FIRST AID FOR BURNS AND SCALDS

Homeopathic treatment works excellent as a first aid treatment, and it is unfortunate that not more people around the world know about this effective natural medicine.

Just the other day when I was pouring hot water into my cup of tea, I somehow managed to pour some of it on my hand as well, causing a burn to appear within seconds. Unfortunately I didn't have my homeopathic first aid remedy kit with me at the time, so I couldn't prevent the skin to slowly create small watery blisters at the location of the burn.

Burns and scalding of the skin may come from different sources, such as the sun, hot liquids, electrical units, radiation or chemical sources.

The degrees of burn are defined as follows: A First degree burn damages the outer skin layer, causing redness and a feeling of heat and pain. A Second degree burn damages more than the upper layer of the skin. It extends into the dermis. In addition to redness and pain, blisters and vesicles will form. A Third degree burn damages both the upper and lower layer in the skin, as well as nerve endings which results in pain that initially are followed by numbness.

It is important to seek medical supervision in cases of severe burns. For self treatment and/or treatment at the local homeopaths office there are various homeopathic remedies that comes in question after burns and scalds of the skin.

My first choice of homeopathic remedy for burns is Cantharis. Cantharis is a remedy made of the spanish fly. Its effects are characterized by a violent and aggressive action on the tissues. Among many other useful undertakings of this remedy, it relives the severe pain following a burn and promotes the healing process of the skin.

As a first aid treatment take Cantharis C30 every half hour the first 3 hours after the burn. This will lessen the tendency of the skin to form blisters, and the burning pain will decrease at once after taking the remedy.

Following the homeopathic principles (like cures like), you should also avoid cooling down the burned area - but rather try to keep it near a warm source (as near as possible without causing too much pain). This is of course related to burns of less severity. For the sever type of burns, always contact the emergency unit at your local hospital.

PULSATILLA - THE WINDFLOWER

Pulsatilla is made from the Windflower (Anemone Pratensis). The windflower grows in clusters, indicative of how Pulsatilla types are happiest in the company of others. And as the wind changes direction of the flower, these people tend to change viewpoints easily.

Disposition. The person needing the homeopathic remedy Pulsatilla have a mild and yielding disposition. They are very empathetic people and tend to be swayed by emotion rather than thought. Pulsatilla’s are very dependent on others, easily led and may be highly changeable in mood and action. They have a tendency to inward grief and silent peevishness, in need for support and reassurance. The person needing Pulsatilla may fear enclosed spaces, crowds, hights and the dark.

Physical Complaints. The physical complaints are characterized by changeability of the condition. The main spheres where we find disturbances is the hormonal system and in the circulation. Pulsatilla is often given for women’s complaints, and it is one of the main remedies for almost all forms of menstrual problems. Circulatory problems such as varicosities, rosy cheeks, congestive headaches etc. are often seen in people needing Pulsatilla. These tendencies reveals the disposition for Pulsatilla patients to desire cold, fresh air and the aggravation they experience from increased body heat. Other conditions include: depression, asthma, allergy, rheumatism, migraines, cystitis, eczema and ear and eye complaints. It is often given for ailments with a profuse discharge, especially catarrhal conditions.

Children. Pulsatilla is one of the most frequently indicated remedies for infant and childhood health concerns. In children you will see a Pulsatilla type cling to the parents, preferring to sit on their lap, looking for comfort and safety. They crave attention and affection. A familiar scenario among Pulsatilla kids are the jealousy manifesting when younger siblings are born.

This remedy acts best when there is a disposition to chilliness and absence of thirst.

INFLUENZA PANDEMICS

Influenza pandemics have for centuries posed the greatest threat of a worldwide calamity caused by infectious disease. Over the past 300 years, ten influenza pandemics have occurred among humans. According to recent analysis, the 1918-19 pandemic killed 50 to 100 million people globally. Today, even a "mild" pandemic could kill many millions of people.

Influenza manifests in the respiratory system and produces generalized aches and pain, especially in the limbs and back. It produces malaise; prostration; fever; coryza, headache; with photophobia and retrobulbar aching; and inflamed respiratory mucous membranes. The incubation period is around 48 hours.

The symptoms begin with sore throat with substernal burning; nonproductive cough; and coryza. Cough usually becomes severe and productive and causes pain in the chest. The soft palate, posterior hard palate, tonsils and throat become reddened and painful. The eyes water easily and the conjunctiva may be mildly inflamed. Sweating and weakness may continue for weeks. Complications include bronchitis; pneumonia; breathlessness; spitting of blood; pulmonary edema; encephalitis; and death.Old people; babies; those confined to bed; or with chronic pulmonary or heart disease are the most at risk.

During the 1918 influenza pandemic it was young people, 25 -34 years of age, which were most severely affected. They appeared to have no immunity and succumbed to a pneumonia that would kill within days. It was not uncommon for someone physically strong and in good health to get up feeling well in the morning and by bedtime they would be dead. During this flu pandemic large numbers of people sought homeopathic care and were restored to good health; in numerous cases their lives were saved

An article published in the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy in May 1921 states that Dean W.A.Pearson of Philadelphia collected 26,795 cases of influenza treated by homeopathic physicians with only a mortality rate of 1.05%, while the average conventional medical approach had a mortality rate of 30%.

