Pain rewires the brain....is the webinar series I just finished through Behavior Vets. It has me thinking so much about many of my clients whose dogs have behavior issues. Pain is so darn tricky since the original pain can be resolved but now the brain is in a maladaptive state. The body continues to recognize a pain state even though the pain is gone. Ugh.
Did you know that signs of pain could show up behaviorally in the following ways? * Decrease in sleep * Repetitive behavior like chasing a ball endlessly * Increased arousal * Sensitivity to touch * Sensitivity to sound * Sensitivity to sights * Anxiety And that's just to a name a few. These really aren't well known and most of the time pain isn't even explored as a possible cause or exacerbating factor, especially in young dogs. More & more, with many of my clients I recommend exploring pain detection and pain medication trials with their veterinarian as part of our behavior modification plan. Getting veterinarians on board with intense exploration and/or pain medication trials can be really, really hard. It usually takes multiple conversations, and we need to provide documentation via behavior logs and videos. Sometimes my clients need to switch vets to one that is more open to hearing our concerns. If you find yourself in this situation, advocate kindly and persistently for your dog and switch vets if ultimately that's needed to move forward. A recent scientific paper found that up to 80% of dogs with behavior issues have a pain-related component. When I read that, my heart hurt. Pain is being overlooked time and time again as a possible cause of behavior problems. This paper (as I understood it) recommends veterinarians do pain medication trials more readily to see if there's a positive change in behavior. If there is, then you know there's pain and then the client and the vet can decide together how to proceed. I love this approach and hope more veterinarians begin to do this in the coming months and years.
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