Equine Elixirs Ulceraser or Gastromend?

[Pico_Banana]

I’m looking for feedback from people who have tried either Ulceraser or Gastromend.

Here’s our history: My horse is coming off a treatment/very long taper of Nexium. She’s down to 2 pills a day. (Our latest round of treatment started with 2 weeks full tube of GastroGard, then switched to Nexium, which we started out at 12 pills and tapered slowly, so she’d been on Nexium for 6 weeks before even getting down to 3 pills, which seems to be working for many as a treatment dose.)

I was hoping that with our move to a new barn that the ulcers would go away completely and I could do away with a supplement. She already gets free choice hay, alfalfa cubes for lunch, and Purina Outlast before any work. Turnout is good – about 7 hours a day in a large paddock. Can’t increase that as then she’d be the only one out, which would just cause anxiety. So I feel like I’ve got the “horse management” side covered.

I’m going to scope a few weeks after the end of the taper to see what’s going on, but I’ve noticed in the last few days that she’s been dunking her hay, which I think is a sign of unhappy stomach for her. I don’t think that she was dunking the rest of the time that she’s been on Nexium.

So… I’m back to looking at an ulcer supplement, as I don’t want to keep her on a PPI forever.

Before the latest round of treatment with Nexium, I had already tried SmartGI Ultra (combo of SmartDigest Ultra and SmartGI Ultra). Even on that during one of her scopes there was evidence of a smallish gastric ulcer, so don’t really want to go back to that – although that might be enough now that we’re in a better barn situation.

I also previously tried Purina Outlast at breakfast and dinner in addition to pre-ride. That also didn’t seem to be enough, but again that was at the old barn.

So… I’m considering one of the “newish” ulcer supps that attempt to improve the mucus membrane in the stomach rather than reduce/absorb acid. Thus both Ulcereraser and Gastromend are on my list of possibilities. Would love to hear feedback from people on these two products. Am also open to any other suggestions.

FWIW, she’s also on SmartDigest Ultra, a hoof supplement (mostly copper and zinc), flax seed (2 Tab), Vitamin E (5000 IUs), and pumpkin seeds (the pumpkin seeds are also for her stomach).

TIA.

[scrbear11]

I’m making some assumptions… 1000 pound horse, 40mg nexium. 12 pills per day is a quarter of the recommended omeprazole treatment dose. A 1000 pound horse should have been getting 45 pills per day. (1.8mg/lb)… Hardly worth giving.

I have used Equine Elixirs. It’s 100% herbal. Mid-range price point. The selling point to me was how wonderful the owner, Elizabeth Erlich, is to deal with. My mare initially did very well on it, I thought. It seemed to mellow her. But she gradually became her normal reactive self again, so I stopped. I didn’t notice a difference in her behavior on or off the supplement, so I decided not to waste my money.

Much of what is in the SmartDigest Ultra is in Ulceraser.

[Simkie]

@scrbear11

I’m making some assumptions… 1000 pound horse, 40mg nexium. 12 pills per day is a quarter of the recommended omeprazole treatment dose. A 1000 pound horse should have been getting 45 pills per day. (1.8mg/lb)… Hardly worth giving.

Esomeprazole dose is not = to omeprazole dose. We have a whole long thread about it here, with a paper linked in the first post that demonstrated 40 mg esomeprazole is sufficient to raise the pH of the stomach to >4.

[Simkie]

@scrbear11

I’m making some assumptions… 1000 pound horse, 40mg nexium. 12 pills per day is a quarter of the recommended omeprazole treatment dose. A 1000 pound horse should have been getting 45 pills per day. (1.8mg/lb)… Hardly worth giving.

Esomeprazole dose is not = to omeprazole dose. We have a big long thread about it here with a paper linked in the first post that demonstrated 40 mg of esomeprazole was sufficient to raise the pH of the stomach to >4.

[Simkie]

@scrbear11

I’m making some assumptions… 1000 pound horse, 40mg nexium. 12 pills per day is a quarter of the recommended omeprazole treatment dose. A 1000 pound horse should have been getting 45 pills per day. (1.8mg/lb)… Hardly worth giving.

Esomeprazole dose is not = to omeprazole dose. We have a big long thread about it here with a paper linked in the first post that demonstrated 40 mg of esomeprazole was sufficient to raise the pH of the stomach to >4. The spam filter isn’t letting me link it, but if you search the forum for Nexium it will come up. My other post with the link should turn up eventually.

[Simkie]

Pico, do you have a diagnosis of delayed gastric emptying or anything?

I wonder if it would be prudent to just go straight to sucralfate. You can order from Abler in “pop rocks” format without a script, or from Wedgewood or other compounding pharmacy with a script.

[scrbear11]

@Simkie

Esomeprazole dose is not = to omeprazole dose. We have a big long thread about it here with a paper linked in the first post that demonstrated 40 mg of esomeprazole was sufficient to raise the pH of the stomach to >4.

Thank you for pointing that out. I will read and educate myself!

[scrbear11]

@Simkie

Esomeprazole dose is not = to omeprazole dose. We have a big long thread about it here with a paper linked in the first post that demonstrated 40 mg of esomeprazole was sufficient to raise the pH of the stomach to >4.

Thank you! Will go read so I can educate myself!

[Pico_Banana]

@Simkie

Pico, do you have a diagnosis of delayed gastric emptying or anything?

I wonder if it would be prudent to just go straight to sucralfate. You can order from Abler in “pop rocks” format without a script, or from Wedgewood or other compounding pharmacy with a script.

Simkie, I’m so glad that you mentioned Sucralfate! It had slipped my mind that she had been on Sucralfate – two courses since the last week of January – and she just finished up the second course around the middle of March.

And the reason that she was on the Sucralfate was because she had/has a pyloric ulcer that was originally diagnosed last June (!), but that as of her last scope – maybe early November last year – still hadn’t fully healed.

So… perhaps what I’m seeing is not related to the Nexium dose but because she’s been off Sucralfate for the last couple of weeks. And – sigh – that the pyloric ulcer might still be bothering her.

Okay. Going to discuss with vet and most likely will put her back on Sucralfate.

And to answer your question, nope, no diagnosis of delayed gastric emptying. Just the nasty pyloric ulcer and a few minor gastric ulcers (mostly grade 1, and at time of last scope, just the pyloric ulcer and one small gastric one that looked like it was healing).

Sheesh. Can’t believe I forgot about that. Now I feel like a bad caregiver.

[scrbear11]

@Simkie

Esomeprazole dose is not = to omeprazole dose. We have a big long thread about it here with a paper linked in the first post that demonstrated 40 mg of esomeprazole was sufficient to raise the pH of the stomach to >4.

Thank you for this. Will go read and education myself!