Gabapentin for Horses

[SonkyDonkey]

Hi has anyone had any experience of using Gabapentin for horses, particularly for back pain?

I anyone has used it for their horse:
How long did it take to notice a difference?
How long was it given for?
What happened when you came off it?
Overall, would you say it was successful?

My horse was prescribed Gabapentin and has now been on it 12 days for back pain. He was diagnosed with supraspinous and interspinous ligament damage in his back last year which has now healed following shockwave and turning him away for 5 months, yet it made no difference to him and he still shows symptoms of a sore back hence being prescribed Gabapentin.

 

[Birker2020]

I have no experience with using it for horses but I am on it for nerve pain (sciatica). I do know that if you withdraw it you must do so very slowly.
There is various information on the web about its use for horses https://www.bing.com/search?q=gabapentin+for+horses&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=

 

[be positive]

No experience of the drug but have some with back pain, if the ligament damage has healed I suspect that turning him away so he has continued to hold himself incorrectly during that time may well have been counter productive and that he now requires a full on physio based rehab to get everything working properly, probably while on the drug treatment.
I do know of two horses that had similar injuries , I had fairly intensive treatment but had probably been damaged years before so it was chronic, bought with the issue not picked up, he was semi retired to light hacking, the other is turned away at the moment so unknown long term.

 

[SonkyDonkey]

Thank you both.

The vet did stress withdrawal must be done slowly so when he does come of this the dose will be gradually dropped over a few weeks.

The decision to turn him away instead of rehabbing him through the shockwave was discussed at depth with the vet and physio involved (it wasn’t an easy decision for that exact reason!). We did start a rehab programme while treating the ligaments but he became very sore from the shockwave which actually meant he was moving worse than before. Although I think you may be right that while he is on the drugs it is a good time to restart a physio advised rehabilitation programme.

 

[be positive]

Fair enough re turning him away but I do think it means they will not use the other muscles as they should while wandering around so although he has healed he now has to learn how to carry himself properly in order to fully recover and build up properly so getting the rehab going should help even if he is still a bit sore it is probably not the injury causing it but the other areas that all link together, you may have a long road ahead with the rehab but stick with it, having a good physio involved should really help.

 

[fox111]

Hi has anyone had any experience of using Gabapentin for horses, particularly for back pain?

I anyone has used it for their horse:
How long did it take to notice a difference?
How long was it given for?
What happened when you came off it?
Overall, would you say it was successful?

My horse was prescribed Gabapentin and has now been on it 12 days for back pain. He was diagnosed with supraspinous and interspinous ligament damage in his back last year which has now healed following shockwave and turning him away for 5 months, yet it made no difference to him and he still shows symptoms of a sore back hence being prescribed Gabapentin.

How did u get on with gabapentin