During this time there were many Medical Doctors practicing homeopathic medicine throughout Europe and in America, much to the chagrin of non-homeopathic doctors and pharmacists. While conventional hospitals in the US had an 80-90% loss of life during the scarlet fever, Cholera and Flu epidemics around 1919, Homeopathic Hospitals had only a 2-5% loss.

There is however a possibility that some of these high numbers of positive effects of homeopathic treatment can be subscribed to the ill effects of the conventional treatment. Many homeopaths reported a decrease in chance of survival in those that had, previously to homeopathic treatment, been taking Aspirin. A.F. Stevens, M.D. in St.Louis said about the patients undergoing conventional treatment:
“They died like flies around a plate of poison although ‘science’ did all that could be done to ‘save’ them”.

There has been at least three large scale double-blind placebo- controlled trials to treat people with flu or influenza – like syndrome. Each of these large scale studies were conducted by independent researchers, and a treatment is considered proven when at least three independent studies verify positive results.

Several studies have suggested that the homeopathic remedy oscillococcinum, which is prepared from a duck liver, is a very effective treatment for influenza. One study found that the remedy significantly increased the rate of cure within two days of diagnosis. This was a high- quality trial, published in an important, non- homeopathic journal and involving large numbers of patients (237 treated and 241 on placebo).

It is generally impossible in homeopathy to pinpoint a few remedies that would help in general against the flu. But, what is fascinating is that during an influenza epidemic, a remedy or two will work marvellously. This remedy is sometimes referred to as genus epidemicus. The homeopathic Materia Medica has well over 3,500 remedies. There is no one remedy that is specific to the flu because individuals will manifest symptoms in different ways that are unique to them. The most important point to remember about homeopathy is that it treats the individual.

ACONITE is useful in a sudden onset of the flu with great anxiety and fear. The individual experiences high fever, dry cough, sore throat and feeling of great worry and fear, with restlessness. Typically symptoms occur after exposure to a dry, cold wind or from an emotional alarm or fright. The patient always feels better in fresh air; and feels worse in a warm room, in the evening or at night and while lying on the left side.

ARSENICUM ALBUM
Influenza in children with sudden onset and much prostration. Flus caused by gastric derangements.
The patient is extremely restless, oversensitive, anxious and weak.
The face is pale with an anxious expression.
Burning pains that are better with warm applications.
Thirsty, drinks in small sips often.
Worse between 1 and 2am.
Vomiting and diarrhea are common. The diarrhea has acrid, offensive, watery stools.

BAPTISIA
The flu comes on suddenly and is associated with high fever and a bruised feeling. The patient looks drowsy and drunk. He has profuse sweating with a high fever and an intense thirst, and the bed feels hard.
The flu is associated with a stupefying headache, with confusion.
The fever is associated with a delirium with strange sensations, as if there is somebody else in bed with him, parts of her body are separated, etc.

BRYONIA
Slow onset of the flu with a severe, throbbing headache, body pains.
There is a dryness of mucus membranes and stitching, tearing pain that worsens from motion. Fluent coryza, watery or greenish discharge. Dry, hacking cough, worse from smoking and talking.
Thirst for large amounts infrequently, preferably cold.
Pains (headache, body pains) better by pressure.
Lies on the painful part.
Sleepy, heavy, lethargic, irritable, wants to be left alone .

EUPATORIUM PERFOLIATUM
Eupatorium is said to have been a principal remedy for intermittent fever with the Indians. It is known as "Bone-set", from the prompt manner in which it relieves pain in limbs and muscles that accompanies influenza.
Sudden onset of the flu with violent aching pains in the bones, as if bones are broken. High fever preceded by chills, especially from 7 till 9 am. Cills running up and down the spine, but still thirsty for ice cold water.

GELSEMIUM tends to be the number 1 flu remedy. The flu has a slow onset and is associated with chills, tiredness and paralytic weakness. The chills begin in the hands and feet, and run up and down the spine.
These patients feel as if run over by a truck. Aching pain is felt in the muscles and they experience trembing of the limbs with lack of mucular co-ordination. Want to lie down and be left alone.
The patient is generally worse in the early morning and last thing at night. They feel better after urination and in fresh air.

PHOSPHORUS
The flu quickly affects the lungs, especially the base of the right lung. Dry, tickling cough, with tightness aross the chest, worse evening and before midnight. Bleeding. Bloody sputum, which is bright red.
The patient craves cold drinks, which may be vomited when they become warm in the stomach.
Burning, pressure and constriction in the chest; worse lying on the left side; worse lying on the painful side (patient and the cough).
This remedy is also useful in nasal bleeds, which are bright red.
Cough, worse talking and laughing.

RHUS TOXICODENDRON is useful in flu where the cause is exposure to wet, damp weather or getting wet. There is stiffness and restlessness in the joints that is wors on first movement but become better with continued movement.
Intense fever. Thirsty. Great prostration. Severe aching in the bones.
Extreme restlessness with constant changing of position, great apprehension at night, can not remain in bed.

INFLUENZINUM, a nosode made from the flu virus, can be used as a prophylactic during epidemics. Baptisia has also been used for this purpose. The "remedy epidemicus" can be found by using the totality of symptoms in several cases of the the present epidemic.

