The End of the World And What You Can Do About It

The Weather Forecast for 12/21/12. Not sure who created this, but thanks for the good bit of humor!

This may be the last blog I post.  That is, if the Mayans are correct, or our interpretation of their calendar is correct.

Homeopathy will certainly not stop the world from ending if it is indeed destined to do so.  But there are some remedies that do reflect a fear that the world is coming to an end in some way.  So I thought it would be fun and interesting to share some information about them, in light of the impending doom.

The first place to look in the homeopathic repertory is under a symptom called, Mind, Prophesying, Predicts the time of death.  The first remedy one thinks of in this situation is Aconite.  This remedy is a fairly common one and you can pick it up at your local Vitamin Shoppe or food coop or natural foods store.  The idea behind Aconite is not that you are going to die sometime soon.  The idea is that you are going to die in the next couple of seconds.  It is a useful remedy for children who are very fearful about medical procedures, for example.  Also, it helps those who have been in a car accident who can’t seem to shake the fear that the next car in the intersection is going to blast through the red light and kill them.  (I’m sure you all know what I am talking about.)  Aconite was given out a lot by homeopaths in New York after 9/11, and I’m sure those in Connecticut will also be recommending Aconite as well, after the recent tragedy there.

With not quite the same sense of urgency, but nearly so, we find Argentum Nitricum.  You may know this substance as Silver Nitrate.  Do you ever look over the edge of something high and get the willies?  If you feel that way because you are afraid you might jump, this is the general feeling of Argentum Nitricum.  They are a bit impulsive and they get that sensation in high places.  If they are in between large buildings, they are concerned the buildings may fall.  Bridges?  They might collapse.  It is also a good remedy for people with performance anxiety.

Cenchris contortrix is also known as the Copperhead Snake.  The feel they will die immediately as well.  Often it has to do with a violent death in this case, whereas Aconite is more about an illness or an accident.  The fear often comes on the night and the person who needs it wakes up screaming with her heart pounding.

Lac Defloratum is a remedy made from skimmed milk.  Skimmed milk is actually not good for you, but as a homeopathic remedy, it is amazing and with the right mental emotional picture, can help people get over their sensitivity to milk.  Like all milk remedies, the people who need it are care takers.  The women are very domesticated and for them, there is no other choice.  Sometimes it gets to the point where they are feeling hopeless about their situation.  She will suffocate and die alone in a convent.  (Words from the 1800’s.)  Modern day information would be a mother who is really torn between staying home with her children and feeling like she simply can’t do that anymore.  Or they get headaches so badly they wish they could die.  There is no fear of death. It is a more drawn out process, a bit of a living death.

There is also a symptom Mind, Death, Conviction of.  The people who need the remedies in this symptom are sure they will die, without assigning a time to their death.  So those who are fearful of the demise predicted by the Mayans would definitely not fall into this category.  As it turns out, there is almost no overlap with the remedies in the other symptoms.

I hope the Mayans are wrong and you are around to read my next blog post.  Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

All the best,

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com.

A Brief Trip to Hell and Back–All without leaving my kitchen!

A small red mark is all that remains after a painful burn.

The title may be a bit over dramatic, but my recent accident in the kitchen hurt like the devil.

Saturday I was frying some home made breaded onions.   My son and I are both on Gluten Free diets.  I have been thinking a lot about the old fashioned green bean casserole, but it is NOT  Gluten Free, as you may know.

Early last week I discovered that there are some Gluten Free Condensed Soups available and the Gluten Free Store in my town carries them.  I had made a trip and picked up a couple cartons of the Cream of Mushroom variety.  I could have made it from scratch, but I just wanted to try out the soup.  I can’t use the French Fried onions you get in the store, so I was making my own.

Somehow, my finger got dipped into the hot coconut oil in which I was frying the onions.  It hurt like the devil!  I started out running my finger under warm water.  After all, cold water for a burn is NOT homeopathic.  I gradually got to cold water.  That little trick of starting with warm water actually worked!

