Ballantrae Animal Hospital-Homeopathic

BALLANTRAE ANIMAL HOSPITAL

..... a Wellness Centre for your Pet

905-640-6809

Our goal is to maintain health in companion animals through physical, mental and emotional well being.

Whether you are already interested in, or eager to learn more about Homeopathic Medicine, the following article will be of interest to you.

HOMEOPATHY

Margaret A. Hacking D.V.M.

Homeopathic remedies are used as treatments in a healing modality known as vibrational medicine. Vibrational medicine exerts it's influence on vibrational or energy imbalances in the body. Modern day quantum physics has proven that all matter is composed of energy vibrating at different frequencies. This discovery has allowed a clearer understanding of how many non-conventional treatments work.

The energy in a healthy body and mind is in perfect balance and harmony. Imbalance and disharmony we call disease. The physical body attempts to restore balance and remove disease and in doing so produces symptoms. Vibrational medicine does not consider these symptoms as the disease itself and therefore to be removed, but rather evidence of attempted cure and therefore to be assisted. Vibrational medicine treats the energy field not the symptoms.

Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, understood this concept almost 200 years ago. Physicians of his time were using violent treatments such as mercury, arsenic and bloodletting that further weakened the patient. Hahnemann searched for gentler treatments. He discovered that by diluting medicinal substances he was able to cure patients more effectively. He also discovered that the symptoms cured by a highly diluted substance were the same symptoms produced in a healthy individual who took the undiluted substance. This he called the Law of Similars or "Like Cures Like". For example, a healthy individual who was poisoned with arsenic might develop diarrhea, thirst and restlessness. Highly diluted arsenic could cure a person sick with diarrhea, thirst and restlessness. In order to determine which substances would cure which symptoms, healthy individuals would take a substance and record their symptoms - physical, mental and emotional. These were called Provings.

The result of all these Provings on numerous herbs, minerals and body substances was a vast array of symptoms (called a symptom picture) for each substance. These were organized into a Materia Medica that listed each substance, or remedy, alphabetically and gave the various symptoms that had been proven listed under various body parts.

There are currently over 2000 recognized remedies. The task of matching a patient's symptom picture to the symptom picture of a particular remedy is a time consuming and difficult one, but therein lays the key to successful treatment with homeopathic remedies.

In Hahnemann's day Repertories, a kind of index, were devised that listed various symptoms in various body parts and the remedies associated with them. For example, under the Mouth section one would look up Ulcers and find 69 remedies listed. Under Ulcers are listed various mouth parts - Tongue has 50 remedies. Under Tongue are sub categories - Edges has 14 remedies. Kent's Repertory has 1172 pages. Fortunately there are now sophisticated computer programs that greatly assist the search for the best remedy.

The remedy picture must match the symptom picture very closely for successful treatment. It is speculated that remedies work by displacing the existing disease with a medicinal disease that matches it at the energy level. This allows the body's "vital force" or energy field to rebalance with the disease temporarily out of commission. Remedies are usually repeated as the disease symptoms resurface until finally balance is restored.

POTENCY

Potency refers to the degree of dilution of a remedy. Most common are centesimal dilutions. an original "tincture" is made of the substance. One drop of a tincture is added to 99 drops of an alcohol solution. This is a 1c potency. This solution is "potentized" by repeated agitation. One drop of this solution is added to 99 drops of alcohol solution. This makes a 2 c potency. When 12 c is reached there are no molecules remaining of the original substance. The greater the dilution the higher the potency or strength of action of the remedy. Common potencies that are available are 6c, 12c, 200c, 1M (1000c)10M, 50M, and CM .

ACUTE VS. CHRONIC

Homeopathic remedies are used in two ways - acute prescribing and chronic prescribing.

Acute situations are those in which either the cause of the condition is external or there is an acute flare-up of a chronic condition. Examples of external causes include injuries of all kinds, insect bites, poisonings or emotional trauma.

In cases of acute flare-ups the symptom is a result of the vital force attempting to correct an underlying imbalance or disease. These symptoms usually involve inflammation such as a skin rash, diarrhea or inflamed ears with no external cause. The acute symptom is treated to give the animal relief until the disease state can be treated with chronic prescribing.

Chronic prescribing is a very complex system of medicine that requires much study and practical application to develop an understanding of both the disease process and the process that the body goes through in the quest for cure. It should be left to those trained in classical homeopathy.

STORAGE AND ADMINISTRATION

Heat, strong electrical currents and some strong odors can inactivate homeopathic remedies. They must not be stored in a refrigerator or in a bathroom cabinet that contains cough medicines or perfumes. Stored correctly they will stay potent forever.

The remedies are available as liquids or pellets. The liquid can be dropped directly onto the animal's gums or diluted in water and given with a dropper. The pellets can be dropped onto the tongue.

Unlike conventional drugs, homeopathic remedies do not have an increased effect if more is given. It is the potency, or degree of dilution that determines the strength of the effect. Dosage, therefore, is not crucial. Generally, three to ten drops or pellets are given depending on the size of the animal. It is impossible to overdose.

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Document Maintained by B. Brown