What's the secret to healing abandonment, vulnerability, and dependency issues? Find out as we explore the world of homeopathic remedies made from different types of milk, including Lac Caninum (dog's milk), Lac Defloratum (skimmed cow's milk), and Lac Humanum/Maternum (mother's milk). These milks are all about loving, nurturing, and caring, and we'll discuss how they can help those who have experienced these emotional traumas. Plus, we'll touch on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the importance of protection, nourishment, and love from birth.
In today's episode, we focus on Lac Caninum and its connection to abandonment, neglect, and fear. We'll explore the characteristics of Lac Caninum, such as hypersexuality and swinging between passivity and aggression, which can lead to a deep lack of trust and self-belief. You'll also discover the fear of snakes and delusions of spiders that can accompany this remedy, as well as their tendency to swear and use curse words. Don't miss our dosage recommendations for homeopathic remedies and a sneak peek at future episodes where we'll cover Lac Defloratum and Lac Humanum/Maternum.
What's the secret to healing abandonment, vulnerability, and dependency issues? Find out as we explore the world of homeopathic remedies made from different types of milk, including Lac Caninum (dog's milk), Lac Defloratum (skimmed cow's milk), and Lac Humanum/Maternum (mother's milk). These milks are all about loving, nurturing, and caring, and we'll discuss how they can help those who have experienced these emotional traumas. Plus, we'll touch on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the importance of protection, nourishment, and love from birth.
In today's episode, we focus on Lac Caninum and its connection to abandonment, neglect, and fear. We'll explore the characteristics of Lac Caninum, such as hypersexuality and swinging between passivity and aggression, which can lead to a deep lack of trust and self-belief. You'll also discover the fear of snakes and delusions of spiders that can accompany this remedy, as well as their tendency to swear and use curse words. Don't miss our dosage recommendations for homeopathic remedies and a sneak peek at future episodes where we'll cover Lac Defloratum and Lac Humanum/Maternum.
Bri Hurlburt 0:00
Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa. Hi, Melissa.
Melissa Crenshaw 0:03
Hi Bri. So great to be here tonight with you with another Materia Medica Monday.
Bri Hurlburt 0:09
Always so good. And tonight's kind of a unique one. We have three separate episodes we're going to do to cover what we call the milks. They're literally made from different types of milk. The three we're going to talk about our Lac Caninum, made from dog's milk; Lac Defloratum, and I'm going to butcher this so it just is what it is. That one is from skimmed cow's milk, and then Lac Humanum. Is it the same remedy as Lac Maternum? That is made from mother's milk, human mother's milk.
The general theme of all three of these remedies is loving, nurturing, nourishing, caring, mothering. Has a lot to do with vulnerability of people and maybe issues of feeling of separation, feeling of abandonment, or the leave me alone, maybe out of protection is that maybe?
Melissa Crenshaw 1:18
Yeah.
Bri Hurlburt 1:29
When they've been abandoned? Maybe a wounded child or anyone with dependency issues or helplessness issues.
So Melissa, do you want to share about Maslow's first needs in the notes? Do you know any more about that than what we have here? I think it’s those basic needs of …
Melissa Crenshaw 1:41
Were we protected? Were we nourished? Were we looked after? From birth, right. So the abandoned baby or child that wasn't looked after, that wasn't nourished, protected. The milks, just having all that mothering and nourishing. These could be great remedies for kids or people who didn't get that in the beginning.
Bri Hurlburt 2:14
Okay. All of these are fundamental things linked to the milks in general and then we'll get into more specific keynotes and specific things to look for in each milk to kind of differentiate which one you would choose.
Melissa Crenshaw 2:27
Right.
Bri Hurlburt 2:29
So I want to ask this right off the bat. We are talking about if people have some of these issues and they're symptomatic, right? This isn't just if you know somebody who has this in their past, just take a remedy because you've experienced that.
Melissa Crenshaw 2:43
Exactly, exactly. Yes. There could be physical or mental symptoms, but it also could be that it's an etiology. So I've never been well since I was abandoned or malnourished. Not malnourished in the sense of my body can't assimilate the vitamins and the minerals, but I wasn't fed as a child and then ever since they realized … Maybe around five years old they said … This child had not been fed, but they thought that was normal, because that's what kids do in their families. They think what they're living in is normal, even abuse, until they get to school and they realize this isn't normal. It might be gut issues or mental/emotional conditions, anxiety, depression, hoarding food, maybe overeating or any kind of issue around food. It could be any of those things that you've done ever since you were a child and had to endure things,
Bri Hurlburt 3:59
So we're going to get into some deep stuff.
