Ridecamp: RE: [RC] Wine Country/Gastroguard - treatments

I rest my case - logic told me that the factors that were part of the
"performance horse" definition in the original ulcer studies were too
endemic to the endurance horse world to not also show some correlation.
This is a tantalizing peek into this aspect of our sport, although a broader
census is surely called for.

I do have some treatment hope, however.  In doing the research surrounding
the treatment of ulcers, it appeared that there were three products at the
top of the efficacy list:  Gastrogard (omeprazole), Pepcid (famotadine), and
Zantac (ranitidine).  Ranitidine has about half the efficacy of famotadine.

A full 28 day treatment of Gastrogard costs about $900...quite a remarkable
price for a product that costs peanuts to make.  I spoke with my brother (a
physician) about getting omeprazole in bulk from his pharmacy and they
couldn't do it, but get this - famotadine (which is the most effective of
the H2 blockers) can come as a powder for oral suspension and is available
in bulk.

While your prices will certainly vary, his pharmacist just delivered two 25
gram bottles of the stuff for $60 (note: I do not know if this was wholesale
or retail).  The dosage is 3-4mg/kg, which for my 850 pound horse works out
to 1.2-1.5 GRAMS per dose (once a day).  I'm going to use 1.5 grams per dose
(because I figure he'll spit some out), so that gives me about 33 doses for
$60.  There's a 100 gram bottle that costs even less per dose.  Famotadine
works for 24 hours, so you must use it every day for 30 days, dosing at the
same time every day.

The tricky part is measuring, and I can't underscore this enough: unless you
have a gram scale, or the pharmacist gives you something to measure the
doses with, don't mess with this - you'll either underdose (in which case
that day's treatment will be nearly worthless) or overdose (which could
cause unknown side effects, although during research they've overdosed by a
magnitude - that would be 15 grams for me - with negligible side effects).
My pharmacist gave me measuring bottle marked for this compound.

The benefit of this powder for oral suspension is NO GRINDING - it is
designed to easily dissolve in water, so just place the dose into a 60cc
syringe, fill with water, shake and squirt.

Disclaimer: I'm not a vet nor an MD, so please consult a professional before
using this approach.  I will be starting the regimen in a couple days, and
will report on the results.  I do know of another horse with an ulcer who
was successfully treated with Gastrogard and the horse has resumed a very
successful endurance career - the symptoms of not eating and drinking well,
lower gut sounds during the ride, not dropping in heart rate as quickly were
all resolved.

Mike Sofen

-----Original Message-----
From: kathy.mayeda@xxxxxxx
<snip>

This is going to rock the "no drug" AERC rules a bit:
way over half the horses scoped at the ride had
ulcers...... This is the first time they ever scoped
endurance horses and they were still scoping at the time
of the awards so I'm not going to quote the percentages
that were announced at the meeting. The bad news for me
and Beau continued. I had him scoped because I suspected
that he may have ulcers by some of the symptoms I
noticed from him at rides. He had a ulcer on the gland -
4 on a scale of 6.



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