Pemphigus Foliaceus is an autoimmune disorder that affects all animals and humans. It is the body attacking itself, actually, most obvious as a severe skin disorder affecting the bonding of the skin cells together. It demonstrates many common features of Lupus Erythomatosus, another autoimmune disorder. Horses suffering from this disorder often show edema and swelling in the legs and belly, they are sore all over, and often manifest other signs of environmentally driven illness or toxic exposures. It used to be quite rare in horses until lately, as with many other environmentally driven illnesses that have also increased in frequency.

Much has been written about this disease and can be found in internet articles, however the consensus of treatment is that high doses of topical and sometimes internal steroids are necessary to control outbreaks, and that will have to be given for life. Most horse owners have in the past, opted for euthanasia as the damage to a sick body that continuous high doses of steroids do over time are not an option, the owner feels.

Equine pemphigus foliaceus is an autoimmune disorder which causes the body to manufacture antibodies against its own skin. These antibodies attack the bonds that hold skin cells together. Hair begins to fall out, and can get so severe over time that the whole body can be affected, and the horse essentially goes bald. Hives can also develop. Sometimes, as the disease goes on, swelling in the lower abdomen and legs can develop. The horse can become covered with oozing, crusted areas of raw tissue and also develop thick greasy crusts similar to yeast infections, which can also co-infect at the same time. The body becomes itchy and painful.

The cause of pemphigus foliaceus is unknown by conventional medicine. However, in the limited hair analysis testing we have done, we have found significant elevations of heavy metals which will predispose the horse to estrogen and thyroid compromise, as well as behave like estrogens which are known to be associated with a wide varriety of autoimmune syndromes.

Often, the first attacks are associated with vaccines, which contain toxins called adjuvenents -intended to stimulate the immune system. First attacks can also be associated with insect bites which are also toxins. Medications, dewormers, and dietary supplements such as sea weeds that are known to be high in arsenic can also produce a similar result . The addition of another toxin in an already high toxic body burden can put them over the edge. Warmer weather causes sweating, and that sweating out of toxins as the body attempts to detoxify, can irritate the skin to react. There has not been a genetic link found, however, this may be an epigenetic response to a genetic profile that is susceptible to this disease.

Diagnosis is done through a skin biopsy. Current drug therapy only offers steroids, and is limited to keeping the horse comfortable and reducing inflammation, but not to addressing the cause, of the cause, of the cause, to eliminate the driving forces of this disease. Steroids are recommended to be given for the rest of the life, which is unacceptable to those owners who seek more than a bandaid help. About half of the horses that initially respond to steroid treatment have recurrences within a year or two and subsequent treatments become less effective. Many affected horses are just euthanized. Thus, the popularity of the Vita Royal Environmental approach.

What Is An Autoimmune Disease Syndrome?

We prefer to charactorize this situation, “when the body turns on you.” Our Biochemist gives seminars with this title as well, but the body does not exactly turn on you, it only appears to be that way from our outside viewing. Actually, the immune system is not stupid. It is not a runaway freight train really, as perceived by conventional medical thinking.  Conventional thinking sees an immune system running wild that needs to be shut down with drugs, like heavy doses of steroids or methotrexate. These are just bandaids for the true condition. These drugs take a terrible toll on the immune system, and also shut down the body’s response to other diseases or foreign things that enter the body. This treatment causes adrenal compromise and makes the body very susceptible to severe illness from simple bacteria and viruses, like the common cold, as natural immune response is compromised completely, even when you need it.

With an ever increasing toxic exposure in today’s world, with chemicals and foreign GMO foods that the living body has not evolved to be able to tolerate, the immune system of all living things recognizes foreign particles, chemicals and weird unnatural GMO foods, as not supposed to be there, and will attack them. This is how things are supposed to be in Nature, after all. The body is not stupid. And just since WW2, there have been more than 1 1/2 million new chemicals, not even including GMO foods, that have entered our environment in food residues, water and air pollution that our bodies are not prepared for.

The immune system becomes overloaded, but unable to destroy, excrete, eliminate or even detoxify those new toxins, that have entered the body and attached to targeted tissues. So the immune system, in its attempt to protect us from what is not supposed to be the, just keeps on attacking, and in the course of those attacks, also destroys normal tissue that the toxins are attached to. This is an autoimmune flare/attack.

Unfortunately, when the immune system’s full attention span is totally occupied with attacking the toxins it cannot destroy, it does not pay attention to other normal incoming microorganisms that cause disease, and so those organisms can invade the body and stay there and take over without being noticed. This is the case with Midnight Star and the greasy, yeast type of infection that fed on his damaged skin. Increasing the basal temps with iodine and protein raised his body temp to be incompatible with yeast growth. You cannot culture them in the laboratory at a normal temp of 98.6F, you have to have a lower temp incubator to grow them. Same with the body. The body is an incubator, and the ability to raise temp into a fever is an immune mechanism to make the body inhospitable to yeasts and other opportunistic infections. Heavy metals, especially arsenic, which opposes iodine, causes the basal temp to fall below that which is protective, and then you get an “opportunistic infection”, meaning  that the opportunity has to be there for them to grow.

