Bud, the Arabian gelding with inflammatory bowel disease, is still living at my clinic. I thought he was turning a corner with getting his appetite back and gaining weight but after 1 day of eating me out of house and home he started acting uncomfortable again and backed off his eating.

I have talked in the past about cure, palliation and suppression and I suspect the pulsatilla may have been palliating. The reason I believe this is because it was taking higher doses to get the same response and the response was not holding very long. The other clue was the response the the pulsatilla seemed to be pretty immediate without any aggravation period.

With a correct deep acting constitutional remedy it is common to see a period where the symptoms get a bit worse before they start to improve. This is the reaction of the body to the remedy and this kind of reaction is usually followed by a long term improvement.

It is possible that I need a higher potency of pulsatilla but I would still have liked to see 3 doses of 30c last more than 48 hours. Last thursday, 24 hours after the pulsatilla, Bud seemed great. He was eating well and perky. Friday morning, however, I looked out my window and saw him eating dirt then he laid down. I knew pulsatilla did not cover the symptom of eating dirt so I looked at remedies that did. I gave 1 dose of nux 30c and Bud seemed better. I don’t consider nux a very deep acting remedy so I was not surprised when later that day Bud laid down again.

I looked at remedies that were deep acting, followed pulsatilla, and had the other digestive symptoms. I gave 1 dose of calc carb 30c friday night and was excited to see the next morning that Bud had eaten all his hay overnight. My excitement did not last long though, because right after his breakfast Bud laid down again.

I did not want to give another homeopathic remedy in case this was an aggravation and thus a healing response the the calc carb. By mid day it was clear Bud was not improving so I gave him a dose of Banamine. The Banamine took care of the colic but Bud lost ground and his appetite did not pick up.

I gave another dose of calc carb Sunday morning in case the Banamine had interfered with the previous dose. Bud did not feel as bad on Sunday but he still laid down much of the day. Sunday night I gave 1 dose of lycopodium 200c. I have been looking a lycopodium ever since Bud came but it did not seem to fit the overall case as well as pulsatilla. This morning my hopes fell briefly when Bud laid down after eating but after a few minutes he got up and he has been up all day and acting very much like a healthy, happy horse. He was picking a fight over the fence with Remi and his manure looks more moist and does not have any mucus on it.

I am not going to get too excited yet but I have a feeling Bud is finally on a path to cure. Madalyn