Neurological disorder resulting from nettle rash. Vibes please

[Salcey]

Last night at 6.30pm went up to feed the horses as usual. The 4yo came trotting up from the bottom of the paddock and gobbled down her tea (handful of chop and vits & mins). Went off to poo pick and laughed with my daughter as the 4yo grey got down to roll in a muddy patch and became a bay.

Then all hell let loose. Suddenly she began flinging herself around, rearing, staggering, galloping as if the devil was after her and then loosing all co-ordination in her legs and stumbling over. She was totaly drunk and frightened. It was the most horrible sight I have ever witnessed I couldn't get safely near her to get a headcollar on for a good 15 minutes. Once I did she was shattered, still very hard to keep on her feet as she was very uncoordinated still but at least no longer dangerous. Small lumps then began to appear on her shoulder over an area not bigger than a couple of hand spans.
Vet arrived, temp high, heart rate high. The mare then began to show colic signs pawing the ground and kicking herself (whilst nearly falling over as still wobberly)
Vet decided to treat for both allergy and colic so gave steriod injection and buscapan. We went and examined where she had rolled and there was a very small area of squashed nettles. So vet decided that she'd had a reaction to them and then coliced because of the stress of the pain. She remained uncomfortable and refusing to move much for around 2 hours and after about 5 hours returned to near normal.

Now she is turned out with sensitive chestnut mare who comes up in lumps and bumps easily and shes never had a problem. They've been in the paddock since 1st May as its their summer paddock and its has quite a few patches of nettles that we've been regularly strimming down to weaken them but its still a decent paddock not an untidy one if you know what I mean. With the recent rain I guess the new growth on the nettles has come back really hot.

I have never ever experienced anything like this before. It was absolutely horrible. Would be interested to know if anyone else has come across this. Have googled it and only come up with this which isn't much help.

web page

Apologies for not putting this in vet place but wanted as many people as possible to see it.

Hopefully my lovely girl will continue to be ok and I just need a stiff drink!

 

[MurphysMinder]

No experience of this I am afraid, just wanted to send vibes to your girl. It sounds horrible, poor mare.

 

[ladyt25]

The only time of heard of this happening is a recent claim we had submitted (I work in horse insurance) where a horse stumbled back and fell into a ditch. The initial thought was it had some sort of back injury but it turned out to be nettle rash and an allergic reaction to them.

The horse was ok but I think also felt rather sorry for itself for a while. What I have read since and understand is that it is unlikely the horse will suffer again from the same violent reaction. This is where I read about it not happening again anyway:-

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/1370/35780.html

 

[Salcey]

Thanks Murphys-Minder hopefully she'll be fine now. She just seems very tired poor thing.

 

[the watcher]

i have seen this kind of extreme and sudden reaction to nettles in horses before -last one I saw was completely unconscious and really looked as though it was going to die after the drunken wobbling unable to walk stage.
Forewarned is forearmed - you know what to expect if she is exposed to nettles again and can prepare for it. Will your vet allow you to keep and administer anti histamine and steroids for emergencies in the future?

 

[Salcey]

Thanks for that link, its interesting, if I hadn't of seen her roll I would not have had a clue as to what caused such a sudden violent reaction. Shes a paint horse so not a breed you would automatically assume would be so sensitive and she has absolutely no reaction to fly bites or anything like that.

 

[Salcey]

Yep for a while I was convinced it was brain tumour or something. The vet has been brilliant, and rang back twice in the night and is due to ring again later. I will check with her and see. Although I got the impression from her its possibly a one off as maybe it was the youngsters first ever experience of pain. I'm not sure to be honest and the brains getting foggy now due to lack of sleep.

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

YES! Our big lazy horse rolled last week and then went mental- galloped round and round, frantic rearing/bucking, "double barrel" kicking out. My OH and i ran over to see what on earth was wrong. He zoomed over to us and stood shaking & kicking out. Then he tried to rub himself on us as we were checking him over and the lumps were just popping up all over. As soon as we saw the rash we knew it was nettles. He wanted us to rub the bumps so we gently massaged him, took him in for a bath and 10 mins later he was calm. By the next day all the bumps had gone and he was fine.

We checked the field and although we sprayed for weeds 3 months ago,along with regular topping, there was some new nettle growth.

 

[the watcher]

If you look into acute urticaria you will see that the lumps are just the surface indication of what is going on internally, internal lumps and inflammation are possible too, massive and sudden temperature rises that impact on the brain and cause a 'fitting' response, because of all this brain activity your horse will be tired for a couple of days- it is more than a simple response to pain
As well as responding to the acute stage, keeping the horse quiet and cool afterwards is helpful.

 

[Salcey]

Thats interesting Motherhen, as I couldn't work out the link between the nettle stings and the 'fitting'. I hadn't thought of the temperature impact on the brain

. As all this was happening in the pouring rain last night at least it was cooling the area down the whole time.
She is tired but lovely and perky this morning.
This is where this forum comes into its own as noone I know has ever experienced anything like this and it helps so much to 'speak' to others that have.

 

[the watcher]

I have seen it in horses and experienced the fitting myself as i also have some pretty severe giant urticaria reactions. I can't speak for the horses of course, but I know that after a fit all I want to do is sleep for 24 hours

Your horse will make a complete recovery from this within a couple of days so try not to worry too much

 

[arwenplusone]

Gosh, no experience of this in horses but only my own Urticaria I had as a child - which is awful.

Must have been awful to watch. Hugs for you & lots of vibes for your horse x

 

[Ellies_mum2]

I have heard of reactions to nettles but not actually seen it thank heavens.

(((((healing vibes))))) for your girl. Hope she's back to normal soon

 

[Llwyncwn]

What a very interesting thread. I too have never witnessed such a violent reaction to nettles, however a number of horses on the yard have been suffering with urticaria over the past few weeks. This sort of reaction is something I will look out for in the future, especially the ataxia (loss of coordination).

I do hope your girl recovers with no lasting effects.

 

[Salcey]

Yes Llwyncwn thats why I thought I'd post it in the NL as it helps for us all to be aware that this kind of reaction can happen

 

[L00bey]

My friends dog reacts similarly when she gets nettled. Awful awful thing to see. She throws up wont eat or drink comes up in bumps and lumps and cant walk properly just like your horse. Poor Bounty hope she gets better soon