Page 7 - Summer 12

and spiritual awareness. There are lots of polar- ities in the remedy. There were no original prov- ings; materia medica has come from cured cases. A highly sexed Sepia, there are many hormonal aspects to this remedy. There is a sense of heightened desire, nymphomania, and disgust for it. There is a high level of bromine in Murex, which is used in conventional medicine for epilepsy and reducing sex drive. Clinical applications include cystic ovaries in cattle, horses and guinea pigs, epilepsy linked to excess sexuality or linked to neutering, dia- betes in bitches.
The final presentation on Saturday was by
Coming up to lunchtime Arlette Blanchy form Belgium talked on “from heat of the fire to the coldness of loneliness”. With a host of amusing pictures, she gave us the case of Muse, the boxer who loved wood. Eventually after much conventional treatment, it was Pyrogenium that brought about the expulsion of a piece of stick that had caused abscessation and fistula formation. Arlette uses this remedy as a first choice where there is infection. There was also discussion as to the efficacy of the remedy made from different source materials in different countries.
Arlette’s second case was that of a fearful
dies and Octopus came up. They have a symbi- otic relationship with many pathogenic bacte- ria. Although this wasn’t a rescue dog, he was rehomed. One dose of Octopus 6c helped this dog.
Marg Edwards then reported the case of Misty, a German Shepherd dog with anal fistu- lae. The first remedy was Silicea 30c which helped her somewhat. Nat mur 200c helped her further but then she regressed. Silicea was repeated but there was no further improve- ment. The next prescription was Calc fluor 9x twice daily for a week. There were improve- ments in herself and in the fistulae, which
Atjo Westerhuis from The Netherlands, who spoke about High Value Symptoms not found in Synthesis. It is 20 years since I last heard Atjo speak and now, as then, I came away with some valuable practical information. To get the most out of the presentation, listen very care- fully to what he said.
When you have an idea of the constitution then you need to look for confirmation in the symptoms. There is a difference between aeti- ology and a modality. The authenticity of the symptom is of vital importance, for example if an owner says a dog is drinking too much, you need to know how much, and what the owner bases the opinion on, it may be they are com- paring to another dog that drinks very little. The intensity of the symptom is also very important; is it always the left ear that is inflamed, for example. The translatability is also significant; everyone has their own translation of what a rubric means. Atjo talked of “approved symp- toms” that he has empirically found to work in practice. “High value symptoms” for him are strongly indicated for the remedy. In practice he has found that the repertory, although useful, is not the most important. The most important is our own experience so we have a remedy pic- ture and all its nuances from our own experi- ences. Secondly, we need to have materia medica knowledge ready in our heads. Atjo went through some really important practical differentiations that we can use in practice, including anger, strange appetites, redness of the left ear, alopecia behind the ears without itching among others. Atjo also gave us a way of increasing the value by combination of symptoms.
Sunday morning, after a valuable presenta- tion from Suzi McIntyre, once again empha- sizing the importance of good nutrition, we listened to David Lilley’s second presentation, continuing the theme of Silicea.
adopted dog with respiratory problems aggra- vated by emotional excitement. He received Germanium 200K which corresponded well with his mental state and helped him a lot until some work was being done on the house and he relapsed. After Germanium 201K, every- thing went back to normal.
Sunday afternoon we had 3 final Sparks. The first Spark was presented by Minako Kurodu from Japan, who talked about
Fanconi Syndrome in Basenjis. She is finding that Natrum muri- aticum has helped many of the cases she
has treated with this genetic condition. Some have been given Tuberculinum bovinum as well as a miasmatic remedy.
Mark Elliott gave us the next Spark and spoke about Octopus. Mark has found that in treating many rescued dogs, it seems thay are more prone to chronic skin disease. He talked about treating ringworm with Sepia when it fits the constitutional type. He also talked about the dif- ferentiation between Sepia, Stramonium and Lyssin, of the characters of different aggressive Jack Russell Terriers. He also told us to
look at Sankaran’s charts of plant and mineral charts for closely related reme- dies if the first choice doesn’t fully help. The animal charts are less well worked out at the moment. When Sepia didn’t help one of his
Jack Russell patients with skin disease, he looked
at other sea reme-
healed completely until recently when they started to breakdown. Calc fluor isn’t helping as well as before. Calc sulph has not helped nor repetition of Silicea. Natrum carbonicum might be a remedy to consider due to her particular attachment to one member of the family, the son.
We rounded off a wonderful weekend with words from Peter Gregory and a group hug to the music of Florence and the Machine, You’ve Got the Love.
I’d like to acknowledge and thank our sponsors for their enthusiasm and generosity. Before the end of the 2011 conference Jonathan from Honey’s had already promised a very generous contribution, with some extra in the pot to enable us to give some discounts to students. Suzi from PetPlus and the gang from Helios followed suit very quickly and became our first main sponsors. Despite the long journey from Glasgow, (Lee asked if we could get any further away – well next year, Cork, is slightly closer as the crow flies, so hope to see you there!) Freeman’s and Saltire Books made the trip south. It’s not just the financial generosity that contributes to our con- ference but their personal attendance that helps create the unique atmosphere that makes a BAHVS conference an event not to be missed. It wouldn’t be the same without these
old friends. This year we were joined by some new faces Matthew and Toyah from Nutravet, the wonderful team from Barkbusters, John from Denes, Phil Edmonds from RADAR, Chris from Protexin, Helen and Sally from 4Life and Sue from Arden Grange. Hilton Herbs also contributed although couldn’t attend in per-
son this year.
5