My Personal Holistic Philosophy
The following six paragraphs make up an introductory letter given to my first-time holistic medicine clients.
If you are reading this letter it is because you are a pet owner who desires holistic health care for your pet. Your ideas on what constitutes holistic health care may differ markedly from the next client I see while at the same time.your pet's particular health problem may dictate the need for a specific form of holistic health care. Furthermore, personal experiences with your own health may influence your preference for a particular holistic modality. You may be a person who has been interested in holistic medicine for many years or a person who has just recently been introduced to holistic health concepts. You may be a person who is devotedly holistic and wants nothing but "natural remedies" or you may be a person who is interested in exploring the best of both worlds. In order for me to better satisfy your needs and provide the type of health care you want, I need to know who you are but it is also very important that you understand who I am.
Because this is the first time we will be meeting I want you to know something about my philosophy on holistic veterinary health care. I want you to have this information so that you can better communicate to me your own personal holistic health orientation and the type of holistic care your are looking for. I practice what has been termed "Integrative alternative veterinary medicine" which is a combination of alternative/holistic and conventional veterinary medicine. I believe that there is great value in both health care worlds as long as we are judicious about what, when and how we combine them. First and foremost, I believe that the body's immune system has an innate intelligence that far surpasses that of any physician or veterinarian. The body's immune system when functioning properly is capable of defending itself against viruses, bacteria, and fungal infection and is capable of repairing damage done to body tissue. However, when essential nutrients are not available and when overwhelmed by a toxic environment the immune system is unable to effectively respond to disease threats. When this happens our pets suffer with infectious, allergic, inflammatory, toxic, neoplastic (cancer), degenerative and auto immune diseases.
I believe that disease is ultimately a result of one or a combination of the following factors: genetics weakness, mal-nutrition, a structural imbalance, a toxic environment and an unhealthy, stressful life style. These factors can produce a weakened or over stimulated immune system, an exhausted liver that can no longer properly detoxify the blood, an overwhelmed anti-oxidant defense system which can no longer prevent free radical damage to our tissue, and an impaired hormonal physiology which often results from a psychologically stressful environment. The bottom line is that poor nutrition and a stressful, toxic environment deplete our pet's organ system reserves slowly and insidiously until the reserves are gone and clinical disease becomes obvious. Therefore, my job is to help you prevent disease in your pet by advising you on how to provide your pet with the most wholesome, non-toxic diet available, to recommend ways to reduce the amount of environmental toxins your pet is exposed to, and to suggest ways to provide your pet with a less psychologically stressful environment. In addition, my job also involves detecting subtle evidence of depleting organ reserves through laboratory testing and physical examination.
If I discover that a disease is already present I may recommend ways to modulate the immune and inflammatory systems, support liver and kidney detoxification, supply the high levels of essential nutrients, enhance digestive system function, supplement and stimulate the anti oxidant defense system, realign the bodies physical structure, use acupuncture to correct energy imbalances and herbal remedies to deal with bacterial, viral, fungal and protozoan infections. Surgery and allopathic drugs are additional medical options that may be recommended if the situation dictates that it is in your pet's best interest.
Although I will always opt to treat the underlying cause of the problem rather than just the symptoms, I do believe that certain situations demand symptomatic relief. If I can reduce an animals pain or itchiness while at the same time addressing the underlying cause then why not make the animal comfortable. Though cortisone is a swear word around many holistic circles I believe there are times when short term cortisone therapy may be the only way to give your pet temporary relief from severe discomfort and reduce mental stress. Short term use of "alternate day" cortisone therapy can stop "self mutilation" and often break the "itch scratch cycle" just long enough to allow improved nutrition and natural remedies the time they require to encourage the immune system to respond more appropriately. The short term, judicious use of pain killing drugs may be necessary until natural remedies have corrected the underlying problem. Antibiotics may be needed if the body is challenged by an aggressive bacterial infection and the immune system is too weak to respond appropriately. In such situations antibiotic therapy can act as an important stop gap or even life saving measure that can halt an overwhelming bacterial invasion until slower acting herbal, homeopathic and nutritional therapies have had time to strengthen the immune system and reduce bacterial proliferation. The use of supplements containing "probiotic cultures" also known as the "good bacteria" can be used during such antibiotic therapy to help maintain the health and balance of the gut's normal bacterial constituents which are so important for our pet's health.