Quickly my mind went to all the possible remedies.  Causticum, Calendula ointment, Cantharis are the ones most easily accessible.  I considered a dose of Causticum, thinking that this may be too bad a burn for that remedy.  I have used it frequently when I have burned myself on a curling iron or by touching the oven rack, or burned my tongue on hot pizza.  But this burn felt worse than any I had had previously.  Not being able to think too clearly on my own, I grabbed my homeopathy first aid book.  I came up with Cantharis.  In reading it, it seems like maybe I should have used it in other circumstances as well.  But the two key symptoms I had were that it burned without being touched and it is for scalds which are better from ice and cold applications.  I noticed that as long as I had my finger on a bag of ice, it was not painful at all.  But mere moments after removing it, the pain was excruciating.

I took a dose of Cantharis.  Nothing.  Being certain I had the right remedy, I took a second dose 15 minutes later.  Within 10 minutes I felt some relief.  But it only lasted for about 10 minutes.  By then I was at my son’s basketball game–not where I wanted to be with that much pain.  I took another dose.  BINGO!  That did the trick.  I continued to feel less and less pain.  However, I could see a couple of small blisters begin to form.  I thought about the way homeopathy works, sometimes pushing you through the various stages of an injury or illness more quickly than normal.

I went to bed, thinking I may wake up in pain and need another dose.  I kept the remedy on my bedside table.  No need for it.  I woke up feeling barely any pain. The blisters that were beginning to form were gone. I did manage to not have to wash any dishes yesterday because the hot water hurt my finger.

Today, the redness you see in the picture is all that remains of any evidence of a burn.

The lesson:  don’t stop after one dose.  There was probably plenty going on under the surface, so to speak.  My experience with Causticum is that it worked so quickly.  But this was a more serious burn.  It needed more time.

Homeopathy works great when there are first aid injuries that require care.  But don’t give up too quickly!

Was it the flu or not? Who Cares?

My son got sick last week.  Bless his heart.  He put up with a gym class at the end of the day rather than calling me to come and get him from middle school.

I was intending to bring him to the chiropractor after school, which I did.  I figured it could only help and certainly wouldn’t hurt.

We got home and I gave him a remedy that fit his stomach ache symptoms–Colocynthis.  Stomach cramps.  Better from bending double.  Crabby, irritable, thinks everyone else is stupid.

It helped, but a new symptom developed.  He couldn’t eat without developing a stomach ache.  And he was hungry.  Bummer.  Gave him a different remedy–this time it was Chamomilla. Finally he developed a fever.  He became absolutely freezing for awhile.  This is actually not a bad sign.  It is a signal that the immune system is ramping up and the cytokine’s are present.

At bedtime, I gave him a different remedy because the stomach ache had gone and now he had a headache.  Worse from moving.  Better from putting pressure on his head.  I gave him Bryonia, not only because of the motion symptoms, but also he developed some restlessness.  This meant that he wanted to move to get comfortable, but whenever he moved he felt worse.  This is the picture-perfect paradox of Bryonia.  A dose before bed.  He is 13, so I left him the bottle on his night stand so he could give himself a dose in the middle of the night if he happened to wake up.

The next morning, I let him sleep in.  He had a bit of a headache still in the morning.  I gave him a dose of Bryonia soon after waking.  By noon, he was much better.  Nearly recovered, except for a bit of remaining stomach sensitivity.

He played two basketball games on Saturday and one on Sunday.

What this demonstrates is what we frequently see with homeopathy.  That you don’t always avoid the illness, but homeopathic remedies can help you move through each stage of the illness much more rapidly.  Did he need all those remedies?  Would Bryonia have helped him from the start?  Not likely.  Bryonia isn’t even listed as a remedy for stomach pain helped by bending double.  But the rapid progression through three homeopathic remedy states indicates that he may have been sick for longer, had he not had the remedies.  When  you get the flu or flu-like symptoms, your state can change rapidly and frequently.  It isn’t enough to say take X number of doses of this remedy.  You must pay attention to the symptoms you are experiencing.  Call the homeopath if you aren’t sure what to do next.

Did he have the flu?  I actually don’t really care, nor does it really matter as far as homeopathy is concerned.  The important thing is that his flu-like symptoms were helped and he progressed through the illness rapidly, coming out stronger in the end.

