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Head shaking & Lyme vaccine - Could there be a link?

My 8 yo Dutch warmblood gelding received his Lyme vaccine (first time for this) at the same time as a Potomac/Rabies vaccine on May 6th. 24 hours later, he began head shaking and has not stopped. We have tried one round of Dex, tried cyproheptadine and now Gabapebtin as well as nose nets and masks. None of the above has worked. Does anyone have any similar experiences? I am panicking! :disappointed:

I am not aware of a link between lyme vaccine and headshaking, but I have noted a correlation between high lyme titers and headshaking symptoms. Whether or not that is causation I can’t say.

When was the last time you pulled a titer?

Thanks for reply! We haven’t pulled a titer yet.

It’s possible that it’s A cause. There’s definitely not just one. None of the vets around here recommend giving the Lyme vaccine to horses and I don’t know anyone who does, but I know a number of headshakers. When my horse started (which was like 12 years ago) one of the theories people shared with me was that it was caused by vaccines in general, or by giving multiple vaccines at the same time-- but my horse started the first time in early spring before receiving any of his annual or seasonal vaccines so I didn’t ever pursue it.

You didn’t look for Lyme infection before vaccinating?

I don’t think vaccinating in the presence of infection is advised. You risk sensitizing the immune system to Lyme when in might be very…“buried” (for lack of a better word) in the body.

There’s so much we don’t know about Lyme but I’m reading a book now that talks a little about adverse affects with the human Lyme vaccine, and how some people had really negative reactions, perhaps due to latent infection. I’ll try to find that passage and post it here when I’m back inside…

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Hi. No. We did not test for Lyme prior to vaccinating. Had I known then what I have read up on now, I sure would have. I would appreciate any more reading material you have . Thank you.

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@Simkie Is this a relatively new book? A coworker is reading a book on the origins of Lyme and is going to pass it on to me when she’s done. She’s really enjoying it.

@Copperfield72, my horse is a head shaker, and geldings aged 8-10 typically have onset, especially when worked and then not worked (my gelding due to an accident we had that took me out of the saddle for 3 months). It is so poorly understood. I’m not aware of a link between vaccines and HSS but I’ll share what I’ve discovered with my horse.

I tracked pollens when he started to display behaviors and I found that his HSS tracked with grass pollen. When he was symptomatic, he’d press his nose into me or the fence and that told me his nerves around his nostrils were misfiring. The nose net worked except for when grass pollen is high and then cyproheptadine works. It takes a bit for it to kick in and I usually have him on it 1-2 months depending on the pollen. Do you have access to an indoor? Exercise often exacerbates the head shaking and you can try to free-longe him outside and again in an indoor to see if sunlight is making a difference.

I will say that originally, I didn’t have a nose net and I used cut-out nylons tied to the noseband with sewn-in washers that bounced off his nose. That worked well to stimulate the neurons. I also have sewn washers to the nose-nets I currently have when he’s bad and that stimulation seems to help. I use a fitted nosenet that often bounces around when we canter, and I think the bouncing prevents misfiring of his trigeminal neurons around the nostril. There’s another nose net manufacturer that is not so fitted and I don’t think that would have worked as well. I keep it on all year because I’m lazy…

When symptomatic, does your horse try to rub on things to stop the perceived origin of the pain? Maybe that can help you identify which nerves are misfiring so you can hone in on a solution. Many HSS horses are sensitive to sun and someone makes masks specific for HSS horses to fit under a bridle. I’m not sure that all fly masks are as strongly UV protectant. A trainer in Germany I’ve worked with has a client with a HSS horse and she sewed leather “fringe” to a browband that constantly activates the trigeminals around the eyes when she rides and that seemed to help her horse. Her horse sees past the fringe just fine.

Good luck! I was equally freaked out like you are now when my horse first became symptomatic. Then, I experimented alot (cheaply, I sewed washers to nylons and put that on his face!!) and watched typical triggers to find out what his trigger was. It might take some time but don’t give up hope just yet.

Oh man, that’s so frustrating! I have nothing to say about the Lyme vaccine, but my friend’s horse developed headshakers one spring, and it was definitely due to certain pollens. He needed allergy shots, Benadryl, steroids, and I think another antihistamine before it was under control. Before that point, he had to stay inside out of the sun without anything touching his face. He was even having issue with treats touching his nose. It probably did coincide around vaccine time, as spring shots often correlate with an increase in seasonal pollen just due to the timing of when they are given, but it would have been an incorrect conclusion to make. She has to track certain pollens and allergens throughout the year, or he will start up a little, but it never really came back as long as she stays on top of it.

I can say that I had a horse that developed head shaking many many years back, before there was a Lyme vaccine (I do believe, 1990ish). So in his case it clearly had nothing to do with a Lyme vaccine.

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FWIW, I live in a heavy Lyme area… When the Lyme Vaccine (which Highflyer is right, this is technically off label and is for dogs) first hit the market, many owners here wanted it but very few vets were comfortable prescribing it… for the reasons above. I asked my vet and he didn’t really seem enthused, so I passed that year and of COURSE my gelding contracted Lyme that summer :laughing:

Now it is part of a core vaccines package my vet practie and many others in this area advise.

None of them will administer the vaccine without a titer first.

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Alright, here is the discussion about the Lyme vaccine in Chronic by Steven Phillips, MD, who is a Lyme specialist here in CT.







I very much wish I’d vaccinated my tick disease naive horses before moving to the north east! I was considering using the Lyme vaccine now, but they’ve all been treated for Lyme at this point, and the discussion in this book definitely took it off the table for me.

This book does talk quite a lot about the neurological effects of Lyme disease, so worthwhile to pick up if you’re interested in that. I know chronic Lyme is debated in the medical community…

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Gracious! Thanks for sharing. My dog had a Lyme infection (presumably; two labs at two different times reported negative but symptoms were resolved after doxycycline treatment). My vet hasn’t ever suggested the Lyme vaccine for her and I’m curious if the info you shared is why.

The 4 horses at my place have been getting the Lyme vaccine for the last several years with no apparent side-effects. I live in an area where the disease is prevalent and I do know of one horse who succumbed to it. I hope you are able to identify the cause of the head shaking to help your boy!

I’m sorry to hear your horse developed head shaking. My 13 yr old QH mare developed it two years ago, but we managed to get it under control in about four months and it hasn’t returned. I don’t think she’s ever been vaccinated for Lyme disease.

We tried different methods and this is what worked: timothy only, two scoops of Quiessence daily, and she wears a nose net. https://en.pferde-nasennetz.de/ She probably doesn’t need the nose net anymore but it’s tied to the bridle and prevents her from eating on the trail.

I will say that there are many in the lyme community who take issue with the studies that connected the vaccine to RA and other problems. They believe that the vaccine was absolutely useful and it never should have been taken out of use. I participated in the vaccine study in the 90’s prior to its release to the public. It may be 100% coincidence, but I live in a lyme hot spot and have never had lyme. I am the ONLY person in my group of friends who has never had it. I would like to see the vaccine brought back for further study.

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I am certainly not disputing that, only offering up one opinion of what might happen if the vaccine is given when an existing Lyme infection is present.

There is very little consensus in the medical community about much of anything when it comes to Lyme disease.

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Truer words have never been spoken :slightly_smiling_face:

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