The British Aristocracy Helped Homeopathy Thrive

It was sometime around the year 1841 when the Earl of Shrewsbury felt the need for a physician. But where was a nineteenth century aristocrat to turn, when all the doctors in town utilized bloodletting with leeches, purgatives, emetics, and other invasive, painful, and downright dangerous procedures in their "healing" practices? He asked around, locked into the extensive aristocrat and royal grapevine, so to speak, and ended up with a personal physician recommended by Dr. Hahnemann, the German originator of homeopathy. Thus was homeopathy brought to England, and thus was it spread throughout the upper classes of Europe. Then, as now, when one wanted a good doctor, one asked friends for recommendations.

Homeopathy is a medical system that uses a completely different treatment and diagnostic model than traditional allopathy or "western" medicine. Western medicine focusses on diagnosing an ailment, then providing a drug to either cure the problem or alleviate its symptoms. These drugs override the body's natural immune responses. Homeopathic doctors believe that the body knows the right way to heal itself, and that a patient's symptoms are merely the body's way of dealing with imbalances. Homeopathic medicines do not fight the body's symptoms, but assist the body in coming into balance more quickly. These remedies are extremely dilute amounts of substances that would, at full strength, actually cause the same symptoms that the remedy hopes to alleviate.

Thanks to the Earl of Shrewsbury's work in bringing homeopathy to England, this revolutionary healing method thrived among queens, kings, dukes, duchesses, and innumerable other royals and noblemen. As a result, nineteenth and twentieth century Europe saw the science and art of homeopathy thrive. Royal patronage was one of the primary forces that enabled homeopathic physicians to continue to develop the preparations we still use today. Wealthy and educated patrons such as the Dukes of Beaufort and 

Cambridge; the Marquesses of Anglesey; the Earls of Essex, Donoughmore, Kintore, and Kinnaird; King Edward VII; and King George V helped to promote the benefits of homeopathy simply by employing homeopathic doctors and talking enthusiastically about their successful, and painless, healing experiences.

Today's Prince Charles, Queen Mother, and the Queen of England herself still continue the traditional allegiance of British royalty with homeopathy that, for centuries, England's royals sponsored. This support, over generations, is what truly enabled the founders of homeopathy to develop the healing philosophies, homeopathic preparations, and intake techniques they use today.

Asthma – Allergic disorder treated with Homeopathy

Introduction

Asthma is an allergic disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of dyspnoea (difficult breathing), cough, and wheeze caused by reversible airways obstruction. Spasm of the bronchial tubes and excessive excretion of a viscous mucous in the lungs is also characteristic. The principal precipitants are cold air, exercise, emotion, allergens such as, house dust mite, pollen, animal fur, etc.

Case Report

A 11 year old boy came to see me brought by his mother; she argued that his son had been suffering of asthma for a long time. She mentioned that within the last year he had had at least seven strong episodes of asthma of which 3 times he required to be hospitalized, the last one been documented just one week before they came to see me.

In the acute attacks the boy usually presented the classical symptoms of asthma: difficulty breathing, wheezing respiration and cough with excretion of a yellowish to greenish mucous, sometimes with some bleeding through the nose. The main factor that precipitate the acute attacks seem to be external impressions, but it was reported in the hospital a high reactivity to dust and pollen.

On further investigation and following a normal homeopathic consultation in which we document all the symptoms of the patient I discovered a very shy boy, it was very difficult for him to say something to me; he was just covered behind his mother. Asking her about his personality she confirmed the shy he was at all the time with everybody, also that he was very sensitive emotionally, always worried about his parents getting to the point of anxiety when one of his parents was not at home; he was also very susceptible to external impressions making him to live with fear even to walk on the street.

After observing the conduct of the child and analyzing all his symptoms, I decided to prescribe him a single dose of Phosphorus 200c.

I saw him one month later and the improvement was incredible, he was more talkative and not hiding behind his mother, he even accepted to walk alone to the school not showing the amount of anxiety and fear that he was suffering before; that month his mother did not report any attack of asthma and she was happy about that. In this occasion I decided to continue with Phosphorus but I changed the concentration from 200c to 0/7LM single dose.

For the next 6 months the improvement was even better, he was more active, less shy, the anxiety was almost disappeared and no reports of acute asthma were present.

After three years from the first consultation, he has never been hospitalized again and his respiratory tract has no signs of been affected.

Discussion.

The causes of Asthma are multiple but the vast majority is classified as "extrinsic" factors (allergic), according to the literature; anyway, most of the patients who suffer of asthma have as well an emotional background that needs to be treated in order to guide them to a complete healing.

