by Christine Hagey

Sam is an 8 year old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, in good health.  Each fall after his initial onset about 6 years ago, he has suffered an atopic allergy season that begins about mid to late August and ends with the first frosts.   Over the years Sam has been taken to allergy specialist vets and also to regular care vets.   He is what would be considered a fairly mild case although, once onset of his allergy season occurs, it will take him only a week or less of rubbing his face on the carpets and of itching and biting to take the fur off almost completely around his eyes and nose area. He also suffers extensive eye watering as well for the duration of autumn and will be very choosy about how and when he goes outdoors.

As a subtle energy facilitator, I have for the past 4 years been mildly successful in alleviating some of Sam's symptomology and in making it a lessor intensity. Even so, there has always been a two week period when he will be so visibly uncomfortable that I will need to pull out the prednisolone pills.   Though I am a great believer in natural ways of healing, I do draw the line at intense suffering and so have no problems with giving what I feel is needed, even while I simultaneously work on less invasive ways.   I also will give Sam Benadryl....all of this was given under the care of our veterinary office over the past years. Once Sam has gotten to a point of inflammation around his eyes, they can almost be swollen closed and he will be so itchy that he can cause minor bleeding around his delicate eye tissue. This is the point at which I bring in the meds as I do not want Sam to suffer. I do try to use as little of the medications as possible, but, usually this means we will give Sam about 10 to 12 prednisolone pills per season and dozens of Benedryls.

2006 is a radically different season for Sam

I will be detailing exactly what I did for and with Sam below on a day by day basis however I want to start by saying that our season appears to have been nipped before it ever started. This has been the most phenomenal year for Sam with respect to his comfort level during allergy season.   As I write this report it is now the start of October and to date I have given Sam only 4 prednisolones...all of them in 1/2 tablet increments spread out over 3 weeks' time - and he has had Benadryl only 4 days thus far. I have stopped giving him any medications or energywork at all as of about 2 weeks ago. He has been acting comfortable, with eyes wide open (no inflammation at all), very little to no eye watering - in short, Sam has been acting like normal in what has typically been a time of extreme discomfort for him!

I feel that much of this is attributed to a holistic approach and some new facilitation techniques that I have employed with Sam this year, "new" in that I had not worked on exactly these facets for him in past years.   Part of what I did for Sam this year that is different came from what I learned through my double blind allergy study in late spring with 10 people as volunteers.    (This report is on my website at www.EarthAlchemy.com)   

My Holistic Plan

There are 4 main areas in how I have approached facilitation for Sam this allergy season.   I believe that each of these acted in synergy with one another to produce such a phenomenal season for Sam this year although I'd certainly like to study this further.   The four items are:

1. Switching Sam to Avoderm dog food, made specifically for dogs with allergies.  There are now many wonderful brands of dog food out that use wholesome ingredients. At the time, this was the food that Sam had clearly shown the best subtle energy flow dynamic with. One of the basic tenets I have used for Sam is to pay very close attention to his food choices.   I do find that his needs change.   If in addition to the commerical food you can feed raw or raw bones, that is an extremely good choice for our allergic animals.

2. This year, unlike the past years, I specifically worked on Sam's subtle energy level interaction with ragweed.   This is my version of an N.A.E.T. type approach , although I didn't use acupuncture and it took far less time to open up for Sam.   Several years ago I had done this same thing for him with certain types of grasses and found that this did head off for Sam what was looking to be a far more extensive allergy season - one which looked to be gearing up to manifest at the first sign of tree flowering and grass action in the spring.    After working on grasses for Sam, I have seen his allergy season become shorter. .   In order to shift Sam's subtle energy war with ragweed this year , I used the same type of focus that I employ for all my facilitation. This requires nothing invasive nor does it require Sam's active participation in any way.    We have never opted to have Sam tested at the vet to see what items he was allergic to although this had been pondered several times over the past 6 years - this is one area that subtle energy flow dynamics can very quickly pinpoint all on its own with great success.   I am extremely comfortable in "reading" the indications that suggest allergic items.   Besides, none of Sam's doctors have felt that his mild case warranted a year-round shot regimen anyway so finding out the specifics was not particularly necessary.

3. I performed some full subtle energy remotes for Sam during the first weeks of his allergy season.    One of the very first things that I did was smooth the flow between his physical eyes and his 3rd eye - and I did this at several levels, which I had not done before. Immediately , and I mean as soon as I had done this, I noted Sam's eyes begin to visibly water less. Ever since that day , he has been unconcerned about going outdoors, and I now feel this could have been eye sensitivity to light that had been part of his discomfort in past years and which is no longer seemingly affecting him. I have checked and rechecked this facet for him several times since opening it with him those weeks ago and have found it has remained clearly open for him.

