Homeopathy–The Choice of More Women

  uses extremely
small doses of substances prepared in a special
way to re-vitalize a person’s health. The
choice of the medicine, referred to as a
“remedy,” is individualized for each patient
according to the symptoms and characteristics
of that patient. In true homeopathy it is
possible for several women with the same
diagnosis to each receive a different remedy.
So homeopathic treatment is not “one
size fits all.” Furthermore, it is even possible
for a patient with an undiagnosable
problem to receive effective treatment.
When used correctly, homeopathic healing
is gentle and long lasting, because the remedies
work with the body’s symptoms and
other defense mechanisms instead of
against them.
In the early 1800’s Samuel Hahnemann,
a German-speaking medical doctor, first
systematized contemporary homeopathy. He
found that if he prescribed holistically-not
just for the patient’s main complaint(s) –
that the patient would experience a deeper
healing. In some cases even life-threatening
and “incurable” diseases have been cured
without the usual side effects. A homeopath
treats each woman as an individual and as a
whole, taking into consideration all of
whom she is and all of her history, not just
her chief complaint. Homeopathy is a
method of treatment available to lay persons
for acute self-care, as well as a medical specialty
prescribed by licensed practitioners.
TREATING THE WHOLE WOMAN, NOT JUST THE
DIAGNOSIS
Homeopathy like many other “complementary
and alternative” modalities is a
form of energy or vibrational medicine.
Thus, it views disease as an imbalance in
the person’s energy or life force (like ki or
chi in Oriental medicine). More specifically,
homeopathy sees disease as an “untunement”
of the life force, as if each of us were
beautiful, sensitive, yet strong musical
instruments in need of tuning. The correct
homeopathic remedy then helps to “retune”
the life force, putting us back into balance,
so we can once again sing or play “on key,”
achieving our full potential.
Like other energy modalities, homeopathy
recognizes that a person out of tune
(vibrationally, energetically) is more susceptible
to disease. Being “tuned up” means
being in balance: mentally, emotionally and
physically. So to be truly healthy a woman
needs to be in balance on all of these levels.
Since the remedies work in an integrated
way on all these levels, homeopathic healing
is truly holistic with a general improvement
of all symptoms. Even those symptoms that
may have seemed unrelated may improve.
The healing not only restores physical and
mental health but also generates better attitude
and enjoyment of life. Long suppressed
or repressed emotions are often released,
sometimes in dreams. Sometimes major
shifts in significant relationships occur.
Everything is related and connected in the
holistic homeopathic perspective.
In order to find the correct remedy, the
homeopath must understand the patient as a
whole: all her noteworthy dreams, fears, and
patterns, as well as symptoms. She must be
able and willing to reveal all these, while the
homeopath listens for two to three hours.
The homeopath must learn about every
major event and trauma of the woman’s life
as well as how they have contributed to any
imbalances in her eznergy, in her life force.
The homeopath looks for how this woman’s
life experiences and symptom manifestations
are different or special compared to
other women with the same diagnoses.
Since the process is holistic, the woman
does not “take her uterus” to one practitioner
and her joints to another. Thus, in many
cases only one medicine heals both the
reproductive system as well as the joints.
Although the interview process may
seem like a counseling session, it is not. The
homeopath’s purpose is to listen and to discern
indicators for the woman’s correct
remedy. The homeopath will generally not
offer advice or make judgments, but only
ask questions to get more relevant information,
indicating the correct remedy.
MENOPAUSE & HRT
Homeopathy acknowledges that
menopause is a natural transition in a
woman’s life, just as puberty is. Since we do
not try to avert puberty with special treatments,
why should we try to avert the transition
at the other end of the spectrum? Most
women in good health with appropriate diet
and exercise should be able to complete this
transition with little discomfort, without
hormone replacement, and live gracefully
for years beyond menopause. Research has
not verified that hormone replacement is
consistently a preventive measure for bone
loss. On the other hand, many studies have
shown that calcium loss and bone weakness
are life-style related (excess ingestion of
meat, coffee, sugar and alcohol, as well as
lack of proper exercise and lack of natural
calcium in the diet). Last but certainly not
least, hormone replacement may contribute
to a higher risk of cancer.
