22/10/2023
They say that bad things happen in threes, but life has a way of proving those clichés wrong.
So far this year, I’ve dealt, with the help of the police, a relentless unknown stalker, rats devouring my car and my mum being hospitalized for a month.
Then we had an illegal rave a few fields away from home.
Now I don’t mind a good rave, love to dance but……..
the ground was shaking and helicopters circling, my little shetland pony, was traumatised and got injured in the process.
Thankfully I was able to treat him quickly.
Yet, amidst this chaos, there was one burden that weighed on me more heavily than the rest.
Molly, my four-legged fur baby doggie, is just four years old.
At first, it seemed trivial—a phantom pregnancy and a subtle change in one of her eye colours.
It was easy to dismiss amidst the more pressing issues that demanded my attention.
Months passed, and her eye remained unchanged, neither better nor worse.
Then, a day came when a roe deer charged at Molly while we were playing ball in a nearby field.
She managed to escape, but the obstruction of a bush kept me from seeing if there was actual contact.
Molly seemed shaken but unharmed, showing no signs of visible injury.
However, soon after, she started incessantly scratching her neck, revealing a nasty skin infection.
This could have been a result of the stress from the deer incident or perhaps an attack by mites or a deer bite/impact.
I immediately set to work treating the rash, which cleared up at the site but migrated to her eye.
Her eye turned into a cloudy, blue-white orb of infection.
Molly's behavior hadn't changed significantly, but the sight of her deteriorating eye terrified me.
So decided to consult a Vet.
The Vet conducted tests, revealing that her cornea was unharmed, but her eye pressure was off the charts, exceeding 40mmHg—far beyond the normal range of 10 to 25mmHg, indicating glaucoma.
To my shock, the vet suggested removing her eye urgently,
I hadn't revealed my occupation at this point, but questioned his diagnosis.
Could it be parasites, rat poison, gut microbiome issues, or even head trauma?
He dismissed these possibilities, insisting that the eye was a self-contained mechanism and these things couldn't cause such high pressure.
Skeptical, I didn't push back but knew, wearing my functional medicine and neurology hat, that this couldn't be the whole truth.
A mere ten-minute consultation for £140 with a radical solution costing thousands of pounds.
That night, I gave her the antibiotic eye drops along with my own remedies, and by morning, there was a noticeable improvement.
I spoke with the vet again on the phone, who apparently consulted an ophthalmologist, and that based on the test results, they both agreed that removing her eye was the only option.
This was the moment I decided to challenge him, and after a respectful exchange, we reached an agreement that I was going to look at this more holistically and of course if Molly's condition didn't improve, we would consider the drastic solution.
I continued the antibiotic treatment for two days whilst also transitioning her gut health and immune system.
My approach was to understand the "WHY" behind her condition rather than merely treating the symptom.
It wasn't coincidental that her eye changed color during her phantom pregnancy, indicating hormone related or developed an infection after the deer encounter.
However, the story ends on a positive note.
Nurturing her immune system and gut while addressing her eye symptoms.
Along the way, a hematoma appeared in her eye, confirming some sort of impact from the deer or prior, which then managed to disperse.
I am thrilled to report that her eye pressure is now within the normal range, and after two months, her eye looked healthy and back to the subtle change in eye colour and has continued to remain in good health.
Whether her eye colour returns to its former shade remains uncertain, but the risk of blindness has diminished.
This tale serves as a reminder that while I hold deep respect for allopathic medicine, life often exists in shades of grey rather than just black and white and we have to look at all elements.
Rushing into invasive and dramatic procedures without fully understanding the "why" behind a condition can be unnecessary.
Join the dots, everything is connected, nothing happens in isolation.
By prioritizing gut and immune health should always be one of the first steps, by decreasing the pressure of inflammation in humans and animals.
But a lesson learned and something I always advise clients but ignored my own advice on this occasion…………
Before you hear your body scream, listen to its whispers and take action 😊