Oral prednisone - experiences please

Box_Of_Frogs

Box_Of_Frogs

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Please, please does anyone have any experience of oral prednisone given as a last resort in cases of severe COPD/RAO? Good or bad, doesn't matter. Sunny is facing this but to my mind, if the "cure" (I know it's not a cure) is worse than the original disease then it's not worth considering. Sunny is 25. I'll post again after the endoscopy on Weds. Any spare vibes in the meantime are desperately needed x

Also posted in NL
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
Please, please does anyone have any experience of oral prednisone given as a last resort in cases of severe COPD/RAO? Good or bad, doesn't matter. Sunny is facing this but to my mind, if the "cure" (I know it's not a cure) is worse than the original disease then it's not worth considering. Sunny is 25. I'll post again after the endoscopy on Weds. Any spare vibes in the meantime are desperately needed x

Also posted in NL
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Good luck for the endoscopy hun, sorry I can't advise on the prednisone though xx
 
Cannot speak about horses on this - however I have asthma and I regularly need courses of prednisone so I can breathe.

Some say it makes them grumpy (and horses), however because I go from not being able to breathe to feeling healthy I've always been very bouncy on it and not noticed any unusual grumpiness...
 
One more point prednisone is the prodrug of prednisolone - so the former is converted into the latter by the liver.

Might be worth asking your vet why not be on prednisolone so the liver is not unduly stressed if using long term (although may be a good reason, i.e. doesn't work as well or affects other things)
 
Can be great in my opinion. You need to have a correct diagnosis (check) and accurate dosing regime with an accurate weight of the horse (weighbridge ideally, weightape second best) to make sure you don't go over board. - Vet will advise no doubt!

There are two common ways of using steroids in RAO cases, either oral or inhaled. Inhaled is easier to give that you think, using human inhalers and a babyhaler, is the horse is complaint around it's muzzle I find most clients don't have too much of problem with this.

Inhaler pros - drug goes straight to lung and then exhaled again so reduced risks of side-effects; maybe cheaper in long run
Cons - can be tricky to administer if horse is not complaint.

Oral preds pros - easy to give in feed, reliable knowledge of how much drug is being given.
Cons - not cheap, side effects if not careful with dosing, has to be absorbed through gut into circulation to get to lungs so whole body affected (unlikely to cause problems in my experience).

I think both techniques work in different cases, owner situations. There is a lot of bad press about steroids and laminitis...I believe as long as you discuss the risks thoroughly with your vet and use sensible husbandry...i.e. don't put horse on lush long green pasture all of a sudden let him get fat as a house and overdose, then the side-effects are not common. I have once been in a situation where I had to give a laminitic that was sinking steroids for another life threatening condition....I was terrified to be honest :eek:, but we had no choice....fortunately the horse got better all round!!!:D That is a rarity obviously and I would NOT advocate them lightly in "at risk" patients!

I am constantly amazed how RAO cases turn around when you target the big problem of inflammation...I use them in more RAO cases than not.

Hope that helps,
Imogen
 
Thanks everyone. I meant prednisolone, sorry. Brain scrambled. Imogen, he's been on inhaled ventipulmin and inhaled steroids (can't remember name) for months, when it became clear that oral ventipulmin and oral sputolosin weren't helping. Sunny is a sweetheart and totally compliant over the baby inhaler. The problem is, he is coping with his condition not by taking normal breaths then developing a heaves line as his abdominal muscles work overtime to try to exale fully, but by taking tiny shallow breaths. Resting, chilled and almost asleep in his stable his breaths per minute are 40, instead of about 15. He was too hot in his med weight turnout a few days ago and his bpm shot up to 50. God only knows what they'll rocket to when he's boxed for the journey to the vets for endoscopy. I suspect the tiny shallow breaths are not delivering the drugs to where they're needed, ie much deeper into his lungs. The nosebleeds and persistent cough are further worries as is the giving of any sedation at all at the moment due to the obvious risks associated with the effect sedation has on breathing.

I'm partly reassured by the knowledge that oral preds, carefully given and properly managed, don't necessarily cause laminitis. What about any other side effects? Research suggests these include increased appetite, colicky symptoms, hair growth problems and a change of temperament. Will advise after the endoscopy. Enormous thanks everyone - this is a very difficult time x
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
The nosebleeds and persistent cough are further worries as is the giving of any sedation at all at the moment due to the obvious risks associated with the effect sedation has on breathing.
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While they can breath more heavily, I have found sedation to not effect breathing detrimentally for procedures even in more advanced cases...that's just my experience. It's better than the stress causing resp distress if no sedation is used, but if the horse is really could this is possible.

Research suggests these include increased appetite, colicky symptoms, hair growth problems and a change of temperament.
Click to expand...

I can only speak of treating horses I've seen, but I've never noticed weight gain - often difficult to tell :); and I've not seen any of the other signs either. that's not to say others haven't, but there is a huge dose range for preds and these signs are maybe seen at different dose levels. You will only be wanting the anti-inflammatory levels, not immunosuppressive ones. Your vets will explain the risks in fulll I'm sure, ask them about these side-effects and see what their experiences are.

Good luck.
Imogen
 
My very sensitive TB was on immunosuppressive levels and he was fine - in fact I think they saved his life.

He was having extreme allergic reactions - think moonscape all over his body with massive odemas around his face, belly, legs and oozing serum from everywhere....

Twice he had to have i.v. cortisone as an emergency and lived on preds for months.

Didn't have any side effects and is fine now although allegies still flare up occasionally :rolleyes:
 
Soz this may be long but have been down v similar route 2 u (unfortunately) My horse had oral pred for month in July/Aug for severe RAO (probably allergy-caused) and experienced some side effects - No laminitis but soles of her feet seemed to shed(?!) - Not sore/pulse ok/no lameness etc, also she became manic bout food grabbing anything &everything got v upset if even had to stand for minute without food and was very bloated although this reduced dramatically when steroids stopped (to me this looked definetly like bloating and not just gaining weight as started & reduced suddenly)
I have to say at the time I didn't particularly see a huge improvement, shes recently had Long acting Steroid injection to see if that helps and 2 wks on shes had none of the above side-effects (is that an option for u?) but again it hasn't worked for her (Not really surprising as vets found that my horse has v unusual problem now with very little propect of cure or control)
if I had to think bout putting her on oral pred again for me it would be a NO as was extremely distressing to watch her being manic and it seemed the same for her
Soz can't be more positive bout it
 
Dex was on massive dose for 2 months this summer-48 tablets a day. I was terrified to give him steroids as he had terrible laminitis when i purchased him- took 6 months to get him sound,but all was ok and i have a fit, healthy cob now. Vet said it was safer and easier to vary the dose than injections.

Good luck BoF x
 
My boys have been on preds due to breathing problems due to allergies. Because they are heavy crosses they are always quite "well" and my vet thought preds far safer than an injection. I have always found they work brilliantly and have no side effects. Good luck.
 
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