Homeopathy and Influenza

Offers for vaccinations of all types are seen all over.

If it weren’t for the weather changing to give us a hint that Flu Season is forthcoming, driving around your local Target or Walgreen’s would be a dead giveaway.

Everywhere you look there are signs encouraging you to get the flu shot–and perhaps others.

Before you get sidetracked and enter the store, you should know that Homeopathy has a long track record of helping people who have influenza.

There are three ways homeopathy can help prevent influenza.

First is a good constitutional remedy.  Any acute illness is about opportunity.  Most germs are opportunistic, and the flu virus is no exception.  The best way to prevent acute illness is not through vaccinations, but from becoming more healthy in our core.  A constitutional remedy strengthens your whole being, making you less susceptible to any illness, including influenza.  A constitutional remedy can be recommended at any time, but it does take time to work, each year, making you stronger and stronger.

Second, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the developer of the principals of homeopathy, spoke of something called the genus epidemicus.  What he was referring to was the most common remedy or remedies that are needed when an epidemic is going around.  During the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, the most common remedy was Gelsemium, followed by Bryonia. Influenza could have been prevented by giving preventive doses of Gelsemium or Bryonia or both to family members and friends of those who suffered through it.  It is different each year and it cannot be determined which remedy will serve this purpose until several cases have been helped with a remedy or remedies.  Fortunately, with the internet making communication easier, homeopaths are in touch each flu season to share information.

Finally, homeopathic nosodes–remedies made from disease sources–can be used to help ward off the flu.  Referred to as homeoprophylaxis, studies have been conducted all over the globe showing the efficacy of this approach.  Please read the references here to learn more.  For influenza, homeopaths can use the remedy called Influenzinum to lower the risk.  When vaccines are developed, they use a particular strain of the flu each year to make a new shot.  The theory presented is that you are only immune to the current strains and each year there are new strains.  This may be true, or it may be a money making scheme.  Because homeopathy is more concerned with symptoms than with influenza strains, we can use the same dose of Influenzinum each year to reduce the risk of illness.  If you are interested in getting a few doses of influenzinum, please click here.  Put a note in the comment section that you are interested in lowering your risk of catching influenza with nosodes.

Personally, I would definitely invest in option #1, the constitutional remedy approach.  I would also try the nosodes, #3, especially if it is close to flu season and you don’t have a good constitutional remedy.  Finally, if necessary, I would try #2.

 

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

 

Ragweed Allergies–Homeopathy Can Help!

This has been quite a season for sneezing and allergies, hasn’t it?  I don’t recall one this bad in recent memory.

If you live in the US, and your allergies typically flair up in the August through Frost time frame, you are probably allergic to Ragweed.  Symptoms include itchy eyes, itchy and runny nose, sneezing–you know the picture.

Speaking of pictures, this is what it looks like now.

Ragweed in all it’s blossoming glory, spreading pollen to everyone. An equal opportunity sneeze plant.

This is what it looks like in the spring, when you could still pull it up without disturbing any pollen.

This is what it looks like before it blossoms and you could actually pull it out of the ground without spreading pollen around.

There are other forms of ragweed in the US, but this is the most common.

Briefly, some natural things to do to help with the allergic reaction:

• Take a shower after you have been outside.
• Sleep with the windows closed–even though it is wonderful weather.
• Make sure your pet gets bathed too, especially if it sleeps in your room.
• Stay away from other things to which you are allergic, such as dogs, cats, certain foods.  Some allergy specialists believe that we all have an allergy “bucket”, which when it overflows, we exhibit symptoms.  So during this especially difficult time of year for allergies, eliminating other allergens can help.

It seems everyone wants to know if homeopathy can help allergies.  The answer is yes.  Not only have I seen it help, but apparently research agrees.  It is the most common topic studied in homeopathic research.  I have made a report available on my website.  You can download it by clicking here.  Read the article on that page and at the bottom of the page you will find a link to download the report.

The goal in homeopathy is to treat the whole person so that the allergies aren’t causing problems any more–to change the level of susceptibility to the allergen.  The goal is not to merely get a person through the allergy season.  When treated with a well-chosen constitutional remedy, a person generally notices the next season that the allergies aren’t quite as bad.  The following season, he may forget he ever had it.  If the allergies are quite persistent, it sometimes requires three or four seasons to completely eradicate the allergies.

