Lyme Formula
Visit Dr. Wendy's Blog and listen to the TCVM segment on Horse Radio Network for more info on Lyme Disease.
Lyme Disease is often classified as a syndrome because many general symptoms of malaise like weakness, behavior changes, body pain, joint pain and swelling and heart problems lead us to suspect Lyme's on our differential list. Signs can be mild at first and you may not have seen or remember a tick bite on your horse or dog.
As the disease progresses, the most common presentation in horses is pain and sensitivity over the large muscles of the back and limbs, swelling of multiple joins and lethargy. A horse who normally looks forward to riding time with his person will gradually become more resistant to work and may even avoid grooming time. In dogs we will see shifting limb lameness or a lameness that comes and goes. They may have a low grade fever and may lose their appetite.
The majority of the damage to the body from an autoimmune disease is sometimes referred to as a "cytokine storm". The pathogen stimulates the immune system's white blood cells and cytokines (pro and anti inflammatory mediators like interleukins and free radicals) to respond but the reaction gets out of control. Just think about when you have the flu and your body hurts, you are sweaty then freezing, you have so much mucous in your nose and lungs you can barely breathe. This is your body trying to get rid of the virus. Many of the deaths we see from influenza, bird flu, SARS, Ebola and even graft vs host disease are due to the body not being strong enough to tolerate the immune system battle or becoming confused and attacking itself.
In the chronic stage when we are treating the pain and restoring the immune system, we use Dr. Xie's Lyme Formula which is a combination of Du Hou Ji Sheng Tang (Angelica and Loranthus Powder) and Yu Ping Feng San. Du Hou Ji Sheng Tang is one of the most popular formulas for treating arthritis in people and animals. It is for Wind-Cold-Damp arthritis so for chronic whole body pain and stiffness that is worse in the cold weather. Yu Ping Feng San is a formula for cold and flu and has recently been shown to block the expression of iNOS and COX-2 so has NSAID like activity in addition to stimulating the immune system.
For dog : 0.1g to 0.25g per 10 to 20 lbs twice daily. 1 small level scoop holds about 0.3g of powder
For Equine: 3g (2.5 scoops) twice daily. 1 large level scoop holds about 1.2g of powder. 1 Concentrated 90g lasts 2 weeks.
Use as needed up to 6 months