So to properly address an autoimmune syndrome, you have to first support normal biochemical processes with the best nutrition you can get. Then detox the toxins that the immune system is “shooting at” to stop the normal tissue destruction and allow healing. In simple terms, it is addressing the cause, of the cause, of the cause of what got you into this mess in the first place.

2011

Owner’s notes: “Was told by the former owner, that before I owned him, he almost died from the last combo of West Nile and additional vaccinations, etc. He lost all of his hair.”
Veterinarian prescription:
- medicated baths and
- oral steroids

2012

Owner’s notes: “I bought Midnight Star, ‘Morgan’ on Oct. 27th. All I noticed was dandruff on his back and was wondering why he wasn’t brushed before saddling. Turns out he was brushed but just had severe dandruff. I was told the history and that he recovered….he uses fly mask and (fly-sheet?). I noticed he was overweight. I rode Midnight that fall. I had no problems with skin issues until summer 2013.”
Biochemist’s notes: Severe dandruff that persists, along with obesity is characteristic of metabolic syndrome and toxicity of some kind. Looking at his history and where he came from, he lived near a very toxic river that drains old mining sites and is known for high levels of heavy metals. Summertime heat causes sweating and the body will try to detox itself, and so it would be expected that he would begin breaking out when the toxins came out to the skin in hot weather.

2013

Owner’s notes:“In the summer I was surprised with loss of hair on face and bumps on his body. I gave vaccinations at end of May. Midnight didn’t have West Nile combo but I did give rabies’ and tetanus. Heat bothered this horse, flies and probably out on green grass too long and vaccinations may have played a part. I used fly spray on his body once in awhile (when Ferrier trims hooves & when going riding) and Aloe Heal, and Symon’s gel w/Willard water in it to promote hair growth, sooth his ears and face. I have used Avon Skin-so-Soft Bug Guard SPF 30 w/vit.E around nose once in awhile to keep nose flies away. Also SWAT sparingly under belly, under chin, hocks & if there were any surface cuts which were rare on any horse. He grew hair back and was back to normal by fall. I had never used a fly mask or sheet before but purchased them for this horse.”

Biochemist’s notes: Bodies that carry high levels of toxic body burdens will outgas in the summer as part of the body trying to detox through sweat. After all, humans know well the benefits of detox through sweating in saunas, and the smells that go with that kind of sweat. Particular smells like that are known also to be given off by dying animals and these smells attract flies, which are sensing imminent death and food for them as the “recyclers of Nature”. So toxic bodies, whether human or animals are commonly described as “fly and mosquito magnets.”

2014

Owner’s notes: “After giving Midnight rabies and tetanus May 1st, mid-May he came down with welt looking itchy tiny scabs further down his back legs and body like a vengeance. These were hives. You couldn’t see the scabs but they pushed out the hair on the horse’s body to make it look like welts.”

“He had inflammation on his back legs and under chest and sheath. He never lost his appetite but he had pain trying to walk. He headed to the barn first and was always the last to leave it. Flies, heat, green grass intake and probably vaccinations even though I stayed away from the West Nile combo, it was what I observed with this horse - rapid panting scared me and it was only a few days of 70 degrees to see this horse react so quickly to this mysterious condition. I took him to the Vet May 20th. Pictures were taken of Midnight’s coat. A biopsy was done to confirm the diagnosis.”

“In the winter months I would feed horse hay w/ a little alfalfa in it. I had a few alfalfa bales and would mix horse hay w/ a small amount of pure alfalfa.”

“In the summer I would let them out mid morning to green grass and 3 to 4 hours later I would get them corralled…sometimes they were out longer and sometimes less. I used a handful and sometimes more of Senior Horse pellets to get them corralled-Woody’s brand mostly and also to mix wormer in it when scheduled. I had 12-12-12 mineral block, pink iodine salt and plain white salt out for licks.”

“Since June 24th, 2014 when I contacted biochemist Linsey McLean, I have fed Midnight Equine Plus® High Protein Feed, Organic Iodine™, and Nutrient Buffer® HG, and Nutrient Buffer liquid He also gets Xenodetox® to help his liver and detox. Midnight has warm water spray bath when cooler outside & brushing all the time with soft brush. No more Woody’s or red TM iodine salt unless it is Redmond’s or Himalayan salt, white salt ok. I can use groats if I need to treat a small amount later this year.”

