Can our 4 yr. old, never bred, female dapple dachshund be epileptic?

[greasedsilver]

It usually starts in the morning with one second shivering bursts every other second. This transcends to jerking her head hard to the right with eyes wide open staring at me, whimpering, and heavy panting. She is really clingy to me, not wanting my wife, so I lay on my back cradling her in my arm with her on her back and head on my shoulder. She pushes with her back feet, sliding up until her head is next to my cheek, still jerking her head until I softly rub her tummy and kiss her cheek and talking softly. Furthermore, she will constantly push her cheek to my lips for a kiss. This just reduces the power of her actions, but never stops. She doesn't want to go outside, or eat anything at all, except cheese. She will drink some milk, without any side effects. Her episodes last from 4 to 6 hours. This has been going on nearly every other day, more or less, for at least 6 months. The only thing that seems to help her is 75 mg of Trazodone, taking about an hour to work. That calms her nicely for the rest of the day. Half won't work at all. We are at our wits end searching on the internet for answers. Taking her to the vet here is $1000 right off the bat for not much help. Trazodone is free with my insurance. Please, can you come up with any clue as to what might be the problem, or cause? We play with her, and she learns quickly, and well, she is physically in fantastic shape and in excellent heath as per her checkup reports. She eats well and is a generally very happy girl when she isn't going through her symptoms. She seems to get very upset if I leave, whining until I return. Could it be a separation anxiety attack?
~ greasedsilver

[AnnieBrooke]

Best thing would be to canvass all local vets and see if someone would see the dog for less than a thousand dollars. That is a really high charge. Trazodone is for anxiety, if it works that does suggest separation anxiety but it's hard to tell on the Internet what is really wrong with her.

[greasedsilver]

In this very rural area where there isn’t any choice, and he knows it. The chances of finding another vet would mean extended travel, and I am not in a position to leave my many other obligations at this time. Separation anxiety was my diagnosis after reading through countless pages of behavioral tics, symptomatic disorders, and a little bit of horse sense.
Is there a behavioral modification for me that may reduce her symptoms any? If I ignore her, she becomes depressed, sullen, won’t eat, and has the saddest expressive eyes I’ve ever seen. I can’t bare it and have to bring her out of it with focused attention. I’ll probably need therapy myself, when this passes.
Do you a type of therapy procedure to practice with her for separation disorders? If it works, even just a little, it would be better than it is now. If not, then I’ll still be looking. I’ve had her from the beginning and had many prior dogs. This one can tell if I am going to have a problem with my blood pressure and jumps on me to stop me from passing out. When I worry about something, she puts her head on my lap and worries with me. There are so many things she is aware of, it just floors me. She acts goofy and makes me laugh when I need it most. When I yawn, she yawns.
I have never loved any dog as much as I love her. If I thought this vet would find the solution to her issue, I would hand over the $1000 in a heartbeat, but he miss-diagnoses 35% of his patients, and she is too important to put her through any type of incorrect medications. I’m her daddy, and she matters.
Please offer some hope.

[AnnieBrooke]

Here's an interesting video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yNTG7r6yaQ

Also, Web MD, the ASPCA and Cesar Milan all have material on separation anxiety.

And also, if you can get a therapist for yourself (on Zoom if that is the simplest given where you live) and talk about the situation, the therapist might be able to give you some suggestions for yourself and curating your reactions, that can trickle down to the dog. I don't think it would take more than one session, so it's not like you'd have to blow a big amount of money.

[AnnieBrooke]

Also, for a small dog, that seems to be a larger dose of Trazadone. Here's from another website:
Target dosing for dogs less than 22 pounds is a total dose of 50 mg every 8 to 24 hours. For dogs 22 to 44 pounds, the total dose is 100 mg every 8 to 24 hours.