Introduction
Have you ever felt that veterinary medicine is falling short and that we should be able to do more for our patients? How do we achieve true, lasting healing, accompanied by an exuberant quality of life?
Conventional medicine trained you to treat symptoms and lab results. As long as the presenting sign went away, then the treatment is deemed successful. The only way to achieve true healing, however, is to address the underlying cause of the symptoms; otherwise, they are destined to return. This is akin to pulling the fuse on the check engine light on your car when it illuminates. The light is no longer lit, but the reason that caused it to light up in the first place remains and will only get worse.
So What Does this Look Like in Practice?
I believe that the answer here is in how we look at our patients and their presenting condition. Instead of just focusing on symptoms and lab results, we need to look at the whole patient, including its environment. Taking the time to gain a complete history and information about the pet’s lifestyle and living conditions will provide valuable information into the causes of the symptoms we see.
All aspects of the patient, including physical, functional, emotional, and environmental will play a role in the development of disease.
Conventional medicine will provide you with a one-size-fits-all treatment plan for the sets of symptoms and lab results you find in your patient. Have you noticed how there are more and more tests, staging, and levels of diagnosis, each with its own treatment modality? It is as if medicine has become robotic; enter the diagnosis, symptom, or test result, and you get several differentials, and the associated treatments.
Healing should be an art; a dance between the patient and practitioner, exploring many treatment options and developing a plan suited for that particular individual and its circumstances.
This is the approach of Anthroposophic medicine, and I believe that its principles can provide a valuable outline in improving the health of our veterinary patients.
Anthroposophic Medicine in the Veterinary Practice
(Historical information on Anthroposophic medicine from https://www.anthromedics.org/)
Although Anthroposophic medicine (AM) was defined as a method of treating humans, its principles can be readily adapted to veterinary care and provide a superior approach to pet health.
Anthroposophic medicine was started in 1920 by Rudolf Steiner. The first book on AM by Steiner and Ita Webman , Extending Practical Medicine, is still available today.
Anthroposophic practitioners work to support the whole being, including the physical, functional, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects.
I believe that it is fair to say veterinary medicine has traditionally supported mainly the physical and functional aspects of the animal and only in recent decades is coming to realize the importance of the mental-emotional and spiritual aspects.
AM is patient centered and integrates therapies such as naturopathy, phytotherapy, homeopathy, ayurvedic and Chinese medicine along with necessary conventional care.
I believe it can be soundly observed that conventional medicine and modern pharmaceuticals are very useful in short-term or emergency care but can cause a great deal of harm when used in the long-term. The other therapies, which are better designed to balance the body and support its natural healing mechanisms, are much more appropriate for long term use. Unfortunately, these have fallen out of favor in much of modern veterinary medicine.
Rudolf Steiner’s approach has striven for a scientific and contemporary understanding of the aspects of life, soul, and spirit and the bridging of past and future, Ease and West, natural and spiritual science. Quoting from Extending Practical Medicine:
“It is not a matter of opposition to contemporary medicine, which works with the scientific principles and methods accepted today; we fully recognize its principles. [...] However, we add further insights, gained through other methods, to what can be known about the human being through today’s recognized scientific methods, and out of this extended insight into the world and the human being we find ourselves impelled to work also for an extension of the art of medicine.” (1, p. 7)
This integrative approach is not about creating additional specialization, but rather expanding on the specializations that already exist such as internal and emergency medicine, surgery, oncology, dermatology, neurology, and cardiology.
Anthroposophic Therapies
The prescription of medications in AM is based on the individual circumstances of the patient. Over 2000 specially produced medications from minerals, plant and animal kingdoms are used to support healing processes, mostly in a phytotherapeutic or potentized form. Anthroposophic medications are administered internally as dilutions, subcutaneously or intravenously as injections, or as inhalations.
High therapeutic value is also attached to external applications and body work. For animals, this would include compresses, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy. Special attention should also be given to the home environment, considering the needs of the particular species, breed, and individual. For example, dogs are pack animals and not suited to being left alone for long periods of time; cats are more singular and independent and can exist more happily without ongoing company. Horses and cattle are roaming, grazing animals, not meant to live in small stalls or corrals eating scheduled meals. The animal food industry has caused much disruption in animal health by promoting diets that are not appropriate for the species such as plant-based diets for dogs and cats and dried, processed feed for grazing animals.
There are essential relationships between animals and the kingdoms of nature that are important for the art of healing. We are familiar with the effect on the heart of the medicinal plants Digitalis and Crataegus (Hawthorn), the pain-relieving effect of poppies and willow bark extract (“aspirin”), the blood pressure-lowering effect of Rauwolfia (Indian snake root) and the manifold effects of medicines derived from animals (such as ACE inhibitors isolated from snake venom).
In Anthroposophic Medicine, isolated “active substances” play less of a role than compositions of substances—be it in a single plant such as mistletoe, or in a composition of several medicinal plants—in addition to minerals, metals and animal components (such as from bees or ants). This is comparable to the effect of a symphony, which does not result from any individual tone, but from the composition created when musicians in an orchestra play together.
In the production of anthroposophic medicines, special attention is paid to the pharmaceutical process, which prepares the substances used so that they can be absorbed, then act in the organism. An active, regulation-promoting reaction of the organism is usually sought, which is triggered by the medicinal product. Anthroposophic medicinal products are produced according to the methods of anthroposophic pharmacy from the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms—either manufactured industrially or compounded individually according to a physician’s prescription. Their indication depends on the patient’s therapeutic needs.
External applications have been part of nature’s treasure trove of remedies since the earliest times. Leaves and plant fibres were not only applied to wounds, when the interior of the body partially opens to the outside, but also to injuries within the body, broken bones, cramps, fever or pain, where the immediate soothing effect of warm or cold wraps, baths and washes was used to relieve and heal discomfort. Traditionally, plant extracts, oils, gemstone trituration’s but also animal substances such as honey or quark were used externally.
At the Anthroposophia Foundation, we offer trainings on the following:
- Anthroposophic principles and methods
- Anthroposophic medicines and therapeutics
- Practice management skills to help you transition from employee to entrepreneur
We will further offer mentorship from experienced anthroposophic practitioners and medical rounds to discuss cases.
Not only will you find a new approach to healing and the skills to use it, but you will also find a supportive community which will provide mutual support on your journey.
If you are ready for a change, join us today!
