I have gotten several questions on my recommendation to purchase a kit of the top 100 remedies.
At a time where you may be more aware of the importance in being self-sufficient, I can think of no other single factor than stocking some homeopathic remedies and properly applying homeopathic principles in their use.
Accordingly, I think it is important to have a good variety of homeopathic remedies that can be readily available for most acute (short lived) ailments. Any homeopathic remedy if stored and used properly will last many years. Here is a list of “Do’s and Don’ts” to properly accomplish this…
-Do store the remedies in a dark, cool spot away from other chemicals and cleaners. Homeopathic remedies can be tainted by sunlight, extreme temperatures and extreme odors.
-Don’t use more than one or two pillets from the remedy bottles. I realize that some remedies recommend five pillets be taken under the tongue (sublingual)… this is just plain wrong. It does empty your remedy stash quickly and that is great for the manufacturer (not great for you and not necessary).
-Don’t mix different remedies. This is a controversial subject but can be easily verified by studying the original texts of homeopathy. Remedies are frequently mixed in current homeopathic practice and this is completely against how homeopathy works and should be applied. There are several reasons that this should never be done; the least of which is the possibility of conflicting remedies.
-Do mix remedies in water when possible. Hahnemann almost exclusively prescribed the remedies in a water-based solution over the last years of his life. He also recommended this approach. There are other ways to administer remedies, but that discussion is too lengthy to approach at this time.
-Don’t just pick a remedy from reading a list of commonly applied remedies for that illness. This is allopathic prescribing. Read the next point…
-Do repertorize the symptoms of the ill person to find the appropriate remedy. Just trying remedies one after another is the allopathic way to prescribe remedies. Homeopathy has taken great pains to provide the resources in picking the appropriate remedy for ANY illness. When the proper remedy is found, it will work wonders on the illness. Some basic information on how remedies are chosen (repertorized) is available in previous postings.
My reason for presenting this information at this time is that Washington Homeopathic Products is having a sale on their Top 100 Remedies (here) until the end of the month. I am in no way affiliated with this organization except as a satisfied client from past purchases. Their products are top-notch and except for the occasional “mixture” of remedies, are as close to Hahnemann’s techniques as is commonly found in this country (USA). Their Top 100 remedies are in 30C potency which is fine for most acute ailments and is a good jumping off point for learning acute homeopathy. The kit includes most of the common influenza remedies found (here), but not all of them. You can always supplement these 100 remedies by purchasing others remedies one by one (about $5 per bottle).
A typical bottle of a remedy will have about 80 pillets. Mixing one pillet in a water based solution will handle several occurrences of an illness if done properly. That same bottle of pillets will last many years and would cost about 6 cents per illness.
That is it for now. As some of you are aware, I have recently started an acute homeopathy course and it is taking more of my attention than I previously thought it would. I will be posting a bit less for the next week or two until I catch up. Thanks for all the support and questions!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Influenza… the good, the bad and the self-sufficient
While we haven’t seen the end of this current flu epidemic, the anxiety seems to be subsiding. The mortality rate is falling fast even as the current illness quickly spreads. The World Health Organization (WHO) has ratcheted up their “Richter” scale of pandemic crisis mainly due to the increasing speed and geography of human to human transmission. So where are we now?
Hopefully everyone that has followed this illness has been wary of what may have happened if it had been closer to the pandemic of 1918. Even though it was nowhere near this historic crisis and probably won’t be any time soon, we do have some significant fallout from the current situation and can extrapolate some possible scenarios for future reference.
First, Mexico as the epicenter of this flu is experiencing its own quarantine from within and without. Local businesses are off tremendous business as people have shut themselves in their homes. Airlines are leaving fully occupied and arriving empty in most of the major cities (esp Mexico City). Cruise lines are bypassing the coastal cities for other less contaminated destinations. Add it all up and you have billions of dollars in lost income. This is at a time when their tourist industry was already experiencing a downturn due to increasing violence along the US-Mexico border region.
The Federal Government is predicting that by August or maybe it’s now October, we should see a flu vaccine that will handle this current strain. That is if this strain doesn’t mutate like many flu strains eventually do. The Center for Disease Control is very wary of these flu outbreaks simply because they can mutate and spread quickly.
Locally I can tell you from the first cases to pop up in the USA (close to my location), schools, government agencies, and the like have been closed from the first sneeze and cough. The schools have been closed for a week and will be closed for another week as well. The neighborhood grocery in this area also started a huge hand sanitizing parade while packaging produce in individual containers. Parents have had to either take time off from work to supervise their homebound children or hire babysitters.
We are here…
I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that a pandemic can be devastating. Not only because of the risk to health for yourself and family, but for the economic chaos and disruption or possible closing of local businesses (including basic necessities). How long can a typical household subsist without that local grocery store visit?
If you were sick today with a flu and waiting for a government provided flu dose (Tamiflu/Relenza), you would be waiting for a generic fix that may or may not help. Even the currently available flu shots would be in short supply in a disaster situation, not to mention an actual vaccine that is months away from first stage testing.
If there is one word that comes to mind as this crisis hopefully passes us by, it is self-sufficiency. In a time where a flu pandemic causes untold damage in health and economic terms, relying on oneself is not only smart, but probably the best alternative.
Fortunately, you are aware that homeopathy can provide some measure of immediate help where most other forms of medical attention are lacking. Take some time to read past epidemics of cholera, diphtheria, yellow fever, scarlet fever and flu that were readily treated by homeopathy. And, take some time to study the subject of acute homeopathy in detail.
Look into the purchase of a “Top 100” remedy kit when you are more familiar with how to use it. The top remedies are also known as “polychrests”. They should stand you well in the event that you require a remedy for any acute situation.
Also, keep in mind that the pandemic Spanish Flu of 1918 came in at least two waves and that even a small mutation of existing flu types could prove a much more worthy opponent than even our best medical efforts could absorb.
Thanks for following this blog and here are some helpful links to get you started…
A generic account of the 1918 pandemic. Some good links from this page seem oddly self-explanatory as to what we may experience in future pandemics- here.
A quick set of statistics from homeopathy in several epidemics of the last 150 years is here.
A short article on the basics of dealing with acute illness is here.
My own short list of homeopathic flu remedies is here.
NOTE: While there is generally a certain subset of homeopathic remedies that are effective against the flu, homeopathy is NOT allopathic pharmaceutical prescribing. Homeopathy DOES NOT generally work by giving the same remedy to everyone that has a particular illness. Epidemics are an exception to this rule. To fully realize the efficacy of homeopathy, the user must detail all symptoms of the illness and patient, find the remedy that “fits” that particular set of symptoms and prescribe the remedy in an appropriate potency. For more information, see LikeCure.com.
Edit:
I have gotten several questions on this blog entry and will answer them with the following:
I realize my implications from the above post and here are the facts as far as I can extract them...
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 started in about March of that year with a mild flu that was based on much the same as our current flu (pig, avian, and human viruses). It really wasn’t until the second wave in about September of that year that it had mutated to become a very virulent form of the previous version. I believe it killed about 200,000 in the first month. Approximately 50% of the population came down with that flu.
The current antiviral drugs (Tamiflu/Relenza) will likely have no effect on a mutated version of the current virus. I have now heard that the “swine” flu vaccine (H1N1) provided by the government will most likely be available in January of next year.
I do believe that the current situation can be viewed as a “dry run” for our government and us. If you believe that you will be looked after, that current measures have been adequate, and a forthcoming pharmaceutical antiviral drug will take care of a possible flu outbreak in the future, then fine. I hope you are correct. If you believe that you must be self-sufficient, then I believe that homeopathy is your best bet. It has more than proven itself to any practicing homeopath whether they are a licensed doctor or layman treating their family ailments. You must only understand the proper way to apply it and hopefully I have given you some insight as to this throughout these posts.
I don’t believe anyone knows what will be the outcome of this current flu or whether it will mutate as did La Grippe of 1918. I do know that probability says a pandemic will eventually test our resolve (sooner than later). You can see what past pandemics have caused and you should be well aware of what necessities need your attention in this event.
Sorry if I seem overly cautious, but I have witnessed the frenzy first hand with this current “dry run” and it was not even warranted. A truly virulent epidemic should not take the world by surprise, but it will.
For those that have asked, the course can be found here.
If you don’t think homeopathy works, you don’t know how homeopathy works.
Hopefully everyone that has followed this illness has been wary of what may have happened if it had been closer to the pandemic of 1918. Even though it was nowhere near this historic crisis and probably won’t be any time soon, we do have some significant fallout from the current situation and can extrapolate some possible scenarios for future reference.
First, Mexico as the epicenter of this flu is experiencing its own quarantine from within and without. Local businesses are off tremendous business as people have shut themselves in their homes. Airlines are leaving fully occupied and arriving empty in most of the major cities (esp Mexico City). Cruise lines are bypassing the coastal cities for other less contaminated destinations. Add it all up and you have billions of dollars in lost income. This is at a time when their tourist industry was already experiencing a downturn due to increasing violence along the US-Mexico border region.
The Federal Government is predicting that by August or maybe it’s now October, we should see a flu vaccine that will handle this current strain. That is if this strain doesn’t mutate like many flu strains eventually do. The Center for Disease Control is very wary of these flu outbreaks simply because they can mutate and spread quickly.
Locally I can tell you from the first cases to pop up in the USA (close to my location), schools, government agencies, and the like have been closed from the first sneeze and cough. The schools have been closed for a week and will be closed for another week as well. The neighborhood grocery in this area also started a huge hand sanitizing parade while packaging produce in individual containers. Parents have had to either take time off from work to supervise their homebound children or hire babysitters.
We are here…
I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that a pandemic can be devastating. Not only because of the risk to health for yourself and family, but for the economic chaos and disruption or possible closing of local businesses (including basic necessities). How long can a typical household subsist without that local grocery store visit?
If you were sick today with a flu and waiting for a government provided flu dose (Tamiflu/Relenza), you would be waiting for a generic fix that may or may not help. Even the currently available flu shots would be in short supply in a disaster situation, not to mention an actual vaccine that is months away from first stage testing.
If there is one word that comes to mind as this crisis hopefully passes us by, it is self-sufficiency. In a time where a flu pandemic causes untold damage in health and economic terms, relying on oneself is not only smart, but probably the best alternative.
Fortunately, you are aware that homeopathy can provide some measure of immediate help where most other forms of medical attention are lacking. Take some time to read past epidemics of cholera, diphtheria, yellow fever, scarlet fever and flu that were readily treated by homeopathy. And, take some time to study the subject of acute homeopathy in detail.
Look into the purchase of a “Top 100” remedy kit when you are more familiar with how to use it. The top remedies are also known as “polychrests”. They should stand you well in the event that you require a remedy for any acute situation.
Also, keep in mind that the pandemic Spanish Flu of 1918 came in at least two waves and that even a small mutation of existing flu types could prove a much more worthy opponent than even our best medical efforts could absorb.
Thanks for following this blog and here are some helpful links to get you started…
A generic account of the 1918 pandemic. Some good links from this page seem oddly self-explanatory as to what we may experience in future pandemics- here.
A quick set of statistics from homeopathy in several epidemics of the last 150 years is here.
A short article on the basics of dealing with acute illness is here.
My own short list of homeopathic flu remedies is here.
NOTE: While there is generally a certain subset of homeopathic remedies that are effective against the flu, homeopathy is NOT allopathic pharmaceutical prescribing. Homeopathy DOES NOT generally work by giving the same remedy to everyone that has a particular illness. Epidemics are an exception to this rule. To fully realize the efficacy of homeopathy, the user must detail all symptoms of the illness and patient, find the remedy that “fits” that particular set of symptoms and prescribe the remedy in an appropriate potency. For more information, see LikeCure.com.
Edit:
I have gotten several questions on this blog entry and will answer them with the following:
I realize my implications from the above post and here are the facts as far as I can extract them...
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 started in about March of that year with a mild flu that was based on much the same as our current flu (pig, avian, and human viruses). It really wasn’t until the second wave in about September of that year that it had mutated to become a very virulent form of the previous version. I believe it killed about 200,000 in the first month. Approximately 50% of the population came down with that flu.
The current antiviral drugs (Tamiflu/Relenza) will likely have no effect on a mutated version of the current virus. I have now heard that the “swine” flu vaccine (H1N1) provided by the government will most likely be available in January of next year.
I do believe that the current situation can be viewed as a “dry run” for our government and us. If you believe that you will be looked after, that current measures have been adequate, and a forthcoming pharmaceutical antiviral drug will take care of a possible flu outbreak in the future, then fine. I hope you are correct. If you believe that you must be self-sufficient, then I believe that homeopathy is your best bet. It has more than proven itself to any practicing homeopath whether they are a licensed doctor or layman treating their family ailments. You must only understand the proper way to apply it and hopefully I have given you some insight as to this throughout these posts.
I don’t believe anyone knows what will be the outcome of this current flu or whether it will mutate as did La Grippe of 1918. I do know that probability says a pandemic will eventually test our resolve (sooner than later). You can see what past pandemics have caused and you should be well aware of what necessities need your attention in this event.
Sorry if I seem overly cautious, but I have witnessed the frenzy first hand with this current “dry run” and it was not even warranted. A truly virulent epidemic should not take the world by surprise, but it will.
For those that have asked, the course can be found here.
If you don’t think homeopathy works, you don’t know how homeopathy works.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Influenza Then and Now
Recent headlines have captured the fear of an Influenza epidemic (aka Swine Flu). There is even talk of a worldwide pandemic. The truth of the matter is not really known at this point and the statistics are changing by the hour. There is reason for concern, but we have some solace in knowing that homeopathy has dealt with this type of issue before.
In 1918 there was a pandemic flu called the Spanish Flu. It killed millions of people and wreaked havoc in the medical community. To some extent this flu outbreak was not well documented from the homeopathic point of view. Remember in the early 1900s there were many homeopathic hospitals and doctors (approximately 2000 homeopathic hospitals located in most major cities). While allopathic doctors treated the flu during this outbreak with aspirin, homeopathic doctors treated it with commonly found homeopathic remedies.
A snippet of an article about that time…
"The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster. Influenza constitutes the most widespread and significant respiratory infectious disease in the world, resulting in increased morbidity, mortality and economic loss each epidemic year. Pandemic influenza is a worldwide epidemic usually caused by a new virus variant to which the majority of the population has no immunity.
The Journal of the American Institute for Homeopathy, May 1921, had a long article about the use of homeopathy in the flu epidemic. Dr. T A McCann, from Dayton, 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%. This last figure was supported by Dean W.A. Pearson of Philadelphia (Hahnemann College) who collected 26,795 cases of flu treated with homeopathy with the above result."**
The rate of mortality is the rate of deaths. Taking the above statistics, allopathic treatment had approximately 6700 deaths per 24,000 patients and homeopathic treatment had approximately 270 deaths per 26,000 patients.
From the above description, homeopathy provided a much better solution to the Spanish Flu outbreak than did allopathic treatment. This is probably because homeopathy is better able to provide a solution to individual sets of symptoms in illness than allopathy no matter what the variation of these symptoms (there is a remedy that applies to any variation of symptoms). Another possibility is that homeopathy needs no name or cause or how the disease is spread to provide a solution that will cure any ailment. In this way, homeopathy can be used in any illness whether it be a known disease or not. To date, allopathy has never cured a viral infection (influenza is a virus as is HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, etc).