Kick it off.
Melissa Crenshaw 4:01
Lac Caninum. That's the only one we're going to do in this episode and then we'll come back in future episodes to do the other milks. This is probably the most documented of all milks. Most people know Lac Caninum, or have used it. It's not clear what kind of dog was used to get the milk from.
Bri Hurlburt 4:29
I was wondering about that.
Melissa Crenshaw 4:30
Remember, for those of you that listened to or watched our interview with Dr. Jude, and what did we talk about?
Bri Hurlburt 4:43
Grafting?
Melissa Crenshaw 4:44
Grafting remedies. Remember, in that episode I mentioned that, it's like Apis. We don't kill a new honeybee every time we want to make Apis. We’re copying that remedy over and over and over again. We still have remedies that were made from honey bee 100, 200 years ago. Lac Caninum, same as all remedies, came from some kind of dog, What kind? Nobody knows. But we keep copying that remedy over and over and over again.
Think about how do you feel … Well, okay, let's say, because I know that everybody has different levels of feelings about dogs. Think about how do most people feel about dogs? You either love them or you hate them. Usually. I mean, I know a couple people.
Bri Hurlburt 5:43
Maybe not like hate, but I couldn't care less, or they’re yucky, or I don't want them around me or you're scared of them. It’s usually pretty strong one way or the other.
Melissa Crenshaw 5:54
That's right. Dogs are faithful. They're loyal. They're loving. They're protective. They're possessive. They can be aggressive. They are pack animals. They have lots of energy. They can be dirty. They can be vicious, violent, wild. They can have, of course, teeth, fangs, foaming at the mouth. These are things around the picture of a dog. Rabid dog. A lap dog. A top dog. So think of the words we use. Top dog. It's a dog's life. Or I'm in the dog house. These are some of the words that we use with dog.
Key rubrics of Lac Caninum are alternating states, and states that swing from side to sign. Remember you guys, when we're doing these remedies, and Materia Medica Monday, you don't have to match the picture 100%. I still have people say things like, “Well, you know, I really match closely, but I don't do this one thing.” You can still use the remedy.
Bri Hurlburt 7:12
In acute situations, too, just know some of those deeper mental pictures might not apply to you really at all if you're using it for … Is it the sore throat one that moves? Is that one of the things Lac Caninum does?
Melissa Crenshaw 7:27
What am I doing, Bri? What’s the thing that moves?
Bri Hurlburt 7:41
Oh, um. Mastitis.
Melissa Crenshaw 7:46
Thank you.
Bri Hurlburt 7:49
You guys, we're struggling right now. We’re having a good time, though, so.
Melissa Crenshaw 7:54
So mastitis that moves can be Lac Caninum.
Lac Caninum can have serious abuse, often sexual abuse, that has led the person to think of themselves as just dirty. I help a lot of people with past abuse of all kinds, and not all of them think of themselves as dirty because of that, so that's kind of a keynote. Now they think that they're dirty and they feel contaminated. They feel in some way that they've been so abused that they're never going to be clean again.
Bri Hurlburt 8:36
That’s sad.
Melissa Crenshaw 8:37
Yeah, it is sad because it's such a lie. Such a lie from the enemy, right? Of course, we can be clean again. The blood of Jesus.
That is a classic Caninum state when they feel like they can never be clean again. This delusion that they're dirty causes them to have incredibly low self esteem. They have a sense of being completely unloved and so therefore they start behaving either really passively, or they become really submissive and they put up with anything that's dumped on them. Then they put up with more abuse, or they flip it and they become aggressive and attack. They get really defensive or they can reject people.
This remedy and abuse go hand in hand. It probably should have been part of our abuse. We did do a whole podcast episode on abuse. And I don't remember if Lac Caninum was part of that. I don't remember it being in there but it could have been.
Bri Hurlburt 9:56
I don’t either.
Melissa Crenshaw 10:00
If you have been abused in your life, finish listening to this and read Lac Caninum, and go back and listen to our other podcast on abuse.
