prascend side effects?

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aliby

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My horse was tested positive for Cushings about six weeks ago, and started on half a prascend tablet a day. I am worried because he is really dopey, lethargic, not interested in life. Except for food, he is still very perky when any hint of food is in the air, and his appetite is still as normal. He's never been that lively a horse, but he'd stand with his head over the stable door looking at what was going on on the yard, and now he hangs his head over the door looking half asleep. The chiropractor, who knows him well, saw him today and said he looked like he'd been sedated! The vet did say that prascend could have a side effect of making the horse depressed and anorexic. He does look depressed but he is still interested in food, so I am not sure. YO thinks that it is the cushings itself, the dose needs adjusting, and he will perk up when on the right amount. He's being retested to check hormone levels on Friday, and I will talk to the vet then. But has anyone got any thoughts or experienced anything like this? If the prascend isn't going to suit him is there an alternative? I am worried!
 
In my experience the depression effect generally wears off, speak to your vet Friday and look at the results, it may be that he needs more time to adjust to the meds or that he will need it reduced.
 
It gave mine the runs, she went off her food and lost masses amount of weight. The only thing she would eat was spring barley in the farmers field when she would jump out.
I have another one on it and he is more lethargic if he is off it.
 
aliby said:
YO thinks that it is the cushings itself, the dose needs adjusting, and he will perk up when on the right amount.
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if you increase the dose then I suspect you will have more problems. I would drop the prascend back to a quarter a day for a week. Then increase it to a quarter am and a quarter pm. If you split the daily dose it may be more successful. It does produce different effects in different horses. If your horse is still eating I wouldn't worry too much. Some horses get depressed, some stop eating hard feed and some go mad. Mine went crazy whilst he was adjusting on the drug. He wrecked everything. In about 2 months he settled down bit and was fine. There is a FB equine cushings group where problems like this are discussed all the time so it may be worth having a look on there. I wouldn't worry too much ATM, it needs time. Unless you had a serious problem such as laminitis then, in your position, I may even go back to no tablets for a few days and then introduce a quarter for a couple of weeks and when successful on that work up to half. Many vets don't suggest slow introduction. Try not to worry too much.
 
Another side effect that vets don't often mention is that it can make patients 'ataxic' (un-coordinated akin to wobblers syndrome). My son's old pony went like this for several weeks and it took a more experienced vet to pick up on it, and we had to drop the level down until he adjusted.

As I understand depression and lethargy is common when starting prascend, but they do generally come through it.
 
I had to drop my big mare to a quarter of a tablet and increase to half after a month then three quarters for two weeks eventually getting up to one a day. She had all the symptoms you describe OP plus severe ataxia, she was so wobbly it wasn't safe near her. She's been on one a day for ages now and her levels have stayed at 33 from 172, she looks great too!
 
Depression is the main one and also loss of appetite. Myself and my Vet made the executive decision to NOT give my elderly mare Prascend. She went off her food and became increasingly difficult to handle due to not wanting to take it and so at 26 I have decided to just monitor her. Her levels are relatively mind and she doesn't suffer from Laminitis as related to the Cushings. I am well aware that if she becomes Laminitic or deteriorates then I will have to have her PTS. She was diagnosed three years ago and at the moment still has good quality of life and is loving her life pottering around the field.
 
Thank you everyone, it really helps to hear other people's experiences. I think i will suggest stopping for a week and then restarting at quarter tablet (though not looking forward to quartering those tiny tablets!). I hate seeing him look so dopey and not himself, and I reckon six weeks is long enough for it to have sorted itself out if it is going to.
 
being lethargic and not interested in anything was one of m mares cushings symptoms but once she had been on prascend for about 4 weeks she perked up and then went off her feed( very helpful!!!). i managed to find something she would eat and she was fine after that. they all seem to be so different with cushings symptoms and reactions to prascend...best speak to your vet ...
 
Just popping back to update. Eventually took him off the prascend, and within three days he was a lot perkier and in a week almost back to his normal self. I am going to leave him off it and consider options. He didn't have a huge amount of symptoms, got him tested because he was a little footy, but he was also overweight. So planning to get his weight down and see how we go. He was so unlike his normal self on the prascend and hadnt perked up after six weeks to acclimatise to it, so i am reluctant to try again unless it gets more obviously necessary. Thanks everyone for your input, it really helped when i was getting very worried!
 
aliby said:
Just popping back to update. Eventually took him off the prascend, and within three days he was a lot perkier and in a week almost back to his normal self. I am going to leave him off it and consider options. He didn't have a huge amount of symptoms, got him tested because he was a little footy, but he was also overweight. So planning to get his weight down and see how we go. He was so unlike his normal self on the prascend and hadnt perked up after six weeks to acclimatise to it, so i am reluctant to try again unless it gets more obviously necessary. Thanks everyone for your input, it really helped when i was getting very worried!
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they are all very different, i would be very careful with his feed and access to grass as cushings horses are very likely to get laminitis, so i would check for pulses every day so you can take appropriate action,( call vet, keep in on deep bed, feed soaked hay and no sugars.)..have you looked on the laminitis site as there is loads of info on there about the link between the two . good luck
 
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