Insomnia (sleeplessness) cured by homoeopathy

 

Everybody suffers from insomnia (sleeplessness) sometime or the other in their lives. Taking sleeping pills is hardly a wise thing to do.  Homeopathy suggests numerous remedies to treat insomnia. This condition has reached epidemic proportions, and is rising, with over one-third of Americans complaining of sleep difficulties. These natural remedies are available over-the-counter but for best results consult with a homeopath. (See below.) Belladonna: 
A person needing Belladonna is extremely restless. Frightful images when drifting off to sleep cause the patient to dread sleep. They are awakened by nightmares, or they can experience a throbbing in the brain that prevents sleep. Aconitum napellus: This remedy can be helpful if a person panics with insomnia. Fear and agitation come on suddenly when the person is drifting off to sleep, or may wake them. Arsenicum album: People who need this remedy are often anxious and compulsive about small details and have trouble sleeping if they feel that everything is not in place. They are often deeply weary and exhausted, yet feel restless physically and mentally. Sleep, when it arrives, can be anxious and disturbed, with dreams full of fear and insecurity. Calcarea phosphorica: This remedy is often helpful to children with growing pains, and also for adults who have aching in the joints and bones, or neck and shoulder tension that make it hard to fall asleep. The person lies awake for many hours, feeling upset and irritable—then has trouble waking in the morning, and feels deeply tired and weak. Cocculus: This remedy is often helpful to those who feel “too tired to sleep” after long-term sleep loss: from getting up with an infant, taking care of someone who is ill, a disruptive work schedule, travel and jet lag, or chronic worry and insomnia. The person may feel weak and dizzy, with trouble thinking, and may be sleepy, irritable, or tearful. Coffea cruda: Mental excitement and nervous stimulation that prevents sleep suggest a need for remedy. Thoughts may be either happy or distressing. The person may be looking forward to something that will happen in the morning, but feels stressed and exhausted as the night wears on. If the person falls asleep, it is usually very light with vivid dreams, disturbed by any noise or motion. (This remedy can also help if overuse of caffeine is the cause of sleeplessness.) Ignatia: If insomnia is caused by grief or loss, a disappointment in love, a shock, or even an argument, this remedy may be helpful. The person is sensitive and nervous, and may often sigh and yawn in the daytime, but find it hard to relax at night. As the person tries to fall asleep, the arms and legs twitch or itch. If sleep arrives, it is usually light, with jerking of the legs and arms, or with long and troubling nightmares. Kali phosphoricum: A person with insomnia from nervous exhaustion caused by overwork or mental strain, or following a taxing illness, may respond to this remedy. The person is very weak and sensitive to everything (noise, lights, touch, and pain). Irritability, depression, and anxiety with an empty feeling in the stomach are often seen. Lycopodium: People who need this remedy often have no memory of dreams and often doubt that they have slept at all. Insomnia may set in primarily because of worry: lack of confidence can make them doubt their own abilities, although they are usually very capable. Insomnia caused by digestive trouble, especially gas, can also indicate a need for this remedy. The person feels drowsy after meals, but has trouble sleeping at bedtime. Ravenous hunger in the night that wakes a person up is another indication for Lycopodium. Nux vomica: People who have insomnia after over-indulgence in stimulants, food, and drink—or after overexertion, either physically or mentally—may benefit from this remedy. They may be able to drift off, but sleep is light, and they often awaken in the early morning (typically three a.m.) and lie awake for hours. On getting up, they are tense, impatient, and irritable, with a feeling that they still need more sleep. Silicea (also called Silica): This is a useful remedy for nervous people with low stamina who get tired easily but then have insomnia. The person often goes to sleep at first, but awakens suddenly with a hot feeling in the head, then finds it hard to fall asleep again. People who need this remedy usually have anxious dreams, and some (especially children) sleepwalk. Sulphur: This remedy may be helpful if insomnia comes from itching—or an increasing feeling of heat in bed, especially in the feet. The person is irritable and anxious, and often feels a need to throw the covers off. Lying awake between two and five a.m. is typical. Insomnia that develops because of a lack of exercise may also be helped with Sulphur. Zincum metallicum: People who need this remedy often have insomnia from mental activity. They can get wound up from overwork—or be naturally inclined toward nervousness and just have trouble relaxing. Their legs and arms often feel extremely restless, and lying still in bed may be impossible. Even during the daytime, a person who needs this remedy may feel a constant need to move their muscles.

Homeopathy curing infertility in Cuba

Cubans are fighting infertility with homoeopathy. They are using it fight other diseases too.

The homeopathic treatment against infertility has contributed to the birth of 67 children in the Cuban province of Holguin.

Initiated in 1997 by Dr Esperanza Gilling, this alternative treatment to facilitate pregnancy has reported effectiveness in 90 percent of the patients treated and is one of the main achievements of the Provincial Center for Homeopathy, opened 14 years ago with its own pharmacy.

Dr Gilling explained that after rigorous clinical trials and in accordance with their results, infertile patients are administered a homeopathic preparation that facilitates pregnancy.

This institution, located in the city of Holguin, 735 kilometers east of Havana, gives consultations to about 500 patients from the provinces of Granma, Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba and Havana, each month.

Homeopathy has also achieved good results in the treatment of asthma especially in children, hypertension and other diseases, and it is as rigorous as the scientific conventional medicine.

"The only difference between these procedures is the type of natural cures being used", said Dr Gilling, who has 17 years of practice in this medical treatment developed by the German doctor Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann in 1792.

Source

Homeopathy cures for truamatic head injury

Head injuries can have long lasting ill effects. Only homeopathy can prevent them says Dana Ullman

Natasha Richardson recently passed away as a result of a seemingly mild traumatic head injury, and the world mourns. Now, every mother and father and concerned friend will worry when anyone near and dear to them suffers from any head injury. The good news is that research has confirmed that homeopathic medicines can be used to treat people who suffer from head trauma.

Homeopathic medicines can be used preventively to avoid complications from acute head injury, and they can be used to treat people when complications from head injury are experienced. One study that was conducted at a Harvard-affiliated hospital showed the benefits of homeopathy in treating people who have suffered from a mild traumatic head injury.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 50 patients, with a four-month follow-up, was conducted at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (Chapman, et al, 1999). Patients with persistent mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) whose injury resulted in symptoms lasting on average for almost 3 years were randomly assigned to receive an individually chosen homeopathic medicine or a placebo.

As is common in homeopathic practice, each patient with a head injury was prescribed an individually chosen homeopathic medicine because each person tends to experience slightly different symptoms from head injury. A total of 18 different homeopathic medicines were prescribed for the 50 patients, though 8 were more commonly prescribed (see below for a summary of these 8 medicines, and the unique syndrome that each is known to be effective in treating).

The researchers found that a significant improvement in the "Ten Most Common Symptoms Scale" of mild traumatic brain injury and a highly significant improvement on the "Difficulty in Situations Scale." These results indicate important improvements from the homeopathic treatment and translate into clinically significant outcomes.

One of the challenges to people who experience head trauma is that it is common for them to be in shock, and by its own definition, "shock" reduces a person`s ability to think clearly. Natasha Richardson was known to have gotten up on her own and to have joked with others about her fall...and yet, she died within days of her injury.

Below are the eight homeopathic medicines that were most commonly prescribed to people who suffered from a mild traumatic brain injury.

* Arnica (mountain daisy): This is the first remedy to consider to help deal with the shock and trauma of a head injury and to prevent long-term problems from it. Even if the person experiences trauma to the head and doesn`t think that there`s a problem, it is still worthwhile to take this remedy because people with head injury commonly experience shock and don`t realize the extent of the problem. This remedy can also significantly reduce swelling, pain, and complications from a head injury. This remedy is indicated if significant bruising has already occurred.

* Belladonna (deadly nightshade): When there is much heat, redness, throbbing, and fullness in the head after an injury, consider this remedy. The person may become delirious, frantic, and may bite or strike at those around him or her.

* Hypericum (St. John`s wort): Consider this remedy if there are sharp and shooting pains or if there are spasms or seizures after a head injury or spinal cord injury.

* Cicuta (water hemlock): If the person experiences seizures after a head injury or if the head injury is severe enough to suggest mental retardation, consider this remedy.

* Natrum sulphuricum (sodium sulphate): This remedy is useful when a person has long-term symptoms after a head injury, even when the symptoms may not be in the head. This remedy is also indicated when the person becomes depressed and develops suicidal thoughts after a head injury or when the person`s personality significantly changes after the injury (i.e., the person becomes noticeably more irritable or confused).

* Hellaborus (white hellebore): If a person develops severe mental dullness and very slow talking after a head injury, think of this remedy. People who can only respond slowly to questions, who have difficulty understanding others, and have difficulty communicating may benefit from this remedy. These people have a tendency to stare into thin air and become indifferent to their surroundings and even to loved ones.

DOSE: Use the 6, 12, or 30th potency every other hour during the first day after an injury and four times a day after then. If improvement is not obvious after 48 hours, consider another remedy.

