Remedy of the Week #7

Remedy of the Week is back after a brief hiatus.

This week’s remedy is one of the most common in the homeopathic Materia Medica.  It isn’t surprising, because the source of this remedy is very plentiful on earth as well.

Rotting is part of this remedy

This remedy has a lot to do with decay  and disgust.  Of things wearing out and dragging on so long that they get stale and old.  As one would expect, things then get smelly and stinky and sweaty and gross.

It is a specific for a child hood ear infection that comes on at the end of a stale old cold.  It is also for a cold that won’t seem to go away.  It seems like it is past the acute phase where you don’t really have a lot of symptoms, but the ones you have drag on and on.  You are sick of being sick.

Another symptom of this remedy is that your hair looks greasy and dirty, even if you just washed it that morning.  Definitely a bad hair day.

You might also have skin eruptions of some sort with this remedy.  It might be a rash or hives or just red skin from being warm.

Is this Blog post getting old? Then click here to find out what the remedy is and more about how to use it.

Kathryn

www.lotushomeopathy.com

651-748-1556

Its Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature–Part 3 Acute versus Chronic Illness

Somehow, a fear has developed about Acute Illness.  I’m sure that it was borne out of history, when people used to die more frequently from acute illnesses—fortunately, good hygiene and sanitation has made this less likely. The settlers brought over small pox to America and killed the natives.  In turn, the Natives gave the European settlers syphilis.  What a trade.  An acute illness (small pox) for an acute illness which turns chronic (syphilis).  We’ve been trading acute illnesses for chronic ones ever since.

First it is important to explain the difference between Acute illness and Chronic illness.  An acute illness is something like a cold or an ear infection.  A chronic illness might be arthritis or heart disease.

Acute illness, is by definition, self-limiting.  You either get over it (fortunately, most of the time) or you die (rarely).  Chronic illness goes on and on and on.  Acute illness has a short prodrome phase.  This is the time period where you are ramping up to get sick.  We’ve all been there, where we feel we are coming down with something.  You might even get sick suddenly, which is a very short prodrome phase.  Chronic illness, on the other hand, has a long prodrome phase.  Anyone who has gotten heart disease didn’t get it over night.  Most of the time the prodrome phase in chronic illness is not easy to identify, if at all.

Another interesting distinction between and acute and chronic illnesses is that an acute illness actually strengthens your vitality.  A chronic illness only continues to make your body worse.  Have you ever really felt good after having been sick?  I have.  I recently had a homeopathy client report a similar experience to me.  Perhaps acute illnesses are a way for our body to rid itself of chronic dis-ease.

A chronic illness will take a break when an acute illness appears.  When my son was younger, he developed a bad cough.  His constant stomach aches, which we later figured out were caused by a gluten intolerance, went away for two weeks without a change in diet and returned when the cough disappeared completely.  Some people who are seriously chronically ill cannot even produce an acute illness.

Over the years observant parents have noticed that when their child produces a relatively high fever, the episode is frequently followed by a growth spurt.  Because no one has ever explained WHY this happens, it is largely ignored.  Perhaps it is necessary to grow.

And how often do we fool mother nature by suppressing the fever?  If you call a nurse line when your child is sick with a fever, you will always be told to give Tylenol.  Fevers are good.  Why would you suppress them except for a seizure?  Your body generally produces the fever it needs to get over the bug that is present.  If you are uncomfortable with the fever, try homeopathy instead.  It doesn’t suppress a fever, but will make you comfortable.  I was given a book for a baby shower.  It was a western medicine book which was divided by disease name and then told under what conditions you should call the doctor immediately, within 24 hours, or not at all.  It was a really helpful book for a new mother.  It did say not to give your child fever suppressants (and not just aspirin) for certain illnesses because it actually resulted in a longer time for the disease to go away.

