Prascend

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts

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Who's horse thrives on it and who's horse went backwards on it?

Who's horses achieved and lower acth count on it and who's horses did it make no difference to.

Looking for experienced :)
 
Doodle has been on it two and bit years now and symptamatically seems to be doing well as she has no symptoms of cushings. However it doesn't seem to have had much affect on her ACTH levels, but I'm reluctant to take her off it just in case...
 
Precious has been on it for a year and her levels have been lower on both ACTH tests this year. Symptom wise her main problem was hair growth and prolonged shedding and so far this year her coat hasn't been as long even prior to clipping. Her personality has also changed and she is not as lethargic as she was and seem to have rediscovered her zest for life.
 
Mines been on it 3 years. She has a new lease of life. I thought she was just getting old but it appears not! She's had one mild laminitis episode. I upped her dose and levels have been fine ever since.

It's been a wonder drug for us.
 
My Draft mare was tested in Aug and found to be borderline, retested in October and prescribed Prascend. She has always eaten it mixed with grass nuts with no problem. Within the first few days, I noticed that she was drinking less and her bed was not so wet.
Retest after 5weeks showed ACTH level back well within normal range, although vet and I were both concerned that she was still sweating a lot. Tbh, I expected to have to increase the Prascend dose but of course we haven't needed to do so.
At the beginning of October, she developed an abscess in a hind hoof, wouldn't let farrier open it up, was just about sound again when vet came for October bloodtest, then on and off sound/unsound until about 2 weeks ago, when abscess burst for 4th time, very messy and bloody and immediately afterwards also came out of coronet band.
I have been holding my breath and crossing my fingers since then but she does seem to have got over the abscess finally, is getting her usual spark back and I am beginning to believe that the farrier was right, the abscess was caused by the very wet ground and the vet's worst case scenario of a bone chip from a pedal bone fracture, was wrong.
Prascend is definitely a success for us, she had several minor skin problems which have cleared up and she generally seems very well again. We are going to retest in 3 months.
 
My 23 year old pony was diagnosed earlier this year and put on one tablet a day. No problems so far no side effects. Pony was looking so much better in 6 weeks, pot bellied appearance getting better and putting on a little weight - was really ribby before. Count dropped from 260 to 38 in 6 weeks. Happy days so far.
 
My old mare was on it for three years. It brought her levels down quickly and stopped most of the symptoms such as long coat, dipped back etc. Sadly, it did nothing for the laminitis (although I think something else was going on causing that - she had ems too). She had no side effects and was happy and perky on it. I found the best way ro disguise it was with spearmint in the feed, but you have to watch that they don't spit the pill(s) out.
 
My 25 year old guy had borderline ACTH levels 5 years or so ago, main symptom was very slow shedding and weight loss. Also had a bout of mud fever which he'd never had before which I'm sure was linked. He's never had laminitis (touch wood.)

He was put on one tablet a day, his levels dropped to 22 and he began to gain weight and generally look much more like himself. He's never had a problem taking his tablet. I just stick it in a piece of apple.

He's maintained his low levels ever since I'm happy to say, and apart from a skin condition this past autumn hasn't looked back.
 
My 19 yr old has been on it now for coming up 4 years after being lethargic, low grade lami..he lost muscle and condition and at one point really looked awful..however, his acth level came down and has been down since, I changed feed to hi fi molasses free, linseed and dengie balancer plus salt and occasional extra Vit e..soaked hay and muzzled in long grass, farrier is on top of his feet after x rays, began working him again and he's a different horse, started on low dose of prascend, 1 tab and he's now on 2 and a quarter..he's lively, happy, filled out and muscling up, for us it's been invaluable but I am always looking at how he is in himself..I truly think prascend, diet and feet management have made a massive difference...
 