4. The final area of my holistic approach for Sam this year was to also do hands-on facilitation with him.   This is very light work, involving mostly a running of hands above his body instead of upon it.    My main goal with this type of facilitation was to sense how strongly Sam's main bodies that are not visible were running and to gently aid them in strengthening if I found them to be weak. This is not something that can be explained, but must really be shown or experienced and is a highly intuitive process.   It is much like a massage, yet there is not much actual contact made. Still, Sam really did love these hands-on sessions and I noted that they quieted his allergy discomfort quite significantly (as you will see below in the daily log . )

The main mission for me with Sam has always been that he be comfortable and feel he can act normally.   This year, miraculously, he is!   We are able to have our doors and windows open without fear of setting Sam into an itching frenzy....both he and I can enjoy his daily walks with no allergy related worries whatsoever and he feels peaceful and happy. Truly, this is a small miracle for our household and yet, I do think there may be much merit in the fourfold system I have employed with Sam this year that is making our fall so beautiful.

Below is a complete record of everything I have done or given to Sam since the beginning of his allergy season. If you decide not to read the whole log, I do hope you will at least skip down to the very last entires and my final note. Thank you for taking the time to read and absorb this!

2007 addendum:   Sam had another great year. I noted this year specifically that energywork was the largest ingredient in aiding him as I noted a very direct cause and effect response for him. I had not seen anything so direct in 2006 but it was quite apparent this year.

Daily Log

For ease of finding the meds which were given , I have color coded them.   Red is Prednisolone and Pink is Benadryl.

Aug 22:   Allergy season has blown in.  Did a Remote for Sam this day and my main focus was to work on opening up his Paw flows...from several perspectives.

Aug 23:   9 am gave 2 activated charcoal tablets.
11:15 am and 9:15 pm - Benadryl

Aug 24:   10:30 am Apple Cider Vinegar soaked into a treat.
6:15 pm - Benadryl and a bit more ACV
Began feeding Sam Lamiderm (half and half mix with his old food)
Did a remote for Sam, this time focusing on sinus clarity at many levels, nose clarity and beginning to work on eyes and 3rd eye.

Aug 25:   8:50 am and 4 pm - Benadryl
Began Sam on frozen raw food of a small amount with his kibble mix.    We discontinued the raw food after 3 days since Sam's preference was for the Lamiderm exclusively. While Sam is a Lab and thus a lover of all food, I find that during allergy season he will be significantly more choosy.   He was, for example, beginning to walk away from his old dog food untouched. He was attacking the Lamiderm with all due Lab-loving gusto on the other hand.   And the raw food seemed suspicious to him. The more thawed it was the less he would eat it.   Raw food diets are acclaimed as a wonder for allergy sufferers yet that is only going to work if your dog will eat them!
A remote session for Sam , specifically to work with Ragweed flows. Also working on solar plexus, 3rd eye (again) and on the flow between Crown, Root and solar plexus chakras as a team together.

Aug 26:   9am - 1/2 prednisolone , roughly 2 1/2 mg. (each whole tablet is 5 mg).  Sam's weight is approximately 75 pounds so you can see that 1/2 tablet is a very small amount.   By this time I sensed that we needed to head inflammation off at the pass.  He was not at the usual critical stage and I didn't want him to go there.   I also wanted the remote work to have a few more days to filter down and kick in. When working on subtle levels, there is a procession needed to filter into the more dense layers that are physical.   My remote for Sam today was short , focusing on toxins to see how well Sam was releasing or eliminating those toxins he was creating or taking in.   As I noted initially, not very well at all for him on this day.   This was a challenging area to work with for him, taking an extra long time but feeling pivotal.

Aug 27:   9 am  This was our first hands-on session.  Sam visibly liked this process which took roughly 10 minutes' time. I found his immune system energy flow overall be ungrounded and that is one of the several items we worked with on this day.    After this Sam was beginning to look so comfortable that I didn't need to give him any medications whatsoever.

Aug 28:  9 am...I just had to mention to Sam that I wanted to work with him and he came right over and laid down in front of me.  This is, to me, visible proof that Sam could feel and enjoyed what we had done the day prior.   Again, this is all I needed to do for him that day.   Nonetheless I spent some time checking various subtle energy flows in a remote style of work for him later but did not actual work with him.

Aug 29:   n / a (no remote or hands-on work, no meds, no supplements)

Aug 30   Hands-on session this day plus activated charcoal.

Aug 31 and Sept 1: n / a

Sept 2: Both hands -on work and a remote session.   Again I worked with Sam's toxin release versus toxin accrual dynamics (which I feel may have been due to all the extra histamines his body was making to attack the allergens) . I reinforced and carried on with ragweed soothing and also with 3rd eyes and nose dynamics. In addition on this day, I worked for the first time with Sam's birth flows finding emotional body to be in need of some attention.

