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  Discussion on Possible Narcolepsy, Epilepsy in My New Horse
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 4, 2000 - 2:16 pm:

Please help me with this if you can. I have a 9-year old Arab gelding two weeks into a 30-day trial period. Twice now, within the past week, while loading into the trailer, he has "zoned out". He stops, DrOps his head, his eyes glaze over, his lips vibrate (not flop, not quiver), his knees get unsteady (but do not buckle), and he is non-responsive to voice commands. Gentle tugs on the halter have no effect. A firm pull on the halter brings up his head, but then it DrOps again. Between about a half minute and two minutes later, he comes back to himself, lifts his head and gives it a shake, and returns to the task at hand. One time, he had a small piece of carrot in his mouth, and stoppped chewing. When he came to, he began chewing again and finished the carrot. There is no sign of sweating or distress. No sign of choke, convulsions, twitching, or involuntary body movement. It looks like he is falling asleep. My daughter said he may have done the same thing while lined up in the show ring. She thought he might fall. I haven't seen him do anything like this at any other time. Previous owner claims she only saw this "behavior" once, on a trail ride long ago, and assumed it was no problem.

Does anyone have any ideas? Seen anything similar? This horse had a negative coggins, passed a prepurchase exam, and showed no temperature, respiratory, or other abnormalities. Could this be epilepsy? Narcolepsy? EPM? Encephalitis? Brain electrical imbalance? Rabies? Stress from the move? Is it contagious? Should I separate him from the herd? He was an only child, and lived alone before I got him. Hadn't left home for several months.

Thank you for any ideas that you may have.

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 5, 2000 - 7:32 am:

Hello Debra,
Did you read the article associated with this topic? It gives descriptions and treatment recommendations. Yes your case does sound like narcolepsy and you would be surprised how common this is. No, it is not contagious. I think the best plan is to return this horse as the future has a high degree of uncertainty: how will this change over time and cost of treatment.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 - 3:11 pm:

Hi, Dr. O:
We discussed narcolepsy and my new horse in the post of 04-05-00 above. Symptoms continue, and may, perhaps, be worsening. Attacks are triggered by treats, feeding, bitting, general tacking up, grooming, and standing in the warm sun, in order of decreasing severity. I have recently learned that this horse was exhibiting these symptoms for much of his life, and that they may have begun as a result of a head injury. Do you have any insights into the likelihood of a head injury causing epilepsy or narcolepsy? Can you refer me to more detailed information about the use and side effects of Imipramine as a treatment? To be effective, would I have to administer it daily? Or could I use it only when I wanted to suppress the worst of the symptoms. I do not want to overmedicate or cause colic or other side effects. But, obviously, I would prefer that he not experience seizure when we are in the show ring or on trail.
Thanks for any insights you can offer.
Debbie

Posted on Thursday, Mar 15, 2001 - 7:44 am:

Hello Debra,
No I don't think head injury has been implicated just supposed as a cause. Concerning intermittant use, the individual response to imipramine makes this impossible to answer: you will have to experiment. However the beneficial effects of impramine are accumulative and the instructions specifically say it may take several weeks for an effect.

I have put a list of reaction and complicatons to Imipramine use in the article. If you do not see them be sure you refresh the page and I hope it helps.
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 24, 2001 - 1:03 pm:

Hi, Dr. O

Here is an update on the possibly narcoleptic 10-year-old Arab gelding described to you in my posts of 04-04-00 and 03-14-01. We could not send him home, and doom him to an uncertain fate, so took him on as a rescue.

His current symptoms are as follows: Mild “seizures,” consisting of lip tremors and his head sinking low, typically triggered by handfed treats, his dinner in a pan, bridling, and sometimes, placing my hands in his mouth. Rarely, seizures occur without apparent trigger, but most are associated with activity around his mouth. Seizures occur up to ten or more times per day, and can last from one to several minutes. He often bends laterally to the right when seizing, The end of the seizure is typically marked by a rhythmic, repetitive head tossing, and a diagonal pawing with a front hoof. It appears he cannot control the head tossing. He has never fallen, and has no scarring or evidence of injury to forelegs. His head sinks down, but he remains cognizant of the world around him. He will respond to visual or audio stimuli, and can typically be “trotted out of” the episode. He sometimes appears unsteady on his feet while in seizure. These episodes have apparently occurred throughout his life. He is preternaturally quiet, stands motionless for long periods of time, lays flat out on the ground to sleep for extended periods of time, but is easily woken. He has become somewhat overweight on a fairly limited diet. He is uncoordinated and steps on or trips over his opposing feet. He canters awkwardly, and has stumbled at the canter. He stands with his head low, and it can be difficult to get him to raise it up. He moves more awkwardly with his head elevated. His personality is mellow to the point of catatonia.

A local vet suggested petit mal seizures. A visiting vet commented on the similarity of his seizures to “intention tremors” and suggested atypical Cerebellar Hypoplasia. Apparently this is a genetic problem in some Arab lines. Do you have any information or articles on this subject? Do you have any references that describe the elements of an equine neurological examination so that I may further test him at home. I still wonder about EPM, as well, but I am concerned about the incidence of false positives when testing for this. Thank you for any insights that you may have.

Debbie

Posted on Friday, May 25, 2001 - 5:09 pm:

This disease is also called cerebellar abiotrophy. This would be atypical because seizures are not usually reported. Cerebellar abiotrophy is a degenerative condition of Arabian horses that produces signs of head tremors and ataxia. Affected foals demonstrate clinical signs between the time of birth and 6 months of age. The condition is untreatable, although some animals have reportedly improved to varying degrees.
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2001 - 1:29 am:

Hello,
I have read Dr O's article on narcolepsy. This wonderful 27 yr old that I have has developed narcolepsy probably about a yr ago. He is on Cimetadine for melanomas. This was started about that time although I can't be sure exactly now. He is now on maintenance dose of Cimetadine of 800 mg TID. Could this possibly be contributing to the narcolepsy? This guy is energetic, sound, and enjoys his work.
Thanks,
aes43

Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2001 - 9:12 am:

Hi Alice,
Instead of posting your question at the bottom of someone else's discussion you should create your own. You will get more responses and it helps others find related information better.

This is the appropriate forum for your topic, so just back up to the Page where all the discussions are listed. The easiest way to do this is using the navigation bar at the top of this page and selecting, "Narcolepsy, Cataplexy, and Fainting".

Once there take the time to read the article on this topic. If after reading the article you still have questions post the question by pushing the Create a New Conversation button. Thank you.
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