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Pregnancy & HomoeoPathic Medicines

2010-01-28T13:47:00.002+05:00

Pregnancy & HomoeoPathic Medicines

Morning sickness in pregnant women can be treated safely with homoeopathic medicines

Morning sickness refers to the nausea and vomiting that some women have when they become pregnant. It is caused by the sudden increase in hormones during pregnancy.

At time when many changes are occurring in body, it is often very discouraging. Some women only feel this symptom only in the morning, but for some it lasts all day and is even at night. Discomfort usually eases off by the third or fourth month in most of women but just few cases it may last for full duration.

Morning sickness can be minimized by

•Eating small meals throughout the day
•Avoiding rich, fatty foods.
•Eating more carbohydrates such as baked potato, dry toast.
•Having saltine crackers and other bland foods when you feel nauseous.

Homoeopathic medicine can be safely prescribed at time of pregnancy and it overcome different symptom during pregnancy.

Morning sickness can be treated effectively with Homoeopathic medicines.

Nux Vomica

It will be prescribed to those pregnant women who are irritable and have symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and constipation more marked in the Morning. That lady may have a constant pain and pressure which get aggravated after eating anything.

Sepia

Common medicine prescribed for morning sickness. Pregnant woman will have a sensation of emptiness in stomach with nausea in morning Patient feel better from symptoms after eating.

Ipecac

It is given to those Women who have constant nausea, throughout the day not just in morning, even after vomiting nausea remains. Nausea get aggravated by motion.

Colchicum

When the woman absolutely can not bear sight or smell of food with severe nausea, colchicum is the remedy.

Symphoricarpus racemosa

This drug is highly recommended for vomiting in pregnancy.

There is marked aversion to all kind of food. Patient’s nausea vomiting gets aggravated by motion.

About Author

Dr Tabassum Patel (Homoeopath) Article Source

Secrets of Homeopathy, Part I

2010-01-27T18:02:00.000+05:00

Secrets of Homeopathy.

Are the effects of homeopathic remedies imaginary? Does this potentized water have any special physical properties? Does it work on plants and animals?

The Founder of HomeoePathiy.

2010-01-26T20:36:00.002+05:00

The Founder of HomeoePathy.

The Homoeopathy was invented by Dr. Samuel Hahneman 1755 /1843. He was an Alopathic Doctor. There is an interesting story behind the Invention of the Homoeopathic System. It is said that he failed to cure his Doughter, Suffering from typhoid. He begain thinking about the failure of his Alopathic. Once the Samuel Hahnemann was reading about remedie cinchona, which was used for curing malaria and to his surprise, he found that cinchona also caused malaria to people without the disease. He took a piece of cinchona bark and studied its effect. When he diluted the cinchona, he found that its therapeutic effect was better. This lead to the development of Homoeopathy and its classical approach. He derived the homoeopathic principle - Similia Similibus Curentur which translates to Like Cures Like.

The material capable of causing a disease like symptom in a healthy person is capable of curing the disease in a sick person. Based on these, the drug known as remedy in this system was developed which is basically extracted from natural resources like Plant, Animals, Nosods and Minerals etc....

Homeopathy - Is it just placebo?

2010-01-26T14:06:00.004+05:00

Homeopathy - Is it just placebo?

Questions put to Khalifatul Masih 4th, Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (rh)The fourth spiritual and administrative leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad was also a homeopathic doctor himself and had delivered many lectures about specific homeopathic remedies and treatements. These lectures have been published into the form of a book called: Homoeopathy "Like cures like" .

For more details about these lectures please visit:

How to take homoeopathic remedies

2010-01-26T13:49:00.000+05:00

How to take homoeopathic remedies

Homoeopathic visual Materia Medica

2010-01-26T13:33:00.002+05:00

Homoeopathic visual Materia Medica (video clip 4)

Homeopathic Materia Medica

2010-01-26T12:52:00.001+05:00

Homeopathic Materia Medica

By William Boericke, Oscar E. Boericke

Book overview

Volume 2 of 2: The characteristic and guiding symptoms of all remedies, clinical and pathogenetic. This book contains the well known verified characteristic symptoms of all our medicines besides other less important symptoms aiding the selection of the curative remedy. All the new medicines and essentials of the published clinical experience of the school have been added. This is a succinct resume of the symptomatology of every medicine used in Homeopathy.

Limited preview - Item notes: v. 2 - 2004 - 520 pages

for more details Click Here

A Condensed History of Homeopathy Part 2

2010-01-18T12:34:00.001+05:00

A Condensed History of Homeopathy

This account epitomizes Hahnemann. First, he was translating Cullen's work, which indicates that he was one of the more respected translators of his day. By the time he was only 24, Hahnemann could read and write in at least seven languages. He ultimately translated over 20 major medical and scientific texts. This story reveals Hahnemann as both an avid experimenter and a respected chemist. He had authored a four volume set of books called The Pharmaceutical Lexicon, which was considered one of the standard reference texts for apothecaries/pharmacists of his day. (3) And this account also reveals Hahnemann as an audacious rebel. He was unafraid to speak his mind, even if it meant correcting the analysis of a very respected physician. He was unafraid to question commonly accepted truths. And he had enough initiative to seek his own alternative explanations.

After translating Cullen's work, Hahnemann spent the next six years actively experimenting on himself, his family, and a small but growing group of followers. In 1796 he wrote about his experiences with the law of similars in Hufeland's Journal, a respected medical journal in Germany. (4) Coincidentally, in 1798 Edward Jenner discovered the value of giving small doses of cowpox to people in an effort to immunize them against smallpox. Whereas Jenner's work was generally accepted into orthodox medicine, Hahnemann's work was not. In fact, there was so much antagonism to Hahnemann and the new school of medical thought he called homeopathy that entire medical journals were called Anti-Homoeopathic Archives or Anti-Organon (the Organon refers to the book that Hahnemann wrote as the primary text on the homeopathic art and science). (5)
Hahnemann was particularly disliked by the apothecaries because he recommended the use of only one medicine at a time and prescribing only limited doses of it. (6) Because he recommended only small doses of each medicine, the apothecaries could not charge much for them. And because each medicine required careful preparation, Hahnemann found that the apothecaries were not always making them correctly or were intentionally giving his patients different medicines. As he grew to distrust the apothecaries, he chose to dispense his own medicines, an illegal act at the time in Germany. The apothecaries then accused Hahnemann of "entrenching upon their privileges by the dispensing of medicines." (7) Arrested in Leipzig in 1820, he was found guilty and forced to move.
He moved to Kothen, where he was delegated special permission to practice and dispense his own medicines by Grand Duke Ferdinand, one of the many European royalty who supported homeopathy. (8)
Despite the persecution, homeopathy continued to grow. It grew not just because it offered a systematic approach to treating sick people, but also because orthodox medicine was ineffective and even dangerous. There is general agreement among medical historians today that orthodox medicine of the 1700s and 1800s in particular frequently caused more harm than good. (9)
Bloodletting and application of leeches were common practice even through to the mid-1800s. One French doctor bloodlet so much that some jokingly estimated that he spilled more blood in his medical practice than was spilled throughout the entire Napoleonic Wars. (10). Benjamin Rush, considered the father of American medicine, asserted that bloodletting was useful in all general and chronic disease. (11) As many as 41 million leeches were imported into France in 1833 alone. (12) In the United States, one firm imported 500,000 leeches in 1856; its competitor imported 300,000 (13). Besides bloodletting and leeches, orthodox physicians used medicines made from mercury, lead, arsenic, and various strong herbs to help purge the body of foreign disease-causing matter.
The combination of poor medical care and prejudicial reaction against homeopathy is certainly understandable in light of medical education at the time. Nathan Smith Davis, who was the driving force in the creation of the American Medical Association, described medical education in 1845:

"All the young man has to do is gain admittance in the office of some physician, where he can have access to a series of ordinary medical text-books, and see a patient perhaps once a month, with perhaps a hasty post-mortem examination once a year; and in the course of three years thus spent, one or two courses of lectures in the medical colleges, where the whole science of medicine, including anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica, pathology, practice of medicine, medical jurisprudence, surgery, and midwivery are all crowded upon his mind in the short space of sixteen weeks...and his education, both primary and medical, is deemed complete." (14)

Despite the fact that historians and scientists today consider medicine of the 18th and 19th century as unscientific and even barbaric, orthodox physicians had the audacity to call homeopathy "quackery," "unscientific," "cultish," and "devilish."

A Condensed History of Homeopathy Part 1

2010-01-18T12:33:00.001+05:00

A Condensed History of Homeopathy

(Excerpted from Discovering Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century, North Atlantic Books)

The history of homeopathy combines the high drama and intrigue commonly found in the best efforts of the silver screen. Although a movie has not yet been made about homeopathy, it is a film waiting to happen.
Homeopathy became spectacularly popular in the United States and Europe in the 1800s and its strongest advocates included European royalty, American entrepreneurs, literary giants, and religious leaders. But at the time that it was gaining widespread popularity, it became the object of deep-seated animosity and vigilant opposition from establishment medicine. The conflict between homeopathy and orthodox medicine was protracted and bitter. We know who won the first round of this conflict. We await the results of the second round. Hopefully, we will soon discover that a "fight" over healing is inappropriate and that various approaches to healing are all necessary to build a comprehensive and effective health care system.

The history of homeopathy begins with the discoveries of its founder Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician. Hahnemann first coined the word "homeopathy" ("homoios" in Greek means similar, "pathos" means suffering) to refer to the pharmacological principle, the law of similars, that is its basis. Actually, the law of similars was previously described by Hippocrates and Paracelsus and was utilized by many cultures, including the Mayans, Chinese, Greeks, Native American Indians, and Asian Indians (1), but it was Hahnemann who codified the law of similars into a systematic medical science.
Hahnemann's first comments about the general applicability of the law of similars were in 1789 when he translated a book by William Cullen, one of the leading physicians of the era. At one point in the book Cullen ascribed the usefulness of Peruvian bark (Cinchona) in treating malaria due to its bitter and astringent properties. Hahnemann wrote a bold footnote in his translation, disputing Cullen's explanation. Hahnemann asserted that the efficacy of Peruvian bark must be for other factor, since he noted that there were other substances and mixtures of substances decidedly more bitter and more astringent than Peruvian bark that were not effective in treating malaria. He then described his own taking repeated doses of this herb until his body responded to its toxic dose with fever, chills, and other symptoms similar to malaria. Hahnemann concluded that the reason this herb was beneficial was because it caused symptoms similar to those of the disease it was treating. (2)

Quantum Medicine

2010-01-17T17:32:00.002+05:00

Quantum Medicine

Quantum physics did not disprove Newtonian physics; it simply extended our understanding of extremely small and extremely large systems. Likewise, homeopathy does not disprove conventional pharmacology; instead, it extends our understanding of extremely small doses of medicinal agents.
The founder of homeopathic medicine, Samuel Hahnemann, MD, rewrote and updated his seminal work on the subject five times in his lifetime, each time refining his observations. Homeopaths continue to refine this system of nanopharmacology. While there is not always agreement on the best ways to select the correct remedy or the best nanopharmacological dose to use, the system of homeopathic medicine provides a solid foundation from which clinicians and researchers exploring nanopharmacologies can and should explore.
Samuel Hahnemann is buried in Pere Larchese, the most famous cemetery in Paris, and his tombstone bears the Latin words, “Aude sapere” which means: dare to know, to taste, and to understand. Such is the challenge that homeopathy and nanopharmacology present to us.

*
A special issue of the Homeopathy, the journal of the British Faculty of Homeopathy, was published in July, 2007: (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/623042/description#description). Scientists from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, USA as well as the UK present remarkably convergent views from groups using entirely different methods, indicating that large-scale structural effects can occur in liquid water and can increase with time. Such effects might account for claims of memory of water effects. People with a technical background will benefit greatly from this collection of articles. The bottomline is that homeopathic nanodoses do not break any known laws of nature, and in fact, homeopathic nanodoses are verified by present laws of physics and material sciences.

Possible Explanations for Nano-Doses

2010-01-16T18:49:00.003+05:00

Possible Explanations for Nano-Doses

Precisely how homeopathic medicines work remains a mystery according to present scientific thinking. And yet, despite the paradox of homeopathic medicines, nature and new technologies are replete with striking examples of the powerful effects from extremely small doses.
It is commonly known that certain species of moths can smell pheromones of its own species up to two miles in distance. It is no simple coincidence that species only sense pheromones from those in the same species who emit them (akin to the homeopathic principle of similars), as though they have developed exquisite and specific receptor sites for what they need to survive and to propagate their species. Likewise, sharks are known to sense blood in the water at distances, and when one considers the volume of water in the ocean, it becomes obvious that sharks, like all living creatures, develop extreme hypersensitivity for whatever will help ensure their survival.
It is therefore not surprising that renowned astronomer Johann Kepler once said, “Nature uses as little as possible of anything.”

One metaphor that may help us understand how and why extremely small doses of medicinal agents may work derives from present knowledge of modern submarine radio communications. Normal radio waves simply do not penetrate water, so submarines must use an extremely low frequency radio wave. However, the terms “extremely low” are inadequate to describe this specific situation because radio waves used by submarines to penetrate water are so low that a single wavelength is typically several miles long!
If one considers that the human body is 70-80% water, perhaps the best way to provide pharmacological information to the body and into intercellular fluids is with nanodoses. Like the above mentioned extremely low frequency radio waves, it may be necessary to use extremely low (and activated) doses as used in homeopathic medicines, in order for a person to receive the medicinal effect.
It is important to understand that nanopharmacological doses will not have any effect unless the person is hypersensitive to the specific medicinal substance. Hypersensitivity is created when there is some type of resonance between the medicine and the person. Because the system of homeopathy bases its selection of the medicine on its ability to cause in overdose the similar symptoms that the sick person is experiencing, homeopathy’s “principle of similars” is simply a practical method of finding the substance to which a person is hypersensitive.
The homeopathic principle of similars makes further sense when one considers that modern physiologists and pathologists recognize that disease is not simply the result of breakdown or surrender of the body but that symptoms are instead representative of the body’s efforts to fight infection or adapt to stress.
Using a nanodose that is able to penetrate deeply into the body and that is specifically chosen for its ability to mimic the symptoms that the sick person is experiencing helps to initiate a profound healing process. It is also important to highlight the fact that a homeopathic medicine is not simply chosen for its ability to cause a similar disease that a person has but for its ability to cause a similar syndrome of symptoms of disease, of which the specific localized disease is a part. By understanding that the human body is a complex organism that creates a wide variety of physical and psychological symptoms, homeopaths acknowledge biological complexity and have a system of treatment to deal with it.
Although no one knows precisely how homeopathic medicines initiate the healing process, there is over 200 years of experience by hundreds of thousands of clinicians and tens of millions of patients that these medicines they have powerful effects. One cannot help but sense and anticipate the veritable treasure-trove of knowledge that further research in homeopathy and nanopharmacology will bring in this new millennium.

