'I Have A Rare Disease And My Dog Is the Only Reason I Am Still Alive'

As the saying goes, dogs are man's best friends. They're loyal and faithful and will only put food above their humans. But dogs are more than just devoted companions, and in some cases, they even save our lives.

Cienna Ditri is living proof that dogs can save you over and over again. She is affected by a number of conditions, including hypokalemic periodic paralysis, and her dog Piper looks after her every day. Or as Cienna says, "he keeps on saving her life day after day." The first time Cienna's life was saved by a dog was long before being diagnosed with her condition, and before even getting a service dog.

"When I was away at college," Cienna said, "I passed out during Christmas time. I passed out in the bath and hit my head on the drain; the drain closed, so the bath filled up with water and I had a near-death experience where I almost drowned in the bath. Our pet dog we had at the time happened to be in the bathroom with me, and he kind of lifted my head up out of the water."

After the incident, her primary care doctor suggested getting a service dog, and that's when she got Obi, her first service pet, who after years of service developed seizures of his own, and now lives in her house rent-free as the "official potato couch."

What Is Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis?

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis is a rare disease that develops because of defects in ion channels caused by genetic or acquired factors. It's a condition that causes episodes of extreme muscle weakness, typically beginning in childhood or adolescence. Usually, these episodes involve a temporary inability to move muscles in the arms and legs, and the attacks can cause weakness or paralysis that can last from a few hours to entire days.

As Cienna explained, like many other conditions, periodic paralysis is a spectrum disorder, meaning that the intensity and frequency of these attacks vary. Individuals affected by hypokalemic periodic paralysis typically have reduced levels of potassium in their blood, hypokalemia, during episodes of muscle weakness.

Some people may have episodes almost daily, while others experience them rarely. Attacks can occur without warning or can be triggered by external factors, like rest after exercise, a viral illness, or some medications. A carbohydrate-rich meal or intense exercise in the evening can also trigger an attack the following morning.

There are several different forms of periodic paralysis (PP). Hypokalemic PP, which is caused by low potassium, hyperkalemic PP, which is caused by high potassium, thyrotoxic PP, which is caused by high levels of thyroid hormone, and Andersen-Tawil syndrome, caused by swings in potassium blood levels.

Symptoms of Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis

Periodic paralysis affects about 5,000 to 6,000 individuals in the United States, roughly three in every 200,000 people, and attacks usually began to appear in later childhood, before reaching the age of 20.

Symptoms differ depending on the form of PP the specific individual has. In some forms of PP, people tend to have fewer attacks as they get older. Generally, symptoms include attacks of muscle weakness that may last for minutes to days, muscle pain after exercise, cramping, tingles, and permanent weakness.

Cienna has always been affected by this condition, since birth, although she only discovered it four years ago, thanks to her primary care doctor.

"I remember, my first memory is when I was little playing soccer, I loved playing soccer, I was very active, but I remember my legs feeling very heavy when I'd be playing soccer in the very cold Michigan mornings, and I'd be like, oh, my legs are so heavy, I have to go sit down at the sidelines," she said.

At the time Cienna thought that was normal, or that she was just tired, little did she know she was affected by a genetic condition that not many doctors knew about.

"I had it my whole life, but I just kind of found out that I had it four years ago when my doctor attended a session learning about it, and she actually called me from the session and she was like, Oh my gosh, this is you Cienna, and I was like, 'Oh, OK, I guess I have this then.'"

"For me, personally," says Cienna, "the biggest challenge I face because of my conditions aren't the conditions themselves, it's the accessibility barriers and the rest of the world."

Another way this condition affects Cienna's daily life is having to constantly avoid triggers. "I guess in a way I am always thinking that I need to avoid triggers, like cold is a huge one for me, or there are certain foods that can be triggers, too."

Common treatments for this condition aim to reduce the number and severity of attacks and managed the disease as much as possible. Some treatments include close control of potassium intake through diet and supplements, and intravenous potassium treatments if symptoms are severe.

People affected by this condition should also control carbohydrates in their diet, and have thyroid function assessed, especially if their PP is caused by thyroid disorders. Limiting exposure to triggers and keeping exercise to a moderate level, as well as frequently monitoring levels of potassium in the blood, also help manage PP.

How Service Dogs Help Periodic Paralysis

"On a daily basis, Piper helps me with more things than I can count honestly," said Cienna, "he helps me a lot with closing doors behind me, picking up things I drop on the floor, or grabbing water bottles for me, all normal things that service dogs do, like push the little accessibility buttons for the doors. But Piper is a medical alert service dog too, so he does a lot of alerts to let me know before things happen."

Cienna explained that her dog trainer, trained Piper so that he can smell medical changes. He alerts Cienna when her blood sugar is low, or when she is about to pass out, he also helps her stabilize her heart rate and blood pressure. He alerts her when she's having allergic reactions, which she says are his favorite because they're apparently funny smelling to dogs' noses.

A service dog is trained to take a specific actions that helps mitigate an individual's disability. These can range from very small to very large, and their size depends on the tasks they need to execute for the specific disability the human has, although the most common breeds trained as guide dogs are Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers,and German shepherds.

Perhaps the most important of Piper's skills is alerting Cienna when she's not breathing. One of Cienna's conditions causes her brain to "forget to breath" she says, adding that whenever this happens, Piper is there to let her know.

"When I'm in the shower, Piper has this little ball he plays with and if I'm not breathing, he'll come over and he'll throw it at me. And that's our little science so that he doesn't have to jump in the shower and get all wet every time. He used to just jump in the shower and then I just had a wet dog every day!"

Cienna and Piper have lived together for almost five years, and they have developed a special bond.

"He loves it when I roll really fast in my wheelchair or when we're at the ocean like jumping off our boat. He loves doing all those things, but he also just loves snuggling in bed. He's really good with any type of day you want to have, he's the ideal dog!"