Source

Allergies and homeopathy

Melanie Grimes says millions the world over are affected by allergies and homeopathy gives a real cure. She also suggests some remedies.

Allergies affect over millions of people worldwide, which is the reason that World Homeopathy Awareness Week chose “Homeopathy and Allergies” as it theme for 2009. Allergies are an abnormal reaction to normal substances, such as food, mold or pollen. Common allergic reactions can include runny a nose or diarrhea, however allergic reactions can lead to debilitating illness, chronic disease and even death.

According to both the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) and the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), as many as 35 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergy symptoms each year. Hay fever allergy alone causes a loss of over four million workdays a year at a cost of $700 million in lost productivity. Coincidentally, one of the physicians who founded the AAAI was a homeopath.

Over 40 percent of Americans seek help with their allergies from an alternative practitioner, according to the AAFA. Dr. Andrew Weil has been quoted as saying, “"For many people, homeopathy can be the last, best hope for ending allergy symptoms without side effects. Unlike the medications you mentioned, homeopathy can actually change the way your body responds to allergens, instead of merely suppressing the symptoms they cause."

Research
Studies have shown homeopathy’s efficacy in allergy treatment. The medical journal, Lancet (Dec. 12, 1994), published a double-blind study of homeopathy in treating asthma. Half of the participants were given a homeopathic remedy and half were treated by placebo. The homeopathic group showed significant relief of their asthma symptoms. Another Lancet article (October 18, 1986) tested homeopathic doses of twelve plants prepared homeopathically to reduce hayfever. Results again, displayed homeopaths ability to reduce symptoms in this difficult to treat allergic reaction.

How to Avoid Flare-Ups of Hayfever, or Pollen and Mold Allergies
It is easier to avoid an allergy attack then to treat one. To best avoid allergies, avoid contact with the allergens. Keep track of your local pollen and mold count at the website. These figures are updated three times a week in most areas. It has been proven that with less exposure, the body’s immune reaction will subside, so avoid exposure to allergens in the morning, or limit exposure until as late in the day as possible. Keep windows closed and use air filters in both homes and automobiles. Wash in hot water to remove pollen and molds and do not expose clothing or toys in outside air, such as hanging laundry out to dry, as pollen can collect on personal items. Use a facemask outside if the pollen count is high. It is recommended that allergy sufferers bath nightly. This will cleanse accumulated toxins from the body and allow the body to rest and restore in a non-toxic environment

Common Homeopathic Remedies For Allergies

Allium cepa
Profuse burning nasal discharge worse in warm weather. Bland tearing from the eyes. Worse from exposure to damp winds.

Nux vomica
Chilly and irritable, and better in open air. Frequent sneezing with fluent discharge by day and congestion at night.

Euphrasia
Bland, watery nasal discharge with burning in the eyes and throat. Eye pain worse in the open air. Nose discharge worse at night.

Sanguinaria
Burning eyes with dry throat. Moist, burning nasal discharge.

Pulsatilla
Congested in a warm room or while lying. Better with cool applications, cold rooms and open air. Thirstless.

Arsenicum
Anxious and chilly are keynotes of those needing Arsenicum. Asthmatic breathing may be worse after midnight. The person needing Arsenicum is frequently restless and thirsty.

Sabadilla
Chilly and sensitive to cold. Hay fever that starts with a lot of sneezing, brought on by the scent of flowers and a raw sensation in the inside of the nose. Dry nose or fluent white mucous.

Healthnews

Homeopathy was effective in the flu epidemic of 1918

Homeopathy was very effective in the flu epidemic of 1918. It also works in curing swine flu (H1N1)

Homeopathy was successful in treating the flu epidemic of 1918 and can provide answers to questions about the 2009 Swine Flu. Homeopathy can provide quick and inexpensive relief for symptoms of the flu. A system of medicine based on the principles of "like cures like," homeopathy uses plant, mineral and animal sources for the natural flu remedies. Homeopathy is based on ideas from ideas dating back to Egyptian medicine. The term "homeopathy" was coined by the medical doctor and medical reformer, Samuel Hahnemann in the 1800s. Homeopathic remedies have been used to treat flu symptoms for two centuries.

Was homeopathy successful in treating the flu epidemic of 1918?
Yes.
While the mortality rate of people treated with traditional medicine and drugs was 30 percent, those treated by homeopathic physicians had mortality rate of 1.05 percent.
Of the fifteen hundred cases reported at the Homeopathic Medical Society of the District of Columbia there were only fifteen deaths. Recoveries in the National Homeopathic Hospital were 100%. In Ohio, of 1,000 cases of influenza, Dr. T. A. McCann, MD, Dayton, Ohio reported NO DEATHS.

What homeopathic remedies were used to successfully treat the Spanish flu in 1918?
Gelsemium and Bryonia
According the Dr. Frank Wieland, MD, in Chicago, "(With) 8,000 workers we had only one death. Gelsemium was practically the only remedy used. We used no aspirin and no vaccines."

Homeopathy was 98% successful in treating the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918?
Yes.
Ohio reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05% . In Connecticut, 6,602 cases were reported, with 55 deaths, less than 1%. Dr. Roberts, a physician on a troop ship during WWI, had 81 cases of flu on the way over to Europe. He reported, "All recovered and were landed. Every man received homeopathic treatment.

How do they know that a virus caused the flu epidemic of 1918, when the first virus was not isolated until 1933?
They don`t. In fact, many believe that the epidemic was actually a vaccine reaction.
When Army vaccinations became compulsory in 1911, the death rate from typhoid vaccination rose to the highest point in the history of the US Army. US Secretary of War Henry L Stimson reported that seven men dropped dead after being vaccinated. He also reported 63 deaths and 28,585 cases of hepatitis as a direct result of yellow fever vaccination during only six months of WW1. According to a report in the Irish Examiner, "The report of the Surgeon-General of the US Army shows that during 1917 there were admitted into the army hospitals 19,608 men suffering from anti-typhoid inoculation and vaccinia. When army doctors tried to suppress the symptoms of typhoid with a stronger vaccine, it caused a worse form of typhoid paratyphoid. But when they concocted an even stronger vaccine to suppress that one, they created an even worse disease Spanish flu."

Did the flu strain that caused the 1918 flu ever return?
Yes.
The 1918 `Spanish Flu` was first reported in an American military, Camp Funston, Fort Riley, in troops preparing for WW1 and receiving 25 vaccinations. According to the CDC, the same flu strain appeared only one other time: in 1976. This was again at a US army base, Fort Dix, and again, was seen in recently vaccinated troops, and only in them. The virus has not appeared anywhere else.

Is homeopathy successful in treating the modern flu?
Yes.

Source

Homeopathy prevents sunstrokes

Homeopathy comes handy when one gets a sunstroke and it also helps in preventing one.

With temperatures soaring with each passing day, cases of Nagpurians suffering
from sunstroke have increased manifold, especially when proper care is not taken. Homeopathy has some good medicines which can be taken as precautionary measures against the scorching sun.

Dr Swati Bajaj, one of city's well-known homeopaths, told TOI that in Nagpur when the temperature crosses 47 degree Celsius, it's time to be extra careful. "The heat takes its toll and we should at least increase our water intake and avoid sunstroke by taking preventive homeopathic medicines," she said.

According to Dr Adil Chimthanwala, general physician, as the mercury shows an upward trend, there are possibilities of people suffering from heat stroke, uneasiness in the chest, giddiness, headache, tiredness, nausea and even losing consciousness. He said that generally these symptoms generally occur due to inadequate fluid intake causing dehydration, lack of sweating which causes excessive rise in internal temperature and failure of natural cooling down mechanism of the body.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Dr Chimthanawala claimed that summer pills' come in very handy. These pills have proved their worth on a large number of people over many years.

Dr Bajaj pointed out that Natrum Mur (available in 200C power) is a precautionary medicine which can be administered to escape from sunstroke. However, she pointed out that if a patient is suffering from heat stroke, he or she must approach doctor for advice too.

Dr Chimthanwala, meanwhile, added that Glonoine, another homeopathic medicine available in the city, also protects individuals from extreme physiological changes during summer season. It can be used as a preventive as well as a curative medicine for heat strokes. It not only saves people from the increasing environmental temperature but also helps by controlling the body temperature, which does not rise as much. However, these medicines are ineffective in coastal cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, where humidity is higher.

Mrunalini Katkar, a homemaker, claims that these homeopathic medicines available in the market have helped her protect her two children from heat stroke time and again. Katkar originally hails from Kolhapur and came to Nagpur when her husband got transferred.