The Clinical Evidence for Homeopathy

2010-01-16T18:48:00.002+05:00

The Clinical Evidence for Homeopathy

Before discussing the recent well-controlled and double-blind clinical trials, it is important to make reference to homeopathy’s history in order to provide additional evidence for the clinical efficacy of homeopathic nanopharmacology.
Homeopathy first developed a significant popularity in Europe and the United States primarily because of the astounding successes it experienced in treating people suffering from the various infectious disease epidemics in the 19 th century. The death rates in the homeopathic hospitals from cholera, scarlet fever, typhoid, yellow fever, pneumonia, and others was typically one-half to even one-eighth of conventional medical hospitals (Bradford, 1900; Coulter, 1973). Similar good results were also observed in mental institutions and prisons under the care of homeopathic physicians compared to those under the care of conventional doctors. These consistent and significant results could not be attributed to a placebo effect. In other words, there is clear empirical evidence that homeopathic medicines were highly effective in treating various infectious diseases and in psychiatric disorders.

Unfortunately, conventional physicians and scientists have continually provided misinformation about the status of scientific evidence about homeopathic medicine. They have frequently and incorrectly asserted that there is no research to prove that homeopathic medicines work, and they further have asserted that there is no way that the extremely small doses can have any effect whatsoever.
This type of statement simply reflects ignorance of the scientific literature. It is remarkable to note that some of the earliest placebo-controlled and double-blinded studies ever performed were actually conducted by homeopathic physicians. For a detailed history of the 19 th century and early 20 th century studies, see The Trials of Homeopathy by Dr. Michael Emmans Dean. For those people who want an excellent summary of this history, it is a part of a special e-book, Homeopathic Family Medicine (anyone interested in a comprehensive, historical, and up-to-date review of clinical research testing homeopathic medicines would benefit from obtaining and subscribing to this e-book). Another source of modern basic science and clinical research on homeopathic medicine is the Samueli Institute.
A short summary of some of the modern placebo-controlled and double-blind studies is reported below.
An independent group of physicians and scientists evaluated homeopathic clinical research prior to October, 1995 (Linde, 1997). They reviewed 186 studies, 89 of which met their pre-defined criteria for their meta-analysis. They found that on average patients given a homeopathic medicine were 2.45 times more likely to have experienced a clinically beneficial effect. When reviewing only the highest quality studies and when adjusting for publication bias, the researchers found that subjects given a homeopathic medicine were still 1.86 times more likely to experience improved health as compared with those given a placebo. The researchers have also noted that it is extremely common in conventional medical research for more rigorous trials to yield less positive results than less rigorous trials.
The most important question that good scientists pose about any clinical research is: have there been replications of clinical studies by independent researchers? When at least three independent researchers verify the efficacy of a treatment, it is considered to be a valid and effective treatment.
Four separate bodies of researchers have conducted clinical trials in the use of a homeopathic medicine (Oscillococcinum 200C) in the treatment of influenza-like syndromes (Ferley, 1989; Casanova, 1992; Papp, 1998). Each of these trials was relatively large in the number of subjects (487, 300, 100, and 372), and all were multi-centered placebo-controlled and double-blinded (two of the three trials were also randomized). Each of these trials showed statistically significant results. Even the highly respected Cochrane Collaboration acknowledged that these results were "promising" (Vickers, 2007).
One other body of research in the use of Galphimia glauca in the treatment of hay fever was replicated successfully seven times, but this research was conducted by the same group of researchers (Wiesenauer, Ludtke, 1996), and thus far, this work has not been conducted by any other researchers.
A body of clinical research in homeopathy that has been consistently recognized as some of the highest quality scientific research has been conducted by a group of researchers at the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital. They conducted four studies on people suffering from various respiratory allergies (hay fever, asthma, and perennial allergic rhinitis) (Taylor, Reilly, Llewellyn-Jones, et al, 2000). In total, they treated 253 patients and found a 28% improvement in visual analogue scores in those given a homeopathic medicine, as compared with a 3% improvement in patients given a placebo (P=.0007)(The “P” refers to the “probability” of these results occurring simply by chance, and thus, the lower the number, the greater the likelihood that the treatment used is effective. When “P” equals .05, this means that there are 5 chances out of 100 that the effective of a specific treatment happened by chance, and scientists today consider this 5% chance as adequate evidence of a treatment’s effectiveness. In this study, however, there was an extremely high likelihood that the treatment was effective because there were only seven chances out of 10,000 (!) that this result happened by chance.)
In the hay fever study, homeopathic doses of various hayfever-inducing flowers were prescribed, and in the other studies, the researchers conducted conventional allergy testing to assess to which substance each person was most allergic. The researchers then prescribed the 30C (100 -30) of this allergic substance (House dust mite 30C was the most commonly prescribed homeopathic medicine).
The researchers called this type of prescribing “homeopathic immunotherapy,” and they concluded from their research that either homeopathic medicines work or controlled clinical trials do not.
One of the most impressive studies ever conducted testing homeopathic medicines was in the treatment of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is a general term for a group of respiratory ailments and is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are two conditions that are included in the more broad diagnosis of COPD.

At the University of Vienna Hospital a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with parallel assignment was performed to assess the influence of sublingually administered Kali bichromicum (potassium dichromate) 30C on the amount of tenacious, stringy tracheal secretions in critically ill patients with a history of tobacco use and COPD (Frass, Dielacher, Linkesch, et al, 2005). The amount of tracheal secretions was reduced significantly in patients given the homeopathic medicine (p < 0.0001). Extubation (the removal of obstructive mucus from the lung with a tube) could be performed significantly earlier in group 1 (p < 0.0001). Similarly, length of stay was significantly shorter in group 1 (4.20 +/- 1.61 days vs 7.68 +/- 3.60 days, p < 0.0001 [mean +/- SD]). This data suggest that potentized (diluted and vigorously shaken) Kali bichromicum may help to decrease the amount of stringy tracheal secretions in COPD patients.

Three studies of children with diarrhea were also conducted and published in peer-review scientific journals (Jacobs, Jonas, Jimenez-Perez, Crothers, 2003). A meta-analysis of the 242 children who were involved in these three studies showed that the children who were prescribed a homeopathic medicine experienced a highly significant reduction in the duration of diarrhea, as compared with the children who were given a placebo (P=0.008). The World Health Organization has deemed that childhood diarrhea is the most serious public health problem today because several million children die each year as a result of dehydration from diarrhea. The fact that homeopathy is not included in the standard of care for diarrhea in children could be considered malpractice.

One other study is worth mentioning. This study was on 53 patients with fibromyalgia, which is a newly recognized syndrome that includes musculoskeletal symptoms, fatigue, and insomnia (Bell, Lewis, Brooks, et al, 2004) . Participants given individually chosen homeopathic treatment showed significantly greater improvements in tender point count and tender point pain, quality of life, global health and a trend toward less depression compared with those on placebo. “Helpfulness from treatment” in homeopathic patients as compared to those given a placebo was very significant (P=.004). What is also extremely interesting about this study was that the researchers found that people on homeopathic treatment also experienced changes in EEG readings. Not only did subjects who were given a homeopathic medicine experience improved health, they were shown to experience different changes in the brain wave activity. This evidence of clinical benefits and objective physiological action from homeopathic medicines in people with chronic symptoms constitutes very strong evidence that these nanodoses can have observable effects.
The above body of evidence should be adequate for verifying that homeopathic medicines can have therapeutic benefits, but there is even evidence that these nanodoses can have significant biological activity. One important study was led by a professor of chemistry who was formerly a skeptic of homeopathy (Dr. Madeleine Ennis) but who now recognizes that these medicines have significant effects (Belon, Cumps, Ennis, et al., 2004). Four independent laboratories, each associated with a university, conducted a series of 3,674 experiments using dilutions of histamine beyond Avogadro's number, by which we mean the dose in which there should be in all probability no remaining molecules of the original substance remaining (the 15th through 19th centesimal dilution, that is 100 -15 to 100 –19). The researchers found inhibitory effects of histamine dilutions on a type of white blood cell called basophils. The overall effects were substantially significant (p<0.0001). The test solutions were made in independent laboratories, the participants were blinded to the content of the test solutions, and the data analysis was performed by a biostatistician who was not involved in any other part of the trial.
It should be mentioned and even highlighted that the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has a science show called "Horizon" which conducted a "test" of homeopathy in 2002. They claimed on air that they were "repeating" Professor Ennis' experiment. However, this television experiment did not get the same results as Ennis' or the other three university laboratories. This "reality TV science" experiment created a tremendous amount of media and suggested that homeopathy didn't work afterall.
In 2004, American television's 20/20 program also sought to repeat Ennis' experiment. However, just before the experiment started, the experimenter sent me (Dana Ullman) a copy of his protocol, and I sent it to Professor Ennis. She was shocked to discover that there were several significant differences in this experiment, all of which led to the negative result. For details about these differences, see Professor Ennis's email as well as other evidence of the serious problems with this television experiment.
Despite knowing prior to the experiment that they were conducting a flawed study and one that was not a "repeat" of any other research that had ever been performed, the 20/20 producer still filmed the study as though it was valid. The narrator of the program noted that "Dana Ullman questioned the design of the study," though they quickly asserted that "their" experts confirmed that the study was well-designed and properly conducted, even though they conducted the wrong experiment.
The website of the New Scientist, one of the world’s most respected popular science magazines, includes articles it has published on homeopathy, with numerous positive studies and comments from world renowned physicists, chemists, physicians, biologists, and other scientists.
For example, Nobel Laureate and physicist Brian D. Josephson (1997) of the University of Cambridge wrote to the New Scientist :
“Simple-minded analysis may suggest that water, being a fluid, cannot have a structure of the kind that such a picture would demand. But cases such as that of liquid crystals, which while flowing like an ordinary fluid can maintain an ordered structure over macroscopic distances, show the limitations of such ways of thinking. There have not, to the best of my knowledge, been any refutations of homeopathy that remain valid after this particular point is taken into account. A related topic is the phenomenon, claimed by Yolene Thomas and by others to be well established experimentally, known as the ‘memory of water’. If valid, this would be of greater significance than homeopathy itself, and it attests to the limited vision of the modern scientific community that, far from hastening to test such claims, the only response has been to dismiss them out of hand.”

Other Evidence on the Power of Nano-Doses

2010-01-16T18:47:00.002+05:00

Other Evidence on the Power of Nano-Doses

There is a significant body of conventional scientific research that has verified the powerful biochemical effects of extremely low concenetrations of biological agents. Chemicals in the brain called beta-endorphins are known to modulate natural killer cell activity in dilutions of 10 -18 (this dilution means that a substance was diluted 1:10 eighteen times). Interleukin 1, an important part of our immune system, has been found to exhibit increased T-cell clone proliferation at 10 -19. And pheromones (hormones emitted externally by various animals and insects) will result in hypersensitive reaction when as little as a single molecule is received. (For an excellent review of many substances that have significant biological activity in extremely small doses, see Drs. P. Bellavite and A. Signorini’s Emerging Science of Homeopathy: Complexity, Biodynamics, and Nanopharmacology; see also Eskinazi, 1999).

The doses mentioned immediately above are still in the molecular dose range, and as such, they do not in themselves create cause for a revolution in science or medicine. However, few scientists and physicians are knowledgeable of the power and potential of nanodoses commonly used by homeopaths all over the world. This is particularly disappointing because it is commonly observed that organisms experience a biphasic response to various chemicals, that is, extremely small doses of a substance exhibit different and sometimes opposite effects than what they cause in high concentrations. For instance, it is widely recognized that normal medical doses of atropine block the parasympathetic nerves, causing mucous membranes to dry up, while exceedingly small doses of atropine causes increased secretions to mucous membranes (Goodman and Gilman, 2001).
This fact that drugs can have two phases of action, depending upon their concentration, is a little known but consistently observed phenomenon. In fact, many medical and scientific dictionaries refer to “hormesis” or “the Arndt-Schulz law” (listed in leading medical and scientific dictionaries under the word “law”) as the observations that weak concentrations of biological agents stimulate physiological activity, medium concentrations of agents depress physiological activity, and large concentrations halt physiological activity.
There is a significant body of research on hormesis (hundreds of studies) conducted by conventional scientists, none of whom even mention homeopathy (Stebbins, 1982; Oberbaum and Cambar, 1994). Even the journal, Health Physics devoted an entire issue to this subject (May, 1987). For further information on hormesis, click here.
Just as humankind went west to explore new frontiers and is now exploring the frontier of space, today scientists and physicians are exploring nanotechnologies and nanopharmacologies. It is only a matter of time before scientists and physicians learn that homeopathic medicine presents a fertile ground for exploring and exploiting the power of these powerful nanodoses.

Principle and Power of Resonance

2010-01-14T17:31:00.003+05:00

Principle and Power of Resonance

Before discussing these scientific studies, it may be helpful to make brief reference to a subject for which there is common knowledge. Basic principles of physics teach us that hypersensitivity exists when there is “resonance.” An example from music is helpful here: Whenever a “C” note is played on a piano (or any instrument), other “C” notes reverberate, while other notes are not affected at all. Even when one instrument is relatively far away from another, its C strings will reverberate when a C note is played.
Ultimately, homeopathy is a medical system based on resonance (commonly referred to as the “principle of similars”). Two hundred years of experience by hundreds of thousands of homeopaths have consistently discovered that specially prepared, extremely small doses of medicine can powerfully augment a person’s
healing response when there is a similarity between the toxicology of the medicine and the symptom complex of the sick person. One of the special features of homeopathy is that whenever a patient is given a homeopathic medicine that does not match his or her symptoms, nothing happens. But when there is a match, people experience significant improvement in their overall health.

