The Raw Entrepawneur PawdX 4 Rita Hogan Herbal Expectations

Sam.

Good morning, afternoon, evening, wherever you are in the world right now. This is Emrys Wang of the Raw Entrepreneur. This is a special series called PodX, where speakers share their passion uncensored. Initially, PodX was supposed to be an 18 minute challenge. However, interactions with some guest speakers highlighted a few issues that I did not consider. And so out came the second format with which is simply just a regular talk with no time limit that speakers can choose to do. Today's talk is by canine herbalist Rita Hogan, who was game enough to try the 18 minute challenge. No penalties for those who went beyond 18. The most important thing is that the speakers enjoyed themselves, which also included laughing themselves while sharing their passion. Her talk today is about herbal expectations. I. I want to thank her for making the time to share this with me and now with you.

I think expectations and patience are two of, I would say, the biggest obstacles to healing with herbal medicine. But really they are pretty much the key to the kingdom of healing. And when you're working with herbs and when you're starting out and learning about herbs, and I also think, you know, when you hear the word expectations, you kind of have an idea of what's in your head, but it's nice to know what to expect. Kind of like it helps you. I think it helps guide yourself when you're working with herbs. So as an herbalist, I help owners rebalance their dog's mind and body through herbs. And patience is, I would say, the main obstacle when using herbs and helping people. Most herbal remedies take about three, I would say three to eight weeks to kind of really see a sign of improvement. And a lot of people are expecting things to happen like, you know, in the first couple days, and when they don't get a result, they get very frustrated. You continue using herbal formulas, I would say, between four and six weeks to see if you're moving in the right direction. Sometimes you might move a couple steps back, but then you really want to see that movement forward. And if herbal formulas don't give you kind of like a definitive result after six to eight weeks and you definitely are seeing something moving forward, then you want to discontinue that remedy. And that's a really important aspect to remember. So you want patience, but you always, you want to know those expectations for I would say most herbs. I think patience involves looking at herbalism as a system of healing within its own framework. So a lot of times we're looking at herbalism within a pharmaceutical kind of mindset, thinking, and we're trying to use Herbs within that framework of pharmaceutical medicine. And that gets us kind of into a trap because they're not going to adhere to the principles of pharmaceutical medicine, because pharmaceuticals tend to force the body to react. They kind of like, they make it submit for sure. And sometimes we need that. Sometimes we need that, like, severe push, Especially when the body is threatened, the life force is threatened, it can really save lives. But using herbs, we're probably not into that emergency medicine situation unless it's something very acute. So acute and chronic, sometimes a bit muddy with acute symptoms manifesting from, I would say, the roots of chronic disease. So yes, some acute issues are just pretty much that acute. So for example, poisoning, like I said, let's just say mushroom poisoning or a bee sting. Those are acute issues that, that can be addressed. If you look up the meaning of the word acute, you're gonna find a definition that basically says it's an illness that is of short duration, rapidly progressive, and in need of urgent care. So the definition of acute is of short duration in herbalism and definitely rapidly progressive. And the need of urgent care sometimes is very subjective. So many times symptom management involves suppressing the body. But with herbalism, we try not to do that, unless, of course, it is something dire, rapidly progressive, and needs attention. But a lot of times we may go to the vet for that. Symptoms like vomiting, mucus, diarrhea, for an herbalist is the body's way of telling us that something's going on inside. So when the body tries to expel illness, healing isn't really as simple as looking at symptoms. So when healing acutely, you have to be working with suppression in mind. So suppression occurs when you use dosages that force the body to react in a certain way. So a lot of times we're going to have that kind of pharmaceutical thinking when there's something acute, but definitely not chronic. So a conventional example of this is steroids. So steroids can save lives for sure, but they're kind of like smoke and mirrors because they hide symptoms. And when I work with people, people always tell me that lets just say her skin cleared up for a while, but after she went off the steroids, it started happening again, and now it's worse than ever. Okay, so in a perfect scenario, the goal would be the same as chronic disease, to stimulate the body to heal itself. However, many times that isn't possible and some type of suppression occurs, or we need to stop symptoms from progressing in order to avoid infection or become detrimental to the dog's health. And