In a message dated 5/27/2003 10:58:38 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
 
>I'm curious as to why you would try to "medicate" an animal before
>allowing the natural grief process to run its course (unless I
>misunderstood your post).  I'm all for medicating when it's called for
>(I'm on medication for depression myself, so I understand the importance
>of having that option available).  I'm just not sure I agree with going
>for a medicinal remedy in an animal before all the non-medicinal
>remedies have been exhausted.  Grief is a natural process, and I don't
>believe it serves anyone (animal or human) to cut it short.
 
Hello Mary ~
 
I have read your magazine and am a bit familiar it.  This is such a good
question and someone else asked this question a few months ago.  I gave
out a series of posts on these remedies in order for folks to have a
background in natural medicine and flower remedies to better understand
how different they are.  They do not "medicate."  They do not "cut
short" any grief process.  They do "assist and adjust."  This is a big
difference .  They do not in any way "mask" or "bypass" grief or
depression or anger or distress, etc.  They make it so that an animal
can face the distress, but with coping mechanisms.
 
When Dr. Edward Bach discovered these remedies, his personal mandate
was to find a means of helping illness that was first of all, safe.  He
believed that much of illness is the result of one's mental condition
(Norman Cousins writes of this).  If he could find a way of easing the
negative emotional conditions it might lead the way to recovery.  Many
of the cases I treat have layer upon layer of negatives, so we are
constantly changing and reformulating a patient's remedy.  It may take a
year or more for one to overcome his or her illness, but they can always
cope better with a flower remedy.  So why suffer when one can help with
coping mechanisms.
 
When I first studied these delicate means of recovery I was skeptical.
Then one of the owners of The Athena List (where I am faculty herbalist),
at www.medicinegarden.com, began posting about her use of these remedies,
and I got a first hand look.  Her section on flower essences at this site
is so educational.  Her first mention of them for animals was the use of
Rescue Remedy on her horse.  Then I joined The Flower Essence Society in
California and found a whole section of their repertory dedicated to
pets.  I joined their research program over a year ago and here at the
farm we grow our own flowers and conduct our own provings.  A proving
is a method whereby an essence is proved to work, and listed in a huge
repertory.  It would take up a lot of list space to repeat the
information I gave out when I joined the FML last year so I hope it is
in the archives.  Better yet, to become familiar with the use of essences
you can go to The Flower Essence Society at www.floweressences.com.
That's why I try to give websites and references, so that if one is not
familiar with a subject in the natural medicine world they can become so.
My mission is to educate on the safety and use of alternative disciplines
because I believe it would be so sad if one just dismissed a kind of
therapy because they have not become familiar with it.
 
When you say you are not a big fan of herbs, that is to negate a whole
field that gave birth to many of our allopathic medicines that exist
today.  I can respect that you have an opinion and not try to change your
mind.  For others, I have learned, however, that herbal plants are much
safer than allopathic or AMA medicines in the pharmacy today.  Many do
not know that herbs contain the safe "buffering agents" that exist in
the whole plant to assist with some of the dangerous "side-effects" that
we get when chemistry extracts a certain constituent out for medical
purposes.  For instance I have some patients who cannot take aspirin, but
they can take a tincture or a tea of White Willow Bark which contains
salicylic acid.  This is the ingredient extracted from the plant to make
aspirin.  However the "buffering agents" in the plant are left behind,
so they get stomach upsets as a massive "side effect."  Herbs are readily
recognized internally and absorbed more quickly than pharmaceuticals,
while pharmaceutical residues can sit in the liver and kidney for years,
herbal residues do not.  How do we know this?  Because when we do
detoxification and cleansing treatments and the body throws off excess
toxins, the skin gets sweaty and smells very medicinal.  I would consider
AMA medicine much more dangerous than herbal any day.  When I worked in
an AMA pharmacy we'd get lists each week of medicines to pull from the
shelves as classified "unsafe."  This is still kept very quiet, but I
still get the updates.
 
Mary, since you are in the unique position of having a magazine that can
disseminate information, maybe doing some research in this field would be
of interest to you.  Just a thought.
 
A very interesting book to have, if you have any kind of pet, is "Herbs
for Pets."  It's written by a friend of mine from the Homeopathy list,
Mary Wulff-Tilford.  It's ISBN # is 1-889540-46-3.
 
Warmly ~
Mary L. Conley, ND, Herbalist
Conley Farm Organic Herbs
Online Classes
Private Consultations
[Posted in FML issue 4161]