How did I get interested in homotoxicology and decide to start learning about it? As many of you know, my focus for many years was simply to be the best conventional veterinarian I could be. Acupuncture? Herbal medicine? Homeopathy? I thought that anyone who practiced these disciplines was simply a pretty poor excuse for a Veterinarian . Once upon a time, I regarded such practices as being (as I’m now frequently quoted, I’m told) "the last refuge of the medically and intellectually incompetent practitioner." What changed for me was developing enough of an expertise in conventional medicine to realize that no one medical discipline has all the answers - or even very many of them.

I slowly began to learn about alternative therapies back in 1989, beginning with veterinary acupuncture when I took a break from small animal practice to do an externship in neurology and cardiology at the Animal Medical Center in New York City. Then traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Then veterinary chiropractic and applied kinesiology. Then homeopathy and Bach Flower remedies. Then herbal medicine. And while TCM still represents to me the epitome of skilled medical practice, conventional medicine (when practiced well) isn’t far behind. So what got me going about homotoxicology?

TNAVC, The North American Veterinary Conference, is the largest veterinary conference in the world. Held each January, it draws an international audience of veterinarians and related animal caretakers who come to hear about the best and the newest of what veterinary medicine has to offer. At this year’s TNAVC, I was privileged to lecture a number of hours on traditional Chinese herbal medicine. I was also able to stay several days and enjoy many lectures presented by distinguished speakers in other areas of veterinary medicine. I focused on lectures about homotoxicology (of which I knew some but wanted to learn more) and conventional cancer research (of which I know a great deal but wanted to hear the latest). It was extremely intriguing to hear the same descriptions of disease and treatment possibilities from both groups of speakers! Both homotoxicologists and cancer researchers are now talking about the same "tangling" of toxins and normal tissues being an important factor in how cancer develops, where it chooses to spread, and how it can most effectively be treated. That definitely caught and held my interest!

So what is homotoxicology?
Homotoxicology represents a connecting link between classic homeopathy and conventional western medicine. As such, it is equally applicable for conditions that only partially respond to conventional therapy, for conditions that once responded but are now resistant to such therapy, and for conditions that have no good conventional therapeutic options. Conditions in which we might utilize homotoxicology include chronic skin diseases, chronic ear or eye infections, recurrent bladder infections, chronic vomiting and/or diarrhea, unexplainable weight loss or gain, behavioral disorders, and chronic pain cases. We also utilize homotoxicology for very serious, life-threatening diseases such as cancer, immune disease, diabetes, adrenal disease, and bleeding disorders.

Just like classic homeopathy, homotoxicology is an exacting science and medical discipline. Homotoxicologic medicines, commonly called remedies, are chosen on the basis of how well they match the disease process that is seen. A big difference, however, is that classic homeopathy claims to restore health (assuming that the proper remedy is selected and used at the proper dose) while homotoxicology recognizes that in today’s world, maintaining good health is an ongoing struggle in which nutrition, exercise, stress management, lifestyle, conventional medicine, and alternative therapies ALL must be utilized to help keep a patient healthy.

In the time of Hahnemann, the father of classic homeopathy, it was perhaps realistic to expect a complete ‘cure for life." That was the early 1800’s - but this is now. In today’s world, we - and our pets - are constantly bombarded by environmental toxins. Our air, our water, our foods are all contaminated far beyond what was encountered in 1800. We also take far poorer care of ourselves (and our pets) than is really appropriate. We are vaccinated extensively as children, and in many cases we vaccinate our pets inappropriately. Most of us work too hard, eat poorly and don’t exercise enough - our lifestyles often leave a lot to be desired. And many of our pets eat foods that are far removed from a carnivore’s natural diet, and more often than not, their exercise patterns leave a lot to be desired, just as do ours! This led Dr. Reckeweg, in 1952, to seek a better way towards healing.

Trained as a medical Doctor and classic homeopath, Reckeweg became frustrated by how poorly so many modern diseases responded to both homeopathy and conventional wisdom. Suspecting that the huge numbers of environmental toxins we face in our air, water, homes, and foods were part of the cause for many of these diseases, he began to investigate how best to address the accumulation of these toxins in the body. He found that one effective way to promote health was to speed up the removal of these toxins. Another was to adopt healthy lifestyle changes to reduce the amount of toxin exposure. A third was to use medications that could actively "untangle" the toxins from normal body tissues, much in the same way that Chinese herbs are used.

Homotoxicology works in all these ways: by reducing toxins before they damage body tissue, by speeding their removal from the body, and by actively working on damaged tissues to remove the embedded toxins. Medical research into the utility of homotoxicologic medicines is ongoing in Germany and other countries. Research results have been published in such prestigious medical resources such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal, Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, and Lancet.

If people are familiar with any homotoxicologic medicine at all, likely it is one of two remedies: the very famous ointment and pill Traumeel, used to treat skin wounds and injuries of all kinds, or the pill Zeel, for arthritis. Repeat medical studies have shown Zeel to be as effective as many prescription arthritis medications. And Traumeel has a track record par excellence for skin conditions ranging from cuts to burns, from "road rash" to severe sunburn, from mild scrapes to severe wounds. We use these, as well as dozens of other homotoxicologic remedies in our practice. I am impressed with how well homotoxicology works in our patients!