Long term use of steroids injections

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mushroom

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My horse is 11 yrs and seems unfortunately to be becoming pretty much dependent on steroid injections into her sacro-iliac to keep her sound and comfortable. She's only had the injections on two occasions so far (10 months apart) but I know that she is likely to need them again before too long.

She's also laminitic which means that she is at an especially high risk of laminitis in the six week period after having been injected.

Has anyone experience of using steroids long term? I'm wondering/worrying about the long term implications on her health.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
 
I have no experience of using them long term but my welsh part bred who was fit and a good weight had one for an inflamed stifle last march and within 1 week was crippled with laminitis in all 4 feet. He had had a steroid injection b4 and was fine. He had to have 8 months box rest and thankfully with good care and management is now back out competing at dressage ..It is always a risk .good luck .I did look into other ways of dealing with problem after this and there are other options normally available :)
 
I would also like to add having read your post thru again that if my horse had previously showed signs of laminitis i would not even consider a steroid injection and would be surprised if your vet would do it
 
My pony had steroid injections into her hocks for arthritis several times. She has always been prone to laminitis and now is cushings too. The vet explained that she should not have systemic steroids such as ones given orally, but could have ones given locally such as the intra-articular ones given into a joint as they only affect the joint not the whole body. She said there was still some risk of laminitis but that it was much smaller and was worth doing in my pony's case as we could manage the risk by managing her carbohydrate intake very carefully especially in the time surrounding the injections. She came sound from the injections so I am glad we did it.
 
I know the risk is supposedly small it just depends if you are the unlucky 1% & unfortunately i was . Personally i would never take the chance having lived thru a year of hell not knowing if my horse would walk again .I would have to think along the lines of other options . You are always told the risks by your vet so it is your choice at the end of the day.When my horse had his i was told the risks and although it's always in your mind it could happen i didn't think it was likely so took the chance .
 
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