Give homeopathic remedies a chance!

By Fran Vesey

The book review in last month’s Ranger carried a somewhat sceptical view of the notion that farm animals can be successfully treated with homeopathic remedies.

Having spent the last three and a half years in intensive study learning to be a homeopath, perhaps I can offer some thoughts on understanding the basic principles of this healing option.

The word homeopathy is derived from the Greek, and simply means ‘like suffering’. A homeopath treats like with like. ‘The hair of the dog that bit you’. The remedies use minute amounts of safe, non-toxic, natural substances derived from the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms.

Perhaps homeopathy’s sceptics are critical because there is no ‘rational’ explanation as to how homeopathic remedies work.

Maybe they are familiar with ‘The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics’ by Goodman and Gilman, one of the worlds most popular pharmacological texts—in it they write ‘There are few drugs, if any, for which we know the basic mechanism of action!’

Perhaps critics question the dilutions? Back in 1943, Alexander Fleming’s experiments with penicillin showed that at dilutions 1:100,000,000, and even weaker, streptococcal activity was affected. But homeopathy does not concern itself with quantity of remedy, only the quality.

Unlike allopathic drugs—administered with the intent to destroy a specific disease organism, and which may also destroy beneficial bacteria and create harmful side effects—homeopathic remedies neither cover up nor destroy disease by themselves. They simply stimulate the body’s reaction to throw off the offender, and never create side effects as they work with, rather than against, the immune system.

We are now all too familiar with the many scandals coming to light regarding the damage being done to the environment and to individuals by the mass prescription of various drugs. The MRSA superbug is a direct result of our national overexposure to blanket prescriptions of antibiotics. To say nothing of us ‘taking’ these chemicals through the milk and meat of animals that have themselves been treated with various drugs. London water has been through a minimum of seven sets of kidneys before it is drunk, and the purification system is unable to get rid of the hormones that have been excreted by people on HRT, the pill and other hormonal concoctions.

As farmers and poultry keepers we find ourselves in the position of having to throw more and more ‘medication’ at our flocks. By the time the birds reach our farms they are virtual pincushions from the many compulsory vaccines they have to undergo. If we have what is euphemistically referred to as a ‘challenge’ the only suggestion from the veterinary profession (those not homeopathically trained) is to try antibiotics.

I am sure everyone is now aware that antibiotics are a sledgehammer to crack a nut, they can actually retard healing and alter the nature of the disease making it more difficult to treat. It is a well known fact that they not only destroy the ‘bad’ bacteria but also the ‘good’ which is just another way of saying that the immune system is being further compromised.

Of course I am a firm believer in the ability of homeopathic remedies to help the farmer. For the past three years we have had a lot of success treating our small flock of sheep, particularly during lambing. The chickens, however, have not had the benefit of my expertise!

Recently during the annual visit of our vet, David Shingleton, my husband Tom asked for some help with a problem affecting our hens. The laying percentage had dropped and the mortality had gone up to 3 – 4 birds a day. David, an ‘enlightened’ vet, who is in the middle of a five year homeopathic course at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital, suggested to Tom that he had someone, namely his wife, who could probably be of help. I consequently mixed up a remedy that was put into the water header tanks. Within 24hrs the deaths had ceased and over the next week the rate of lay had gone up 2%. As Tom said, no doubt it’s a coincidence, but could he have another remedy just in case.

I wouldn’t expect many of you who read this article to have more than a passing interest in the concept of homeopathy, but if you have a problem that can’t be solved by conventional medication, just give it a thought. It is my belief that it can boost the immune system, which will have been severely compromised by our modern farming methods of rearing and producing. It is able to counter the ill effects of stress and shock—and what could be more stressful than being grabbed by a leg, shoved into a cage, driven for hours, grabbed by a leg again, and deposited into a strange environment?

The great advantage is that the cost is minimal. This is probably my big mistake; I should take a leaf out of the pharmaceutical companies and suggest a charge of so much a ton!