Source

Homeopathy and swine flu (H1N1): Some remedies

This article argues that homeopathy can be very effective aginst H1N1 (swine flu) and suggests some remedies.
Homeopathy has proven to be a very effective treatment for flu. It is especially good for children.
"Ohio reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%."
Homeopathy for the Flu
Finding the right homeopathic medicine for the flu is usually straightforward because the symptoms tend to be dramatic and easily characterized.
Most flu seasons and epidemics fit a common homeopathic picture, so that the majority of people with the flu will benefit from the epidemic medicine. Homeopaths in practice will easily discover this medicine in their community after seeing a few cases of the flu. For example, the epidemic medicine for the 1918 Spanish flu was Gelsemium (with Bryonia and Eupatorium as secondary prescriptions), which has also been the appropriate medicine for many other flu seasons. I have created a database for epidemic medicines in various parts of the United States reported by experienced homeopathic practitioners. These epidemic reports can be found at www.cure-guide.com in the flu section. Find your area of the country and you will see the most frequently prescribed homeopathic medicine for the flu where you live.
Homeopaths are singularly confident about treating viral illness, including flu. There is a long history of successful management of serious acute infections with homeopathy, particularly the flu. Homeopathic medicine proved extremely effective in the management of the 1918 flu epidemic, and it will prove itself in any future flu pandemic, just as it does every winter in the treatment of that year's flu cases. The Spanish flu pandemic was a plague that exceeded the ravages of the Bubonic Plague of 1347 that killed a third of the European population. Worldwide the Spanish flu killed an estimated 40 million people. In some primitive cultures the death rate was 100 percent. Fortunately, many patients in the United States had access to homeopathic medical care. A report to the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1921 documented the dramatic success of homeopathy in the worst flu pandemic in history. The death rate of 24,000 flu cases under conventional medical care in that study was 28.2 percent, while the death rate of 26,000 cases treated with homeopathy was a nearly miraculous 1.05 percent. Similarly, many homeopathic physicians each reported treating thousands of patients with very few deaths.
Homeopathic Flu Prevention
For at least the past 150 years homeopathic practitioners have used the medicine Influenzinum as a flu preventive. Influenzinum is a homeopathic medicine made from flu viruses. A proprietary preparation is produced by Dolisos pharmacy each year using the flu virus strains recommended by the World Health Organization for the year's vaccine production (Dolivaxil – containing Influenzinum 9C). The typical dosage is once per week for four weeks beginning in October or later, followed by another dose three weeks later.
Between the years 1918 and 1957 the preparation of Influenzinum was derived from samples of blood or nasal secretions taken from patients who contracted the flu during the deadly 1918 flu pandemic. Subsequent to 1957 Influenzinum preparations come from a homeopathic preparation of the yearly flu viruses chosen for the flu vaccine.
In 1998 the French Society of Homeopathy conducted a survey of 23 homeopathic doctors concerning their use of Influenzinum as a flu preventive (Coulamy, 1998). The survey included use of Influenzinum over a 10 year period (1987-1998) in 453 patients. The protocol for the frequency of doses varied considerably among these doctors. Weekly doses were used by 26 percent of participants and monthly dosage by 23 percent. Another 16 percent used a weekly then monthly dosage plan, and 35 percent applied some other dosage protocol. 80 percent of respondents began treatment in the fall (September through November) and ended between February and April. In this French survey 70 percent of participants used a 9C strength of Influenzinum. (In the US one would assume a higher proportion of practitioners use a higher strength because of the different prescribing preferences between the two countries.)
Results of the survey were remarkable. In approximately 90 percent of the cases no instances of the flu occurred when Influenzinum was used preventively no matter what the dosage protocol. Among the physicians the effectiveness was deemed good to very good in 90 percent of the cases. In 5 percent there was no protective effect. Of the patients, 98 percent expressed a desire to take the same preventive treatment the following year. Certainly this confidence in homeopathic prevention among physicians with many years of experience and their patients speaks to the effectiveness of Influenzinum as a flu preventive. It should be noted that a clinical study that approaches statistical significance evaluating the preventive effects of any homeopathic preparation would probably be prohibitively expensive.
Oscillococcinum
One specific homeopathic medicine used to treat the flu has been subjected to clinical trials. The medicine is a homeopathic preparation of the liver and heart of a Barbary duck (trade name Oscillococcinum). This medicine was first formulated in 1925. Its name arose from a spurious notion that the blood of flu victims in the 1918 pandemic contained bacteria composed of balls (cocci) that vibrated, or oscillated. Joseph Roy, a French physician at the time identified this supposed pathogen and found it in many animal species. He chose as the source of his homeopathic preparation a duck, possibly an extremely fortuitous accident because of the association between human flu epidemics and bird viruses.
Oscillococcinum was first studied in France during the 1987 flu epidemic caused by an H1N1 virus. This multi-center study examined the effect of Oscillococcinum (200C) on the early symptoms of flu. Results were published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. A group of 149 non-homeopathic physicians enlisted 487 patients in the study, each of whom had developed flu-like symptoms during the previous 24 hours. Symptoms met strict criteria for the level of fever and the presence of associated flu symptoms. This took place in the midst of a documented flu epidemic. A treatment group and control group were established and the medicine prescribed in 5 doses, once at the physician's office and then twice a day for two days following. More patients in the treatment group recovered completely in the first 48 hours than the control group (17 percent of patients with active treatment compared to 10 percent of controls). This was deemed a statistically significant difference. More patients in the treatment group also judged the treatment as favorable compared to the placebo, 61 percent vs 49 percent (Ferley, 1989).
In 1990 German physicians replicated the French study of Oscillococcinum. They used the same criteria as the previous study and enrolled 372 patients. After 48 hours of treatment with Oscillococcinum the treatment group had significantly milder symptoms than the control group, and the number of patients with no symptoms from day two onward was significantly greater in the treatment group (17.4 percent) compared to the control group (6.6 percent) (Papp, 1998).
Both of these studies show a significant curative effect of a homeopathic medicine in the treatment of flu in carefully conducted, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. The two studies were done in different countries, each with many participating physicians, and during two different flu epidemics, presumably caused by different viruses. Conventional antiviral drugs reduce the duration of flu by about one day if taken within the first 48 hours of illness (Cooper, 2003). Comparing the results of these studies with the meager effect of conventional treatment shows that homeopathy carries the potential to make a dramatic difference in any flu epidemic without the risk of drug side effects.
Homeopathic Flu Medicines
The two most frequently indicated homeopathic flu medicines over the past 100 years have been Gelsemium and Bryonia. There are significant differences in the symptom pictures of these two medicines that make it easy to decide which is the better fit. They are not the only medicines used to treat the flu, but between them they will probably fit the majority of cases.
Bryonia and Gelsemium type flus both come on slowly over a 6-12 hour period. You begin to feel gradually worse over that time. By the second day you have aching muscles, feel pretty bad, and usually have a headache. Bryonia has more pain in the front of the head, which is definitely made worse by moving the head, or moving the eyes, and feels better from pressing the hand on the head. Gelsemium has pain in the back of the head with stiffness and aching in the neck and across the shoulders. Gelsemium does not want to move much either, and you may feel worse from moving around, but you avoid movement primarily because you are so tired. The characteristic state of Gelsemium is lethargy and fatigue. By contrast, Bryonia is tired but also restless. Bryonia discomfort is worse from motion, but at the same time you feel the urge to move about restlessly in the bed. No position seems comfortable. Bryonia is thirsty, Gelsemium is not. In fact Bryonia is generally warmer and drier. Bryonia wants air and cool temperatures to calm the heat. Gelsemium is chilly and sensitive to cold; cold shivers go down the spine. At the same time Gelsemium is clammy with the fever, and feelings of heat and cold may alternate. Bryonia has more coughing and chest symptoms, a painful cough that aggravates the sore throat. The Bryonia cough will also cause chest pains, and the inevitable reaction to this situation is to press the palm to the chest to minimize the movement caused by coughing.
Gelsemium does not have the energy to be emotional. Bryonia is irritable, worried, and fretful. Bryonia wants to be left alone, Gelsemium is too exhausted to respond.
Contrasting Gelsemium and Bryonia
Gelsemium: Chilly with chills down spine; Thirstless; Dull, sleepy, heavy; Worse from movement; Headache at back of head, stiff neck
Bryonia: Warm with desire for cool air; Thirsty; Dull, but irritable, worried; All symptoms worse from movement, but restless; Headache in forehead, better from pressure, worse motion
The Rhus toxicodendron flu immediately distinguishes itself by its extreme restlessness. With all of the aching pains Rhus tox is better from moving. Constant motion, changing positions, and stretching provide the only relief. If you lie still with a Rhus tox flu you begin to ache, which forces you to move. Nighttime is the worst for Rhus tox because of the difficulty remaining in one position. You will toss and turn looking for relief. Mentally Rhus tox is anxious with a restless mind, and emotionally a sudden depression with crying is common. Like Gelsemium, Rhus tox is chilly and sweaty. Rhus tox is also sensitive to cold and better from warmth. The headache of both Rhus tox and Gelsemium has its focus in the back of the neck and head with aching across the shoulders. Rhus tox has a very dry mouth, but despite the dryness is not very thirsty.
Contrasting Gelsemium and Rhus toxicodendron
Gelsemium: Dull, sleepy, heavy; Worse from movement; Chilly with chills down spine; Thirstless
Rhus tox: Extremely restless, cannot get comfortable, anxious; Better from movement; Chilly and better from heat; Thirstless
Baptisia is a bad flu that comes on quickly with a high fever. Suddenly with a Baptisia flu you are very sick and going downhill fast. Mentally Baptisia is confused, stupidly dull, and even delirious, sleepy all the time and unable to even answer questions. The main characteristic is an offensive odor from the sweat, the mouth, and the stool, and Baptisia flus are accompanied by both diarrhea and vomiting. The tongue is coated yellow or brown, the throat intensely red, ulcers appear in the mouth, and the gums ooze blood.
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Stressed out Britss are using homeopathy

Modern day stress is taking its toll on British people and they are turning to homeopathy to stay calm and healthy.

