Every patient has a unique medical history and may benefit from homeopathy or an allopathic treatment, as opposed to chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
Cancer is a diagnosis dreaded by practitioners and pet owners alike. In allopathic medicine, cancer treatment does not result in a cure, but rather the destruction of the tumor and related cells through radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery. These homeopathy based treatments frequently create side effects, which require additional drug therapy to manage. Allopathic cancer treatment most often leads to temporary remission; the greatest success rates are found in the treatment of lymphoma using combination chemotherapy, resulting in six to 11 months of remission in 65% to 90% of patients.1
Homeopathy, conversely, offers a gentle approach to cancer, treating not just the lesion or condition, but the patient as a whole. General well-being is first restored while the cancerous condition is being abated or resolved, and is followed by a return of good health. This article will discuss the principles of homeopathy in the treatment of cancer and why it is a good alternative to the allopathic approach.
Considering the whole body
The allopathic approach to cancer is to identify the lesion, assess the body system(s) affected, and then stage the cancer. The homeopathic approach views the patient as one disease, comprised of his totality of symptoms – mental, emotional, and physical.2 Functional changes or lesions, such as fibrosis and tumor growth, are merely one aspect of the patient’s disease. While allopathic nomenclature may be helpful in understanding a clinical situation, general disease labels are not needed to find an accurate prescription in homeopathy since they do not describe what is unique to the individual patient. For example, “lymphoma” describes a disease condition, but does not give us any details about the individual case. In order to identify the precise homeopathic remedy needed to treat the patient, out of all the homeopathic remedies that treat this type of disease process (i.e. lymphoma), the practitioner needs to examine what makes this patient unique.
Once the homeopathic remedy is administered, the patient’s response is closely monitored. The remedy stimulates the recovery of health over the time necessary for the body to repair damaged tissues. This can take weeks to months, depending on how long the total illness (not merely the cancer) has been present.
Three possible outcomes
Any treatment, homeopathic or allopathic, can result in three possible outcomes: palliation, suppression, or cure. It is important to understand how these differ, and how to interpret patient response post-prescription.
1. Palliation is the most common outcome of allopathic treatment, and is seen as a rapid response or alleviation of some, but not all, of the physical symptoms. A hallmark of palliation is a quick return of symptoms when treatment is stopped, requiring more frequent repetitions of medicine in higher doses to maintain any “improvement”.
The benefits of palliation with homeopathy, in cases where a curative remedy cannot be found, is the gentleness of this medicine when compared to the immunosuppressive doses of prednisone often used in allopathic palliation.
2. Homeopathic practitioners view suppression as the worst possible outcome of medicine or surgery. This is because the patient’s well-being is not enhanced, and while some symptoms or lesions disappear, there is no improvement of mental/emotional aspects. After a period of time, a new, more severe set of symptoms will result; for example, metastasis to the lungs or heart base following surgical excision of a hemangiosarcoma lesion from the spleen.
3. The goal of all homeopathic treatment is to cure the patient by returning the body to health. This is characterized by increased overall well-being, with physiological resistance to disease. The mental/emotional sphere will improve first, followed by the resolution of physical symptoms. For instance, a cat with mesenteric lymphoma will have more energy and improved appetite soon after the remedy is administered, while the gastrointestinal symptoms diminish over time.
Additional benefits
Unlike allopathic treatments for cancer that use multiple drugs at one time, a homeopathic veterinarian will only prescribe a single dose of a remedy. To decide which remedy to use, the homeopath will create a list of the patient’s current symptoms in combination with his entire health history. Therefore, it is possible to have five lymphoma patients all receiving different remedies because their symptom pictures vary, even though allopathic treatment would use the same chemotherapy protocol.
Homeopathic treatment aims to cure the patient and have the cancer completely resolve, without causing harmful side effects or requiring repeated medication. In cases where the destruction of the cancer pathology is too advanced to affect a true cure, i.e. full restoration of health, homeopathic treatment when prescribed in a curative manner can still provide a gentle approach to alleviating symptoms and improving vitality and quality of life.
The case studies accompanying this article demonstrate how the homeopathic treatment of cancer successfully returned the patients to health and provided an increased quality of life without surgery, chemotherapy, or harmful side effects. To read about them in greater detail, you can view them on the PIVH Case Blog at pivh.org/blog.
If you are interested in becoming a trained veterinary homeopath, contact the Pitcairn Institute of Veterinary Homeopathy (PIVH). It is the only homeopathic training program for veterinarians in the US that’s approved by the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy, which provides national accreditation and certification. The next Professional Course in Veterinary Homeopathy starts in September of 2015. Please visit the PIVH website at pivh.org or email info@pivh.org.
References
1 Cote, Etienne, DVM; Mosby, Elsevier. Clinical Veterinary Advisor, Dogs and Cats, 2nd ed., St. Louis, MO; 2011: pp676.
2 Hahnemann, Samuel, ed. Brewster O’Reilly, Wenda, PhD. Organon of the Medical Art 6th ed., by Dr. Birdcage Books, Palo Alto, CA; 1996: pp141
3 Murphy, Robin, ND. Nature’s Materia Medica, 3rd ed. Lotus Health Institute, Blacksburg, VA; 2006: pp 1502-1512.
AUTHOR PROFILE
Dr. Sarah Steig completed her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, in 2009. She also completed Dr. Richard Pitcairn’s Professional Course in Veterinary Homeopathy and became an assistant instructor for the course in 2010. Dr. Stieg presents at the Annual Meeting in Veterinary Homeopathy on topics including canine mammary cancer, homeopathic practice management, equine sarcoids, laminitis, and chronic thrush. In January 2013, she became Director of the Pitcairn Institute of Veterinary Homeopathy. She is an integrative veterinarian in North Yorkshire, England, with an emphasis on classical homeopathy and nutrition.
