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Holistic Medicine
What is it? | Holistic Consultation | Acupuncture | Homeopathy
There has been increasing interest in holistic medicine in recent times. Richardson Animal Hospital is pleased to have Dr. Fernando Moncayo join us on a part-time basis to practice homeopathic medicine and acupuncture. He has been experiencing considerable success with a client base that is continually expanding. You don't have to be a current client to see Dr. Moncayo as he is pleased to accept referrals from other veterinary practices and to accept new clients wishing appointments.
Dr. Moncayo has practised holistic veterinary medicine since 1993. He graduated medicine from Universidad Nacional de Columbia in 1987 and immigrated to Canada in 1988, becoming a practising member of the Nova Scotia Veterinary Medical Association in 1990. While practising conventional medicine, he studied Veterinary Homeopathy in Argentina in 1993/94, Advanced Homeopathic Prescribing in Toronto in 1997 to 1999 and Veterinary Acupuncture in Toronto in 1999/2000. His practice philosophy integrates all his disciplines by combining homeopathy, acupuncture, nutritional and conventional therapies, as the case requires. He focuses on chronic disease and geriatric patients where conventional modalities have a limited effect or require the chronic use of medicines with potentially harmful effect.
Holistic Medicine top
When to choose it?
You may wish to pursue holistic medicine for your pet because of personal choice or because your pet is afflicted by a chronic disease. Frequently, chronically ill pets require increasing doses of standard medicines which may produce undesirable side effects. With holistic medicine it may be possible to reduce the dosages to more tolerable levels reducing the side effects while improving your pets quality of life. In a few instances, when your pet cannot tolerate standard treatments or because of personal choice, holistic treatments may be the sole method for the management of your petÕs chronic disease.
What is it?
Holistic medicine is an approach to the prevention and treatment of disease where the whole of your pet and his/her physical and social environment is taken into account. For instance, if your pet is afflicted by Irritated Bowel Syndrome and Allergic Dermatitis, the Holistic Veterinarian considers that these two diseases are part of a single complex and he designs treatments to address them as a whole. As treatment, your pet may receive homeopathy, acupuncture and other natural medicines. It may also require adjustments of the diet using foods that promote the function of failing organs. Your pet may also require conventional medications.
How is it done?
The state of health of your pet and the alternative therapies that may be of benefit are established at a Holistic Consultation. This is an extended consultation of about 30 minutes that includes: i) an assessment of the present complaint and past medical history of your pet; ii) a standard physical examination; iii) a Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) examination which includes assessment of tongue, pulse and several acupuncture points whose sensitivity is specific to the health of the individual internal organs. Very subtle physiological changes in the organs can be detected with the TCM exam even before they manifest in symptoms. This way, the Holistic Exam constitutes a powerful prevention tool when it is performed regularly. The Holistic Examination may detect very subtle early signs of disease that do not become apparent to your eyes. In some cases blood tests, x rays or other standard diagnostic procedures may be required.
Acupuncture top
Your pet afflicted by arthritis, epilepsy, irritated bowel disease, chronic urinary disease or simply Òold ageÓ may benefit from acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture is an ancient technique developed in China about 2.000 years ago. Modern acupuncture is based on the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and current knowledge of neurophysiology. Acupuncture aims at stimulating the function of organs by way of the insertion of fine needles in specific points of the body.
Acupuncture points are found along 14 major pathways called meridians. The meridians follow recognizable anatomical features such as nerves, blood vessels and muscle grooves. The meridians are like an invisible wiring that conducts an electromagnetic-like force known as Qi. This energy is generated by the internal organs which are individually associated with a pair of meridians. For instance, the Liver generates the energy that flows through the Liver meridian which runs from the first toe, through the inner aspect of the hind leg and the groin area, passing through the side of the abdomen to end up at the side of the chest just before the elbow. Sensitivity on points along the meridian may indicate that the associated organ (eg. the liver) may not be functioning correctly. Application of acupuncture needles on points along the meridian of the organ may help to stimulate certain functions of the organ and restore the animal to health. Similarly, structures found along the path of the meridian (joints, tendons and muscles) can be benefited by applying needles on certain points along the meridian. Thus, a problem of cruciate ligaments may be helped by placing a needle in the first toe.