Making Homeopathic Medicines

2010-01-14T17:30:00.004+05:00

Making Homeopathic Medicines

Most homeopathic medicines are made by diluting a medicinal substance in a double-distilled water. It should be noted that physicists who study the properties of water commonly acknowledge that water has many mysterious and amazing properties. Because homeopaths use a double-distilled water, it is highly purified, enabling the medicinal substance to solely infiltrate and imprint the water. For the the serious scientifically-minded people, I strongly encourage you to review the website of Dr. Martin Chaplin* of London South Bank University for impressively sophisticated information and research on water. It is amazing how ill-informed and uninformed skeptics of homeopathy are on the physics of water.
Each substance is diluted, most commonly, 1 part of the original medicinal agent to 9 or 99 parts double-distilled water. The mixture is then vigorously stirred or shaken. The solution is then diluted again 1:9 or 1:99 and vigorously shaken. This process of consecutive diluting and shaking or stirring is repeated 3, 6, 12, 30, 200, 1,000, or even 1,000,000 times. Simply “diluting” the medicines without vigorously shaking them doesn’t activate the medicinal effects.
It is inaccurate to say that homeopathic medicines are extremely diluted; they are extremely “potentized.” “Potentization” refers to the specific process of sequential dilution with vigorous shaking. Each consecutive dilution infiltrates the new double-distilled water and imprints upon it the fractal form of the original substance used (fractal refers to the specific consecutively smaller pattern or form within a larger pattern). Ultimately, some type of fractal or hologram of the original substance may be imprinted in the water.

Over 200 years of experience by homeopaths throughout the world has shown that the more that a substance undergoes potentization (the process of sequential dilution with vigorous shaking in-between each dilution), the more powerful the medicine becomes, the longer it acts, and the less doses are generally needed. Because of these observations and experiences, homeopaths refer to medicines that have been potentized 200 times or more as “high potencies” and those that have been potentized less than 12 times as “low potencies.”
In this light, homeopaths insist that their medicines are NOT extremely small doses. Instead, they assume that the double-distilled and purified water is changed and becomes imprinted and activated.
Homeopaths will be the first to acknowledge that their medicine will not have any effect at all, unless the person taking them has a hypersensitivity to the medicine. A person will have this hypersensitivity if and when they exhibit the syndrome of symptoms that the substance has previously been found to cause.
Still, it is admittedly difficult to initially accept the possibility that such nanopharmacological doses can have any effect at all. And yet, some highly respected basic scientific research has begun to verify the claims that homeopaths have made since its inception in the 1800s.

Homeopathic Medicine: Nano-doses, Powerful Results

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Homeopathic Medicine: Nano-doses, Powerful Results

Homeopathic medicine presents a significantly different pharmacological approach to treating sick people. Instead of using strong and powerful doses of medicinal agents that have a broad-spectrum effect on a wide variety of people with a similar disease, homeopaths use extremely small doses of medicinal substances that are highly individualized to a person’s physical and psychological syndrome of disease, not simply an assumed localized pathology.
Homeopathic medicines are so small in dose that it is appropriate to refer to them as a part of the newly defined field of “nanopharmacology” (the prefix “nano” derives from Latin and means dwarf; today, the prefix is used to refer to “nanotechnology” or the “nanosciences” which explore the use of extremely small technologies or processes, at least one-billionth of a unit, designated as 10 -9). To understand the nature and the degree of homeopathy’s nanopharmacology, it is important to know the following characteristics of how homeopathic medicines are made.

Medicines That Respect the Wisdom of the Body

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Medicines That Respect the Wisdom of the Body

The use of the principle of similars in healing actually has ancient roots (Coulter, 1975). In the 4th century B.C., Hippocrates is known to have said, "Through the like, disease is produced, and through the application of the like it is cured." The famed Delphic Oracle in Greece proclaimed the value of the law of similars, stating, "that which makes sick shall heal." Paracelsus, a well-known 16th century physician and alchemist, used the law of similars extensively in practice and referred to it in writings. His formulation of the "Doctrine of Signatures" spoke directly of the value in using similars in healing. He affirmed, "You there bring together the same anatomy of the herbs and the same anatomy of the illness into one order. This simile gives you understanding of the way in which you shall heal."

This principle of similars (using a substance to treat the similar symptoms that it causes) is also used in conventional medicine, with immunizations being the most obvious example, that is, small doses of a “weakened” pathogen are used to prevent what larger doses cause. None other than the "father of immunology," Dr. Emil Adolph Von Behring (1906), directly pointed to the origins of immunizations when he asserted, "(B)y what technical term could we more appropriately speak of this influence than by Hahnemann's* word ‘homeopathy’." (*Samuel Hahnemann, MD, 1755-1843, was a renowned German physician and the founder of homeopathy.). Modern allergy treatment, likewise, utilizes the homeopathic approach by the use of small doses of allergens in order to create an antibody response.
Conventional medical treatment also uses homeopathy’s principle of similars in choosing radiation to treat people with cancer (radiation causes cancer), digitalis for heart conditions (digitalis creates heart conditions), and Ritalin for hyperactive children (Ritalin is an amphetamine-like drug which normally causes hyperactivity). Other examples are the use of nitroglycerine for heart conditions, gold salts for arthritic conditions, and colchicine for gout, all of which are known to cause the similar symptoms that they are found to treat.
For a historical discussion of various homeopathic drugs that have been incorporated into conventional medicine, see Dr. Harris Coulter's Homoeopathic Influences in Nineteenth Century Allopathic Therapeutics as well as his more detailed book on homeopathy’s history, Divided Legacy: The Conflict Between Homeopathy and the A.M.A.
It should be acknowledged that although the conventional medical treatments mentioned above may be homeopathic-like, they do not follow other fundamental principles of homeopathy. Immunizations and allergy treatments are given to prevent or cure special ailments, while homeopathic medicines are substances individually prescribed based on the overall syndrome of body and mind symptoms the person is experiencing, and therefore a homeopathic medicine is thought to strengthen the person’s overall body-mind constitution, not just to prevent or treat a specific illness. Also, these conventional medical treatments are not individually prescribed to the high degree of selectivity that is common in homeopathy, and they are not prescribed in as small or as safe a dose.
And speaking of dose, this subject is vital, and homeopaths have uncovered an amazing and initially confusing power of the human organism. Homeopaths have found that sick people develop hypersensitivity to substances that cause the similar symptoms that they are experiencing. Further, by giving very small doses of this substance, a person can and will experience an immunological and therapeutic benefit without a toxic burden.

Determining What a Medicine Can Cure

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Determining What a Medicine Can Cure

For over 200 years, hundreds of thousands of homeopaths throughout the world have carefully catalogued and now computerized the idiosyncratic physical, emotional, and mental symptoms that thousands of substances have caused in healthy people (Note: There are now simple computerized programs as well as sophisticated expert system software to help provide highly individualized prescriptions to people based on their specific and unique symptomatology). Homeopaths have thereby created the most extensive body of toxicological information available today, though this information focuses on the symptoms that these substance cause, not on the dose in which they cause them. Homeopaths have found and verified that whatever a substance has been found to cause, it will also cure in specially prepared homeopathic doses.

Thousands of substances have undergone toxicological studies, which homeopaths call “drug provings.” These experiments are conducted on human subjects, not animals, to determine what various substances from the plant, mineral, animal, or chemical kingdom cause in overdose. Homeopaths have found that these experiments lay the foundation for what symptoms each substance causes, and thus, what affinity each substance has to the human body.
Then, when homeopaths see patients, they obtain the unique and detailed symptomatological history of each patient, and seek to find the specific substance from the plant, mineral, animal, or chemical kingdom that would cause the similar syndrome of symptoms that the patient is experiencing. It is not surprising that large numbers of homeopaths throughout the world today use sophisticated expert system software to help them individualize medicinal substances to their patients.
After finding a match between a substance’s toxicology and the patient’s specific symptom pattern, the homeopath gives a specially prepared microdose of this medicinal agent. The details of how homeopathic medicines are made are described below. It is now time to direct our attention to homeopathy’s most fascinating and most controversial observation…the power of homeopathic “nano-doses.”

Modern Physiology and Homeopathy

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The Wisdom of Symptoms—The Underlying Basis of Modern Physiology and Homeopathy

The underlying principle of homeopathy is also at the heart of modern physiology. It is commonly understood in medicine today that symptoms are not just something “wrong” with the body, but rather, they represent the efforts of the body and mind to defend and heal itself from a variety of infective agents and/or stresses. The body creates fever, inflammation, pain, discharge, or whatever is necessary in order to heal itself. While these symptoms represent the body’s best efforts to heal, they are not always successful in doing so. Ultimately, homeopathic medicines are some of the most powerful natural drugs available today to help augment the body’s ability to heal itself (more on this topic later).

Medical science today is increasingly recognizing symptoms as adaptive responses of the body. Standard texts of pathology define the process of inflammation as the manner in which the body seeks to wall off, heat up, and burn out infective agents or foreign matter. The cough has long been known as a protective mechanism for clearing breathing passages. Diarrhea has been shown to be a defensive effort of the body to remove pathogens or irritants more quickly from the colon. Discharges are understood as the body's way of ridding itself of dead bacteria, viruses, and cells. Even high blood pressure is an important defense and adaptation to the internal and external stresses that a person experiences.
The derivation of the word “symptom” is helpful to better understanding of the disease process and the healing process. The word "symptom" comes from a Greek root and refers to "something that falls together with something else." Symptoms are a “sign” or a “signal” of something else, and treating them doesn't necessarily change that "something else." Just because a drug gets rid of a symptom does not mean that the person is cured. In fact, drugs that suppress or inhibit a symptom tend to provide only a guise of success and usually lead to a longer and more serious illness. Using drugs to suppress symptoms is akin to pulling the plug on your car’s oil pressure warning light. Just because the light is turned off doesn’t mean that your car’s oil pressure is “cured.” In fact, ignoring that light may lead to your car’s breakdown.
It should be noted that people often incorrectly assume that conventional drugs have “side effects.” Actually, in purely pharmacological terms, drugs do NOT have side effects; drugs only have “effects,” and physicians arbitrarily differentiate between those effects that they like as the effects of the drug, while they call those symptoms that they don’t like “side effects.” This is akin to saying that the effects of a bomb are that it destroys buildings, but its side effects are that it kills people. Needless to say, one cannot truly separate out one effect from the other.
The reason that drugs create “side effects” that are often worse than the original disease is that these drugs tend to suppress the symptoms the sick person is experiencing and push them deeper into the person’s body. This observation may explain why people today are experiencing more serious chronic illnesses at earlier and earlier ages and why there is such an epidemic of mental illness (physical disease is suppressed deeply enough that the disease is pushed into the psyche).
Once one recognizes that symptoms are important and useful defenses of the body, it makes less sense to use drugs that inhibit or suppress this wisdom of the body. Instead of using drugs to suppress symptoms, it makes sense to use medicines to strengthen the body’s own defense system so that the body can more effectively heal itself. Here is where it makes sense to use homeopathic medicines.

Why Homeopathy Makes Sense and Works

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OPENING REMARKS:

Many people confuse homeopathic medicine with herbal remedies or with the broad field of alternative or natural medicine. As you will learn from this article, homeopathic medicine has its own sophisticated system of using substances from the plant, mineral, chemical, and animal kingdoms. This article will describe--in a modern and even futuristic fashion--this fascinating and powerful method of strengthening the body’s own defense system.
In the spirit of wishing to inform as many people as possible about homeopathy, you are welcome to send this article to anyone you wish (as long as the article is not changed in any way, except with permission from the
author). You are also welcome to post this article at your website by writing to and getting permission from us. (you will receive some simple ground rules for such postings). Please note this article may be updated from time to time, and it may be worthwhile to check back here often.
Printed publications (magazines and newspapers) can also obtain permission to reprint all or part of this article by emailing their request to the email listed above.
Here is a shorter and less technical version of this article.

Introduction

The word “homeopathy” is derived from two Greek words: homoios which means “similar” and pathos which means “suffering.” Homeopathy’s basic premise is called the “principle of similars,” and it refers to recurrent observation and experience that a medicinal substance will elicit a healing response for the specific syndrome of symptoms (or suffering) that it has been proven to cause when given to a healthy person in overdose.
The beauty of the principle of similars is that it not only initiates a healing response, but it encourages a respect for the body's wisdom. Because symptoms represent the best efforts of our body in its defenses against infection or stress, it makes sense to utilize a medicine that helps and mimics this defense rather than that inhibits or suppresses it. The principle of similars may be one of nature's laws that, when used well, can be one of our most sophisticated healing strategies.
It is important to note that immunizations and allergy treatments are two of the very few applications in modern medicine today that actually stimulate the body’s own defenses in the prevention or treatment of specific diseases, and it is NOT simply a coincidence that both of these treatments are derived from the homeopathic principle of similars.
Homeopathic medicine is so widely practiced by physicians in Europe that it is no longer appropriate to consider it “alternative medicine” there. Approximately 30% of French doctors and 20% of German doctors use homeopathic medicines regularly, while over 40% of British physicians refer patients to homeopathic doctors, and almost half of Dutch physicians consider homeopathic medicines to be effective. The fact that the British Royal Family has used and supported homeopathy since the 1830s reflects its longstanding presence in Britain’s national health care system.
Homeopathic medicine also once had a major presence in American medical care and in American society. In 1900 there were 22 homeopathic medical schools in the US, including Boston University, University of Michigan, New York Medical College, Hahnemann University, University of Minnesota, and even the University of Iowa. Further, many of America’s cultural elite were homeopathy’s strongest advocates, including Mark Twain, William James, John D. Rockefeller, Susan B. Anthony, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David Thoreau, and Harriett Beecher Stowe, amongst many others. (For a more extensive list of famous people past and present who are known advocates of homeopathy, click here.)
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Social Transformation of American Medicine, Paul Starr noted, "Because homeopathy was simultaneously philosophical and experimental, it seemed to many people to be more rather than less scientific than orthodox medicine."
This article will present a strong case for homeopathy in light of the most recent developments in science and medicine. That said, I want to apologize to those people who have an open mind about homeopathy but who have been introduced to it by individuals who have not adequately explained this science and art in a clear and convincing fashion. It is hoped that both skeptics and those open-minded but inadequately informed people will benefit from this overview of the homeopathic system.