Pearlsacarolsinger said:
Retest after 5weeks showed ACTH level back well within normal range, although vet and I were both concerned that she was still sweating a lot. Tbh, I expected to have to increase the Prascend dose but of course we haven't needed to do so.
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The sweating and excessive drinking/urinating is the Insulin Resistance which often accompanies PPID, but not always. It is better controlled by reducing sugars and starches in the diet, alongside pergolide (Prascend) to reduce ACTH
I had a 36 year old arab mare who had a good quality of life for 7 years thanks to pergolide and my 19 year old WBx is now on it and avoiding any laminitis episodes because of it. There can be a week or two of reduced appetite to begin with but TBH I think poor responses are quite rare.
Arab mare had her tablet crushed and fed with apple puree through a colostrum syringe as she had very few teeth, but WB has it in a cavity in a piece of carrot or apple. His ACTH has come down but due to the seasonal rise and the pulsatile nature of it it is really difficult to quantify - last test he was borderline on Prascend but that was in the period of the seasonal rise
 
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I have a 24 year old who has been on Prascend for around 12 years. She has had to have a gradually increasing dosage over the years as she has had the occasional rise in ACTH levels and is currently on 3 tablets a day which is a lot for an 11.2 hh pony. However, I do not believe she would still be here without the prascend. With careful management she is looking as well now as she has in a long time (though the same can't be said about my bank balance! )
 
Our mini was on it it gave him 2 good years. Unfortunately when we tried to up the dose it made him ill/ depressed and he stopped eating all together so in the end we lost him but those 2 years were pain free and happy.
 
My 27 year old has been on it for three years and half a tablet a day keeps him at normal ACTH levels. He's doing well on it although it has altered his appetite and he will no longer eat some foods he used to which has been a bit of a nuisance though we've found low sugar things he's happy on now, thankfully.
 
My new forest (13) has been on half a tablet a day for around 4 years with good results,main symptom was terrible lethargy,poor coat loss ..vet was sceptical but after lots of other inconclusive tests ran a cushings and it was quite high,i think he has only ever been borderline but whenever i try to reduce it,levels creep back up and he is a very good doer so i always worry about the laminitis risk with him.He is fine in himself but i get a lot of sheath problems with him,always mucky/smelly has stuff down back legs but i try and keep it as clean as i can,vet tried stallion broth but didnt make any difference at all..
He has never batted an eyelid at taking the tablet luckily, i have always pushed it into a slice of apple and never had a problem but 2 people on my yard with older horses have both found there's will not touch it no matter how they try and hide it,so one has to syringe it in and the other worried that her horse was starting to refuse to eat anything in case it had the tablet in so stopped trying,that mare is no different for not having it,and quite a poor doer so they needed her to eat her food she is in her late 20,s
 
Thanks everyone.

My boy didn't have th best response to it first time round in. Either behaviour or appetite and it didn't lower his acth levels either they nearly doubled :(

I've taken him off it all together and he's back to his normal self and back to eating better as well. I do plan to start trying him again on it but I'm not wanting the depressed, not eating, not grazing pony I did before. I did up the dose gradually over the course of about 6/7 weeks but to no avail.

I will be doing it much more slowly next time to see if I can find a dose he is happy with.
 
My old lad, Dizzy, was diagnosed with exceptionally high levels in end of 2012, beginning of 2013. His levels were around 284 but apart from suffering severe mud fever for the first time in his life, he had no other symptoms.

He was placed onto 1 tablet a day, with little change to the levels after retesting 6 months later, upped to one and a half tablets.

When he was retested again, his levels were around the 230 mark, so we upped meds to two a day.

Retested again, about 8 months afterwards, levels had dropped to 181. Still he had no real symptoms, except I suppose he was a little more "fluffy" coated and still prone to mudfever.

However vets advised that whilst we could keep upping his tablets, he could see no real benefits in doing so and spoken to Liphook for advice also. It was agreed that I was to feed a cushings herbal supplement alongside the meds.

However, before doing so, Dizzy started getting irritable, aggressive and just so sad and miserable. At the beginning of this year, he refused to take his medication so I decided to opt to not give him them anymore and see how he went. He started to go back to the loving, calm, happy chappy he used to be so I decided I'd rather a few months of him like his old self than prolonging his life for my benefit, on medication that made him unhappy.

In July he collapsed for no good reason and we still can't understand why (thought that was it the day he collapsed ) but he got better by himself. Prior to that I thought he had severe mud fever, but it appears since his collapse it was likely photo sensitivity due to possible slight liver damage. Over summer, he became quite woolly so I clipped him out, and again in October including his legs.