Until then, there is acute relief available in the form of doses of homeopathic ragweed, called Ambrosia Artemnisiifolia  It is not a remedy you can find in a store easily, but it is available through me and perhaps through mail order.  Let me know if you need it.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

Who is the Authority on “Cures”? Part 2

Hear This! I am the authority!

Why would you rely on the statements of a western medicine doctor as to whether there is to “cure” to evaluate the possibilities offered by a natural health modality?  Do they study the alternatives? (Most often, the answer is NO).  So why would you think they would know whether or not homeopathy (or acupuncture or chiropractic, etc.) can help?  Why would you allow them to be the authority?  This I do not understand.  Would you ask a lawn care expert questions about building your deck?  Yes, they both have to do with the exterior of your home, but that is where the similarities end.

I would not want to be the authority on Western Medicine.  Even if I knew much about it, what I know is colored by my natural health affinity.  Similarity, anything an MD knows about homeopathy or natural health in general is also deeply influenced by their education.

It is also important to note that no matter what the affliction, Western Medicine Doctors will almost always say, “There is no evidence to prove that works.”  I am the proud owner of a 300+ page ebook which outlines all the research that has been done on homeopathy.  In fact, I just got a new, updated version of the book earlier this week with two new chapters about new topics which have been researched.  Much of the research is done in other countries where research is still funded by independent parties who do not stand to benefit on the outcome of the research. Some people in the US are rather provincial and they think that research done in other countries doesn’t count.  I disagree.  Generally, with some ethnic exceptions for certain pathology, the human body works pretty much the same everywhere on the planet.

In telling you about this supposed lack of knowledge, MD’s are assuming you will not look anything up or if you tried, you would not find the information easily.  I encourage you to go to www.homeopathic.com and order Dana Ullmann’s Homeopathic Family Medicine ebook which will give you 2 years of updates to the book via e-mail. It is reasonably priced around $50.00 for a book that gets updated 2 – 3 times per year.

So the correct response to that comment is, “Do you ever read research on homeopathy (or whatever they are denying)?”  or “What are your sources to make that statement?”

I recently received an inquiry about Lyme’s disease and the CEASE protocol.  This person’s naturopath says there is no way to recover from Chronic Lyme’s disease.  My experience is different and this naturopath, although he may have studied a few months of homeopathy, isn’t familiar with the protocol I would follow.  Where is the curiosity?

Let’s be clear—this is ultimately about the money.  You just need to go to online chat rooms and discussion boards to know that people are pretty jaded about the ability to cure any disease through raising money to support research.  Most people who have put themselves out there year after year and have seen no cure any closer than it was 5 – 10 years ago get pretty disillusioned and feel taken advantage of.  Usually it comes down to, “they would lose their stream of money of they found a cure.”  Yep.

There’s a lot of money to be made keeping people sick and selling them drugs.

So homeopaths, naturopaths, acupuncturists, etc, rely on word of mouth to keep their businesses going, because they don’t have a lifelong stream of income from people who get well.  I actually do have clients I rarely see any more or possibly never see any more.

So if someone says there is no cure for something, assume that it only applies to Western Medicine and continue your quest for recovery.

The last iteration of this type of conversation came about in a conversation where I was asked about help with a particular acute situation that arises for this individual.  I suggested that he could also get help with a number of other problems he happened to mention.  He said, “Oh, I’m managing those just fine with the medication.”  It hadn’t occurred to him that there may be another way.  So he wasn’t told there was no way to recover, he hadn’t actually asked.

There are problems with relying on the Western Medicine as well.  Briefly, these include but are not limited to:

• Medicines are generally toxic and it stresses the kidneys or liver
• Medicines usually suppress symptoms and your dis-ease ends up being expressed in a different way if it is suppressed long enough
• It is expensive to be on medication for a long time

The upshot is, there is a great deal of empirical and historical evidence about the efficacy of homeopathy.  Relying on an MD’s (or even a naturopath’s) knowledge of the world of homeopathy isn’t going to yield an informed opinion.  And lastly, think outside the proverbial box.  Much dis-ease you may be managing with dangerous drugs can be healed with Homeopathy.

