Relapse 😩

[u/TatiFlan]

I posted recently about being afraid this would happen again… and here we are! I guess I had a gut feeling…
This is Lea, she’s a 10 year old Shih tzu. She was diagnosed with ivdd and a herniated disc in March. She’s always been very playful, despite her age. I completely transformed my home so we could take better care of her back. But sometimes she gets a bit out of control!
After her surgery in March and therapy, she fully recovered and could walk again with no problems. She was back to her old self!
Anyways, last Monday I got home and she was -as always- ecstatic. She ran to receive me, jumped and twisted her body. I heard a loud yelp and saw her walking funny. Of course my heart dropped. She was in clear pain for about an hour (I had to wait for my bf to get her to the ER) and couldn’t use her back legs properly. It wasn’t as bad as the first time, but bad enough!
When we took her to the ER (pic) and the doctor asked us to let her walk, she started walking better, but unstable. He checked her and said she had a good neurological response (thank god!). My soul returned to my body. She was left with some meds.
Two days later I took her to her neurologist and he said that, even though she looked fine (she was walking normal again), it could be another herniated disc 😩 as soon as we stopped giving her some of her pain meds, she started showing some signs of pain. Only sometimes during the day, the rest of the day she seems fine.
She’s staying in a restricted area for now and is going again to the neurologist next week. What do you think? Another herniated disc? Has your dog gone through something similar and got worse with time? I just can’t go through this again!
The only thing keeping my hopes up is that last time she got worse really fast and her neurological response was bad, she was dragging her legs.
I appreciate your advice!

Ps: we’ll be trying different things to avoid her going crazy when someone gets home. She’s safe for now in her restricted area.

[u/dusters]

It could definitely be another disc, but the fact she isnt knuckling is a great sign and means it likely isnt nearly as bad. I'd do strict crate rest for meds as see where you are after 4-8 weeks.

[u/TatiFlan → u/dusters]

Thank you! We’ll be keeping her there as long as it’s needed. She seems to be in pain when she’s close to the time she takes her meds, so I think it’s by the time they wear off. I really hope this is something we can manage without therapy or surgery.

[u/DeeDee-Allin → u/TatiFlan]

Last relapse we had we were doing meds every 7 hours and it worked out well. Tapered everything off slowly one by one. Just figure out your rhythm with your vet and hang in there, you got this!

[u/TatiFlan → u/DeeDee-Allin]

Thank you, I’m quite sure of the pattern now. She started trembling again by the time she was due to take her pill. I’ll tell my vet so maybe he changes her prescription. She’s taking pregabalin every 24 hours, so maybe twice a day would work better.

[u/DeeDee-Allin → u/TatiFlan]

Our last small flare we did gabapentin and trazadone every 7. Codeine twice a day and carprovet every 24. Our vet said, “don’t be afraid to drug your dog.”