Lac Caninum is a sycotic miasm. S-Y-C, not P-S-Y. If you want to know more about miasms, I have a course on miasms that you can find on my website.
There's that unfeeling side that's cold and hard, so it's a lot like Anacardium. So Anacardium is more cold, hard, unfeeling and Lac Caninum is more animalistic, has more of an animalistic neediness that's coming through. The milks are animal kingdom remedies, obviously, so we will see similarities to other animal kingdom remedies.
Bri Hurlburt 11:03
Anacardium is one?
Melissa Crenshaw 11:05
Anacardium orientale, so no, I don't think so. Orientale usually means some kind of plant or something, right? You looking it up?
Bri Hurlburt 11:17
Yeah, I'm going to.
Melissa Crenshaw 11:19
You're looking it up? Okay, I'll let you do that.
Bri Hurlburt 11:24
Marking nut. Yeah, it is a plant.
Melissa Crenshaw 11:27
Marking nut, yeah.
I believe what I’m looking at in my notes is … That really should have been separate. That should have been just a separate thought, that Lac Caninum is in the animal kingdom and so it usually will be similar to other animal kingdom remedies, although it is also … Is there another kind of Anacardium?
Bri Hurlburt 11:50
I think occidentale.
Melissa Crenshaw 11:55
And what’s that?
Bri Hurlburt 11:57
Cashew.
Melissa Crenshaw 11:58
Oh, okay. So still not an animal kingdom.
Bri Hurlburt 12:01
No.
Melissa Crenshaw 12:02
Okay. All right.
Bri Hurlburt 12:03
So maybe that was a separate little note,
Melissa Crenshaw 12:06
Just a little thought. Okay.
So, milk is a food and therefore one of the areas of the body that will be most affected by this is the mouth and throat where the food goes in and goes down. Lac Caninum symptoms go from left to right. You were right. So that's what we were talking about with the throat.
Bri Hurlburt 12:24
I’ve been dealing with a lot of sore throats lately so I got those remedies in my mind.
Melissa Crenshaw 12:29
Got it. Lac Caninum symptoms go from left to right to left to right, so it swings. Remember the main thing is it swings. It goes back and forth. It can alternate sides. It can start on either side, but alternates back and forth. Lycopodium on the other hand, tends to go right to left, and Lachesis tends to go left to right. So when you're talking about sore throats, if the pain or the sensation goes back and forth, you're going to think Lac Caninum. If it goes right to left, you're going to think Lycopodium. If it goes left to right, you're going to think Lachesis. So that means it would start on the left, and it went to the right or it started on the right and went to the left. So the three Ls have alternating right to left and left to right. The three Ls: Lac Caninum, Lachesis, Lycopodium. All of those have throat symptoms so they're similar in that sense.
With Lac Caninum, it's not that they lie, but it's that they think that they lie. There's just this lack of self esteem, and lack of type of self integrity where they can't even believe their own opinions, or they think that if they say something is true, it's probably not. They have so little self esteem, that they can't even believe that what they're saying has a relationship to the truth. It's the only remedy that is listed as “believes everything they say is a lie.”
Bri Hurlburt 14:31
If you are abused for so long, especially starting early in life, you don't have a gauge for your own discernment and your own opinion. Somebody in my life used to say something like that. That if it was her idea, or if she talked herself into something, she would think that probably meant it was wrong. And I never connected it to maybe that abandonment or that neglect feeling as a child, but I could totally see that, where you just don't trust your judgment.
Melissa Crenshaw 15:10
With some of these abuse cases, it's within the family and the child is made to believe that … Well, nobody believes them. Sometimes they tell a parent, and then the parents don’t believe them. That could absolutely be part of it.
The lack of trust is so deep that they can't even trust their own opinions. They're always questioning, undermining, and they have such a lack of self belief. They're trapped. They might feel as if they're trapped in this world, where they can't trust anybody and they can't trust themselves.
Remember the main theme of swinging back and forth. They can swing between passivity and aggression. So there's, again, this swing.
All the animal kingdom remedies are very sexual. They are sexual creatures, therefore they are likely to be a person who gets sexually abused.
They can have a fear of snakes. This is the main remedy for a fear of snakes. Isn't that interesting? You would think it would be a snake remedy.
