Mexiletine and Sotalol

[amyleigh]

Hi All,
MY 7.5 year old pup just got diagnosed with ARVC and was given 250mg of Mexiletine 2x a day and 40g of Sota 2x a day. I have run into the same issues as others on this board with Cooper not wanting to eat and being very picky but has anyone seen their dog develop a facial twitch? He starts twitching his face and licking the air with his tongue for a few seconds. Has anyone experienced this? I do not know if it is a side effect or a muted episode. Unfortunately there is a large snow storm here in the North East so I cannot get in touch with our Vet.

 

[Gatorblu]

Are you giving the Mexiletine with food? I was told it can upset the stomach and should be given with food. Licking the air is a sign of an upset tummy. I would give his sota an hour before I fed him and his mexiletine with his meal. And we had no issues. Sending positive, healthy (((vibes))) to your Cooper.

 

[amyleigh]

yes, with food but he is much pickier now in terms of what he will eat so i doubt he has a full stomach. i will try to get him to eat more before his next dose. the twitching is what is really worrying me - i just hope it is not a min episode. thanks so much for the reply and the well wishes....would you mind sharing your story with me in terms of your dogs diagnosis?

 

[chrystel]

I thought mexiletine was 3 times a day? (Every 8 hours)

I give snatch sota .40mg twice a day and mexiletine 150mg three timea a day.

Snatch was diagnosed with arvc and subaortic valve stenosis last july after he collapsed at 9.5 years old :( he was firat prwcribed sota. He had a syncope again in october and the cardiologist added mexiletine. Since then it seems to be under control.

What is frustrating is that sota is not to be given with antacid... but mexiletine requires antacid. Seriously... ugh! Snatch is ok with his meds... except the 10pm mexiletine. It makes him nauseous. It helps if I feed him some treats before and after... but some night he will have a 5 min drooling/licking episode after his pill. I feel bad :(

 

[amyleigh]

yes, generally it is 3x a day but our doc wants to start with 2x and see if it works. the pills were actually easier to give last night and today - we are thankful for that. i still don't know what the twitching is about. i brought him to the vet yesterday when the snow stopped and the tech did an ekg....should hear from the cardiologist later today.

i am glad to hear that the medicine is working for your pup - it gives us hope!

 

[chrystel]

good luck!
I worry all the time. it is not fun :( he still wants to play and acts crazy.. but the heart holter 24hrs test showed us in july and october that it is when he plays that his heart gets bad.... so each time i seem him play... my heart stops.... but i know it makes him happy.. so i hold my breathe and pray...

good luck to you and your pup!

lovicon

 

[Bathel]

yes, generally it is 3x a day but our doc wants to start with 2x and see if it works. the pills were actually easier to give last night and today - we are thankful for that. i still don't know what the twitching is about. i brought him to the vet yesterday when the snow stopped and the tech did an ekg....should hear from the cardiologist later today.

i am glad to hear that the medicine is working for your pup - it gives us hope!

Don't know about the twitching... although We dose 150mg 3x a day, and not 250mg twice a day... so maybe the higher dosage can cause that...

As for the feeding, this is what works best for me. We feed our little girl 3 times a day. Breakfast is a Canned Merrick food that she LOVES... she typically isn't interested in kibble in the AM. After she eats that, we wait 30 minutes and give her 40mg Sota and 150mg of Mexiletine in a finger full of peanut butter. I just make her sit then open her mouth and wipe my finger with the peanut better and pills on the back of her tongue. If you get it all the way back she swallows it without issue. Sometimes if I don't do a good job getting it far enough back she will work it forward and spit it out. Most of the time she's happy to get a mouth full of Peanut butter and it's not much work.

Lunch is 2 cups of kibble and 30 minutes later she gets a 150mg pill of Mexiletine and a Fish Oil supplement, again in peanut butter.

Dinner is another 2 cups kibble and 30 minutes later she gets the 40mg Sota and 150mg Mexiletine in peanut butter.

Now, the kibble sometimes we have to mix some wet food with it and rotate around the flavor... but she mostly eats it well. There are days she just won't eat it... I just don't stress that much about it. Also, she doesn't normally finish all 2 cups of kibble... there is normally a 1/4 to 1/2 cup left.

Anyway, her eating seems to go in spurts... at times she's begging for more.. at times she could care less. I just keep her weight weekly to make sure she's not losing weight and if she's not losing weight, I don't worry too much about it.

 

[amyleigh]

Thanks for the reply! Cooper is finally eating and acting mostly normal now! I think he just needed to get used to the meds! However, he developed a cough. The vet doesn't believe it is heart related. They actually think he got kennel cough from being in the hospital over night. So guess what?! More pills - antibiotics for the next 7 days to go along with his heart meds. Oh well, at least it's only 7 days!

 

[chrystel]

Oh my gosh! Snatch is coughing too! They also think of kennel cough. So we are on baytril and tramadol for 14 days. I am on a business trip. Snatch stopped eating while dh was also out of town. My brother in law kept our doggies and snatch refused to eat for 3 days. ... so now pills + no food = upset tummy and bile regurgitation.

My husband is home now and got our doggies from his brother. Snatch is eating a little. But still vomiting. Ugh. I feel bad Snatch is not well. I cant wait to get back home!

 

[Denisegerken]

yes, with food but he is much pickier now in terms of what he will eat so i doubt he has a full stomach. i will try to get him to eat more before his next dose. the twitching is what is really worrying me - i just hope it is not a min episode. thanks so much for the reply and the well wishes....would you mind sharing your story with me in terms of your dogs diagnosis?

Hello I am having very similar episodes to you right now! My dog was diagnosed with ARVC back in November, they tried soto and made his episodes double! So they took him off of it and started him on ateno and mexiletine, brought him back to 0 abnormal beats... Awesome drug!! However he has been getting so stubborn with taking his pills he takes vetmedin 2x daily ateno 2x daily and mexiletine 3x daily... Mexiletine he has really been picky about spitting it out but we have been sneaking it into different types of good but he quickly figured it out. The past 2 days he has been vomiting after almost every dose, and has not eaten at all:-( he is drinking but can't even get him to eat cheese which is his favorite! How long has ur pup been on mexiletine? I figured if he was going to have a problem it would have started back when he first started taking it. I'm so worried he's so wonderful just turned 7 and we love him so much his arythmia was so bad the vet said she was amazed he hadn't dropped dead yet so he really needs this pill but I don't want him to suffer either!