Stress is top of the list as the most common condition that homeopathy is taken for, according to a new One Poll survey commissioned by natural healthcare specialist Nelsons.

With 61 per cent of the British work force feeling under more pressure than a year ago and requests for complementary therapies on the rise, consumers are turning to homeopathy in a bid to manage their stress levels.

The survey finds that the top five ailments addressed through homeopathy by the British public are:

1. Stress 19%
2. Hay fever 17%
3. Upset stomach 14%
4. Asthma 13%
5. Headaches / migraines 13%

Although homeopathy is the treatment of choice for many common ailments, there still remains a relatively low awareness of its health benefits. While respondents to the survey say they would consider using homeopathy if they knew it stimulated the body’s healing processes (44 per cent) and had no side effects (50 per cent), 30 per cent claimed they don’t understand it and 29 per cent don’t know where to find out about it.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine which is based on treating the individual with highly diluted substances given in mainly pillule form. Homeopathic remedies can not only help to tackle the symptoms as they develop, but can be used to aid the body’s own system of healing and are suitable for the whole family to use.

During National Homeopathy Awareness Week natural healthcare specialist Nelsons is hoping to demystify this useful form of complementary medicine by providing information in an easy to digest format with their consumer website healthroughhomeopathy.com and free health guide, Heal Through Homeopathy.

The website and guide answers commonly asked questions and provides invaluable information about how homeopathy can be used to help during everyday stressful situations, as well as with hay fever (this year’s awareness week focus), upset stomach, migraines and headaches and other every day ailments. Written in association with Registered Homeopath Laura Kenyon LCH, RSHom, the website and guide provide jargon-free, practical information and advice ideal for everyone.

Paula Ross, Chief Executive of the Society of Homeopaths, says: “With employees fearing for their jobs in this current economic climate, homeopathy can offer a very real benefit for helping with the everyday stressful situations that people are facing. We would encourage anyone interested to contact a fully qualified and registered practitioner for more details.”

Cristal Sumner, Chief Executive of the British Homeopathic Association says: “The survey’s findings echo a recent study carried out at the five NHS homeopathic hospitals over one month. Unfortunately it seems that many people aren’t aware that they can ask their GP to be referred for homeopathic treatment on the NHS.”

Source

Homeopathy in Africa

Homeopathic clinics in many African countries are doing much in fighting disease and death.

Homeopathic clinics in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Ethiopia and Ghana are bringing homeopathy's healing medicines to the suffering in Africa. Treating malaria and AIDS, these clinic and others like them are staffed by selfless healers and are in need of our support. Over 23 million Africans are living with HIV/AIDS, including two millions new HIV infections recorded in 2007. In Tanzania, a person dies of malaria every three minutes. This is over 200, 000 deaths a year and this figure is growing.

Kenya
Didi Ananda Ruchira began the Abha Light Foundation (www.abhalight.org) in 1998. Her work on treating acute malaria was presented at the 2008 International Meeting on Homeoprophylaxis in Cuba. She utilized the homeopathic remedy, Malaria officinalis, the Malaria nosode. Her healing regime also includes eating the inner skin of the grapefruit and drinking Neem tea or tincture, taken the Azadrachta indica tree. The Abha Light Foundation runs the Abha Light College of Natural Medicine as well as 20 health centers, 25 mobile clinics, five free HIV/AIDS clinics, and conducts workshops and seminars on natural medicine. They are the largest homeopathic pharmacy in Kenya, and they conduct research and development.

Botswana
In Botswana, more than a third of the population is suspected to be infected with HIV or AIDS. Hilary Fairclough and Philippa Brewster founded the Maun Homeopathy Project to offer free homeopathic medical treatment. The clinic is located in northern Botswana and partners with other health clinics to offer treatment in several locations and in mobile clinics. The clinic volunteers serve three-month stints and help train the local Botswanians as homeopaths through apprenticeship and a distance-learning program based in Great Britain.

Ghana
The Senya/Tamale Homeopathy Project in Ghana is a grassroots project founded by Adjoa Margaret Stack. A homeopathic practitioner in Oakland California, Adjoa treats many suffering with malaria in Ghana. As a Peace Corp volunteer to Ghana in 1983, Adjoa discovered her interest and destiny as a healer. After studying homeopathy, she decided to return to Ghana to share her skills and address the epidemic of malaria infecting that nation. Her first clinic was located in a friend's home, and a drum beat out the message to visit her clinic under almond trees in her friend's front yard. The first summer, she treated over 60 people. In 2008, she spent five months in Ghana and treated almost 300 patients. Her work is supported by private donations.

Tanzania
In one group of Tanzanian rural villages, populated by 175,000 people, up to 45% have AIDS. There are medical clinics stocked with equipment, but no doctors because no one will work in this rural area. Jeremy Sherr has set up three homeopathic clinics and is opening the Tanzanian School of Homeopathy along with Sigsbert Rwegasira, who has been a practicing homeopath in Tanzania for 17 years. His TIAM Project joined forces with Sherr's Homoeopathy for Health in Africa, and they plan to start a school shortly. The school will offer a three-year course in homeopathy as well as African Traditional Medicine. So far, Sherr and his team have treated over 250 patients. Jeremy has also set up sustainable food projects in the villages. The government of Tanzania has officially recognized homeopathy as a form of healing and are in support of this project.

Ethiopia
Peter Chappell has been working in Ethiopia since 2001. From his experience, he prepared a unique approach to chronic disease. He has since developed remedies delivered via sound. His organization, the Amma Resonance Healing Foundation funds projects in Africa and around the world. His colleague, Harry van der Zee, MD, published a guide for treating infections diseases in developing countries, called the Amma4Africa Manual

Homeopathy shows great promise in treating disease worldwide. These clinics are pioneers in proving homeopathic medicine in areas desperate for healing.

Naturalnews

Topr ten homeopathic remedies to cure flu (even swine flu)

Melanie Grimes outlines top ten homeopathic remedies to cure flu (even swine flu).

Homeopathy has been very successful in treating the symptoms of flu and the Swine Flu pandemic of 2009 has been no exception. Homeopaths gather symptoms from a large population and discern what is called a "genus epidemicus". The genus is the remedy, or group of remedies, with the symptoms of most people who have a particular flu. These remedies are therefore the most likely remedies to treat a particular flu strain.

The Swine Flu showed the typical symptoms of a regular flu with the exception of high fever and chills. As for the genus epidemicus of this flu, there are a few variations of this flu, so a few remedies have been required. This is much the same as in the Flu Epidemic of 1918 when two remedies were used to great advantage and a near 100% survival rate. The remedies mostly used in that flu were Bryonia and Gelsemium.

Remedies that homeopaths have found useful in treating this 2009 flu season include:

1. Ferrum Phos is always a good remedy to use in the first stages of flu. Ferrum phos can be taken in the 30c potency. Even the 6x potency, sold as a tissue salt, can stop a flu in its tracks. Ferrum phos can be alternated with Natrum Sulf during the first days of the flu.

2.Dulcamara is useful at the onset of a high fever. The Dulcamara cough hurts from muscular soreness. This flu is frequently brought on by cold, damp weather.

3. Nux vomica treats a flu with chills and pains in bones and joints. The irritability and chills are very marked.

4. Gelsemium treats a low fever, and is also a good remedy if you have not been well since the flu. Gelsemium patients experience weakness with shivering.

5. Arsenicum treats a burning fever that is accompanied with chills, restlessness and anxiety. The person needing Arsenicum is usually thirsty but only drinks small quantities at a time. They can have burning pains.

6. Bryonia is good for type of flu when the person does not want to move. The mouth is dry but they are thirsty.

7. Rhus tox flu can be accompanied with aching bones, restlessness, and a red tipped tongue. This is another remedy that is useful when the flu is brought on by damp weather.

8. Belladonna treats a high fever that comes on suddenly. Other accompanying symptoms of Belladonna include heat and redness.

9. Eupatorium perfoliatum experiences severe bone pains with great thirst.

10. Baptisia is a good remedy for flu, especially if it's centered in the gastro-intestinal track. This remedy can be helpful in the early stages of the flu. The person needing Baptisia can be weak, listless, and feel sore.

The above remedies cover the general conditions and treat the flu symptoms that most have experienced so far. Try these homeopathic remedies to help speed your recovery during the flu season of 2009.

