Auto-immune disorders?

[mynutmeg]

My 6 year old mare is having a variety of issues and it has been suggested that an auto-immune disorder may be the cause.

Main symptoms:
Very itchy all over - we have been thinking sweet itch but even with correct management she's as itchy as ever, she is in the same rug as our other cob who has sweet itch, it pretty much cures him but hasn't made a huge difference to her
Above her eyes she's swollen and inflamed
She's got a bit of a snotty nose, nothing infectious, just clear/whitish discharge
she's had bad sunburn on her nose even when there was very little sun - this has cleared up and not reoccurred
Where she had something bite her the whole shoulder ended up with scaly skin flaking off.

Management wise:
Full boet style rug plus face mask
lots of bug spray
stabled at the worst fly times
she's in a dry field, no stagnant water
nothing in the field that I'm aware can be toxic
feed wise she's on hay, grass and chaff, she gets several supplements, most she's been on for years with no bother. The 2 new ones are aimed at improving her skin condition and trying to reduce her itchiness (linseed oil with garlic and parsley in it, and global herbs Scratch plus, both only introduced within the last few days)

She is under vet treatment and I will be discussing this with my vet when she's out again in a couple of days. At the moment she's got an anti-biotic/anti-fungal shampoo to prevent secondary infection and to try and soothe her skin a bit, she's got fusiderm cream for her eyes (steroids) and is on bute to try and reduce the general inflammation. The swelling above her eyes has gone down slightly (she's been on the fusiderm and bute for 3 days now) but is definitely still there. I'm intending to discuss doing blood work to look at inflammatory markers and that sort of thing as well as looking at allergy testing.
Oral or injected steroids are an absolute last resort as she's overweight and definitely at risk of foundering which can be triggered by steroid use. (her weight is coming down)

Any experiences or suggestions?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

How long have you had her? Did she come from a poor home (I don't mean financially poor)? Have you had liver function tests done? Don't like the sound of the sunburn and the all-inclusiveness of her other problems. I'm wondering ragwort damage to her liver.

 

[mynutmeg]

I had her since August 2008 so almost 3 years now. The lady I bought her from buys, backs and sells youngsters. I didn't see any ragwort or anything like that in the field she was in with that lady. That lady got her from the person who bred her.
She's never been exposed to ragwort or anything like that whilst I've had her to my knowledge. We do check any new fields.

 

[popularfurball]

My pony has auto immune disease... Confirmed by biopsies. Have a look at the yahoo pemphigus foliaceous group.

She is as you describe. Skratch plus makes a phenomenal fifference to her - she has underlying sweet itch so it has stopped that combined with rugs (rugs were never enough before) . This means that although she has a couple of sores on her legs (crusty lumps, typically in joint folds Ie front of hocks, back of knees.) because she is not itchy, she does not disrupt the scabs.

I wash her legs and tail (and should do mane but she's a pain!) with methol anti dandruff shampoo.

I've found for my girly that headcollar make her face worse - around where there is metal. So I leave it on as little as possible and want to find a plastic one.

Grass also makes her itchiness worse - she's very prone to lami so she lives in a bare field with hy - sorts both problems out and I can manage her weight better!!

I have taken her off all feeds except speedi beet as chaffs have so much thrown in with them and garlic is often one of them. Garlic makes her a lot worse also.

I went through several vet practices before I was taken seriously, did allthe allergy r
Testing - regularly told they couldn't help me because I wasn't managing her properly - it got to the point where I hand made her a trouser suit to protect her legs!

That was about may - it had been "summertime allergies" but this all kicked off in January. This was her at the weekend