Since nature has given us acute illnesses, there is a reason that we get them.  For children, it is pretty clear that they need to exercise their immune system.  Studies have been done which reveal that when parents keep the house too clean, kids don’t develop a strong enough immune system to fight off the bad boys when they come around.  In fact, some believe that it is a source of autoimmune disorders, asthma, and allergies, because the body doesn’t know what needs to be fought off and what doesn’t.  So the body over reacts—which is what all of those diseases are about:  over reaction.  My house is not a shrine to cleanliness by any stretch, and BONUS, I grew up on a farm, so by all accounts, I’m good to go. Here’s a funny take on the whole issue of the exposure to germs:  http://www.wisebread.com/germs-dirt-bacteria-infection-immune-system-antibiotics-disease.  In fact, a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2000 showed that children exposed to a whole variety of germs and infections were less likely to develop asthma and wheezing by the time they are six years old.

But what if children are introduced to the germs via a vaccination?  Well, vaccinations are one way to fool mother nature, so you end up with the same result; that is, children who are vaccinated are more likely to have allergies and asthma than those children who are not vaccinated.  (See an earlier blog for more discussion:  http://woodbury.patch.com/blog_posts/its-not-nice-to-fool-mother-nature-part-2 .)  So clearly, it is a fine line that we need to tread to make our lives healthy, but not be too miserable in the process of getting healthy.  We don’t want to trade an acute illness for a chronic illness, but we don’t want to be acutely ill so badly that we cannot recover from it.

Our unwillingness to embrace the value of an acute illness is a contributor to the rising cost of health care in this country. People take their children or themselves to doctors when they have acute symptoms that our bodies are perfectly capable of managing without outside intervention.  Our demand for results NOW ends up costing us in the end with more chronic illness because we cannot bear to miss a moment being sick, when perhaps we need to just slow down for a couple days.  Instead, doctors cave to requests for antibiotics when the cough is viral.

No one likes to be sick (I suppose that really isn’t true), but sometimes it is necessary.  There are ways to become sick less often and for shorter periods of time.  More on that later.

Remedy of The Week #6

This plant, when made into a homeopathic remedy, helps connective tissue.

These last couple weeks have been about dental work, for me and for some of my clients.  So this week’s remedy of the week has some unexpected dental use.  Those of you who have taken an acute care class I have taught didn’t learn about this feature of this remedy because I just learned it myself.

The Remedy of the Week is all about connective tissue.  This remedy is so important when it comes to ankle and wrist sprains, I can’t imagine practicing without it.  It is also very helpful for Ganglion cysts. Acute shin splints?  Take this remedy. It also happens to be a specific for injuries to the Illiac Crest (which I mentioned in an earlier post) which is also called a Hip Pointer–Christian Ponder, are you reading this??? This remedy could have saved the second half of the season for you.

Because it is a connective tissue remedy, it becomes important to know where you have connective tissues in your body (everywhere) and under what circumstances they might be injured.  Did you know that there is a peridontal ligament under your gums?  So if you have any dental work which involves pushing or manipulating on the gum, you may want to take a dose of this remedy. (Thanks to my colleague Betty Jo Arnet for this tip.  It really helped!)

Click here to learn what this remedy is and how else it might be useful.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

It’s Not Nice To Fool Mother Nature–Part 2

If you haven’t read my previous posting on Fooling Mother Nature, please click here.

Suppressing symptoms becomes a game of Whack A Mole

Tinkering with the food chain is but one way that man tries to fool mother nature.  Medicine is another.

Let me begin by saying that I think there are definitely times where western medicine and pharmaceuticals are necessary.  However, there seems to be an attitude in the philosophy (if one can call it that) of western medicine that we have a shortage of antibiotics or antidepressants or Lipitor in our bodies.  The problem with this view point, in addition to it being a fallacy, is that it fails to get to the root of the problem.

I remember first hearing about the idea of a “Chemical Imbalance” in the brain used as an explanation for a particular health issue experienced by a friend.  The very first thought I had was, “Well, why is there a chemical imbalance?”  That question, of course, has never been answered to my satisfaction by Western Medicine.  The history of that explanation is that in the 1950’s antidepressants were accidentally discovered when a drug designed to help Tuberculosis made the patients unusually happy.  Other unintended discoveries made researchers conclude that if one could improve with chemicals that there must be a chemical imbalance.