Natural News

A brief history of homoepathy

Connie Menezes, a registered homeopath, gives a short history of homeopathy
Homeopathy has been known since the time of Hippocrates (5th century BC) and was established as a system of medicine in 1796 by a German doctor Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843).

The principles and practice — laws of cure, laws of similars, and materia medica — were laid down by Hahnemann over 200 years ago and remain unchanged to the present day. This is in sharp contrast to modern medicine where today’s orthodoxy can become tomorrow’s heresy, ie, drugs fall in and out of fashion.
Hahnemann's opposition to orthodox medicine made him many enemies in the medical profession. Hahnemann made his own remedies and, as they do not need to be repeated often, this incurred the wrath of the apothecaries who feared being put out of business. Restrictions on his practice were imposed but despite this, by the time of his death in 1843, aged 88, homeopathy had spread to Europe, North and South America, and Asia.

Homeopathy made its name in the USA in the late 1800s; by 1900 there were 22 homeopathic medical schools, 100 homeopathic hospitals, and 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies. However the antagonism of the American Medical Association and the major drug companies towards homeopathy contributed to the suppression of this form of medicine. As a result, homeopathy’s halcyon days took a sharp decline in the 1900s. The fear of homeopathic practice becoming successful and the desire to suppress it continues to the current day. Nevertheless, homeopathy still lives on in spite of its ardent critics and detractors.
Source

Curing cancer in pets with homoepathy

 

Carol Alexander says homoeopathy can cure cancer in your pets. I’ve written before about natural treatments for cancer in pets, yet an article a friend guided me to in Homeopathy Today on the subject compels me to reiterate an uncomfortable truth: chemotherapy just as often kills our companions as it saves them. We may hesitate to “play around” with alternative approaches when the dreaded “C” word is broached; this is such a terrifying diagnosis that most of us leap onto the allopathic bandwagon with never a second thought. Yet, there is ample evidence that chemo and radiation are so invasive, so damaging to the patient’s body, that only the very strong survive the purging of cancer cells and shrinking of malignant tumors. Homeopathy, on the other hand, strengthens the body as it works against invading pathogens and cell mutation. Dale C. Moss, author of “When Our Beloved Pets Get Cancer,” (Homeopathy Today, May/June, 2008) provides personal testimony to the efficacy of natural remedies for lymphoma, the type of cancer that her dog Uly suffered from. Moss, a homeopath, opted to try a treatment plan developed by Dr. Ramakrishnan in A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer, available through the website Whole Health Now. Dr. Ramamkrishnan’s protocol alternates an “organ-specific” remedy and a nosode. The first targets the specific cancer and the affected organ, while the second is an immune booster that gives the patient increased energy and resistance to infection. Uly also benefited greatly from a diet based on whole and raw foods; this regimen supported his system and removed the additional stressor of chemicals in his diet. Dr. Moss’s dog enjoyed many years of remission—many more, I’m willing to bet, than he would have gained from conventional treatments. Yes, there are specific cancers that have a good cure rate, but these are, sadly, few. If your pet is diagnosed with cancer, do your research and get as much information as you can about cure rates. If you are not satisfied with what you discover, turn to a qualified holistic veterinarian and begin a program of treatment designed individually for your pet. You might be one of a growing number of pet owners to witness the power of homeopathy in the battle against cancer.

What is homoeopathy?

Homeopathy is a unique and effective 200-year-old system of medicine that uses extremely minute doses of natural substances to stimulate healing. Remedies are non-suppressive, nontoxic, gentle and inexpensive and can be used safely by the very young, the very old, and even pets. Patients receiving treatment often see improvement physically, mentally and emotionally. Chronic diseases and severe acute conditions that fail to improve through conventional medical treatment often respond well to homeopathy. All homeopathic medicines are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The founder of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, discovered a new system of medicine, in which a drug and a disease that produce similar symptoms cancel each other out in some way, thereby restoring the patient to health. He described this phenomenon as “like can cure like.” He stated, “One should imitate nature which at times heals the chronic illness by another additional one. One should apply in the disease to be healed, particularly if it is chronic, that remedy which is able to stimulate another artificially produced disease as similar as possible and the former will be healed.” The theory is that two substances of the same type cannot live within the body at the same time, consequently the substances of higher vibration will knock out the lower vibration of illness. We see this with the flu symptoms and the remedy Oscillococcinum, which can be picked up at almost any store. If the patient take the remedy within a few hours of its onset and takes the two additional doses every four hours, it will usually knock out the flu. Why? Because it is made from ducks, and birds have a tendency to carry numerous diseases. A good homeopath can help evaluate your symptoms whether they are chronic, acute or genetic and help administer a remedy that is unique to your individual case.

Homeopathy cures for headaches (acute and chronic)

You have a headache, instead of reaching for Tylenol or Ibuprofen try a
homeopathic remedy.

Homeopathic remedies increase the vital force of the body so that it can heal itself, by dealing with the cause of the headache, usually by identifying an imbalance in our mental / emotional state.

Taking a pain reliever for a headache, while effective in relieving the symptoms of the headache, in reality cause suppression of the symptoms and do not address the root cause at all. The imbalance will continue to manifest as a headache or other physical symptom.

ACUTE HEADACHES

BELLADONNA- Sudden, intense, violent onset. Sinus headaches, migraines, sun headaches, after injury, from getting the head chilled. With nosebleeds. Throbbing, stabbing pains. Restless with flushed face and bloodshot eyes. Violent, rageful, or very fearful, wants to escape. Delirious with pain. Worse from motion, light or noise. Better: lying in the dark.

BRYONIA - Headache in the morning on first movement. Headache from stress, constipation, anger, coffee. Bursting or stitching pain, pressing out, crushing weight on the side and front of head. Irritable and worried about business. Thirsty with dry mouth, hot head. Worse: slightest motion of eyes or head, stooping, touch. Better: pressure, stillness, closing eyes, heat to the head, fresh air.

GELSEMIUM - Headache begins with blurring vision, dizziness, light-headed, hot face and chills. Dull, heavy in the occiput, spreads forward, or tight band around head. Physical and mental lethargy, dullness, weakness, confusion, trembling. Worse: damp, cold, sun, worrying, lying, motion.

IRIS VERSICOLOR - Headache begins during day of rest after stress or weekend. Dim vision. Headache mainly on right side, in temple or forehead. Constriction, like a band. Nausea with acidic vomiting, saliva or diarrhea. Headache from sweets. Refined person. Gloomy and anxious about on coming headache. Worse: lying, rest, evening, Sundays, exertion. Better: gentle motion.

NUX VOMICA - Headache from digestive upsets, alcohol, drugs, anger, sleep loss, stress. Head feels expanded with dull pressure. Faint, light-headed. Constipated. Angry, drive, critical, oversensitive. Tension, spasm, stress,. Chilly. Worse: cold, motion, touch, noise, light. Better: warm, wrapping up.

SANGUINARIA - Headache from sun, not eating, nasal blockage, menopause, heartburn. Bursting pain from the back of the head to the right eye. Sinking feeling. Flushing, burning, heat in head, red cheeks. Weekly headaches. Nausea and vomiting which relieves the pain but is exhausting. Worse: day, odors, noise, sun. Better: rest, dark, quiet, hard pressure.

CHRONIC HEADACHES

ARGENTUM NITRICUM– Headache from over study, eyestrain, sugar, exertion, stomach upsets. Headache one-sided or frontal. Band or vice-like with digging, stabbing pain. Head feels heavy and expanded, hollow. Dizziness, dullness. Belching. Trembling. Fears of failure, crowds, heights, anticipation. Impulsive, obsessive. Worse: warmth, on waking, mental work. Better: hard pressure, open air.

COCCULUS– Headache from loss of sleep, mental or emotional strain, injury, while traveling. Occipital headache with weak muscles, heavy head, as if in a daze. Vomiting, trembling, numbness. Heads feels empty, separate from body. Feelings of guilt, worry for others. Upset by other’s rudeness. Talkative. Worse: talking, motion, noise, light, during menses. Better: warmth.

LACHESIS - Headache begins in morning. Dim vision. Headache from sun, alcohol, colds, menopause, PMS. Pulsating, stabbing, pressing pain. One sided, left side. Heat on top of head. Heat and flushing, palpitations. Hormonal imbalance. Sensitive scalp. Talkative, vivacious, witty, but also suspicious, guilt-ridden, angry. Worse: after sleep, touch, sun. Better: flow of mucus or menses, lying

NAT MUR - headache begins with zig-zag lights and tingling. Headache from sun, warmth, sinus, emotions. Headache forehead or one sided. Hammering, throbbing, bursting, jerking pain. Dry mouth and thirst. Nausea and watery vomiting. Faint and pale. Sad, wants solitude and adverse to sympathy. Emotions held inside. Worse: heat, motion, day, suppressed grief. Better: fresh air.