Homeopathy has been shown to be a very effective therapy in the treatment of allergic diseases, not just asthma but also eczema, food allergies and others. This is because homeopathy treats the person as a whole. It means that homeopathic treatment focuses on the patient as a person, as well as his pathological condition and not only in a diagnosis (egg. Asthma or diabetes, etc) like other conventional medicines do.

In this case was shown how important is to treat a patient as a whole person and not just divide him in organs or systems; before he started his journey through homeopathy, he was suffering of recurrent episodes of asthma ending some of them with this boy in the hospital, once the treatment with homeopathy was established his recovery was amazing, this does not means that every person who suffers of asthma is going to respond in the same way to the homeopathic treatment, that is because everybody is different, but at least you can expect that once you start a homeopathic treatment an improvement in every sphere of your life (mental, emotional and physical) will improve.

References

• Bailey PM. 1995 "Homeopathic Psychology: Personality Profile of the Major Constitutional Remedies" Ed. North Atlantic Books. Pp: 254- 272.
• Kent JT. 1999 "Lecciones de Materia Medica Homeopática" Ed. B.Jain Publishers LTD. Pp: 245-263.
• Longmore M, Wilkinson IB, Rajagopalan. 2004 "Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine" Ed. Oxford University Press. 6th edition Pp: 184- 187.
• Murray MT. 1996 "Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements" Ed. Three Rivers Press. 1st edition. Pp: 425-426.

Are you finding it difficult to conceive a child?

The clock is ticking and your hubby is at his prime. You have both been going at it for months and months and you're almost out of breath with no child to show for your efforts. Or perhaps you have conceived time and time again, unfortunately you keep having miscarriages. You are not alone! More and more women around the world are experiencing the same problems and science just stands in bewilderment scratching its head and decides to fix the problem, as if it was a fixing a car, not your body.

Your body is like a garden not a motor vehicle, so it should be cared for in the same way you would look after a garden, by nurturing its future. I can see you looking over at your biological garden, perhaps only seeing weeds and failing plants, right? Well, this example is well suited. You need to develop a green thumb and start looking after your body because your baby's life depends on it!

At Acupuncture Sydney we understand that nothing will grow and flourish if its environment is under-nourished, dry, or even toxic. Nothing grows under those conditions! So let me ask you, how fertile is your body? What is the condition of the environment where your baby will be living? Is it well nourished, warm but not too hot, is the blood clean or full of toxins due to stress? How is your digestion? Did you know that what you eat and the condition of your digestive system can mean the difference between having a strong healthy baby and a possible miscarriage?

At Acupuncture Sydney we understand that a woman requires the right heart and mind for your body is going to grow another body, and that's no easy feat. You are a creator of life and this means you have to be in a pure state to even come close to creating another human life. Your body has to have so many different hormones in balance not to mention other fluids, blood, oxygen, nutrients and at the same time fight off toxins caused by stress and outside negative influences to create a baby that will grow and beautifully develop not struggle to live or maintain life.

When you visit your GP or Gynaecologist, they look at your body through the eyes of science, relying on and what science has thus so-far proven to be true. When you visit a Chinese Medicine Practitioner they look through the eyes of wisdom that has been gained by studying the fundamentals of a system that has been around for NO LESS THAN THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED YEARS (3,500), that's a very long time afforded by experience, actually 3,100 years longer than western medicine. It is exactly this ancient experience and practice that Acupuncture Sydney draws upon.

Chinese medicine takes the body in it whole unique form and treats it as an individual blade of grass that comes that grows on a lawn. Each human beings elemental composition is different to that of another person, we are individually unique. That is we are designed to be treated differently, to that of any other person. There are so many varied and complex reasons why you have not been able to conceive or give birth to a healthy and strong baby. That's why at Acupuncture Sydney we understand each person needs to be treated as a unique individual to get to the root cause of a reason you might be finding it difficult to conceive a child.

The way Chinese Medicine looks at the body is a reflection of nature itself. It may all sound a bit airy fairy but if you think about it for a minute, what is different between what is outside in the park to what is in your body? Without sun, water and nutrients your body will wither just as the trees in the park would die. If you didn't take the opportunity to sleep at night, your body would simply burn up from exhaustion just as the trees would. So what is different?

Yes you have a mind, you can talk but other than that there's not much difference between what constitutes a tree and what forms your body. If you haven't watched the movie Inconvenient Truth, please do so and you will see that the earth actually breathes just as we do. Thousands of years ago these simple truths were discovered and Chinese medicine was founded on these simple, yet complex truths.

