Sarcolactic acid in veterinary use

The following is a collection of short cases of one remedy, Sarcolactic acid, in veterinary use, as well as one case of an owner, who did well on the same remedy. Michel de Sonnaville also contributes a case of this remedy in a human.

 Case 1: Santo, a ten-year-old Dutch warmblood gelding

Santo does dressage at a high level. He comes for symptoms after a Borrelia-infection, for which he received antibiotics. The owner (a homeopath herself) had already given Sulphur, Ruta, Rhus tox, and Arnica without success. Borrelia nosode helped for a while.

He receives Calcium phosphoricum and improves: he is much less stiff and his coat is shiny, but he is still not his old self. He must be spurred much more, and he is tired much faster than before. Also, in the pasture, he is not so cheerful, not galloping spontaneously, only walking slowly. While riding, he has a shorter pace and is stiffer; he even stops completely. It seems that he is really tired. The owner says: “It is as if he fills up, as if he walks with the brakes on.”

Feed, hoofs, and shoes are all fine. The vets cannot find anything and according to the physiotherapist, his muscles are loose and relaxed.

If you ask him to do more, he does so, but he cannot really do the work: he is slower. Before the Borrelia infection, he had a great trot; he was a very good horse. Now, he is stiff and he sometimes lifts his right hind leg in a cramp.

There are no modalities.

He is the leader in the pasture, he is not a softy. He is phlegmatic, a ‘diesel’. His stable is a mess. He is sensitive to sunburns (white nose) and he has short hair.

Prescription: Sarcolactic acid 200K once a day for ten days.

After three weeks: he is totally well! He is playing and galloping in the pasture, he walks really well. He looks relaxed, the brakes are off. He is developing again. He is softer in his mouth and is not stiff anymore. A few months later, he is sold to an Arabian sheik.

Case 2: Leo, a four-year-old gelding

For the first month, after being bought, Leo was fine. He was very good to ride. Then, all of a sudden, he became like a “match stick”: stiff, thin, not supple in the neck, shaking his head, refusing to walk.

He is not fearful and he tries to do his best. He is spontaneous and just walks next to the owner. There are no modalities. He already received Ignatia and Arnica with no improvement.

Prescription: Sarcolacticum acidum 200K, after which he is moving fine again.

Case 3: Alfred, a five-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding

Alfred was always stressed; making him saddle tame was a problem. With a lot of patience he is fine now, but it is difficult to get him to a higher level: the progress is slow, although he seems to be quite talented and he has a fanatic character. He likes to work.

He developed cornage and after operation for this complaint five months ago, he remains tired, though he was already tired before the operation.  As a foal, he had lots of energy, but since the process of saddle taming him, he became tired.

If he must do two shows, the first one goes fine but he is too tired for the second one; he stops walking. His muscles can be tight and he has profuse sweating. He is a bit impatient and sensitive to touch.

Prescription: Sarcolacticum acidum 200K, once a day for a week

Follow up:
Two weeks later: he can ride longer than before without stopping.

Two months later: he is very good now, he needed the remedy a few times before riding, but in the last month all his problems are gone, he is not tired anymore.

 Case 4: a seventy-year-old endurance rider

Even at seventy, this man is still riding long distances (160 km). He always did long-distance sports like triathlons, skating marathons, etc. He has had cramps in his muscles all his life after great exertion. His son has the same complaint.

After an endurance event, he has severe cramps, which can last for several weeks. He has taken Magnesium phosphoricum, Arnica, Cuprum, Rhus tox, and Nux vomica without success. After Sarcolacticum acidum 200K his cramps disappear quickly. Now, he takes it before and after a competition and has much less cramping.

Case: man sixty-year-old

He has been treated with success for different complaints but one symptom does not disappear: for many years, he has had a pain in his left upper arm. It started after he cleaned the mortar from a house façade for a whole day. It is his weak spot: as soon as he works with this arm, he gets cramps. Physiotherapy did not help, so he tries to accept his weak spot.

After Sarcolacticum acidum 200K twice, the pain is 70 % less, and after another dose the pain disappears. He can now use his arm more and more intensely.

During a ski vacation, he fell down and bruised himself. He wanted to take Arnica but he could not find it. Because he thinks that the bruise also has something to do with lactic acid, he takes Sarcolacticum acidum 200K, three times, every hour. The next day, the pain is much better than expected: he has just a slight pain on the bruised spot and no muscle pain at all.

Sarcolacticum acidum, from Boericke (amended)

Sarcolactic acid is formed in muscle tissue during the stage of muscle exhaustion. It differs from ordinary lactic acid in its relation to polarized light. It represents a much broader and more profoundly acting drug, and its pathogenesis is quite dissimilar from the normal acid. Proved by William B.  Griggs, M.D. of the Hering Laboratory in Philadelphia, US , who found it of great value in the most violent form of epidemic influenza, especially with violent retching and greatest prostration, when Arsenicum had failed.

This muscular fatigue, when pushed to an advanced stage, results in an almost paralysing weakness with prostration. According to F. Pitts and J. McClure, the excess of lactate ions following muscular effort is accompanied by anxiety. Contracture, general weakness of the body; spinal neurasthenia, muscular weakness; dyspnoea with myocardial weakness.

 General symptoms

- Tired feeling with muscular prostration, worse from any exertion

- Sore feeling all over, worse in afternoon

- Restless at night

- Difficulty getting to sleep

- Tired feeling in morning on getting up                                                                                                                                                            

- Extreme fatigue, anxiety, prostration                                                                                                                                                                 

- Muscular and articular cramping pains, aggravated by movement                                                                                                                              

- General chilliness with coldness of the extremities, extreme chilliness in bed. The right hand does not become warm by external heat                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Mental/emotional                                                                                                                                                                                     

- Anxiety, feeling of laziness, dejection, irritability                                                                                                                                     

- Easily annoyed by the smallest thing

Back and extremities

- Tired feeling in back, neck and shoulders                                                                                                                                                

- Cramping pains predominantly in the back and lumbar region, aggravated when standing                                                      

- Paralytic weakness, numbness and pains, especially in the thighs

- Extreme weakness from climbing stairs; ankylosis, muscular contracture and jerking, paresis (partial paralysis) when trying to climb                                                                                                                                                         

- Stiffness of thighs and calves, cramps in the calves

- Arms feel as if there is no strength in them, wrist tires easily from writing, difficulty in brushing hair

Additional symptoms                                                                                                                                                                                                                

- Aortic pains and rapid pulse after exertion                                                                                                                                       

- Headache and vomiting. Pain situated on the forehead and above the eyes, ameliorated by passing stools              

- Digestive intolerance, especially of cold water. Stools acrid and profuse expulsion of gases, easing the condition. Uncontrolled vomiting even of water, followed by extreme weakness                                                                                         -

- Dryness and itching of the skin. Intense general itching, improved by cold                                                                        

- Coryza, throat dry and painful, swallowing impeded, alleviated by day, aggravated at night. Dyspnoea, feeling of cardiac weakness, croupy cough, especially at night                                                                                                                                             
- Profuse urination at night. Urine clear, with traces of proteinuria

Modalities                                                                                                                                                                                                           

- Aggravation at night, from movement, from standing upright

Photos: Shutterstock
Sleeping horse; VICUSCHKA
Senior man with cramps; Pathdoc