SEPIA - Headache during menses, menopause, from artificial light, missing meals. Headache forehead, one sided, left. Heavy head, Shock-like, jerking pains. Emptiness in stomach. Chilly, faint, always tired, constant backaches. Depressed, hopeless. Indifferent to everything. Needs to keep busy. Worse: lying, motion, menses, cold. Better: open air, rest, exertion.

SILICEA - Headache from drafts or cold air, overexcitement, over study, after vaccination. Stitching pains, Tearing pain from neck and occiput to vertex and eye. Rushes of blood to head. Easy sweats on hands, head. Poor stamina. Timid and weakly, yet stubborn. Lack of confidence. Nervous, picky. Worse: cold, drafts, motion. Better: wrapping head warmly.

New Zealand Medical Journal survey says homoeopathy works

A New Zealand Medical Journal survey says 92% of the people given homoeopathic medicines felt much better.

The New Zealand Council of Homeopaths (NZCH) welcomes a survey of the use of Homeopathic medicines that reported 92% of people who have taken Homeopathic remedies experienced a positive effect.

The study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal surveyed 124 people in Doctors’ surgeries [1]. Of these 65% said they had used homeopathic remedies with 92% reported experiencing a positive result. These findings confirm the results from studies conducted overseas (2,3,4).

This study revealed that positive responses to homeopathic remedies were achieved even though patients did not understand how homeopathic medicines worked.

Gwyneth Evans, spokesperson for the NZCH states, “The results demonstrate that an adult, child or, animal does not have to know how a remedy works for it to be beneficial."

Consumer demand for a system of medicine that is natural, safe and effective has driven the rise of homeopathy in New Zealand and throughout the world. However, very few surveys on homeopathy have been conducted in New Zealand to date so it is pleasing to see that funding is being made available for this purpose.

Homeopathic consultations are individualised to each patient, taking into account all presenting symptoms, together with a detailed family and personal history, including the context in which the patient became unwell.

A homeopathic prescription is then selected based on the client’s unique symptom presentation. Homeopathic treatment facilitates the body’s ability to fight infection and to decrease susceptibility to disease by gently stimulating the body to heal itself.

“This research is the beginning of an exciting development into adding to previous studies understanding homeopathy. I hope that funding will be made available to conduct further surveys and trials with practicing homeopaths in their clinics, to further add to the body of scientific knowledge of the natural healing powers of homeopathic remedies" said Ms Evans.

Source: Scoop.co.nz

Morning sickness (during pregnancy) and homoeopathy

 

Some homeopathic remedies to cure morning sickness -the nausea and vomiting during pregnancy Nothing ruins the glow of pregnancy like morning sickness. Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is a normal but annoying symptom that many women experience as their bodies adjust to the changes of pregnancy. Though the term is “morning” sickness, many women will tell you that their symptoms continue all day and even all night. For most, the nausea ends at the end of the first trimester, but this is not always the case. Morning sickness can lead to undereating at a time when the mother’s body needs to increase food consumption. Homeopathic Remedies for Morning Sickness Homoeopathy has a number of useful remedies for morning sickness.

• Nux vomica good remedy for morning sickness or even jaundice in pregnancy. The woman may be constipated and irritable. Nux is one of the main homeopathic remedies found useful for morning sickness, particularly if the mom-to-be is worse in the morning and better by evening.
• Pulsatilla is another common remedy for nausea during pregnancy. The mother needing Pulsatilla can be nervous and have a bad taste in her mouth in the morning. For her, nothing tastes good. She might vomit bile or mucus and can be worse in the evening as well as in the morning.
• Petroleum is a very useful remedy in treating nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, and for any gastric troubles during pregnancy. The nausea is worse when riding in moving vehicles.
• Sepia also treats the nausea of pregnancy when the thought of food exacerbate the nausea. The person needing Sepia is aggravated from not eating and immediately relieved after a small bite of food.
• Ipecacuanha is a remedy known to treat nausea in many forms, and the nausea of pregnancy is no exception. The sensation is one of uneasiness in the stomach and vomiting of undigested food.
• Graphites treats the type of morning sickness that is accompanied by weakness and trembling or sweats.
• Gossypium herbaceum is an herbal remedy particularly useful for ailments of the female organs. Used in herbal medicine to stimulate the ovaries, Gossypium is used in homeopathy to treat the type of morning sickness that is worse from the least motion and that starts soon after waking.
• Lobelia treats nausea that is worse from eating warm foods or morning sickness accompanied with a great deal of saliva. This nausea will disappear after a small sip of water.

Homoeopathy under attack again

This article in the Examiner says that homoeopathy and other alternative medicine are under attack again. Instead the aim should be to promote health by peaceful co-existence amongst all the systems of cure.

Homeopathy and alternative medical treatments are under attack by the news media again. Homeopathy has been unjustly blamed for the death of a child in Australia and the Native American beliefs of the Nemenhah Band. These attacks are incorrectly directed at the treatments sought rather than what the parents were seeking to achieve for their families. No parent wants to see their child suffer and no parent wants to feel like they are the one inflicting the amount of suffering induced by treatments like chemotherapy for cancer or the latest in immunotherapy for neuroblastomas.

It’s difficult to stand by and watch the way traditional medicine impacts a body and mind and our youngest family members it’s hard to tell sometimes who is being the hardest hit. There is no morphine drip for the parent sitting at the bedside of a child who just came through surgery. The news media has not painted these parents in a good light at all, they call them child abusers or worse, muderers. What they are are parents who are scared and uninformed on all their options and need someone to understand and help them not make them pariahs. What the news media also fails to mention are important things like facts about alternative medicine treatments; they choose to cast the light of 17th century Salem witch hunts on the practices like homeopathy, naturopathy, acupuncture, et al.

Homeopathy has no history of death from iatrogenic causes (in layman’s terms death caused by medical mistakes). The parents in Australia who sought treatment for their daughter’s eczema and shunned the suppressive therapies favored by allopaths. The eczema was not improving and the parents did not seek treatment from an allopath to work in a complementary way with their favored homeopathic treatment, this is the real question, why didn’t the homeopath advise the parents down this route or why didn’t the parents at least seek the advice of another homeopath? Homeopathy did not cause this child’s septicemia and it is poor journalistic integrity to say outright in the headlines that “Homeopathy Kills.”

All families should be encouraged to seek the kind of treatment they want for their family but when illness carries the threat of becoming severe it should be the job of the medical community, comprising allopaths and alternative practitioners together, to work for the greater good and provide complementary care to see the families as a whole through the trying times of treating an illness. A homeopath can provide treatment for the ill member of the family and provide support for any adverse side effects that may arise, like the vomiting and pains associated with chemotherapy, but also provide a remedy that can help with the mental and emotional issues the family may experience. Homeopathy can provide help for the whole family where allopathy falls down failing to recongize the impacts of illness.

A lady takes on the AMA and defends homoeopathy

A lady takes the AMA to task and stoutly defends homoeopathy in the Examiner

“The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs," read an organizational statement to the Senate Finance Committee. "The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans." --Huffington Post

Dear A.M.A.,

The mere 30 percent of uninsured individuals you are so wildly unconcerned about amounts, at present, to 98 million people. Ninety-eight million people. Put it another way; Almost one out of every three Americans has no health insurance. No reasonable expectation that they can have preventive care, no reasonable expectation that it they slip on the ice and break an ankle, they won’t shortly become bankrupt or homeless or both.

Please explain to me how you can claim to be healers, when the only thing you really are is heels. Please explain to me how you can claim to be humanitarians when you care so little about your fellow humans that you block efforts by their government to help them. Please explain to you how this corresponds in any way to the oath you took to “First, do no harm.” Harm, in case you were a little light on your humanities courses in college and therefore know only two things, the science of medicine and accounting--can be either active or passive harm. While few of you would purposely harm a patient--whacking off the left foot when the right foot is infected, for example (and it has happened)--keeping 98 million Americans disenfranchised from even rudimentary health care certainly comes under the heading of doing harm. Great harm. To those individuals and to the society that so totally fails them, primarily because of your greed.

Mind you, I avoid A.M.A. members--even now that I have insurance after 30 years without--like the plague. Because plague is what you are. A plague of locusts eating U.S. economic health.

Homeopaths are much more reasonable, and just as effective. I found homeopathy in those lean and uninsured years, realized I was getting well without being made sick, and cheaply. Enough homeopathic remedy to cure a bona fide strep throat costs about $6.95. That’s six dollars and ninety five cents. The last time I got a prescription for Zithromax for the same purpose, it cost $79.00. That’s seventy-nine dollars for five tiny pills. And I paid for it myself; my homeopath was out of town, and I had to presume upon my friendship with a doctor’s wife to get some medicine. At least I didn’t also have the office visit fee. I’ll take the phone call to the homeopath, a yearly $100 checkup fee and $6.95 for little pills that work great any day.

But this is not a letter in favor of homeopathy. While I am not likely to be a big user of A.M.A.-style medicine, I realize that most Americans do not value homeopathy and naturopathy and chiropractic and Ayurvedic medicine as I do, but they, too, need health care.And they go to A.M.A. doctors, possibly because they have been convinced that the A.M.A. is their only option.

