Homeopathy And A Horse: A Little Magic And A Leap Of Faith 2

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What Would Hippocrates and Hahnemann Think About Modern Medicine?

In conventional medicine, where doctors are sworn to obey the Hippocratic oath that includes the mandate do no harm, the suppression of symptoms is the norm, not the stimulation of healing.

Perhaps I was able to open myself up to the possibilities of homeopathy because I was daily in my job reading about the side effects of the drugs that I was selling, the drugs that needed to be used chronically because they were not curing the patients but merely suppressing symptoms. The side effects then needed a new prescription for a pill to suppress the side effect.

If you were lucky enough, you sold a drug that took care of that side effect in addition to the primary drug.

I found it amusing from the start of my career that the majority of these drugs had a statement in their prescribing information that the method of action of the drug was unknown. Note to self: if my doctor does not understand how this drug is acting upon my body, how can he or she understand the long-term effects of it on the various systems in my body?

Ripples In Pools, Footprints On Sand

Interestingly enough, one reason that homeopathy is ridiculed is that it is not completely understood. Most people are not prepared for an understanding of energy footprints and the fact that the higher potencies of remedies are actually thought to have none of the original material in them.

The poet in me grasps onto that concept as the ripples left in a pool of water from a stone breaking its surface, or the footprints left on a beach in the wet sand.

The Placebo Effect

If you read some of the negative commentary about homeopathy, you will also find that the placebo effect is frequently given as a reason to explain why homeopathy works. There is, mind you, very often a huge placebo effect in the world of pharmaceutical drugs, too, that tends to be ignored when it is convenient. When I was selling a migraine medication, for example, some of the data showed that 30-40% of patients given the placebo would be relieved of their migraine. (At $15 a pill, I’ll take the placebo to try first, please).

Image from ausphoto – heritagefutures

Not understanding the mechanism of action of a drug is apparently still better than attributing healing to a placebo effect, especially when you have spent millions of dollars bringing this drug to market and studying it on, say, 200 people, giving you real data and not quantum physics magic. The results of the studies can then be extrapolated onto the population at large because the drug will have powerful approval, marketing, and acceptance by the general public.

Besides, you cannot patent homeopathic remedies and energetic footprints.

I find myself thinking that even if the placebo effect is alive and well in both homeopathy and the world of pharmaceutical drugs, it is not so terrible a thing if people are getting well by it. It also speaks powerfully to the concept of the mind in the healing process.

However, how does one then explain the power of homeopathy when used on my horse or other animals? I would have had to communicate to my horse that I was giving her something to help her get well. This is perhaps not too terribly far-fetched, but it is still quite a stretch – even for me.

Racing To Labor: It Gets Personal Again

Since that first dramatic encounter with homeopathy and my horse, I have used homeopathic remedies on myself and on my family with great success. An unforgettable example of the power of homeopathy when correctly dosed and linked to a person’s physical, emotional, and mental symptoms came when I was actually induced for labor with my first child by my naturopathic doctor. I was two weeks overdue, and within 30 seconds of being given a remedy my water broke, right then and there on the chair I was sitting on when answering the questions to determine the correct remedy.

As a side note, the remedy was one based on a material that used to be given to race horses to make them run faster. How appropriate; like heals like, and the doctor was comparing me to a horse.

This Law of Similars would reveal itself to me years later with my horse again, this time even more intricately involving me, but that is another story for another day.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read part one.

Resources For More Information

To find a veterinarian trained in homeopathy, go to the AHVMA

National Center for Homeopathy
National Institutes of Health Center for Complementary And Alternative Medicine

Additionally, two superb books for learning about homeopathy (and much more) are Dr. Martin Goldstein’s The Nature of Animal Healing and Dr. Mary Brennan’s book Complete Holistic Care And Healing for Horses.