The symptoms of swine flu are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Taking the above symptoms (albeit a superficial list), the following homeopathic remedies would fit these symptoms (educated guess)…
Nux-v (Nux Vomica)
Aco (Aconite)
Sul (Sulphur)
Bry (Bryonia)
Ars (Arsenicum)
China (Cinchona Officinalis)
Among other possible remedies.
The above list will be edited when more information (symptoms) become apparent and/or homeopathic therapy is applied and a determination can be made as to the most effective remedies.
A more comprehensive list of homeopathic remedies (with specific symptoms) commonly used to treat various types of flu can be found (here).
EDIT:
The mortality rate in Mexico is holding steady at 6% (according to limited stats and the total amount infected is probably seriously under-reported- which will eventually bring this mortality rate down to logical levels as reports are more accurate). Being at one of the ground zero locations (San Antonio) in the USA hasn't helped in accumulating much further information. Schools and government agencies are closed for the week in this local area. The number of probable infected cases is slightly larger in this area than is reported on the national news but is not high by any means. No particular homeopathic emergency centers are reporting any further information to my knowledge.
For those keeping a symptom "score"... This particular flu comes on relatively quick and in some instances presents considerable vomiting. In Homeopathy, there will almost definitely be two to three potential remedies depending on individual symptoms. This is normal in almost every epidemic that homeopathy has been successfully used.
There is some evidence that the current illness is at least borne out in two phases. The first is general cold type symptoms and the second is gastro-intestinal symptoms with upper respiratory congestion. Tentatively… It is likely that EUP-PER would be a preemptive remedy and ARS for secondary illness.
As of 4/30/09 mortality rates (and resulting stats) are dropping fast (probably less than .1% at this point). Unless WHO/CDC is keeping something back, this epidemic is looking like more bark than bite. Resulting flu strains generated from this one could be the consideration to a Phase 5 Alert from WHO.
If in doubt as to the correct treatment and/or severe illness is experienced, seek emergency care immediately.
------------------
**http://www.want2bwell.com/blank?pageid=23&catstart=0&prodstart=0
In 1918 there was a pandemic flu called the Spanish Flu. It killed millions of people and wreaked havoc in the medical community. To some extent this flu outbreak was not well documented from the homeopathic point of view. Remember in the early 1900s there were many homeopathic hospitals and doctors (approximately 2000 homeopathic hospitals located in most major cities). While allopathic doctors treated the flu during this outbreak with aspirin, homeopathic doctors treated it with commonly found homeopathic remedies.
A snippet of an article about that time…
"The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster. Influenza constitutes the most widespread and significant respiratory infectious disease in the world, resulting in increased morbidity, mortality and economic loss each epidemic year. Pandemic influenza is a worldwide epidemic usually caused by a new virus variant to which the majority of the population has no immunity.
The Journal of the American Institute for Homeopathy, May 1921, had a long article about the use of homeopathy in the flu epidemic. Dr. T A McCann, from Dayton, 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%. This last figure was supported by Dean W.A. Pearson of Philadelphia (Hahnemann College) who collected 26,795 cases of flu treated with homeopathy with the above result."**
The rate of mortality is the rate of deaths. Taking the above statistics, allopathic treatment had approximately 6700 deaths per 24,000 patients and homeopathic treatment had approximately 270 deaths per 26,000 patients.
From the above description, homeopathy provided a much better solution to the Spanish Flu outbreak than did allopathic treatment. This is probably because homeopathy is better able to provide a solution to individual sets of symptoms in illness than allopathy no matter what the variation of these symptoms (there is a remedy that applies to any variation of symptoms). Another possibility is that homeopathy needs no name or cause or how the disease is spread to provide a solution that will cure any ailment. In this way, homeopathy can be used in any illness whether it be a known disease or not. To date, allopathy has never cured a viral infection (influenza is a virus as is HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, etc).
The symptoms of swine flu are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Taking the above symptoms (albeit a superficial list), the following homeopathic remedies would fit these symptoms (educated guess)…
Nux-v (Nux Vomica)
Aco (Aconite)
Sul (Sulphur)
Bry (Bryonia)
Ars (Arsenicum)
China (Cinchona Officinalis)
Among other possible remedies.
The above list will be edited when more information (symptoms) become apparent and/or homeopathic therapy is applied and a determination can be made as to the most effective remedies.
A more comprehensive list of homeopathic remedies (with specific symptoms) commonly used to treat various types of flu can be found (here).
EDIT:
The mortality rate in Mexico is holding steady at 6% (according to limited stats and the total amount infected is probably seriously under-reported- which will eventually bring this mortality rate down to logical levels as reports are more accurate). Being at one of the ground zero locations (San Antonio) in the USA hasn't helped in accumulating much further information. Schools and government agencies are closed for the week in this local area. The number of probable infected cases is slightly larger in this area than is reported on the national news but is not high by any means. No particular homeopathic emergency centers are reporting any further information to my knowledge.
For those keeping a symptom "score"... This particular flu comes on relatively quick and in some instances presents considerable vomiting. In Homeopathy, there will almost definitely be two to three potential remedies depending on individual symptoms. This is normal in almost every epidemic that homeopathy has been successfully used.
There is some evidence that the current illness is at least borne out in two phases. The first is general cold type symptoms and the second is gastro-intestinal symptoms with upper respiratory congestion. Tentatively… It is likely that EUP-PER would be a preemptive remedy and ARS for secondary illness.
As of 4/30/09 mortality rates (and resulting stats) are dropping fast (probably less than .1% at this point). Unless WHO/CDC is keeping something back, this epidemic is looking like more bark than bite. Resulting flu strains generated from this one could be the consideration to a Phase 5 Alert from WHO.
If in doubt as to the correct treatment and/or severe illness is experienced, seek emergency care immediately.
------------------
**http://www.want2bwell.com/blank?pageid=23&catstart=0&prodstart=0
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Miasms (a thumbnail sketch)
Hahnemann was extremely successful in curing acute illness (that illness that comes on suddenly and leaves just as quickly such as flu, colds, headaches, sprains, diarrhea, constipation, insomnia, etc). He did find that even though his success rate was probably 95%+ (as is common for experienced homeopathic practitioners dealing with acute illness), he was revisiting these acute illnesses every so often in the same patient.
Hahnemann reviewed several decades of his treatment with homeopathic remedies applied to a vast amount of cases. He also reviewed a thousand years of history and came to the conclusion that there was an underlying illness that affects all humans. This base ailment at times makes the more superficial illnesses almost impossible to completely cure. Hahnemann spent the next 15 years compiling evidence and clinical therapy to determine this underlying illness common to all living beings. He termed this basic underlying illness “miasm”. The term miasm can be defined most easily as “pollution”; a base pollution to a living organism giving rise to chronic as well as some acute illness.
So Hahnemann viewed the treatment of illness from two perspectives. One was treatment of acute illness which may or may not be the result of an underlying miasm and two, the treatment of chronic or long term illness which was definitely the result of an underlying miasm.
Hahnemann found that there were three basic miasms common to most if not all people. They are as follows:
1. PSORIC (psora)- called the “itch” disease. It is the mother of the other miasms and affects every living thing on the earth according to Hahnemann. It is spread through skin contact (often mother to child). Some common ailments attributed to the psoric miasm include constipation (sometimes alternating with diarrhea), psoriasis, wide ranging itching, burning ailments, leprosy and other skin related symptoms. It is characterized by under functioning ailments (hypo).
2. SYPHILITIC- called the “chancre” disease. It is created by suppressed syphilis and passed to resulting generations. It can be caused by a primary infection (not inherited) that is suppressed by antibiotic treatment. Some common ailments attributed to the syphilitic miasm include ulcerations of all types, gangrene, insanity, sterility, premature death, heart disease, suicide, destructive cancer, and ulcers of ear, nose, urinary organs, and mouth. It is characterized by self destructive tendencies and ailments.
3. SYCOTIC (sycosis)- called the “figwart” disease. It is created by suppressed gonorrhea and passed to following generations. It can be caused by a primary infection (not inherited) that is suppressed by antibiotic treatment. Some common ailments attributed to the sycotic miasm include abortion, anemia, appendicitis, pelvic disease, hemorrhoids, prostatitis, kidney swelling, gout, arthritis, asthma, eczema, rheumatism, warts, and other urinary ailments. It is characterized by red moles about the abdomen and/or figwarts (clusters). It is denoted by over functioning ailments (hyper).
There is also a fourth miasm defined by J H Allen as Psuedo-Psora or Tubercular miasm. This miasm can be created by suppressed tuberculosis and is passed from one generation to the next or contracted primarily and suppressed by antibiotic treatment. The Tubercular miasm is a combination of psoric and syphilitic miasms and as such is much more complex and lethal than either of these alone. Some common ailments attributed to the tubercular miasm include hernias, swelling (no reasonable cause), bedwetting, some cancers, diabetes, some types of cough, epilepsy, chronic fatigue, influenza, malaria, insomnia, night sweats, heart palpitation, and pneumonia. It is characterized by “restricting” type ailments.
Miasms can be inherited or contracted through exposure to the primary disease that creates them. Inherited miasms are the most common except in our time where it is not uncommon to have exposure to primary gonorrhea or tuberculosis. Even syphilis is making a comeback in Europe and other areas.
The inheritance factor of miasms is one reason that allopathic medicine finds some hereditary component to common chronic diseases.
To make it more complicated, the above miasms can be and are usually bound together creating an even more complex series of symptoms and diseases. It is rare not to find that a patient exhibits signs from all the miasms simultaneously, but there is almost always one predominant miasm at a time. Care must be taken to remove these layers of illness as they are not as easily seen independently like a typical acute disease. After all, a miasm is a “pollution” to the body and not the resulting disease that it creates (only the source).
At the time that Hahnemann expressed his miasmic theory, the homeopathic community was divided on its acceptance. Even today there are some homeopathic practitioners that do not fully accept this theory or apply it properly. I can say after much time exploring this idea, the miasms do exist and influence many diseases that are common today. The most obvious diseases affect urinary organs and also cause rheumatoid arthritis. Generally sycosis is at the root of these chronic urinary disorders as is arthritis. By treating the sycosis directly, the resulting illness is much improved if not eliminated entirely when caught in time (see homeopathic case studies). This is just one minor example of how the miasms are found in common illness and the most compelling reason that common allopathic therapy only holds these illnesses at bay while they slowly progress; treating the symptom and not the cause. Common medical therapy is no match in actually curing the cause of these illnesses (miasms) as it doesn’t believe the miasms exist. Homeopathy can be easily verified to affect these conditions with considerable alleviation when applied to the miasm behind the chronic illness.
What this means to you…
Now you have an idea of the root of many (most) chronic illnesses. You just have to treat this condition (miasm) to verify its existence, but that is often complicated. Homeopathy is very straight forward in treating and alleviating (curing) acute illness. It is just a matter of understanding how to apply it. Chronic illness and its basis in the miasms is much more difficult to treat and does not easily follow the basic concepts in homeopathy. Miasms tend to be woven in layers and are often inextricably combined in different ways. And, chronic illnesses of all types are generated by multiple miasms even as one or another of the miasms can be the most dominating factor. It is because of these various combinations of miasms that chronic illness should only be treated by an experienced practitioner. When such a practitioner is found, a chronic illness will be approached layer by layer and mental as well as physical ailments will fall to the homeopathic remedies available.
Just because chronic illnesses are more difficult to treat does not mean that you shouldn’t learn homeopathy and start to treat your own acute ailments. You will find the basics of treating ALL illness when you start with the basics to treat that next cold or flu. Study homeopathy… it is time well spent and a worthwhile goal towards your renewed health.
Hahnemann reviewed several decades of his treatment with homeopathic remedies applied to a vast amount of cases. He also reviewed a thousand years of history and came to the conclusion that there was an underlying illness that affects all humans. This base ailment at times makes the more superficial illnesses almost impossible to completely cure. Hahnemann spent the next 15 years compiling evidence and clinical therapy to determine this underlying illness common to all living beings. He termed this basic underlying illness “miasm”. The term miasm can be defined most easily as “pollution”; a base pollution to a living organism giving rise to chronic as well as some acute illness.
So Hahnemann viewed the treatment of illness from two perspectives. One was treatment of acute illness which may or may not be the result of an underlying miasm and two, the treatment of chronic or long term illness which was definitely the result of an underlying miasm.
Hahnemann found that there were three basic miasms common to most if not all people. They are as follows:
1. PSORIC (psora)- called the “itch” disease. It is the mother of the other miasms and affects every living thing on the earth according to Hahnemann. It is spread through skin contact (often mother to child). Some common ailments attributed to the psoric miasm include constipation (sometimes alternating with diarrhea), psoriasis, wide ranging itching, burning ailments, leprosy and other skin related symptoms. It is characterized by under functioning ailments (hypo).
2. SYPHILITIC- called the “chancre” disease. It is created by suppressed syphilis and passed to resulting generations. It can be caused by a primary infection (not inherited) that is suppressed by antibiotic treatment. Some common ailments attributed to the syphilitic miasm include ulcerations of all types, gangrene, insanity, sterility, premature death, heart disease, suicide, destructive cancer, and ulcers of ear, nose, urinary organs, and mouth. It is characterized by self destructive tendencies and ailments.
3. SYCOTIC (sycosis)- called the “figwart” disease. It is created by suppressed gonorrhea and passed to following generations. It can be caused by a primary infection (not inherited) that is suppressed by antibiotic treatment. Some common ailments attributed to the sycotic miasm include abortion, anemia, appendicitis, pelvic disease, hemorrhoids, prostatitis, kidney swelling, gout, arthritis, asthma, eczema, rheumatism, warts, and other urinary ailments. It is characterized by red moles about the abdomen and/or figwarts (clusters). It is denoted by over functioning ailments (hyper).
There is also a fourth miasm defined by J H Allen as Psuedo-Psora or Tubercular miasm. This miasm can be created by suppressed tuberculosis and is passed from one generation to the next or contracted primarily and suppressed by antibiotic treatment. The Tubercular miasm is a combination of psoric and syphilitic miasms and as such is much more complex and lethal than either of these alone. Some common ailments attributed to the tubercular miasm include hernias, swelling (no reasonable cause), bedwetting, some cancers, diabetes, some types of cough, epilepsy, chronic fatigue, influenza, malaria, insomnia, night sweats, heart palpitation, and pneumonia. It is characterized by “restricting” type ailments.
Miasms can be inherited or contracted through exposure to the primary disease that creates them. Inherited miasms are the most common except in our time where it is not uncommon to have exposure to primary gonorrhea or tuberculosis. Even syphilis is making a comeback in Europe and other areas.
The inheritance factor of miasms is one reason that allopathic medicine finds some hereditary component to common chronic diseases.