The arrival of a pandemic influenza would trigger a reaction that would change the world overnight. Many experts agrees that the widespread and indiscriminate use of antibiotics has created a time bomb and that antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, in all likelihood will bring about a reemergence of those diseases and possibly epidemics. The World Health Organization and several countries have finalized or drafted useful but overly general plans to prepare for the next pandemic.A vaccine would not be available for a number of months after the pandemic started (it could take six months to manufacture adequate vaccine stocks and current stocks may be useless because the flu virus has mutated), and there are very limited stockpiles of antiviral drugs. We should also not forget that only a few privileged areas of the world will have access to vaccine-production facilities.

The World Health Organization states that ”
an influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity, resulting in several, simultaneous epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness. With the increase in global transport and communications, as well as urbanization and overcrowded conditions, epidemics due the new influenza virus are likely to quickly take hold around the world.“

Homeopathy has been very effective in treating many of the epidemics during the 19th. And early 20th. Centuries. Why the successes are not better known is a subject for conjecture. It could be that most would rather not see the ineffectiveness of the conventional therapeutics nor accept the efficacy of homeopathy.

Even some of the hardest critics of homeopathy has admitted, that yes, in times of such epidemics – when conventional medicine has nothing to offer – we might have to trust homeopathy to work and heal.


References:
1. Materia Medica (Boericke)
2. World Health Organization.
3. Homeopathy in 'Influenza – a chorus of fifty in harmony' by W.A. Dewey, M.D. Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, May 1921.
4. The Faces of Homeopathy, an illustrated history of the first 200 years. by Julian Winston. Great Auk publishing, Tawa, New Zealand.
5. Pandemic preparedness by The World Health Organization
6. Some history of the treatment of epidemics with Homeopathy by Julian Winston
7. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 1989; 27:329
8. Preparing for the Next Pandemic By Michael T. Osterholm
From Foreign Affairs , July/August 2005

WEAKNESS DUE TO LACTOSE INTOLERANCE

A 16 year old boy had in the previous one and a half week fainted two times.

The circumstances around the fainting episodes were peculiar. Both times it happened as he was standing, stretching his arms above the head – and because of the fainting, he fell backward. Luckily he was not hurt from the falls. In addition to these episodes of fainting, his face was very pale. I asked him about his relationship with milk, as people not tolerating milk are prone to be pale. He loved milk, drank a lot of it every day. This is something which we often see at the clinic, people not tolerating milk either love it, or don’t drink it at all. Other symptoms included backache, headache and weak ankles.

The remedy which fitted his symptoms was Lac Defloratum, a homeopathic remedy made of cow’s milk. This is a remedy typically indicated in people intolerant to milk, although it was the patient’s peculiar way of fainting that led me to prescribe it.

He got a single dose of the remedy. The next day he experienced a bad headache, an aggravation of his symptoms which I had already prepared him for, knowing that he was sensitive to homeopathic remedies. The next days and weeks he was fine. He did not have any more faintings and his face regained its normal color. After 3 months I saw him again and he told me that he had no more headaches, and that he otherwise felt good.

Comment: This is a case treated on symptoms of lactose intolerance only, not from a medical diagnosis. When I realized which remedy this young man needed, it was at the same time a confirmation that his gastrointestinal system didn’t digest milk sufficiently. I asked him to reduce his milk consumption one week after starting the homeopathic treatment.

Lactose intolerance is an inability to break down lactose (the sugar found in milk) due to a lack of lactase enzymes in the body. Most humans do not produce these enzymes (with an exception in some northern countries), and are by nature lactose intolerant.

ANNABEL CROFT RELIES ON HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE

As Wimbledon fortnight begins, player-turned-TV presenter Annabel Croft describes how her life has been transformed by homeopathy. By Frances Glover

Aconite, Gelsemium, Ignatia... just a few things you might want to have handy when Andy Murray steps out at Wimbledon this week. For these homeopathic remedies can be helpful if, in respective order, you're feeling anxious and fearful, suffering pre-match nerves in the stands at Centre Court or, worse still, concerned that you might be grief-stricken when the umpire calls game, set and match.

You won't be alone in relying on homeopathic help; in the commentary box, former England women's number one Annabel Croft, now a TV presenter and mother of three, will be reaching for a cocktail of remedies to see her through the tournament. (read more..)

LYME DISEASE; EMERGING FROM A TICK BITE

At the beginning of the 70’s an unusual number of cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were reported from the region around Old Lyme, Conneticticut. From this town was derived the English name of the disease. Many of those affected said that they had noticed a skin outbreak before the joint pains set in, and a portion of these recalled tick bites in the past – in the very place where the skin lesions later made their appearance..

The bacterium infesting the ticks was named Borrelia burgdorferi after Dr. Willy Burgdorfer, the researcher who isolated the spirochete in 1981. Borrelia burgdorferi, the genospecies found in the USA, is associated chiefly with the arthritic form of the disease, termed “Lyme arthritis”.

In Germany, as well as in North America, peple ordinarily speak of “tick bites.” More accurately the tick actually stings its victim. Ticks have no teeth; but rather pierce the skin like a mosquito. As with most blood-sucking parasites, ticks inject an anti-coagulant enzyme into the puncture site, allowing them to suck for an extended period (if undisturbed, the tick’s feast can last for 1-2 days.).Since mosquitos in our latitudes are also known to carry other epidemic diseases.., the suspicion arises that they also have their part to play in spreading Lyme disease.

