About this Blog

Meet my very 1st horse, Lazarus.
I couldn't wait for Santa anymore or ask one more time for a pony for my bday (after age 30 it got embarrassing). I took matters in my own hands and I finally decided to pick a pony that needed a new home. Laz found me as I contemplated with this idea. He was sweet yet very sassy, fresh off the track, Thoroughbred (OTTB).
Join us for our re-training, rehabbing from laminitis and testing all parts of mixed up horsemanship and partnership, and luck...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Using Holistic Medicine...

Sigh.
Ok, first off...I just wish there was something in between.  I'm not 100% sold on doing only Western or only Eastern Medicine 
Maybe because I'm an Aries, I question EVERYTHING...and only trust what I see with my eyes and not what people tell me...what I do know is that I'm going with my gut.
My gut says to try something a little more gentle, something that has been around for a very, very long and something that has been proven to work with other people going through what we are going through.
So...Holistic medicine was that route to take.
I just couldn't get comfortable with certain vaccines that came only as a tri-medicine form (EEE/WEE/Tetanus for example) to administer to Lazarus.  I can't run the risk of his laminitis returning or setting him back with a typical vaccine.  That being said, I didn't want to leave him unprotected against the EEE which has been showing up in our State of Michigan.  
So...I purchased a nosode of EEE and gave him his first dose on Sunday.
He seems totally fine (knocking on a forest of wood!) and he'll get 2 doses a month until frost for this.

So, let me back up.  
Last Tuesday evening I met with a lady that many of my horse friends (including Cliff) use.  Her name is Sue and she is a Homeopathic Equestrian Care Consultant.  What does that mean? To me it means another source of care for Laz, that explores more into the holistic world.  It's micro nutrition used to stimulate and strengthen the body's own natural ability to heal itself.  I think it's a good balance along with normal vet care, and in this case, offers me options to treatment for Laz, who seems to react strongly to medicine.  I did talk to a different young vet who offered me some great insight. She is a MSU Vet and said she's intrigued by holistic treatment as an option, and supports it via using Sue, but offers normal vet care when needed.  I'm hanging on her number in case we choose to switch to her.  I like the option of having a vet that is open and clear on what I'm doing, instead of against it because they aren't willing to hear/learn about it.
So back to Sue.
For $55 she came out and did a 2 hour check of Laz (all external, no bloodwork) and talked to me and listened to our story.  She thought he looked good, bright eyes, good coat/skin/hair.  It was CRAZY windy so he was UP UP UP and she was like "is he always this nervous?" but on windy days, yes. 
She gave us all the goodies shown below to aid in his healing, and we may stay on some for longer, or switch it out for new versions.  It seems with some of these 'meds' they can help many issues and some are needed for beginning, or for a cleanse and not long term.  
What I like too, is the price point.  The meds range from $11-22 each and last up to 3 months. 

I took a close of picture of the 'dose'..they are teeny tiny little globules, or balls, about the size of 1/2 a sesame seed.
One dose is approximately 10-15 but Sue said it's ok to be a little more/less when dosing.

So, I know, some of you were interested in the details.  
I'm going to list what we have, and what it does.  PLEASE by no means, do this on your own.  I would recommend to talking to a professional and doing your own research, as we are learning as well and using Sue for our knowledge.  I haven't started any of this yet...I wanted to give Laz a chance to do well with equine dentist (check) and with the nosode of EEE (check).  

Ok, here's what is in our little apothecary:

Conium-2 x a day-for motor nerve endings in rear end
Arnica-2 x a day-for inflammation and swelling 
Ruta-2 x a day-ligament and joint stiffness
Silicia-2 x a day-for regeneration
Calc Fluor-2 x day-for hoof growth (use 2 x a day for 2 months, then 3 x a week for a month, then 3 x a month until hoof is normal)
Secale-1 x a day-for circulation restriction, to allow circulation in weakness of rear
Lycopodium-1 x a day-every 2 days-cleanses stomach, liver, spleen

Kelp-1 to 2 tablespoons, 1 x a day-helps general health; digestion, condition of skin, hooves- 12 vitamins, 60 major and trace minerals and 20 key amino acids
Celtic Sea Salt-1 teaspoon, 1 x a day-nature's electrolyte aiding in better digestion and stabilizing bodily functions and fluids

