The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association meeting was awesome. I went to the session on Insulin Resistance with Gabriele Sutton, ND and Dr. John Hanover. It is always so rewarding to hear scientific confirmation of what I see clinically.

First of all they both emphasized the part that dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome play in IR. They both focus on natural products for gut health and avoid acid blockers or anti acids. This is because these products will ultimately interfere with the normal acid base balance needed in the gut for good bacteria to thrive.

Dr. Hanover was also able to explain why products like bute and banamine interfere with healing. He talked about the normal biorhythm that occurs in the fluids surrounding the cells in the body. When injury happens there is a normal cycle of inflammation then healing, then slightly less inflammation and then healing and this pattern continues until the tissue is completely back to normal.

Products like bute and banamine stop the healthy inflammation so they shut down the healing cycle. Even products like surpass, that are applied locally will stop pain but also prevent healing. I have always seen the poor healing with anti inflammatory drugs but never been able to explain it from a biochemical standpoint.

I do not see this same pattern with natural anti inflammatory nutritional products or herbs. These products seem to curb inflammation selectively and allow healing to progress. Natural products also do not have the side effects associated with anti inflammatory drugs.

One more tidbit from these lectures was the understanding of how when the body gets stuck in the fight or flight, sympathetic nervous system response the immune system is triggered to stop cellular immunity which helps the body resist infections and form more antibodies to kill invaders already in the body. Of course, many times their are no active invaders but the immune system does not realize this and it will start to attack harmless substances or even healthy tissues.

This helped me understand why allergies can be so hard to treat and why they develop to begin with. I am very excited about the new Xango product Eleviv which is designed to gently help the body balance the nervous system and shift out of the damaging fight or flight state.

One more confirming note for me. I have found that if I can get these IR horses to move then the insulin is able to come down. Dr. Hanover reported that 1 hour of exercise a day will allow even IR horses to properly process sugar for 24 hours. Very cool.

If you want to review the basics of Insulin Resistance you can get my laminitis and cushings e book. Keep in mind these new concepts as you are reading through it. I think we are very close to being able to help these horses that have been such a puzzle for so long. This kind of research is so valuable. Madalyn