Closing Remarks
Please Read On
Most of you reading this book know someone who has been to a Homeopath or know of one already. I invite you to consider getting on board with your own health care in a way you may not have yet considered…by using the Homeopath to treat almost every ailment you have, consistently, year after year. The Homeopath will know when to refer you to other non-suppressive practitioners and to Allopaths as well. Having listened to some 8000 people in my career I have heard it all and seen many patterns emerge in the communications between patients and their Allopaths. I know what Allopaths do but they know nothing of what I do.
You must think for yourself, be your own doctor and hire advisors to advise you.
Now, before you forget half of what you just read, as is the nature of mankind, order two books: The Science of Homeopathy by Vithoulkas and Homeopathic Psychology by Bailey and go further than this reading. Or call Dana Ullman at Homeopathic Educational services, he'd be more than glad to advise you as to what to read next. He's written many books himself.
If there are five main areas to master in life, with all other areas falling into one of these five:
Spirituality
Relationships
Health
Vocation
Money
Consider this: health is 1/5th of this list. Without health you cannot earn money or enjoy the money you have, enjoy your vocation, have full relationships or pursue spirituality comfortably. It is foundational to the other four aspects; none of the other four are foundation to all of the remaining four the way health is.
Isn't it amazing that you can take any substance on the planet, make a remedy out of it, give it to a volunteer group of provers to overdose on, and of whom 85% will become symptomatic; and that this substance will be able to treat a patient who comes to Homeopathy with the same group of symptoms? It is almost as if everything we need for health is already here. Every material substance on the planet has an energetic property capable of healing everything from humans to animals to plants. It looks like we are inextricably connected to our planet.
Thanks for reading.
Appendix:
Concerns regarding tobacco smoking and quitting
Addictions – A Few Thoughts
Interesting Case Summaries
Concerns regarding tobacco smoking and quitting
Quitting cold turkey is the only way to quit smoking. However, before quitting, to make the transition easier, you should be sure you are addicted to only nicotine and not also to unidentified chemicals added to cigarettes…up to 600 unidentified, unrevealed chemicals! Often called 'flavor enhancers', these additional substances are themselves addictive, creating product loyalty. This is why when people switch over to an unadulterated tobacco; they crave the brand they used to smoke. This craving for their adulterated original brand of cigarettes goes way beyond issues of taste; it is literally an addiction to the added chemicals.
If you switch to 'cleaner' tobaccos for one to three months prior to attempting to quit, it will be easier. Unadulterated tobacco brand names include American Spirit, Shermans, and Winston Natural. There are also cigar, pipe and roll-your-own tobaccos. The last three can be obtained in organic forms, which are preferred.
While quitting, the most beneficial way to reduce cravings is to take three deep breaths in a row, relaxing with each breath. Not one or two breaths, but three…each time you experience a craving...maybe five to ten times a day. Deep breathing also blows carbon dioxide from the lungs; this reduces blood acidity, alkalinizing the blood, thereby reducing cravings. Many smokers take shallow breaths and become acidic with the build up of carbon dioxide. The only time these smokers deep- breathe during the day is when they inhale tobacco! Sounds strange, doesn't it? But by smoking they have 20 periods a day when they alkalinize. This becomes a need. All the more reason to breathe deeply three times when quitting, many times a day.
As a new non-smoker, you will have to find another way to alkalinize. You can achieve this by continuing to breathe deeply as you used to as a smoker even after your cravings go away. The difference is that you will be breathing in clean air, not cigarette smoke.
Ask your practitioner what you can take nutritionally and homeopathically to make it even easier to quit smoking and how to rebuild what smoking has taken away.
Addictions – a few thoughts
We are chemical and energetic creatures. Our body functions operate by the combining of molecules and atoms, the separating of molecules and atoms, and the movement of molecules and atoms. But often these chemical reactions are the result of electrical influences and thought. When you hear something on television or the Internet and you have an emotional reaction, chemicals are involved in the brain chemistry, but so are electrical activities. The reaction first starts as thought, the thought generates electrical activity in the brain and the brain chemistry is then altered. To try to correct brain chemistry by ingesting chemicals is treating the effect and not the cause. In this example, the cause was the thought; the trigger was what you heard on the television or computer screen. You can avoid the emotional reaction by eliminating the trigger or, once having witnessed the trigger, alter the thought process that ensues. We are constantly reacting to our environment.