Typically, an acupuncture treatment takes about 30 minutes. For a typical chronic condition 3 or 4 treatments may be required before there is an improvement. Initially, treatments are given once or twice a week. Once the treatment has induced improvement, treatments may be done further apart (once every two or three weeks) until a maintenance level is reached. In chronic disease it is expected that your pet will require periodic treatments (once or twice per year). Acupuncture is particularly effective to relieve pain caused by chronic joint or muscular disease (eg. arthritis). It is also a beneficial therapy for the treatment of neurological disorders such as epilepsy. Frequently, the management of a chronic disease requires the combination of acupuncture and homeopathy. For instance, your older dog afflicted with arthritis and weakness of the hind end may respond to acupuncture treatment. However, the response will be more effective if he also receives Constitutional Homeopathic Treatment.
Homeopathy top
All animals have the inherited ability to heal themselves. This is to say, animals have built-in mechanisms to repair their own organs and tissues. We observe self-repair when a minor cut heals without any intervention. Internal self-repair mechanisms are at work when your pet one day Òdoes not seem rightÓ but returns to normality after a couple of days.
However, when your pet has a chronic disease, his self-repair mechanisms are affected and the aid of drugs are required to restore health. Whereas in chronic disease appropriately prescribed drugs provide relief, this is often temporary and frequent administration of drugs is required to achieve permanent relief. Such is the case of skin allergies whose symptoms can only be controlled by chronic administration of steroids which provide effective relief and avoid suffering but cannot achieve more than control of symptoms.
Homeopathy offers the possibility to induce healing by Òswitching-onÓ the self-repairing mechanisms. The appropriate homeopathic medicine stimulates your petÕs own ability to reconstruct metabolic pathways, tissues and organs so they regain normal function. For the treatment of chronic diseases (eg. allergies, epilepsy, etcetera) homeopathic medicines are prescribed according to the constitution of your pet and the peculiar disease syndrome that afflicts him. The constitution is made of those characteristics that individualize your pet, that make him a unique individual, different from any other, even from his litter mates. This is similar to the genetic base where each individual has a unique DNA. Thus, the constitution would be the visible expression of the DNA. The constitution can be established by knowing the unique way in which the your pet interacts with the environment, his peculiar behaviour, desires and aversions, fears and favorite activities. The disease syndrome is defined by the peculiar characteristics of the disease that afflicts him (eg. a chronic diarrhea with bright yellow stool, induced by chicken and pork, made worse by emotional stress and that usually strikes him at night).
Homeopathic treatment
After the Holistic Veterinarian has determined (see holistic consultation) that your pet will likely benefit from homeopathic treatment an extensive consultation or Case-Taking of 45-60 minutes is required. Here the veterinarian collects the information required to establish the constitution and the disease syndrome of your pet. A further one hour of private analysis and research is required to arrive at a prescription.
Medication
There are about 3000 homeopathic medications that have been studied. These are prepared from a variety of plants, animals or mineral substances which are diluted hundreds of times so the actual homeopathic remedy contains extremely small amounts of the ingredient. Homeopathic remedies are presented in lactose (milk sugar) pellets or in liquid form.
What to expect
In chronic cases a positive response can be expected within 2 weeks. In some cases, particularly in skin disease, a intensification of the symptoms is observed in 50% of the cases within the first week. This usually indicates that the medication was correctly chosen and induced physiological changes in the animal. Homeopathic treatment of chronic diseases requires a long term commitment because chronic diseases are deep seated and several remedies may be required according to the progress of the treatment. After the initial consultation a recheck within 2-4 weeks is required. Three or four rechecks at 1-3 month intervals may be required to bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion.
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