Urticaria...vet out again!

[FAYEFUDGE]

At wits end, my boy's urticaria is really bad today.
The vet is on his way; knees and sheath very swollen and covered in lumps.
He will have to have another steroid injection, which we wanted to avoid.
So worried!

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

((hugs)) had this in May with Dex vet blood tested to see if anything else was going on and found hepatitis in his liver course of steroid pills and careful diet have restored him to nearly normal in just 7 weeks

Steroids were a huge worry for me as Dex is a 15hh cob with a history of laminitis with his previous owner..Thankfully my vet was VERY careful with the doseage and he was ok

 

[FAYEFUDGE]

Thanks! Fingers crossed he will be ok!

 

[narkymare]

now this may not apply to horses - but it might be worth asking your vet

After suffering for years i went to see a specialist - he advised me taking a long term (3 months) course of steroids to "kickstart" my immune system
this worked for me
good luck x

 

[Shilasdair]

I have one with chronic constant urticaria...my vets just prescribed Prednisolone which didn't work at all for her.
Recently though, she has been put on antihistamines (Atarax) as they think she has an allergy to grass (yes, really), and now has no skin symptoms at all.
S

 

[FAYEFUDGE]

Thanks, will look into all suggestions!

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

I have one with chronic constant urticaria...my vets just prescribed Prednisolone which didn't work at all for her.
Recently though, she has been put on antihistamines (Atarax) as they think she has an allergy to grass (yes, really), and now has no skin symptoms at all.
S

Prednisolone was the tablets Dex was on,they seemed to help him loads. Vet also said that if the horse stabilises only on steroids then its likely to be an autoimmune problem.

 

[the watcher]

I have one with chronic constant urticaria...my vets just prescribed Prednisolone which didn't work at all for her.
Recently though, she has been put on antihistamines (Atarax) as they think she has an allergy to grass (yes, really), and now has no skin symptoms at all.
S

It is worth juggling with different anti histamines, although Piriton is usually prescribed it certainly isn't the most effective treatment for urticaria

 

[amandap]

Piriton is short acting so more than one dose in 24hours is needed. It's also potentially more sedating in humans than other newer antihistamines... don't know if this is the same with horses.

Good luck with getting him sorted. I expect you've been through any new feeds, supplements, potions, lotions etc. to rule the likely suspects out as a cause?

I'm allergic to aspirin but it took a couple of years to work out what it was!

 

[Minnies_Mum]

I've seen the best results with hydroxizine (Atarax).

 

[Shilasdair]

I've seen the best results with hydroxizine (Atarax).

I was also considering trying cetirizine as it appears to act in a very similar, perhaps more direct way than hydroxyzine (and is non-POM so could be obtained more easily and cheaply, perhaps).
S