[Luv2LopeQH]

Originally Posted by KelosiasComb

I have a question, are all HYPP H/H and N/H horses well muscled, or are there exceptions?

I had a mare that was N/H as a youth. She was an appendix mare and she did not look anything like a halter horse! The TB blood showed more for her.

[Roleysnewmom]

so is HYPP predominately in QH and QH crosses? You stated Impressive was the only stud found to have started the problem but that there hasn't been much testing through other breeds? I've never known much about hypp and have been curious.. Is this something I might need to worry about with my nat'l show horse?

Also, what ARE the symptoms of an attack? Is it basically like a human seizure? Just tensing up all over and basically being paralyzed? Also, obviously there are variations in the horses that do and dont have attacks even if they are HH, but are there variations in the attacks themselves? Could two HH horses that both have attacks have them by varying degrees? For instance one horse has very mild attacks whereas the other could be completely debilitated by his?

Sorry for all the questions, this is all so interesting to me. Great thread, very informative.

[cornhuskergirl]

In terms of the severity of the attack, someone recently posted their HYPP N/H horse in the critique section and mentioned that the attack was primarily limited to the jaw muscles (quivering and twitching there). But, this horse was also medically managed to address the issue ... So in terms of severity, my belief is that it depends on the horse and also what sorts (if any) medical/dietary intervention are involved.

[ZipItNita]

Very nicely said cornhuskergirl :]

Ok. Bottom line. The biggest effector of HyPP is USUALLY Potassium build up within the muscles and blood. Because the horse's body does not know HOW to excrete the excess potassium on its own, medication usually helps by making the horse sweat/urinate/deficate more than average. What an overly high amount of potassium will do to muscles, is cause the neurons to fire off too fast, causing a frenzy, and therefore causing the muscle to look like someone has put a hose under their skin, and run the water. It's like waves under the skin, except it's the muscle.

Having explained this.
There are tons of things HyPP horses CANNOT eat. Such as most performance feeds, most treats, most fruits [especially apples and oranges], most supplements, some wormers, etc.

I'm going to compare HyPP with... let's say a panic attack.
Say you and your friend both have problems with panic attacks.
You tend to have them when in large groups of people, while your friend tends to have them when alone.
This is similar to HyPP in that different things set off different horses, just like any other physical [such as colic] or mental [such a completely losing it in a show ring] problem.

You can give 3 HyPP horses an apple. One may not have an attack at all, one may start attacking, but will be able to be managed with some Karo, and meds, and the other, could quite possibly drop dead in their stall.

You also have to address a million underlying factors. What did the horse eat that day, was it ridden, how much did it sweat, what are some things that you have come to find set your horse off personally, could the horse have encountered a stressful situation while you were not around, that could create an HyPP time bomb, etc.

On another note, H/H and N/H horses can ALL have symptoms. Symptoms, meaning attacks. Generally you won't get a horse that drops dead from an attack, that you can't see. In rare cases, HyPP positive horses CAN die from deep muscle tissue potassium build up, meaning that there was SO much of the mineral in their muscles, that it directly affects the deep muscles, not the surface muscles that WE can see, and usually, that means the heart, which usually ends up in a heart attack, cardiac arrest of some sort, OR the heart will combust. Gruesome, I know.

Horses with the disease can have all sorts of symptoms. Sometimes the muscle spasms hurt, sometimes they do not, it really depends on the horse. For my mare, the few times she's had a complete all over the body attack, she gets a glassy stare, and gets sleepy and secluded, like her mind is behind a glass bubble. I don't know how to describe this, but... she can be looking right at you, but she's not really looking AT you...

That probably made no sense, haha.

OTHER times, like when my mare just has a simple attack in her cheek [yes I'm the one cornhuskergirl was talking about, with the horse that usually attacks in the cheek] she's completely fine, and all you do is pour some karo on your hand and let her lick it up until she's recieved about half a cup. For attacks like this, you usually won't see the horse looking bad, they'll be normal, and you just have to monitor the spasm site for 30 miniutes to an hour until it's stopped. You also will want to wait for them to drink and/or pee regardless of the seriousness of the specific attack.

Now, as far as extreme attacks go. It is NOT a seizure. Unlike seizures, the horse us completely conscious of what's happening. It is exactly what the name says. Hyperkalemic [meaning too much potassium in the blood stream] paralysis [the extreme weakening of the muscle. This mdoesn't nessicarily mean the muscle doesn't work, because obviously, for it to quiver, it has to work.. but the quivering is not voluntary, it is a mineral upset within the muscle.]. In the cases that the horse goes down, they simply look like they're laying. Some horses may fall down on their sides, and their legs will stiffen up and they'll look like they're standing, except they're laying sideways. It really just depends.

In severe cases the horse can have heart problems like I mentioned earlier, or their diaphragm can become paralysed, causing them to suffocate.

[Roleysnewmom]

the tons of potassium buildup kinda reminds me of a charlie horse. Ironic. I think I have a HyPP human.. my boyfriend gets crazy charlie horses every time he eats a banana.

[ZipItNita]

Although it's very rare in humans, there IS HyPP for people.
Look up hyperkalemic periodic paralysis on google health. They've got a pretty good article on it.

[Luna9]

This almost deserves a sticky spot Great thread!

[ZipItNita]

Yay That's so exciting

[GotaDunQH]

Zip did a great job explaining HyPP in her post #24 (too long to highlight all of it). A positive horse's muscles "fire" continually and at a higher rate (compared to a non-positive horse)...one of the symptoms of the disease. Some positive horses are asymptomatic and other are symptomatic; it's pretty much a cr*ap shoot. The episodes I've encountered, the horse has had an attack when it was "at rest"...in other words, not doing anything but hanging out. And the rippling of the skin/muscles of an attack is unmistakable.

Jennifer

[PamelaTX]

I have a question, what is the Karo for? What does it do, how does it help??