The eating of food alters our chemistry. Think of how you feel different after eating. It's because of the addition of chemicals from the food to your blood. There is also an energetic phenomenon to eating as well. Processed foods are quite devoid of energy. A home cooked organic meal always feels better, not only because the molecules are superior in quality, but also because processed food has been stripped of its energetic force. This is why we use sugar pellets as the carrier for Homeopathic remedies. Sugar is devoid of any energetic properties and hence will never inter with the energy of the remedy sprayed, in liquid form, onto the sugar pellets.
Addictions range from sugar to protein to drugs to being connected to the Internet! There are many forms of addictions. Most of what we usually refer to as addictions are chemically altering substances…substances that alter consciousness, like marijuana, cocaine, alcohol, etc. But think about it: doesn't consuming sugar alter consciousness as well. One spiritual advisor once said that "taste is consciousness"…meaning that when we desire the taste of, sugar for example, we desire a change in consciousness. I bring up this subject just to promote the concept that life cannot be reduced to chemistry alone. It is the soul, however you wish to define it, an energetic property, which animates all life. And that is why Allopathy, based on chemistry alone, may one day fall by the wayside in favor of combining energetic modalities like Homeopathy, talk therapies, Acupuncture and others with a sound form of chemical support for the body, non-suppressive Nutrition…Nutrition based on the philosophy that good supplementation mimics the way food used to be before the advent of agri-business.
Interesting Case Summaries
Mr. Ian is a 26-year-old young man who mysteriously becomes grief stricken whenever he begins practicing the martial arts on his own. As soon as he begins making physical movements the depression comes on. It is so severe he lies on the floor and twirls his hair in his fingers. To escape the emotional pain he then dissociates and becomes numb to all feelings. I gave him Homeopathic Staphasagria in high potency. Two weeks later he reported a dramatic change in his condition. He was no longer dissociating with the emotional pain. He could stay with the pain and experience it without numbing to it. All of his problems began shortly after he had smoked marijuana in his mid teens. Remedies for this aspect of the causation were addressed and he is doing much better – he is actually getting on the telephone now with his father, who was his martial arts instructor, and with whom he has issues of having been ignored. He is telling his father what he needs his father to vocalize to him - things like, 'I am your father and I will always be here for you', and, 'you are my son and I am interested in who you are and I love you.' These are powerful words that will touch on the issues of grief.
When I have had a woman before me who is feeling abused in a relationship, whether it be emotional or physical I ask them if they feel they need and want more inner strength so that they leave the relationship. I warn them that if this is accomplished they may actually leave and this will bring a big change into their life, creating some chaos. Without hesitation, on almost every occasion, they reach out their hand and say, 'give me the remedy!' I have not seen a single case whereby they did not leave the relationship, if in fact they took the remedy as prescribed. Pulsatilla is the most likely type to benefit from this.
Mr. Sean is a 23 year old mentally challenged young man. A supposed trauma at birth, that is indefinable, resulted in his delayed development. He can joke in a very mature way, can organize his collection of thousands of videos of TV programs and movies, remember scenes, word for word, from most of his collection but cannot add 2 plus 2, cannot brush his own teeth, shower or dress on his own. He is very tubercular in nature, thin skinned, sensitive, tall and thin. He holds my hand the entire time I consult with him and his mother, making it difficult to type, but he is very affectionate. I type with one hand! After a dose of Tuberculinum he was able to ascend and descend stairs on his own, begin to try to brush his teeth and once when he went on vacation with his parents, showered on his own. A case of conjunctivitis and athletes foot cleared up on other remedies. His arithmetic abilities have not improved and his gait remains unsteady but continued care in ongoing. One has to be realistic in such cases.
