headshaking

[Lauren1234]

my horse paddy is a headshaker and they want to operate on his nose to cut the nerves so that he wont feel the pain and hopefully stop headshaking, but he'll lose feeling in his face down the middle. Its said to have a 60% sucsess rate and is very effective. Just wondered if anyone had and experiance of this? Its just a very big thing to put him through!

 

[kerilli]

talk to Prof Knottenbelt at Liverpool first, honestly. i spoke to him about my headshaker, he is one of the world experts on it and was so generous with his time and advice, i cannot praise him highly enough.
my headshaker was seen by quite a few vets and none of them recommended the de-nerving, tbh.

 

[Lauren1234]

Thanks, its somewhere in liverpool where he would go to have it done?? trying to get as much info as poss

 

[brighteyes]

"....Prof Knottenbelt at Liverpool first, honestly. ............so generous with his time and advice, i cannot praise him highly enough."

Ditto

see
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2367239/an/0/page/0#2367239

 

[kerilli]

Lauren, just ring Prof Knottenbelt first. i don't know if he does the op or not, but he knows so much about headshaking... i learnt more from him in 10 mins on the phone than every vet i'd every interrogate over 10 years had been able to tell me about it!

 

[kerilli]

haha Brighteyes, amazing isn't it! if i try to get hold of my usual vet, it is like trying to get an audience with the Pope, and yet when i rang Liverpool uni to ask to get a question to him, i was put straight through to him, and nothing was too much trouble. he deserves a Knighthood for Services to Horses imho.

 

[rforsyth1984]

Liverpool uni are currently developing a supplement for headshakers, my friend is using it and it seems to be quite effective. Might be worth asking about that? She decided not to have the operation on her horse bacause it can cause more problems, and even if successful inititially may not solve the problem permenently?

 

[Loopy Loo]

My horse was one of the earlier horses to be operated on by Derek Knottenbelt at Liverpool for Trigeminal Neuralgia. Derek has done an amazing amount of research into Headshaking and the various causes. I would definitely recommend a conversation with him, as there are many different causes and ‘trigger factors’ for headshaking. We had to try various drug therapies and tests, before it was confirmed that horse was a suitable candidate for the op. My horse actually had 2 ops 2 years apart. There were a quite a few nasty complications with the 2nd op, Derek was fantastic with the after care phoning several times a day to check on the horses progress (even when he was overseas) The horse did have to remain an a low dose of Atarax, but we didn’t have any more headshaking problems and continued to compete with great success. If you want more information please pm me.

 

[Lauren1234]

thanks for the advive everyone, i'm gonna give him a call, he must be good if so many people know about him!! My vets been a bit useless with him, he's been on 113 tablets a day and then she tried a temporary nerve block and that didn't work so she seems a bit stuck on what to do.

 

[lilpinkso]

my friend is also testing the supplement, apparently half of the guinea pigs have been given placebos, sounds promising that good results are already being reported though.

Surgery seems extreme, but on the other hand the human equivelant of this disease causes 8 out of 10 people to commit suicide.

Have you read the write-up on headshaking in horseandhound? it mentions Knottenbelt. sorry if someone has already mentioned this!
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/1370/56315.html