Does weather affect symptoms - help for my horse please..
Posted , 5 users are following.
Hello all I am hoping some of you poor sufferers may be able to give me some information. My beloved horse has a chronic lung disease and with veterinary medicine being so far behind human medicine - we have never reached a diagnosis (I am also a vet as well as her owner). I never stop reading - trying to work out what is wrong with her to the point I'm thoroughly overcome with anxiety and depression. I think the two most likely scenarios are asthma or interstitial lung disease. She had episodes of severe breathlessness at rest for 2 years during the day in hot weather - symptoms resolved overnight and during cold weather. She then hugely improved and was almost symptomless for a year and doing a lot of exercise. She then had only very mild symptoms for 3 years, but has suddenly relapsed to episodes of severe symptoms (since some misinformed surgery was performed on her). Her respiratory rate and effort become massively elevated, standing still, but overnight this normally returns to normal at rest. She is usually short of breath when she walks now and after 15 minutes has to stop to take a couple of deep breaths. If it is very cold and frosty, very windy, or if it rains heavily, she is fine and can even run with no symptoms. Please could any of you who suffer from lung disease tell me your experiences - do you think these symptoms could be compatible with pulmonary fibrosis or do you never get relief from your symptoms with changes in environment/weather? Since she is a horse, if this is her diagnosis and her quality of life is only going to deteriorate then I need to consider euthanasia as the kindest option. However, I desperately hope she can recover again, and whilst she could have a lung biopsy it is very risky in a horse, and I do not want to do this if her symptoms sound more typical of asthmathan lung fibrosis.
Curiously, her symptoms resolve if I spray her with cold water which she doesn't seem to mind particularly.
Secondly, how painful is this disease? I do not want her to suffer pain. And how painful/difficult is exercise?
Many many thanks in advance for any replies - my horse means the world to me and I just want to be able to ensure she has quality of life.
0 likes, 6 replies
bob80691 verenajolly
Posted
Hi verenajolly:
Let me quickly say upfront that I doubt I have much to offer you as I seem to one of the lucky people with a IPF diagnosis (Nearly 6 years) but with no symptoms.
Let me also say I am amazed yet fascinated that you find yourself turning to the IPF group seeking some help with your very much loved horse's symptoms. I'm pretty certain there will be some in this group who can offer you some suggestions.
So, as you have probably read, IPF is a progressive lung disease whose normal symptoms gradually worsen and where death normally occurs within 3-5 years. There are new drugs on the market that show success in slowing down the progression but there is still no cure. It is called "idopathic" because its cause is unknown. Based on my own reading I think there is probably more than one thing that can cause it to occur. Acid Reflux has been cited as one of those and in my own case I am convinced that's what caused mine. I had bad acid reflux disease prior to my diagnosis. It is now fully controlled with prescribed medication (pantoprazole magnesium 40mg daily on empty stomach). I also take a heatth supplement with a market name of NAC( N-acetyl-L-cysteine) It is primarily used to relieve the symptoms of chronic bronchitis but has shown to be effective with IPF also. I take 2 600mg capsules daily. Apart from these I take no specific medication for my IPF.
Upon reading your description of your horse's symptoms it sounds a lot more like asthma than IPF but someone other than me with actual IPF symptoms would be able to offer more insight than yours truly. By the way please tell us your horse's name.
You have mentioned the risks in a lung biopsy. Is a C-Scan out of the question as this would show very clearly what is going on in the lungs? I don't even know if your can conduct a C-scan on a horse.
I hope what little I have been able to offer you here is of some help and please please stay in touch or ask any specific questions you might have. I wish you and ***** every good luck.
Bob
Your haven't said where you are. I'm in Canada.
rebbacchus bob80691
Posted
verenajolly
Posted
Dear Bob, thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. It is really kind as a horse must seem quite trivial to those people out there whose families are affected - but she is family to me. Joining a forum seemed like a good idea because there's only so much information on the internet and I really hope to find out some real-life experiences 'from the horse's mouth' of people unfortunately living with the condition.