Argentum Metallicum

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Argentum Metallicum is the other name for silver. Pure silver cannot be absorbed into the body. However, when silver is combined with other elements, the body is able to absorb its compounds. In Greek medicine, it was used in the form of silver foil as a tonic, but pure silver cannot become a part of the body tissue. Unfortunately, these days lead is beaten into the form of a foil and sold as silver even though lead is very harmful to the health of a person. As far as homoeopathy is concerned, any metal which comes into contact with the lining of the skin or the inner lining of the gut is absorbed into the body, although it may not be detectable by any sophisticated gauges. The main effect of the Argentum Metallicum is on the elastic cartilage bones, which become thick and hard. The thickened nasal bone can cause difficulty in breathing. Small bones of the ears develop nodular thickening. This process of progressive thickening of the bone can lead to cancer formation. Argentum Metallicum works profoundly on the brain cells. The cells start melting away slowly, and premature senility sets in. The capability to comprehend deteriorates. This weakness starts in the central part of the brain and then spreads gradually to other organs of the body. Mental faculties start failing. Hands and feet start to bend. The memory becomes weak to the extent that the patient goes out of his senses and talks nonsense. The ability to think decreases. Serious thinking causes dizziness. This is a danger signal and indicates the degeneration of brain cells. In such cases, Argentum Metallicum in high potency should be administered without delay and repeated every fifteen to twenty days or monthly. The inhaler used by asthmatic patients also contains a poisonous substance which, like Argentum Metallicum, makes the brain
tissue shrink and then degenerate. Argentum Metallicum 76 Argentum Metallicum resembles Lachesis in the way that the symptoms aggravate during sleep, especially the nervous exhaustion leading to generalized physical fatigue. Argentum Metallicum works deeply on the muscles of the limbs. Neuralgic pains mostly affect both the legs and the feet. The nerve fibres feel as though they are being torn apart. These neuralgic pains aggravate during sleep and in cold and wet weather. (Rheumatic aches and pains also get worse in stormy and humid weather). In the rainy season, they also get worse before and after the rain. There is no associated swelling of the limbs, but the patient is definitely very restless. Light movements lessen the joint pains while rapid motions intensify them. The discomfort is not due to the sleep itself, but the rest offered by sleep. The pains are worse at night as in Rhus Tox. The difference is that in Rhus Tox, there is a severe physical uneasiness and the person spends the night tossing about. Argentum Metallicum is very useful in the cancers of the skin and mucus membranes. Cancer at the uterine neck, which most doctors label as incurable, is very amenable to Argentum Metallicum, even curable. In case the cure is not achieved, the patient can still remain comfortable for a long time. Tarentula Hispania, Helonias and Carbo Animalis are also very useful in cancer of the cervix of the uterus. In Argentum Metallicum, there are widespread ulcerations on the body. The ulcers over the cartilage bones respond very well to Argentum Metallicum. It is also associated with the lining of veins. A very special feature of Argentum Metallicum is that it affects the internal organs of women strictly on the left side, and the internal organs of men strictly on the right side. Usually it is not difficult to differentiate the remedies specific for the right or the left and upper or lower part of the body. This remedy, however, particularly differentiates the ailments of right and left in men and women respectively. In women, the ovary swells into a form of a large cyst. Accumulation of different materials makes it large and more thick. The uterus also expands and loses its elasticity. Once expanded, it does not return to its original condition. This problem aggravates after every delivery and sometimes the uterus descends down. Argentum Metallicum is extremely useful in such women, offering cure. The uterus becoming hard and the cervix stiff, in association with a Argentum Metallicum 77 putrid discharge, indicate the presence of a deep serious problem. Administered early on, Argentum Metallicum can abort the disease. If the legs hurt but the real cause is not known, Argentum Metallicum is worth a trial. It can be very useful in post-menopausal bleeding. Argentum Metallicum is generally, though not necessarily, indicated in women of thin, lean build with long slender hands. It may be useful in obese women also. Some people feel sudden jerks on retiring to sleep or during sleep. This is quite troublesome. Grindelia is ideal in such cases. Arsenic may also be useful. Argentum Metallicum is indicated if such jerks of violent motion are secondary to severe physical fatigue. Generally, Grindelia is good enough in most such patients. One single dose may work for many weeks, and does not need to be repeated. Argentum Metallicum symptoms are at the climax exactly at midday. The patient feels dizzy. The headache is localised to the forehead and face or sometimes on any one side of the head, but mostly on the right side. It intensifies gradually, but then subsides rapidly. This pain is related to facial neuralgia, because basically this is a neuralgic remedy and headache is also related to nerves. Severe itching, limited to one ear and leading to the injury and thickening of the ears, is indicative of Argentum Metallicum. Thickening of both ears is an early sign of leprosy. Leprosy, a very slowly progressive disease, can best be controlled by early use of Hydrocotyle. Argentum Metallicum is extremely useful in diabetics and patients passing albumin in the urine. Provided its other signs are also present, it can be completely cured. Argentum Metallicum is also very beneficial in inflammation of the inner lining of the kidneys (Nephritis). In Argentum Metallicum, two signs are shown in urine. If it is dark coloured, this indicates passage of albumin in the urine. If it is cloudy and copious, this indicates the presence of sugar, as is in juvenile diabetes. Argentum Metallicum would only be useful if other constitutional symptoms are also present. Argentum Metallicum would be useful in diabetics with failing kidneys who wet their beds at night. Argentum Metallicum 78 In Argentum Metallicum there is a feeling of extremely unusual weakness and lethargy and the body feels lifeless. Argentum Metallicum is the treatment for this extreme fatigue. Argentum Metallicum is a remedy of speakers and singers. It is well known for the treatment of hoarseness of the voice following excessive speaking and singing. Hoarseness is known in other homoeopathic remedies too, such as in Rhus Tox, however, it is not difficult to differentiate between them. In Rhus Tox, the patient feels a hoarseness of the voice at the outset, which gradually gets clearer and better gradually on continued talking. If the voice becomes worse on talking, Borax can be used. However, if the overall symptoms are of Argentum Metallicum, this will prove better than Borax. In Argentum Metallicum, the trachea swells up and is very painful. The cough becomes aggravated by laughing (as in Phosphorus). Argentum Metallicum patients develop cold on exposure to the cold which can lead to irritation of the throat, and discomfort at the upper part of the chest. The fever comes on in the afternoon. There is severe weakness in the chest and pain on the left ribs. Argentum Metallicum is of good use in diseases of the lungs. Stanum is better than Argentum Metallicum in diseases associated with a lot of sputum/expectoration, unless the overall picture resembles that of Argentum Metallicum. There is premature ageing in Argentum Metallicum. Even at the age of 20 to 25 years, the face appears full of wrinkles. Sarsaparilla is the best remedy for premature ageing. Chinisum Ars is good in ageing which is secondary to deep illnesses of long-standing. The liver and spleen fail. In Sarsaparilla the skin shrivels. In Argentum Metallicum, if the patient lies flat on his back, watery fluid accumulates in the lung, causing palpitations and difficulty in breathing. On sitting up and standing, the upper part of the lung becomes clear of the fluid, and the person can breathe easily. Argentum Metallicum is very advantageous in pregnant women experiencing sudden or severe palpitations of the heart. Typically, the symptoms of Argentum Metallicum aggravate by touch and at midday. Sleeping in the open air at night lessens the severity of the cough, but other physical ailments get worse. Antidote: Merc Sol, Pulsatilla Potency: 30 to CM

Antimonium Crudum

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The salient feature of Antimonium Crudum is that the gastric function is badly affected. There is a coating on the tongue, which is essentially thick and white unless altered by the colour of food taken, e.g. the coating can obviously turn brown after eating chocolate or drinking tea. The Antimonium Crudum patient eats a lot and constantly so, until the sudden functional failure of the stomach sets in. Antimonium Crudum is a profound and widely effective medicine. It stops the vomiting following excessive eating. It is very useful in deep warts and corns of the feet. Sometimes, streaks on nails or their irregularity may be a sign of deep-seated disease. In the Antimonium Crudum patient, raised warts develop near finger nails. The nails either become loose or shrivel and streaks appear on them. The same happens on the feet. The gums swell and recede from the teeth and the teeth decay. If this is a prominent feature, then it is diagnostic of Antimonium Crudum. In Antimonium Crudum and Antimonium tart, the toothache may be of neuralgic nature. In Antimonium Crudum, the stools
are formed and the blood is only smeared on the outside. In dysentery, the stools are mixed with blood. Antimonium Crudum patient suffers from the pain at the heels. Along with the dysfunction of the stomach, various skin conditions can also develop. The Antimonium Crudum symptoms are relieved in the open air and hot, humid weather. However, the patient cannot tolerate heat, especially direct sunlight. The classical signs of Antimonium Crudum are gastric dysfunction, nausea and its effects on the lungs, involvement of the nails, peeling of the tip of the nose and lips, and dry eczema. Adjutant: Sulphur Antidote: Hepar Sulph Potency: 30

Apis Mellifica

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Medicinally, bee venom is used in several diseases. In ancient times, it was used to treat insect bites and stings. Apis is especially useful in the illnesses caused by honeybee stings and like ailments. The typical pain of the Apis patient is fraught with burning and piercing sensation. Cold application relieves the pain while heat aggravates it. The symptoms usually begin on the right side and then spread to the left. The skin feels sore and cannot tolerate any pressure. Even the touch of cloth is unbearable. The patient feels intense heat in the blood and is relieved by exposure to the open air. He is worse for heat (feeling heat). Apis is very useful in every kind of inflammation and swelling aggravated by exposure to heat or heat application. This is the best remedy for Meningitis also. When used promptly, it also prevents the subsequent development of epilepsy whereas even if Meningitis is cured by conventional treatment, some long-term complications persist, one of which is
epilepsy. If cold, rather than warmth, worsens the symptoms, Apocynum should be used instead. In the later part of pregnancy, some women develop convulsions (Eclampsia). The general perception is that in such a condition, a patient gets relief from a hot bath. However, if the patient’s constitution is that of Apis, a hot bath leads to severe convulsions to the extent that due to constriction of the cervix, the baby can die in utero. If not treated immediately, the mother may also die. Similarly, small children, of Apis temperament, can also fall into a state of convulsions with a hot bath and these convulsions can result in their death. It is extremely important to know if the symptoms worsen with heat or cold. If heat aggravates the symptoms, Belladonna 1000 and Aconite 1000 should also be added to Apis and repeated 2 to 3 times within 15 minutes. If the condition is aggravated by cold, Mag Phos should be administered. Apocynum is the ideal remedy for a cool disposition and Apis, that of a hot disposition. If a child does not like to be covered but kicks the cloth off, this shows that he does not like heat. Apis Mellifica 72 The salient sign of Apis is that the affected area swells and throbs (as after a bee sting). Apocynum does not exhibit this feature. Sometimes, the swelling of Apis appears in the outer lining of the brain. Typically, the patient feels worse in the heat and feels severe throbbing. A young child cannot express himself and suddenly screams loudly. The doctor should take immediate notice of this sign and administer Apis. Apis also affects the membranous coverings of the heart, lungs and liver. In other words, it works mostly on the coverings rather than these organs themselves. Apocynum, like Apis, also affects the coverings. Both these remedies affect the secretory membranes of the abdomen like those of the intestines or kidneys, which filter the blood and produce urine. In both, the body swelling is soft and pits on pressure. In Apocynum, the swelling (Oedema) may become rather hard. The Apis patient with a kidney disease will show soft baggy swelling below the eyes. If along with this, the kidneys have a throbbing pain, or there is a sign of worsening of symptoms by heat, this is a clear indication of Apis. The affected eyes show severe swelling of the eyelids and Conjuctiva, along with bright redness, a piercing pain in the eye and aggravation of the symptoms by heat. Such a patient will not be able to open his eyes in bright sunlight. In Apis, some signs and symptoms manifest themselves on the right side. On hearing bad news or out of jealousy or sheer dislike, the right side of the body may be paralysed. However, the ailments of the eye and throat begin on the left side and then migrate to the right side (like Lachesis). In Apis, cold water gargles, instead of warm water, relieve the throat discomfort. In Apis, the abdomen (belly) becomes markedly distended with wind or gas, causing spasms below the ribs on the right side and then possibly on the left side also, like a vice. Pressure on the affected area of the belly relieves the discomfort. Apis is the sure-shot remedy if the symptoms aggravate with heat. Apis shows its beneficial effects in ten to fifteen days, however, it starts relieving the distension and spasm of the abdomen immediately after use. In an hour or two, the Apis Mellifica 73 effect is well evident. It works fairly fast in Meningitis, unless it is associated with Hydrocephalus. Apis will relieve the swelling of the membranes of Meningitis, but the cure of Hydrocephalus will not be achieved without Silicea, which is the correct treatment for this condition. Silicea should be started in small potency and then advanced steadily to very high potency. In abdominal distension, Apis gives immediate relief. However, in some chronic intestinal problems, it has to be used over a long period. As a matter of principle, in slowly progressive illnesses, the treatment will also be effective gradually, whereas, in sudden acute illnesses, the response to the medication is also prompt. In kidney disease, when Apis has to be used over a long period, this does not mean that the appearance of its beneficial effect will also take that long. If Apis starts working in kidney disease, the kidneys start forming urine within seven to ten days, which is a clear indication of its effect, although complete recovery will take time. In such a situation, the potency should be increased gradually with longer intervals in between. This way of administration is called rising potency and is described in detail in the chapter on Tuberculinum and Bacillinum. Adjutant: Natrum Mur Antidotes: Cantharis, Ipecac, Lachesis, Ledum, Natrum Mur Potency: 30 to 200

Anthrakokali

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Anthrakokali is very useful in skin conditions associated with itching, dryness, fissuring and blister formation, as well as in cracking at the nostrils and the nails, followed by the formation of sores. Typically, the mouth and the throat are very dry. Excessive bile formation leads to vomiting, the abdomen distends with wind, the thirst is intense and there is copious urination. Potency : 30

