Thursday, January 17, 2008

Swelly Nelly Strikes Again!


Last episode of swelling.


After a bit of a walk around the field to get the circulation going.



















Swelly Nelly is her other nickname. I think it was over the winter of 2006/2007 that Lutine had 3 or 4 episodes of swollen legs. The first couple of times I did the usual thing of calling the vet, and so she was prescribed 3 - 5 days of diuretics, antibiotics and bute (equipalazone in France) each time. But the episodes were recurring every month and I was not happy about giving such drugs each time. So, the next time I saw her pasterns starting to fill I started giving her photonic therapy every 12 hours until the swelling stopped getting worse and then every 24 hours thereafter and, sure enough, after 3 days the attack had gone without the use of any drugs at all. I then started her on Global Herbs Lymph Blend, which I increased as the next episode kicked off, alongside the photonic therapy. This time, after 12 hours the swelling had stopped increasing, it was much milder than before and had completely gone within 36 hours.

Then, of course, we had the horrid 'skin explosion/creeping crud' issue over the summer, which has taken a while to shift after all manner of treatment, including several weeks of conventional vet treatment. That's now completely gone with no trace left on the near fore and there's just the tiniest streak of scabbiness on the inside of the off hind left. We've got muddy, wet fields at the moment after several weeks of rain and, though the girls are mostly under the barn where the ground is dry, they do get exposed to the mud every day. This hasn't made a jot of difference to Lutine's legs so I am again convinced that the Crud is not some kind of mud fever.

Anyway, Swelly Nelly started to swell again just before Christmas. This time I used only Apis Mel 15c, 3 times a day, for the first 48 hours and then photonic therapy for a couple of days and again, the problem had gone completely within 4 days. I re-ordered the Lymph Blend and also started her on high doses of natural Vitamin E - she gets 5250 iu in her feed per day, split over 2 feeds. This was the recommendation of a friend who used to have high level event horses - she'd found vit E useful for one of her mares who had similar issues with leg swelling/lymphangitis. High levels of Vit E is also indicated for EPSM and isn't toxic in these quantities. Anyway, since that episode and despite the very wet mud for the last few weeks, her fetlocks, pasterns and cannons are 'drier' than they've ever been with hardly any puffiness whatsoever.

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I just figured out that I can comment! How was the Chris Day event (or is it not yet?). I will be seeing my vet in the next week or so and have heard that he travels across France. As I told you he is terribly into Chinese Herbal medecine, homeopathy, acupuncture and all sorts. I will be talking to him about your Lepto problem and see what he suggests. His name is Dr Leguern, he calls himself a "naturopath" which I believe is not a personality disorder.

Lovely update, well done Wendy.

6:19 PM  
Blogger Lulu's friend said...

Hi stephanie! I just changed the settings on the blog to allow more people to comment. It's more fun that way.

Haven't heard from Chris Day at all since my vet finally sent through the diagnosis confirmation - don't know why but I've emailed and phoned and still heard nothing. So do let me know your vet's details. I would be DELIGHTED to have him as a contact.

Glad you enjoyed the updates!

12:12 AM  

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