I see "integrative veterinary medicine", which incorporates the best of both allopathic and holistic medicine, as the way for me to provide your pet with optimal health care and, consequently' with the longest and healthiest life. If, after reading these paragraphs you find portions of my holistic health care philosophy unacceptable then it is very important that you discuss these concerns with me when I first come in so that we can determine if it is appropriate for us to work together.
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How Conventional and Holistic Medicine Differ
Whether we are talking about holistic veterinarians or holistic physicians they both have the same basic philosophy about how to treat illness and how to keep their patients healthy. Let me discuss these basic concepts that define the holistic health philosophy.
Holistic health care practitioners have a greater faith in the ability of the immune system to heal the body than does their conventional counterparts. Holistic practitioners readily point out that the body's immune system is a far better healer than any veterinarian or physician. They are confident that if the immune system is provided the proper nutrients and given a non polluted / non toxic environment in which to work it will be able either heal an illness or maintain a healthy state. Providing a superior well balanced diet accompanied by super green food supplements, herbs to support liver detoxification, and supplements that directly enhance the immune system are all ways holistic practitioners honors their belief that immune system support is the secret to healing or maintaining good health.
Regardless of where symptoms occur holistic health care practitioners see disease as a breakdown in the body as a whole rather than a breakdown of a particular isolated organ system. For example a pet's skin disease could be the external expression of an inflammatory problem affecting the whole body.. The dermatitis may be the only external symptom of an underlying problem caused by an intestinal tract damaged by an improper diet. The damaged intestine allows toxins to enter the blood stream and exhaust the liver's ability remove these toxins from the blood. The toxins and allergens over flowing the liver settle out in tissues throughout the body. The immune system goes on a search and destroy mission and when it finds some of these toxins in the skin it removes them through a process called inflammation, aka dermatitis. It should now be obvious that what is needed to permanently cure this dermatitis is for the diet to be changed, the damaged intestinal lining restored, the overworked liver supported and the immune system calmed.
Conventional health care practitioners see symptoms as bad and as something that they need to suppress so that the patient feels more comfortable, as quickly as possible. On the contrary, holistic health practitioners see symptoms as an indication that the body/immune system is actively trying to heal itself through the removal of toxins. They believe that suppression of these symptoms with drugs will reduce the bodies ability to eliminate toxins and actually drive the disease deeper. They want you to understand that symptoms are warning signs, wake up calls, that tell you something is wrong and that steps need to be taken to create a healthier life style. i.e. slow down, reduce stress, get more sleep, exercise more, eat better, and avoid environmental toxins and take supplements that support a healthy body. The homeopathic physicians would never use drugs or even herbs that would directly suppress diarrhea or a runny nose because they believe that these symptoms are an attempt by the body to detoxify and eliminate toxins from the body. Conventional medicine usually treats arthritis with non steroidal anti inflammatories which do nothing but reduce inflammation whereas alternative medicine will not only support joint repair with glucosamine and chondroitin but also prevent further joint damage by switching from a grain based to a meat based diet, and by adding antioxidants to the diet in order to neutralize free radicals that are attempting to further damage the joint. Because holistic veterinarians understand that many arthritic processes are a result of a "leaky gut syndrome" they take steps to repair the leaky gut and reestablish intestinal health. Holistic practitioners attempt to improve function rather than to suppress symptoms. They understand that the site of the symptoms is often not where the disease originates. For example, changing the pets diet to improve the health of the gastrointestinal tract is often the first step in treating pets with osteo-arthritis.