Anthracinum

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Anthracinum is prepared from the putrefied matter taken from the spleen of sick sheep. It is a first-rate treatment for ulcers and bleeding. Most homoeopaths use it sparingly but I have found it to be very useful in my practice. Abscesses developing in inflamed glands are hard and bundled together. They exhibit an ugly, bluish discolouration and are painful, but do not progress to softening and pus formation. For such boils, Anthracinum is a sure-shot homoeopathic remedy, resulting in cure within a month or two. Chronic wounds and ulcers of the internal organs, which exude blood and have a tendency to turn into cancer, can possibly be treated with Anthracinum. Anthracinum is also very useful in the treatment of deep wounds, which rip the skin apart and bleed. In view of this symptom, I am of the opinion that Anthracinum would also be beneficial in Ulcerative Colitis (in which, the lining of the large gut disintegrates, ulcerates and bleeds). In the allopathic system of treatment, there is no definite cure for this disease. The medicines used only temporarily control the disease, and have side effects. Only the surgical removal of the diseased part of the colon offers cure. When a disease has been merely suppressed by inappropriate medication, this may lead to Ulcerative Colitis. I have found Anthracinum to be very useful in such medically induced colitis. Anthracinum not only has the capability of curing chronic sores and abscesses, but also prevents their recurrence. Anthracinum can be useful in combating the persistent, dark bleeding from any part of the body. Antidotes: Apis, Camphor, Carbo Veg, Kreosote, Silicea, Rhus Tox Potency: 30 to 200

Ammonium Carb

2009-02-28T13:52:00.001+05:00

This is a profoundly effective medicine, which works on blood circulation. Its effect resembles several kinds of snake venom. Ammonium Carb has been successfully used in the Sindh province of Pakistan by eminent homoeopaths, for the treatment of snakebites. The resulting bleeding is thin and dark. The dark colour signifies that the inner lining of the nose, mouth, pharynx, stomach and intestines are no longer intact, they have either ulcerated or ruptured. The same also happens following a snakebite. The blood that comes out is dark and thin. Ammonium Carb is extremely useful in combating such conditions. In some diseases, the lining of the blood vessels becomes permeable and cannot retain the red cells. For such diseases, there are other useful remedies described elsewhere in this book. Dark blood is usually indicative of a severe illness, which may lead to death, unless treated promptly. There are also other remedies for the dark bloody discharge, as mentioned in other places of this book. The dark bloody discharge occurs in in serious illnesses. This requires urgent treatment otherwise the patient’s life will be in danger. To distinguish between different remedies, one has to keep the differences of different remedies in mind. Otherwise, only the mere presence of this symptom will not help. For example, the dark blue bleeding of piles is a result of failure of the portal venous system, rather than the effect on the inner lining. This system of circulation is related to the liver and the veins of the intestines draining into the liver. The veins contain dark blood. Portal system dysfunction may be treated with Sulphur or Hamamelis. However, if the dark blood is exuding from the broken down lining of the kidneys or intestines, Ammonium Carb is the ideal remedy in this critically serious condition. In snakebites, the blood may either clot or flow freely. Bleeding is from the junctional area (i.e. where the outer skin and the inner lining meet), such as the roots of the nail, lips, and other natural orifices. Whenever there is such bleeding, this is a sign of snake venom and similarly that of Ammonium Carb. Female Ammonium Carb patients may become hysterical. Their symptoms aggravate with sleep (as in Lachesis). Puerperal fever or Ammonium Carb 62 other fevers due to blood poisoning (toxaemia or Septicaemia) can influence the mind. The patient experiences strange, dreadful dreams. Detailed analysis of such dreams can help in making a proper diagnosis. If the patient sees snakes in his dreams, it indicates Natrum Mur, although, snake venom is Lachesis, rather than Natrum Mur. If the patient sleep walks, it indicates Silicea. Such patients may walk long distances and then come back to their bed. One such patient got up during her sleep and picked up the bedding and took it to another house. Finding the door of that house locked, she dropped the bedding there, returned home and lay back on the bed devoid of bedding. In the morning, she did not remember anything about it at all! Restlessness during sleep, or non-satisfying sleep should be properly looked into, so that a diagnosis may be established and correct treatment offered for natural relief. An offensive discharge from the ear should lead the homoeopath towards Ammonium Carb. Ammonium Carb is very useful in chronic illnesses of the ears associated with putrid discharge. In a chronic illness, the patient may be on the verge of death. The affected tissues start decaying and dying. The deadly odourous discharge from the ear results from the destruction of the inner lining of the ear. Ammonium Carb should be used in these patients on a permanent basis. Pulsatilla will offer immediate relief in case of a sudden, severe earache associated with restlessness, provided the patient is of mild nature and has the sobbing tendency. Chamomilla would be the best remedy if the patient suffering from earache is also irritable. Allium Cepa is good if the earache is secondary to a nasal cold. If there is lots of blood congestion of the ears associated with a reddish glow on the face, one should also add Belladonna 30 to Pulsatilla. Ammonium Carb is useful in diseases of the glands and chronic diseases of the lungs. Sometimes the lymph glands of the neck enlarge, become firm and then harden due to chronic inflammation and may resemble cancerous glands. So Ammonium Carb is also useful in cancerous conditions of the lymph glands. When the skin diseases are suppressed due to some kind of treatment, the diseases settle in the lymph nodes making them hard and subject to cancerous Ammonium Carb 63 transformation. Even if cancerous, such lymph adenopathy is very amenable to Ammonium Carb. Antidotes Arnica, Camphor Potency: 30 or as high as needed

Ambra Grisea

2009-02-28T13:52:00.000+05:00

Ambra Grisea is a useful homoeopathic remedy for thin, lean, short-tempered, irritable and easily provoked children as well as adults. Over-sensitivity is its peculiar feature. Vertigo and loss of balance can manifest in early age, which normally happen in old age. So this remedy can also be very useful in common old age ailments. The Ambra Grisea patient is usually very sad, even if there is no specific underlying cause. Ambra Grisea is the correct treatment of the patients who remain sad, like to sit aloof in the dark, become depressed over trivial matters, lose all zeal to live, show total indifference to their surroundings and start showing physical signs of ageing prematurely. They feel dizzy. The head and the stomach feel weak. The forehead feels heavy and the head hurts with variable intensity. There is drowsiness too. The memory is weak. The hairs on the scalp fall easily. When bleeding from the nose and gums occurs, it is copious. Gas accumulates in the stomach. Belching is sour, but the feeling it produces in the stomach is that of soothing, rather than burning. In Ambra Grisea, a lack of concentration is natural. The head feels numb and this feeling spreads over the whole body. Ambra Grisea ailments tend to remain localized only on one side like in Bryonia, Belladona and Spigelia. They are present and remain strictly either on right or left side. Typically, the Ambra Grisea patient cannot tolerate music. The music intensifies the headaches, mental anguish as well as the physical symptoms. In other words, instead of comforting the person, the music provokes mental and physical commotion. In Ambra Grisea, symptoms of old age, such as numbness of the hands and feet, palpitation and flabby muscles creep in rapidly. Ambra Grisea is very useful in minimizing the effects of sudden shock. I have often used Ambra Grisea on women who have been Ambra Grisea 60 deeply grieved due to sudden emotional shock. In transient emotional shock, however, Ignatia is the best. Antidotes: Camphor, Coffea, Nux Vomica, Pulsatilla, Staphysagria Potency: 30 to 200

Alumina

2009-02-28T13:50:00.001+05:00

The chemical compound Alumina is prepared from aluminium, a metal from which numerous utensils are made. Most cooking pots and bathroom appliances are made from it. Early on, this metal was very costly, only the rich and the elite could afford aluminium pots. Now, due to industrial development, this metal is vastly available and is quite cheap with the poor tending to use these utensils the most. Modern research has indicated that the prolonged use of aluminium pots for cooking produces a very harmful effect on the health of the users. This poison affects slowly, but becomes a permanent part of the human body. The aluminium constricts the walls of blood vessels. Cholesterol starts depositing itself inside the blood vessels. Progressive narrowing or even total blockage can ensue. Thus, cholesterol can cause a heart attack due to the blockage of the arteries leading to the heart. Similarly, it affects the blood vessels going to the brain. This process of progressive hardening and narrowing of the arteries is called “Arteriosclerosis". The ageing process starts to manifest itself fast. The memory becomes weak. The blood pressure fluctuates. Mental and physical deterioration sets in. Alumina, being a slow acting remedy, should be used for long periods extending over years. To achieve permanent cure, one should use Alumina in high potency at long intervals, such as 1000 or 10,000 given once in a month. A potency 200 will have to be given every ten days, extending over many months or years. In the beginning of the treatment, no beneficial effect will be noticed. Once the improvement begins, the dead and dying fibres of the circular muscles start reverting to life. The patient must be told to continue the treatment for at least a year or two without fail in order to get relief from this long-established disease. The Alumina itch does not exhibit lumps or bumps. At first, the itching begins on apparently clean, healthy-looking skin. Itching leads to inflammation which leads to formation of pimples or, on scratching intensely, blister formation. One may bleed as a result of scratching. The affected part becomes insensitive and subject to infection and further complication. In general, (unlike Alumina), in Alumina 56 most of the remedies, the bumps over the skin appear first and the itching comes on later. The eyelids swell and become thick and heavy. The eyelashes fall. The vision becomes blurred. The eyes are very sensitive to light, especially in the morning. The eyelids are sticky and the objects look pale or yellow. The stomach fails to function. There is a complete loss of appetite and dislike for meat. The patient craves to eat indigestible things like clay and coal. The stomach becomes inflamed and goes into spasms. One of the main features is marked acidity. Nothing tastes right. There is frequent acidic belching. Alumina is useful in all these symptoms. The dysfunction of the stomach is due to the narrowing and thickening of its blood vessels. Alumina is very useful in acute hyperacidity, as well as the chronic illnesses of the stomach. It relieves long-standing haemorrhoids. It also relieves acidity in both men and women. It is particularly useful in the leucorrhoea associated with acidic discharge. This discharge is so acidic, that it may lead to other illnesses. Normally, women do not get constipated during pregnancy, in Alumina however, they do. Constipation associated with pregnancy, which is transient or of long-standing, will respond to Alumina administration. Alumina is very important in a chronic cough originating from the lungs, as are Bacillinum, Phosphorus, Arsenic, Iodide and Kali Carb. If the other symptoms of Alumina are also present, this would be the most appropriate remedy. In Alumina, typically, reasoning and decision-making deteriorate. One may not easily decide one way or the other. The mind becomes cloudy and suspicious. Whatever the patient sees or hears, it appears to him as if somebody else is seeing or hearing it. He loses his self-identity. Sometimes, he wishes to occupy someone else’s mind so that he may observe things better. This slowly progressive trend of his drives him insane. However, he is not dangerous to others, he simply gets lost in himself. Mentally, the patient shows impatience. For him, time stands still, but he likes it to pass quickly. At the sight of sharp weapons, he is afraid, Alumina 57 lest he may hurt himself. Such patients frighten others by pretending to commit suicide, though actually they do not do so. Sometimes, people look down from a height and others get terrified, in case they may leap to their death. The Alumina patient is very sad and sallow. He has the desire to distance himself from his surroundings. He worries that he may be going insane. Such negative thoughts are at their climax in the morning. Sometimes, the alumina affects the throat muscles, resulting in difficulty in swallowing. Due to weakness of these muscles, the food may enter the windpipe or nose. Paralysis may affect the sphincter muscles of the bladder and the rectum, resulting in difficulty in passing urine and stools. The patient has to strain his abdominal muscles, even if the stools are soft. Urinary symptoms resemble those of enlarged prostate gland. Many a time, the stools resemble the droppings of a goat, camel and horse, in the shape of small or large balls, which stick to each other. The stools may be soft or thick but are difficult to pass. In Graphites and Plumbum too, stools are similar. The urine may leak unknowingly due to the paralysis of the muscles of the neck of the bladder. Involuntary defeacation can also occur due to weakness of the sphincter muscles at the anus. The Alumina patient experiences dizziness and imbalance during walking. The feet tend to be numb. Pain radiates from one point to all directions, like the spokes of a wheel. When all these symptoms are together, Alumina is the remedy. The movements of the limbs, lower as well as upper, may not remain under voluntary control, thus resulting in a staggering gait. In this situation, long term use of Alumina is beneficial. In Alumina, catarrhal and skin symptoms are very frequent. The patient has chronic catarrh, which is full of dry encrustations with long strings. The catarrh may result in the dimness of the eyesight. The inner linings (mucus membranes) of the stomach, intestines and kidneys become inflamed. Headache also, is common with the cold. Alumina 58 Like the mucus membranes, the skin also becomes subjected to many ailments. As a result of intense itching, the skin becomes thick and sore and may even ulcerate. As in Sulphur, the warmth of the bed intensifies the itching. The face feels as if a cobweb is spread over it. The tip of the nose shows cuts. The eyes burn and trachoma may develop. Alumina affects both flexor as well as extensor muscles (the flexor muscles bend the joints, while the extensors stretch the joints). Salt, alcohol, vinegar, chillies, potatoes, and fizzy drinks aggravate the symptoms of Alumina. Piles and anal fissuring are typical of Alumina. Male sexual impotence and nocturnal emission are common. The prostate gland enlarges along with the feeling of heaviness and fullness around it. Sexual organs become partially paralyzed. The man becomes sexually impotent in spite of being in good general health. As a result of prolonged catarrh the women develop chronic leucorrhoea. The uterus tends to sag downwards, much more so on standing and walking. If gonorrhoea has merely been suppressed by some kind of treatment, but not cured, the residual inflammation of the pelvic organs results in the sensation of heat and discomfort. Alumina may be of use in this situation. The cough of Alumina may be associated with sneezing and the throat feels as if it is being gently tickled with feathers. In Alumina, at the point of backache, the patient feels intense heat, as if a hot iron has been placed on the numbed part. The soles of the feet become soft, swollen and tender. The side the patient sits or lies on becomes numb. The legs tend to be numb also. The patient feels cold and likes to wrap himself well, but he likes the face to be exposed to the cool breeze. The patient likes the warmth of the bed for a while, but intense itching begins when the bed becomes too warm. The hands usually remain cold and warm up slowly on retiring to bed. The skin is dry and sweats only sparingly, or not at all. Adjuvant: Bryonia Antidotes: Ipecac, Chamomilla