My pony's name is Josie - she is a Welsh X Thoroughbred girl, and we live in the New Forest in the South of England. The CT scan is a great suggestion - but sadly are not an option for a horse at this point in time - recent advances have now allowed horse's heads and necks to be CT'd but there are no machines big enough to take the thorax of a horse. The machines we have in veterinary medicine are old hospital ones that were originally made for larger people - so are still a long way off fitting a whole horse thorax in. Maybe in future...but it would require a general anaesthetic - which again is quite a risky procedure in a horse. N-acetyl-C-cysteine is interesting - I wonder if that could be any help to her.
I hope it is more of an asthmatic condition as that gives me more hope of her recovering. The weather seems to have such a dramatic effect I really hope that some more patients can give me some insight into their experiences of IPF and the weather.
She did have severe interstitial bacterial pneumonia two times 5 & 6 years ago - which seemed to be secondary to the underlying problem and occurred after she was treated with steroids - presumably due to their effect in suppressing the immune system. Therefore I do wonder if she has an asthmatic type condition but also scarring on the lungs from the pneumonia and from the chronic nature of disease - whatever it may be.
Thanks again so much Bob for your thoughts. I'm very glad you are comfortable despite your diagnosis and hope it remains that way for very many more years.
Kind regards Verena
bob80691 verenajolly
Posted
Hi Again Verena and Hi Josie:
Well I am originally from Northern Ireland and lived for 10 years in London in my teens to mid 20s, married and emigrated to Canada.
Everything I read about lung conditions tells me they are prone to changes in the weather. In Ontario and really throughout North America we can get very high humidity for periods in the Summer, usually when the basic temperature is mid 80sF with a Humidex reading that makes it feel like 90sF. During these spells those with chronic lung conditions are cautioned to stay indoors in air conditioning. In Spring and Autumn we typically have pollen flying around which affects sinuses and again those with chronic lung conditions can become quite distressed with allergic reactions and shortness of breath.
I see no reason why these kinds of conditions would not equally affect a horse's breathing, particularly if they have an underlying lung condition. As such they can be unpleasant but will disappear once the irritant is removed. The symptoms your describe Josie having sound very much like they are weather or allergy related.
Funnily enough, when I lived in Ireland and England allergies were not something one was really conscious of. In Canada many doctor's offices have fridges......full of different allergy medications! A lot has happened to the environment (most of it bad) in the last 50 years so things in England have probably changed.
I'll see other posts to this forum string but keep me posted if you learn anything new. Bye Josie!
Bob
rebbacchus bob80691
Posted
Highs in the 80s… brutal😉. Actually I was in England one summer when the temp approached that and it was treated as an dire emergency. Of course hetre in Central Texas it’s not uncommon to have temps. In the 80s with 90% humidity … as a low for the night. What so many folks don’t understand is that it is the low that really causes the problems, when there’s no relief and you keep turning your pillow trying to find a dry spot.
Yes, today’s high was 84 here and folks in the snow think we’re lucky, they just don’t want to be here in August when the high is 104 and the low is 81F. It was really bad a few years ago when we had over 100 days over 100 F and I think I remember Dallas had that many consecutively! It was 2011 and the drought that accompanied it even killed our native grasses and trees.
All I can say is thank God for air conditioning! Feb of 2011 was when I was diagnosed and before I started Modafinil, it did almost kill me.
CherylH verenajolly
Posted
Hi Verena,
I live in the USA and have been diagnosed with pluroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) and mild asthma. I am not certain if horses can be compared to donkeys, but you may be interested in this medical publication: "Chronic Pleuropulmonary Fibrosis and Elastosis of Aged Donkeys: Similarities to Human Pleuroparenchymal Fibroelastosis." Also, I work at a major medical school / academic center in the States, and I'm wondering if you have contacted any of our universities that have a veterinary school? One that I am familiar with is Ohio State University. The researchers at these institutions gladly assist most folks, and they may have some ideas about what you describe. Could your horse is having an asthma exacerbation? If the horse's symptoms were caused by pulmonary fibrosis / interstitial lung disease, I doubt that she would improve much (she sure wouldn't become symptomless). I think she would have more of a cough and consistent breathlessness -- but I am no doctor!!
Best wishes to you and your horse,
Cheryl