Bri Hurlburt 16:32
That’s what I was just going to say, especially because it does share some things with Lachesis and that is a snake remedy.
Melissa Crenshaw 16:43
But it's like, it goes back to Anacardium being the main remedy for poison ivy instead of Rhus tox.
Bri Hurlburt 16:53
Right, the whole idea of like versus like, not same. Yeah, that is very true.
Melissa Crenshaw 16:58
Or Ledum being the main remedy for a bee sting instead of Apis.
They can have an extreme reaction to snakes. They can have delusions of spiders. They might see spiders and insects around them. Feeling infested and dirty.
This just made me think of this. This is not part of this remedy, but when I had a deep, terrible fear of spiders, I would always see them everywhere. And I'm not saying it was a delusion. I would see them because I was so afraid.
Bri Hurlburt 17:40
Aware of them?
Melissa Crenshaw 17:41
I was aware. Now that I'm not afraid anymore, I don't have that fear, I don't ever see spiders anymore. Like hardly ever.
Bri Hurlburt 17:54
You know they're around.
Melissa Crenshaw 17:58
I know, right? Somebody told me while I was deathly afraid of them that you're always within three feet of a spider and I was like ugh. Since I've been gardening a lot, several times I've gotten a spider on me. I'm like, “Oh.” I don't have that fear. Oh, I'm serious. I used to …
Bri Hurlburt 18:17
You’re not scared anymore?
Melissa Crenshaw 18:18
No, I'm not scared anymore.
Bri Hurlburt 18:21
I don’t know about that. I'm trying to think if I've gotten there yet with cockroaches because they're freaky here.
Melissa Crenshaw 18:28
Now I'm not going to hold a spider.
Bri Hurlburt 18:31
Yeah, okay, but you're not like panicking when you're seeing them?
Melissa Crenshaw 18:33
I'm not screaming. I used to scream. When Paul first came around, I would scream and it would scare him so badly. He would come running, “What’s wrong?” I was like, “It’s a spider!” He was like, “Are you serious right now?”
Okay, way off track. Sorry about that you guys. Yeah. So spiders. But Lac Caninum has delusions of seeing spiders.
Bri Hurlburt 19:00
You weren't way off topic.
Melissa Crenshaw 19:04
It really is a delusion with Lac Caninum.
Lac Caninum and Lachesis overlap. Both of them are animalistic. Both of them are from the animal kingdom. Both are hypersexual remedies. Both have relationships to the throat in particular. Both have this idea of swinging from one side to the other, although Lac Caninum swings one way and then back and back and forth. Lac Caninum is back and forth. Lachesis starts on the left, goes to the right.
Often Lac Caninum feels on some level that they are floating out of their bodies. I've heard that. I've heard clients say that to me before.
Bri Hurlburt 19:54
Okay. And that’s all the time, not just like in a state of panic or something?
Melissa Crenshaw 20:01
No, it’s not 100% of the time but it's just occasionally. They’ll just suddenly feel like they're floating.
There's an extremely hysterical side to this remedy. They can have alternating moods where they feel like they're out of their body, now they feel like they're in their body, and then out of their body again, floating in the air, walking in mid air. So these are sensations that they feel. They have a fear of falling.
They might swear, use curse words, have a bad mouth all the time. They apply the same crudeness and vulgarity to themselves. I am filthy. I am a horrible person. I am a dirty person. They apply these bad words to themselves
They believe that they wear somebody else's nose. I haven't heard that one in clinic yet. So it's a strange delusion that they have that they are wearing somebody else's nose.
Bri Hurlburt 21:19
So if you hear that ever, you know what that is, because I haven't heard that before.
Melissa Crenshaw 21:23
Yeah, me either. I probably won't remember it, but I'll be like, “I've heard that before.” And I'm going to have to go search my notes. That’s why you keep stuff in your notes.
Let's look at the Lac Caninum child. The Lac Caninum can be angry, aggressive, swearing, cursing, raging, changeable, swinging between despairing and despondent. Even if they're not actually abused, they think on some level that they are abandoned, forsaken, abused, not being given enough attention.
Bri Hurlburt 21:59
That can be so hard with kids because their perception sometimes really can control a lot of their behavior, even if it's not true from our perspective.