He is now on Angus Cactus, and the difference in him has been remarkable. The only sign that he has any issues is his lack of topline, but I expect at 28 and no longer in work (although we had a go at long reigning the other day) it's not such a big issue.
 
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JillA said:
The sweating and excessive drinking/urinating is the Insulin Resistance which often accompanies PPID, but not always. It is better controlled by reducing sugars and starches in the diet, alongside pergolide (Prascend) to reduce ACTH/QUOTE]


Thank you, I am aware of that.
She has always been on a low starch/Low sugar diet, since I got her when she was obese and unhappy, having been fed on cheap coarse mix with a high molasses content. She has been here 6 yrs, currently fed on ad-lib hay, Agrobs Wiesen cobs, linseed oil and Aloie Vera juice with salt.
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Dolly was diagnosed about 18 months ago. Her readings were high, but not excessively so. She was started on tablet a day, and was retested 6 months later. Her readings had then shot up into the 100's and I was advised to up her tablets to 2. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't understand why they would go even higher once meds had started. The yard was extremely busy as there was building work going on the day of the retest and I asked the vets opinion on stress causing a higher reading. He dismissed my concerns. I kept her on the one tablet a day, and at her last blood test, she came back well within the normal range.

She had no symptoms prior to being tested, other than very bad skin, but she does suffer with her skin, more so as she's gotten older. She had also been quite lethargic which I put down to her getting older, she's almost 24. The lethargy disappeared, and her skin is still typical Dolly.
 
My 14 yr old Westphalian was diagnosed with Cushings in November with no obvious signs, just dull in his coat and perhaps a bit hairy. Looking back, he did have a bout of mud fever at the end of the summer which took ages to shift and he has always been behind the leg to school( I've only had him a year). I started him on half a tablet and then gradually upped him to one. He did go off his food and was miserable for about 3 days which was not very nice to see but he did come through it pretty quickly. Even after just over 4 weeks on the tablets his coat has a lovely shine and he is more forward to ride. I will get his bloods down again at 6 weeks and I really hope he is back in the normal range. His original reading was 75.
 
my mare was diagnosed in 2011 and i lost her this year ...i had to keep on increasing the tablets and she was on 4 daily for her last year..her levels lowered but never got down to the correct level..however her energy levels were back to normal and she was happy until the last few weeks so i made the decision to let her go as the vet thought she had the beginnings of laminitis and at age 25 i felt it wasnt fair to keep her stabled just so i could keep her......
 
my old mares levels were around 250 when first test, 1 tablet for 4 weeks made no difference, 2 tablets for a further 6 weeks made a tiny bit of difference, 4 tablets for another 6 weeks took her levels down to 50, which were still too high but due to the reduction the vet suggested keeping her on that dose, she then got depressed and stopped eating one winter, so I reduced her down to 3 as I heard that if the levels were too high it could cause these issues! she got a new lease of life and started eating again! but took ages to get her weight back on! the next winter i automatically dropped her down to 3 again, as I didn't want her to stop eating again, and she did very well that winter!
 
Rusty was diagnosed 18 months ago with a reading of 63. Only symptoms fat pads and ribby. His levels quickly fell, once on Prascend with no adverse affects. However in August they went up to 69. I changed his diet by making sure I eliminated as much sugar as possible. At his last check his levels were 23, well within normals limits. Unfortunately he is still ribby but I have increased his fibre beet and added linseed and at last he is gaining some top line.
By the way I have found that the best deal for Prascend is with Animed, even allowing for the prescription cost.
 
My 21 year old big horse has been on it for about 9 months, she came down from 176 to 33 on one tablet a day. Prior to prascend she looked dreadful, had odd hair growth including some interesting fluffy knickers, was very pot bellied and sad, she now looks really good and is back to bouncy bouncy!

Friends 30 year old Arab had an astonishing 480 level, now down to 43 on one tablet a day.
 
Thanks all :)

These experiences are great, I do know the vast majority are happy on it and I was genuinely hoping my boy would be as well. Hoping second time round we have more success.
 
My 21 year old has been on it for 2 years now it's maintained his levels well, to be fair when he first started he lost his appetite but started him on half a tablet before increasing it to one as vet suggested and he was fine. I certainly now wouldn't take him off them
 
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