. Though we did have a DELICIOUS Christmas dinner consisting of rack of lamb (my favorite) and these potatoes with cheese that are the most amazing potatoes I have ever eaten.
So today I started doing some work again and felt instantly better.
The dogs appear to be getting along though, which we were relieved by, though Boo vomited all the way up to CT in the car. 6 times. Despite the Dramamine we gave her.
We're taking her to the vet up here on Monday to get an Rx for some Acepromazine for the trip back, which I hope helps. I had talked about getting a script for this when we saw the vet last Tuesday, and now I am kicking myself for not just doing it.
Interestingly, when I heard the name Acepromazine I immediately thought its name sounded like an anti-psychotic. But then I thought that perhaps I didn't know what I was talking about, so I didn't ask the vet because I didn't want to look stupid (adaptive behavior from med school, what can I say). It turns out I was right. As a matter of fact, Ace is closely related in structure to Thorazine, which is an old-school typical antipsychotic. Thanks Wikipedia!
And then I wondered: Why can't dogs take Compazine? Do they get dystonias? Is Ace just doggy Compazine? Would it have the same effects?
... and then I remembered The HAM. That is, the receptors that Thorazine acts on: anticholinergic, muscarinic, and histamininc (as well as the dopamine receptors). Because Ace is an old school antipsychotic, then she is less likely to get dystonias because of all the anticholinergic action of the medication that mitigates some of the dopaminergic actions...
(Probably don't really have to worry about TDs either, come to think of it, though it could happen it's not as likely as say with haldol...)
As a side note, I will ALWAYS remember what Thorazine does because of Terminator 2. Thank you James Cameron! It does crack me up that it is billed as an "anti-anxiety" medication in animals. Yes, I'm sure it does that too. If you're conked out in the back of the car, you probably aren't feeling very anxious either, are you doggie?
The other up side to this was that at least I know I haven't forgotten *everything* from med school yet!
And I can feel safe in the fact that my dog will not have hallucinations in the car or think that the tv is sending special messages to her that only she can understand. Thank goodness for that.
8 Pearls of Wisdom:
I actually posted on this a while back, on Cerenia for motion sick canines. I think you even commented on it.
Several readers commented with suggestions for the problem.
Good luck!
http://drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com/2009/11/medical-breakthrough.html
Indeed you did. I had forgotten where I'd read about this. THough, I never did click on the link to figure out what class of drug it was....
She sounds like my Libby Lou, an Australian Cattle Dog. She gets so sick in the car that she only goes as far as the vet anymore. Poor baby!
I've been reading your blog for awhile and finally felt compelled to comment. I just completed my psych rotation and, in the process, became incredibly tired of asking "Do you ever feel like the TV is sending special messages to you?" I kind of lost it when I read that last paragraph. Thanks for the laugh (and for the rest of your blog).
Yikes! I hope you have less vomit on the trip back.
In reality, there is no such thing as an antipsychotic. Psychosis is a subjective judgement from authority and not scientifically measurable. Reality is a shared hallucination. Time passing when having fun, seems to go by fast, while time passes slowly, to a person having a miserable time.
A worried person looks for problems , and you generally can find what you are looking for.
A balanced mind that sees both pro and con , can not be found in a pill, the psychiatric drugs at best, stop the mind from functioning. If the drugs actually worked, there would be success stories and the 1 in 17 rate of serious mental illness would be dropping.
Thankfully you can also stop making her a little tinfoil hat so the aliens won't talk to her. :)
I've seen a few horses develop TDs after long-term fluphenazine administration. Not a pretty sight.
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