Still, they need health care they will use and can use, and they need it without begging at “free clinics” with rules to get in as long as the average medical school application.

They need it without the specter of bankruptcy hanging over them if their deductible exceeds their ability to pay, a likely scenario if the ill person happens to be the breadwinner in a household, or a single person struggling alone.

Frankly, dear A.M.A., I don’t really care that you spent long years in expensive schools learning your trade, and the way you do it, trade is precisely what it is. It is not a profession; professionals?even advertising agencies for crying out loud?do pro bono work. I know of exactly one doctor who does anything of the sort, and he’s an orthodontist who goes once a year to South America to help dentally challenged children in the Andes who would otherwise be ostracized by their communities. He charges pretty well for his services at home. I know; a few years ago, I wanted perfect teeth and endured the pain and the expense. But at least, he does the Andes thing on his own dime…or mine. Doesn’t matter to me; I could afford his care, and I was happy that some small part of my fees helped someone else.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of us who have been lucky medically and financially would not mind if part of our fees helped others in need. My luck has been extraordinary; at exactly the time I got tossed off my horse, knocked out cold and carted to the emergency room for a CAT scan, I happened to be working for a publishing company that provided health insurance, instead of freelancing. Other times, when I wasn’t covered, I wasn’t badly hurt. Except when I dislocated two fingers five years ago. They are still not right, but I couldn’t afford to have them seen to at the time. Homeopathy helped the pain and swelling, but I think tendons were ripped and should have been stitched or something.

But I am not the usual patient, and I know it. I have been very lucky; two wonky fingers is not much trouble after a life mainly without health insurance and messing around with horses. I suffer and grieve for those who have no access to alternative treatment, no friends who are doctors and dentists (during the lean years, another friend’s husband, a dentist, charged me about half his going rate because I had taught his wife and daughter to ride, and he’s a nice man), and are reduced to begging or going without. I had a friend whose front teeth were knocked out when he protected his younger brother from a bully; he was a young actor at the time, and needless to say, his career was sent spinning downward. He was toothless for a couple of years.

Another friend, a lovely riding instructor, spent more than ten years with the worst looking mouth you can imagine--how she even opened it, I cannot contemplate--because she had been injured teaching riding and it took her that long to save up the money for the extractions and dentures. Ten years with broken and missing teeth, because her work skills were in an industry fraught with danger and totally lacking in the basic perks, like health insurance.

Worst of all, a dear friend, a minister at a small church, died last December of a congenital heart problem. He was 47. He had had health insurance, but gave it up because his partner had big child-support bills, and he needed that extra money in his paycheck. Had he been able to have yearly checkups, they might have found the “Swiss cheese” that was developing in his aorta in time to fix it. As it was, his emergency room visit when his partner adjudged there was no choice--the man was in so much pain--resulted in admittedly heroic measures from surgeons at a great Baltimore hospital who worked on him for nine hours…only to lose him because the disorder had so far progressed that the patches wouldn’t hold and he died in recovery. There will be no bill; the hospital--unique in my experience--offers free services under some conditions to those who cannot pay. Even though I am insured now, that’s where I’d want to go. My friend's doctors are among the few medical heroes around, even though, despite their lengthy, dedicated and brilliant work, they couldn’t save him. It was not they who were to blame; it is the American health care system that put the doctors and my friend into such a position.

This is needless, and it is all your fault, dear A.M.A. and that of assorted dunderheads who very wrongly fear “socialized medicine.” Is it, in fact, ethical to stand in the way of Universal Health Care when what it would mean, basically, is that some patients might have to wait a while to have a benign wart removed, because people with disintegrating aortas needed help first? In England, many people buy a supplemental policy, if they choose and can afford it, which does provide semi-private doctors in case they want that wart gone NOW. My late British in-laws had it; they were both well cared for in their final illnesses. But those who don’t have it are still cared for in England...perhaps not with all the bells and whistles, but with dignity.

Is that, in the end, too much to ask? Is it ethical that you, the A.M.A., whose members vow to “First, do no harm,” should stand in the way of human health and, perhaps more tellingly, human dignity?

Is there any reason whatsoever that the rest of us?those 98 million uninsured Americans and however many of the rest of us have a conscience and some empathy and at least a buck or two left over at the end of the month….

Is there any reason we cannot amongst us mount a sufficiently bankrolled media campaign to leave A.M.A. obstructionism in the dust? It would be better, dear A.M.A., if you spent your anti-healthcare war chest on providing health care, and better, too, if the rest of us didn’t have to spend what might be health dollars campaigning to wrest our health care from those sworn to provide it who are refusing to do so and holding us all hostage in the meantime.

Sincerely,

Laura Harrison McBride

Homoeopathy must for sensitive patients, say top British homoeopaths

Three eminent British homoeopaths argue in the Guardian that homoeopathy is indispensable to overly sensitive patients who cannot tolerate the harsh treatment by allopathic medicine

The apparent success of homeopathy for many patients is puzzling. But Dr Evan Harris MP is wrong to say it is "known not to be effective" (£12m spend on homeopathy hard to swallow, Society, 10 June). In fact, out of six reviews of the scientific evidence carried out by the independent and respected Cochrane Collaboration, two are cautiously positive and four inconclusive. There is also some evidence to say that homeopathy may be effective in the long term for chronic intractable problems. Inconvenient for those who oppose integrated healthcare perhaps, but very different from demonstrating homeopathy is "ineffective".

If the NHS were to withdraw access to homeopathy, it would not save the £4m a year it currently spends. Patients now receiving homeopathy would still need treatment, almost certainly at a higher cost and with greater risk of side effects from treatment. The mistake made by Dr Harris and Professor Edzard Ernst is to assume that we have effective treatments for all conditions and all patients. We don't. Some patients cannot tolerate existing treatments, often those with multiple morbidity - suffering from several conditions, each needing different treatment. For some conditions, we have no effective treatment at all. Is it morally acceptable to deny patients access to a well-established treatment they find effective when no conventional treatment is available? We would suggest not.

Professor George Lewith
Professor of health research, University of Southampton
Dr Michael Dixon
Medical director, Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health
Dr Peter Fisher
Clinical director, Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital

Source: Gaurdian

Homoeopathy for labour and childbirth

Homeopathy provides many remedies for pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Homeopathic remedies can provide great healing for both mothers and newborns. In 1900, James Tyler Kent wrote, “No woman at the present day is well enough to go through labor without some symptoms calling for a remedy.” This same sentiment is true today. A large variety of remedies stand by at the ready. I have outlined the basic homeopathic remedies useful to women in labor.

1. Arnica is a great remedy to heal bruising. If the birth causes bruising, Arnica is the first remedy to think of, for the mother and the baby. Arnica can be used to treat bruised pelvic organs after labor.
2. Hypericum is the remedy of choice for any nerve damage. If there is any damage or trauma to the spinal cord during birth, Hypericum is the main remedy to consider. This can be caused by the use of forceps or even by the elongation of the spine in the birth canal. This remedy can also be used to treat the mother with a dislocated coccyx.
3. Aconite treats constipation during pregnancy. It is a great remedy for hemorrhage during labor and also for morning sickness. The Aconite patient is generally thirsty, restlessness and fearful. Aconite is a good remedy to take following a fright or for fear of death during pregnancy or labor.
4. Belladonna is useful for acute inflammatory conditions that manifest suddenly with heat and redness. This remedy is useful for hemorrhages after childbirth, especially if the blood is hot and bright red.
5. Carbo vegetabilis is the remedy to consider for blue babies, or any newborns that do not breathe properly after birth.
6. Argentum nitricum, silver nitrate, is the same element that is dropped into the eyes of newborns. This remedy in homeopathic doses can treat diarrhea during pregnancy.
7. Causticum is a good remedy to have on hand when an infant’s shoulders won ‘t come through the birth canal, or if the baby ends up with a fractured clavicle. Causticum can also be used when the mother’s urine doesn’t flow after childbirth.
8. Opium in homeopathic doses is used to treat newborns after a traumatic delivery, especially if the child remains in a sluggish state, or have umbilical hernias and nurse poorly. Fainting from fright during pregnancy can also be treated with Opium.
9. Natrum sulfuricum is a good homeopathic remedy for a child with cerebral edema or any kind of swelling in the head or brain. Any injury to the head during birth can be treated with Natrum sulf.
10. Lachesis is the remedy of choice when a baby is born with the umbilical cord around his neck. These children may also have umbilical hernias.
11. Arsenicum is useful after childbirth to aid the bladder, treating retention of urine or a paralyzed bladder. Arsenicum will also treat diarrhea during pregnancy as well as nausea. The person needing Arsenicum when pregnant can be very fearful, especially experiencing a fear of death.
12. Bellis perennis, also known as Bruisewort, is the remedy to consider for uterine wounds after labor, or for any bruised conditions.
13. Calcarea phosphoricum has been known to make childbirth easier. This remedy can be taken as a cell salt in 3x or 6x potency, as it is a salt found in the blood plasma and in all cells. Used in this way, it can be a tonic and nutritional aid for a pregnant woman.
14. China (Cinchona Calisaya) is used in homeopathic doses for bleeding during childbirth.
15. Crocus is another remedy for hemorrhages after childbirth.
16. Caulophylum thalictroides (Blue Cohosh) can be used when the labor is stalled and does not progress, and contractions have little force. Used as an herb to cause abortions, it should not be taken during pregnancy, but only during labor to stimulate contractions.
17. Sepia is made from the ink of the cuttlefish. This homeopathic remedy is useful for constipation during pregnancy.
18. Aluminum can also aid in treatment of bleeding after childbirth.
19. Collinsonia is another remedy to consider for hemorrhoids during pregnancy.
20. Nux vomica treats diarrhea or constipation during pregnancy. It is also a good remedy for morning sickness or even jaundice. During labor, the person needing Nux vomica may be constipated. Nux can also be indicated, like Pulsatilla, when the labor pains cease altogether.
21. Petroleum is a very useful remedy in treating nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, and for any gastric troubles during pregnancy.
22. Pulsatilla is a good remedy to consider when the mother’s milk doesn’t come in after childbirth. Another good remedy for this condition is Urtica urens. Pulsatilla may also retain urine after childbirth.