To make it more complicated, the above miasms can be and are usually bound together creating an even more complex series of symptoms and diseases. It is rare not to find that a patient exhibits signs from all the miasms simultaneously, but there is almost always one predominant miasm at a time. Care must be taken to remove these layers of illness as they are not as easily seen independently like a typical acute disease. After all, a miasm is a “pollution” to the body and not the resulting disease that it creates (only the source).
At the time that Hahnemann expressed his miasmic theory, the homeopathic community was divided on its acceptance. Even today there are some homeopathic practitioners that do not fully accept this theory or apply it properly. I can say after much time exploring this idea, the miasms do exist and influence many diseases that are common today. The most obvious diseases affect urinary organs and also cause rheumatoid arthritis. Generally sycosis is at the root of these chronic urinary disorders as is arthritis. By treating the sycosis directly, the resulting illness is much improved if not eliminated entirely when caught in time (see homeopathic case studies). This is just one minor example of how the miasms are found in common illness and the most compelling reason that common allopathic therapy only holds these illnesses at bay while they slowly progress; treating the symptom and not the cause. Common medical therapy is no match in actually curing the cause of these illnesses (miasms) as it doesn’t believe the miasms exist. Homeopathy can be easily verified to affect these conditions with considerable alleviation when applied to the miasm behind the chronic illness.
What this means to you…
Now you have an idea of the root of many (most) chronic illnesses. You just have to treat this condition (miasm) to verify its existence, but that is often complicated. Homeopathy is very straight forward in treating and alleviating (curing) acute illness. It is just a matter of understanding how to apply it. Chronic illness and its basis in the miasms is much more difficult to treat and does not easily follow the basic concepts in homeopathy. Miasms tend to be woven in layers and are often inextricably combined in different ways. And, chronic illnesses of all types are generated by multiple miasms even as one or another of the miasms can be the most dominating factor. It is because of these various combinations of miasms that chronic illness should only be treated by an experienced practitioner. When such a practitioner is found, a chronic illness will be approached layer by layer and mental as well as physical ailments will fall to the homeopathic remedies available.
Just because chronic illnesses are more difficult to treat does not mean that you shouldn’t learn homeopathy and start to treat your own acute ailments. You will find the basics of treating ALL illness when you start with the basics to treat that next cold or flu. Study homeopathy… it is time well spent and a worthwhile goal towards your renewed health.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
YouTube Homeopathy Video Blog 5
WTTV - DEBORAH VIDAL ON HOMEOPATHY - Part 5 Of 6
LINK: 10 minutes
We start this video out with some psychological analysis. I am not a fan of this type of comparison within homeopathy… it is what it is. There are several parts of the video that go way too deep into this. Hahnemann stated emphatically not to confuse treating illness with other forms of medical art. Vidal realizes this when stating not to start “two things at one time” (two forms of treatment, homeopathy and XYZ ).
The interviewer makes a great point about choosing the wrong homeopathic remedy for the illness. If the remedy is not appropriate (homeopathic) to the illness, it will often have no affect at all. This is because it is not similar to the symptoms demonstrated by the patient. Homeopathic remedies act on those symptoms that they create. Now, if the wrong remedy is given over and over for some length of time, the patient will start to “prove” the remedy and will contract that illness (set of symptoms). This takes a considerable amount of time (months to years) and would be beyond common sense to advise a patient in taking a remedy that was not homeopathic (matching the symptoms) for such a period.
There really is no need to be “ready” for homeopathy or chiropractics. This is the same with any medical art. If the patient is seeking out treatment, homeopathy or allopathy for that matter should just work. If you find that homeopathy does not heal your illness, there are generally three possible reasons for this. One, the illness is too far advanced and can only be palliated. Two, the practitioner has not done their job. Or three, the patient is blocking the treatment by not following the rules. The latter commonly is created by alcohol or drug consumption during treatment.
I was pleased that Vidal does quickly mention Auto-Immune diseases. This subject is not easily understood except when questioning its background. We have seen many diseases pop-up over the last 20-30 years with no known cause and no known effective treatment. Homeopathy handles them quite well because it does not require some understanding of the workings of those diseases. It simply looks at the set of symptoms and applies to those symptoms in whatever form they exist. In this way, homeopathy can always be applied no matter how bizarre the symptoms may be and in any combination. In homeopathy, “There is nothing new under the sun”… can’t remember who said that, but I tend to prove it every so often.
Vidal gives a good example of how remedies are chosen by peculiar symptoms. These symptoms are called Strange, Rare, or Peculiar (SRP) and they will often determine the exact remedy for the illness. In the video, her example is of a woman (menstrual symptoms) that wants to be alone but with her family within reach (in the next room, not her room though). As opposed to a person who wants no one even near them (not in the same house or vicinity). Vidal uses the remedy, Sepia (SEP) for this case which is made from Cuttlefish (squid ink). Another example of a case that is fairly rapid in its response to homeopathy.
A good video for some interesting aspects of homeopathy not commonly discussed.
Next, Video 6 of 6.
LINK: 10 minutes
We start this video out with some psychological analysis. I am not a fan of this type of comparison within homeopathy… it is what it is. There are several parts of the video that go way too deep into this. Hahnemann stated emphatically not to confuse treating illness with other forms of medical art. Vidal realizes this when stating not to start “two things at one time” (two forms of treatment, homeopathy and XYZ ).
The interviewer makes a great point about choosing the wrong homeopathic remedy for the illness. If the remedy is not appropriate (homeopathic) to the illness, it will often have no affect at all. This is because it is not similar to the symptoms demonstrated by the patient. Homeopathic remedies act on those symptoms that they create. Now, if the wrong remedy is given over and over for some length of time, the patient will start to “prove” the remedy and will contract that illness (set of symptoms). This takes a considerable amount of time (months to years) and would be beyond common sense to advise a patient in taking a remedy that was not homeopathic (matching the symptoms) for such a period.
There really is no need to be “ready” for homeopathy or chiropractics. This is the same with any medical art. If the patient is seeking out treatment, homeopathy or allopathy for that matter should just work. If you find that homeopathy does not heal your illness, there are generally three possible reasons for this. One, the illness is too far advanced and can only be palliated. Two, the practitioner has not done their job. Or three, the patient is blocking the treatment by not following the rules. The latter commonly is created by alcohol or drug consumption during treatment.
I was pleased that Vidal does quickly mention Auto-Immune diseases. This subject is not easily understood except when questioning its background. We have seen many diseases pop-up over the last 20-30 years with no known cause and no known effective treatment. Homeopathy handles them quite well because it does not require some understanding of the workings of those diseases. It simply looks at the set of symptoms and applies to those symptoms in whatever form they exist. In this way, homeopathy can always be applied no matter how bizarre the symptoms may be and in any combination. In homeopathy, “There is nothing new under the sun”… can’t remember who said that, but I tend to prove it every so often.
Vidal gives a good example of how remedies are chosen by peculiar symptoms. These symptoms are called Strange, Rare, or Peculiar (SRP) and they will often determine the exact remedy for the illness. In the video, her example is of a woman (menstrual symptoms) that wants to be alone but with her family within reach (in the next room, not her room though). As opposed to a person who wants no one even near them (not in the same house or vicinity). Vidal uses the remedy, Sepia (SEP) for this case which is made from Cuttlefish (squid ink). Another example of a case that is fairly rapid in its response to homeopathy.
A good video for some interesting aspects of homeopathy not commonly discussed.
Next, Video 6 of 6.
Monday, March 23, 2009
YouTube Homeopathy Video Blog 4
WTTV - DEBORAH VIDAL ON HOMEOPATHY - Part 4 Of 6
LINK: 10 minutes
Warning… not my favorite video of the group, but a chance to set the record straight -as usual :)
Right off the bat, Vidal makes a quick statement that the mental symptoms (experienced by a patient) can take up to a year to change. This is mostly incorrect. Mental symptoms and especially those that are troubling are the most likely to be the first symptoms to improve. Homeopathy is really the only medical system that I am aware of that connects mental health to physical health intrinsically. Homeopaths will mostly admit that a sense of well-being is the first relieving symptom that is experienced by a well-chosen remedy. It is true that many chronic patients don’t realize their progress for a while… a good homeopath will insist that the patient take down and realize their symptoms before treatment begins and then reflect on those at some later date (as a comparison).
It is hard to quantify the time taken to heal/cure a chronic illness and Vidal is having a hard time expressing this point. When she says that a patient sees no results in two months that should be the exception to a case and not the rule as she makes it seem. Of course homeopathy will take longer to HEAL a patient than “taking a pill”. The pill is not healing the patient… just keeping their symptoms from bothering them. This is not healing, this is not curing. It is called palliation and suppression.
The interviewer makes it seem that the patient must be ready to heal in order for homeopathy to be effective. Believe and it will work? I won’t even begin to go down the road of new age “build it and he will come” philosophy. Homeopathy is a true medical art and not a belief system. The patient must adhere to following the advice of the homeopath… stay sober, eat well, exercise… and take your remedy as advised. That’s it. If the homeopath has done their job, you will get better; you will heal.
CASE OF THE COUGHING BOY
Taking a bunch of remedies incorrectly is NOT a strong reason for then giving a remedy in a higher potency. Vidal speaks of a child with a major coughing problem… children are strong souls with hardy constitutions (as a rule) and will respond better to higher potencies than adults. Children have a strong Vital Force that has not been complicated by bad living and suppressive drugs (yet). They also generally have not had their illness for that long and do not have a compromised response to the remedy. High potency is normally used in these cases as with younger animals (e.g., dogs and cats). They can just handle it better than us old folks. Yes, this is contrary to the way allopathic medicine works… allopathic prescribing is lesser for younger and smaller and more for adult and bigger people. Remember that homeopathy is about the stimulation of the Vital Force… it is just stronger in younger people (esp children) and can be pushed farther in those instances. I am always quite amazed that it works so well in children and animals that are very ill… and the results are often amazingly permanent within a short time.
The young boy with the cough was considerably helped by homeopathy (from attacks every three weeks of coughing and hospital emergencies to one in two years). Homeopathic case books are full of these “miracles”. So much so that homeopaths are disappointed not to have tangible results such as this. Vidal is again beating the stress-of-the-world drum again. The stress of the world today with traffic and twitter is nothing compared to going to the homeopath fifty miles away and leaving a day ahead to get there (uphill both ways!).
Homeopathy IS concerned about the source of illness, but not to the extent that Vidal makes it seem. She over-emphasizes it a bit. Psychology is for psychologists and psychiatrists (et al). There are some concerns of basic fear, delusion, etc, but only to finding the remedy (Simillimum) of the case… not for psycho-analysis. Vidal does not get to the heart of the problem with her case… and that is a discussion of the miasms (still working on a miasm post for your future reading pleasure… can hardly wait).
It is true that the pregnancy and birth of a child can influence basic remedies of that child in illness… but it is not necessary to know this information.
Next, Video 5 of 6 (two more to go… hope you are enjoying the discussion).
LINK: 10 minutes
Warning… not my favorite video of the group, but a chance to set the record straight -as usual :)
Right off the bat, Vidal makes a quick statement that the mental symptoms (experienced by a patient) can take up to a year to change. This is mostly incorrect. Mental symptoms and especially those that are troubling are the most likely to be the first symptoms to improve. Homeopathy is really the only medical system that I am aware of that connects mental health to physical health intrinsically. Homeopaths will mostly admit that a sense of well-being is the first relieving symptom that is experienced by a well-chosen remedy. It is true that many chronic patients don’t realize their progress for a while… a good homeopath will insist that the patient take down and realize their symptoms before treatment begins and then reflect on those at some later date (as a comparison).
It is hard to quantify the time taken to heal/cure a chronic illness and Vidal is having a hard time expressing this point. When she says that a patient sees no results in two months that should be the exception to a case and not the rule as she makes it seem. Of course homeopathy will take longer to HEAL a patient than “taking a pill”. The pill is not healing the patient… just keeping their symptoms from bothering them. This is not healing, this is not curing. It is called palliation and suppression.
The interviewer makes it seem that the patient must be ready to heal in order for homeopathy to be effective. Believe and it will work? I won’t even begin to go down the road of new age “build it and he will come” philosophy. Homeopathy is a true medical art and not a belief system. The patient must adhere to following the advice of the homeopath… stay sober, eat well, exercise… and take your remedy as advised. That’s it. If the homeopath has done their job, you will get better; you will heal.
CASE OF THE COUGHING BOY
Taking a bunch of remedies incorrectly is NOT a strong reason for then giving a remedy in a higher potency. Vidal speaks of a child with a major coughing problem… children are strong souls with hardy constitutions (as a rule) and will respond better to higher potencies than adults. Children have a strong Vital Force that has not been complicated by bad living and suppressive drugs (yet). They also generally have not had their illness for that long and do not have a compromised response to the remedy. High potency is normally used in these cases as with younger animals (e.g., dogs and cats). They can just handle it better than us old folks. Yes, this is contrary to the way allopathic medicine works… allopathic prescribing is lesser for younger and smaller and more for adult and bigger people. Remember that homeopathy is about the stimulation of the Vital Force… it is just stronger in younger people (esp children) and can be pushed farther in those instances. I am always quite amazed that it works so well in children and animals that are very ill… and the results are often amazingly permanent within a short time.
The young boy with the cough was considerably helped by homeopathy (from attacks every three weeks of coughing and hospital emergencies to one in two years). Homeopathic case books are full of these “miracles”. So much so that homeopaths are disappointed not to have tangible results such as this. Vidal is again beating the stress-of-the-world drum again. The stress of the world today with traffic and twitter is nothing compared to going to the homeopath fifty miles away and leaving a day ahead to get there (uphill both ways!).
Homeopathy IS concerned about the source of illness, but not to the extent that Vidal makes it seem. She over-emphasizes it a bit. Psychology is for psychologists and psychiatrists (et al). There are some concerns of basic fear, delusion, etc, but only to finding the remedy (Simillimum) of the case… not for psycho-analysis. Vidal does not get to the heart of the problem with her case… and that is a discussion of the miasms (still working on a miasm post for your future reading pleasure… can hardly wait).
It is true that the pregnancy and birth of a child can influence basic remedies of that child in illness… but it is not necessary to know this information.
Next, Video 5 of 6 (two more to go… hope you are enjoying the discussion).
Monday, March 16, 2009
An Example of Acute Homeopathy (Part 1)
The following is a real life example of homeopathy in action. Names and/or gender have been changed to protect the innocent (nudge, wink).
So you may be wondering how to put this homeopathy together and get something useful from it. After all, it would be a fairly worthless mental exercise if you couldn’t benefit from its truly wonderful properties. So let’s take a case, an acute case.
Let the sick guy sing…
Applying homeopathy to an acute (short lived) illness is pretty straight forward, but there is always room for a few rules. The first rule is to let the patient explain their sickness… in their own words. You as the practitioner should zip it at this point… no joke. There is a great tendency to sympathize with a sick person and fit your own version of pain, cough, sneeze, whatever, into the discussion. Focus on THEIR words and act as if you have never experienced their illness, so you don’t have a clue as to how it may feel.
If you are stuck with one of those “I ain’t sick, nuthin’ wrong here” kind of guys (patients) and you can’t budge even the most simple of symptoms out of him, mention that it sounds like a case for the enema bag. That will usually “loosen” up some symptoms and reasons not to bring out the ole red bladder. A couple of “and what else is wrong?” questions should get the rest of the pertinent symptoms to gush forth (so to speak).