If it were true that adding chemicals to improve someone’s mood meant that there was a chemical imbalance, then one could say that if drinking alcohol made someone jolly, there must be deficiency of alcohol (or other chemical easily replaced with alcohol) present in that person.  Although there could be a grain of truth to the idea, it is a gross oversimplification.  And it still doesn’t answer the question of Why?

What does it mean to get to the root of the problem?  One thing I know for sure is that it does not mean balancing the chemicals out with other chemicals.  Imagine, if you will, a pole with vines growing on the pole.  If you don’t want the vines on the pole, the logical thing would be to cut the vines down.  Of course, they would keep coming back.  You could cut the vines down together with the pole.  That would be a little like doing surgery to remove a body part—say a hysterectomy for excessive bleeding.  But the vines would just grow on the ground with a vengeance, perhaps doubling in number because the stems were cut.  That is like getting a stronger new disease when the old expression of the dis-ease has been removed.  So rather than excessive bleeding, perhaps you develop fibromyalgia over time.  To rid the problems of the vines growing, you need to dig them out by the roots.

To do anything but solving the source of the problem is like playing a game of Whack A Mole.

It is well known that Western Medicine suppresses symptoms.  Physicians will agree with that.  What is not agreed on is whether this is a problem.  Eczema is one of the expressions of dis-ease that is commonly suppressed, frequently with cortisone cream.  And if you trick the skin into not expressing that dis-ease, the body will express it elsewhere, usually in the lungs.  Chinese Medicine doctors have known about the relationship between the skin and the lungs for thousands of years.

I once had a client who sought help with her asthma.  A good remedy for her presented itself clearly.  She took the remedy.  Mid way between appointments, she called me to report that she now had a ring of warts on her finger.  She had had them frozen or burned off (I can’t recall which form of suppression worked for her) many times and they had finally stayed away.  They had returned quickly upon taking the remedy.  Her asthma was gone.  One stronger dose of the same remedy a few months later removed the warts as well, this time without any asthma and no Whack A Mole.

There are many studies which confirm that tricking the body has consequences.  As long ago as 2000, there were already 6 studies confirming the increased incidences of allergies and asthma in children that had been received the DTP and Tetanus vaccines versus those who had not.  In fact, they were 50% more likely to develop this dis-ease.  Conversely, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reports that when a parent chooses good nutrition, such as giving their child nutrient dense food like raw milk to prevent acute illnesses studies show a DECREASED incidence of asthma and allergies.

Many people will argue that antibiotics are not suppressing illness because they actually kill the cause of the disease—the germ.  It is getting to the root of the problem, they claim.  Alas, it isn’t true.  Germs, like Real Estate, rely on location, location, location.  Many pathogenic bacteria are found in perfectly healthy people.  You have to be dis-eased before you can become diseased.  Even Louis Pasteur recanted his research on germs.  On his death bed he is reported to have said, “Bernard was right; the pathogen is nothing; the terrain is everything.”  This is why frequently children with ear infections and adults with sinus infections end up on a cycle of antibiotics from which it is hard to extract oneself. (Check out the Wellness Directory of Minnesota.  http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/history/biographies/louis_pasteur.htm).  The Antibiotics do nothing to change the terrain.  Too many antibiotics and the game of Whack a Mole is on once again, presenting itself as yeast infections and digestive disorders and recurring infections. 

Changing the terrain?  That is a subject for a future blog…

Remedy of the Week #5

People who need this remedy feel cold and want warm beverages.

This week’s remedy of the week is one that has been useful the past month or so.  This remedy is good for many things, but it is particularly well known for use in Food Poisoning.  You know the feeling.  Vomiting, freezing cold, you don’t want to be left alone.

If you need this remedy, you probably are a bit anxious and restless. It may occur to you that you’ll never get well, or you may even think you’ll die.  You might WANT to die you feel so awful.