PREVENTION USING HOMEOPATHY.

For the prevention of Lyme disease following a tick bite we recommend the following provisions:

1. The tick should be immediately removed in its entirety. As an aid to hikers and dog-lovers there are tick-pliers readily available at the drug store or at the veterinarian's. These serve the purpose better than tweezers or one's fingernails, which can tear the head off and as a consequence do nothing to prevent the infection.

2. On the day of the bite and for two subsequent days the recommendation is to take one or two doses of just one globule of Ledum palustre C30. This can be obtained in the first-aid section of any good homeopathic pharmacy.

3. Just to be sure, we give just one globule of the Aurum arsenicosum C200 on the sixth and twelfth day following the bite.

A number of colleagues have told me that in past seven years they have cared for more than a dozen tick bite victims using this or a very similar method, and that no case has proceeded to a clinical manifestation of Lyme disease. Nor did it show up when a serum test was made.

The treatment of patients with Lyme disease is generally no different from the homeopathic treatment of other chronic conditions. As always in homeopathy, the law of similars is fundamental.

Excerpted from the book: "The homeopathic treatment of Lyme disease" by Peter Alex.

Relevant Link: Facts about Lyme Disease

HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT OF JOINT PAINS

Many of the patients coming to Homeopathic treatment have problems with their joints. These problems can vary from a simple joint sprain to severe deformity due to rheumatoid arthritis. One of the most frequent worries of patients with joint pains is that they are getting arthritis. Arthritis is an inflammation of the joint, but there are many different forms of arthritis, and each has a different clinical course and prognosis.

OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA) OA is the most common form of arthritis. It is caused by the degeneration of the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones, where they “articulate” with other bones. Most elderly people suffer from OA, particularly if they are overweight. OA in the hip also occurs in athletes, especially gymnasts and dancers, who have over-stretched the joint. OA of the shoulders is a particular problem, as it is not so amenable to surgery, it is difficult to treat. It is very painful and so can cause big problems for those who have to do a lot of heavy lifting. The joints affected by OA become stiff and painful, often creaking or grinding when being moved. There may be some swelling, but the joint is not usually hot or inflamed.

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA) RA is a condition that definitely runs in families, and does have a progressive course, sufferers sometimes ending up with crippling disease of many joints. The onset of RA is sometimes very acute, accompanied by an acute febrile illness, involving redness and swelling of one or more joints. More frequently the onset is insidious, presenting with pain in the small joints of the fingers or toes. These joints swell and become deformed. This is the form of arthritis that everyone dreads, but fortunately there are now more effective early drug interventions that can prevent the crippling deformities. They can, however, cause major side-effects. The use of homeopathy can reduce the need for such drugs, or at least reduce the dosage needed.

GOUT Gout is caused by an excess of uric acid in the blood, which deposits itself in the joints. The uric acid crystals set up inflammatory reactions in the joints, causing extreme pain, tenderness, swelling, redness and heat. It usually affects the big toe, but can affect other joints.

HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT Although it is absolutely necessary to make an accurate diagnosis of the type of arthritis for the general management of the patient, from a homeopathic point of view it is the symptoms that are important.

So, if a patient is suffering from joint pains, worse on waking in the morning with great stiffness; better on limbering up after a while; better for a hot bath or shower, generally better in the hot dry weather, and worse in the cold and damp; worse on over-activity, but stiffens quickly on resting – that patient will require Rhus toxicodendron whatever the pathology, especially if the patient is restless, and unable to stay in bed because of the pain. Ruta graveolens has identical modalities to Rhus toxicodendron, but has more a predilection to tendons and ligaments, rather than joints. However it can be useful for arthritis, particularly of the knees, where Rhus toxocodendron has been seemingly well indicated but has failed to act.

If, however, the sufferer prefers the cold weather, and the joints are so painful that they dare not move them, even splinting them to keep them still, they will require Bryonia. The symptoms of gout are often characterised by an exquisite sensitivity to touch, such that the patient cannot bear even the bedclothes on the affected limb. The joint is red, hot, shiny and swollen, and the pain is agony stinging in nature and much worse for the heat. This fits the remedy, Apis mellifica, but the modalities were identical with the exception of being worse for cold, Colchicum would be the remedy. Belladonna is appropriate when the onset is extremely sudden, the pain is throbbing or bursting in character, and the patient cannot bear being jarred in the slightest.

Rhododendron is suitable for those people who are “human barometers”. They are very sensitive to the approach of a storm, and will be able to tell from their joints that the weather is going to change. In particular they are worse from a change to cold, damp weather. Their joint pains tend to improve immediately on moving, and are better from warmth. They tend to shift about.

Ledum is good for chilly people, but who prefer cold applications on their painful joints. Their pains often start in the small joints of the feet, and then move upwards.

With Phytolacca, the pains are described as like electric shocks, shooting along the limbs. A strange symptom is that one foot is usually colder than the other.

Dulcamara is for a person who is extremely sensitive to the damp. It is said that even watercress makes their joints ache! They are better for walking, and are restless, with shooting, tearing pains, particularly or their hips.

Kalmia latifolia is very good for shoulders, when there are shooting, tearing pains, worse for movement, and worse at night. The odd characteristic of this remedy is that the pains move from central to the periphery, and from the upper to the lower part of the body, whereas Lac caninum has pains that move from side to side, and is particularly good for hips.

