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ventricular tachycardia newly diagnosed - Help

875 views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  dobebug 
#1 ·
Hi All my pup is a mixed breed, lab and who knows what I adopted her from a rescue almost two years ago, about a year ago she was diagnosed with HW then it was negative but two days ago she threw up and passed out (possibly complete stoppage of heart) as she evacuated her bowels... rushed to vet and they gave her fluids and saw enlargement of the ride side of her heart on xray... all kept saying its HW and start treatment and sent her home I decided I needed to do more and went to see a cardiologist ... I am glad I did.. after echo and ecg she was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia and sent home with holter - I just took it off and will begin treatment with mexiletine... I am scared!! I have seen so many threads where the Dob community this is so common (I am so sorry!!!) but any advice on med's and reactions to watch for, what do I let her do not do... i feel like I am smothering her but I am so scared!! My other rescue who is a border collie is truly confused (no play time :( ) Help!
 
#2 ·
Do you have the measurements the cardiologist got on the echo? And the report from the holter? The symptoms sound more like the aftermath that is pretty common post heartworm infection that has been treated but had already damaged the heart. It would be more common to see left side enlargement in DCM. But v-tach can be a result of any sort of cardio problem.

I'm told by my dogs cardiologist that it would be more likely to see atrial fibrilation post heart worm treatment if it had been a heavy infestation.

I know what meds are commonly prescribed for Dobes but without having a clue about the results of the echo and holter (was it a holter or just a 3 or 5 minute ecg?) I wouldn't have a clue--I'm no vet cardiologist and am just going by dogs that I know that have been treated in our clinic for heartworm and what has happened after the treatment as opposed to Dobes I've owned and that have been owned by friends of mine who have had issues with v-tach.

More information would be helpful.
 
#3 ·
Hi - we had the ecg 5 minutes and the 24 hour holter, however I won't get those results for 1-2 weeks - she has been on the meds for 3 days and so far no adverse reaction - the note relating to post HW may be something as no one mentioned this as a potential cause. Once I have more I will post - thank you!
 
#4 ·
A 5 minute ecg often doesn't give enough information about arrhythmias--do you know what company your cardiologist is dealing with. My holter results go to Alba (also the manufacturers of our holter monitor) and unless we transmit the information on a Friday we usually have the results back by e-mail in 24 hours. Getting Holter results shouldn't take two weeks and even one week isn't the time period I've experienced. I've been doing Holters on my dogs for ove 10 years now.

How about the numbers on your echo--do you have a copy of those?

Mexiletine is generally one of the drugs that may be prescribed for arrhythmia control but there are often other meds prescribed to go along with it. And there are other antiarrythmics that are easier to control and sometimes easier on the dog being treated.

And heartworm is dangerous because of the damage that it does to the heart of a dog--but as I said in the earlier post the symptoms of cardiac damage due to a heartworm infestation are generally not the same as those of Doberman type dilated cardiomyopathy.

Thanks, I'll be interested to see any further information when you have it.
 
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