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Gold Bead Therapy

What is Gold Bead Therapy?

Dr. Kelleher (Holistic Pet Veterinarian) prepares for surgery

Dr. Kelleher prepares for surgery

Gold bead implants can be effective for many severe, otherwise degenerative conditions, such as wobblers disease, degenerative myelopathy, severe spondylosis or "back arthritis", hip dysplasia, elbow or knee arthritis, and epilepsy. The veterinarian implants the beads into specific acupuncture points, which vary depending on the medical condition and the individual energetics of the animal. They offer a safe, drug-free, and effective way to help patients.

Since the mid 1970's, Dr. Terry Durkes has been implanting gold beads and building upon his original work. Dr. Durkes' techniques have helped thousands of animals and guided many other holistic veterinarians efforts to treat diseases normally considered debilitating.

Beads

The gold beads are quite small

The gold beads are gold-plated magnets placed in specific points using sterile, surgical technique. Each point receives three to five beads delivered with a special needle that does not cut skin. The number of beads depends on the size of the patient and degree of pathology. Gold wire is sometimes also used but it is more expensive. Interestingly, silver beads do not have the same ionic affect on body tissues as gold.

Patient

The veterinarian must ensure the animal's health before the procedure. In particular, their liver, kidneys, and heart should be reasonably healthy to undergo anesthesia. Although the procedure is short, anesthetizing the animals is necessary to ensure they're still for the surgery. Shaving the hair over the implant sites and sterilizing the area prevents infection. Technicians take radiographs to check for cancer or bone infection at the implant site. The veterinarian discovers any problem sites before the procedure begins. Beads remain for the life of the patient stimulating acupuncture points and meridians permanently.

Kade had gold bead therapy for epilepsy

If the patient has multiple areas of musculo-skeletal disease, for instance, wobblers in the neck and spondylosis of the lumbar spine, then the procedure would treat both ailments. Although it's always better to treat a disease in its earliest state and no one can ever guarantee anything, even severely disabled animals can respond nicely to the procedure. We see an improvement sometimes the same day, and often have as high as a 75% success rate for improving the pet overall. Like other forms of holistic medicine, the beads will not harm the pet.

Acupuncture Points

Bead at the end of the needle

The Chinese described and classified hundreds of specific acupuncture points in the body well before 200 BC. By comparison, western medicine, specifically antibiotic and pharmaceutical anti-inflammatory drugs have only been in existence for sixty years or less. Based on centuries of close observation, the Chinese realized that acupuncture points communicate with one another and internal body organs in specific ways. Similar to destinations along a train track, these points are connected by meridians or channels. Each meridian assumes the name after the internal organ with which it communicates. By placing a needle or bead in one point, we affect a whole meridian. Disease is caused by a blockage along the meridian, like snow along a train track, and the beads free up the blockage. The clinical manifestation of releasing this blockage is bleeding from the implantation site. Dr. Durkes says that seeing this blood can signal the beads are discharging the stagnation.

How do the beads work?

Dr. Durkes theorizes that certain diseases are caused in part by a localized alkalosis, or a negative charge in body tissues. He speculates a negative charge to the tissue is caused by vaccines or diet. We know certain diseases, such as hip dysplasia may have some dietary causes. Puppies fed too much protein and calcium grow too fast and seem to be more affected. A radiograph of a dysplastic dog shows abnormal bone formation, but it is vital to remember that this is a static picture of a dynamic process. Calcium is constantly laid down and taken up inside the hip joint as dogs grow. Perhaps the ionic abnormalities cause this calcium absorption and re-absorbtion to be abnormal. The beads appear to give off positive charges and can normalize dysplastic joints especially in young dogs.

In wobblers disease and ventral bridging spondylosis, perhaps the ionic abnormalities destabilize the vertebra within the spine. In wobblers disease, the bone inside of the vertebral canal gets thicker in a desperate effort for stabilization. This compresses the spinal cord. The beads help tighten surrounding ligaments and connective tissues to stabilize the neck. The patient may feel better soon after implantation, but improvement might occur over several more months because it takes time for calcium to be re-absorbed and pressure to be lifted from the spinal cord. Success depends on whether the body can repair damage from pinching the spinal cord.

In the case of spinal spondylosis or ventral bridging of the vertebra, the body is also attempting to stabilize unstable vertebrae. The beads tighten the connective tissue and we believe give off positive charges to normalize ionic changes in the tissue. The patient feels better soon after surgery, but the X-rays might not show improvement for at least six months. We try to focus on the patient, not the radiograph.

Patient care

Like other anesthetic procedures, no food should be given the night before surgery. A dose of homeopathic Arnica Montana 30C before and two doses after surgery every night will help healing, but because no incision is made, healing occurs quickly. The pet normally goes home the same day of surgery and should only be offered small amounts of water for the first several hours until the anesthetic drugs have worn off. If the pet tries to rub them or they appear red or irritated, apply aloe vera gel to bead sites following the procedure. In the winter, especially keep him or her warm, since the procedure includes shaving.

Wobbler's patients go home with a large neck wrap on to provide stability and allow for healing. This needs to stay on for a minimum of three weeks, unless the patient decides not to walk or eat in protest. The wrap does not hurt the pet, but many animals love routine and anything can upset them. Most other patients go home without wraps or bandages. If all goes well, call the veterinarian who did the implants after one week and then three weeks to report in.