You may be wondering how this remedy has been useful in the past month or so.  Have that many people gotten food poisoning?  Is there something wrong with the local restaurants?  Not at all.  It also happens to be a really good remedy for gastroenteritis, sometimes commonly referred to as the stomach flu.  Who knows, it could be genuine influenza that is going around.  In homeopathy, we just look at the symptoms.  Diagnosis not necessary.  My colleagues and I have been using this remedy for the stomach flu that is going around.

Click here to learn what the Remedy of the Week is, and to learn how you can use this and other remedies to PREVENT getting sick.

Remedy of the Week #4

Have you ever eaten too much?

Have you ever had too much to drink?

How do you feel when this happens?  Weak, nauseous, tired, full, headache, stomach ache?

This week’s remedy of the week can help out in those situations and help you ring in the New Year feeling a bit more alive.  In addition to feeling like you have over indulged in some way, it also helps the feeling that if you could just throw up, you’d feel better.  If you could just have a BM, you’d feel better.  If you could just cough something out, you’d feel better.

Emotionally, someone who needs this remedy generally wants to be left alone to sleep or rest, if you just could.  You are crabby and irritable.

Click HERE to find out the name of this over indulgence, hangover, too much to eat remedy.  Read the whole posting, because you’ll find information on how to take the remedy to make it most effective.

If you tend to over indulge too much in either eating or drinking, call Kathryn for help with that.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

What Remedies Do These Movie Characters Need?

During the holiday season, I like to rewatch some classic holiday themed movies.  Some of them are more classic than others.  A more recent holiday movie I enjoy, and not just in the holiday season, is The Holiday.  This 2006 movie stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.  For those of you have not seen this movie, the story line is that Cameron Diaz (Amanda Woods) and Kate Winslet (Iris Simpkins) are both involved in romantic break ups just before Christmas.  They happen to meet online when Amanda and Iris go through a home exchange website to have a vacation in another city.  They stay in each other’s homes and the story begins.   (Warning:  There is some spoiler information ahead.  So watch the movie first, and then come back and read the blog posting.)

As it turns out, Amanda has broken up with her cheating boyfriend and meets someone while staying at Iris’s house.  She has trouble with relationships.  She can’t cry when they are over, and instead of crying, she gets esophageal spasms.  Her inability to cry stems from the time when her parents divorced when she was 15.  She cried endlessly and then suddenly stopped crying and has never cried since.

Iris has a three year relationship with a co-worker which is classified as an unrequited love.  This man will never treat her right.  She keeps on with it in hopes that someday he will.  When he announces he is engaged to someone else, she decides to leave town.  He keeps in touch with her so she can never forget him.

Not every movie character is so well developed that we can flush out a remedy for that character, but these two are.

The character of Amanda is a classic case of the remedy Ignatia amara.  Ignatia is known for, among other things, grief–particularly grief which feels new.  The person who needs it either cannot stop crying, or cannot cry at all.  Amanda displayed both symptoms over time.  In addition, there is a lot of spasms and cramping in all the remedies in the Loganaceae family, of which Ignatia is a part.  The esophageal spasms confirm this remedy.  Interestingly, she is finally able to cry at the end of the movie, which draws her back to her new British beau.  Why was he able to help her and no one else was?  Because he needs the same or similar remedy she did.  He was also in a state of grief over a wife who died two years previously and reported that he cried about everything.  His state was actually homeopathic to her state.  It is possible that, if this were areal situation, that she could go back into the opposite state of needing to cry all the time, if he were only close but not quite the right person.

Iris, also in a state of grief, needs Aurum Muriaticum Natronatum or possibly Aurum Muriaticum.  We don’t get information on any other symptoms, other than being a neat freak, to confirm this remedy.  People who need Natrum Muriaticum have a tendency to get involved in impossible relationships, such as the one between Iris and her co-worker.  Natrum Muriaticum is everyone’s best friend.  People come to them and confide in them.  One of the other characters in the movie tells Iris that she is the Best Friend instead of the Leading Lady in her own life. However, Iris has an even higher sense of responsibility (Aurum) than just Nat Mur would display.  Also, there is a lot of drama in the relationship—at least from her perspective (Aurum Mur Nat).  Aur Mur Nat also has a fear of rejection, which Iris displayed in her unwillingness to put her foot down in this relationship.  Aurum Muriaticum is more open and sympathetic than than Aurum Muriaticum Natronatum, so it is a distinct possibility that this is the correct remedy for Iris.