The mother of an eight-year-old boy, Isaac, consulted me because he had attempted to strangle her mother. When his hands were pried loose from her neck and the boy was pulled from the grandmother, he turned and said to his grandmother, "I'll deal with you later." This was a serious case. Over a few years of care this maliciousness was eradicated but he continued to refuse to do at-home study with his mother. The mother insisted on dosing him with isolated vitamin extracts, to my chagrin. She spent hours on the Internet researching what to do for her son. Numerous 'experts' in the field of child psychology purport mega-dose therapies of isolates that tend to over Yin-ize the patient. In Ayurvedic medicine they balance yin and yang through an understanding of what they call doshas or physiognomy/personality types. Taking too many isolated nutrients is like taking too many pharmaceuticals or too many recreational drugs. They are all very yin!
One becomes ungrounded when there is not enough yang in the life-style.
In time, this child learned to treat his elders with respect and to curb his dictatorial nature…Homeopathy was able to accomplish this.
Miss Elizabeth was an attractive young woman in her mid thirties who had suffered from Lyme's disease for years. She had tried everything. Natrum Arsenicum is a remedy being used in Germany with much success for this ailment but I gave her Arsenicum because it fit her better. She felt her body was frail, and she went about everything with intensity. She argued with me a lot. After taking the remedy she experienced a miraculous improvement but attributed it to other factors in her life, I.V. treatment, a psychic healer etc. She herself was a medical intuitive and she took the advice of other intuitives more than she could mine. I encouraged her to continue with Homeopathy because the coincidence of the amelioration with the taking of Arsenicum was uncanny. She left care and within months had returned to her previous state. I had also consulted her of the dangers of some psychic healing she would perform on her own clients and that she was in no condition to be tampering with other peoples energies. She wanted so badly to be a healer. This is a good example of when Homeopathy performs in a stellar way in spite of the patient!
Mr. John had been sexually molested by his father his entire youth. Now in his thirties, and having kicked a habit of crack cocaine, he found himself without work and unable to urinate in a public facility. As a youth he used to hide in the bathroom and listen to the footsteps of his father in the house. Luckily, his girl friend had good employment and his mother was independently wealthy. He was unable to organize his resume. I gave him Homeopathic Sepia, made from the ink of the cuttlefish. It is given to 30 women for every man who receives it in a Homeopathic practice. He finally landed a got a job catering, was able to urinate normally, got a second job in the solar panel business, remained drug free for years and is about to organized his resume! We've been working together for 3 years and he's still making progress. He is one of the few who really knows how to benefit from all these remedies have to offer. I'm very proud of him.
Appendix for practicing Homeopaths
Vithoulkas' Patient Evaluations at One Month
X and c potencies and antidoting
LMs
Alternating Remedies
Learning from mistakes, no old issues to resolve, no detox needed, no suppression from vaccinations?
Vithoulkas' Patient Evaluations at One Month
At the end of George Vilthoulkas' book, "The Science of Homeopathy", George, with the help of Dr. Bill Gray, who wrote the book in English, summarizes the decision making process with a series of 21 graphs and explanations. I will point out their importance here by elucidating the tested principles in as concise a way as possible so that you can easily practice according to these findings:
We must judge the progress of a case on three planes: the physical complaints, the emotional/mental well being, and the energy level/stamina of the patient. Sometimes the emotional/mental plane must be divided into both emotional and mental…for if a patient experienced mental clarity from a remedy but now had emotional issues, this would be a good sign, even though on a purely emotional level they are not content.
1) If a patient reports on a follow-up visit that all three planes are better, we wait. Request the patient return in a month to six weeks. It is likely that other health issues will be of importance then.
2) The patient reports that all is well on all three planes but a new symptom is now present. If this new symptom is an old symptom from their past, the Homeopathy should wait until the next visit to determine if the remedy last given will also resolve the present new symptom. In India, placebo is often given at this point so the patient feels that something was done. I prefer to take the time to educate the patient as to the workings of Homeopathy. Almost all with whom I've done this are compliant. However, if the new symptom was not an old returning symptom but something they have never experienced before, you must read about the remedy in a materia medica or, using the repertory, look up the rubrics in which that remedy occurs to see if the new symptom could have been caused as a proving of proving of that remedy. If, indeed, the remedy given can produce that symptom in a prover, or has been known to cure that symptom, you must also wait and not prescribe another remedy, and do not repeat the dose. The proving portion of the dose needs time to wear off.
