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Hindgut Supplement Support

Yeah, that’s be about my limit. Sucralfate works faster. Ranitidine works faster.

Where are you finding ranitidine these days?

I’m not, and didn’t realize it was unavailable. I used it as an (apparently poor) example :flushed:

Famotidine has been used in place of ranitidine, though I’m not sure of the dosage

How long for Gut-X? Not sure anyone can say, since it’s a systemic effect. I’ve seen some say they see a difference in a few days, some say it took 2 weeks of the loading dose

Omeprazole usually shows an effect in less than a week, but sometimes it’s taken a couple weeks to really see a difference.

I asked the manufacturers of GutX how long it takes to show effects and they said “It depends on the symptoms. Some horses see a dramatic change in attitude in a few days. Weight gain and ulcer healing can take 30+ days.” So as I’ve been feeding it for 2 days I will hold off on sucralfate for another 2-3 days, while continuing with esomeprazole and GutX.

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Yeah, my experience was so black/white that I wouldn’t screw around a second time with PPIDs or supplements. But we each need to figure it out for our own horses. I should say I also favour Sucralfate over the PPIDs because you can put them on it and take them off it at will with no tapering. Cold turkey is fine.

I was curious about the mode of action in GutX, and this is what the Slovis paper says:

While the mechanism of gastric healing promoted by polysaccharides has yet to be fully elucidated, those proposed include mucosal protective coating, antisecretory activity of gastric acid and pepsin, and radical scavenging activity [7].Along with other polysaccharides, hyaluronan is an established antioxidant. It is thought to create a mechanical barrier limiting access to reactive oxygen species and thereby reducing the DNA damage response activation [20–22].It is also speculated that the gastroprotective effects of hyaluronan could be attributed to its anti-inflammatory activity [14].

So there’s at least a coating component, and an anti inflammatory effect, which should provide some level of immediate action, but I’d guess that once daily dosing isn’t sufficient to really make much difference on those things alone.

That they don’t really know how it works sure makes it harder to know how long to try it.

Interesting! I know KER’s RelyneGI is similar. I wonder if they have more research.

I don’t think they’re just similar–GutX is an attempt to replicate Relyne & they use the Relyne research as support. I wasn’t able to find any additional research, but the Slovis paper is very available. I can’t link a PDF from my phone or I’d just share it here…the title is “Polysaccharide Treatment Reduces Gastric Ulceration in Active Horses” :blush:

Thank you!!

The Slovis study was done through Hagyard, on Relyne
Polysaccharide-Treatment-Reduces-Gastric-Ulceration-in-Horses.pdf (hagyard.com)

As for whether it works - the answer is the same as “how long is a piece of string”

It depends.

I have a few endurance friends who have been able to stop all other ulcer prevention supplements and medications once they introduced Gut-X, and this was after repeated attempts to use nothing.

I know others who have had no improvements at all.

It’s just too complicated to be black and white.

Is the HA in GutX the same HA in their joint supps? Curious as my vet off hand mentioned trying an HA joint supp for my old fellow and if it’s basically the same I might tryGutX since he’s got a history of tummy issues.

AFAIK, yes.

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