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HorseAdvice.com » Treatments and Medications for Horses » Anti-inflammatories (NSAID's, Steroids, Arthritis Rx) » Dexamethasone » |
Discussion on ADT with Dexamethasone | |
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Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2000 - 10:05 pm: Dr.O,I realise that you recommend using prednisolone for ADT, but my vet didn't feel there was a need to use prednisolone instead of dex esp since we weren't using it year round. Not being a vet I didn't continue to push it. At this time I'm giving my approxamately 680 lb pony 3ml of dex by mouth every morning. I had gotten to 2ml but the itching started and I went to 3 again. I had started every other day when he was let out to graze without appropriate attire and got a sheath and underside covered in bites. That was 5 days ago. I increased to everyday again on that day as he was itching. He is still rubbing his tail and mane some, after 5 days at 3ml. My question is should I increase to 4ml of dex to eliminate all itching or will it just take a bit longer for the reaction to calm down. Once I have him not itching how long do I wait to start everyother day? 5 more days as it says in the article on ADT? or is this only with the prednisone? Also how much is a high dosage for a pony his size? Should i just stay with 3ml every other day when things settle down and not worry that it is too much? He is not over weight and is ridden 4 times a week. Thank you in advance, Kim |
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Posted on Thursday, Jun 1, 2000 - 9:51 am: Hello Kim,I cannot make specific recommendations for your pony, your veterinarian is the best source for this. I think 3 to 5 days is fine with the dex also. Your question on a high dosage is a difficult one to answer and not only involves the daily dosage but the duration on treatment and what the treatment is for. Published dosages of around 5 mg (note that in your post you gave the ml's but not the concentration so I do not know what dose you are giving) can be found. Personally for a single dose I think 20 mg would be the upper end for the antiinflammatory action, of course as you stated I do not recommend dex in daily or alternate day theray regimens where the treatment is going to be longer than a month. I am concerned about the possibility of suppresion of the adrenal glands function. See the article on ADT for further explanation. DrO |
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Posted on Thursday, Jun 1, 2000 - 4:15 pm: Hi Dr.O,I will contact my vet. I checked the bottle and it is 2mg/ml so i'm a long way from 20mg! Last summer when we started this, we did a loading dose of 5 ml (or 10mg) of dex then reduced to 4ml and then 3. I could finally discontinue it in December. He has been back on it for 5 weeks. I started at the first sign of itching and didn't even bother with the antihistamine. From reading the ADT article, (which I have read at least 3 times in the past 8 months) the prednisone has a shorter life giving the system a breather imbetween doses? My vet didn't think being on dex for 6 months was a big deal. Can you think of any reason not to switch to the pred? Is more expensive? Why wouldn't she want to switch if i had concerns? Her reason when i asked this spring was that she hadn't experienced any ill affects from "short term" use of the Dex as he wasn't going to be on it continually for years. Do you have anything else i can ask her or help her suggest I should switch? Thank you, Kim |
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Posted on Saturday, Jun 3, 2000 - 2:05 am: Since the pred is not as long acting it may not be as effective as the dex. This has to be balanced with the greater possibility of adrenal suppression. Adrenal suppression is a very rare occurence in the horse but in other species can occur is an little as 6 weeks continuous use.DrO |
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Posted on Thursday, Jun 8, 2000 - 6:46 am: Thank you Dr.O. This site is the BEST! It wonderful to be able to get info so i can make an informed decision. Thank you, again.Kim |
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