Write like the wind…
While you are listening intently to his exhausting list of symptoms (hopefully a lengthy list), don’t even think you can remember it all… write it down. In fact, list it like you are going to the grocery store to find these symptoms. Then, later organize that list from most important to least important symptoms (even the non-important). Yes, you will find that his eyebrows have not grown back from that last barbeque pit incident, but that “symptom” has nothing to do with this recent bout of illness.
But, that is not a problem here. This brow-less one seems to catch every illness known to man and a few that haven’t even been thought up. Either way, document even the most annoying rant from this poor sick soul.
Our Grill-flaming expert expounds on the expanding pressure just center of his body; an annoying fullness triggered by that last espresso. Well, even Backyard BBQ Bob can dance the barista lombada with the best of them. Lucky for us, he goes on and on just to make sure we realize that he is experiencing real pain. The kind of pain that takes some complaining: extreme manly complaining.
Retire to your fortress of solitude, super-homeopath…
Find a quiet little hide-away far from the moans and groans of your latest victim (um, I mean, patient) and settle in for the duration…
Now the analysis begins. What? You say analyzing is not your cup of tea? Well, if you can use a dictionary, you are good to go on this part too. Simply pick up your repertory and find all of those pesky little symptoms that you listed from the last part.
What repertory? Well, a good start would be the “Boger-Boenninghausen Repertory” (aka, Boenninghausen's Characteristics and Repertory and from now on described as the B-B). At about $30 shipped and a bit north of 900 pages, it is well equipped to keep you riveted for some page-turning excitement (not). Well, it lists most of the symptoms you are likely to come across in repertorizing the BBQ King’s latest illness. You just have to figure out where those symptoms are listed and go to town. And like any good tool, it takes some getting used to. With every little cold and cough, you will eventually get over its hefty bulk. A few key bookmarks (say 20 or so) won’t hurt either.
Listing the rude bricks…
I had a four year old homeopath (honorary degree from Wikipedia U.) consult with me on a case once and discovered that the symptoms listed in the repertory were called “rude bricks”. This may be because the important symptoms can sneak up behind you and hit you on the head. No one knows for sure. For the sake of accuracy, we will call them “rubrics” instead.
Now how I describe a particular symptom may not be the same way Mr BBQ describes his symptoms. I may say that I have a pain in the upper part of my stomach and he might say that he has a pressure kind of ow-ee in his epigastrium. The way symptoms are described in the B-B repertory or rubrics is as generic as it gets, but you do need to know some body parts and their official names. And you need to be able to translate bbq-speak into repertory-speak. So Barbi-Meister is correct in locating and naming the upper part of the abdomen, the epigastrium (lucky for us). Don’t worry, there are only a few of these “doctor” names for common body parts and you will survive learning them with a quick look at any book on anatomy or just checking Allopathy-for-less magazine online when you get stumped.
By the way, a book on anatomy that cost some poor medical smuck $250 is readily available used from half.com or Ebay for pennies on the dollar (I found one almost new for $4). Invest in one and you won’t need to crank up the Google thingie. By the way, we used to use these things called books before Google came along and they still work quite well no matter what you may have heard.
So what do our rubrics tell us. We open the B-B and look for the section on Epigastrium.
Symptom from BBQ Man/ Remedy listed in B-B
BBQ: Pressure in the upper abdomen (epigastrium)
B-B: Epigastrium pressure pg 524: ARS, CARB-V, CHAM, CUP, NAT-M, NUX-V, PHO, PUL, RHUS-T, VER-A
BBQ: Pressure triggered by espresso…
B-B: Aggravations after coffee pg527: CHAM, NUX-V
BBQ: Excessive manly complaints of the pain
B-B: Complaining (excessive) pg532: NUX-V
BBQ: Catches unknown illnesses (all the time)
B-B: Hypochondriasis pg532: NUX-V
BBQ: Flame-broiled eyebrows
B-B: No known symptom No known remedy
As you may note, the most common remedy that is seen in all four of the symptoms is NUX-V (red font for the homeopathically-impaired). This is how it is done (basically). The one remedy that covers the most symptoms wins! Well, not all the time, but here it does… Yippee!
NUX-V is the abbreviation for Nux Vomica… poison nut, “Quaker’s buttons” and it contains among other things, strychnine. Its poisonous properties are well known in controlling pests and use in homicides. And, no matter how much we may gladly imagine the use of the original crude material, we are resigned to give our suspecting Starbucks fanatic the extremely diluted homeopathic variation to affect a cure.
By the way, all the remedies in the B-B repertory are abbreviated. This is to make it easy to remember these Latin-ized, poly-syllabic word conflagrations. Anything to make it easy is alright by me.
Give your $.02 (of remedy)...
We now open our little case of remedies… yes that case of the top 50 or 100 remedies that you purchased some time ago. No? You didn’t get that $150 case of remedies yet? That set that will last most of your lifetime? What are you waiting for? Are you waiting until you get sick? I don’t think Fedex delivers that fast, but it’s up to you to be prepared. For those that are ready with your bottles of remedies, you take one little tiny pillet from the NUX-V bottle and tap it into the cap… walk briskly over to the unsuspecting grill-eyed patient and drop it cleanly into his hand. Bottoms up! He will probably stand deer-eyed and shocked that a tiny pill could do so much (or is that a late night infomercial for Extendz)… anyway, I digress. Synchronize your watches, for within an hour that distrusting look of confusion will vanish from the face of BBQ-Man as fast as he normally finishes the last beer in the fridge. Yes, the bewildered patient will experience some quick relief indeed. And all without the poopy-go-squirt bag you would have had to use before. The End.
Oh, for those that noticed this was Part 1- IT IS Part 1 of 1. And, yes this really did happen… except, it was a capucinno, half fat, mocha, latte, grande, chile-piqueno.
So you may be wondering how to put this homeopathy together and get something useful from it. After all, it would be a fairly worthless mental exercise if you couldn’t benefit from its truly wonderful properties. So let’s take a case, an acute case.
Let the sick guy sing…
Applying homeopathy to an acute (short lived) illness is pretty straight forward, but there is always room for a few rules. The first rule is to let the patient explain their sickness… in their own words. You as the practitioner should zip it at this point… no joke. There is a great tendency to sympathize with a sick person and fit your own version of pain, cough, sneeze, whatever, into the discussion. Focus on THEIR words and act as if you have never experienced their illness, so you don’t have a clue as to how it may feel.
If you are stuck with one of those “I ain’t sick, nuthin’ wrong here” kind of guys (patients) and you can’t budge even the most simple of symptoms out of him, mention that it sounds like a case for the enema bag. That will usually “loosen” up some symptoms and reasons not to bring out the ole red bladder. A couple of “and what else is wrong?” questions should get the rest of the pertinent symptoms to gush forth (so to speak).
Write like the wind…
While you are listening intently to his exhausting list of symptoms (hopefully a lengthy list), don’t even think you can remember it all… write it down. In fact, list it like you are going to the grocery store to find these symptoms. Then, later organize that list from most important to least important symptoms (even the non-important). Yes, you will find that his eyebrows have not grown back from that last barbeque pit incident, but that “symptom” has nothing to do with this recent bout of illness.
But, that is not a problem here. This brow-less one seems to catch every illness known to man and a few that haven’t even been thought up. Either way, document even the most annoying rant from this poor sick soul.
Our Grill-flaming expert expounds on the expanding pressure just center of his body; an annoying fullness triggered by that last espresso. Well, even Backyard BBQ Bob can dance the barista lombada with the best of them. Lucky for us, he goes on and on just to make sure we realize that he is experiencing real pain. The kind of pain that takes some complaining: extreme manly complaining.
Retire to your fortress of solitude, super-homeopath…
Find a quiet little hide-away far from the moans and groans of your latest victim (um, I mean, patient) and settle in for the duration…
Now the analysis begins. What? You say analyzing is not your cup of tea? Well, if you can use a dictionary, you are good to go on this part too. Simply pick up your repertory and find all of those pesky little symptoms that you listed from the last part.
What repertory? Well, a good start would be the “Boger-Boenninghausen Repertory” (aka, Boenninghausen's Characteristics and Repertory and from now on described as the B-B). At about $30 shipped and a bit north of 900 pages, it is well equipped to keep you riveted for some page-turning excitement (not). Well, it lists most of the symptoms you are likely to come across in repertorizing the BBQ King’s latest illness. You just have to figure out where those symptoms are listed and go to town. And like any good tool, it takes some getting used to. With every little cold and cough, you will eventually get over its hefty bulk. A few key bookmarks (say 20 or so) won’t hurt either.
Listing the rude bricks…
I had a four year old homeopath (honorary degree from Wikipedia U.) consult with me on a case once and discovered that the symptoms listed in the repertory were called “rude bricks”. This may be because the important symptoms can sneak up behind you and hit you on the head. No one knows for sure. For the sake of accuracy, we will call them “rubrics” instead.
Now how I describe a particular symptom may not be the same way Mr BBQ describes his symptoms. I may say that I have a pain in the upper part of my stomach and he might say that he has a pressure kind of ow-ee in his epigastrium. The way symptoms are described in the B-B repertory or rubrics is as generic as it gets, but you do need to know some body parts and their official names. And you need to be able to translate bbq-speak into repertory-speak. So Barbi-Meister is correct in locating and naming the upper part of the abdomen, the epigastrium (lucky for us). Don’t worry, there are only a few of these “doctor” names for common body parts and you will survive learning them with a quick look at any book on anatomy or just checking Allopathy-for-less magazine online when you get stumped.
By the way, a book on anatomy that cost some poor medical smuck $250 is readily available used from half.com or Ebay for pennies on the dollar (I found one almost new for $4). Invest in one and you won’t need to crank up the Google thingie. By the way, we used to use these things called books before Google came along and they still work quite well no matter what you may have heard.
So what do our rubrics tell us. We open the B-B and look for the section on Epigastrium.
Symptom from BBQ Man/ Remedy listed in B-B
BBQ: Pressure in the upper abdomen (epigastrium)
B-B: Epigastrium pressure pg 524: ARS, CARB-V, CHAM, CUP, NAT-M, NUX-V, PHO, PUL, RHUS-T, VER-A
BBQ: Pressure triggered by espresso…
B-B: Aggravations after coffee pg527: CHAM, NUX-V
BBQ: Excessive manly complaints of the pain
B-B: Complaining (excessive) pg532: NUX-V
BBQ: Catches unknown illnesses (all the time)
B-B: Hypochondriasis pg532: NUX-V
BBQ: Flame-broiled eyebrows
B-B: No known symptom No known remedy
As you may note, the most common remedy that is seen in all four of the symptoms is NUX-V (red font for the homeopathically-impaired). This is how it is done (basically). The one remedy that covers the most symptoms wins! Well, not all the time, but here it does… Yippee!
NUX-V is the abbreviation for Nux Vomica… poison nut, “Quaker’s buttons” and it contains among other things, strychnine. Its poisonous properties are well known in controlling pests and use in homicides. And, no matter how much we may gladly imagine the use of the original crude material, we are resigned to give our suspecting Starbucks fanatic the extremely diluted homeopathic variation to affect a cure.
By the way, all the remedies in the B-B repertory are abbreviated. This is to make it easy to remember these Latin-ized, poly-syllabic word conflagrations. Anything to make it easy is alright by me.
Give your $.02 (of remedy)...
We now open our little case of remedies… yes that case of the top 50 or 100 remedies that you purchased some time ago. No? You didn’t get that $150 case of remedies yet? That set that will last most of your lifetime? What are you waiting for? Are you waiting until you get sick? I don’t think Fedex delivers that fast, but it’s up to you to be prepared. For those that are ready with your bottles of remedies, you take one little tiny pillet from the NUX-V bottle and tap it into the cap… walk briskly over to the unsuspecting grill-eyed patient and drop it cleanly into his hand. Bottoms up! He will probably stand deer-eyed and shocked that a tiny pill could do so much (or is that a late night infomercial for Extendz)… anyway, I digress. Synchronize your watches, for within an hour that distrusting look of confusion will vanish from the face of BBQ-Man as fast as he normally finishes the last beer in the fridge. Yes, the bewildered patient will experience some quick relief indeed. And all without the poopy-go-squirt bag you would have had to use before. The End.
Oh, for those that noticed this was Part 1- IT IS Part 1 of 1. And, yes this really did happen… except, it was a capucinno, half fat, mocha, latte, grande, chile-piqueno.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
YouTube Homeopathy Video Blog 3
WTTV - DEBORAH VIDAL ON HOMEOPATHY - Part 3 Of 6
LINK: 9 minutes
Vidal describes the process of homeopathic treatment to healing and distinguishes the time it takes with the pathology of the disease (the progression and extent of the disease treated) and the individual’s Vital Force. A stronger constitution in the individual will respond better and faster as the Vital Force is stronger. Also, long existing disease will beat down and weaken the Vital Force. The curing aspect in this latter situation will require more time as the weakened Vital Force cannot effect change as quickly.
A good overview of how the remedy is chosen based upon many aspects of the patient’s life, not just their illness.
The interviewer talks more than usual and side tracks the discussion.
For those that already know a bit about homeopathy, this video is a nothing new. A homeopath listens and doesn’t speak much during the initial visit. The patient unloads as much as possible for them and is encouraged to do so. For those who aren’t familiar with the consultation process in homeopathy, Vidal is spot on to the process and gives insight that will not be apparent until you have more experience. If you study more about homeopathy, please return to this in the future and pay particular attention to the last third of the video.
More to come…
LINK: 9 minutes
Vidal describes the process of homeopathic treatment to healing and distinguishes the time it takes with the pathology of the disease (the progression and extent of the disease treated) and the individual’s Vital Force. A stronger constitution in the individual will respond better and faster as the Vital Force is stronger. Also, long existing disease will beat down and weaken the Vital Force. The curing aspect in this latter situation will require more time as the weakened Vital Force cannot effect change as quickly.
A good overview of how the remedy is chosen based upon many aspects of the patient’s life, not just their illness.
The interviewer talks more than usual and side tracks the discussion.
For those that already know a bit about homeopathy, this video is a nothing new. A homeopath listens and doesn’t speak much during the initial visit. The patient unloads as much as possible for them and is encouraged to do so. For those who aren’t familiar with the consultation process in homeopathy, Vidal is spot on to the process and gives insight that will not be apparent until you have more experience. If you study more about homeopathy, please return to this in the future and pay particular attention to the last third of the video.
More to come…
Friday, March 6, 2009
YouTube Homeopathy Video Blog 2
WTTV - DEBORAH VIDAL ON HOMEOPATHY - Part 2 Of 6
LINK: 10 minutes
Japanese doctor photographing water reference...
Vidal is talking about Dr Emoto and some information is found here...
How homeopathic remedies work is still up for debate. Emoto's work leaves a lot to be desired and I will let it go at that.
Vidal talks about there being more and more proof that homeopathy works...
The bottom line is... Yes we do need proof and Hahnemann said several times that to prove Homeopathy, APPLY IT CORRECTLY; that people need only test it on themselves.
