Herbs
Herbs- "the origional medicine." Who among us has a cup of chamomile tea after a long tiring day to help them relax or get to sleep? This is herbal therapy, we are using the predictable effects of a plant to our advantage.
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Herbs with different tastes have predictable actions when they are ingested. The Sweet taste will nourish. The sour taste gathers fluids together. The bitter taste has a downward moving quality. The pungent flavor moves outward. These tastes can be combined to add one herb's action with another. Sweet and sour will gather and build. Bitter and pungent will moved downwards and out to the body surface.
An herb known to normalize the heart's function (hawthorne) can be added to an herb with a bitter taste to help keep the heart working well and keep the Yang energy of the heart which tends to rise up and out, and ground it inside the body to restore balance in a heart disease patient.
This is one of the great things about herbs, the benefits increase when they are combined. The synergistic power of herbs is extraordinary. In some cases a side effect of one herb is counteracted with another. An herb that can be hard on the digestive system can be given with an herb known to soothe it, like ginger.
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Herbal therapies have been around for longer than recorded history. The Ancient Chinese had thousands of years to perfect combining herbs for a desired balancing effect. We benefit from these years of experience. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses these time proven combinations.
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Veterinary herbs can be in powder, tablet or tea pill. They are mixed in with the pet's food, making them easy to give.
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If you are giving herbs or suppliments to your pet, be sure to notify the practitioner if any new symptoms arise, as these can be in indication that the herb may not match the patient, or it can give them clues as to the underlining imbalance that may now just be showing itself.
Restoring balance (health) to a body is a little like peeling an onion, it's done gently, one layer at a time. When one layer is removed it allows us to see what was hidden underneath.
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Dr James Duke helped the USDA make medication using herbs, read more here:
