Melatonin Has Helped our Trigeminal Nerve Head Shaker

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Our horse starting his heading shaking in 2005. His head shaking stop when the Trigeminal Nerve was blocked by the vet. We have tried many, many different treatments and tests. There is a long long story with his head shaking and other issues that might have been related.

An article in Practical Horseman April 2009 (http://headshakingsyndrome.com/pdfs/article_1.pdf) talked about using melatonin which affects the pineal gland. It seems like a low risk compared to some of the other drugs we tried. And wow !! The article stated that dose of 12 mg per 1000 pounds given once a day in the late afternoon / early evening. The head shaking has almost totally disappeared and he has been ridden for the first time in years. The heading shaking returns some when he can not get out. We just learned that ammonia may effect the trigeminal nerve. So we are looking into managing his stall differently.

Finally some relief for the boy. He now nickers for attention instead of putting his head in the back corner when you open his door.

I would be happy to share more of our horse's story to anyone else experiencing the same problem.

Deb - USA
 
Many thanks for this - my boy has been on tegretol for the last week but he is still h/shaking. If after another week its not worked I will suggest to my vet that we try melatonin. Thanks again!
 
My headshaker is terrible right now. we have just done two weeks on horribly expensive Periactin with no response at all, now trying the sodium eye drops. At over £200 per month for the Periactin and vet said it would be as much again for the Tegretol I just can't afford to treat this :-( Melatonin sounds worth a try. but what works for one headshaker doesn't work for another. Terrible condition.
 
One of my house sitting customers has an old horse that is a head shaker that is caused by the Trigemunal Nerve and her horse has one Pergolide tablet crushed up in its morning feed (HAS to be fed am) and he happily lives out 24/7 in the summer and that drug has helped him 100%
 
Here we can get Melatonin over the counter as a human supplement at the drug store. The pills we have are 3 mg each. He gets 4 pills daily with his dinner at 5 pm. He eats the pills with his grain. The only dosage information that I have seen is 12 mg per 1000lbs once a day in late afternoon or early evening. And it is cheap !!

The Melatonin tricks the body into winter season. The theory is that the pineal gland which controls the seasonal hormones. When the day gets longer (or artificial light introduced ) the gland starts a chain reaction of hormones. In some horses, the hormones are over produced which cause pain in the Trigeminal Nerve.

Our guy was never sensitive to light, but we have noticed that the whites of his eyes are often red. That is the problem with this condition is it the sunlight that causes the pain or since the trigeminal nerve is inflamed does the sunlight aggravates the underlying problem. Odor that causes us to cry, such as an onion or ammonia, creates a pain response in the trigeminal nerve. So if you have a problem horse, consider your stall management too.

Melatonin can cause the horse to have a longer coat (a winter coat).

Our guy is not 100% everyday but it has been a great improvement.
 
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