Good discussion of making remedies (not exactly accurate but close enough for argument's sake).
You can treat acute illness fairly easily, but chronic illness is too complex to treat yourself. Just because acute illness many times is part of chronic does not mean that treating it is not beneficial. In treating acute disease you will better understand what is needed in chronic treatment and will be able to better help a homeopath that may treat your chronic illness.
It is also very hard to find a competent homeopath in some areas of the USA. In that event, learning as much as possible before venturing into homeopathy is necessary. I am of the mind that better to treat yourself than not get treatment at all.
It is also important to understand homeopathy to some extent to be able to evaluate a homeopath that you are considering for treating your illness.
The interviewer says,
"Stick to it (homeopathic treatment)! "
Exactly!
Homeopathy takes some patience to completely realize its gain.
In the long run of homeopathic chronic treatment, Vidal is correct that homeopathy is MUCH less expensive than allopathic medicine; even without insurance coverage.
Vidal finishes by touching on aggravations. She doesn't make the point of how well homeopathy works and gets a bit tongue-tied. The reality is that with competent care, the patient should realize some tangible gains almost immediately and within a reasonable interval will experience greater curative gains than with almost any other treatment. This goes for acute as well as chronic treatment.
Aggravations or a worsening of symptoms experienced by the patient is not uncommon. Because the point of homeopathy is to apply a similar disease to the ill patient, the patient is more susceptible to the “illness” created by the remedy. This should be obvious as the patient is already experiencing the illness (set of symptoms). Applying a strong remedy will generate an aggravation because the patient is more susceptible to the symptoms created by the remedy. Hahnemann late in his life advised against generating aggravations in the patient and he did this by formulating the idea of the “minimal dose”. See the post on this subject.
On to Video 3 next time...
LINK: 10 minutes
Japanese doctor photographing water reference...
Vidal is talking about Dr Emoto and some information is found here...
How homeopathic remedies work is still up for debate. Emoto's work leaves a lot to be desired and I will let it go at that.
Vidal talks about there being more and more proof that homeopathy works...
The bottom line is... Yes we do need proof and Hahnemann said several times that to prove Homeopathy, APPLY IT CORRECTLY; that people need only test it on themselves.
Good discussion of making remedies (not exactly accurate but close enough for argument's sake).
You can treat acute illness fairly easily, but chronic illness is too complex to treat yourself. Just because acute illness many times is part of chronic does not mean that treating it is not beneficial. In treating acute disease you will better understand what is needed in chronic treatment and will be able to better help a homeopath that may treat your chronic illness.
It is also very hard to find a competent homeopath in some areas of the USA. In that event, learning as much as possible before venturing into homeopathy is necessary. I am of the mind that better to treat yourself than not get treatment at all.
It is also important to understand homeopathy to some extent to be able to evaluate a homeopath that you are considering for treating your illness.
The interviewer says,
"Stick to it (homeopathic treatment)! "
Exactly!
Homeopathy takes some patience to completely realize its gain.
In the long run of homeopathic chronic treatment, Vidal is correct that homeopathy is MUCH less expensive than allopathic medicine; even without insurance coverage.
Vidal finishes by touching on aggravations. She doesn't make the point of how well homeopathy works and gets a bit tongue-tied. The reality is that with competent care, the patient should realize some tangible gains almost immediately and within a reasonable interval will experience greater curative gains than with almost any other treatment. This goes for acute as well as chronic treatment.
Aggravations or a worsening of symptoms experienced by the patient is not uncommon. Because the point of homeopathy is to apply a similar disease to the ill patient, the patient is more susceptible to the “illness” created by the remedy. This should be obvious as the patient is already experiencing the illness (set of symptoms). Applying a strong remedy will generate an aggravation because the patient is more susceptible to the symptoms created by the remedy. Hahnemann late in his life advised against generating aggravations in the patient and he did this by formulating the idea of the “minimal dose”. See the post on this subject.
On to Video 3 next time...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
YouTube Homeopathy Video Blog
You can wade through the videos available on YouTube about homeopathy and feel disheartened. They portray homeopathy as crazy, unfounded, and give the viewer the feeling that you would have to be an idiot to investigate it. After all, if it is on the internet some feel it must be right and well thought out. This could not be further from the truth. Most of the video (youtube) information available on homeopathy is simply wrong (putting it mildly). Having said that, I have found a series of interviews on youtube that give a generally accurate view of homeopathy. I will give links to each video and some comments, critiques, and general thoughts about the videos individually. The critique is intended to bring out the differences to what Hahnemann specifically taught (if there are any differences). Hope you enjoy the view…
WTTV - DEBORAH VIDAL ON HOMEOPATHY - Part 1 Of 6
Link: 10 minutes
Critique and Notes about the video…
The interviewer in the video series is a chiropractor and occasionally gets in the way of the discussion. Later videos are more obvious to this point.
Vidal has come to homeopathy through a serious illness. This is very common as many of the original homeopaths were deathly ill, given up by allopathy and eventually cured by homeopathy. This lead them to take up the cause. Boenninghausen was one of those and his lengthy ordeal can be found in his book “Lesser Writings”.
Vidal started with treatment for sinus infection which as a rule is really the first layer of a more chronic (long term) illness. The fact that the infections recur while under allopathic treatment is a testament to their chronic nature. Many can attest that sinus trouble is never actually cured by allopathic treatment, but is treated fairly swiftly through homeopathy.
She (Vidal) speaks of primarily environmental causes to illness (stress, chemicals, etc), but Hahnemann founded other more pervasive causes that were “inherited” from parents and past generations. These causes are termed “miasms” and are not really hereditary or genetic as we view it in allopathy.
Notice Vidal’s analogy of “like cures like” in her discussion of allergy symptoms being similar to symptoms from cutting up an onion. This example is used quite often and does make the point. You have to listen closely to her in the video to get it.
Vidal states that there are many forms of homeopathy... Yes, many have attempted to follow other ideas that were not stated by Hahnemann. Many homeopaths have simply never read the original works closely and make up (or discover) their own forms of homeopathy. There is only one way that Hahnemann presented homeopathy. It can be built upon and should be, but it should first be thoroughly studied before it can be modified (as with any idea).
Vidal obviously has given the subject some thought and does present the basics well.
Next time video 2.
WTTV - DEBORAH VIDAL ON HOMEOPATHY - Part 1 Of 6
Link: 10 minutes
Critique and Notes about the video…
The interviewer in the video series is a chiropractor and occasionally gets in the way of the discussion. Later videos are more obvious to this point.
Vidal has come to homeopathy through a serious illness. This is very common as many of the original homeopaths were deathly ill, given up by allopathy and eventually cured by homeopathy. This lead them to take up the cause. Boenninghausen was one of those and his lengthy ordeal can be found in his book “Lesser Writings”.
Vidal started with treatment for sinus infection which as a rule is really the first layer of a more chronic (long term) illness. The fact that the infections recur while under allopathic treatment is a testament to their chronic nature. Many can attest that sinus trouble is never actually cured by allopathic treatment, but is treated fairly swiftly through homeopathy.
She (Vidal) speaks of primarily environmental causes to illness (stress, chemicals, etc), but Hahnemann founded other more pervasive causes that were “inherited” from parents and past generations. These causes are termed “miasms” and are not really hereditary or genetic as we view it in allopathy.
Notice Vidal’s analogy of “like cures like” in her discussion of allergy symptoms being similar to symptoms from cutting up an onion. This example is used quite often and does make the point. You have to listen closely to her in the video to get it.
Vidal states that there are many forms of homeopathy... Yes, many have attempted to follow other ideas that were not stated by Hahnemann. Many homeopaths have simply never read the original works closely and make up (or discover) their own forms of homeopathy. There is only one way that Hahnemann presented homeopathy. It can be built upon and should be, but it should first be thoroughly studied before it can be modified (as with any idea).
Vidal obviously has given the subject some thought and does present the basics well.
Next time video 2.
Friday, February 27, 2009
What is a repertory?
(please read all the posts from the beginning or this won't make sense)
Let’s recap some ideas that have already been covered…
Hahnemann found that a like disease cured a like disease. He defined disease as a collection of individual symptoms, particular to each person experiencing said disease. He then invented remedies that created a set of symptoms that he catalogued. He kept accurate notes on these symptoms by observing people that took the remedies (even himself and his family). He compiled these sets of symptoms created for each remedy in a book called a Materia Medica. He now could match a remedy that caused a particular set of symptoms to a disease that showed the same symptoms. He could give an ill person that remedy and because the remedy was “similar” to the disease in the ill person, it would cure it.
But now we have a problem (us, not Hahnemann). For each remedy that he gave to his subjects (called provers), Hahnemann noted hundreds and hundreds of symptoms created. This huge set of symptoms wasn’t that big a deal for him because he could actually remember what symptom was created by what remedy. He could do that because he ate, slept and breathed this homeopathy 24/7. For us mortals, the sheer number of symptoms related to each individual remedy is overwhelming. So when we have an illness with a bunch of symptoms, we would have to wade through hundreds of pages (Materia Medica) of possible symptoms looking for those that matched OUR symptoms. You see we are just trying to find the homeopathic remedy that will create those symptoms that are closest to our own illness. And, we need to find the ONE remedy that is closest. What a dilemma and a bunch of work.
Then came von Boenninghausen (1785 to 1864). Boenninghausen was a pretty smart cookie… so smart in medicine that he was given an honorary degree without ever stepping foot in medical school. He was the homeopath that Hahnemann trusted for his own treatment. He was a real avid study of botanicals… plants were his passion and he grew fond of categorizing (as is the norm for that kind of stuff). He figured out a way to work backwards with the remedies and he created a book (an index) of symptoms categorized by parts of the body. He created a book that had categories like Head, Stomach, Eyes, etc and in each section a symptom like head ache, stomach upset, or eye redness, etc and for each symptom, a list of remedies. The remedies listed would create that particular symptom in a healthy person. You can imagine that this book was big. It had symptoms upon symptoms indexing the remedies that would create those symptoms.
This book was called a repertory. And the action of looking up symptoms in this book from those observed in an ill patient is called repertorizing. Well, repertorizing is a bit more that just looking up the symptoms, but you get the general idea.
Let’s recap some ideas that have already been covered…
Hahnemann found that a like disease cured a like disease. He defined disease as a collection of individual symptoms, particular to each person experiencing said disease. He then invented remedies that created a set of symptoms that he catalogued. He kept accurate notes on these symptoms by observing people that took the remedies (even himself and his family). He compiled these sets of symptoms created for each remedy in a book called a Materia Medica. He now could match a remedy that caused a particular set of symptoms to a disease that showed the same symptoms. He could give an ill person that remedy and because the remedy was “similar” to the disease in the ill person, it would cure it.
But now we have a problem (us, not Hahnemann). For each remedy that he gave to his subjects (called provers), Hahnemann noted hundreds and hundreds of symptoms created. This huge set of symptoms wasn’t that big a deal for him because he could actually remember what symptom was created by what remedy. He could do that because he ate, slept and breathed this homeopathy 24/7. For us mortals, the sheer number of symptoms related to each individual remedy is overwhelming. So when we have an illness with a bunch of symptoms, we would have to wade through hundreds of pages (Materia Medica) of possible symptoms looking for those that matched OUR symptoms. You see we are just trying to find the homeopathic remedy that will create those symptoms that are closest to our own illness. And, we need to find the ONE remedy that is closest. What a dilemma and a bunch of work.
Then came von Boenninghausen (1785 to 1864). Boenninghausen was a pretty smart cookie… so smart in medicine that he was given an honorary degree without ever stepping foot in medical school. He was the homeopath that Hahnemann trusted for his own treatment. He was a real avid study of botanicals… plants were his passion and he grew fond of categorizing (as is the norm for that kind of stuff). He figured out a way to work backwards with the remedies and he created a book (an index) of symptoms categorized by parts of the body. He created a book that had categories like Head, Stomach, Eyes, etc and in each section a symptom like head ache, stomach upset, or eye redness, etc and for each symptom, a list of remedies. The remedies listed would create that particular symptom in a healthy person. You can imagine that this book was big. It had symptoms upon symptoms indexing the remedies that would create those symptoms.
This book was called a repertory. And the action of looking up symptoms in this book from those observed in an ill patient is called repertorizing. Well, repertorizing is a bit more that just looking up the symptoms, but you get the general idea.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Here is a comment from a reader on the last posting of "Man or Nature... which is smarter?"
----------------------
Michael said...
What has modern science and medicine given us in the last hundred years or so? How about twice as many years to live?I know, I know--stupid science.
----------------------
Hi Michael,
Excellent point!
Obviously I have not made my position properly. Let me expand a bit and see if this is clearer. I am a scientist. I have been one all my life and a thoughtful and reasoned thinker (I believe, but others may disagree). I realize that science is based on knowledge and knowledge is like a road made from bricks of fundamental ideas. Now we have progressed down this road guided by a fine science, but we have made certain suppositions along the way. Some fundamental ideas have been good and others bad. I look at the outcome of current disease, pesticides, surgical recommendations, veterinary medicine, and things as simple as milk or water as examples. I have attempted to expose these things for further review as examples of those things that strike me as nonsensical and possibly avoidable fundamental mistakes (outcomes). I expose them as dots to connect and follow back to where their genesis resides. Where in our past history do these ideas start and was there another fork in our road of scientific knowledge that could have been taken? It took me back to the 1800s and like most people (I think), I assumed that the people of that time were of lesser intelligence. It took almost no time at all to come to realize that they were not cavemen, but men with the exact same mental capacity of any of us today. Not a big revelation to some, but to me it was a humbling thought. And then I discovered the measured speech and warnings of homeopathy; the fork in the road (or one of many), at least from my interpretation. Well, we didn’t heed those warnings of suppressive medicine and working with nature. Here we are.
I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but I have seen the consequences and warnings that Hahnemann spoke of. I have verified in my mind that he was correct. But my opinion matters not one bit. I am here to say to anyone reading this- Find out for yourself. Look around you, your family, your friends, your children. Question others about their health or illness. Find someone over fifty that isn’t sick or taking a pharmaceutical to keep them going in one way or another and ask them how they live. Really! Live like they do. And if you can’t find them or very few of them, figure out why.
I am very glad you brought this subject up as it gives me a chance to show the side of the homeopaths. Homeopathy fought against the butchery of allopathic medicine throughout the 1800s and they were right. Homeopathy is strictly against suppressing symptoms and disease whenever possible. Homeopaths were the first to coin the term “vaccinosis” to describe the disease created by vaccines (mid to late 1800s). Homeopathy saved more lives by far in the flu epidemic of the early 1900s (1917) than allopathy did. That is not to mention epidemics of cholera and scarlet fever in the 1800s. And then homeopathy goes silent (1920s). The American Medical Association regulates them into non-existence.
Homeopathy believes that everyone no matter their lifespan should live free of illness.
Homeopathy believes that illness suppressed by drugs comes out in other places. Many times it comes through mental disease. And what have we been fighting for the last 50 years? And even with our children? Do people really want to take anti-psychotics and antidepressants their entire lives? I wager that everyone following this blog knows someone that is taking a drug for mental symptoms.
