Levamisole

[WarHorse]

As far as I can get out of the jumble on PubMed, it changes the cell membrane on leukocytes and changes the endoplasmic riticulum in epithelial cells. Doesn't effect type I allergic response(histamine release by mast cells), but does effect cell mediated allergy, Type IV. Levamisole potentiates the immune system in low does and supresses the immune system in higher doses. Mary

How would this affect bleeders, then?

[mary syers]

I think that levamisole may help with some bleeders because it would change the secretions in the lungs. (That's what endoplasmic reticulums do--they make things for the outside of the cell with little help from the golgi bodies.) Different sugar chains in the lung secretions could help prevent bursting of capillaries. Also there is that control of allergic reaction. I don't think we have researched the role of allergy in bleeding enough. Allergies change the cell membrane and make it more permiable. Mary Syers

[WarHorse]

Okay, I didn't "get" the allusion to allergies at first.

We studied things like endoplamic reticulum in massage school - amazing how fast one forgets when not using the info.

Very, very interesting. Thanks.

[CS]

I agree with the allergies causing bleeding. We have a mare that historically had lung issues. She always seemed to have something going on, bleeding, mucous, etc. We ran every antibiotic through her (even though bloodwork never indicated anything amiss), nebulizers, meds, and she was still declining. It was to the point that we had to have her on lasix and Amocar just to work her in the mornings. We had her lungs scanned and were told they were huge and healthy. As a last resort we did a full panel allery test.

Wow - did we get surprising results. We were making her sick. She was allergic to oats and timothy. No joke! Over the winter the horses had been getting a cooked oats/bran mash and as much timothy as they could eat. We had no idea this was causing the problems.

We turned her out for 2 months - fresh air and bluegrass only. Amazingly she started gaining weight immeadiately and her coat really changed. She's now back in training. Orchard grass/alfalfa only and a Triple Crown feed that contains no oats. She is a completely different horse. Time will tell if this has been the magic wand - but she never looked or trained this good in the past.

Moral of the story - when you've got a horse that isn't quite right (coat quality/bleeding/poor performance) get it allergy tested. You never know what you may find!

[Tucumcari]

Very interesting topic!!!
I look forward to more as it becomes available!

[Jean]

WHere did you go to get an allergy test and how was it performed, blood tests?

[CS]

It is a very simple blood draw performed by your vet who then sends it off to a lab. I believe there are 2 major labs doing the testing right now - one in Texas and one in California, although it doesn't really matter as the blood is shipped to them. It costs about $200 and they test for all allergies at once (food, grasses, trees, insects, molds, etc).

In our case, her allerigies were mainly food, so avoidance is relatively easy (as easy as finding grain without oats ). However, if it is determined that there are environmental allergies they develop an allergy serum for the horse. It is much more inexpensive than I thought it would be - less than $300 per year and by the end of the adjustment period they only get a shot (about 1cc) once a month.

[louis finochio]

Thats one of the reasons a TB will run bad when claimed or better when claimed because the sharp trainers run an allergy test on them and change their diet accordingly.

Many humans are allergic to some types of foods and they can also get an allergy test from their doc.