Who hasn’t watched It’s a Wonderful Life a few times over the years?  The hero of the story is George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart.  In spite of all the good he has accomplished during his life, and all the sacrifices he made on behalf of other people, he becomes suicidal when he can’t save the local company.  In homeopathy, we call this symptom, Mind, Delusions, Duty, He has neglected his.  There are several remedies that believe they have neglected their duty, but the one that becomes suicidal is Aurum Metallicum.  George Bailey, when he was unable to help someone out, do his duty as he sees it, he wants to die.  A dose of Aurum Metallicum would have helped him, had he not had the good fortune to be visited by an angel.

Jim Carey’s version of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” gives us a little insight into why the Grinch turned out the way he did.  Why he had such a small, hard heart came from his upbringing (Mind, Hard Hearted).  He had no conscience and no remorse (Mind, Moral Feeling, Want Of).  The source of his problems was that he was embarrassed terribly when he was a young Grinch (Mind, Ailments from Mortification).  He tried to make himself fit in and he got ridiculed.  He hated those who had teased him (Mind, Hatred).  Although several remedies come up which could describe the Grinch, I would give him Anacardium.  His lack of remorse and the source of his problems suggest this remedy.  He could also possibly need Nitric Acid because they are very vengeful.

Although most movie script writers and authors don’t know much about homeopathy, they do know about human nature, and remedies reflect human nature, thus making movies appear like a person who makes some sense to us, the viewers.

If you feel like any of these characters describes you, please call Kathryn to get a good remedy to match your symptoms.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

Remedy of the Week #3

In keeping with the spirit of trying to present really useful remedies for the holiday season, knowing this next one, and having it on hand could help prevent an illness in the family from taking over the holiday.

You all know this symptom.  You are sure you are coming down with something.  Your body aches.  Your throat hurts–maybe the worst sore throat you’ve ever had.  You are laying in bed all covered up when suddenly you are sweating and you MUST uncover.  You proceed to kick the blankets off, bringing instant relief.  After a short time, you are shivering and your teeth are chattering.  You cover up again.  Repeat many times.

Your hair looks terrible.  Your tongue may be coated gray or white.  When you bite into your tongue, small dents remain.  Your breath stinks–maybe a metallic smell.  You are salivating.  You are sweating.  You are restless.  You are MISERABLE.

Click HERE to find out the name of this remedy.  Be sure to read the entire answer for more useful information.

Feel Sick?  Call Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

Remedy of the Week #2

With the holidays coming, you or your family may be needing some help from this remedy.

Ailments from too much joy is the description of this remedy.  If you have ever had such a good time that you couldn’t sleep, you may find that you can settle down with this remedy.  This applies to children as well.

There are many insomnia remedies, but for acute insomnia caused by a situation that has been fun and joyful, this one can’t be beat.  If you need this remedy you may also be seeking additional stimulation to build on what you are already feeling, when in fact, you really need to calm down.

To have this remedy waft over you, click here.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

Remedy Of The Week

Beginning this week, I will be posting a Remedy of The Week on this Blog.  Many of you want to learn more about remedies and it is a fun way for me to look at them a different way.

I will describe the remedy and then you try to figure out which remedy it is.  To find the answer, click the link.

Thanks, and lets have fun.

_______________________________________

People who need this remedy are generally very open and friendly and tend to have a lot of friends.  They are restless and as such like to travel and see the world.  The main theme of this remedy is DIFFUSION.  Everything comes out of them and everything comes back in.  Because of these lack of boundaries, they tend to be fearful.

The people who need it will burn the candle at both ends, either socially or with work, similarly to the natural state of the material dose of this remedy.  They are often weary and very tired.

This lightness and effervescence of this natural substance shows up as a craving of carbonated beverages or feeling better from carbonated beverages in people who are sick.
What Remedy Is It?

Click HERE to find the answer.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com