Devils claw alongside other medications

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

emma_j — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 14:06:33 GMT

Yes I've seen the CIVT one too. It certainly does interest me the only issue at present is that I am already doing a postgrad qualification through work so this would have to be self-funded - I see they do a module-by-module basis though.

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

a.bardell — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 13:20:07 GMT

Hi Emma_j

yes I did the integrate course but there is a very good online course of modules with exams etc at the end with CIVT based in Australia.

I have done a few of their webinars recently and they are v good. There appears to be a much bigger uptake of herbal medicine down under for some reason and some of the research going on at the moment is looking really interesting

If you want any more details give me a shout

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

emma_j — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:56:05 GMT

Where/how have you studied vet herbal medicine - did you do the Integrate CPD course?

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

Suzanne Kelly — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 02:17:13 GMT

[quote user="Malcolm Ness"]

[quote user="Alexa Bardell"] actual active ingredient[/quote]

How is the activity measured?

[/quote]

The levels of the active ingredient ( harpagoside) can be measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. The problem with herbal medicine is that an individual plant may contain many 100s of "active ingredients", which can make figuring out which bits exert an effect difficult. Also although there are some reasonable clinical trials on plant medicine, there's a plethora of dodgy ones too.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0012842/ is a link to A Cochrane review of Devil's Claw, it's just on lower back pain in humans though.

http://www.herbalvets.org.uk/ if you want any more info.

I studied veterinary herbal medicine as I had lots of clients asking me questions like the OP's client and I had no clue of the answers. As Alexa said, a lot of the OTC Devil's Claw preparations are pretty poor quality. If you don't have high-performance liquid chromatography handy, dunking your finger into the tincture and tasting it will give you a fair indication of quality if you know what a decent devil claw tincture should taste like. Not very scientific I'm afraid

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

Malcolm Ness — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:03:35 GMT

[quote user="Alexa Bardell"] actual active ingredient[/quote]

How is the activity measured?

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

Wren — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:09:03 GMT

I encounter this a lot with horses as people always want to try the cheap route before getting us out. I don't advise any break, just swap from one to the other on the same day.

Re: Devils claw alongside other medications

a.bardell — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:41:19 GMT

There is a british veterinary herbal association if your client wants to go down the fully herbal route but if not then I have happily used devils claw with most common nsaids with no problems. I would just say that devils claw on its own rarely has a great effect for OA and is usually combined with other herbs to get an appreciable result.

If the devils claw has been bought off the internet or from certain health food outlets then the amount of actual active ingredient is probably going to be very low as well. I would have no concerns using metacam/rimadyl/your favourite nsaid alongside while weaning off.

Hope this helps- PM me if you want any further info

Alexa