3) A similar case to the above: a new symptom appears that is not one of their old symptoms, their chief physical complaint is better, but in this case the patient is not much better otherwise…it is likely that the remedy given was incorrect, find a new remedy if you can but if the remedy is not clear you must antidote the previously given remedy with Vicks Vapo-rub or a similar mentholated product. Let two to three weeks pass before revisiting the case.
4) The patient's physical condition is better but their energy is still low and their emotional/mental plane is unchanged: the remedy probably worked well on acute plane but was not deep acting. It is likely the physical condition will return. Probe deeper into the case and look for a constitutional remedy that fits the case more appropriately.
5) The patient reports that they are sleeping better and have had some very clear dreams but their condition is unchanged. This is a tough call. If the patient can tolerate their condition, ask them to wait. There is a chance the lower planes (physical, emotional) will respond in time. If they are disgruntled and threatening to drop Homeopathy, find a low potency remedy for the acute complaints only. Do not prescribe constitutionally.
6) The patient reports being emotionally better, clearer of thought but the physical complaint has not budged. Wait. The physical may follow suit.
7) They were better initially for a few days then it all returned. Here you must investigate whether there was an aggravation or not. If initially, before things got better, they were temporarily more uncomfortable (an aggravation) then this is a good sign but not definitive. A correctly chosen prescription will often cause an aggravation but the potency wasn't quite right. (The reason for this is that our remedies are gradated in potencies of 6, 12, 30, 200, 1000, 10,000 etc. Say we gave a 200 and the patient needed a 150. We don't have a 150, so 200 is a bit too strong and can cause an aggravation. But had we given a 30 when they needed a 150, the remedy may have failed to show any effect and we would be likely to switch to another remedy prematurely.) So if a remedy aggravated initially, then they felt better, then it all came back, it may be that the energy of the remedy wore off and another dose or two or three will be needed. The aggravation alone means that the remedy was either correct or a near miss. At this point it is too soon to disregard the remedy and it should be re-prescribed. If the aggravation was particularly uncomfortable consider dropping down a potency, otherwise repeat the dose and instruct the patient that they can only re-take the dose if they were made better by it and then afterward the good effect went away. They must not re-take the dose if they are feeling better. They should record the dates they took each dose and how they felt each time.
8) If the patient reports that they have been worse than ever and that there was no period of relief, inquire as to whether they are really worse than when they first came in, or are they just frustrated. If they have been in an extended aggravation you have a tough decision to make: antidote or ask them to wait. If you antidote you'll have to wait to re-take the case until the symptom picture clears. If you ask them to wait you could give them some nutritional or herbal support and perhaps a topical Homeopathic remedy for any skin complaints. The extended aggravation might be an exception to the rule and a healing could be right around the corner. You can always confer with a seasoned colleague or refer out.
9) What if the patient says their symptoms are all over the board, sometimes better, sometimes worse; they can't tell rhyme or reason whether the remedy did anything because sometimes their symptoms get better all on their own. Make sure you take a time line of the previous weeks and that you know whether any symptoms have actually changed, disappeared, or new ones have appeared. You may be surprised, they will be too! If, in fact, they were right, and the picture is still the same, explain that even though time was lost in choosing an incorrect remedy, that at least the question about whether to last remedy prescribed should ever be prescribed has been answered. The process of elimination has it's own benefit in that it narrows the remedy choice for the next prescription. If the symptom picture has, in fact, changed, then you have to decide whether to change potencies, frequency of dosage or to choose a new remedy.
10) What to do if the progression symptoms follows one of Hering's laws and goes from proximal to distal…say a shoulder problem clears and the wrist now feels sprained. Do you wait for the wrist problem to clear on it's own, re-dose to try to push it distally and, perhaps, out of the body, or give a well known wrist remedy? The answer is to wait. You can always re-prescribe in two weeks time.
11) If the case is better all around but there was no aggravation initially, it may be that the case was already aggravated! Consider that there could have been an aggravation but it went unperceived by the patient.
12) In this case the patient is not much better on any plane but an old symptom has surfaced. Re-take the case and give a remedy that includes the new old symptom.
13) The patient says nothing has changed! Review their condition with them and be sure that what they perceive is true. If it is true there are three options: the remedy was wrong and find another more appropriate remedy to the case, the potency was less than optimum, the remedy was antidoted somehow or was spoiled by overheating.