Guaiacum is a lesser-known medicine, but should not be forgotten for pain in the thumb joints, improved by cold applications.

Here, we have concentrated on the joint symptoms in guiding us to the right medicine, and this is called local prescribing. However, there are other approaches which can give more deep-seated results. It is important when prescribing homeopathically for any condition to consider the aetiology. Another approach is the constitutional approach, whereby the whole of the patient’s make-up is taken into consideration.

THE FUTURE More and more powerful drugs are being developed by pharmaceutical companies to modify the progress of arthritic disease, but rheumatologists constantly have to juggle the dangers of the disease with the dangers of the drugs used to treat it. Homeopathic doctors are lucky – our medicines are gentle, have no side-effects, and treat the whole person. Our homeopathic hospitals see a high proportion of musculo-skeletal problems, and a recent audit from the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital showed a 70% rate of improvement. We have a valuable complementary form of medicine that can certainly help to arrest the disease, or at least modify it so that lower doses or less powerful drugs can be used to treat it.

 

Abstract from the Article "Joint Pains" published in "Health and Homeopathy Magazine" (internet link is no longer available) 

 

PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF SPORTS INJURIES

Long seasons and important competitions are part of every day life for a professional athlete. This will increase both the athletes mental and physical stress levels. The chances for an injury will increase when these factors are present. If the treatment of the athlete as a whole is being ignored the risk of a setback is very real.

An imbalance will be created if an athletes mind is focused on a goal but the physical part is not. A part of the available physical energy is drained away and cut off from focus. This leads to fatigue which in turn can lead to injuries because the body is not focused on winning a competition. Only the mental part has this focus. Limitations following an injury may continue to cause trouble if not treated holistically. This will also affect his or hers future achievements.

Homeopathy offers an extraordinary way of treatment in the sense that remedies are chosen based on a persons unique mental and emotional state. A professional homeopath is able to help every athletes fitness levels by finding the remedy most suited for the patients spesific symptoms. This will help the athlete to fulfill thir highest potential in terms of health and performance.

There are few conventional medicines able to assist the healing process in spite of the potential damage and long term symptoms following a sports injury. Pain killers will do just that - reduce pain, non steroid and anti inflammatory drugs reduce inflammations, but apart from those there are few effective medicines available to promote real healing.

Pain killers and NSAID’s work efficiently, but their application is limited and there is a risk of developing side effects. These medicines may also contain substances banned for use in athletes.

A study on how German soccer doctors treat aches and pains was published last year. It reveals that Germany’s faith is in “homeopathic doping”.

The presumably objective study was carried out by an academic institute in Koblenz at the request of a leading manufacturer of homeopathic medicines. It found that 92% of doctors who work for the Bundesliga’s first- and second division teams prescribed such cures.

“The success stories are impressive”, said Peter Billingmann, a sports doctor and the head of the institute that carried out the study, in an interview with the Spiegel news magazine. “Homeopathic substances don’t have any side effects, and we’re on the safe side where doping is concerned.” (Source: Deusche Welle).

 

ARNICA MONTANA

Arnica Montana is a much used homeopathic acute remedy for sports injuries. It is the remedy most often considered by professional homeopaths whenever an injury occur.

Arnica works wonders both in acute and chronic complaints, but only when indicated. Symptoms successfully treated with Arnica includes: Bruising (also after surgery), shock, sprains and acute exertion. Anyone actively involved in sports and exercise should know about Arnica. Regardless of causation, Arnica is able to reduce bleeding and the following inflammatory symptoms like swelling and reduction of muscle tissue. When given frequently directly after injury, it will reduce tissue damage.

Arnica helps to stop bleeding from open wounds immediately. This remedy is also useful in cases of fatigue for athletes competing in endurance sports. It can be used before a competition to help delaying the manifestation of the fatigue.

Arnica may be able to speed up the recovery process and may also prevent complications following a serious head injury. It is given in addition to medical emergency aid immediately after an unconscious patient has awakened. As a general rule, it should be given after any form of head injury and concussion.

THE LAW OF CURE

What does a cure look like?

The successful homeopathic treatment of disease is often heralded by the reappearance of old symptoms. In essence, the progression toward deeper disease is put into reverse; the outermost disease state is met by a remedy and is lifted, revealing layers that had been suppressed before. These old symptoms can then be treated homeopathically, or, in many cases, do not need treatment at all, they simply pass through in lessened form and disappear by themselves…

As it turns out, the old symptoms that return during a curative process tend to occur in a particular kind of pattern or sequence. Homepaths call this pattern the Law of Cure… The Law of Cure states that cure tends to proceed:
- From the center toward the circumference.
- From above, downward.
- From more vital to less vital organs.
- In reverse order of appearance

Thus, internal (and more important) organs tend to be healed first, with the skin usually coming last. Symptoms also tend to return and be healed starting from the head and torso and progressing outward toward the limbs. Finally, symptoms tend to heal in reverse order of their appearance…

Since homeopathy deals with the whole person, not just the physical body, the Law of Cure actually applies on a much deeper and more complete level… Even before remedies help to heal the physical body, they often address the innermost part of our being, our psyche, our mind, and our emotions. Thus, a common pattern of homeopathic cure begins with an increased sense of inner well-being. A classic example might be a lessening of anxiety, followed by a cure of asthma, followed by the return of eczema on the face. After this heals, the eczema might migrate out to the limbs, and then finally leave totally…