At Acupuncture Sydney we know the human body comprises of 5 primary elements just as in nature - nature we are just a part of. These five elements are as follows; wood, fire, earth, metal, water and each of these elements are of the same characteristics that are specific to our internal organs.

Wood

• Liver & Gallbladder
• Fire
• Heart & Small Intestine
• Earth
• Spleen & Stomach
• Metal
• Lungs & Large Intestine
• Water
• Kidneys & Urinary Bladder

Each of these elements support each other in the cycle of life for example water grows the wood, wood is needed to make fire, the ashes of the fire creates the earth, earth creates metal, and metal creates water. It is through this supporting cycle (known as the cycle of birth) our internal organs work together giving us life.

To understand this more clearly, you first have to understand the term Qi (CHI) pronounced "chee". Qi is energy just like the stuff that makes your hair dryer work allows your to function - in fact there would be no Universe without such Chi. This is one subject that quantum physists agree on, however certain scientists are still having trouble with this concept. Our body (like everything on Earth and in the Universe) is made of energy vibrating at a speed that gives us the elusion that we are solid but it's only an elusion.

If you were to stand in front of a powerful microscope you would be seen as just particles of energy all vibrating together to provide form and this is true for a lawn, a rock, a tree and the Earth. Now all your bones, organs and muscles are vibrating each at different speeds to create the solid matter they represent. Your body is nothing but a mass of energy; yes it maybe hard to come to grips with, but its quantum physics truth. While this may be difficult to believe or even to comprehend, please stick with me and Acupuncture Sydney as you have nothing to lose and a baby to gain.

Our body is made up of five elements that relate directly to the internal organs that create the functioning of our body. These organs support each other by transferring energy (Qi) to one another. When Qi circulates smoothly throughout the body we will enjoy good health or cycle of birth.

Should the Chi not circulate properly we will experience problems from anything like headaches, bad digestion to period pain and infertility, this cycle can be referred to as the cycle of destruction.

Let me explain how the Qi circulates. The five element cycle travels clockwise and the organ that supports the next is known as the mother and the supported organ are referred to as the child. The Liver is the mother of the Heart, the liver stores the blood and the blood houses the mind/spirit, so if the liver blood is weak the heart (the child) will suffer. The Heart is the mother of the Spleen and the energy of the heart (its Qi) pushes the blood supporting the spleen's function of transporting nutrients and body fluids. The Spleen acts as the mother to the Lungs and the spleen Qi provides food to the lungs creating a special type of Qi called zhong Qi that supports the body's respiratory function that assists in blood circulation, among other things. The Lungs are the mother of the Kidneys. The lungs send Qi and fluid down to the kidneys. The Kidneys are the mother of the Liver and help to nourish the liver blood that surrounds the uterus and feeds your baby.

At Acupuncture Sydney we understand that when the body is running smoothly all the organs support each other - cycle of birth. However when we are not in harmony, the organs attack each other - cycle of destruction. A good example of this is when you are at the dinner table and have an argument, you tend to lose appetite or develop indigestion. What happened is that the liver becomes hot due to stress and the liver then attacks the stomach and spleen. It not only occurs with these organs it happens with all the organs and regularly within the body. As soon as you are unhappy or you eat something unfavourable or breathe in an unfavourable chemical or don't have enough sleep, your organs will start attacking each other, fighting as if contestants in a championship boxing match.

At Acupuncture Sydney we realise you can't look at your body through the eyes of mechanic, you need the vision provided by through the eyes of a gardener. We need to care for our body and make sure the blood is nourished, food nutrient is ample and our Qi is strong.

Examples at Acupuncture Sydney and the ancient experience of Chinese Medicine are evident; you will be unable to grow anything, including something as precious as a baby if your body is exposed to toxins, stress or in a destructive cycle. Chinese Medicine has a lot to offer and can treat most illnesses so please consider Acupuncture Sydney it if you are having troubles conceiving. You may think that is a big claim but keep in mind, the body is an organic object that is in a constant flux of change and when it's unwell it's because its out of balance. If we look, smell, hear and touch to see what is out of balance we can treat the root cause make adjustments to bring it back into balance and once in balance health is assured and this includes the ability to bare a child. To learn more about what goes on in the body and why you may be having troubles conceiving please drop in or drop me an email or visit Acupuncture Sydney.

