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[RC] medical question?/test result interpertaion - Laurie DurginFinally got a paper copy of my horses spinal and blood test. Since I was given it over the phone and have learnd more I am trying to puzzle it all out.It looks like 7 months ago one of two things. Either Rascal had an early case of epm,which I treated him for: in case. Based on my vets best judgement. Since the blood tests only tell you if they are exposed and the spinal is hard to get uncontaiminated and it may not be difinitive (may not have raised an immune response is the theory). We treated one month with Marquis and he still had a gait abnomality for some time.(it seems to be going away).Either he had a mild beginning case and we caught it early and stopped it. Or my vet misdiagnosed and I just spent lots of $ for fun (not).Judgement call, crazy disease; and many horses are missed till too late or many are mistakenly diagnosed. I trusted my vet and the testing is not always difinitive. So here is the question, based on the results (I am asking my epm group too, but they are real big on having 2nd opinions and all the tests, many mistakes have come to their doors). My vet saw him tripping up and down the hill, when trottiing on a circle he dropped his hip like a puppet.(circumlocution?). No pain or illness, Vet did short sharp turns, said he didn't know where his feet were and had nero signs..We live in a huge possum area,have killed some on property.My feed is kept in house , but not hay or pasture.I questioned my vet several times, he 'felt certain" he had it. (He had a family member whose horse had it also). I opted to treat immmediately. He got a little more trippy (his feet were long, but he usually isn't trippy). And 'hang dog" ,quiet and fatiqued .personality got real quiet,just walked where he needed too. But has steadily improved ; except slight gait abnormality on his rt. rear.Vet has seen him since says he has some muscle atrophy in rt. rear butt cheek, but I can't really tell. He has had essentually 7 months on turnout and is acting bratty as normal now and runs and trots fine with the buds. *** Test results from paper 6 weeks post treatment. Weak positve on Western Blot CSF (indicating probable active disease.) PCR,CSF negative. No S. neurona DNA detected. Could be an absense or a degredation of the speciment. Does not rule out infection or disease. comment WBCSF: Albumin level elevated:101.2 mg/dl(ref. range 15-70mg/dl)******??????What does this mean?????????????????????????????? He was on MSN, fastrac, and 8,000 VIt. E, a few beta carotene and Vit. C.1,000 mg at the time. He had finished 28 days of Marquis at the 1200 lb dose (he is 900 lb.,told be careful not to underdose, giving more was shown to be more effective). I am just wondering if I will ever really know. I don't want to get down on my vet. The thing seems to be 'flip a coin" as to whether he had it or not.And after 7 months if it was anything else ,guess he has had enough time to recover. Just gonna start conditoning him slowly -----kind of would like to know. BUUUUUUTTTT ,if I ever get a "epm" again, I will opt for 2nd opinion, and the tests first, cause I am still half crazy not knowing, not to mention the cost.It's the worry that is the worst, and it is so NOT cut and dried. Laurie and The Rasc _________________________________________________________________ Learn how to choose, serve, and enjoy wine at Wine @ MSN. http://wine.msn.com/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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