I wasn’t going to respond further because there’s no sense in debating with other’s who have made up their mind, it’s like yelling at a wall. But the idea of leaving this to whoever might find this thread and see it as good advice doesn’t sit right with me and I believe it would be very wrong of me not to add a warning for whoever may stumble on some of the statements here.
When I see people refer to homeopathics, holistic, herbal medicine as safe, natural, and effective alternatives to mainstream medicine I know that they aren’t professional herbalists or doctors, no sane medical professional would issue such a blanketed statement to say that there are no side effects to herbal/ homeopathic medicine and that it’s completly safe or to use it as a cure all despite age, weight, sex, gender, or in this case, species.
“There are no side effects and is my first choice in treating myself , family, and my beloved animals.”
That statement is not true, only people who are terribly ill informed about it would use such broad language when speaking of homeopathic medicine. Herbal remedies can have anywhere between negligible to powerful effects, and if not used correctly they can easily be deadly.
A few basic examples:
Oregano oil if used incorrectly can induce anemia, blood pressure issues, miscarriage, gastrointestinal inflammation, and a host of other issues as can other herbs which have thymol such as mint, lavender, and basil.
Peppermint oil if used incorrectly can induce tachycardia, kidney problems, shallow breathing, neurological problems, and convulsions among others.
Ashwagandha is a popular herb in Ayurvedic medicine, if you took to much of it it usually causes typical gastrointestinal upset and could cause vomiting, but it’s also known to exacerbate thyroid, low blood pressure, and auto-immune disorders as well as being potentially harmful to the liver.
Common mallow root is known as an effective treatment to calm gastrointestinal issues among other things, but therapeutic levels for humans seem to be toxic to other species of mammals as well as avians. Nibbling a leaf now and then doesn’t seem to harm them, but more than that has proven fatal in many species. To my knowledge there aren’t studies that have determined what a safe therapeutic dose of common mallow would be for a goose, which is why I’ve chosen not to risk the lives of my birds trying it despite their frequent gi issues.
Calcium. What could be wrong with calcium? We all need it, we all consume it, it even has some awesome medicinal effects. Calcium can bind toxins and metals, which is why it can be used as a treatment for lead or zinc poisoning.
The problem with calcium is that it’s a little harder for the kidneys to filter out excess calcium in the body.
If a person or animal takes or is given too much calcium it could clog the kidneys up causing acute renal failure, the pancreas will also shut down, heart palpitations may occur, the body will begin accumulating ammonia which causes neurological problems. The person or animal will be in severe pain before they begin hallucinating “from the ammonia pooling in the brain” before they slip into a coma and die.
Potassium, potassium is great, but what’s too much or too little in the body isn’t a lot, the body maintains a very subtle balance of potassium, too much or too little either way will induce heart failure.
Herbal medicine is not safe in the least, a real professional herbalist and herbal practitioner is acutely familiar with the risks of using plants and other natural medicines. They have to be able to accuratlay identify a species and know what is a therapeutic and safe concentration vs. one that can potentially overdose and harm themselves or their patients. Even within one species a plant may have a higher concentration of a substance than the same species of plant found just down the road, which is why some Star lilies are edible and others are poisonous for example. Plants don’t grow warning labels unfortunatly.
Many pharmaceutical medicines are just refined and purified versions of wild found substances, chemists identify what the active substance is, isolate it from non effective or harmful parts of the plant, bacteria, fungi, or whatever it was derived from, study it’s effects to work out it’s benefits and what it’s theraputic dosage should be. They come with lots of warnings because no substance is completly safe, if it’s having an effect on the body it has the ability to have side effects too just like in wild.
When using any medicine or substance as a treatment you have to do your research. Learn as much as you can about it, what side effects it has, how it interacts with other drugs or vitamins, blind trust in anything is dangerous, wether it pharmaceutical or homeopathic medicine.
