How long has your horse been on prascend / any side effects

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spamrestricted

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For those experienced with prascend, I was hoping to find out the longest a horse has been using prascend and if/what the side effects are. Sure appreciate/thanks.

I just started (few weeks now) my Morgan mare and my min/pony on vitex plus and a huge difference on their coat. It is really nice now.
 
My old 36 year old arab mare (sadly no longer with us due to heart/circulation problems) was on it for almost 7 years, 1mg/day then 1.5mg/day for the last year or so. She was seriously dentally challenged so it was a struggle keeping weight on her but other than that she had no noticeable side effects.
 
My 26 year old has been on it since December last year. We had to initially give her an appetite stimulant along with the Prascend as otherwise she'd starve herself! Worked a treat though and we weaned her off the stimulant after 3 weeks or so.

Since then she has done well. She didn't shed her coat at all in Spring so we upped her dose from half to one whole tablet and she has been really well since then, our only problem being getting enough hay replacer in to her (toothless!) as she is a very poor doer now.
 
my friends pony was utterly depressed on prascend to the point she was going to have him PTS
as a last shot she tried the st hippolyt route of managing him using this feed rather than prascend (he had nothing to lose!!!) .... - he looks fantastic 2.5 years later and hasn't looked back!
 
One of mine, retired now and 21, has been on it for 5 years+ - he looks really well, full of bounce, energy and has a good appetite. One of my others has been on it for a year, and so far no problems. Good Luck with yours.
 
My 26yo has been on it for 2 years now. He's looking well. The only side effect is that he will no longer eat some foods he used to like and I can't get him to eat anything with his minerals in. Fortunately there are still plenty of other foods he still likes.
 
Wow, this has been so helpful, thank-you everyone. Those links you provided, applecart14, were very helpful, thanks so much for your time and effort putting that together.
My Morgan mare/Shandy is doing well so I really want to wait until a spring check of her ACTH to see if the herbal supplement/vitex has helped. I hate to tell you her number, because it is extremely high - 734. It is just that she is sound and healthy, looks great and is in good spirits... Which makes me not want to put her on meds that may or may not have side effects. It reminds me of humans high cholesterol levels, such as mine :) and I also won't take meds for it and dealing with it naturally. I'm watching her very carefully and the only reason my vet wanted to do the test is because of her coat, but she was just getting over having cellulitis and was on antibiotics when she was tested. Cellulitis is horrible and her back leg is almost back to normal, I massage it each day.
It is really helpful hearing people's experiences with this, so thanks again.
 
spamrestricted said:
Wow, this has been so helpful, thank-you everyone. Those links you provided, applecart14, were very helpful, thanks so much for your time and effort putting that together.
My Morgan mare/Shandy is doing well so I really want to wait until a spring check of her ACTH to see if the herbal supplement/vitex has helped. I hate to tell you her number, because it is extremely high - 734. It is just that she is sound and healthy, looks great and is in good spirits... Which makes me not want to put her on meds that may or may not have side effects. It reminds me of humans high cholesterol levels, such as mine :) and I also won't take meds for it and dealing with it naturally. I'm watching her very carefully and the only reason my vet wanted to do the test is because of her coat, but she was just getting over having cellulitis and was on antibiotics when she was tested. Cellulitis is horrible and her back leg is almost back to normal, I massage it each day.
It is really helpful hearing people's experiences with this, so thanks again.
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I'd be curious about any links between the cushings and the cellulitis. I know that cushings can knock their immune system, so I suppose it could make your horse more susceptible to something like cellulitis.
 