A case of depression

Depression

Clinical depression is also known as major depression and unipolar depression, is a very serious problem which affects more than 120 million people all around the world every year according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It affects men, women, children, adolescents and the elderly.

The official definition of clinical depression is based upon the following eight primary criteria:

" Poor appetite with weight loss or increased appetite with weight gain.

" Insomnia or hypersomnia.

" Physical hyperactivity or inactivity.

" Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities, or decrease in sexual drive.

" Loss of energy and feelings of fatigue.

" Feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach or inappropriate guilt.

" Diminished ability to think or concentrate.

" Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

Usually the presence of five of these eight points definitely indicates depression anyway; an individual suffering from four of these symptoms is probably also depressed.

There have been developed several theories trying to explain the cause of depression of which two are the most popular; first the biopsychosocial model which states that the cause of depression is based on biological, psychological and social causes; secondly the diathesis-stress model which states that people with clinical depression have a pre-existing vulnerability, either genetic or schematic, that has been triggered by a stressful life event.

There have been described three types of depression:

1)      Major depression which is characterized by the eight points that we already discussed with a particular loss of interest or pleasure in participating in activities that they used to find enjoyable.

2)      Dysthemia which is a less severe episode than major depressionand is characterized by a chronic low-mood mental status.

3)      Bipolar disorder in which cycling periods of extreme highs and extreme lows are experienced. When they are in a depressive state, they show symptoms of major depression; when they are in a maniac state, they will have increased amounts of energy and they will exhibit judgment and clarity of thoughts.

Case

With this case I want to highlight the efficacy that a homeopathic treatment can demonstrate when we talk about mental or emotional disorders.

One day a very humble-looking lady came to my office, she was dressing old clothes with some patches overlapped all over her skirt; it seemed that she had not had a shower in days, the smell was bad and her general appearance was that of a person who does not care about herself.

When she came to my office she was short of breath with a very heavy productive cough. She was diagnosed many years ago of having asthma and she was taking the normal medication (salbutamol) for the acute cases and some steroids (prednisolone) for the chronic state. But as you can see there was no improvement on her condition.

I started taking the case and as she was answering my questions I was realizing that something much more important than the asthma was her depression; she was saying that she was very sad at home because her husband usually abused of her, that nobody at home showed any kind of respect for her, not even her three children.

Her environment was not the best, she was living in a very small unit with just one room where she, her husband, her three children and her parents in law were sharing.

She was doing all the cleaning, cooking, washing and taking care of everything at home not receiving as a reward anything but just abuse.

Then living on that kind of environment with all the stress and work that she was doing, it is normal that she was not controlling her asthma very well, but the main problem was all the emotional symptoms that she was developing.

First of all she was losing a lot of weight because she was not eating as normally because of a lack of appetite, she told me that she lost around 7 kilos in the last 2 weeks; she was having problems going to sleep, not falling asleep until 2 or 3 am and waking up always around 4 or 5am; she was pushing herself to do all her duties at home just because she was afraid of her husband.

She told me that anything that she used to enjoy in the past was not any more enjoyable for her; she was always feeling tired with no force to even go to the toilet.

All the time during that consultation she was blaming herself for what was happening on her life, she never blamed her husband or her children or her parents-in-law, she was carrying with all the blame saying that it was her fault if something was missing at home, if she was unable to finish cleaning, if her husband was upset etc, and the problem was that she was really convinced of that.

And finally she was unable to get concentrated when she was trying to perform a task at home, therefore she was committing some mistakes like dropping glasses etc. finally she was having recurrent and persistent thoughts of death, she never tried to kill herself but she was thinking all the time about her death and different way in which she could terminate with her life

As you can see she was having eight out of eight basic symptoms for clinical depression to be diagnosed, but her doctor (conventional medicine) was more preoccupied for her asthmatic symptoms rather than her emotional state.  Having said that, her asthma was just a consequence of her depression.

The patient was then treated with a very high dose of Aurum metallicum and two weeks later she came back looking much different, she was clean and she actually used some makeup, her face was showing a smile that was not shown the first consultation and she was not blaming herself about what was happening on her life, she was more interested in doing many other things.

With just a single dose of Aurum metallicum the improvement was marked and her asthma was much better, she told me that the day after the first consultation she started having a lot of mucus running from her nose and mouth, but she also told me that after the medication even though she was having more physical symptoms, she was feeling much better emotionally straight away.

This is a very important case in which we have highlight the importance of giving the right medication for the right symptoms and not get distracted with symptoms that could be dramatic but not as important as the emotional once.