Most holistic veterinarians are firm supporters of feeding dogs and cats a meat based diet. A meat based diet is one that contains at least 40% meat as measured on a dry mater basis. Unfortunately 95% of all commercial dog and cat foods are grain based. When you feed a dog or cat a grain based diet you are feeding a carnivore a herbivore diet. This will ultimately produce a hyperactive immune system, an inflamed intestine and eventually a leaky gut syndrome all of which will finally result in a number of different chronic diseases such as arthritis, allergic dermatitis, and even cancer.
Many holistic veterinarians will also recommend to owners that the meat they feed their dogs and cats be fed raw. This is because cooking foods destroys many nutrients. It destroys B vitamins, enzymes, the good bacteria. Cooking also converts fatty acids from "cis" to "trans" forms which are carcinogenic. Cooking also changes the structure of amino acids to a less utilizable form.
Our leading physicist and most holistic health practitioners believe that our essence is energy not matter. Said another way, we are really "frequency" beings. The String Theory, which is the leading theory in physics that attempts to describe our physical reality, states that electrons, protons, and neutrons are not matter; they are simply congealed/condensed energy - vibrating strings of energy. Consequently, our cells are nothing more than energetic structures vibrating at specific frequencies. Coming from such a view point disease is seen as a vibrational discordance, a disharmony, disease is like a piano out of tune. When a piano is out of tune the only way to fix the problem is to have the cords of the piano adjusted so that they once again vibrate at the proper frequency such that harmony is reestablished. That is what acupuncture, homeopathy, energy healers and prayer attempts to do. Holistic doctors believe that disease starts as a breakdown (disharmony) in the energetic blue print that directs and controls the functioning of the material body. It is not the body that produces an aura or an energy field around it. It is the energy field that produces the body. A model for this type of thinking might very well be to see ourselves and our pets as ice cubes floating in a bowl of water. The water is the energy field and the ice cube is the congealed/frozen energy we call matter. If we are to keep the ice cube in a healthy frozen state, the temperature of the water must be kept at the threshold of freezing. If the vibrational frequency of the water molecules increases and the temperature goes up the ice cube will begin to melt and consequently loose it health as an ice cube.
Practitioners who see their patients as energetic beings are very likely to have a spiritual view of the world. They see all things as part of a universal whole. They see everything as connected and therefore believe that such things as intention and prayer can directly affect their patients.
Holistic practitioners try to use natural supplements, rather than drugs, to accomplish their goals. They do not, however, rule out using drugs when acute problems dictate their use. Ingesting all essential nutrients in optimum amounts during ones meals would be the ideal way to stay healthy. Because poor farming practices have depleted our top soil (and consequently our produce) of important nutrients, it is hard to get optimal nutrition from our diet. To enhance our pets diet and supply nutrients at optimal levels (much higher than minimal daily requirements) holistic veterinarian will recommend nutritional supplements. These supplements are usually given as concentrated whole foods and herbs, as opposed to isolated active ingredients found in the drugs used by conventional medicine. Because drugs are made from isolated ingredients they lack the balance of herbs or whole food supplement and, consequently, drugs are more likely to produce serious side effects. When indicated, holistic practitioners will compromise and use mega doses of isolated vitamins, minerals, enzymes, glyconutrients, amino acids, fatty acids, and antioxidants to treat disease.
Rather than relying on antibiotics to cure bacterial infections threatening your pet's health, holistic medicine relies on nutritional, herbal, and homeopathic support of the pet's own immune system. Its basic belief is that germs can only threaten a pet's health if his or her immune system does not function normally. If your pet's immune system is not functioning effectively then the use of antibiotics will only temporarily relieve the infection, and the infection will likely reoccur when the antibiotics are stopped. Switching dogs and cats from a grain based to a meat based diet and using nutritional supplements to replace any deficiencies is the first step in returning the immune system to an effective state. The second step is to minimize toxins entering the animal's body and to use nutritional supplements, herbs and homeopathic remedies to encourage the elimination of toxins already present. These two steps will establish a healthy environment in which the immune system can properly function . When the immune system is working optimally, invading bacteria will not stand a chance and antibiotics will not be necessary. Keep in mind that a properly functioning immune system is a far more intelligent healer than any veterinarian or physician.