Homeopaths usually attribute the Law of Cure to Constantine Hering, MD… Hering was born in 1800 in Saxony, Germany… he first came to homeopathy as a debunker; he was asked by his professors to write a paper condemning Hahnemanns new system. In his attemt to honestly do so, he repeated Hahnemanns original experiment with cinchona and found it to be successful… Soon he began to study and utilize the homeoapthic system, and he quickly became an ardent supporter…

Unfortunately, knowledge of Herings Law of Cure, simple yet critical observations about the signs of true cure, has yet to reach todays allopaths… because symptoms are routinely suppressed rather than treated homeopathically, doctors never get to see what a real cure looks like, with the return of older and lesser symptoms. They do not even know that such cures are possible.


Excerpted from the book: IMPOSSIBLE CURE: The promise of Homeopathy by Amy L. Lansky

ODE TO SAMUEL HAHNEMANN

Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, was a Renaissance genius who was skilled in many fields: he was a master pharmacist, a skilled linguist and translater who was fluent in seven languages, and the forerunner of today’s natural healers who promote a natural diet and healthy lifestyle.

He could also be called the first psychiatrist, because he was the first person in modern times to promote the humane treatment of the mentally ill as well as curing them with his remedies.

Decades before Koch and Pasteur, he understood the principles of contagious illnesses and successfully treated the deadly epidemics which ravaged Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century. Hahnemann could even be considered a pioneer of modern public health and sanitation measures.

Hahnemann would merit a prominent place in the history of medicine for any of his contributions. His greatest contribution, of course, is the founding of the system of homeopathy, an unparalleled achievement: so far as we know, Hahnemann is the only person to have envisioned an entire system of medicine and then fully developed it into a powerful and practical tool within the span of a single lifetime.

He was a true visionary whose understanding of the energetic basis of health and healing anticipated by a century the paradigm of matter as energy in modern physics. And allopathic medicine has barely begun to incorporate an understanding of the mind-body connection which Hahnemann delineated nearly two centuries ago.

Hahnemann was born on April 11, 1755, in Meissen, Saxony, Germany where his father was employed as a porcelain painter. Money was scarce, and in his early years the young Samuel was frequently taken out of school for lack of money. He helped pay for his own education starting at the age of 12 by tutoring his fellow students in Latin and Greek. Hahnemann’s father cultivated original thinking in Samuel from the time he was young. Before going to the porcelain factory, he would often shut Samuel up in a room, giving him a knotty question to ponder. “Prove all things, hold fast to what is good, dare to be wise” was the substance of his advice to his son. Hahnemann was such a brilliant student that one of his professors arranged for free tuition. He left school in 1775 after presenting a dissertation in Latin on “The wonderful construction of the human hand.”

Hahnemann published many works on chemistry, the most celebrated being a treatise on arsenic poisoning. Some of his critics would later say that Hahnemann would have been a great chemist had he not turned into a great quack.

The year 1791, when Hahnemann was 46, marked a turning point in the development of his thought. Up to that point he could see the limitations, even the dangers, of the medicine he had been trained in, but he had no good alternative to offer.
In 1791 Hahnemann had a remarkable insight while translating Cullen’s Materia Medica. Cullen attributed the antimalarial properties of Cinchona bark (from which quinine is made) to its bitterness, but Hahnemann knew that other bitter herbs are not active against malaria. He began a practice which he would continue throughout his life and which demonstrated his great integrity and love of knowledge: he experimented on himself. He found that Cinchona bark (from which the homeopathic remedy China is made) could induce in him, a healthy person, the same symptoms it would cure in the sick person. This discovery led to the first law of homeopathy: the Law of Similars, or “Like Cures Like.”

Hahnemann also made his mark as a psychiatrist. Asylums at this time were usually run in connection with prisons; the mentally ill were crowded in close quarters with insufficient food. Worse, they were abandoned by physicians, who believed that insanity was contagious. Instead, the mentally ill were chained, flogged, and teased for the amusement of visitors. The first real asylum for mental patients was opened by Hahnemann in Georgenthal. It was designed for the wealthy insane and melancholic. He had only one patient, the well-known author Klockenbring of Hannover, who was suffering from a full-blown mania which modern psychiatrists would have great difficulty treating. Yet Hahnemann cured him completely in seven months. It was the first time in the modern era that insane people were treated with gentleness, humaneness and compassion instead of coercion.

In 1810 Hahnemann published the first edition of the Organon of the Healing Art, his most important work. This book laid out the foundations of his new approach to healing, including the Law of Similars, the principle of giving a single medicine which had been potentized, and in the smallest possible dose, and only giving remedies which had been proven on healthy people.

Success was achieved in 1813 when Hahnemann used homeopathy to treat an epidemic of typhus, which affected Napoleon’s soldiers after their invasion of Russia.

In 1831 homeopathy triumphed again, this time over the cholera epidemic which spread westward from Russia, while allopathic medicine was helpless against the virulent disease.

At every step in developing his system Hahnemann was met with great discouragement and abuse. He suffered from the attacks of the orthodox medical establishment of his time, which used all the legal and political weapons at their disposal to stop him. The journals of his time printed scathing, even libelous, critiques. The criticisms he endured only stimulated him to perfect his system.

