EPM GONE!
Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis
After many years of battling EPM, finally all of my beloved horse are fine! There have been times I’ve sat and cried, watching what was happening to them — heart breaking. My first EPM battle came with a Quarter Horse mare CiCi. She kept falling down with me. I had no idea what was going on. My friend and vet Dr Cheryl Detamore quickly diagnosed her with EPM; with the “tail pull” she put us on the Marquis treatment. This was my first introduction to the horrible disease. At this time Marquis was the only treatment available… the Internet was young and not much information was out there. I’m very thankful we were able to treat her, but to this day I believe the treatment was as hard on her as the disease it self. It took her years and years to recover. She is a wonderful trail horse now, but it wasn’t till about 3 years ago that we could ride her.
My beloved endurance horse Gabriel began to show signs four years ago that something was just not right. He was not pulsing down as well at the vet checks. He was showing signs of fatigue, weakness, a sad look in his eyes, and his hooves changed along with his legs. I knew he was just not right. Dr Jeannie Waldron helped me with Gabriel. We did treatments with Karbo Combo. This seemed to help, but it would always come back.
Jeff’s wonderful mare Shay, started with the same signs of weakness, the sad look, not willing to go. Her legs started to become crooked, and her hooves suffered from that crookedness. So we did the same with Shay as Gabriel, Karbo. Same effect – it kept coming back. I then started both horses on this and that. Oh my — there isn’t anything out there I haven’t tried. Sefacon was another expensive drug I did try with little results. Lots of other homeopathic drugs, too many to list. I have spent thousands of dollars in the past few years trying to treat our horses. Nothing seemed to work…
With that said and the sadness every person and beast were suffering, Dr Lynne Johnson came to me with a new FDA approved drug — Orogin made by Pathogenes, a company in Florida. www.pathogenes.com. Great people to work with, too. First was to draw blood from both horses. The blood count goes like this
0-1 Normal. 16 very badly infected.
Both horses’ counts were over 16+. It was heart-wrenching when I got the report back. But I didn’t give up hope. It was a 10-day treatment of 1 pill a day. I melted the pill in water and poured it on one spot in their feed. I made sure that was the first bite they got. I held the feed pan up under their noses. I wondered if 1 pill a day of anything for 10 days would do anything thing for these beautiful horses. But, I’d tried everything else, why not give this a try too? After all it was only money, right? I didn’t see results right away, but never lost hope. A few days after the treatment was over Gabriel’s lameness was GONE! Shay’s eyes had a twinkle in them! Oh my, have we really helped them? 10 days after the treatment was over we drew blood again. The results showed: Gabriel at a count of 1 and Shay was a 2! We then gave Shay 10 doses of Levamisole that was compounded for her. I have not retested after that. She seems wonderful to us, wanting to go out and enjoy the trail now.
We are slowly building up their muscle tone and top lines. One day and one ride at a time. It is so wonderful to have our horses back. There are no words to describe the happiness in my heart when Gabriel and I enjoy a day on the trail…
Thank you Dr. Cheryl Detamore, Dr. Jeannie Waldron and Dr Lynn Johnson for all your hard work over the years. Putting up with my horses and me. I’m so thankful for all of you. And thanks to the wonderful scientists at Pathogenes who have saved my horses and many more.
God Speed and Happy Trails.
heather butler
July 16, 2015 @ 3:05 am
Thank you for posting this! I start treating my horse tomorrow with Orogin. You give me a lot of hope!!
Paulita Neff
July 17, 2015 @ 5:40 pm
I’m sure it will do the trick. I bet you will see a difference in a few days. With Shay I had to treat her twice. 6 months apart, her blood work showed over 16 with her numbers. the blood work will tell the story. keep me posted. take care.. : ) Paulita
Stephanie
September 8, 2016 @ 3:25 pm
I’ve been treating my horse with Rebalance for 2 months and his balance is better, but it has severely impacted him in other ways. Would you suggest we try the 10-day pill?
Hi Stephanie, I would give it a try. It’s not expensive and I’ve had great response. Your vet will need to send in one tube of blood, I think the test is like 45.00 there is also a test for inflammation, you may consider that too. I just finished giving our new rescue mare a treatment, she tested over the chart, the new test was great! she now can walk straight and is feeling very strong. one other thing is a diet low in sugar has helped. thanks for reading my blog. I hope I’ve helped 🙂 Paulita
Rosie
September 28, 2016 @ 12:13 am
what side effects from re.balance? my horse was blood tested at 450..with 250 being low pos..5000 as high pos..seems a huge range!
Paulita Neff
September 28, 2016 @ 12:47 pm
HI Rosie, I have not used Rebalance. I’m interested to hear if Stephanie can comment on this. I’m a big fan of Orogins. I highly recommend it. thanks Paulita
Tricia
July 6, 2018 @ 9:16 pm
Paulita — I just came across your story and this page. Can you tell me today how things are going? I see that your last post was a few years ago. I am wondering if your horses have stayed asymptomatic?
Paulita Neff
July 12, 2018 @ 7:27 pm
Hi Tricia,
the horses did quite well. Shay and Gabriel both enjoyed many years of trail riding. no reoccurring battles with EPM. I did loose Gabriel this spring. broke my heart, he was my once in a life time horse. Aneurysm.
Sense this blog, I did have a horse I rescued from the kill buyer. Ginger Snapp. She was EPM big time. this time Dr Waldron and I treated her with just Levamisole. also another success story. it has been 2 years with out a relapse. I work hard to keep their immune systems built up.
I have added CBD oil into my EPM and Lyme protocol. Shay battled Lyme over the past 18 months. We finally have her back on track thanks to the CBD oil. I have myself and my dogs on it too. 🙂
thanks for checking in. Paulita
Paulita Neff
July 12, 2018 @ 7:30 pm
Hi Tricia,
the horses did quite well. Shay and Gabriel both enjoyed many years of trail riding. no reoccurring battles with EPM. I did loose Gabriel this spring. broke my heart, he was my once in a life time horse. Aneurysm.
Sense this blog, I did have a horse I rescued from the kill buyer. Ginger Snapp. She was EPM big time. this time Dr Waldron and I treated her with just Levamisole. also another success story. it has been 2 years with out a relapse. I work hard to keep their immune systems built up.
I have added CBD oil into my EPM and Lyme protocol. Shay battled Lyme over the past 18 months. We finally have her back on track thanks to the CBD oil. I have myself and my dogs on it too. ?
thanks for checking in. Paulita