My point was to show some instances that are staring us in the face. Instances that defy common sense (granted, I can only speak for myself). I don’t think science is stupid and I don’t blame science, I blame us!!! I blame the thought that for each of these mistakes created by this current road of science, we believe there is not another parallel road that can be taken.
I just think that we are not critical of science and especially medicine. I think we are scared to ask questions and question the doctors. After all, if we tear down the doctors we have nothing left, right? Maybe, maybe not.
I am NOT saying to abandon your allopathic doctors and scientists. They have had stellar moments and not-so-stellar moments. I am saying that it doesn’t hurt to be critical of a system that sometimes makes no sense; giving forth some examples that should at least be questioned. I am also saying that the overall increase in lifespan MAY not justify the means.
There have been smart doctors and scientists in the past. It just seems that we didn’t listen very well to them and we don’t question the ones right here and right now very well either.
Now as far as lifespan. Let me give you a quick list of some individuals…
Hahnemann (1755-1843)- 88
Boenninghausen (1785-1864)- 79
Hering (1800-1880)- 80
Lippe (1812-1888)- 76
Kent (1849-1916)- 67
Boericke (1849-1929)- 80
Boger (1861-1935)- 74
Nash (1838-1917)- 79
Dunham (1828-1877)- 49
Dudgeon (1820-1904)- 84
Allen JH (1854-1925)- 71
Clarke (1853-1931)- 78
Dewey (1858-1938)- 80
Schmidt (1894-1987)- 93
Tyler (1857-1943)- 86
Bradford (1847-1918)- 71
Close (1860-1929)- 69
Roberts (1868-1950)- 82
All the above are homeopaths with their birth and death dates (almost all of them from the 1800s). I didn’t cherry pick the above, just some of my favorite homeopaths. Yes it is anecdotal evidence, but that is all I can muster at this time. We unfortunately didn’t keep good record of homeopathic practice in the 19th and early 20th century.
I too thought about the same subject of current life expectancy when I started to study homeopathy and was surprised to find the above. On top of this, most of these homeopaths worked until mere weeks before their death with all their faculties intact. Hahnemann is one good example.
Thanks Michael for your response. Hopefully I have made my position more clear and that everyone will take something from this and research what homeopathy has said.
Here is a link to verify the above biographical dates of homeopaths and a lot more to check…
http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/homeopathy_1755_1799.html
(Also, please see the first comment from Country Whispers on this posting)
----------------------
Michael said...
What has modern science and medicine given us in the last hundred years or so? How about twice as many years to live?I know, I know--stupid science.
----------------------
Hi Michael,
Excellent point!
Obviously I have not made my position properly. Let me expand a bit and see if this is clearer. I am a scientist. I have been one all my life and a thoughtful and reasoned thinker (I believe, but others may disagree). I realize that science is based on knowledge and knowledge is like a road made from bricks of fundamental ideas. Now we have progressed down this road guided by a fine science, but we have made certain suppositions along the way. Some fundamental ideas have been good and others bad. I look at the outcome of current disease, pesticides, surgical recommendations, veterinary medicine, and things as simple as milk or water as examples. I have attempted to expose these things for further review as examples of those things that strike me as nonsensical and possibly avoidable fundamental mistakes (outcomes). I expose them as dots to connect and follow back to where their genesis resides. Where in our past history do these ideas start and was there another fork in our road of scientific knowledge that could have been taken? It took me back to the 1800s and like most people (I think), I assumed that the people of that time were of lesser intelligence. It took almost no time at all to come to realize that they were not cavemen, but men with the exact same mental capacity of any of us today. Not a big revelation to some, but to me it was a humbling thought. And then I discovered the measured speech and warnings of homeopathy; the fork in the road (or one of many), at least from my interpretation. Well, we didn’t heed those warnings of suppressive medicine and working with nature. Here we are.
I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but I have seen the consequences and warnings that Hahnemann spoke of. I have verified in my mind that he was correct. But my opinion matters not one bit. I am here to say to anyone reading this- Find out for yourself. Look around you, your family, your friends, your children. Question others about their health or illness. Find someone over fifty that isn’t sick or taking a pharmaceutical to keep them going in one way or another and ask them how they live. Really! Live like they do. And if you can’t find them or very few of them, figure out why.
I am very glad you brought this subject up as it gives me a chance to show the side of the homeopaths. Homeopathy fought against the butchery of allopathic medicine throughout the 1800s and they were right. Homeopathy is strictly against suppressing symptoms and disease whenever possible. Homeopaths were the first to coin the term “vaccinosis” to describe the disease created by vaccines (mid to late 1800s). Homeopathy saved more lives by far in the flu epidemic of the early 1900s (1917) than allopathy did. That is not to mention epidemics of cholera and scarlet fever in the 1800s. And then homeopathy goes silent (1920s). The American Medical Association regulates them into non-existence.
Homeopathy believes that everyone no matter their lifespan should live free of illness.
Homeopathy believes that illness suppressed by drugs comes out in other places. Many times it comes through mental disease. And what have we been fighting for the last 50 years? And even with our children? Do people really want to take anti-psychotics and antidepressants their entire lives? I wager that everyone following this blog knows someone that is taking a drug for mental symptoms.
My point was to show some instances that are staring us in the face. Instances that defy common sense (granted, I can only speak for myself). I don’t think science is stupid and I don’t blame science, I blame us!!! I blame the thought that for each of these mistakes created by this current road of science, we believe there is not another parallel road that can be taken.
I just think that we are not critical of science and especially medicine. I think we are scared to ask questions and question the doctors. After all, if we tear down the doctors we have nothing left, right? Maybe, maybe not.
I am NOT saying to abandon your allopathic doctors and scientists. They have had stellar moments and not-so-stellar moments. I am saying that it doesn’t hurt to be critical of a system that sometimes makes no sense; giving forth some examples that should at least be questioned. I am also saying that the overall increase in lifespan MAY not justify the means.
There have been smart doctors and scientists in the past. It just seems that we didn’t listen very well to them and we don’t question the ones right here and right now very well either.
Now as far as lifespan. Let me give you a quick list of some individuals…
Hahnemann (1755-1843)- 88
Boenninghausen (1785-1864)- 79
Hering (1800-1880)- 80
Lippe (1812-1888)- 76
Kent (1849-1916)- 67
Boericke (1849-1929)- 80
Boger (1861-1935)- 74
Nash (1838-1917)- 79
Dunham (1828-1877)- 49
Dudgeon (1820-1904)- 84
Allen JH (1854-1925)- 71
Clarke (1853-1931)- 78
Dewey (1858-1938)- 80
Schmidt (1894-1987)- 93
Tyler (1857-1943)- 86
Bradford (1847-1918)- 71
Close (1860-1929)- 69
Roberts (1868-1950)- 82
All the above are homeopaths with their birth and death dates (almost all of them from the 1800s). I didn’t cherry pick the above, just some of my favorite homeopaths. Yes it is anecdotal evidence, but that is all I can muster at this time. We unfortunately didn’t keep good record of homeopathic practice in the 19th and early 20th century.
I too thought about the same subject of current life expectancy when I started to study homeopathy and was surprised to find the above. On top of this, most of these homeopaths worked until mere weeks before their death with all their faculties intact. Hahnemann is one good example.
Thanks Michael for your response. Hopefully I have made my position more clear and that everyone will take something from this and research what homeopathy has said.
Here is a link to verify the above biographical dates of homeopaths and a lot more to check…
http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/homeopathy_1755_1799.html
(Also, please see the first comment from Country Whispers on this posting)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Man or Nature… which is smarter?
That is my question to you… which is smarter, Man or Nature?
I have asked this question now of dozens of people. Almost to a person, their answer is Nature. Well, I am here to tell you that if you answered Nature, then with all due respect, you are a bit of a hypocrite. You say one thing and you live another. At a minimum, you are not fighting the fight for Nature. Let me explain…
My wife and I are the proud “parents” to two spunky little female dogs. Both of our puppies are relatively illness free, due in part to the fact that we treat them with good food and only the most necessary of legally required vaccinations (almost none). Now imagine my surprise when confronted by three separate veterinarians at different times and under differing situations that highly recommend that I have both of my “girls” fixed (spayed). After explaining to each veterinarian in turn that we were hyper-vigilant in making sure that our dogs would not single-handedly overpopulate the world, we were bombarded with the following: our dogs would bleed on everything in the house; they would develop mammary cancer and tumors in the ovaries and uterus; they would develop uterine infections that could cost ten times the amount that spaying would cost; and they would probably not live as long. To each veterinarian I asked the same question: Is the female reproductive tract killing my dog? How could this be possible? Of course, their response was that it is more likely that my doggies will suffer these ailments and they won’t miss their reproductive tracts anyway. Hmmmm… they won’t miss their reproductive tracts? How do you know that? Why were they not born spayed to begin with? But more to the point, would you do this to your little girl? Your human little girl? Of course not! How absurd to even mention it!!! We have to wait until she is older…
Ok, this line of thought has probably riled quite of few of my readers a bit. Animals are animals after all, right? We can just mold them for our convenience. We do it all the time. We make new fruits, flowers, Africanized bees (um, scratch that). We know what we are doing and we can tamper with nature all we want. Because, um, we are smarter? But that is not the point (quite yet). In the 1950s and 1960s medical doctors were faced with the typical tonsillitis (sore throat) that afflicts most children. It was seen as an epidemic and out came the scalpels and scissors (snip snip- ice cream)… epidemic of tonsillitis averted. Fast forward thirty years and medical doctors tout the fact that tonsils are part of our immune system and NOT the cause of an illness that afflicts them. What a revelation! An organ is not the cause of an illness that afflicts it. Quick! Let’s tell the veterinarians!
In the 1950s we invented chemical fertilizers and insecticides and you name it. We needed plants to grow faster and bugs to die faster. Talk to a person that was at the forefront of these products and used them. Chances are that you can’t talk to ANY of them… they are long gone; many at a young age, at least younger than their normal lifespan from insidious cases of cancers that riddled their bodies. And now we find that these fertilizers and insecticides go right into the plants, are eaten by the livestock, are eaten by us. Is that a problem?
And then some of you are saying that was ancient history, long ago. Well if you think that fifty years is ancient times, then you should sign up for the medical profession. They seem to measure revolutionary change in decades; abandoning their latest greatest advancements at every generation; right near the limit of our memory capacity. And you the reader are supporting this mind set. You are supporting the idea that man can change nature and improve it. Your wives, girlfriends, daughters and mothers are having hysterectomies at every opportunity (following the sage advice of a “knowledgeable” physician). Is the reproductive tract the cause of their problems? It’s just a question.
Many take a cholesterol lowering drug to prevent a heart attack when any doctor can tell you that 85% of cholesterol is produced by the liver. So why are we not treating the liver (not suppressing it) or better still, figuring out why it is producing too much cholesterol to begin with? Could we just take a moment and look at the body as a set of connected parts instead of unrelated medical specialties?
We now have lakes all over the USA that show rising levels of ibruprofen, heart medications, estrogen from birth control pills (among many other pharmaceuticals); male fish are growing eggs and becoming feminized. And when it really starts to sink in that we then recycle that water and drink it ourselves, it will be fifty more years and we will bemoan how stupid we were “back then”.
We take perfectly good cow’s milk and basically boil (pasteurize) it until we are sure it has no “koodies”. Then we expect it to have some nutrition? Ok, not enough tampering. So we give the cows antibiotics and throw in some growth hormones (BGH) because they don’t produce enough. Now we are slowly figuring out that what we give them may just be coming though the milk? It is still under investigation (for about twenty more years by my clock- which will make a total fifty since we started this BGH tampering).
A few years ago there was an astounding discovery… women were getting depressed after giving birth. Ok, fine. So the doctor gives this new mother some Valium. She feels much better. But wait… now the baby has high levels of Valium? Could it be the breast milk? If it is the breast milk (which it is), we should probably pasteurize it first!
I could go on and on. Obviously our attempts at “improving” Mother Nature work for a while, but we always seem to find out different every thirty to fifty years or just after the demise of the generation of doctors and scientists that stupidly lead us down the wrong road. And we are told by a new smarter set of doctors and scientists that NOW we have the solution.
Do you need thousands of instances to prove that we are less smart than nature? No, you said so at the beginning. So when faced with a history of failures and increased drugs and disease, why do you follow these advances in medical science so blindly (unquestioningly) and not accept a truly natural system of medicine practiced for many more years than our current system. A system that started by speaking out against vaccinations, bleedings and leeches in the 1800s and continues to speak out against unnatural treatment today. A system with little to no changes in the remedies that they first discovered. Remedies that don’t addict, suppress illness or pollute the environment. A system that tells us to stop messing with nature. A system that promotes the bodies’ own natural healing mechanism. A system that sees the body as a complete functioning organism that has no expendable organs. A system whose basic premise is to cure all illness. Because you haven’t heard of such a system? Well, that system is Homeopathy.
I have asked this question now of dozens of people. Almost to a person, their answer is Nature. Well, I am here to tell you that if you answered Nature, then with all due respect, you are a bit of a hypocrite. You say one thing and you live another. At a minimum, you are not fighting the fight for Nature. Let me explain…
My wife and I are the proud “parents” to two spunky little female dogs. Both of our puppies are relatively illness free, due in part to the fact that we treat them with good food and only the most necessary of legally required vaccinations (almost none). Now imagine my surprise when confronted by three separate veterinarians at different times and under differing situations that highly recommend that I have both of my “girls” fixed (spayed). After explaining to each veterinarian in turn that we were hyper-vigilant in making sure that our dogs would not single-handedly overpopulate the world, we were bombarded with the following: our dogs would bleed on everything in the house; they would develop mammary cancer and tumors in the ovaries and uterus; they would develop uterine infections that could cost ten times the amount that spaying would cost; and they would probably not live as long. To each veterinarian I asked the same question: Is the female reproductive tract killing my dog? How could this be possible? Of course, their response was that it is more likely that my doggies will suffer these ailments and they won’t miss their reproductive tracts anyway. Hmmmm… they won’t miss their reproductive tracts? How do you know that? Why were they not born spayed to begin with? But more to the point, would you do this to your little girl? Your human little girl? Of course not! How absurd to even mention it!!! We have to wait until she is older…
Ok, this line of thought has probably riled quite of few of my readers a bit. Animals are animals after all, right? We can just mold them for our convenience. We do it all the time. We make new fruits, flowers, Africanized bees (um, scratch that). We know what we are doing and we can tamper with nature all we want. Because, um, we are smarter? But that is not the point (quite yet). In the 1950s and 1960s medical doctors were faced with the typical tonsillitis (sore throat) that afflicts most children. It was seen as an epidemic and out came the scalpels and scissors (snip snip- ice cream)… epidemic of tonsillitis averted. Fast forward thirty years and medical doctors tout the fact that tonsils are part of our immune system and NOT the cause of an illness that afflicts them. What a revelation! An organ is not the cause of an illness that afflicts it. Quick! Let’s tell the veterinarians!