Let me know if you need help.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com

Who is the Authority on “Cures?” Part 1

When I have had a similar conversation with at least three people on the same topic, it is time to write a blog about it.

The most recent?  The belief that because Western medicine, or naturopathic medicine says something cannot be “cured”, then no other modality can cure it either.

I believe this stems from the belief that if it (fill in the blank with the disease with which you or your loved one is afflicted) could be “cured” then surely, western medicine or naturopathic medicine would know about it and would, therefore, be using that cure.  I remember reading an interview with the late Patrick Swayze when he was dying of pancreatic cancer–which is almost always a death sentence.  That was his viewpoint.  If there was a way to deal with it, the doctors would be doing that.  Sadly, that viewpoint didn’t work so well for him.  I am not suggesting anything that could have helped him here–I’m just thinking that if I had a disease that was basically a death sentence, I wouldn’t be stopping with just western medicine.  The more tools in the toolbox, the better.

Before I continue, I need to mention that use of the word “cure” is actually forbidden by anyone but a western medicine practitioner, so I will use the word “Heal” or phrase “Recover from”.  And frankly, they don’t have any “cures” so imagine my puzzlement that they can use it and we can’t.  Oh Well.  Recovery is really a much better description and a much more spiritual concept.

Even though I can’t use the word “cure”, I was curious about the definition, so I made my way to Dictionary.com.  There are lots of definitions, some of which involve meat, but the one ones I like are:  “a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy” and “A method or course of remedial treatment, as for disease” and “successful remedial treatment; restoration to health”.  And of course, “remedial” means “to remedy something.”  So it definitely applies to homeopathy, especially since we use remedies, but since I can’t use the actual word, we’ll just rely on the definition and my substitutions indicated above.

Let’s start with the big ones:  ALS, Type 1 Diabetes (also known as Juvenile Diabetes), autoimmune disorders, etc.  Floating the idea that there is no way to recover from any of these illnesses does a disservice to those who suffer from them.  Western Medicine can only at best manage them and at worst, suppress the immune system to prevent the symptoms from reappearing.  Maybe there are other options…but they don’t happen to be part of the elusive standard of care.  With many of these diseases, the sooner you go on the suppressive drugs, the harder it is for the natural methods to work.

What about other diseases, that aren’t so new and have a longer track record with natural medicine, homeopathy in particular.  Graves Disease is a good example.  Western medicine has a drug which can put the disease into remission.  If it doesn’t work, the solution is drinking the radioactive iodine to kill the thyroid and then be on synthetic thyroid the rest of your life.  Let’s examine homeopathy and Grave’s disease.  But first, a bit of back ground information.

In order to determine what a new remedy heals, the new potentized substance is given to 20 – 30 healthy individuals.  This is called a proving.  The participants (provers) each take a dose of the remedy and then start journaling their symptoms.  After a few weeks, the provers get together to discuss their symptoms and a pattern starts to develop.  Over time, the new remedy gets added to the homeopathic Materia Medica (which is a list of symptoms belonging to each remedy) and also to the Repertory.  The Repertory is a very large book which lists symptoms and under each symptom are the remedies that are known to be produced in a healthy person when the proving was conducted.  However, both of these references also include Clinical information.  A proving won’t produce Grave’s Disease or Cancer or anything really serious like that.  But based on other symptoms, it was found through practical use on a number of clients, to help recover from some pathologies.

The Homeopathic Repertory has a symptom for Grave’s Disease.  It has 88 remedies in it.  Since provings do not produce pathological symptoms like that, it means that these references all come from clinical experience.  Scrolling through the sources of the remedies, there are some long standing, highly respected homeopaths who have reported recovery from Grave’s Disease. Some of the references go back to the late 1800’s and early 1900.  So is there a “cure” for it?  Not according to Western Medicine, but according to the people who know homeopathy there is a way to recover.

More Tomorrow.

Kathryn

651-748-1556

www.lotushomeopathy.com