Homeopathy Zone

I am a true believer in homeopathic medicine. My grandson Alex is 3 years old and he got mononucleosis. When my daughter to him to the hospital they said it was very unusual for a 3 year old to have this. He glands were the size of a baseball on both sides. The nurse told to keep him comfortable, and it would take 6wks. or longer to get him well. They recommended to give him Tylenol for the fever. I went to my health food store and bought all homeopathic meds. and garlic cap. and a good multiple with greens, wheat grass. He was better in 3 weeks all the sores in his mouth were gone. It was difficult with a 3-year-old, but persistence with the homeopathics always pays off. My daughter-in-law said it was because he wasn’t immunized. Wrong.
Thank you,
Rosemary

This is more a question than a comment, but in the case described, if both the eczema and latterly the lack of energy and breathing difficulty were Symptoms, of what were they symptomatic? What in Dora’s case, was the disease?

Or is there a difference, in homeopathy, between an illness and a disease, beyond semantics?

Noel,

One way of viewing the disease is simply as the totality of symptoms at any one moment. But this totality includes not only the what are traditionally known as signs and symptoms in medicine, but also any other deviations from ideal health. Examples include: abnormal sensitivity to certain weather patterns when compared to others of the same ethnic background living in the same region; distressing thoughts or behaviors; and maladaptive living habits (whether or not the person is aware of them) such as cravings for unhealthy foods.

So in Dora’s case her disease or illness (the distinction between these two is unimportant for our point) encompassed not only medical complaints, but also all the little details that were collected during the homeopathic treatment process, which I didn’t mention in the article. A few of these key details, on which the prescription depended, were: the tiredness was worst in the late afternoon; she was lacking in self-confidence and felt too ‘small’ in many life situations; and she had a tendency to abdominal distention (due to flatulence) following a meal of any size.

But there is, in homeopathy, a crucial deeper match that must happen in order for the remedy to work. The remedy must match the person’s spiritual imbalance. Whereas several remedies may be indicated in any given situation, only one of them will match the spiritual state of the person and have a deeply curative effect, whereas the other ones will produce only partial results.

In Dora’s case what was apparent at the spiritual level was her over-intellectual, fearful nature coupled with a subtle competitiveness and ambition (she was at the time a doctoral student in the sciences). Thus she was too dependent on her intellect to sustain her through life, yet wasn’t as successful in expressing herself in life outside of the science lab. (Note that these details are sometimes not perceptible to the patient, and when they improve the patient simply reports feeling “better” (or, as in Dora’s case, “younger”) rather than “more confident” or “less absorbed in my doctorate”; it is often left to the homeopath to observe these indicators of greater spiritual health.)

The combination of Dora’s symptoms with my observations of the imbalance in her nature pointed me to the homeopathic remedy Lycopodium, which is the remedy that has been given, in varying dosages, through the treatment period. So it is also possible to say, in addition to the above, that Dora’s disease was “Lycopodium state,” following the identity of the remedy used to address her symptoms, which waned in proportion to the improvement that she experienced at the spiritual level.

With the story of Dora could you please explain if you treated her with the “mental sphere” or “physical sphere” as my understanding of eczema is that it is generally related to an emotional condition. Also I think it would be interesting to inform us what remedy was used for this case. Thanks.

A wonderful explanation… still needs addition of Hering’s Law: How to know the case is getting suppressed, or how to evaluate the suffering has shifted to deeper tissues. Skin to lungs is the commonest example of suppression, but difficulty comes when it is a case like asthma cured and causing psoriasis or leukoderma. This is suppression but manifeted symptoms are on skin!

Actual involvement to be found out as in psoriasis it is the dermis being involved, a deeper suffering, and in leukoderma, the endocrine system is involved. Such explanations to be needed.

Glenda,

In my comment above, immediately preceding yours, I describe the combination of factors that led to my selection of the remedy Lycopodium.

Neha,

you make a good point: some disorders that manifest on the skin are more than skin-deep! I will go into greater detail about this in future case examples and articles on direction of cure and Hering’s Law.

For now I will say that in determining whether healing is proceeding in the right direction I focus most of all on the overall spiritual state of the patient, and view pathological signs as assisting rather than leading me in making this assessment. So I could imagine a hypothetical case where I would consider it a curative rather than suppressive response if severe asthma were replaced with mild psoriasis, so long as the patient was better in other respects.

Here I disagree with your explaination that severe asthma cured producing mild degree of psoriasis is a cure!

If we look at the embryology, the development of more important organs and tissues takes place first in the foetal life followed by less-important organs.

So looking at the pathogenesis, asthma is a disease of mucus membrane of lungs (endodermal in origin), while in psoriasis the dermis is mesodermal (mesenchymal) in origin.

So unless there is a past history of psoriasis suppression, occurrence of psoriasis in asthma treatment is always a suppression. It’s the same as if we take the example of severe eczema cured but causing bronchitis in milder degree!

So now, if we follow Hering’s law of cure: “Within-to-outward drift of symptoms in the reverse order of their appearance,” this kind of suppression may produce well-being in the patient. But, if we properly understand suppression, it may be gradual and insidious, taking years to develop.

Neha,

Insightful comment, once again! I offered the asthma-psoriasis example as a hypothetical one, to make the point that such a situation is conceivable, however unlikely. In other words, in a highly ambiguous case I would prefer to be guided by sure signs of improvement at the spiritual level (not merely the patient’s reporting feeling better, but based on my own assessment — for instance, a clear positive shift in miasmatic state toward psora) than by embryology (although homeopathy has no objections to this bit of embryology). Having said this, physical symptoms are reliable indicators of the spiritual state (when correctly interpreted), and as a rule psoriasis is indeed indicative of poorer spiritual health than asthma.

I am a very concerned mother of a 9 year old son. He has had allergy symptoms since he was a baby. He has an average of 6 asthma exacerbations annually and is on several allergy medicines. He was treated last year for eczema of the feet which resolved after several months of steroid cremes. The skin irritation seems to fade and then his asthma becomes worse. This fall and spring his respiratory symptoms have become quite severe (runny nose, sneezing, watery and itchy eyes).  He is on Singulair, Benadryl, Allegra, Astelin and Rhinocort! I took him to an allergist who tested him, with positive results for grass and tree allergies. The allergist recommends allergy shots. My son is very active, loves the outdoors and sports, and hates shots. His symptoms are only under mild control I am encouraged by Dora’s story of success. Where can I turn to find natural healing for my son?  Help!

Denise,

What you’re describing is exactly the pattern of suppression that I describe in the article: Especially given your son’s allergic disposition, using steroid cremes on the eczema has been counterproductive to his overall health. As you mention, it has resulted in the asthma symptoms to increase, because his immune system has been weakened and the problem is now manifesting in a deeper tissue than the skin.

The first step in treating the condition is to avoid the use of steroids on any eczema that might return in the near future (and its return would be a very welcome thing).

Once you are able to commit to avoiding cortisone treatment of the skin (unless ever medically necessary due to great severity), the next step is of course comprehensive homeopathic treatment of the sort that will bring back the eczema before it is truly resolved following the rules of healing I describe above.

You should search for a competent classical homeopath in your area. If you are comfortable with distance treatment I offer online homeopathic treatment by phone/Skype. In any case you would have to have continuous access to medical care, including emergency services, throughout the treatment until the asthma totally receded, given that asthma can produce dangerous exacerbations.