In the 1950s we invented chemical fertilizers and insecticides and you name it. We needed plants to grow faster and bugs to die faster. Talk to a person that was at the forefront of these products and used them. Chances are that you can’t talk to ANY of them… they are long gone; many at a young age, at least younger than their normal lifespan from insidious cases of cancers that riddled their bodies. And now we find that these fertilizers and insecticides go right into the plants, are eaten by the livestock, are eaten by us. Is that a problem?
And then some of you are saying that was ancient history, long ago. Well if you think that fifty years is ancient times, then you should sign up for the medical profession. They seem to measure revolutionary change in decades; abandoning their latest greatest advancements at every generation; right near the limit of our memory capacity. And you the reader are supporting this mind set. You are supporting the idea that man can change nature and improve it. Your wives, girlfriends, daughters and mothers are having hysterectomies at every opportunity (following the sage advice of a “knowledgeable” physician). Is the reproductive tract the cause of their problems? It’s just a question.
Many take a cholesterol lowering drug to prevent a heart attack when any doctor can tell you that 85% of cholesterol is produced by the liver. So why are we not treating the liver (not suppressing it) or better still, figuring out why it is producing too much cholesterol to begin with? Could we just take a moment and look at the body as a set of connected parts instead of unrelated medical specialties?
We now have lakes all over the USA that show rising levels of ibruprofen, heart medications, estrogen from birth control pills (among many other pharmaceuticals); male fish are growing eggs and becoming feminized. And when it really starts to sink in that we then recycle that water and drink it ourselves, it will be fifty more years and we will bemoan how stupid we were “back then”.
We take perfectly good cow’s milk and basically boil (pasteurize) it until we are sure it has no “koodies”. Then we expect it to have some nutrition? Ok, not enough tampering. So we give the cows antibiotics and throw in some growth hormones (BGH) because they don’t produce enough. Now we are slowly figuring out that what we give them may just be coming though the milk? It is still under investigation (for about twenty more years by my clock- which will make a total fifty since we started this BGH tampering).
A few years ago there was an astounding discovery… women were getting depressed after giving birth. Ok, fine. So the doctor gives this new mother some Valium. She feels much better. But wait… now the baby has high levels of Valium? Could it be the breast milk? If it is the breast milk (which it is), we should probably pasteurize it first!
I could go on and on. Obviously our attempts at “improving” Mother Nature work for a while, but we always seem to find out different every thirty to fifty years or just after the demise of the generation of doctors and scientists that stupidly lead us down the wrong road. And we are told by a new smarter set of doctors and scientists that NOW we have the solution.
Do you need thousands of instances to prove that we are less smart than nature? No, you said so at the beginning. So when faced with a history of failures and increased drugs and disease, why do you follow these advances in medical science so blindly (unquestioningly) and not accept a truly natural system of medicine practiced for many more years than our current system. A system that started by speaking out against vaccinations, bleedings and leeches in the 1800s and continues to speak out against unnatural treatment today. A system with little to no changes in the remedies that they first discovered. Remedies that don’t addict, suppress illness or pollute the environment. A system that tells us to stop messing with nature. A system that promotes the bodies’ own natural healing mechanism. A system that sees the body as a complete functioning organism that has no expendable organs. A system whose basic premise is to cure all illness. Because you haven’t heard of such a system? Well, that system is Homeopathy.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Remedy Potencies
It is common to find homeopathic remedies in health food stores. They are listed by 30X or 30C or whatever. These numbers and letters signify the potency of the remedy. X potency is made by taking one drop of a natural material substance (like ink from squid-Sepia) and diluting it in 10 drops of water/ alcohol (X is 10 potency). C potency is taking the same substance and diluting it in 100 drops of water/alcohol (C is 100 potency). Then one drop is taken from that X or C potency after succussion and diluted in another 10 or 100 drops respectively. Each stage produces the next potency as in 10X to 11X or 12C to 13C. The X potencies are used much more rarely than the C potencies. There is just a sweet spot where the C potencies are more useful. Potencies can be diluted and succussed many thousands of times to produce M potency (1000), 10M, 50M, CM (100M) and MM (1000M). It should be noted that these high potencies are not to be used lightly and should be given by experienced homeopaths.
The most common potency for acute or short lived illness like colds, flu, sprains, headaches, etc is 30C and 200C. These two potencies are safe to use by laymen as long as you follow the rules dictated by Hahnemann. Remember the minimal dose.
Kits of homeopathic remedies can be purchased in 30C or 200C potency for about $100-$200 which would be good to treat common acute family illnesses. A kit can last for many, many years and is well worth the cost. In fact, as long as remedies are kept from light and strong odors as in cleaners and the like, they will last for decades (at least). The resulting cost of treating acute illness once a layman has learned how it is done, is about five cents per illness.
Chronic illness or long lived illness is best treated by LM potencies which were developed by Hahnemann before he died. These potencies are not frequently seen because most homeopaths never learned about them… remember Hahnemann’s last Organon was lost for 70 years. LM potency is a dilution of 1 to 500 and creates a very deep acting remedy while making it less aggravating to the patient (more mild). LM are normally found from LM1 to LM30. (Beginners should not attempt to treat Chronic illness without help from an experienced homeopath… it is just too complex to approach without experience).
The most common potency for acute or short lived illness like colds, flu, sprains, headaches, etc is 30C and 200C. These two potencies are safe to use by laymen as long as you follow the rules dictated by Hahnemann. Remember the minimal dose.
Kits of homeopathic remedies can be purchased in 30C or 200C potency for about $100-$200 which would be good to treat common acute family illnesses. A kit can last for many, many years and is well worth the cost. In fact, as long as remedies are kept from light and strong odors as in cleaners and the like, they will last for decades (at least). The resulting cost of treating acute illness once a layman has learned how it is done, is about five cents per illness.
Chronic illness or long lived illness is best treated by LM potencies which were developed by Hahnemann before he died. These potencies are not frequently seen because most homeopaths never learned about them… remember Hahnemann’s last Organon was lost for 70 years. LM potency is a dilution of 1 to 500 and creates a very deep acting remedy while making it less aggravating to the patient (more mild). LM are normally found from LM1 to LM30. (Beginners should not attempt to treat Chronic illness without help from an experienced homeopath… it is just too complex to approach without experience).
Law of Cure
The law of cure that is mostly credited to Constantine Hering (1800-1880) states that the cure of illness progresses from the head downward, from the more important organ to the lesser important organ, from the center outward and from the newest of ailments to the oldest (in layers). The importance of this idea is to know when and by what degree an illness is being cured. A practiced homeopath will follow symptoms through their course looking for these very signs to determine when and if the illness is being cured. This is also known as Hering’s Law of Cure.
Illness will follow the exact opposite course of cure if it is left untreated. Illness progresses inward, upward, and to the most important of organs. Often an ailment that progresses to the nervous system and bones has been long lived. Noting the location of disease will give a timeline to when it started.
Illness will follow the exact opposite course of cure if it is left untreated. Illness progresses inward, upward, and to the most important of organs. Often an ailment that progresses to the nervous system and bones has been long lived. Noting the location of disease will give a timeline to when it started.
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Minimal Dose
Hahnemann proved by careful experimentation that a properly potentized (powerful) remedy should only be given in the smallest possible dose to affect a cure. This theory is borne out by any good homeopath in the practice of watching potentized remedies perform their action. It doesn’t take long to realize that homeopathic remedies are very powerful and need to be used with some care. The idea of only giving the “minimal dose” is the foundation behind keeping this care uppermost in mind. Patients are often amazed that such a small amount of homeopathic medicine is needed to affect a considerable amount of healing. In fact, there really is no material quantity to homeopathic remedies as they are diluted until only the energy of the original material is left.
Modern chemistry can find no real material product in homeopathic remedies. This does not mean that there is nothing to them. To those that have experience, the existence of the remedy energy is obvious. Also, highly potentized remedies are very powerful and should only be prescribed by experienced homeopaths; they are nothing to be toyed or experimented with.
Also be aware that such a small or minimal dose is very safe in its effect. Because homeopathic remedies are natural, given in small quantity and work to stimulate the Vital Force, they are MUCH safer than pharmaceutical medicines. They cause no long term effects unless incorrectly prescribed over a very long term (months or years) or flagrantly misused. They are not addicting and can be antidoted if needed. Antidoting is rarely if ever necessary if prescribing specific to the rules dictated by Hahnemann.
Modern chemistry can find no real material product in homeopathic remedies. This does not mean that there is nothing to them. To those that have experience, the existence of the remedy energy is obvious. Also, highly potentized remedies are very powerful and should only be prescribed by experienced homeopaths; they are nothing to be toyed or experimented with.
Also be aware that such a small or minimal dose is very safe in its effect. Because homeopathic remedies are natural, given in small quantity and work to stimulate the Vital Force, they are MUCH safer than pharmaceutical medicines. They cause no long term effects unless incorrectly prescribed over a very long term (months or years) or flagrantly misused. They are not addicting and can be antidoted if needed. Antidoting is rarely if ever necessary if prescribing specific to the rules dictated by Hahnemann.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Remedy (part 3 of 3)
The way Hahnemann created higher potencies in his remedies (after many years of trial and error) was to take a natural substance, crush it, pulverize it and then dilute it with alcohol or distilled water. Then he would take one drop of that dilution and dilute it again. In between dilutions, he would shake the solution by banging it against a springy type surface (like a thick book). He called the process of shaking/banging the solution, “succussion” or “succussing”. It is the succussion that increases the strength of the remedy during processing. The succussion would bring out more pronounced symptoms from a crude substance that had been diluted and create a potentized (high strength) “medicine”, called a Homeopathic Remedy.
As Hahnemann diluted dozens of crude materials to make into remedies, he gave the potentized remedies to groups of “provers” and made note of the symptoms that each remedy created in these individuals. Symptoms were then catalogued for each potentized remedy and kept in a book called the Homeopathic Materia Medica. This book is essentially a list of all symptoms created in a healthy person by ingesting a particular potentized remedy. During his lifetime, Hahnemann created and personally tested (proved) dozens of remedies. Now Hahnemann had his similar diseases and with them could treat and cure illness. Not obvious? Let’s take an example…
Hahnemann is approached by an ill patient who says he has pains in his eyes when looking down, frequent numbness in his fingers and legs and a ringing in his ears that will not go away. First, there is a check of the catalog of remedies (Materia Medica) and a search for the remedy that causes these same symptoms; Hahnemann reaches for the dilution of some substance that has shown in his “provers” to produce the exact same symptoms (Natrum Muriaticum- Latin name for common table salt- potentized). This remedy has been strengthened by succussion (banging and shaking) to make it strong and potent. This remedy creates an artificial disease that is to be greater or “bigger” than the natural disease of the patient (yet it is a similar disease). He gives this remedy to the ill patient… providing or causing a similar “disease” of symptoms to extinguish the same symptoms in the patient. The patient is cured by the law that “like cures like”. No two similar diseases can coexist within an individual; the greater disease will squash the smaller disease that is similar. One “medicinal” disease (the artificial disease created by the remedy- Nat Mur (abbreviation)) extinguishes the real disease in the patient because it is greater due to potentizing.
The End!
Just kidding, there is a lot more, but you now have the basic idea of how Homeopathy works.
As Hahnemann diluted dozens of crude materials to make into remedies, he gave the potentized remedies to groups of “provers” and made note of the symptoms that each remedy created in these individuals. Symptoms were then catalogued for each potentized remedy and kept in a book called the Homeopathic Materia Medica. This book is essentially a list of all symptoms created in a healthy person by ingesting a particular potentized remedy. During his lifetime, Hahnemann created and personally tested (proved) dozens of remedies. Now Hahnemann had his similar diseases and with them could treat and cure illness. Not obvious? Let’s take an example…
Hahnemann is approached by an ill patient who says he has pains in his eyes when looking down, frequent numbness in his fingers and legs and a ringing in his ears that will not go away. First, there is a check of the catalog of remedies (Materia Medica) and a search for the remedy that causes these same symptoms; Hahnemann reaches for the dilution of some substance that has shown in his “provers” to produce the exact same symptoms (Natrum Muriaticum- Latin name for common table salt- potentized). This remedy has been strengthened by succussion (banging and shaking) to make it strong and potent. This remedy creates an artificial disease that is to be greater or “bigger” than the natural disease of the patient (yet it is a similar disease). He gives this remedy to the ill patient… providing or causing a similar “disease” of symptoms to extinguish the same symptoms in the patient. The patient is cured by the law that “like cures like”. No two similar diseases can coexist within an individual; the greater disease will squash the smaller disease that is similar. One “medicinal” disease (the artificial disease created by the remedy- Nat Mur (abbreviation)) extinguishes the real disease in the patient because it is greater due to potentizing.
The End!
Just kidding, there is a lot more, but you now have the basic idea of how Homeopathy works.
The Remedy (part 2 of 3)
Hahnemann had a working model with the Peruvian bark case and he needed more substances that could be used as medicines for other illnesses. He needed other substances that would create similar symptoms to ailments experienced by his patients. His idea was that the symptoms created by a “medicine” would overwhelm those similar symptoms in an ill patient much the same as Cinchona overwhelmed malaria. His greatest contribution to mankind was the discovery in how to create this “medicine”.
He took crude substances such as poison ivy, table salt, honey bees (yes, stinging bees!), coffee, tea, spearmint, etc and made remedies with them. At first the substances were in their most crude form. Sometimes they were given in high doses and sometimes low. He enlisted many friends and family members to ingest these substances and relate their experiences while under their influence; to note the symptoms that these substances would create in a healthy individual. This process he called “proving”. His healthy helpers were “proving” (displaying) the symptoms created by the substances they ingested and accurate notes were recorded as to these symptoms. And then he discovered something quite extraordinary and counter intuitive. He discovered that the crude substances when diluted in water or alcohol created or rather "proved" these same symptoms in a more pronounced way. Let’s say for arguments sake that ingesting salt created a mild headache. Upon diluting this salt, the provers were experiencing a more definite headache and upon further dilution, an even more pronounced headache. The substances on further dilution became more potent. But there was more to this process...
He took crude substances such as poison ivy, table salt, honey bees (yes, stinging bees!), coffee, tea, spearmint, etc and made remedies with them. At first the substances were in their most crude form. Sometimes they were given in high doses and sometimes low. He enlisted many friends and family members to ingest these substances and relate their experiences while under their influence; to note the symptoms that these substances would create in a healthy individual. This process he called “proving”. His healthy helpers were “proving” (displaying) the symptoms created by the substances they ingested and accurate notes were recorded as to these symptoms. And then he discovered something quite extraordinary and counter intuitive. He discovered that the crude substances when diluted in water or alcohol created or rather "proved" these same symptoms in a more pronounced way. Let’s say for arguments sake that ingesting salt created a mild headache. Upon diluting this salt, the provers were experiencing a more definite headache and upon further dilution, an even more pronounced headache. The substances on further dilution became more potent. But there was more to this process...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Remedy (part 1 of 3)
Hahnemann made his astonishing re-discovery of “like cures like” when he came across a medical case during a translation job. Besides being a top notch chemist and medical doctor, he often translated texts for a living and was conversant in several languages (check his biography). The text that he translated involved the use of a Peruvian tree bark (Cinchona) for the ailment of malaria. He noted that the ingestion of the bark created the same symptoms of malaria and tested this on himself (numerous times). Satisfied that it was possible the bark was creating the same symptoms of malaria and that this was the way it worked to cure that same disease, the idea of “like cures like” was reborn. It is often speculated that during this time Hahnemann researched history for this fundamental idea and others. It was the action of putting the pieces together that created his place in history. Yet, his most important discovery was yet to come.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Vital Force
Before you can understand the workings of Homeopathy, you need to understand the main player… the Vital Force.