that's when we get in the car and go to the vet. An example of this would be like explosive diarrhea lasting more than two days. If you can't deal with that at home, you have to bring your dog to the vet. Herbs working as stopgap measures don't work really. But herbal methods, in my opinion, are the best way to work with chronic imbalances. So, for example, for almost all skin issues, the liver plays a role in their recovery. So acute herbalism would help manage the symptom of the skin eruption, like with a salve or a rinse or a poultice while you worked on your dog's liver health. That's how that would work. As far as herbs are concerned, I think acute and chronic conditions using herbs vary in treatment. Acute matters usually require a more material dose, which is a larger dose, again, to give that body a push. Herbs, in my opinion, don't push the body like pharmaceuticals do. But using acute material dosages in short intervals are how you work with acute problems. So testing dosages is sometimes impossible to do in chronic situations. Or, I mean, sorry, in acute situations. But you want to make sure that you know the maximum dosage when you. You are using herbs this way. So basically what I'm saying is, if you're using herbs for an acute situation, you want to make sure that you know how much herbs you can give your dog if you are choosing that particular herb. So, for instance, an herb like goldenseal, that needs more caution than an herb like chamomile. And if there's an acute condition occurring at the same time as a chronic condition, you want to treat the acute addition, the acute condition first. Okay. So in using herbs, I would say that you need to keep the mind, body, and spirit basically in your mind's eye when you're working with your dogs. Because separating the mind from the body is not a tenant of herbalism, and I don't think I can emphasis this enough, is that the mind and emotions are not separate from the rest of your dog's body. I believe that spirit is pretty much the vital force of an animal. And it's what traditional Chinese medicine calls qi. Both animals and plants have what I would say is a vital force, and that's the force that we work with. In herbalism. There is a kind of, like, I would say, a healing law that's called Constantine's Herring's direction of healing. That law states that symptoms move from the more vital organs to the less vital, and they also move from the top down and from the inside, outside, and that is one of the healing laws that as an herbalist we practice. So healing is in reverse of the way it occurred. So, for example, first your dog has an ear infection, then a couple months later a bladder infection. And then you figure out what you really have is a kidney imbalance. And so when you address the kidney with herbs and diet, the healing would take place in the opposite way it occurred, meaning the kidney first, then the bladder, then the ear. So as you become more proficient in healing and using herbs, you'll understand that when you're trying to get rid of an ear infection, it's probably going to be the last condition in your dog that's going to heal up. It's going to heal up last, basically. So herbalism also works on the homeopathic law of similars, which is like treats like when we're using herbs in homeopathic form, which are herbs that are poisonous, like for instance, belladonna. And homeopathy also calls out what is called an aggravation, which is, as an herbalist, we view that as basically a healing crisis. And a healing crisis is when an imbalance is working its way from the vital to the less vital. So from the inside to the periphery, which is the outside. And then the illness, it may be felt for a short period of time. It's kind of like that, one step back, three steps forward. So, for example, I recently gave a dog, a client I recommended to a dog, the herb wireweed. And we gave one drop of tincture per day. That's like one individual little drop and that's a very small dose. Over the duration of a couple of days, the dog became very lame. And then within 24 hours, the lameness stopped and then the lameness hasn't returned. So a healing crisis usually lasts between 24 and 72 hours. And so if a symptom that is non life threatening, you don't like it's a life threatening, you want to go to the vet. But if a symptom lasts longer than 72 hours, you either want to decrease the dose or you want to stop it altogether, give it a break, then start over at a lower dose. So I guess a healing recap is that healing moves from the more vital organs to the less vital symptoms move from the top down and from the inside out. And when we're using in herbalism, when you use poisonous plants like arnica and belladonna, which we use homeopathically, like treats like, so, for instance, APIs, which is bee venom, you would use bee venom to treat a bee Sting. And then non poisonous plants, we're going to use the opposite. So if a dog is very warm, we're going to like say for instance a dog's digestion was extremely warm and inflamed. We're going to use herbs that cool that down, like small amounts of, let's say the herb gentian, which has an affinity towards the digestive tract. And it's energetically very cold. So it's going to help bring that heat down in the gut. And then a healing crisis, or what you could call