During menopause if a woman is “out of
tune,” she may experience bleeding,
fatigue, headaches, hot flashes, insomnia,
lower sexual energy, vaginal dryness and
other symptoms. The conventional treatment
of hormone replacement can be
avoided by homeopathic treatment which
gradually transitions the woman through
menopause, as the symptoms wane and disappear.
In the words of a popular homeopathic
doctor:
“The current trend in medicine is to
give hormone replacement at the first
signs of menopause as indicated by
decreasing hormone levels on lab work.
This reflects an empty rationality.
Menopause is no more a disease than
puberty is a disease. In homeopathy we
do not treat the lab work; we treat the
patient. Menopausal women experiencing
discomfort with menopause are
treated as unique individuals the same
way all patients are treated with homeopathy.
Homeopathy has an excellent
record of treating women through this
transitional time without the use of
exogenous hormones.”
A number of natural plant hormonelike
substances are promoted as alternatives
to synthetic hormone replacement.
These may be preferable in many
instances to synthetic replacement, but
they still reflect a disease-oriented
approach to what is, in reality, a natural
process.” (Timothy Dooley, MD, ND in
Homeopathy: Beyond Flat Earth Medicine,
p. 72)
Dr. Dooley concedes that very few
women may benefit from HRT, but this
must be individualized by their history and
by the potential risks of hormone replacement
therapy.
Finally, in the words of the late Dr.
Maesimund Panos:
“Unless you are going to take estrogen
for the rest of your life, sooner or later you
must experience the shifting of the hormone
balance, and some of the symptoms that
accompany this change. Our own defense
mechanism is well equipped to make the
necessary adjustments without the interference
of a drug whose purpose is to block the
normal action of the body. Taking estrogen
is a risky and expensive way of postponing
the inevitable readjustment that Nature has
decreed.” (Maesimund Panos, MD in
Homeopathic Medicine at Home, p.229)
HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES OR “REMEDIES”
Homeopathic remedies work at the energetic
level. They can, therefore, stimulate
the recurrence of old symptoms or the
worsening of current symptoms. This phenomenon
is called “aggravation” and can
also occur with treatment by any other
deep-acting energy medicine or modality.
Aggravation may last a few minutes or
hours or a few days, but it is a small price to
pay for reversal of symptoms that have lasted
years. No pain, no gain! There are methods
of administering the remedies that
make the aggravation process more gentle.
So if this is of concern to you, be sure to ask
your homeopath about this.
After the preparation of a homeopathic
remedy, the original substance is usually so
highly diluted that there is little or no molecular
substance left in the remedy, hence the
accusations of quackery (“just sugar pellets
or water”). As the king in The King and I
stated to his children: “If we only believe
what we see, what is the use of school?”
What is left in the remedy is the healing
“energy” or healing vibration of the original
substance, acting as a stimulus to a
woman’s life force, helping the woman to
re-tune, re-balance, re-vitalize, and thus
cure herself.
In my own life menstrual cramps, premenstrual
symptoms and later hot flashes
were relieved. More significantly, disabling
headaches due to food allergies are 90%
improved! My daughter who is quadriplegic
due to an accident is at a very high level
of health and has excellent quality of life
partially due to homeopathy. Unlike most
quadriplegics – who are very susceptible to
respiratory infections and to those infections
turning into bronchitis and pneumonia
– she rarely catches “colds.” When she
does, they never turn into bronchitis or
pneumonia. She only had pneumonia once,
during the first months after her accident
and recovered within a week with homeopathic
treatment and without hospitalization.
After her accident, which included a
closed head injury, the doctor anticipated
swelling of the brain. To the doctor’s astonishment,
there was none.
FINDING A HOMEOPATH
Think divinely, drink good water, eat
well, keep good company and get exercise.
These are prerequisites for health. Stay “in
tune” and stay healthy. If you find that these
are not enough, know that a good homeopath
may help you.
The best way to find a good homeopath
is by personal referral. Helpful hints about
finding a homeopath and criteria for determining
if a homeopath is good can be found
at the website www.homoeopathic.com.
There are also directories of homeopaths on
the websites of the National Center of
Homeopathy www.homeopathic.org and
the North American Society of Homeopaths
www.homeopathy.org. For local info contact
visit www.homeopathyillinois.org.