X and c potencies and antidoting
I have interviewed many Homeopaths on cable television shows I've hosted since 1987. Some use decimal dilutions, others centesimal dilutions. They all report success'. I once met a Homeopath in southern Florida who used camphor in his practice to antidote patients. He used the camphor in the office and the entire office smelled of camphor and yet he claimed his remedies still worked. So much for Homeopathic folklore regarding antidoting! Two large studies in Germany years ago, using large groups of volunteers concluded that coffee does NOT antidote remedies. However, I myself have been antidoted by smelling a cup of coffee an hour after a remedy for coryza and rhinitus was working wonderfully! What to do? I tell patients that if they are one of the rare ones who may be antidoted by coffee that they will know if an antidoting has occurred when their symptoms, which were previously doing well, suddenly recurred not long after exposure to coffee. If the patient is concerned, ask them to not have coffee six hours before or after taking the remedy. I do not ask patients to stay away from mint toothpaste, onions or garlic….Vicks Vapo-rub, yes!
LMs
LMs are made by taking 1/50,000 of the original substance before dilutions are made. Hahnemann's goal was to create remedies that would aggravate less than decimal (X) and centesimal (C) dilutions. I have used LMs successfully for MS but in too many cases they have caused aggravations. Other Homeopaths have confirmed this. If you find they are aggravating then at least now you know that you are not alone. But when you read about how Hahnemann, at the end of his career, was using them successfully, and the how the proponents of LM's insist on using them exclusively, you feel guilty for not using them. The general rule is that they are good for very sensitive people, people sensitive to remedies as well, or for the weak and elderly…but many Homeopaths cannot attest to this. Hahnemann was also experimenting with smelling remedies instead of letting them melt under the tongue, but this did not catch on with the Homeopathic community.
Alternating remedies
Sometimes a Homeopath wants to make sure a prescription for a fiercely acute condition will bring results. I have often prescribed the alternating of arnica and ledum for a black eye, both remedies being famous for this injury, or ledum and Lachesis for a bug bit. And sometimes you might want to consider giving a constitutional remedy in a 10m and a 12c of the same remedy for acute flair-ups. These techniques can be argued philosophically but in actual practice can be quite handy…even merciful.
Learning from mistakes, no old issues to resolve, no detox needed, no suppression from vaccinations.
You may be convinced that giving a patient nat.mur. for example, will resolve old issues in the patient's past. Hundreds of times I have been incorrect in this assumption, to my great surprise, each time! Nat.mur. Is such a far-reaching remedy that it can fool you like sulphur (sulfur). At least it becomes a ruled-out remedy when you have been wrong. You learn from your mistakes. Ignatius can do this as well. Often we see patients that are obviously sad about a loss in their past. We immediately think of Nat. murk. and ignition but so often these two remedies will not take care of it. A remedy reaching into the constitution of the patient is required and further inquiry and study will be needed to resolve the sadness.
Sulphur will usually create some reaction. On a follow-up visit, be careful not to be lulled into thinking you picked the correct remedy. Sulphur often will unsuppress a need to express a sinus or respiratory detox.
Nux vomica has been very useful to me for chronic fatigue and those damaged by previous recreational drug abuse. It can also signal if a patient needs to detox.
Beware of Homeopathic instructors giving their students the impression that they usually choose the correct remedy. A review of their files would reveal that they have, most likely, made mistakes. And beware of instructors leaving you with the impression that small remedies are usually indicated. Students will go to seminar upon seminar to learn obscure remedies and ignore the power of the polycrests. A careful use of the repertory will bring small remedies to the forefront if the rubrics chosen were not too large and were very carefully chosen. Often sulphur or nux is given to unsuppress a case and often they work well in this regard. When no reaction is forthcoming from an attempt to elicit an unsuppression it can mean that the affect of pharmaceuticals or recreation drugs were not suppressive for the patient. But it can also mean that another remedy, closer to the constitutional type of the patient will bring about a detox. No reaction to nux or sulphur can mean that the patient is not suppressed, a good sign. But it can mean that another remedy is needed to unsuppress them.
