The photo is of my morning wheatgrass shot. I get into some interesting conversations. I believe a lot of people feel that things are all or nothing. We choose a path, then perhaps we get a bit comfortable and get stodgy about it. Because we are all here to help each other, I feel the mind should remain open and our heart compassionate because none of us are perfect beings. No matter where we are in our years or schooling, we are always learning if we are moving forward.In speaking with someone the other day in the healthcare field, I mentioned a herb and the immediate retort was 'Oh, I don't know anything about that if it's not science-based, it doesn't exist for me. everything must be proven by science.' I gently explained to this individual that pharmaceuticals originated from the plant kingdom. Science in fact, did not invent them. What science has since done, and I disagree with, is synthesized and added chemicals and fillers for profit margins and patents and so, therefore, is mostly all about the money now, the big Pharma Machine. Go to any doctor or vet, and just watch. All supplements and original medicines came from plants. Further, the practice of medicine did not originally require a formal degree. When I began my career in telecommunications, there were no degrees in it. Now there are. As we learn we find a way to formalize things, teach them and a way to make money at it too. I suggested that rather than judge harshly, we consider that plants are the origin and we had the alternatives, homeopathy and Chinese modalities far longer than we ever had allopathic medicine. I suggested a good marriage between Western Medicine and the 'alternative' or as I see them, the complementary modalities. There is absolutely a time and a place for all of it because they can complement and augment each or be used individually depending on the situation and condition.
Holistic Medicine
We hear a lot about holistic medicine. Holistic medicine treats the entire patient, believing a dysfunction in one area affects the whole person/animal, not just that one area of the body or mind. I like this approach because it broadens the scope to look at all things related, perhaps the diet, for example, and treats the entire being as a whole. I feel this creates wellness at the core and resilience. Rather than treating just symptoms, we take a look at what's happening and find out why and how we may apply treatment for whole healing.
Alternative Medicine
Now, upfront, I find this term riotous! "Alternative Medicine" refers to alternative medical systems other than allopathic or traditional (conventional) western medicine. What's funny about this is the fact that these include traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Herbalism and Floral Essences which have been around ages longer.Homeopathy
This controversial 250 yar old alternative medicine has been around since the late 18th century. A biologist, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann created it on the premise that like cures like. Using minute quantities of a substance that would, in larger quantities, make a well individual produce the same symptoms, homeopathy provides a wee bit (the poison is in the dose as they say) to effectively rebalance the body. Like the holistic approach discussed earlier, Dr. Hahnemann believed the body needed to be treated as a whole unit so we work with the constitution of it. I use homeopathy on my dog as well as the whole family. While the substances in them can be tiny, the believe this man had was that substances, when diluted, can become far more potent.
Western Medicine
Most of us are very familiar. The standout here is in emergency work, saving lives in crisis. (See my Canine Bloat story) The downside is that I don't believe we need all the shots and pills big pharma is pushing. All the way around, there needs to be far more focus on Hippocrates' truth, which is to let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be food. We are all responsible for our health so if we aren't eating correctly a pill is not going to be magic. Sure, it may help lower your cholesterol but at what cost? So much of pharmaceuticals are toxic. And recently, I was informed that shots, both human animal and for our pets, contain toxins such as mercury in them! Yeah, maybe skip that flu shot!
I am 57 and take no pharmaceutical drugs. We don't give our fur babies annual shots. And what got me on the path of NOT giving annual shots was actually Hillside Vet, where we took Ting kitty. Ting had lost her owner and my mother adopted her. As she lived in an apartment complex, they insisted she be up to date on all shots. While she had actually been recently vaccinated, she came with no proof. A vet my mother took her to, gave her the shots, all at once, right between the shoulder blades where all shots used to be administered (and where I remembered them being given as well). Ting became gravely ill. And she was getting not one jot better at Hillside on IV fluids, refusing to eat and stuck in a cage costing us quite a pretty penny each day. I asked to take the cat to my home. I gave her love, so much love and coaxed her to eat. She finally recovered but the thing is, during this deluge of illness, the vet noted he was shocked that Ting was administered shots between her shoulder blades, at that neck scruff area and I asked why. He explained: 'We give the shots always in the rear leg now. When we give shots, and the animal gets cancer from them, then there's not much that can be done. However, if you give the shots, as we do now, in the rear leg, then you can amputate the leg. And I just heard myself ask why on earth are we giving shots when we know they cause cancer. This is when I began self-education about better more natural healing ways for our pets and discovered Dr. Martin Golstein The Nature Of Animal Healing which I now use as one of my references. If we know something is bad, we should stop and yet we don't. The practice of medicine is called a practice because we are supposed to be learning every day and applying that new knowledge, incorporating it into what we do in efforts to cause no harm. While I agree there might be an emergency situation where you take something for a few days, etc, I encourage you to look at your lifestyle and that of your pets and determine in a more holistic way what is best. See my other posts on pet food. Thank you for reading and I appreciate your comments.
Most of us are very familiar. The standout here is in emergency work, saving lives in crisis. (See my Canine Bloat story) The downside is that I don't believe we need all the shots and pills big pharma is pushing. All the way around, there needs to be far more focus on Hippocrates' truth, which is to let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be food. We are all responsible for our health so if we aren't eating correctly a pill is not going to be magic. Sure, it may help lower your cholesterol but at what cost? So much of pharmaceuticals are toxic. And recently, I was informed that shots, both human animal and for our pets, contain toxins such as mercury in them! Yeah, maybe skip that flu shot!
I am 57 and take no pharmaceutical drugs. We don't give our fur babies annual shots. And what got me on the path of NOT giving annual shots was actually Hillside Vet, where we took Ting kitty. Ting had lost her owner and my mother adopted her. As she lived in an apartment complex, they insisted she be up to date on all shots. While she had actually been recently vaccinated, she came with no proof. A vet my mother took her to, gave her the shots, all at once, right between the shoulder blades where all shots used to be administered (and where I remembered them being given as well). Ting became gravely ill. And she was getting not one jot better at Hillside on IV fluids, refusing to eat and stuck in a cage costing us quite a pretty penny each day. I asked to take the cat to my home. I gave her love, so much love and coaxed her to eat. She finally recovered but the thing is, during this deluge of illness, the vet noted he was shocked that Ting was administered shots between her shoulder blades, at that neck scruff area and I asked why. He explained: 'We give the shots always in the rear leg now. When we give shots, and the animal gets cancer from them, then there's not much that can be done. However, if you give the shots, as we do now, in the rear leg, then you can amputate the leg. And I just heard myself ask why on earth are we giving shots when we know they cause cancer. This is when I began self-education about better more natural healing ways for our pets and discovered Dr. Martin Golstein The Nature Of Animal Healing which I now use as one of my references. If we know something is bad, we should stop and yet we don't. The practice of medicine is called a practice because we are supposed to be learning every day and applying that new knowledge, incorporating it into what we do in efforts to cause no harm. While I agree there might be an emergency situation where you take something for a few days, etc, I encourage you to look at your lifestyle and that of your pets and determine in a more holistic way what is best. See my other posts on pet food. Thank you for reading and I appreciate your comments.
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