spamrestricted said:
Wow, this has been so helpful, thank-you everyone. Those links you provided, applecart14, were very helpful, thanks so much for your time and effort putting that together.
My Morgan mare/Shandy is doing well so I really want to wait until a spring check of her ACTH to see if the herbal supplement/vitex has helped. I hate to tell you her number, because it is extremely high - 734. It is just that she is sound and healthy, looks great and is in good spirits... Which makes me not want to put her on meds that may or may not have side effects. It reminds me of humans high cholesterol levels, such as mine :) and I also won't take meds for it and dealing with it naturally. I'm watching her very carefully and the only reason my vet wanted to do the test is because of her coat, but she was just getting over having cellulitis and was on antibiotics when she was tested. Cellulitis is horrible and her back leg is almost back to normal, I massage it each day.
It is really helpful hearing people's experiences with this, so thanks again.
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With a count that high I certainly wouldn't be messing about trying to manage it with herbal supplements. Don't compare it to something like high cholesterol. PPID has a specific cause and an effective treatment, it's only fair to at least try it.
 
Gloi said:
With a count that high I certainly wouldn't be messing about trying to manage it with herbal supplements. Don't compare it to something like high cholesterol. PPID has a specific cause and an effective treatment, it's only fair to at least try it.
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Agree with this....although ACTH levels can be effected by stress and pain so a high reading like that, without obvious symptoms and when the blood was taken during a time of stress or illness could be a false reading. I think I'd want her retested to make sure.

http://www.thelaminitissite.org/ppid.html

This site is excellent and their Facebook page EMS, PPID (Cushing's) and Laminitis UK is very helpful.
 
HashRouge said:
I'd be curious about any links between the cushings and the cellulitis. I know that cushings can knock their immune system, so I suppose it could make your horse more susceptible to something like cellulitis.
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Yes, that is also what my vet thought. That is why I am trying to research as much as I can. Thanks goli and hp, I completely understand and my horse's complete health is in my best interest.
 
Please dont waste too much time. Your ACTH is extremely high. I've had 2 with PPID, both on Prascend and it is the only thing which is proven to help. PPID has many nasty effects, many of which you might not even be seeing but which will be building up inside. If you're having issues with infection then please get started. PPID damages the immune system and makes them susceptible to all kinds of infection. Both mine were on it for several years and were only pts when eventually the PPID progressed too far. Trust me, with readings that high the benefits far outweigh any possible side effects. Its a horrible, progressive and damaging disease if not treated properly.
 
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Also, worth adding you may need a pretty high dose initially to deal with 700 plus. For example, when the CB hit 525, the vet calculated she would need 4 to 5 tablets a day as it was so high. However please dont let the cost sway you into experimenting with herbs. Its not fair on them.
 
Can only agree with the others. I had my little mare on agnus castus and she did fine on it. Until suddenly one day she really didn't and became very, very sick. I probably could have saved her being that poorly if I'd got her on to Prascend sooner. If you are clear that your horse was not sick, stressed or in pain when she had the test I would be getting her on the medication pronto before you have a poorly horse on your hands. Sorry, not trying to scare you but I wouldn't want you to go through what I did with my little lady and if your ACTH test is accurate you probably don't have time on your hands.
 
Thanks guys, understand and still researching. It definitely has nothing to do with cost, as the Hilton herb's vitex plus gold is far more expensive than the prescription meds/prascend. I'm thinking her number was high due to the cellulitis still being in her and due to the antibiotics she was still on. So I will be having her retested also. If it comes down to it, I will be putting her on the meds.
 
I have never heard of a count that high being caused by anything but PPID. The ones I've heard of where a retest has been done because of them having a problem and a second test coming back lower have been borderline cases where the first test was still well under 100.
 
Sorry but you are talking about her ACTH level, not her white cell count or anything else. I am staggered the vet hasn't wanted to start treatment asap.
You have two options. Get her started on medication and deal with the PPID. Or keep making excuses and putting it off.
 
Nudibranch said:
Sorry but you are talking about her ACTH level, not her white cell count or anything else. I am staggered the vet hasn't wanted to start treatment asap.
You have two options. Get her started on medication and deal with the PPID. Or keep making excuses and putting it off.
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Without wishing to upset the OP, I think I agree with this. I don't think you have time on your side with this horse unfortunately.
 
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