PATIENT INFORMATION
C. Edgar Sheaffer, VMD
Bonnie M Sheaffer, RN
November, 2009
There are questions to be asked before one takes any drug - whether it
be chemical or homeopathic. The drug company urges the patient to speak
with their doctor and their pharmacist about a new pharmaceutical
compound. In a time when side affects are numerous and sometimes fatal,
such precautions are necessary. Let us use the same line of queries and
examine the answers if homeopathic medicine had been the subject instead
of a new allopathic drug.
What is HOMEOPATHY?
It is a system of medicine that uses natural substances for the treatment
of human and animal patients. The natural substance is diluted and
succussed with water (and grain alcohol) serially in manufacturing,
according to a process initiated by Samuel Hahnemann, MD.
What should I know about any interaction with chemical drugs?
Chemical (allopathic) drugs impact the patient both adults and children on a
physical plane; homeopathic medicines act on an energy plane. You could
also say that an allopathic drug strikes the patient like a heavy hammer,
while a homeopathic medicine strikes the patient like a feather. A hammer
can destroy a feather, but the reverse is not true.
Despite this contrast in action, a homeopathic medicine may
still be helpful to a patient receiving allopathic drugs. In one case, the
allopathic physician had prescribed two antibiotics for infection, a drug for
pain, and another drug for sedation, but the gentleman continued to suffer
with fever, nausea, diarrhea, incontinence and dizziness. After the first dose
of homeopathic Pyrogenium, he began to experience improvement. Very
quickly he was able to discontinue the sedative and the drug for pain. Within
days his physician, impressed with his recovery allowed this man to stop
antibiotics as well.
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Who regulates HOMEOPATHY?
The FDA was created by an act of congress in 1938. The resulting agency’s
purpose was to oversee and regulate food and drugs in the USA.
Homeopathy is not food and therefore is characterized as a drug. Pharmacies
that manufacture homeopathic medications are closely inspected by FDA
officials.
Every approved homeopathic medicine is included in the Homeopathic
Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS. Monographs describe in detail
every substance and how the medicine is to be manufactured. Strict
guidelines are adhered to by any pharmacy that manufactures according to
HPUS. Both physician and patient can have confidence that the medicine in
the vial measures up to certain standards.
Who is qualified to prescribe HOMEOPATHY?
The course of homeopathic study is post graduate for pharmacists,
medical doctors, osteopaths, nurse practitioners and veterinarians.
Naturopathic physicians learn homeopathy as a portion of the regular
curriculum, and like the other professions will study homeopathy after
graduation to gain further knowledge.
Who should not use HOMEOPATHY?
Those who are no longer breathing and whose body has assumed room
temperature probably will not benefit from homeopathic medicine.
Actually, every living person and every living animal can be helped by the
correct homeopathic medicine.
Surgical candidates and pregnant women should consult their physician
before beginning to take homeopathic or allopathic medications. Every
living person and every living animal can be helped by the correct
homeopathic prescription even babes in the womb or who are nursing.
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What should I tell my doctor?
Tell him/her that you took homeopathic medicine for your current difficulty
and that your symptoms have disappeared. Open minded physicians and
veterinarians that are truly interested in healthy patients probably should be
told about your experience with homeopathy. If your doctor is a “died-in-the
wool” allopath, use your best judgment without getting into an argument.
How should I take HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE?
Take the medicine according to the label recommendations or on the
direction of your holistic doctor.
If I take too many homeopathic pellets or tablets, what should I do?
Do not call the poison control center! Homeopathic meds are safe and you
cannot overdose in the same way one can overdose with chemical drugs.
Occasionally, a child will eat an entire bottle of homeopathic medicine at
one time. If there is a response in the child, it would be similar to eating too
much candy or desert.
What should I avoid while taking HOMEOPATHY?
This is a good question because certain foods, beverages, and herbs can
interfere with the action of homeopathy: Caffeinated drinks, especially
coffee and soft drinks; breath mints, toothpaste, mouthwash, minted deserts;
strong smelling herbs and liniments.
How do I store HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES?
Where would you keep a baby? Store the medicines in a cabinet as far from
electro-magnetic fields as possible. Do not store in a cabinet with camphor,
menthol, eucalyptus, or any strong smelling herbs.
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I am scheduled for surgery. Should I stop taking HOMEOPATHIC
MEDICINES?
In general it is good to stop the homeopathic prescription as well as certain
nutriceuticals two weeks before the surgery date. For example, Hypericum
appears to block the effect of local anesthesia like lidocaine. Never take
Hypericum before dental appointments.
Supplements like cod liver oil and vitamin E increase blood clotting time
and should be discontinued for at least two weeks before any surgical
procedure.
After surgery homeopathic medicine really shines. Arnica Montana
aids in reducing bleeding and swelling. Hypericum helps to relieve pain in
tissues rich in nerves like fingers, toes, and the mouth. Staphysagria has
been historically prescribed for post op incision pain.
For lactating mothers and milk producing animals, are there
withdrawal times for the milk when the animal is being treated with
HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE?
Despite numerous tests for evidence of homeopathic medicines in milk, no
residues have ever been found. One trial in dairy cattle dosed at ten times,
one-hundred times, and 1000 times of that which is recommended and
normally given. No residues of the homeopathic medication could be
detected in the milk.
Two thousand and nine has been one of the wettest years recorded from
the northeast to the deep south. What answers does homeopathy have
for frequent foot infections in large and small animals?
Moisture loving bacteria and fungi proliferate when weather conditions are
continually wet. Outdoor livestock should have shelter that allows the haircoat and feet to dry. Thrush, foot rot and hoof warts are the result when
animals are forced to stand in the mud and muck of unhygienic conditions.
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The homeopathic medicines Hepar sulph, Graphites, Pyrogenium, and
Kreosotum are of great value to resist the organisms causing pododermatitis
(foot and hoof infections). One sheep farmer reported that lameness in the
flock cleared in a few days after they began medicating the drinking water
with Kreosotum 30C. A kennel cleared pad infections in dogs by dosing
with Pyrogenium 200C three times for three days.
Can I have confidence in homeopathic medicines?
When the FDA licensed homeopathic pharmacy manufactures Kreosotum
30C or Pyrogenium 200C, the prescriber and the animal owner can be
assured that what is in the bottle is the same as that which is on the label.
There are 2000 different homeopathic medications; if the patient is not
improved after several days, the prescriber should select a different
homeopathic medication.
Submitted by: C. Edgar Sheaffer, VMD
Bonnie M. Sheaffer, RN