Overwhelmed yet?! 
My plan, is to give this a good try...when I'm out of the medicine, I will revise and see what I think is essential. I like the idea of the sea salt and kelp..and possibly the Arnica
We'll see.........I hope for good luck with this and above all, for Laz to continue to feel healthy and grow strong.  I also hope that this will build his immunity up so he won't react to medicine so adversely in the future, if/when he needs it.  
Also, Sue works with dogs! So Mason may be put on some holistic options to help him out.  She thought his thyroid was goofy which is quite interesting because as a puppy, he got really sick with demodex and the vet back then, told me that he could have a screwy thyroid...so we'll see.  She also recommended stopping the use of vaccines (other than rabies) because many of them cause tumors, which he has a couple lumps already on his rib cage. 
Again, I feel the need to say...I'm not selling holistic as the only option.  I don't have an 'easy keeper' horse and I have to find alternative solutions and second guess what goes into his body from what happened to him last Fall.  I'm stepping into this direction and if it works for us, GREAT...if not, I'm still learning.  All I know is that I feel better about this treatment for US.  I want to write about it in case someone out there finds themselves in a similar situation as we are in.  

9 comments:

  1. Remember: A lot of herbal/homeopathic supplements take a long time to come into effect (try 2 months or more) because they actually cleans/rid the body of toxins rather than mask the symptoms like a lot of other meds do. Most people give up on them right away.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is awesome! I love learning about new things like this. I definitely want to continue hearing what you guys learn through all this :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it's great you're doing everything you can for Laz. I agree with Sydney that from what I understand, holistic treatments can take much longer to see results than what we're used to with conventional treatments. I tried the holistic route about 5 years ago with our Golden Lebowski who had horrible hotspots; I wasn't sold on the treatments the holistic vet recommended after trying them, but neither was I ready to sentence him to a life of steroids to treat his issues. I've been successful with him using a little bit of holistic and a little bit of conventional medicine:) Maybe not what some would chose but I think I'm doing the right thing for my dog and keeping him happy and healthy the best way I can.
    TRUST YOUR GUT. Of course we're not vets but we do know our animals:) Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for posting this! I was interested to read what the holistic lady had to say about Laz. And, wow, her rates are very reasonable, as is the price of the medicines. How unusual!

    It's funny, a while ago I was doing a big health kick from reading the book "You Are What You Eat" (written by a British holistic nutritionist who also has a TV show on the BBC by the same name) and I took blue-green algae pills and silica as part of my regime. I took quite a few supplements and I definitely think that they helped me. Hope Laz's apothecary (love that word, btw!) has the same effect. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. First...Kristen you rock for being open to new ways of thinking/approaching Laz's care. What was said about holistic/homeopathic approach is true, it does take some time, but remember the imbalance did not happen over night either. Better to go slowly to balance then to shock the system with a sudden change.

    I'm looking at coming your way in October & would love to give Laz his bodywork then. We are looking at the weekend of the 11th or 18th, will either of those work for you?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the advice/comments. I guess I didn't know it takes a while with Holistic..good to know, so yes I plan on giving it a solid shot. I just want to be careful that what I'm doing isn't throwing money away. Hopefully, I will see changes in Laz slowly, and for the better :)

    Tmrparr-you tell me-I'll be available!!!!!!!! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for this!!!!!!!!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm so glad you are sharing this and I'm learning so much!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I know how you feel. Trying something new (especially when it affects our beloved animals) is so scary and difficult. I felt that way when I took my dogs off of dog food. I stopped using annual vaccines years ago and I have also kept all of my horses barefoot, so I've been slowly converting I think for a while lol. Baby steps. :) I would love to work with a holistic vet, but we don't have any around here. Good luck with Laz! I think it's great that you're exploring the holistic route with him. It's horses like Laz that force people to ask questions about things like vaccines that we used to just do because it was the thing to do.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Update-Sue works with out of state horses....so totally up to you if you feel comfortable or not discussing options over the phone.
    Laz is spitting out his meds but after talking to Sue, I think it's b/c of the Celtic salt which she says, the animals are a good indicator of what they need. She said to save it until winter, and to dose out meds w/o salt or kelp..add in kelp slowly to see if it's that, and get watching him. Oh Laz! :)

    ReplyDelete