This message is from: Lori Albrough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Further to Carol's question on natural products for arthritis etc.
I am a great believer in natural remedies, having had good success with
them for myself and family. My mom suffers from very severe rheumatoid
arthritis, she's had it for years and has gone through all the
conventional treatments, anti-inflammatories, gold shots, and is now on
methotrexate. All of these have been fairly effective in keeping the
arthritis mostly under control, but have come with their own slew of
side effects.
The methotrexate is actually a cancer drug, immune suppressant, which
causes her to be very vulnerable to every little bug that she comes in
contact with, and unable to shake these bugs off. It had got to the
point where she nearly had to live in a bubble, or so it seemed. I
talked her into taking echinacea while in the midst of a terrible
flu-like illness which had been going on for weeks, and the doctors had
been no help with. Within 1 to 2 days of starting the echinacea she was
on her feet and looking human again, and went on to a quick and complete
recovery.
Now she's taking a combination of Glucosamine, curcurimin and bromelaid,
and has been able to cut back her methotrexate by 25% with no increase
in arthritis symptoms (despite being in the midst of gardening season).
That plus regular echinacea means she's been cold/flu/other-bug free for
over six months. Amazing. Our biggest problem is finding info on
products, doses, precautions, etc., like Carol said, but at least there
is more info available for humans than horses.
I am aware of a few resources for info about natural products for
horses:
At the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto in November, I remember seeing a
book called "Herbs for Horses". I picked it up and glanced through, but
had already blown my budget on other goodies, so didn't buy one. Sorry I
don't remember the author or publisher, but I'm sure the book could be
found on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com If anyone does spring for it,
maybe they could post a book review?
The Alternative Veterinary Medicine web site:
http://www.altvetmed.com/index.html
"Selected Bioproducts", located in Guelph Ontario, has several herbal
products they sell, as well they contribute to research into herbal
products at the Equine Research Centre at the Ontario Veterinary College
in Guelph. Their web site, from which you can order in Canadian dollars
(the exchange rate is approx 0.68 US$/CAD$) is
http://www.horseherbs.com/index.html They also have a links page with
links to other sites which may have more info, and they have a free
monthly draw :-)
Lori
