She was on The Today Show a few weeks ago and was just stunning! Now that's the type of "little old lady" I want to be when I grow up! lol And I don't care if the old cars were gas guzzlers or not, I sure wish they made them like that again. They were so roomy and we actually had a place to put our purse when someone road in the front seat with us!

Based upon what Prarie love wrote, at least some people do believe that hypothyroid-induced seizures are common. Being hypothyroid and having seizures are not necessarily related, though they certainly can be. Unfortunately being that most animals do not get regular annual (twice yearly for older pets) bloodwork when they are healthy, but most people will get bloodwork done when their pet has a seizure, it is often the case that low T4 is discovered right after an animal has a seizure. But the seizure itself can cause low T4, and once the animal's seizures are controlled the T4 returns to normal- or not if the animal is on phenobarbital. This is euthyroid sick syndrome- normally functioning thyroid that is temporarily suppressed due to another disease. Euthyroid sick syndrome can be caused by any disease, including a disease that causes seizures or the seizures themselves. It doesn't hurt to judiciously supplement thyroid hormone in an emergency while waiting for a full thyroid panel, which takes 1-2 weeks (having just gotten one for my dog) as long as you don't go overboard, as oversupplementing thyroid hormone can be cardiotoxic. But you are not really controlling the seizures, you are actually preventing further seizures. In other words, even if a dog's seizures are caused by hypothyroidism, giving thyroid hormone won't do anything to stop the current seizures (explaination follows). The full thyroid panel can sort out euthyroid sick syndrome from true hypothyroidism if it is done prior to starting phenobarb, usually. Some pets refuse to be classified, like my own dog. I did a LOT of reading on this lately because my pathologists were stumped when I asked how hypothyroidism, which causes decreased cellular activity, could possibly cause seziures, which are caused by increased cellular activity. I would have asked the neurologists, but they were in rounds and then left before I could catch them. But I did find the info myself, and it seems that hyperlipidemia (VERY high serum triglycerides and/or cholesterol) may lead to atherosclerosis and then ischemic encephalopathy (low oxygen to the brain) due to hemorrhage or thrombus, causing seizures or other CNS signs (called a stroke in people). There are many causes for hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism is one. One study showed that dogs that had atherosclerosis were 51 times more likely to be hypothyroid than dogs who did not have artherosclerosis (they showed similar results for dogs with diabetes mellitus). Hyperlipidemia may also cause hypercoagulable syndrome where an animal throws clots, which can end up anywhere. Clinical signs are referrable to location of clot, so if a dog threw a clot into the brain, that would also cause ischemic encephalopathy and possible CNS signs or seizures. Of course, bloodwork would pick up hyperlipidemia (well, a complete panel would show both cholesterol and triglyceride levels; some in-house machines can't do this), so waiting for a thyroid panel just tells you why the hyperlipidemia is present. Because hyperlipidemia may have causes besides hypothyroidism, it is much more important to include cholesterol and triglycerides in a seizure work-up than to include thyroid testing. You can always go back for a cause of hyperlipidemia if needed. That said, you need to have a full thyroid panel done before a pet is placed on phenobarbital because that drug suppresses thyroid hormone in some animals. It does not always cause clinical disease and may not always need to be treated. Once on phenobarb, it is very difficult to impossible to sort out true hypothyroidism from phenobarb-induced thyroid suppression. Without clinical signs though, there doesn't seem to be a need for treatment. Atherosclerosis appears to be rare in dogs overall, but common in dogs with hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus. The actual incidence is unknown because you need either MRI, CT, or a necropsy to diagnose it. Most people don't have access to MRI or CT for their pets either because of expense or because it isn't available. And most people refuse necropsy. The unfortunate part about atherosclerosis is that once it is in the brain, you can't get rid of it, even by treating the underlying cause. If you can get the animal to stop having seizures and if there isn't too much permanent damage and if you can treat the underlying cause, you may be able to prevent more seizures depending upon how much of the brain is affected by atherosclerosis. The damage is done, and you have to prevent further atherosclerosis by treating the disease. In some cases, the damage to the brain may be too great and the patient dies despite best efforts, even if the cause was "just" hypothyroidism. Controlling hypothyroidism would also prevent further seizures due to hypercoagulable states caused by hyperlipidemia, but the same "ifs" apply. This is why supplementing thyroid hormone when presented with a seizuring animal isn't really necessary, even if the seizures are caused by hypothyroidism. You do need to control the hypothyroidism, but that can wait until the animal stops seizing and you have at least a clue of whether or not the animal is actually hypothyroid. It appears that the reason hypothyroidism is a rare cause of seizures in dogs is that most cases of hypothyroidism are diagnosed and treated long before a patient develops clincally significant hyperlipidemia and subsequent atherosclerosis. It seems that mild hypothyroidism without clinical signs does not cause the a high degree of hyperlipidemia, so the risk of seizures in this case is very small. I guess if you ignore the clinical signs long enough and don't do screening bloodwork on a regular basis, a dog could have severe hypothyroidism and seizures. BTW, collies are prone to hyperlipidemia without hypothyroidism, so in the case of poor Shelby, testing cholesterol and triglycerides is much more important than thyroid testing. You have to know what is common in certain breeds and ages, otherwise you end up running every test in the book and that is a waste of time, money, and effort.

Her front one is just as bad moni but no holes....the back one fell in on her way back to her apt. I am sure they are just leaving them with notes...what else can you do? I hope that was the last one for OK. this season....I haven't talked to her since monday but she had to work so her stepbrother was going to try and get it fixed for her the windows)....not sure if he did or not...Brian is going to call her today and tell her no fixing the rest as it is totalled....I told him he can break the news to her....my bil owns a body shop and he said nope....no fixing that one! the front and top look just as bad...the vids are wild...I just kept clicking on diff. ones...well when you see her car Moni HONK LOL it should be noticable now!

Chris - We just moved to this area and the people here are so amazingly friendly and generous. You wouldn't believe the stuff that people put out for free here. We went out yesterday to pick up the stained glass and stopped at a few garage sales along the way. We got some really cool stuff - I'll have to start a new post though, this one's getting kinda long, lol. Slow - Thanks for the anniversary wishes! We had a fabulous day. Went for an afternoon cruise on Kempenfelt Bay, aboard the "Serendipity Princess", then DH took me shopping for a new outfit and out for a scrumptious dinner at a really cool little bistro that we've been wanting to try for a while now. He's such a sweetie and I feel incredibly lucky to have him in my life. Stjohnsgypsy and Katie (and everybody else!) - Another free classifieds site I've had really good luck with is Kijiji. In Canada it's www.kijiji.ca and in the US it's www.kijiji.com Good luck, I hope everyone finds some new treasures! Hrsg - Thanks, I can't wait to start using them! Ann - Thank you, I hope you have TWICE the luck! Ronnie - I looked on Mapquest and it's 1112.50 miles from Barrie, Ontario to Harrison, AR. Three hours - how fast do you drive woman?????? Guess I'll have to hang on to your half for now, lol. GGG - Isn't it awesome? I was practically drooling in her studio and definitely plan on giving her my business in the future. I think I just might do some Christmas shopping there this year. She also takes old, damaged photos (or new) and puts them on tiles. These aren't decals, the way she explained it, it's like an ink tattoo on the unglazed tile and then she does the glazing herself after. I think it would be so cool if her good deed generated some business for her. Hope you find something you like! I am in Barrie, how neat that you grew up in the area. Wow, you sure ended up moving a pretty good distance away! Whew, this is getting pretty long-winded again! Sorry for rambling on. As soon as I take some pics, I'll start another thread for the new stuff. Cindy