Homeopathy
What It Is and What It Isn't
As one of its complimentary medical approaches, Schulhof Animal Hospital uses homeopathy. Homeopathy is NOT herbal medicine, a common misconception. Instead, it is a form of energy medicine, derived from plant, animal, and mineral substances which potentiate the body's own innate capacity to heal itself. Simply said, homeopathy does not hide pain or kill organisms. Instead it helps the body do what it does every moment so elegantly—heal its tissues and fight disease. As a result, there are no drug interactions with homeopathy, and it can be used alongside of other medical interventions.
Where Did It Come From?
The science and practice of Homeopathy was originally developed by Samuel Hahnemann (1755 to 1843), a German M.D. and chemist, who had many subsequent and well known followers. It is a familiar form of medicine in Europe and India today with a very wide body of literature on its clinical use and practice.
Why Do We Use It?
At Schulhof Animal Hospital we use homeopathy because we know it works! It is particularly effective in nerve, muscle and surgical pain amelioration. It actually helps the body heal the cause of the pain, rather than masking it, as do pharmaceutical "pain killers". There are all kinds of "first aid" uses of homeopathy, as well as acute and chronic disease uses. Homeopathy is also often helpful in cases which are either unresponsive to conventional western medicine or in cases where conventional medicine may be too risky. In fact, some of us, like Dr. Candace Benyei, prefer homeopathy for personal healing almost exclusively, as it has no adverse side effects as can be common with pharmaceuticals.
Why Don't We Throw Out The Pharmaceuticals and Just Use Homeopathy?
The problem with homeopathy is that its use in chronic cases requires a great deal of observation to see if the remedy is working, how it is working, when it needs to be repeated or strengthened, and when it needs to be changed. This is because all real healing occurs in layers like the skin of an onion. In the case of pets, this kind of observation would require days of hospitalization, because they cannot talk or write a diary of what they are experiencing and their owners are not familiar with what to look for. Pharmaceuticals may not always get to the root of the problem, but they can alleviate symptoms, actually kill injurious organisms, fairly simply and usually in the context of a few doctor's visits.