Post date: Jan 2, 2009 2:09:51 AM
I lead a fun-filled, exciting existence.
I spent New Years Eve researching retinitis pigmentosa. It is the human equivalent of canine prcd-PRA. In fact, the 2 diseases are supposedly caused by an identical mutation in the same retinal gene.
Up until now, in trying to devise a supplement program for Trevor, I've been focusing on what has been proven to help humans with macular degeneration. But I finally dug a little deeper and discovered that the real human analog to canine prcd-PRA is retinitis pigmentosa.
You usually don't find out that your dog has PRA until he starts to display a loss of vision. Dogs compensate so well that it's a sure bet that many dogs go undiagnosed. Knowing in advance (as I do, from the Optigen test) that your dog is going to go blind is a mixed blessing, to put it mildly. Ignorance would be bliss. Knowing is a terrible burden. Every day I watch Trevor for signs that his vision is failing. I feel a crushing responsibility to do anything I can to delay the onset of his blindness. Sometimes I wish I didn't know, but on the other hand, knowledge is power.
When they tell you that your dog has PRA, they tell you that there's nothing you can do, that it's a genetic condition that is inexorable. But since dog eye problems and human eye problems are so closely related, I started to doubt this. I couldn't believe that doctors told their human patients "Sorry, there's nothing you can do. Don't worry, it won't be painful, you'll adapt just fine." So thus I discovered retinitis pigmentosa and started reading about it.
It turns out that there has been quite a bit of research about how to delay the onset of human RP. In looking through the Yahoo RP group and other online resources, the general recommendations seem to be as follows:
I need to talk to my holistic vet to figure out how to adapt this protocol for a dog.
Note: The things listed above are recommended for HUMANS. The recommendations for dogs seem to be very different. See Trevor's Supplement Regime.
On the "really out-of-the-box" front, there are also studies showing that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can help RP. Remember Michael Jackson in his hyperbaric oxygen chamber? Yup. That's how crazy it's getting. I'm starting to search for HBOT facilities in Northern California. Poor Trevor, he just wants to chase his ball. But this is the curse of knowing. I can't stand by doing nothing while my baby goes blind.