Another uveitis post

[Equihealth@aol.com]

I thought the post about uveitis from the endurance board was interesting, so
I sent it on to Kim Henneman DVM.  She is an alternative therapy practitioner
--- accupuncture, chiropractic, and homopathic.  She asked me to post this for
her:

Pat I am going to reply through you to the uveitis post because I am not sure
which board it came off of.

Cyclosporin is the main drug used to prevent rejection of transplants in
people.  It is EXTREMELY suppressive to the immune system.  No white blood
cell of any type is allowed to function in its wake.  Uveitis is a chronic
immune-mediated disease of the eye.  Maybe it would be a better choice to
identify the source of the trauma to the immune system and try to set it
right, rather than just suppress the whole darn thing. Numerous studies in
both
people and small animals show that vaccinations may be one of the causes of
traumatizing the immune system in genetically susceptible individuals.
Unfortunately, you don't know who those individuals are until the have an
unfavorable response and by then it might be too late.  This is where the
limitations of modern medicine in treating chronic degenerative diseases show
up.  The limitations in recognizing that there was a more subtle pattern of
disease before the uveitis hit (both homeopaths and acupuncturists are trained
to recognize those patterns) as well as the fact that there is only very
limited tools in conventional medicine's tool box make medicine go for nastier
and nastier drugs such as cyclosporine (look at the antibiotic mess we are in
now).  When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I personally have had 5 cases of anterior uveitis in horses that have
responded well to classical homeopathic treatment.  In all cases, when the
owners gathered all their records and started looking at dates, uveitis flare-
ups or other immune symptoms such as laminitis occurred within 4 weeks after
vaccination.  Delayed immune reactions using cell-mediated immunity can be
linked to vaccination or drug reactions within that time period.  It is not
unusual to have vaccine induced thrombocytopenia (no platelets) occur in small
animals within 4-6 weeks after vaccination.  It is a recognized syndrome and
is often fatal.

Let's look to the cause of these problems and treat accordingly.  I saw my
mother on cyclosporin as a transplant case and I used to use it for opthalmic
problems in dogs in my less enlightened days.  I would never use it now for
any of my animals....I and other holistically trained vets have many more
tools in our tool boxes now.  Take advantage of them.

Kimberly Henneman, DVM

I posted the uveitis info to the equine alternative therapies board.  Your
board is always so informative, that I think it really helps others to learn.
Anyway, one of the people on the alternative therapies sent the post to
vuduvet (?) and this was her response!!  

Candy Mercer