INTERNATIONAL HERBAL SYMPOSIUM

Dr. Margo Roman and Dr. Cheryl Schwartz

​June 6-9, 2019, Dr. Roman attended the International Herbal Symposium at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. This wonderful conference brought together herbalist from all over the world to learn and educate each other with high quality lectures, herbal walks and wet labs. The veterinary tract was co-sponsored by the Veterinary Botanical Medical Association (“VBMA”).

​There were CEs for IVAS and the Chi Institute as topics were covered in western, Chinese, ayurvedic and rain forest herbal medicine.

Using these natural methods to support organs and treat a patient’s health issues seems like such a good choice verses the pharmaceuticals that have more side effects. The more one can learn about the diversity of the herbs and the way that they support an individual and the microbiome, the more practitioners will have tools to help our clients. Herbal medicine is available at MASH and we are proud to have all of our doctors embracing herbal medications to help our patients.

One of the issues that was discussed was doing micro-dosing of the herbal medication for smaller dogs and cats so that you gently stimulate the herbal response. This concept was designed by Cheryl Schwartz.
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Another topic which has been of great interest to me is the effectiveness of herbs due to the quality and completeness of the microbiome; we need the microbiome to help break down the herb into its components so that they can be utilized by specific cells in specific organs. I have felt that if the microbiome is not balanced, then the herbs, food and even drugs do not break down properly and these medications can be less effective. The microbiome of the gut is crucial to repair the immune system.  

Dr. Cheryl Schwartz

​Dr. Cheryl Schwartz author of Four Paws Five Directions, a well-known book on dog and cat acupuncture, came to MASH for a tour and to see our microbiome processing center. Being the joyous ham that she is, we got a great shot of her with our big poop balloon.