an aggravation, lasts for 24 to 72 hours. So for instance, if you were using chickweed to help your dog with itching, when you start out using that chickweed at a lower dose, like below 10 drops twice daily, if you're using a tincture of chickweed, you may get in the first 24 to 72 hours, you may see more itching, usually within the first day, and then the itching starts to subside. That's just an example. And then another thing to keep in mind is that you want to give that herb, especially like non toxic herbs for chronic disease. You want to give that herb four to six weeks to see you moving forward. Now if you're not moving forward, at the most eight to 12 weeks, you want to stop the herb and try something else or discuss it with an herbalist or your holistic vet and see if you want to try it at a larger dose to see if that makes a difference. But some guidelines for working with herbs is that your dog, dogs are individuals and they have their own herbal tolerance and that can vary from herb to herb and you can always add but you can't subtract. So you want to start out with small doses and work your way up being a tincture or a glycerin, which is a glycerin extract or a dried herb that you're feeding with food. Suggested dosages on manufactured packaging are not absolute. Your dog, your dog again is an individual. So you don't want to forget this. Manufacturer's dosages are just suggested dosages based on weight or usually based on weight. With chronic conditions, you want to start out slow and work your way up to maximum dosages. The only difference between a non toxic and a toxic herb is dosage. Okay, so. And if there is an acute condition occurring at the same time as a chronic condition, you want to address that acute condition first. In acute situations, always know your maximum safe dosage. As I mentioned earlier, especially these would be herbs in your emergency kit. You want to make sure you know how much according to your specific dog, you can administer for long term treatment with non toxic herbs. Sometimes it's okay and recommended that you take one day off per week. One week off per month. I'm sorry, one week off every six weeks. It can be a month to every six weeks and then a month off every six months and then you start over and that is called pulsing. Non toxic herbs are pretty much generally safe in small amounts or in general amounts. Kind of like with chamomile. And then some require caution like with goldenseal or black walnut, Oregon grape root, things that are high in what is called alkaloids, barberry, things like that. Even though serious side effects are rare, research has been shown can happen and you want to know those side effects before giving it to your dog. You want to look those up and make sure that you're familiar with them. Nutrient herbs like fruits and greens are mild and pretty safe for long term use. An example of that would be like things like parsley or nettles, other medicinal herbs, pretty, like I said, should be limited again because of things like alkaloids, which is a constituent and they usually affect key organs, kind of like alkaloids affect the liver. Oregano is another example of an herb that has alkaloids. When using herbs, keep the delivery system in mind. So whole herbs are usually mixed into foods, given in capsules or given in capsules. And vegetarian capsules will disperse quickly when they hit the stomach. And animal based gelatin capsules have a better chance of reaching the intestines. So you want to think of absorption when you're thinking of the delivery system for your dog. Tinctures, infusions, glycerates have a more immediate effect. They have a more immediate effect due to the short digestive tract in dogs. Sometimes it takes longer for dried herb capsules to take effect because they don't have the best short term benefits when given in dried or encapsulated herbs because of your dog's short digestion tract. So you want to give those continuously and on a daily basis. I think that general rules for healing really do adhere to that 4 to 12 weeks time frame. And I think that diseases have a root that when diseases have a root in excess, they're easier to heal. Kind of like obesity. That's more of an excess issue where when they're deficient, when you have a dog that's super skinny and kind of cold and their vital force is more diminished, it takes a longer time to heal. And last but not least, you don't want to kitchen sink your dog. So giving dogs many, many, many herbs. I've seen dogs on 30 plus herbs. You want to make sure that you know what you're doing. You don't want to give them everything associated with that condition. You want to look at your dog as an individual, look up those herbs, look up their indications and see how well they fit your dog. And try to find herbs that fit your dog as an individual, matching them to their like, specific situation. Instead of just grabbing something that say, let's just say for arthritis and you say, oh, well, you know, this herb's good for arthritis. That herb's good for arthritis. I heard that turmeric was good for arthritis. I'm going to give them all three just in hopes that something will work. You want to make sure that you're matching that herb to your specific dog's condition.

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