Alumen

2009-02-28T13:50:00.000+05:00

Alumen is the common alum, which is used to control bleeding from any wound. It is famous for clumping together the suspended particles in a solution (colloids). However, it cannot clump suspended matter in air or in gas. The venom of several kinds of snakes acts similarly on the blood. The clots/clumps thus formed, precipitate heart attack by blocking the blood vessels of the heart. If Alumen is directly added to the blood, it will clump the red and white cells, but the fluid part of the blood i.e. serum, which contains the 12 salts in a properly balanced form, is not affected by it. The alum is also used to clean dirty water. The dust particles in colloidal form precipitate to the bottom of the container and the clean water comes to the surface. In this process, a slight amount of alum remains in the water. Therefore, Alumen symptoms are not uncommon in areas such as the Sindh province in Pakistan. In Alumen, the patients develop deep ulcers or abscesses. The abscesses may gradually progress to cancer formation. Chronic ulcers, as well as cancer of the tongue and throat can develop. The lymph glands become swollen and indurate. The tonsils enlarge and become firm. Hard nodules develop in the uterus, as well as in the mammary glands (the breast). Like Sulphur, there is a feeling of heat and pressure on the scalp. Being very sensitive, the patient of Sulphur cannot tolerate the pressure of the hand or even the touch of a cloth, while the patient of Alumen feels comfort with pressure. In Alumen, the muscles are very weak as in Plumbum. In other words, the paralytic features of Alumen and Plumbum are very much similar. All these ill effects of Alumen, as already mentioned, are amenable to the homoeopathic potency of Alumen, irrespective of the cause of the symptoms. If these symptoms and signs are of Alumen and the constitution of the patient is also of Alumen, then Alumen will offer . Alumen 54 cure. In addition, prolapsed uterus due to weaker pelvic muscles will also get better with Alumen. One of the salient features of Alumen is persistent hoarseness of the voice. Transient hoarseness is treatable with Borax, Coca or Arsenic. However, as a matter of principle, one should not merely depend upon hoarseness of the voice to establish the diagnosis. Other relevant features of these remedies should also be sought. The illnesses of the throat will benefit from this proper constitutional remedy. Persistent hoarseness is the nature of Alumen. Alumen acts profoundly and for long time. Nevertheless it can also cure acute illnesses. It is very useful in diseases of the intestines, obstinate constipation and intractable bleeding tendency. It is of great use in the breathing problems of the elderly. It is also very beneficial in relieving the tightness of the air passages, difficulty of swallowing liquids and the indurate glands under the tongue. A severe headache associated with heaviness of the head is also a symptom of Alumen. Pressure applied locally offers comfort. All the muscles feel weak. The cold weather aggravates all the symptoms except the headache, which the cold relieves. Antidotes: Potency: Chamomilla, Nux Vomica, Sulphur, Ipecac 30 – 200

Aloe

2009-02-28T13:49:00.000+05:00

This medicine is prepared from a plant called Kanwar Gandal in Urdu. Its main characteristics are flatulence, diarrhoea and the tendency to vomit. Hundreds of medicines can be used in this kind of symptom complex, but they have their own additional, distinctive features as well. In Aloe and Lycopodium, typically, one gets diarrhoea after ingesting oysters. Aloe should also be considered along with Lycopodium wherever a patient suffers from diarrhoea after eating seafood. In the patients of Aloe and Lycopodium, the abdomen is bloated in the right lower part. Generally, homoeopaths suggest one of the three remedies for distension of the abdomen: Carbo Veg for the fullness and distension in the upper part, Lycopodium for the distension of the right lower abdomen and China when the whole of abdomen is tense. However, distension of the abdomen is also a symptom of other homoeopathic medicines, which will need to be used as indicated. The above three have been mentioned in most homoeopathic books as quick fixes for immediate use. Prolonged abdominal distension may lead to colicky pains. In emergency situations, especially if the condition of the patient is deteriorating fast, the standard formula as detailed above should be adopted. Nevertheless, real, lasting relief will only be offered by a proper constitutional remedy. Nux Vomica is very useful when the intestinal movement is sluggish. Carbo Veg will be more appropriate if the patient passes offensive wind. In the Carbo Veg patient, there is a spasm at the pyloric end of the stomach due to hyperacidity. The food becomes stagnant and decays. The stomach becomes distended with foul smelling gas. China is useful in abdominal distension only where other signs of China are also present, i.e., patient has dryness in constitution and generally displays signs of the ill effects of Malaria. Sometimes, the wind or gas becomes trapped in the intestines due to a lack of digestive secretions from the stomach, liver, pancreas and the intestines. China is especially useful in this kind of distension. . Aloe 52 Returning to the main subject of Aloe, ingestion of seafood, especially oysters, is immediately followed by diarrhoea. Along with nausea and vomiting, the patient suffers from headache, starting from the forehead. The eyes are red, heavy and difficult to open. The lips are dry. Chewing produces an audible noise in the ears. Sometimes, Aloe patients bleed from the nose as they wake up in the morning. The mouth tastes bitter. Typically, there is pain under the ribs on the right side. Loose motions are associated with gripe. The piles hang in bunches and feel burning hot. Cold applications offer relief. If the patient is constipated instead of having loose motions, the lower part of the abdomen feels severely tense. Meat does not bother the patient of Aloe, yet the patient does not like to eat it. Aloe women experience aggravation of their symptoms during their menstruation period. Walking and standing becomes difficult. The uterus feels full and heavy due to pelvic congestion. The periods appear earlier than usual and are excessive (Menorrhagia). Another sign of Aloe is irritation of the throat and coughing. The joints ache. The symptoms are worse in the morning, more so in the hot, dry weather. The cold weather and open air offer relief. Mostly the symptoms start or intensify after food intake. Adjuvant: Sulphur Antidotes: Sulphur, Opium Potency: 30

Allium Cepa

2009-02-28T13:48:00.000+05:00

Allium Cepa is prepared from the red onion and is very helpful in nasal catarrh of the winter season. Its symptoms resemble those caused during the peeling of onions. The throat becomes hoarse, nasal secretions are watery and acidic. The eyes water, but do not get red or irritated. (Euphrasia causes watering from the eyes with burning type of itch and redness.) The other point of difference in Allium Cepa is that there is a persistent cough day and night. In Euphrasia, as the nasal secretions pour out of the eyes during the day the cough is less frequent, but at night the cough gets aggravated due to the dripping of the nasal secretions in the throat or into the lungs. The patient wakes up and experiences severe bouts of coughing. The cough steadily starts easing off in the morning. The eyes start watering and redness occurs. Allium Cepa does not produce redness in the eyes, instead it involves the ears which ache, discharge and become partially deaf. If it happens as the result of a nasal cold, it can respond favourably to Allium Cepa, or other remedies like Chamomilla, Pulsatilla and Ammonium Carb should be sought as indicated. In Allium Cepa, the symptoms tend to migrate from the right to the left. This also happens in Lachesis, where the symptoms start on the left side, and as the body defence responds, they migrate to the right side. The venom of the majority of the snakes mostly affects the left side of the body. It is strange but interesting to know that snakes hate onions. In the Sindh province of Pakistan, people spread onions around their beds to keep the snakes at bay and this method works. In Allium Cepa, the symptoms of illness are aggravated by rest and relieved by movement. At night, the symptoms worsen. One catches cold in cold and damp weather, and feels relieved in open air. Along with the cold, there is headache, especially on the right temporal area to the forehead. The cold affects the left nostril before the right. Allium Cepa is very helpful in whooping cough and chicken pox. Allium Cepa is very good in vomiting, indigestion and the passing of Allium Cepa 50 foul gas in the early course of chicken pox. It is also good in the abdominal pain of children. In Allium Cepa, abdominal pain causes an urge to pass urine with burning pain at the bladder. The urine is reddish in color. Along with cold symptoms there is frequent urination. The voice is hoarse, the throat is irritated and the windpipe hurts. There is severe coughing and repeated sneezing. The back of the neck hurts. The patient feels chills from the back downwards at night. Consequently, the patient has to pass urine frequently. Sometimes along with the nasal catarrh, tiny little red pimples appear with a piercing sensation. Some areas of the body feel burning hot. Allium Cepa is useful in neuralgic pains especially of the face, teeth, head and neck. Adjuvant: Phosphorus, Thuja, Pulsatilla Antidotes: Arnica, Chamomilla, Veratrum Album Potency: 30 to 200

Agnus Castus

2009-02-28T13:46:00.001+05:00

Agnus Castus is mostly related to diseases of women. After childbirth, the muscles become weak, stretched and flabby. They do not revert to their original tone and physical status. (This is just like a stretched out piece of rubber which loses its elasticity.) The uterus feels like it is sagging downwards. Menses are scanty. Infertility and hatred towards conjugal relationship develops. Leucorrhoeal discharge is yellow. The woman feels uneasy, sad and depressed. She is usually sad and sallow. She may develop hysteria. The uterus remains inflamed. The nose bleeds. Agnus Castus is a treatment of choice in this symptom complex. The Agnus Castus patient thinks of committing suicide and is indifferent to the world around her. She prepares herself for impending death. In Arum Mur, the tendency to commit suicide and depression are prominent features which become part of the patient’s temperament. But in Agnus Castus, such tendency is transient and short-lived. The patient has a weak memory, she is absent-minded and neurotic, she lacks courage and lacks determination. She feels pain on the temporal areas and forehead, aggravated by movement. The patient is hypersensitive to light (as in many other remedies) and develops headache due to light-hypersensitivity. In case the headache is already present, it becomes unbearable in light, so much so that the eyes cannot be opened. Graphites is good in isolated light-sensitivity without the symptoms of Agnus Castus. The bony bridge of the nose is painful but feels better with pressure. The patient can be unusually sensitive to certain kinds of fragrance. The cheeks itch and tingle, this is specific in Agnus Castus. There is wind in the tummy. The stomach rumbles. The intestines seem to be falling downwards, and the patient holds on to the drooping belly. Agnus Castus 48 Agnus Castus is useful in certain male sexual disorders, such as sexual weakness and impotence, secondary to the pubertal misconduct. It also relieves nervous disorders (like Kali Phos). Adjuvants: Caladium, Selenium Antidotes: Camphor, Nux Vomica Potency: 30 to CM

Agaricus Muscarius

2009-02-28T13:46:00.000+05:00

The most salient sign of Agaricus Muscarius is shaking of the body, secondary to mental stress and weakness of the muscles. The hands are tremulous, the limbs display jerky movements and the whole body quivers. Jerky movements are also a characteristic of Actea Racemosa (Cimicifuga), with the difference that the violent movements are on the same side as one lies on, while in Agaricus, the whole body quivers. Tremors and spasms both exist. The eyes also shake and sway. The eyesight is not focussed. I once happened to see a young man suffering from this ailment which was progressing with age. Agaricus Muscarius significantly benefited him to the extent that he could do his regular work normally. In Agaricus, eye symptoms are very prominent, such as double vision, black spots dancing before the eyes, squinting, burning and irritation of the eyes and a feeling of fatigue. It is difficult to focus the eye on one particular point. Reading becomes difficult, the eyeballs swing like a pendulum, and the discharge of the eye is yellowish and sticky. The mind becomes weak. Concentrated studies and mental work cause fatigue. Such children are very stubborn in nature, irritable and sensitive. If checked harshly, they may go into mental shock and become unconscious (more so in the case of Aesculus). Agaricus should be given to children even if rolling movements of the eyeballs are absent. Some children are basically mentally weak, more so in the morning. They cannot understand any new idea. They are sluggish, physically as well as mentally. As the day passes, they become mentally alert, normal and cheerful by the end of the day. These symptoms are very similar in Agaricus and Aesculus, except for their timing. In Agaricus, weakness of nerves can induce deafness. Exposure to cold causes earache, with redness and burning of the skin. The feet burn, itch and become red. Sometimes in extreme cold, if one enters a heated room, hands and feet start to itch and become red and swollen. This condition is called Chillblain. Any condition in which the blood Agaricus Muscarius 44 accumulates in one particular part of the body causing distension, redness, itching and pain, will be relieved by Agaricus Muscarius. Similar conditions can be found in some allergies (for example, during the treatment of malaria). If associated with other symptoms and signs of Agaricus, Agaricus Muscarius will cure these without the help of any other anti-allergic treatment. One or at the most two doses will suffice (by the grace of Allah). Sometimes, Phosphorus may also be helpful in such a situation. Some children happen to stammer. Stammering is in fact due to some kind of fear. It should be treated psychologically also. In general, Stramonium is very useful in deep mental and neurological conditions, but has not been found sufficiently effective in the treatment of stammers. So one must carefully scrutinize the cause of the illness before suggesting any remedy. Agaricus may be one possible remedy for stammering. In Agaricus Muscarius, the illness has fleeting tendency. Sometimes women, during their nursing period, may have been subjected to mental shock (due to some severe accident, grief or mental pressure), causing the milk production (lactation) to be suppressed. If the milk is insufficient due to the mental shock, Agaricus can be very useful. Pulsatilla will be the right medication for Pulsatilla type patient. Other remedies used for normalizing lactation are: Agnus Castus Bryonia Causticum Lac Defloratum Phytolacca Silicea Aconite Asafoetida Calcarea Carbonica Chamomilla Phosphoric Acid Secale Urtica In Agaricus, like Aesculus, the pains tend to radiate downwards. Being related to the nerves, the pains are not dull and localised; instead, they may radiate to one side and then to the other. In such a case, Agaricus is more effective In Agaricus Muscarius, the abdomen is full of wind (or gas) due to sluggish intestinal movements. In such cases, Nux Vomica is also very promptly effective. It restores the intestinal mobility in transient as well as established condition. Sulphur works for prolonged periods and Aconite works temporarily. Nux Vomica is between the two. Agaricus Muscarius 45 The Agaricus patient is usually very quiet. Typically the facial muscles twitch. The intestinal muscles also fasciculate, but do not have the propulsive power. In such a case, Agaricus is the remedy. In Agaricus Muscarius, one experiences hallucinations as a result of blood poisoning due to the toxins produced inside the uterus. If the uterus does not expel the placental membranes after the childbirth, it can affect the mind. In this condition, Pulsatilla is a good general remedy for the natural cleaning of the uterus. If the infection sets in the uterus and Puerperel fever develops, Sulphur 200 and Pyrogenium 200 should be given. If there are hallucinations and milk formation in the breast is decreased, Agaricus Muscarius will be very advantageous. In the case of infection, Silicia, Kali Mur, Ferrum Phos and Kali Phos, all six 6X, should be mixed and given in addition to Sulphur and Pyrogenium. In Agaricus, we see eczema also. It is recognised by the blisters containing yellow exudate, which develop along the course of the nerves. It is often seen that the neurological conditions can transform into eczema. In some other conditions, vesicles develop along the course of the peripheral nerves, such as in herpes. But Agaricus is not the remedy for herpes. Herpes of different kinds is a very painful disease. It should be clearly recognised and treated timely to avoid dangerous complications. Previously, I used to prescribe Silicia, Kali Phos and Kali Mur for herpes which helped to some extent. Later on, I found that the best treatment for herpes was that as for snakebite, i.e. Arnica 200, Ledum 200 and Arsenic 200. This combination offered unusually quick cure (when I used this formula on late Aftab Ahmad Khan Sahib during a severe attack of herpes). Due to the frequent mutation of the herpes virus and changing pattern of the disease, in my knowledge there is no one standard remedy which would be of use all the time. The Agaricus patient does not have full control on his limbs. Things drop out of his hands. Crockery frequently falls and breaks. His grip is not strong enough. Severe muscle pains and spasms occur in the limbs. Hands and feet twist violently. Agaricus Muscarius 46 In Agaricus, the symptoms aggravate after taking food, in the open and in cold weather. Sleep fails to improve the symptoms. The patient feels drowsy all day. Itching and burning are conspicuously present. Antidotes: Cinthium, Coffea, Camphor Potency: 30 to 200