Homoeopathy medicines worth $200 million sold every year in the US

Dr. Douglas Falkner with Ashland Mountain Homeopathy says just because it is difficult to measure the effects of homoeopathy, it does not mean it does not work.

As people attempt to stay healthy during the flu season, many are turning to alternative forms of medicine.

Some are using natural homeopathic treatments, despite a debate over whether they really work.

"In my experience, it not only works, it works better than just about any alternative that's out there," said Dr. Douglas Falkner with Ashland Mountain Homeopathy.

Falkner says the reason people turn to natural remedies is because they treats patient-specific symptoms.

"And this is why, in the flu season, we won't have just a single remedy that we'll apply for that flu, we'll have several remedies that are known to address the known pattern of illness that that patient experiences with the flu," Falkner said... "Generally speaking, there is a response within hours of taking the remedy, people start to feel like they're improving and on the mend," Falkner said.

However, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't feel the same way. In a recent statement, the FDA said there is no evidence that homeopathic products prevent the flu. The FDA warns consumers that homeopathic treatments are distributed without FDA approval.

Falkner says that just because it's hard to measure, doesn't mean it doesn't work.

"In this country, in our medical system, we have a very strong emphasis on science. And there are claims that homeopathy is not scientifically validated," Falkner said.

Annual sales for homeopathic medicines in the U.S. total more than $200 million.

Source: KDRV

Homoeopathy cures stomach cancer

Given below are some homoeopathic remedies that have been commonly used in treating stomach cancer.

ARSENIC ALBUM
Cancer of stomach. Burning pains in the stomach. Excessive thirst. Desire for acidic food and drinks. Worse from cold drinks and food. Better by hot drinks. Vomiting of all he takes. Vomiting of black substance. terrible sensation of weakness and exhaustion with anxiety in the region of stomach and restlessness.

BISMUTH
Violent crampy pains, burning pains. Burning and stinging in the region of stomach. Stomach enlarged. Hanging down. Hard lump between navel and edges of lower ribs on the right side. Abdomen bloated. Rumbling in the colon. Vomiting at intervals of a few days only. Vomits when stomach full of food. Vomiting lasts whole day.

CADMIUM SULPH
Violent nausea. Retching. Black vomit. Vomiting of mucus, green slime, blood. Great prostration. Stomach tender. Burning and cutting in stomach. Least thing that touches lips excites vomiting.

CARBO ANIMALIS
Saltish water rises from the stomach and runs out of the mouth.

CARBOLIC ACIDUM
Desire for stimulants and tobacco. Constant belching, nausea and vomiting. Heat in oesophagus. Heartburn. Sore stomach. Empty eructations.

CONIUM
Vomiting of chocolate colored mass. Sour and acrid vomit. Pressing, burning, squeezing pain extending from pit of stomach into back and shoulders.

CUNDURANGO
This remedy has achieved considerable reputation in cancer of stomach and other types of carcinoma. Ulcers on false ribs as large as a hand, apparently cancerous.

HYDRASTIS
Vomits everything except water with milk. Pain in the pit of stomach. Emaciation. cannot eat bread or vegetables.

LYCOPODIUM
Cancer of stomach. Vomiting of dark greenish mass after eating or drinking. Stomach and abdomen bloated. Rumbling in bowels. Obstinate constipation. hard swelling in the epigastrium. great debility and emaciation. Ulcer worse when sitting bent, better when moving about or when warm in bed. Vomiting of bile, pus and coagulated blood.

ORNITHOGALUM
Agonising feeling in stomach and chest. Loss of appetite. Retching. Loss of flesh. Very depressed mentally. Very weak. Nausea. Flatus rolling in ball in abdomen from side to side.

PHOSPHORUS
Constant nausea and fullness of stomach after eating or drinking. Vomiting of sour foul smelling liquid as if it has been mixed with water, ink and coffee grounds. Sunken abdomen with hard swelling. Pale, earthy complexion. Emaciated. Sleepiness, Peevish. Gurgling sound in the abdomen. Bowels constipated.

Homoeopathy cures breast cancer

Homeopathy has a lot to offer in treating breast cancer, both in curing and easing the pains in incurable cases. First are laid down the most commonly used remedies to treat breast cancer. Then are laid down some special indications that help in identifying the correct remedy.

Note that all the remedies are to be taken in the 6C or 30C potencies. The 6C can be taken two or three times a day. The 30C is to be taken every two or three days. There are no hard and fast rules on this but REMEMBER: Stop taking the remedy once improvement in the condition (more importantly, the patient feels better in the mind). Start taking the remedyagain once the improvement stops.

Carcinosinum should be taken only in the 30C or 200C potencies (not lower). That too once a week every night. Though noted homoeopath Boericke says it can be taken in the 30C every night.

Remedies for breast cancer

APIS
Stinging burning pains. Pain in ovaries with bearing down sensation. Scanty dark urine. Edema of lower extremities.

ASTERIAS
This remedy has unquestioned influence over breast cancer. Eyes, nipples feel drawn back. Rush of blood to head. Face red. Left breast feels as if pulled inward. Breast cancer in the ulcerative stage. Lancinating pains. Feels worse at night. Feels better from weeping.

BUFO
Blood oozing from nipples. Childish nature, grown up body. Constant licking of lips. Violent pain in breasts at night. desire to masturbate. Large lips.

CARBO ANIMALIS
Darting pains in breast. Breast hardened especially the right one. Tumor in the breast. Burning pains. Sweating at night. Hates cold.

CONIUM
Sometimes quarrelsome, sometimes silent. Aversion to family. Dizziness. Breasts sunken, flabby. Hard tumor in breasts. Stitches or piercing pains at night. Feels worse seeing moving objects. Breast cancer caused by blows.

CUNDURANGO
Painful cracks in corners of mouth. Breast cancer with retraction of nipples. Lancinating pains in the breasts. Breast painful to touch.

GRAPHITES
Obese patients. Sad. tearful. Irresolute. despair over trifles. Anxiety in the morning on waking. breasts swollen and hard. Nipples have blisters. Dysmenorrhoea of fat women with herpes and eruptions. Feels worse at night, from cold, from light. Weeps on hearing music.

MERC SOL
Breast (right) pains which extend to scapula. Feels worse at night. Feels worse from both extremes of heat and cold.

PHYTOLACCA
bruised feeling all over the body. Feels that she must move but moving makes her feel worse. Rheumatism chronic, especially of the hip joint. Breasts very hard and sensitive. Purple cracks and ulcers around the nipples.

SILICEA
Great itching of the swollen glands. Inflammation of nipples. Darting, burning pains in the left nipple. Painful stitiches behind left breast with chilliness all night. Suppuration of mammae. Abscess in breast. Fistulous ulcers. Lumps in breasts that discharge a thick yellow offensive pus.

Special pointers to choose the remedy

Burning pains better from warmth - Ars
Open tumor - Apis, Hydrastis
Burning of efges with bad odor - Hepar
Cancer caused by blow - Bellis Perennis, Conium
Discharge of blood and fetid pus from tumor - Asterias
Growing pain towards axilla - Carbo An
Heaviness of breats - Con
Nipples hot - Phos
Inflamed hard, painful breasts worse by exposure to air- Phos
Lancinating pains - Asterias, Lachesis
Lancinating pains and bleeding easily - Phos
Tumors as large as a small egg - Hydrastis
Night pains - Asterias
Open tumor - Apis, Hydr, Phytolacca
Raw feeling - Merc
Shooting pains - Con
Cannot sleep from pains - Asterias, Carcinosin
Smells like old cheese - Hepar
Stony hard - Con
Ulcers - Calcarea Carb, Hepar, Hydr, Phos, Phytolacca, Silicea
Side-effects of chemo-therapy - Cadmium Sulph