Hahnemann’s integrity was strikingly displayed in his abandoning his medical practice when he found it harmful to his patients, instead trying to support his large family on a meager income from translating books. He also demonstrated his integrity by doing something which physicians and pharmacists of today would never think of: he experimented on himself with the remedies he gave to his patients.

This brings us to another admirable quality, his industriousness. In addition to developing an entire system of medicine and proving about a hundred remedies, he wrote about 70 original works on chemistry and medicine and translated about 24 works from English, French, Latin, Italian.

Finally, he was humble. He wrote to his friend Dr. Stapf, “Be as sparing as possible with your praises. I do not like them, I feel that I am only an honest, straightforward man who does not more than his duty.”


Excerpted from the book “Hahnemann revisited” by Luc de Schepper

AN INTRODUCTION TO HOMEOPATHY

Homeopathic medicine has been used around the world for more than 200 years. It has about 30 million users in Europe and many millions more across the globe. Homeopathy is based on the principle of ”treating like with like” (law of similars). The principle describes that a substance which produces certain symptoms in healthy people can cure the same symptoms in the sick.


This idea was known to the ancient Greeks. Hippocrates formulated the Law of similars as follows: ”Illnesses arise by similar things and by similar things can the sick be made well”. Paracelsus used ”like cures like” as a sound rule for prescribing, but it wasn`t until the early nineteenth century that it was developed into a system by the German doctor Samuel Hahnemann. In developing the laws of homeopathy, Hahnemann based his concepts (which he then demonstrated empirically) on those of Hippocrates and Paracelsus.

The homeopathic use of the law of similars has produced a remarkable array of effective natural remedies. The healing properties of the remedies have been found by extensive testing of substances on humans, and close observation of their specific reactions.

SUPPORTING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
The basic philosophy of homeopathy is that the body has an innate capacity to maintain health and the ability to reestablish balance if disease occurs.
Homeopathic remedies help to heal the body by enhancing the defensive responses of the immune system. In contrast, conventional drugs are generally prescribed to control or suppress symptoms. Because homeopathic remedies work with the body, they are intended to be an amplification of the body`s natural order and healing processes.

Symptoms are the body`s defense mechanism. A homeopath observes the symptoms and behaviors of an ill person, and questions his or her reactions to different conditions in order to find the correct homeopatic remedy.
In treating a chronic disease, we need to know about the patient`s personality and physical constitution, different traumatic events in his life, his work and home environment, and his preferences in food and temperature. Important is also the question: ”what was going on in your life when you became ill?”.

Homeopathy does not place the same value on lab tests, blood work or even on the disease name itself as does allopatic medicine. Our focus on the patient includes how he feels and why. Basically we search for the leakage in the patients` Vital Force (energy), which can come about through a physical or mental trauma. We look at the whole person who is suffering this leakage and at how the body is expressing it. All this information is put together into a totally individualized prescription of a homeopathic remedy.
This work requires the knowledge of the human body, an understanding of the human condition and the capasity to identify with the patients and sense the essence of their struggle in life.

THE HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES
Homeopathic remedies are made under a strict set of rules (according to strict pharmacological methods) whereby animal, vegetable, and mineral substances are dissolved or ground into fine powders and progressively reduced by a specific procedure of serial dilution that reduces the quantity of the active ingredients to an infinitesimal amount.

It has been established recently that the action of drugs often depends on their method of preparation and in the form in which they are administered. It has been established for instance, that if Aspirin is ground 30 times finer than it is now, its action will be doubled, and consequently, its therapeutic dose could be decreased.

Hahnemann understood perfectly well that strong doses of a remedy would add unnecessary strain to the parient`s body, which was already weakened by ilness. The principle of the minimum dose, which the homeopathy is based on, is the same as the Arndt-Schultz Law of biochemistry: minimum doses of a drug (or chemical, thermal or electrical stimulus) stimulate cellular activity, medium doses inhibit or depress it, and higher doses destroy it.
Two hundred years ago Hahnemann showed clearly that much smaller doses of the drug are needed to bring about a reaction in the diseased body.

There are, of course, many theories that attempt to explain how such a dilute substance can effect a healing response. Luckily, healing does not depend on our understanding of these sub-molecular processes. They work, but we still don`t understand exactly how they work. Not to forget; there are a number of convential medicines, including aspirin and certain antibiotics, whose mechanism of action remains unknown but are still prescribed with confidence by doctors…

Hahnemann, a true scientist, based his laws of homeopathy on experiment and observation.
In one of his books, ”Chronic diseases”, he stated:
”.. it requires quite an effort to believe that so little a thing, so small a dose of medicine, could effect the least thing in the human body. I do not demand that anyone should comprehend it. Neither do I comprehend it. It is enough that it is a fact and nothing else. Experience alone declares it and I believe more in experience than in my own intelligence…”

HOW HOMEOPATHY WORKS
What we do understand about the effect of the Homepathic remedies is that they produce an artificial medicinal disease state that is similar and stronger than the natural disease, but is not the same. This artificial ”disease” induced by the dynamic properties of the remedy is just slightly stronger than the natural disease and exists only on the dynamic or energetic plane, not on the chemical or physiological plane.