Besides the fact that antibiotics are only a temporary bandage and often do not correct the pet's underlying problem, there are other reason to consider using nutrients, herbs or homeopathics in their place. First, the over use of antibiotics can result in the development of super bacteria which are mutant bacterial strains which have become resistant to these antibiotics. Next, antibiotics can damage the good bacteria that live in the intestines of our pets. When these beneficial bacteria are destroyed by antibiotics, the bad bacteria in the intestine have no competition and are free to overgrow, producing toxins, diarrhea and a number of other problems. Finally, it should be understood that antibiotics can be of value but only when used judiciously and in combination with immune and intestinal support.
Conventional practitioners often look at herbal therapy as though it is something used by witch doctors. They forget that many of the drugs in use today were originally isolated from plants used for healing by primitive tribes. It is important to understand that when a drug company discovers and isolates what it considers to be a plant's "active ingredient" the company then figures out how to synthesize it in the laboratory, so that it no longer needs to harvest the plant . The drug company and conventional practitioners think that isolating an active ingredient and concentrating it produces a more effective healing substance than using the whole plant. Alternative practitioners, on the other hand, believe that there is no one active ingredient and that the combination of ingredients used in whole plant therapy provides benefits that the so called "active ingredient" does not. It should also be pointed out that herbal therapy can be used to replace many drugs and with far less chance for side effects.
The value of detoxification therapy is something that is rarely considered by conventional medical practitioner. Fasting, lymphatic drainage therapy, chelation therapy, repairing the leaky gut, and supporting the liver, kidney and immune function are all methods of encouraging detoxification.
Holistic veterinarians see animal healing as a partnership between themselves and the pet owners. They view themselves as teachers and educators who give the pet owner the knowledge they will need to become a valuable member of the partnership. The holistic veterinarian can not do it alone. Optimal nutrition, a healthy environment, adequate exercise, minimal stress, . and love and companionship are all the responsibility of the pet owner. They are the foundation for good health and must accompany such holistic therapies as herbal supplements, acupuncture, homeopathy, and chiropractic if true healing is to occur. Because it is essential to the partnership that pet owners understand their pets disease, the treatment plan and the part they will play in the healing process, holistic appointments usually require more time than their conventional counterpart.
Holistic practitioners function as pet health coaches . The holistic veterinarian understands that without a well informed and committed pet owner their best efforts to heal the pet will fail. By taking a careful history, listening to the owners concerns, explaining to them the nature of their pets problem, making them aware of the diagnostic and therapeutic plan, and by giving them clear instructions as to their responsibility, the holistic practitioner engages the pet owner in the healing of their pet.
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Holistic Precepts
HEALTH
- Health goes beyond the absence of clinical symptoms of disease
- Optimal health exists when
- the functional organ reserves of the body are at their maximum
- the anti-oxidant defense system is fully functional and minimally stressed
- the immune system is strong and the inflammatory process is well balanced
- the detoxification system is fully functional
- the digestive process is working well and the intestinal lining is intact
- the beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract are strong and abundant
- The walking wounded: An outwardly healthy pet, but internally its organ functional reserves are low
- Causes of disease and aging: Genetics, malnutrition, environmental toxins, life style and stress
- Healthspan vs life span: Life span means nothing if we don't have health. We want to extend health span, not life span.
- Conventional concept: Discover disease early and treat
- Holistic concept: Discover physiological processes that are not running optimally and make changes that will strengthen the defective process.
- Maintain wellness rather than treat illness
- The immune system knows more about healing the body than any veterinarian or physician. Give it as complete a diet as possible and as unpolluted an environment and let it do its job.
- Excessive stress placed on the immune system, exhausts it and prevents it from doing its job. Environmental stress including nutrition impacts on our genetic code.
