Laryngeal Paralysis information?

[AliceR]

Hello,

Would like to learn more about laryngeal paralysis. Diagnosis was made for 10-12 ? yr. old Australian Shepherd. He is not my dog, but I spent a lot of time with him as an apprentice trainer, getting him out of the daycare and training him and eventually getting him adopted. He came into rescue with heartworm and went through conventional treatment. I believe he is still on heart worm preventatives. Not sure of his age because of conflicting ages on previous veterinary records. He does have environmental allergies. He is also partially deaf and blind. I really like the people who adopted him, not sure if they would use alternative medicine (their daughter is an md)- but I was wondering what can be done. He is on doxepin - vet said to slow his breathing- his people say it's a mild case right now- when I googled it sounded grim, with the paralysis spreading to the body- article also mentioned surgery.
Thank you,
Alice

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hey Alice. Thanks so much for helping this pup!

Yes, there is surgery for dog's whose quality of life and BEAM are affected by laryngeal paralysis (LP).

As you probably read, this dis-ease occurs when the muscles of the larynx (the throatbox) don't work properly secondary to a nerve problem. The laryngeal nerves usually "tell" the muscles what to do and in this health challenge don't work properly.

The surgery doesn't correct the underlying nerve problem but can prevent the larynx from covering the trachea (windpipe) so the dog can breathe better.

Here's a bit more about LP:

Living with GOLPP

It is believed to be a polyneuropathy (dis-ease of multiple nerves) related to the nerve-muscle disconnect seen in dogs with degenerative myelopathy.

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&catId=102899&id=4952489&ind=171&objTypeID=1007

Effect of doxepin on quality of life in Labradors with laryngeal paralysis: A double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial - PubMed

Doxepin did not appear to improve any measures of owner-assessed quality of life in Labrador retrievers with laryngeal paralysis.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

IMHO these nerve dis-eases are a result of an energy imbalance causing secondary cellular physiologic changes resulting in symptoms.

This is actually similar to my own genetic brain-muscle connection dis-ease that I am able to help with energy management methods like BEAMing and breathing.

I once asked my own neurologist what he thought the chances were that the medication he wanted to prescribe would be as effective as what I was already doing. He didn't think so.

You might therefore want to recommend nosework, BEAMing (super happiness) and homeopathy to help this pup's quality of life.

 

[Dr. Christina]

Lots of great information, Dr. Jeff.

I would just second that a number of dogs I have known of who were ready for surgery had this condition corrected with homeopathy or Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) along with supportive care like we discuss in the Fundamentals course which has a section on finding vets who can help.

Dr. Christina