Veterinarian notes: skin biopsy was positive for Pemphigus
Veterinarian prescription: horse sent home with oral steroid medication and medicated shampoo.
Veterinarian recommendations: Let them out on green grass if no other choice for 2 hours (7-9am). and no later than 9 AM bring them in. Feed horse hay at night, no alfalfa.

Biochemist’s notes: We started Midnight on a basic program to clean up his diet and help him detox and help him with hind gut acidity associated with hives to get him stabilized. Owner relates that she does not want him to have to live on steroids for the rest of his life as the vet relayed to her, as his quality of life would be not worth living. After stabilizing his hind gut for hives with Nutrient Buffer HG, we switched the supplement to Untie® to reduce inflammation, support basal metabolism and support detox of the heavy metals that were causing his problems. We later added Xenodetox® to clear his liver and facilitate detox, with Nutrient Buffer® liquid to address excess acidity that commonly goes with detox of acid toxins.

-July 24th, 2014 - Today Midnight has most of his hair grown back and his coat is smoother most everywhere on his body & legs.

-Oct. 1st - Midnight has been getting 4 ½ cups of Equine Plus Feed twice a day with Nutrient Buffer® and Nutrient Buffer® H/G and Organic Iodine since Aug.

-October 7th - He still has bumps on his back and belly and back legs and a some on the rest of his body. There aren’t any patches of hair missing except a little around his face. He is very energetic and gallops out of the gate, and has a beautiful coat, plenty of energy. Midnight is growing hair all over. Legs without inflammation and he is spunkier. Stopped the Xenodetox® to see if he would hold. Stopped the Nutrient Buffer® H/G and began Untie® to further support compromised basal metabolism through the winter.

2015

Owner’s notes:

-Jan. 28, 2015 Owner’s notes:- “AM 7:00 noticed pointed scabs or bumps pushing hair out—all areas, sensitive when brushed, especially forehead and back (welt-like look)- called Linsey, put back on Xenodetox® and increased the organic iodine.”

-May 13, 2015 sending email to Linsey McLean at gmail w/attachment on “Midnight’s progress report.” Discussed on the phone how I was grateful for a friend of mine, Rita Greslin, to have told me about a biochemist that may be able to help my horse. Linsey came out and evaluated Midnight who had been taken to the Vet and put on drugs that included steroids to take care of inflammation. A few of my family members, a few friends and my farrier thought that I had tried my very best to keep this horse healthy but said he needed to be put down since he was suffering so. I was thankful for them (the Vets) also because he was on death’s door but as the month went on I did not want my horse to be dependent on drugs to keep him alive with that kind of quality of life. Linsey saved the day with the Vita Royal Products and scheduled the few drugs left to discontinue, he has come a long way, almost full circle in (May 24th ) of 2014 to be a well adjusted healthy horse without drugs or chemicals of any kind now. He is very energetic and gallops out of the gate each AM when let out. He likes his companion horses and gets out of the way of the mare, who is very much the boss. He has always been my very gentle giant with a very agreeable disposition and is a comic by picking up his feed pan and tossing it. He just passed his 18th birthday!”

Biochemist’s notes: This horse was the absolute worst I have ever seen. He had 1/2 to 3/4 in crusts all over his body, even his ears and groin. Legs were swollen and he did not want to move. He hurt everywhere. Diagnosed with Pemphigus foliaceus, an autoimmune disease thought to be incurable by conventional methods. The only choices for conventional therapy were high doses of steroids for life or euthanasia - which many owners opt for. This owner loved this horse immensely and wanted to try an alternative route.

His history was the he had spent considerable time living next to a known contaminated river draining old mining sites, so we did a hair analysis on him to scan for heavy metals and nutritional minerals. His results showed that he nearly “glowed in the dark” with metals, and some were radioactive as well. We started with a balanced diet with Equine Plus® high protein feed with added rolled oat groats for a carb source and grass hay or grass pasture, Nutrient Buffer® liquid and Nutrient Buffer® H/G to heal his hind gut, Organic iodine to support his thyroid and skin. Then we switched to Untie® as the supplement, along with Xenodetox® and liquid Nutrient Buffer® to help with upper gastric acidity that commonly goes with detox of metals. He shed out all that long, greasy, wavy Cushingoid hair, along with the crusty, greasy and sometimes bloody skin eruptions shortly after. His skin looked healthy underneath, however he went completely bald but with clean and healthy skin. The new hair grew in nicely, so we stopped the supplements and went with a maintenance program of equine Plus hi protein feed. Then with change in weather, he erupted somewhat again but nowhere near how severe he was initially. We added Xenodetox® back in to aid his liver in eliminating the metals, and Untie® for an anti inflammatory effect and to support basal metabolism and thyroid. He responded very well and today his coat and his health is better than it was when she purchased him she says. We will continue to use Untie®, Nutrient Buffer® liquid and Xenodetox® as needed to keep him in good health.