Aethusa Cynapium

2009-02-28T13:44:00.001+05:00

Aethusa Cynapium, if truly analogous to the disease complex, works wonders. In allopathy, there is no match for this Homoeopathic remedy. This is the best remedy for wasting disease of the children (marasmus). The child cannot digest milk; he throws up as soon as he drinks milk. The vomiting renders him very weak. He feels hungry, takes milk-feed and immediately vomits again. The constipation is severe. If diarrhoea ensues, the stools are small. Firstly, they are yellowish in colour and then, turn greenish (bile-coloured). There is intense griping in the abdomen. In addition to diarrhoea, there is a tendency to repeated vomiting of clotted milk. The majority of the children are severely constipated. Diarrhoea is rare. The child is usually drowsy and steadily goes on getting weaker. Once a marasmic child was brought to me who looked terrible. His head was large, his face drawn and shrivelled, and his body was just a bony skeleton. His parents told me that they had tried many medicines but to no avail, since the child was constipated for over a month, and threw up after every milk feed. I gave him Aethusa. Soon his constipation was relieved, he could digest milk and his condition started improving. Within a week, the child became hale and hearty. Marasmus is also found in Abrotanum. In Abrotanum, the wasting begins in the legs and then spreads upwards towards the chest and neck. In Aethusa, wasting involves the entire body simultaneously. Another sign of Aethusa is that with heat, the sickness migrates towards the head. For a child with some mental deficiency and a tendency to throw up milk immediately after feed, Aethusa is the remedy. Aethusa will cure his mental as well as abdominal problem. With conventional allopathic treatment, if the child is treated for his abdominal problem, he will become mentally ill, even insane. Clear-cut symptoms of Aethusa warrant the use of Aethusa alone. In Aethusa Cynapium, the illness comes on with full force followed by mental and physical exhaustion, drowsiness and delirium. The patient is extremely superstitious and hallucinates about cats, dogs and mice. He lacks concentration. He is sad and feels uneasy. The head feels tied up in a vice. There is pain at the back of the head, which Aethusa Cynapium 40 radiates down the neck, shoulders and upper back. This pain is relieved by pressure or lying down, as well as after passing stools and wind (flatus). Hairs feel stretched. There is drowsiness, dizziness and palpitation. When dizziness ends, the head starts feeling warm. The eyes are very sensitive to light. The margins of the eyelids swell. The eyeballs roll around during sleep. The eyes are drawn downwards. Things appear larger than their actual size. The ears ache, with a feeling of discharge of warm fluid with hissing sounds. Thick nasal secretions causes blockage of the nose. The tip of the nose feels sore. An ineffective desire to sneeze is typical of Aethusa. Red marks appear on the face. The jaws hurt and feel stiff. The tongue is dry and feels too long. Burning and blisters of the throat make swallowing difficult. At times, due to difficulty in breathing and feeling suffocated, the patient may not even speak. The chest feels tight. Aethusa is very useful in diseases of the women. During menstruation, if there is excessive watery bleeding and painful swelling of the breasts, uterine discomfort and sluggish intestinal movements (peristalsis), vomiting soon after eating without nausea, along with some other peculiar symptoms of Aethusa Cynapium, they will all respond to Aethusa. The symptoms of Aethusa intensify early in the morning, at about 3 to 4 a.m., with cold water and in warm bedding. All the symptoms, except mental, subside in the open air. Aethusa is very good in teething diarrhoea of children. In Aethusa patients, there may also be numbness of the arms and feet, and developing cramp. The elbows are spastic. Fingers and thumbs clench. There is numbness in the hands and the feet. Aethusa is useful in epilepsy too. The limbs feel cold and tight along with frothing from the mouth. The child cannot hold the head up, vomits immediately after milk feed and then demands milk soon after. Aethusa is considered useful by some homoeopaths for students who get confused and very apprehensive in the examination hall. One dose of Aethusa Cynapium 200 taken on the morning of the exam is found very useful. Adjuvant: Calcaria Carb. Potency: 30 to 200

Aesculus Hippocastanum

2009-02-28T13:44:00.000+05:00

The most salient feature of Aesculus Hippocastanum is mental confusion. Physical and mental fatigue can naturally result in some sort of mental confusion and restlessness but in Aesculus, the mental confusion is aggravated by sleep. On waking up in the morning, the patient is confused and disorientated as to where he is and what is going on around him. A healthy person can also feel lost in a strange place following a journey, but this confusion is very short-lived. In the Aesculus patient, the mental confusion is very prolonged. The memory is weak, and there is feeling of anger or grief along with a dislike for every kind of activity. The Aesculus children have poor memory. They are angry by nature and if they are startled in sleep, and if treated harshly, they can go into mental shock and become unconscious. Sometimes, it can lead to epilepsy. Aesculus is not only for children, but it can be used in patients of all ages. Congestion of the eyes is a very salient sign of Aesculus Hippocastanum. This is due to the weakness of the blood vessels of the eyes. The eyes become red on slight increase of pressure. Some Homoeopaths call it the piles of the eyes. The eyes feel heavy and watery. The eyelids and the area below the left eye exhibit twitching of the small muscles and the eyeballs hurt. An Aesculus patient generally feels cold. Pain is alleviated by heat application. Pains fleet around the whole body, as in Pulsatilla. However, the Pulsatilla symptoms however are aggravated by heat, and cold relieves them. The Pulsatilla patient has the tendency to remain grieved, but with a mild temperament. The Aesculus patient also inclines to be in a state of grief, but is hot-tempered and feels better by heat. In an Aesculus patient, the back constantly feels weak and tired. The backbone also is weak. The patient staggers on walking due to Aesculus Hippocastanum 36 the weakness of the back and legs. He finds it difficult to stand up after sitting down. There is pain between the shoulders and back of the neck. The pain in the right shoulder and the chest gets worse on deep inbreathing. Hands and feet burn and hands become red on washing them. There is a fleeting type of stiffness and aching of the joints. There are lightning spells of a piercing type of pain, which get better with heat application. All these symptoms are in the domain of Aesculus Hippocastanum. In Aesculus, there is a unique kind of piles consisting of large, bluish warts, like bunches of grapes, associated with severe burning. The pain becomes worse on standing and walking. There is burning at the anus and dryness and a feeling as if some small sticks are lodged in the rectum. Stools are hard, dry and are passed with difficulty and after defecation, there is intense pain. In Aesculus, kidney pain is also very evident especially in the left kidney. Urination is frequent, scanty and associated with burning. Urine is dark-coloured. Women experience severe backache, weakness during the menses and a feeling of sagging of the uterus that is typical in Aesculus. Leucorrhoea is dark yellow coloured and thick and sticky. In Aesculus, there are symptoms related to the heart also, such as burning pain over the heart, rapid heartbeat, pulsating blood vessels, and a feeling of heat over the chest. Other features of Aesculus are a feeling of constant discomfort, burning and severe nausea after food intake. Digestion is weak. A heavy feeling of the stomach as if there is a weight on it, food turning acidic, excessive sour belching, a metallic taste in the mouth, copious sticky sputum and a thick yellowish-white coating on the tongue are all characteristics of Aesculus Hippocastanum. The throat feels hot, dry and sore. While swallowing, the pain goes to the ears. In Aesculus Hippocastanum, the symptoms aggravate with cold, walking around, after eating and on getting up after sleep. The discomfort of piles also gets worse in cold weather. Lying down in the open, and rest relieve the symptoms. Aesculus Hippocastanum is also very useful in varicose veins. Varicose veins commonly occur in women during pregnancy in Aesculus Hippocastanum 37 the form of blue spider webs and distended tortuous veins which can be really bothersome. Antidote: Nux Vomica Potency: 30 to 200

Adrenalin

2009-02-28T13:42:00.001+05:00

Adrenalin is the secretion of the glands situated above the kidneys called the Suprarenal Glands. It keeps the function of other glands in balance. All Adrenalin patients exhibit symptoms resulting from anger, fear and terror. The heart beats faster and the blood pressure rises. There is a feeling of suffocation and tightness. The peristaltic movements of the intestines become sluggish and the mouth is dry. It has the property of constricting the muscles in the walls of the arteries. In Homoeopathy, it is used to stop any kind of bleeding, whether it be in the lungs, nose, intestines, uterus or somewhere else. In case the signs and symptoms do not point to one particular medicine, Adrenalin should be used right away. It has been especially found useful in the control of bleeding from the nose. Some surgeons use it before an operation to decrease the blood loss. One expert physician has described it to be useful in angina and similar symptoms, like pain over the heart area and behind the sternum (chest-bone), which gets worse on walking. Adrenalin is also useful in the suffocating tightness of the chest. High blood pressure, secondary to contraction of the arteries can also be treated with Adrenalin in Homoeopathic potency. This is not my own observation; I have just presented the opinion of other physicians. Adrenalin should be put to use with extreme care, after careful evaluation of the patient. I have certainly found it useful in some illnesses like blood in the urine, or if the urination is frequent and plentiful and associated with scalding before and after passing the urine. These symptoms are also found in Natrum Mur. Adrenalin is very useful in corns of the toes. The Adrenalin patient complains of tiredness at the legs and feels pain and cramps in the calves. Potency: 30 to 200

Actaea Racemosa

2009-02-28T13:42:00.000+05:00

This remedy is also called Cimicifuga. It is extraordinarily effective in women’s diseases, especially those complicating pregnancy. Normally, if during menstruation copious bleeding occurs, most menstrual complaints cease automatically. But in the case of Actaea Racemosa, the more the bleeding, the more is the pain and associated discomfort. Sometimes, the symptoms continue even after the cessation of the menstrual period. Actaea Racemosa is very useful for joint pains. The tissues hurt like an abscess. There is a lightning type of pain in the muscles of the neck and back, spreading in all directions. Rest relieves the discomfort, while movement makes it worse. Cold and humidity relieve the symptoms. In Actaea Racemosa, there is also shifting of the disease from one part of the body to another, like Abrotinum. Generally, the physical illnesses transform into mental illnesses. If the physical illnesses in children are suppressed by some kind of treatment, mental symptoms appear and can produce conditions like hysteria. A sensitive girl of a touchy disposition will become totally silent. If called in a loud voice, she will simply start crying. She would be indifferent to the rest of the world, and seem totally lost in herself. In such a case, Actaea Racemosa is the best possible remedy. This remedy is deeply related to sadness. Grief and sorrow can result in physical illnesses. Mental shock in sensitive women can result in irregularity of the menstruation, joint pains or other physical illnesses. Mental shock will make them fearful and superstitious. They will not even like to take any medicine in case it is mixed with poison. If there is preponderance of suspicion in addition to other symptoms, two doses of Actaea Racemosa can clear the symptom of suspicion and make the patient well again. In Actaea Racemosa, there are symptoms of two apparently opposing remedies. In some aspects, it is like Bryonia, and in another aspect, like Rhus Tox. In Bryonia, it is movement, and in Rhus Tox, it is rest which aggravates the discomfort. In Actaea Racemosa, the person will feel discomfort on whatever side he or she lies. There would be Actaea Racemosa 30 twitching of the muscles. The headache is mostly behind the eyeballs and the back of the head, which is relieved by pressure, but movement makes the headache worse. The person feels dizzy and there is heaviness in the head. The vision becomes dim. Engrossed deep in studies, worry and bladder symptoms cause headache. Like Abrotinum, in Actaea Racemosa, constipation and diarrhoea alternate with each other. There is severe pain in the stomach, which gets better on bending forward. Due to pressure on the backbone and over the reproductive organs, there is a tendency towards nausea and vomiting. Young girls experience severe vomiting during their first pregnancy, which does not seem to be relieved by any medicine. In such a case, one should study carefully the temperament of the patient and the symptoms of the ailment before prescribing any remedy. If the patient is of Actaea Racemosa type, then she would definitely get better with Actaea Racemosa. In feeble-minded women, at the time of delivery, the labour pains, instead of pushing down to facilitate the childbirth, scatter right and left, causing spasms over the hips. This is the main feature of Actaea Racemosa. Actaea Racemosa, when given in time, will normalise the direction of labour pains and facilitate the childbirth. Caulophyllum is another very important remedy at the time of child delivery. In Caulophyllum, instead of pains bearing down, they scatter down inside of the thighs and the mouth of the uterus does not open. Sometimes, physicians and midwives try to alleviate this problem by using ergot but instead this closes the mouth of the uterus tightly and makes the woman suffer further. Unfortunately, some women die in such circumstances. Once, while I was in Anwarabad, Sindh (Larkana), in a convention, a person came to me and very humbly submitted that his wife was in the process of labour but the mouth of the uterus was tightly closed, and there was a danger that his wife might die. I took Colophylum out of my travel bag and gave it to him to give to his wife. Within ten to fifteen minutes, a healthy baby boy was born normally. Homoeopathic medicines should not be taken lightly. Their timely use can save from potentially serious complications. Women with weak uterine muscles and associated organs abort repeatedly or conceive after great difficulty. Colophylum may be very useful in such women. At the time of labour, Gelsemium should also Actaea Racemosa 31 be kept in mind, like Actaea Racemosa and Colophylum. If during labour, the pains remain localized at the back and after bearing down return to the back, then Gelsemium would be very useful in such a case. In Kali Carb, instead of bearing down, the labour pains scatter to the outer side of the thighs. In Pulsatilla, due to nervous disability or fear, the labour pains are very weak and rare. In Actaea Racemosa, the periods are irregular or delayed. There is severe spasmodic pain at the uterus and in the back. The organs feel heavy. A typical Actaea Racemosa woman is very lazy, sad and confused. Her mind is clouded. She observes dreadful dreams, speaks constantly but does not concentrate on anything. She becomes easily frightened; especially the fear of death prevails in her mind. This reminds one of Aconite. In Actaea Racemosa, there is irritation of the throat, a dry cough is very bothersome at night and becomes worse on talking. The heartbeat is fast while the pulse is weak and irregular. There are symptoms of angina, like numbness of left arm, which is typical of Actaea Racemosa. The muscles and bones of the back hurt a lot. The neck and the upper part of the back are very stiff. There is sense of discomfort and restlessness of the arms and legs. The person feels itching, and there is jerking of the limbs. There is lack of sleep and the mind remains perturbed and undulating. The person feels as if his head has grown bigger in size. The ears are very sensitive to noise. The symptoms of Actaea Racemosa are aggravated in the morning and in cold weather, except the headache, which gets better in hot weather and by taking food. Antidotes: Aconite, Baptisia Potency: 30 to CM