Vital Force is the life force for an organism (human or animal). The Vital Force (VF) according to Hahnemann cohesively binds the mind, body and spirit and adds life to an organism. Without it, an organism would cease to function, grow and reproduce. The VF not only gives the foundation for these functions, but maintains a necessary balance of health for the organism.
Disease is created when the Vital Force is beaten down (compromised) and unable to repel illness properly. In one respect, Homeopathy stimulates and brings the needed energy to the Vital Force. The VF is then able to throw off disease and heal the patient.
Vital Force is the life force for an organism (human or animal). The Vital Force (VF) according to Hahnemann cohesively binds the mind, body and spirit and adds life to an organism. Without it, an organism would cease to function, grow and reproduce. The VF not only gives the foundation for these functions, but maintains a necessary balance of health for the organism.
Disease is created when the Vital Force is beaten down (compromised) and unable to repel illness properly. In one respect, Homeopathy stimulates and brings the needed energy to the Vital Force. The VF is then able to throw off disease and heal the patient.
Monday, February 9, 2009
One Disease One Remedy
Another rule of Homeopathy is that each particular ailment (set of symptoms) has ONE remedy that most closely matches that ailment in its symptoms. Even in its infancy, Hahnemann experimented with prescribing multiple remedies simultaneously and quickly abandoned this form of medicine. He just couldn’t be sure which remedy acted upon which symptom and this made it too confusing. Also, homeopathic remedies can and do counteract one another. To this day if you meet a homeopath that prescribes more than one remedy simultaneously, he is not following the sage advice of the father of Homeopathy and thus is not treating homeopathically.
The Patient and the Disease is Individual (and so is the remedy)
Homeopathy sees the patient as a true individual. A specific ailment is only specific to that patient and no other. So a flu or cold in one person, even though it may look the same as a cold or flu in the next patient, is quite different because of the individual person experiencing it. Each patient is treated with the remedy that most closely “fits” that individual with those specific symptoms. This is a considerable change to allopathic medicine that treats most ailments with identical remedies. In allopathic medicine, all colds are relatively equivalent (the same) and in Homeopathy all colds are relatively individual (different as expressed differently by the individual person). So, Bob with a runny nose and cough is treated completely different than Sally with a runny nose and lack of cough. Each person is treated differently than the next as each has a differing set of problems from the next. And, the homeopathic remedy for each person no matter how similar the illness in a different person will also most likely be different.
Like Cures Like
The term “Homeopathy” originated from the joining of two Greek words meaning “like disease” or words to that effect. By the nature of these words, the term homeopathic can be seen as the treatment of illness with a like or similar illness. So Homeopathy does not use the exact same disease to treat an illness (aka, isopathy), but a similar disease or “like” disease. It may seem like splitting hairs to those new to the ideas of Homeopathy, but it makes all the difference in what it is and how it works.
Hahnemann (the founder of homeopathy) recognized that no two similar diseases could coexist within an organism. Also, he stated that if two diseases were found to be active within an individual at the same time, they must be dissimilar. The reasoning behind this comes from the law that like disease cures like disease. Therefore, an organism (human or animal) could not have two “like” diseases simultaneously. In fact, the stronger of the like diseases would overpower the lesser of the like diseases (like cures like).
This is the basic premise of homeopathy.
Hahnemann (the founder of homeopathy) recognized that no two similar diseases could coexist within an organism. Also, he stated that if two diseases were found to be active within an individual at the same time, they must be dissimilar. The reasoning behind this comes from the law that like disease cures like disease. Therefore, an organism (human or animal) could not have two “like” diseases simultaneously. In fact, the stronger of the like diseases would overpower the lesser of the like diseases (like cures like).
This is the basic premise of homeopathy.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Homeopathy (a further investigation)
I adopted homeopathic practice some years ago because it filled my expectations for medicine. I believed as a small child that the tools for our existence must be here at our feet and free for the taking. This is just my interpretation for life. I watched throughout my lifetime as many relatives and friends slowly migrated to worse and worse illness, multiple medications and lack of concern by the allopathic medical community. This increase of illness was during a time of increasingly expensive treatment by allopathic doctors. Prices for medical help began to skyrocket and no real advances were ever made in the ailments of these friends and family members. Each seemed to keep their ailments in check with handfuls of pills, not making progress, only existing. There had to be a better way. I originally thought that maybe if I studied the past. Maybe the past before the 1960s, 1950s could show me where we went wrong in healing. Halfheartedly and with no real expectation that there was another way of medicine, I read and read. Purely by chance, I kept coming across bits and pieces about homeopathy. A lot of the texts were from the 1800s and I thought that you can’t be serious about medicine and treatment in the days of leeches and bleedings and the like. Well stunning as this may seem, that was the way the allopathic doctors treated the patients of the 1800s- not the treatment by homeopathic doctors! The homeopathic doctors abhorred such treatment and spoke out against it at every turn. The old texts that I read sounded more like cries of patients in 1970 rather than 1870. They spoke of the pills and concoctions that dominated allopathic medicine which kept the patient going back for more, never curing illness. They spoke of the curse of having enough money to be slowly medicated to further illness; that the poor were far easier to help because the lack of “standard” medical attention they received made them far easier to heal. You can understand my astonishment. It couldn’t be more true to this day! Suffice it to say that I believe there was no lack of common sense or intelligence of the 1800s as there is no lack today; but, that there existed some great and competent minds that were not recognized. After all, the foundation of current medicine was discovered by Louis Pasteur in the late 1880s. Knowing this, why couldn’t I assume there was someone as smart as or smarter than Pasteur? And why couldn’t I assume they had figured out a better way to health? But my optimism and conviction was not quite there yet.
I had always seen the homeopathic remedies in health food stores and had even tried a few to no real affect. I was as surprised to find at the beginning of my search that the original homeopathic texts contradicted the way that homeopathic medicine was currently used and recommended. Delving further, I found a small band of current homeopathic doctors around the world that challenged the newer methods and pointed back to the original texts. So I got the old texts. In India there is a book publisher that publishes all the old texts, translated into English- authors such as Hahnemann, Boenninghausen, Hering, etc. It wasn’t long before I realized homeopathy’s potential. But, it took many years of trial and error to find the proper use of homeopathy.
From this background, I was healing ailments in a fraction of the time it took before and with no apparent side effects. I found the way it should be done… from the man himself, Samuel Hahnemann.
I had always seen the homeopathic remedies in health food stores and had even tried a few to no real affect. I was as surprised to find at the beginning of my search that the original homeopathic texts contradicted the way that homeopathic medicine was currently used and recommended. Delving further, I found a small band of current homeopathic doctors around the world that challenged the newer methods and pointed back to the original texts. So I got the old texts. In India there is a book publisher that publishes all the old texts, translated into English- authors such as Hahnemann, Boenninghausen, Hering, etc. It wasn’t long before I realized homeopathy’s potential. But, it took many years of trial and error to find the proper use of homeopathy.
From this background, I was healing ailments in a fraction of the time it took before and with no apparent side effects. I found the way it should be done… from the man himself, Samuel Hahnemann.
What is Homeopathy?
Through the years I have concentrated on many techniques of healing with herbs and natural energy and Homeopathy is one such technique that is very effective. It does not contradict the rules of natural medicine, yet it seems closer to the western medical techniques known as allopathy. Allopathic medicine is that medical art which is practiced by medical doctors in the United States and governed by the American Medical Association. I am neither skilled nor certified in this form of medicine and only mention it to acquaint the reader with the term "allopathic" or "allopathy" for reference throughout this text. Your normal doctor in the United States practices allopathy or allopathic medicine.
As I said, Homeopathy seems to be close in some respects to allopathic medicine practiced by every doctor in the United States. It only seems that there is a similarity between homeopathy and allopathy; actually Homeopathy is not only a complete art of medicine but is different in that it truly uses the energy and spirit of mankind (and animal) to heal and cure. Furthermore, it is vastly different to allopathic medicine in that it allows the body to heal itself with laws of illness and healing that reach back to the beginning of recorded history.
The first recorded use of homeopathic principles was from Hippocrates (the father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath followed by allopathic doctors). Its basic tenants were even discovered and written about in ancient India. Most of its foundation though was not discovered until a German chemist and medical doctor tirelessly reconstructed the primary rules of its use and built an entire homeopathic medical system within his lifetime. This man was Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).
Homeopathy is often confused with holistic medicine. Holistic medicine is treating the total body of an individual. Homeopathy treats the body holistically, but it is applied in a specific manner. So Homeopathy is holistic, but holistic medicine is not homeopathic. This is because holistic medicine does not necessarily follow the strict rules of homeopathy.
Homeopathy began in about 1795 through the sheer genius of Samuel Hahnemann. His genius is not really recognized today, but if you bother to study his writings it will become immediately obvious. There are several reasons that homeopathic medicine is neither well known nor practiced as widely as it once was in the United States. And one reason is NOT that it is inferior to any known medical art such as allopathy. In many ways I believe that homeopathy is far superior to allopathic medicine. I will only dwell on two points as to why homeopathy is not among your choices of medicine today.
1. Homeopathy was once the smart choice of medicine for most of Europe and the United States. It flourished in the 1800's with over 20,000 doctors in the U.S.A, but ran into some major stumbling blocks. The first stumbling block was more from bad luck and timing. Hahnemann created levels of this medical system as his understanding of its nature grew through tireless experimentation and amazing intelligence. His final revision of this medical science came in the last ten years of his life. He had perfected this medical art to a fine degree and wrote down his most brilliant findings, only to die before they were published. These writings were basically lost until the 1920's and by then the medical science of Homeopathy was based upon his earlier and less refined research. Homeopathic doctors of the time were driven out by the American Medical Association (AMA) due to a lack of its understanding by the allopathic community. It wasn't that homeopathy even in its early revisions didn't work or didn't work amazingly well… it was just that there was a considerable divide in patient treatment between homeopathy and allopathy. Also, there seemed to have been some ego involved in the decision by the AMA to discredit Homeopathy. It was not until the 1950's/1960's that doctors looked back at Hahnemann's last works and realized its new potential (rediscovering it a full 100 years after his death). In the last thirty years, homeopathy has been gaining some resurgence, but there is still a lack of drive to read and learn the last works of Hahnemann (possibly from sheer laziness!)
2. The second reason that Homeopathy does not have a significant place at the medical "table" is that it requires no special chemical medications that pharmaceutical companies can develop, patent, and profit from. Adopting Homeopathy would surely change western economies as it is based upon remedies found in nature. It is also based on curing the patient rather than easing symptoms of illness and it takes more time in dealing with patients. Allopathic medicine seems to be based almost entirely on easing symptoms (palliation) rather than curing illness (much to the dismay of medical doctors) and most doctors are not willing to spend more than ten minutes to diagnose an illness. It is just my opinion, but when was the last time you, a family member, a friend or acquaintance was "cured" by allopathic medicine? And I don't mean that they were cured as long as they took their medicine or removed another organ! When was the last time the allopathic doctor spent more than ten minutes with you and took some interest in how you really feel? That will change when you discover homeopathy.
Please take some time and read through this weblog. If you are so inclined to fully research this medical art, you will never regret it. That is a promise.
As I said, Homeopathy seems to be close in some respects to allopathic medicine practiced by every doctor in the United States. It only seems that there is a similarity between homeopathy and allopathy; actually Homeopathy is not only a complete art of medicine but is different in that it truly uses the energy and spirit of mankind (and animal) to heal and cure. Furthermore, it is vastly different to allopathic medicine in that it allows the body to heal itself with laws of illness and healing that reach back to the beginning of recorded history.
The first recorded use of homeopathic principles was from Hippocrates (the father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath followed by allopathic doctors). Its basic tenants were even discovered and written about in ancient India. Most of its foundation though was not discovered until a German chemist and medical doctor tirelessly reconstructed the primary rules of its use and built an entire homeopathic medical system within his lifetime. This man was Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).
Homeopathy is often confused with holistic medicine. Holistic medicine is treating the total body of an individual. Homeopathy treats the body holistically, but it is applied in a specific manner. So Homeopathy is holistic, but holistic medicine is not homeopathic. This is because holistic medicine does not necessarily follow the strict rules of homeopathy.
Homeopathy began in about 1795 through the sheer genius of Samuel Hahnemann. His genius is not really recognized today, but if you bother to study his writings it will become immediately obvious. There are several reasons that homeopathic medicine is neither well known nor practiced as widely as it once was in the United States. And one reason is NOT that it is inferior to any known medical art such as allopathy. In many ways I believe that homeopathy is far superior to allopathic medicine. I will only dwell on two points as to why homeopathy is not among your choices of medicine today.
1. Homeopathy was once the smart choice of medicine for most of Europe and the United States. It flourished in the 1800's with over 20,000 doctors in the U.S.A, but ran into some major stumbling blocks. The first stumbling block was more from bad luck and timing. Hahnemann created levels of this medical system as his understanding of its nature grew through tireless experimentation and amazing intelligence. His final revision of this medical science came in the last ten years of his life. He had perfected this medical art to a fine degree and wrote down his most brilliant findings, only to die before they were published. These writings were basically lost until the 1920's and by then the medical science of Homeopathy was based upon his earlier and less refined research. Homeopathic doctors of the time were driven out by the American Medical Association (AMA) due to a lack of its understanding by the allopathic community. It wasn't that homeopathy even in its early revisions didn't work or didn't work amazingly well… it was just that there was a considerable divide in patient treatment between homeopathy and allopathy. Also, there seemed to have been some ego involved in the decision by the AMA to discredit Homeopathy. It was not until the 1950's/1960's that doctors looked back at Hahnemann's last works and realized its new potential (rediscovering it a full 100 years after his death). In the last thirty years, homeopathy has been gaining some resurgence, but there is still a lack of drive to read and learn the last works of Hahnemann (possibly from sheer laziness!)
2. The second reason that Homeopathy does not have a significant place at the medical "table" is that it requires no special chemical medications that pharmaceutical companies can develop, patent, and profit from. Adopting Homeopathy would surely change western economies as it is based upon remedies found in nature. It is also based on curing the patient rather than easing symptoms of illness and it takes more time in dealing with patients. Allopathic medicine seems to be based almost entirely on easing symptoms (palliation) rather than curing illness (much to the dismay of medical doctors) and most doctors are not willing to spend more than ten minutes to diagnose an illness. It is just my opinion, but when was the last time you, a family member, a friend or acquaintance was "cured" by allopathic medicine? And I don't mean that they were cured as long as they took their medicine or removed another organ! When was the last time the allopathic doctor spent more than ten minutes with you and took some interest in how you really feel? That will change when you discover homeopathy.
Please take some time and read through this weblog. If you are so inclined to fully research this medical art, you will never regret it. That is a promise.
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