Melissa Crenshaw 22:09
Right. Yep. Do you want to talk through the physicals?
Bri Hurlburt 22:17
Yes, I well.
Lac Caninum physical things.
One of the first remedies you think for throat problems is Lac Caninum. The throat is like glazed China, like it has a shiny glaze on it. It's raw, sore with that film, like that filmy look if you were to look in their throat. Like we mentioned before, it can swing from side to side, left to right, and then back, and then back again. It reminds us of the Mercury Iodine picture. One has a left sided bias, one has the right side, and Lac Caninum swings swings between both.Just like you said before, the throat is the channel for food, or the channel for milk, which is what this one is made from. Throat symptoms that go along with menstrual symptoms could be Lac Caninum.
Melissa Crenshaw 23:18
And I have recently heard that. I have a client who is having lots of menstrual problems and then she has throat issues only while she's on her period. So I took a note of it. I was like, “Okay, I don't know what this is or where this is going,” but it might be Lac Caninum.
Bri Hurlburt 23:43
Well, here it is. It said it can be either during their period or premenstrually, just somewhere linked with their menstruation.
This one is a great mastitis remedy. Sore, swollen breasts. Most typically it goes left to right, just that changeable goes back and forth, which I think would be a huge keynote because that never happened to me. I never got that. So if that's happening, that's a really good indicator for Lac Caninum. The sore and swollen breasts can also happen premenstrually. It doesn't have to be, but it can, just kind of like that linked sore throat with pre-menstruation. It can be at any time. It swings from side to side. They may have problems after breastfeeding. Every time they have a period or PMS time they'll have inflammation or mastitis.
Phytolacca is another one that is good for both of those things, so the sore breasts, inflammation, and mastitis. That one has always worked really well for me, but I didn't have those changing side to side symptoms. If any pain is going side to side one of the remedies to consider is this one. Doesn't matter what it is: sore throat, it could be mastitis, but it could be anything.
It could relate to having incredibly sensitive genitalia. And I have had some clients talk about that, specifically following abuse. It doesn't have to be, but it might be.
These people may crave alcohol, so a whiskey loving person. Somebody who likes strong alcohol. They may crave black pepper, or salt, but more likely black pepper. They want those pungent, spicy, strong flavors. They may be aggravated by milk. They can be very absent minded or forgetful. They just have that tendency to just float off out of consciousness. It's like that sensation of leaving the body so maybe it's not a sensation as much as a mental state.
They may faint easily, have vertigo, fainting, have that out of body feeling like they're floating in the air. This person may be an obsessive hand washer.
Melissa Crenshaw 26:30
I see that a lot lately.
Bri Hurlburt 26:31
Because they feel like they're dirty? Is that maybe why?
Melissa Crenshaw 26:333
Yeah.
Bri Hurlburt 26:37
They just wash it. Man, I'm always surprised at things I just haven't considered. Because you think of obsessive hand washing, you think of OCD remedies or some anxiety remedies when it could be related to feeling dirty, not OCD. That’s so interesting.
They might have dreams that they're urinating. They may have a delusion that she has a loathsome massive disease, so that feeling of being dirty and sick.
Melissa Crenshaw 27:09
Diseased. Yeah.
Bri Hurlburt 27:13
They may be aggravated on alternating days. So Monday is bad, Tuesday is good, Wednesday is bad, Thursday is good. So very changeable. Lac Caninum tends to be a female remedy but of course, like any remedy, it can sometimes be used for men. Most often for throat symptoms. I'm thinking they're talking about it’s used for men most often and throats acutely?
Melissa Crenshaw 27:43
Yep. Yep.
Bri Hurlburt 27:46
That is when I've used it the most. I don't know that I've ever used this chronically.
This person goes off and leaves things. They can be incredibly forgetful, similar to Nux Moschata. I never know if I'm saying those second words right. Is that correct?
Melissa Crenshaw 28:04
I would say Moschata, but you could say that.
Bri Hurlburt 28:09
Moschata maybe sounds more Latiny, you know? I'm making that up, like I know anything about Latin. I don't.
That up in the air, floating around. They buy something, leave it behind type of mindset. This could be linked to their hormonal system, as well. They're often hysterical, like we said before. A very over the top picture, often around menses, so there's a big hormonal link.