The remedy does not contain any molecules of the original substance which could cause side effects or adverse reactions. It strikes the Vital Force in allmost the exact same way the disease force does, arousing the Vital Force to react against it with a stronger counterattack than against the disease itself, because the artificial disease is slightly stronger (the homeopathic remedy strengthens the vital force in its efforts to throw the disease out of the body). The vital force has no difficulty throwing off the last removing traces of the artificial disease because there are no molecules of the original remedy substance remaining and the Vital Force can handle a dynamic (energy-based) disease more easily than a natural one.

In allopathy, the opposite happens. The drug acts against the symptoms of the disease (which in turn are simply expressions of the Vital Force acting against the disease) and thus the secondary action of the Vital Force enhances the disease itself, requiring ever-increasing doses to keep suppressing the symptoms.
Although, the homeopathic medicine does not cure. All that remedies can do is to stimulate the patient`s curative powers.

In acute conditions, as in sportsinjuries, a remedy given in water touches the nerve endings in the mouth and works almost instantaneously, faster than any pharmaceutical… In chronic diseases, however, common sense must prevail: an illness of thirty years` duration cannot be cured in a week or a month. It is in the nature of a chronic disease to develop slowly over a long period, and it makes sense that a cure must come in the same way.

In homeopathic medicines there are no adverse reactions since no residue is left in the body since there are almost no molecules of the original substance in the remedy. While homeopathic remedies do not cause side effects, they can cause what are called ”aggravations”, usually a temporary intensification of the patient`s symptoms on the way to a cure.

Homeopathy emphasizes prevention, and treat you according to the type of person you are – not for a specific disease symptom – so that your immune system is as strong as possible to do its job of protecting the whole of you. It enhances the healing power you were born with. It helps you stay tuned to the unparalleled inner guidance that is always present if you choose to pay attention.

IMPOSSIBLE CURE

"Dare to know

That the source of all miracles

Lies within you.”

This is how Amy Lansky introduces the reader to her book ‘Impossible cure: The promise of homeopathy‘. As I start reading it, I soon realize that this is the message that she wishes to share with the reader throughout the whole book. In these three lines lies the essence of the book as well as the essence of the therapeutic discipline she is introducing us to, namely homeopathy.

Amy Lansky used to work as a computer scientist. However, an incident in her family life made her change her professional path. This incident was her son being diagnosed with Autism, followed by a miraculous cure due to homeopathic treatment. As a result of this experience, Lansky left the field of Computer Science to study and write about Homeopathy.

Amy Lansky shares with the reader the true cure of her son. In addition she unfolds the history, philosophy and science of homeopathy. In a clear and subtle way she explains the reader what he or she needs to know to get a total picture of what Homeopathy is, how it is used and what can be expected from homeopathic treatment. More examples of cured cases are used to underline various topics throughout the book.

In the chapter: “What Is Disease? What Is Cure?” important facts comes to debate, most of which has to do with the importance of trusting our own immune system in fighting disease:

“Our bodies have built-in mechanisms to maintain balance, even in the face of physical and emotional challenges… We think we need all kinds of props to hold us up… This view is a modern creation, an illusion we have all bough into, largely due to the influence of the powerful medical and advertising industries…Within all of our bodies are mechanisms whose entire purpose is to maintain life, heal our wounds, and achieve balance. All parts of the body are interrelated and working together to create the best possible adaptation to every circumstance… If you artificially suppress a symptom so that it never reappears, you may have the illusion of cure. But in reality, the underlying disease state that is causing that symptom will have to find a different way to express itself.“

Do we dare to change our beliefs about health, disease and cure?

Are we ready to let go of medical truths imprinted in our minds?

If you read this book by Amy Lansky, she will guide you through wonder, disbelief, surprises and hope. Thereafter you will probably be ready to make up your own mind about the miracles that lies within us and the promise of homeopathy.

TRUE VALUES

In Norway we are surrounded by beautiful nature. As a country we have all the money we need and more, and we are fortunate enough to live in peace. Does this make us happy? Are we happy?

We, the people living in industrialized countries, have every possibility to make our dreams come true and lead happy, inspired lives. We have food and water, education, safe surroundings.. We are born, as all human beings, spirited and open minded. Unfortunately that doesn’t last for long.

We grow up longing to fulfill our goals and dreams, unaware of how society and the people around us eventually will challenge those very thoughts. The funny thing is, that when it finally happens, we don’t resist this with more strength.

Why do we so easily ignore our inner feelings, why do we start to act more from our mind than from our heart. Where is the logic? Is it because we are scared to follow our instincts, do we not dare?

One way or the other we will meet hinders on our lifepath, but this always happens for a reason. It forces us to question our actions. It guides us to learn and become aware of what we are doing - it encourages us to rethink our situation and motives. And this is how we are growing.

So, the next question arise. Are we aware? Do we influence our life in the way we wish to?

Are we striving for a higher purpose, or do we just follow the mainstream of opinions and actions in a constant effort of being accepted by people in our surroundings?

 To be true to ourselves, to remember what we wished for as children, we need to be aware and evolve our conciousness. As Paulo Coelho so nicely puts it: ”If we listen to the voice of the child, who lives inside our soul, our eyes will shine again”.

How about taking a step back, or forward as you please.. Rediscover what matters in life, focus on the good things, the quality stuff. Live a more simple, healthy and ethical life. Be aware, reach your potential and make your dreams come true..


Awareness, wisdom & happiness.  

Essential to life.                                                                                       

True Values.