Aconitum Napellus

2009-02-28T13:40:00.002+05:00

Once the art of homoeopathic treatment is fully understood, day-to-day ailments can often be controlled at the outset and complications can be avoided. In the early stages of all ailments, Aconite is at the top of the list. Its full name is Aconitum Napellus, though it is commonly called Aconite. Aconite is a poison which affects different parts of the body. In the traditional books on medicine, there is some mention of it among other poisons. However, the minutely detailed account of Aconite is based on proving of Aconite done by Dr. Hanneman and other experienced Homoeopaths on themselves. In the process of proving, Aconite, or any other poison, is not used in pure form. Instead, as Dr. Hanneman suggested, by example of Aconite, the poison is diluted to the extent that it virtually loses its harmful effect on the body. However, if given repeatedly to a healthy person, it will overwhelm the body and produce its injurious effects in a mild form. These effects are temporary but noticeable enough for the nature of the poison to be studied in minute detail. Through this proving technique, the characteristic features of the Aconite were revealed. These are great fear, suddenness, and severity of illness. The sickness comes on suddenly and the patient thinks that he will not be able to survive. Aconite is usually considered to be the remedy of dry and cold weather because the diseases related to it are contracted in such weather, though not necessarily so. In general, any sudden, severe illness of any weather associated with intense fear of death should be treated with Aconite. Aconite given along with Rhus Tox at the onset of a severe illness becomes more widely effective. In my opinion, it is a substitute for Aspirin and a very good one. In all such ailments in which there is restlessness and fever with a feeling of something untoward in the offing, Aconite 200 and Rhus Tox 200, two or three doses given in the early stage of disease, offer almost immediate relief. Aconitum Napellus 26 Once my security officer, (Retired Major Mahmood Ahmad), accompanied us for cycling. It was pouring with rain and the weather was very cold, we were all soaking wet. The next morning, he was caught up by high fever and severe body aches. He was given Aconite 200 combined with Rhus Tox 200 and Arnica 200 combined with Bryonia 200 alternatively, every half hour. In a few hours, there was no trace of the ailment left, and Major Mahmood Ahmad Sahib healthily returned to his duty. However, after getting wet in the rain in cold weather, one should not rely only on Aconite and Rhus Tox, but Arnica combined with Bryonia should also be given alternatively. I discovered this prescription, after long experience. It acts on the diseases of the intestines, lungs, and in typhoid fever, as well as on malaria and dysentery promptly. Many a time, the disease is not completely controllable with this combination, and the analogous remedy will be required for complete recovery. In influenza, this combination formula may not work at all, unless given right at the onset of symptoms. If treatment is delayed, then other indicated remedies would be required. Diseases may be divided into two categories according to their duration. Regarding their duration, the diseases can be: 1. Acute i.e. the ones which come on with sudden severity and disappear just as fast. 2. Chronic i.e. the ones which gradually establish themselves in the body over a long period. Some of them stay for a relatively short period such as typhoid, while others linger on for a long time, such as tuberculosis, asthma and chronic enlargement of the glands sometimes leading to a transformation into cancer. Aconite is the topmost remedy in acute diseases. Kidney pain (renal colic) immediately responds to the administration of two doses of Aconite 1000 and Belladona 1000 repeated every fifteen minutes, in most patients. However, if the colicky pain is relieved by heat, the above combination will not work as it works only where heat aggravates. In such cases, one dose of Colocynth CM will offer immediate relief, or Mag Phos 6X dissolved in water and sipped, will relieve this spasmodic pain. But Aconite and Belladona will work well if the colicky pain is relieved by cold application. Aconitum Napellus 27 Aconite will work immediately in sudden, severe dysentery if associated with an element of fear. There is no match for Aconite in acute dysentery of dry, hot weather. Aconite is useful in heart disease also. My late father, a well-experienced homoeopath, used to prescribe Aconite and Crataegus together in Mother Tincture form. The combination of these two works like a tonic for the heart muscle. Eight to ten drops of Crataegus Q and only one to two drops of Aconite Q are mixed in water. Aconite being a strong poison should not be used in a larger quantity. Large amounts could be dangerous. Aconite is useful in a patient with a rapid heartbeat. Unusually rapid heart and lack of sleep may be secondary to distension of the stomach with gas or mental anxiety. Fear, bad news or apprehension for an examination or some other worry may also cause palpitations of the heart. Aconite 30 or 200 will promptly restore the heartbeat to normality and the mind will be set at peace. Aconite is of great use in some mental illnesses too. When a sudden calamity or depression causes mental shock, or there is an unreasonable sense of fear from everything, Aconite at the outset of symptoms will benefit significantly. Once the disease has already established, other remedies should be given. In this respect, Sulphur is the most salient. Sulphur carries on the action of Aconite on a long-term basis, while Aconite exhibits the same symptoms in the short term. Aconite is very useful in common diseases like bacterial food poisoning after the ingestion of stale rotting food, resulting in sudden severe diarrhoea or dysentery. Blood-mixed dysentery of the rainy season associated with fear is well controlled by Aconite. In some illnesses, the patient violently screams with fear, and feels dizzy. For example, in case a dog suddenly jumps on somebody along the way and they feel terrified and dizzy. Aconite will promptly benefit in this situation. Aconite and Belladona together are very good in the sudden inflammation of the eyes. They are complementary to each other, and should be started right away without waiting for further symptoms. However, where the signs and symptoms evidently pertain Aconitum Napellus 28 to either of the two, only that one should be used. It will work precisely and for long time. Aconite is good in sudden severe earache due to exposure to cold. Typically, every pain or ache of Aconite is associated with a throbbing sensation. The patient cannot tolerate noise or loud music. Aconite is similar to Pulsatilla in that the feverishness and discomfort is more evident on one side of the face. One cheek may be red and the other pale. This is common in children. Early administration of Aconite will offer prompt cure. In case the delay has already occurred, Pulsatilla, Lycopodium or Natrum Mur should be tried. If due to cold, there is severe toothache or soreness in the throat, Aconite would definitely be needed. If there is congestion of a part of a body due to the increased blood flow and pressure, spontaneous bleeding may start internally or externally. Whatever the reason of this sudden episode associated with sense of fear, Aconite should be administrated without any reservation. If due to a sudden mental shock, there is a stoppage of urine, Aconite should be given. The prompt use of Aconite in the case of bad news of somebody’s death or financial loss will save the person from delayed deleterious effects. Some doctors believe that Aconite is more useful in women than in men. The internal diseases of the women and inflammation of the uterus can be controlled if Aconite is given at the beginning of the disease. The Aconite illnesses subside in open air, but get worse at night in a warm room or if there is dry, cold air. Adjuvants: Sulphur, Coffea, Arnica, Belladonna, Bryonia, Phosphorus, Spongia Antidotes: Nux Vomica and Sulphur Potency: Mother Tincture or usually 30, 200, 1000 or CM, depending upon the situation and the experience of the homoeopath.

Acetic Acidum

2009-02-28T13:40:00.001+05:00

Acetic acid is considered useful in (the treatment of) cancer of the stomach. The Acetic acid patient suffers from a severe cutting type of pain in the stomach, associated with intense thirst, nausea and burning in the stomach. Generally, burning and swelling of the body is common to all acids. If the patient becomes gravely ill after surgery and feels very weak, the administration of Acetic acid may be very helpful in restoring his condition. In such cases, Strontium Carb and Carbo Veg are also very useful. It is stated that the Acetic acid 1X applied on the stomach can dissolve the cancerous mass of the stomach. Acetic acid 1X has the capability of softening the tumour and converting it into pus. Dr. Owens is of the opinion that in epithelial cancers, Acetic acid should be administered internally as well as externally. Typically, severe burning in the stomach and the chest, followed by cold sweats on the forehead, are salient features of Acetic acid. The Acetic acid patient suffers from debilitating diarrhoea. Acetic acid is considered useful in diabetes also. If there is marked weakness associated with frequent fainting fits due to lack of blood (anaemia) and there is difficulty in breathing, Acetic acid will be found very effective to relieve these symptoms. Specifically, in Acetic acid, the patient sweats during high fever, red spots appear on the left cheek, but there is no thirst. Another special characteristic of the Acetic acid is backache which gets better only by lying on the stomach (prone position). Potency: 3 to 30, should not be repeated too frequently.

Absinthium

2009-02-28T13:34:00.000+05:00

The main action of Absinthium is on the brain. It is very useful in epilepsy. In the epilepsy associated with bluing of the body (Cyanosis) and violent twisting of the hands and feet (as in Cuprum), Absinthium may also be indicated. Before the epileptic fit, there is intense nervousness, restlessness, nausea, visual hallucinations and delusions. The body trembles and the tongue may be caught between the teeth. There is froth at the mouth and then the patient becomes unconscious. In addition to the mental anxiety, there is loss of sleep. Hysteria may also ensue. The clinical picture of Absinthium epilepsy is similar to that of having ingested poisonous mushrooms. One should be very careful in picking mushrooms from the fields because many of them are very poisonous. Only the experts can properly recognise them. The Absinthium patient is afraid of going into the open and being at high altitudes. He feels dizzy and may fall backwards. His memory is weak and he is very superstitious. He becomes indifferent to everything. His mind is confused. The pupils are unequal in size and move in different directions. The vision is blurred and there is pain at the nape of the neck (as in Gelsemium). The Absinthium patient also exhibits gastric symptoms such as loss of appetite, indigestion, belching, nausea, vomiting, fullness of the stomach and intense flatulence. The patient is usually constipated. There is frequent urination and the urine is deep coloured and has a foul, pungent odour. Sometimes, the tongue becomes swollen and protrudes out of the mouth. It trembles and speech is difficult. There are symptoms of numbness and weakness. Women who go into menopause prematurely will benefit from Absinthium. It will reinstate their menstrual cycle if other basic features of Absinthium are also present. There is a heaviness in the chest over the area of the heart. The heartbeat is rapid but irregular. The throat feels scalded, sore and swollen, and the person feels as if a ball is stuck in the throat. The Absinthium 22 feet are very cold, the back and shoulders hurt, the muscles quiver and there may be tonic convulsions. Potency: 30 or more, or less according to the experience of the homoeopath

Abrotanum

2009-02-28T13:27:00.000+05:00

The name Abrotanum brings to one’s mind the subject of transfer of a disease from one organ to another. In English, this process is known as metastasis. It means that the disease shifts from one part of the body to another. For instance, in the case of mumps, the parotid glands (situated below the ear) swell, and when the disease becomes suppressed at this place, it transfers itself to the reproductive organs. There are many reasons for it being suppressed, for example it could be due to the use of antibiotics, or through local application of poultices. Sometimes it could be due to sudden exposure to cold in high fever. Among all medicines used in the migrating type of ailments, Abrotanum is one of the most salient ones. Sometimes, by the suppression of diarrhoea, the patient experiences sudden severe pain in the joints and at other times, the heart may be affected. Similarly, sudden cessation of menstruation may result in mental or other ailments. We shall continue talking about the migration of a disease from one place to another in the context of different remedies so that one may be able to understand well, the indication and usage of remedies for shifting the illness back to where it started. If a patient suffers from gout or rheumatism, yet at the same time experiences restlessness as if the blood through the heart seems to be scraping the heart, and also he has Epistaxis or blood in the urine, then he is very likely to get cured by the use of Abrotanum. The basic nature of the Abrotanum patient is that loose frequent stools (diarrhoea) give him relief by excreting the harmful products that would have otherwise involved the joints. In such a patient, Abrotanum will also gradually cure diarrhoea as well as joint pains. If the joint pains are suppressed by using some remedies, or by local heat application and the patient contracts pleurisy instead of diarrhoea, then it becomes imperative for the Homoeopath to retrace the course of sickness back to its origin. If the joint pains had preceded the development of pleurisy (inflammation of the outer lining of the lung which causes pain on deep breathing and much more so on coughing), then surely the remedy in this case would be Abrotanum. Abrotanum Abrotanum 20 will cure the pleurisy but may initially cause the recurrence of joint pains, which will eventually be cured by continued use of Abrotanum, Insha Allah. Abrotanum is also very useful in the generalised wasting disease of the children (marasmus) when its basic features are also present. For the treatment of marasmus in children, Aethusa, Natrum Mur and Calcaria Carb are also well known remedies. In Calcaria Carb, the wasting affects the legs, while in Abrotanum it starts at the legs but extends to the upper body. This symptom alone is sufficient to suggest that Abrotanum is the remedy to be given in potency 30, three times a day. This could bring complete cure, by the Grace of God. If the joint pains get better but the heart becomes affected, one should not ignore Abrotanum in addition to the other remedies for the heart. Sometimes on the sudden cessation of diarrhoea, joint pains and bleeding piles develop, Abrotanum would still be the right choice. Such a patient feels excessive cold. His symptoms aggravate in cold and humid weather. He often complains of backache worsening at night. The backache of Abrotanum always worsens at night irrespective of any specific time, but the backache of Kali Carb is specific for late night or very early morning hours around 3-4 am. In such a patient, if we find the core symptom of ‘amelioration by onset of diarrhoea’, then the back pain will also be cured by Abrotanum. The general improvement of symptoms with the onset of diarrhoea is also present in Natrum Sulph and Zinc, but to make proper diagnosis, their salient features should also be present in a patient. Abrotanum pains are sometimes of cutting or piercing nature, which can involve the ovaries, in addition to the joints. A patient having pains at the ovaries and the joints and backache, aggravated at night, the symptoms subsiding with the onset of diarrhoea, will also immensely benefit from Abrotanum as the cure for her infertility. Potency: 30