Sept 3:   We begin the active stage of upcoming full moon / lunar eclipse, making the overall intensity levels very much higher than average. Sam begins to show the intensity.
1/2 prednisolone at 6 am and again at 1 pm. (This makes one entire pill for the day.) The full moon and eclipse happens on Thursday....watch Sam's next few days as we all feel more and more intensity leading up to the cresting of the moon and eclipse and then note how well he does after this date overall.

Sept 4:   8am and 5 pm - Benadryl . 8am - 1/2 prednisolone.   I was feeling the intensity overwhelm Sam so all I decided to do was wait this period of time out and try not to have him exacerbate anything too much.

Sept 5:    n/a.

Sept 6:   8am - 1/2 prednisolone. I very carefully watched Sam for signs that the meds were affecting him adversely but this did not happen. 1/2 was just enough to help suppress symptoms given the other things we were doing and yet not enough that his body couldn't cope with it.   We saw no excessive thirst or urination....I saw no distress from this for Sam as would be the usual with this drug, if taken as usually prescribed. (and we have seen this in past years while giving this to Sam as prescribed. Sam and I have been far happier since we have gone on our own with how we use this med.   I do understand however that not everyone is as comfortable as I am in using my intuitive to gauge the situation.   Still, this can be learned by everyone.   All most people have to do in fact, is try. )

Sept 7:   This is the day of the full moon and eclipse. And thus the intensity is beginning to unwind and back down. I am noting Sam is visibly less irritated. No meds given nor any work done.  And by this time I am beginning to sense that Sam doesn't need me as much so I have been less diligent with his work overall. From this point onwards I feel no more need to give Sam Benadryl. That makes a total of 4 days where this was given to him , versus about 25 or more days in a typical year (if not more).

Sept 8:   n / a

Sept 9:    7 am - 1/2 prednisolone .

Sept 10:   5:30 pm - 1/2 prednisolone.

Sept 11 thru 15:   n / a

Sept 16:   7:30 am - 1/2 prednisolone.   What is noteworthy here is that the last 3 times I felt Sam might need this med were all weekend days (this is Saturday) .   Of the 7 total days that Sam received any prednisolone, in fact, 5 of them were weekend days!  I feel this is highly significant. I recently ran across an article that talked of how rain patterns correlated with the weekend according to a meteorologist studying the trends. He noted a 7 day pattern , revolving around a human week and speculated that pollution levels during a busy industrial work week built up enough that by the weekend moisture levels were heavy enough to drop (and then start over again). Perhaps this , in part, explains Sam's minor challenges on weekend days.    As well, on the weekend, all family members are home and interacting so there is more emotional energy and perhaps more subconscious emotional charges in the household. This affects our animals.

Sept 17 thru October 1:   Sam has been golden.  No excess eye watering, no inflammation, normal amounts of everything, even on the weekends.    He really has been comfortable through much of September.   This is radically different than what we have come to expect and see of him in the fall, thus I feel the facilitation and food may well have been of immense benefit to Sam.

Recap

Sam was given in total 4 whole tablets of prednisolone over the entire period of this report, extending 6 weeks.    He was given Benadryl on only 4 days, 3 of them at the very start of this process.

Weekly Tally of Med Days

This case log runs for about 6 weeks, from August 22 through Oct 1.   Grouping this time frame via 7 day intervals and then counting the days per week where ANY type of med was given (either prednisolone or Benadryl) here is what happened:

Week 1:  4 out of 7 days Sam was given some type of medication.

Week 2:   2 out of 7 days.

Week 3:   3 out of 7 days.

Week 4:   1 out of 7 days.

Week 5:  0 out of 7 days.

Week 6:   0 out of 7 days.

During this period we had no frosts, mild or otherwise, in this area.

At NO time during this entire period did Sam experience major inflammation of eyes or paws, had no delicate eye tissue bleeding and has RETAINED much of his fur around eyes and on face overall. In fact over the past several weeks what he originally lost has been growing in.

He had restless itchy nights only during week 1. By week 2 and onwards, he experienced very restful nights and also showed no excessive itching during the daytime. He was willing and able to go on any or all walks in any areas we wished to take him - and we did not have to take any special measures either before or after walking him (such as rinsing his legs / feet off after romps in wilder areas for example or giving him Benadryl).   We also did not after week 1 need to wipe his paws after morning constitutions to wipe off some allergens, as has been the past history through all of September - the morning dew on the grass has not been bothering him, in other words , as it usually tends to do through the fall.   We are able to feed him his normal treats, including those that contain grains like corn and wheat.  He eats them and has no problems.