- Environmental stress = psychological, pollution, poor nutrition, unhealthy life style
- When environmental stress exceeds our genetically determined capabilities to handle it, disease occurs
- Pasteur on his death bed said ---It's the terrain not the bugs
- Looking for the magic bullet to kill a particular organism is an ineffective and possibly dangerous approach because:
- Does not get to the crux of the problem
- Creates more resistant organisms
- Negatively impacts the beneficial bacteria in the gut
- Intestinal dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome may result
- Use antibiotics only when absolutely necessary and for a relatively short time
- Provide probiotics at same time to minimize negative effects
- Symptoms are good:
- Symptoms are an indication that the bodies immune system is responding to a threat
- They are a warning sign that something is threatening body
- It is a way for us to measure how effective our immune system or our therapy is in handling the problem
- If we use ANTI medication to suppress the symptoms without supporting the immune system or removing the environmental stressors, we are thwarting the bodies attempt to remove toxins and thus we are driving the problem deeper by preventing the immune system from doing its job. When we do this the disease may appear to abate only to show up at a latter date as a more serious health problem
- From a homeopathic stand point symptoms provide a blueprint for deciding on the specific remedy
- Implies:
- Treat the mind as well as the body. Treat the psychological as well as the physical
- Look for the defective underlying process that may be causing a number of; what can look like unrelated symptoms
- Use nutrition and herbs that effect the whole body i.e. immune and antioxidant stimulants
- Define natural
- Available in nature in their whole undivided uncontaminated form
- ie the whole leaf; root, or stem
- Not an extracted active ingredient
- Not a synthesized active ingredient
- Not a chemical synthesized in a lab
- Available in nature in their whole undivided uncontaminated form
- Define organic
- From sources not contaminated with insecticides, herbicides, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics
- Define chemical
- Chemical additives for coloring, taste, preservation, texturizers etc
- Get vitamins and phyto chemicals from organic, fruits, vegetables, and herbs as opposed to a pill
- Researchers and manufactures that isolate &/or synthesize the active ingredient in a pill are making a claim that they know for sure that this one chemical ingredient in a plant, fruit, or herb is the one, that is active all by Itself; and that the other chemical in the plant were insignificant in producing any curative effects
- ie.Ascorbic acid is not the total Vitamin C molecule - it is just the outside protective envelope If you are going to take a pill it would be better that its source be whole and natural rather than synthetic
- Even this type of pill is not as good as a fresh herb, fruit or vegetable
- The whole herb has all the synergistic ingredients and therefore is far less likely to produce side effects
- Researchers and manufactures that isolate &/or synthesize the active ingredient in a pill are making a claim that they know for sure that this one chemical ingredient in a plant, fruit, or herb is the one, that is active all by Itself; and that the other chemical in the plant were insignificant in producing any curative effects
A HOLISTIC VETERINARIAN WILL SPEND MUCH TIME COUNSELING ABOUT GOOD NUTRITION, A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT AND A WHOLESOME LIFE STYLE
PROVIDE GOOD NUTRITION, ENCOURAGE PROPER DIGESTION, SUPPORT DETOXIFICATION, BALANCE INFLAMMATION, SUPPORT INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION
THERAPY: GOOD NUTRITION IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL HOLISTIC MEDICINE
ENERGY IMBALANCES ARE AT THE ROOT OF ALL PHYSICAL DYSFUNCTION
- According to our leading physicist we are really energy beings.
- Matter is congealed energy
- Health is vibratory state. It is a state where all tissues are vibrating at their proper resonance frequency
- Things that resonate with us support our health
- Those things that negatively effect our vibratory state destroy our health
- Therefore we have magnetic therapy, acupuncture, homeopathy, bach flower remedies, Lacer therapy
- We are all connected to part of a bigger whole
- To the extent to which we can access this connection to that extent we are healers
- To the extent that we can focus our intention to heal another individual to that extent we become connected and can channel the healing energy available from the whole
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Our Veterinary Care: Alternative Medicine | Holistic Philosophy | Nutrition | Acupuncture | Chiropractic | Bioresonance | Bio-Oxidative Therapy | Homotoxicology | Essential Oil Therapy | Bach Flower Remedies | Detoxification | Cryotherapy | Prolotherapy | Conventional Veterinary Care | Avian & Exotic
© 2006 Dr. John Simon, Woodside Animal Clinic
