Constitutional Amendment-The Remedy?

Gus is a one-year-old male German Shorthaired Pointer that seemed to have that adolescent teen personality.  He has great physique and ability but is entirely bashful in new situations.  Even though he was well socialized he still did not meet people well and would cower with a new person or loud noises.  Conversely, he was completely comfortable with pointing birds and a shotgun blast.  Gus also had a poor appetite and ate the occasional bite all day long.  I decided it was time to give him a constitutional remedy. 

A constitution is the emotional, mental and physical state of an individual.  It is his or her nature or temperament.  This can be genetic and/or acquired.  While most of our focus is on the physical aspects of health, the more important is the emotional or mental health.

A constitutional remedy is one that fits most of the entire person: physical, mental and emotional.  Ideally a constitutional remedy is used on a healthy person to fortify them.  However, most remedies are used when something is out of balance.  When “out of balance”, the remedy selected may not be the individual’s “constitution” but is the remedy picture presented.  Each homeopathic remedy has physical, mental, and emotional aspects.  It is the homeopaths job to select the remedy that best fits the total person. 

While most use homeopathics for a single purpose, such as Arnica for bruising, each homeopathic remedy can influence a number of seemingly unrelated symptoms.  Lycopodium (club moss) is commonly used for gas and poor digestion.  The mental aspect of Lycopodium includes indecision, timidity, loss of confidence or poor self-esteem.  There is a fear of strangers and a fear of being alone.  The key note here is impotence.  This is not a sexual impotence but overall ineffectiveness. 

Gus received one dose of Lycopodium 1M with no results.  With the second dose one day later he made a complete shift.  He was more confident and happy to meet anyone new.  It was as if he thought everyone had a gift for him.  He also began eating all of his food when presented.   The only down side was that he was interested in mounting any other canine of any sex.  No more ineffectiveness of attitude.  Hopefully, better judgment would come with experience.  Pretty amazing.  

(Note:  most homeopaths would not use a 1M potency first and would start with a 30C, but this was not my choice). 

Stay Well!

Natural Born Instinct

Warning:  This blog contains graphic descriptions of the birth process in dogs.  If you are faint of heart, perhaps you should wait for the next post.

Have you ever watched a bitch have her first litter of puppies?  She will stop eating a few days before the event.  If not confined, she may go off to create a nest for the newborns.  It seems almost effortless, one slides out, she takes the pup in her mouth, tears off the sack and licks the puppy to life.  This happens again and again.  She eats the placenta and may eat any puppies born dead.  We assume this cannibalistic instinct is to keep the nest clean so as to not attract any unwanted predators.  She nestles them in a semicircle for warmth and protection.  The puppies’ eyes are closed but they are able to find a nipple for nourishment.  The mother keeps her babies’ bowels moving and clean by licking them.  She is protective and is distressed if one is removed.  The nature of instinct, an innate ability, and knowing things that were previously unknown!  Amazing!

So is instinct purely DNA?  How about the concept of cellular or body memory?  This is where life experiences have some impact on the individual and a “memory” is stored somewhere other than the brain.  Many breeders of sporting dogs believe that a dog that has been hunted will produce offspring with better hunting instincts.  Breeding emphasis is usually placed on the sire.  And yet it is the mother that contributes more to the offspring.  One reason is that while DNA is known to be in the nucleus of the cell, there is actually DNA in the cytoplasm of the egg.  But it is obvious that the overall health of the mother will reflect in the offspring.  Most human health care focuses on prenatal and postnatal care.  Preconception care is the overlooked part of a healthy pregnancy, birth, and offspring.

There were 9 pups found after work, one dead being held in the mouth of the mother. Another one died later in the evening.  The next day, I received a call from home that she had another pup that was dead.  She ate the dead pup.  The veterinarian came for an exam and administered a shot of oxytocin to stimulate uterine contractions.  This was almost 18 hours after what was thought to be the last-born.  Two more puppies were immediately born. One pronounced dead by the vet and was placed in a bag.  The other was a runt about one-fourth the size of the others.  A few minutes later, the bag is moving; that puppy is not dead. So now there are nine- four males, 5 females.  The 13^th was found in the yard the next day and was about 2 inches long.

The runt was not doing well.  There was too much competition from the littermates.  Mom was holding the pup in her mouth in the same way she held the other dead.  This one may have to be bottle-fed, so off to the store for some goats milk which was a wasted trip as the pup was too weak.  Her little head dropped off the side of my wife’s hand.  The pup needed energy.  Homeopathy?

Which remedy…perhaps phosphorous…fire!  There was no homeopathic phosphorous but there was a tube of Magnesia phosphorica 30C.  One little pellet in the side of her mouth was almost too large for this pup.  Within a few minutes there was a little more movement.  This runt was offered one of mom’s nipples that she latched onto with new vigor.  Mom kept trying to remove the pup but was denied her instinct.  Runt was allowed to nurse every couple of hours and was soon able to refuse her brothers and sisters from taking her teat.

Meanwhile, the puppy that came back from the dead is alive and well.  The biblical female raised from the dead was Tabitha interpreted as Dorcas.  Perhaps we should call her Dorcas as Tabitha for a dog just does not work.  Either one of these pups might just be a keeper.  Amazing life!

Who is Fred Lowry, Jr.?

 This is my inaugural blog that I never imagined would happen.  While computers are very much a part of my life, social media is not. 

I grew up in my father’s drug store.  I can actually remember sweeping the floors with some type of sweeping compound that was thrown on the floor before sweeping.  This should not have made sense to a 7 year old boy in 1962.  I was on the city swim team and was active in Boy Scouts achieving Eagle at 14 years old.  I was taught how to work and as an early teen would ride my bike to housing construction sites and work as common labor clearing lots, cleaning sites, and carrying lumber and shingles.  They rarely let me swing a hammer.  At 16, I drove dump trucks at construction sites.  At 18, the summer before college, I worked on a mill loading dock first shift and in the mill the second shift.  All this was intermingled with working at Lowry Drug and my outdoor love of Quail hunting with our bird dogs.

I graduated from the University of South Carolina and became a pharmacist in 1980 moving back to Statesville to work with my father.  We developed a large medical equipment business.   We also started a home infusion company in 1984 where we prepared sterile IV fluids for home use.  This service included antibiotics, pain management, fluid replacement, biologicals, and total parental nutrition.  We also provided nursing care for these individuals.  At the same time we became more active in regular prescription compounding which is a foundational part of pharmacy.

I became involved in providing “bio-identical” or natural hormone replacement compounds.  At the time, I completely supported allopathic medicine (patented drugs) as the best medicine.  In pharmacy school natural medicine is either implied as weak or a joke.  I personally remember making jokes about homeopathy.  While studying about hormone replacement, I discovered that what I had been taught was “misrepresented.”  I discovered how studies are deceptively presented to sell products at the cost of an individual’s health.  This shook my world!  If this was wrong then what else is wrong?

As you can see my head opened up and I began studying other types of medicine.  I cautiously learned about homeopathy.  I learned more about nutrition and naturopathic medicine.  I have traveled to 3 other countries to learn other systems of medicine and attended numerous seminars.  This led me to becoming a Doctor of Naturopathy.  I have integrated my knowledge of pharmaceuticals and natural medicine to provide individual pharmacy based wellness consultations for all types of health issues.

The future of this blog is to educate you in what I have learned.

Be well!

Fred Lowry, Jr.