Melissa Crenshaw 28”41
Yeah. Wow.
Bri Hurlburt 28:43
Which means it's one of the ones you think of at menopause.
Melissa Crenshaw 28:45
Well, that's what I thought about. When you were talking about the goes off and leaves things and the incredible forgetfulness linked to hormonal system, I thought menopause. That's when we really start to lose it. Like I may not be able to find my words or forgetting things.
Bri Hurlburt 29:05
And it makes sense, too, postpartum, like Mom Brain. When women go through these big hormonal shifts we do get like that. We lose stuff, even our words. That's so funny. I never thought about it like that. Like I lose the words. I do that a lot. So any time in life that's characterized by changeable, back and forth, up and down, mood swings, hysteria, no stability, think of Lac Caninum.
Then a kind of random little bullet at the end is these people may sweat profusely and the sweat leaves a brown stain.
Melissa Crenshaw 29:45
Interesting. Interesting. What I feel like doing right now is writing down Lac Caninum for myself, just because of menopause symptoms. The reason I'm sharing this with all of you guys is that I hear this very, very, very often. I just want you to know everybody does that. You read a remedy and you're like, “Ah, that's me.” Then you read other remedies or you listen to remedies, you listen to these Materia Medica Mondays, and you think they all fit and then you get confused and you're like, “Well, I don't even know which one to do.”
Bri Hurlburt 30:22
Yes. We do it here almost every single time. Either we think of ourselves or somebody else that we know.
Melissa Crenshaw 30:28
Yeah, I went and bought Saccharum after we did Saccharum. I haven't used it once. I don't even remember why I bought it.
Bri Hurlburt 30:37
You just need to wear them. Just put them all in your socks. You're going to have like a whole kit strapped to you. One of them's going to work.
Melissa Crenshaw 30:45
That's funny.
Bri Hurlburt 30:47
That is good, though. We do do that.
Melissa Crenshaw 30:48
Yeah, so you're not alone. Those of you listening who do that. Everybody does that.
Bri Hurlburt 30:55
Yep.
Melissa Crenshaw 30:56
Lac Caninum fears, a list of their fears could be death, disease, fainting, falling, snakes, spiders, insects and ghosts.
So that's Lac Caninum.
Bri Hurlburt 31:17
All right.
Melissa Crenshaw 31:17
I would like to just share this point. If you are using this remedy for mental-emotional conditions, I would probably do a 200. How often? You have to decide. Do you start with just once a week? Maybe. Maybe you just start with once a week, and then maybe you move up to twice a week, three times a week. How to know when to increase the frequency of dosing is individual. You want to start low and slow. When I say low, for mental-emotional, I would do a 200. For physical, I would do more of a 6c, 30c. No, scratch 30c. I would do a 6c. If you're dealing with a sore throat or a mastitis, I would do a 6c or 200. And I don't know that I can actually tell you why other than clinical experience. My clinical experience is that 30c for acutes doesn't-
Bri Hurlburt 32:28
In all remedies or in this remedy?
Melissa Crenshaw 32:30
In all remedies. There are a small group of people that I see 30c work beautifully in, but most people don't respond well in acute conditions, cold, cough, flu, headaches, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, mastitis with a 30c. So physical, 6c, for that sore throat or whatever, or 200c, if you're doing acutes. If you're doing a chronic and it's a mental-emotional condition that you're dealing with, then I would probably do 200c once a week and see how you do. Give it some time and then maybe you increase the frequency from there.
Bri Hurlburt 33:11
That being said, you always say, if you're in an acute situation and what you have is 30, use it.
Melissa Crenshaw 33:17
That's right. Just use it more frequently until you can order the 200 or the 6 and get something else. Because 30 might work for you. You might be one of those that 30 works well for. So, great but that's just usually what I see.
Bri Hurlburt 33:36
In the next couple Materia Medica Mondays we're going to follow up with Lac Defloratum and Lac Humanum.
Melissa Crenshaw 33:47
Yeah, that'll be interesting. Lac Defloratum is really short, so that'll be a short episode, but we'll get to it. That'll come up on the next Materia Medica Monday.
Bri Hurlburt 33:59
Thank you.
Melissa Crenshaw 34:00
Thank you. Have a great day.