One man's food is another man's poison

Whether poison or food, homeopathy can make a substance very useful in the treatment of diseases.
The sources of homeopathic drugs are many. Most of the drugs are prepared from plants, but mineral and animal products are also used. It is wonderful to see how homeopathy harnesses the energy present in the potentized drug substance for the purpose of cure. Many substances are inert in their crude form but after the process of potentization, the medicinal powers are unleashed. Common salt or sodium chloride is one such substance. A regular article of our diet, it is probably used only by homeopaths as a medicine.
The role of ginger (a common spice in our diet) as a medicine has also been known traditionally amongst all the cultures and societies. Mothers and grandmothers all over the world have used it for gastric problems and as a digestive.
A study conducted by the University of Rochester in New York has found that people who started taking ginger a few days before their chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer had fewer and less severe bouts of nausea.
Homeopathy has used ginger for the past hundred years or so.
As a homeopath, I would use it in potentized form for the vomiting of old drunkards and for diarrhoea from drinking bad or impure water. It is also known to cure colic and diarrhoea caused by eating melons, particularly cantaloupes.
It has been suggested in the past that ginger is not the right food to be given to persons with kidney disorders. In homeopathy, it is used to treat patients who have had a complete cessation of the function of the kidneys. (This is an example of the underlying law of nature- let likes be cured by likes).
In asthma, the patient who requires Ginger as a homeopathic medicine may have a severe attack and must sit up in the bed to breathe but is surprisingly free from any anxiety about the disease. Such peculiarities and deviations from the expected are picked up by the homeopath to make his prescriptions.
Amongst the plants, one family that is very useful to a homeopath is the Solanacaeae. There are many members of this family like Beladonna, Stramonium and Hyoscyamus. These are very poisonous in their crude state. Tabacum (tobacco) also belongs to this family and is known universally because it contains nicotine. The other members of this family are Capsicum, Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and Solanum tuberosum (potato). These three are a part of our diet. Since they belong to the same family, they share many botanical characteristics. However, it is the presence of the active ingredients or the active principles that makes each different from the other. Hence Belladonna, Stramonium, and Hyoscyamus are very strong poisons. Tabacum is a milder poison, while the last three are the least poisonous. Nevertheless, each is a useful medicine in homeopathy.
Tobacco is one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality in the world.
The active principle in tobacco, nicotine is a well-known narcotic and has far reaching effects on the body. Tobacco in any form is dangerous to health. When chewed as a habit, it causes a chronic irritation of the mucus lining of the mouth leading to oral cancers. Tobacco chewing and smoking cause cancers not only in the mouth but also the esophagus (food pipe) and the stomach and lungs.
Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, leading to a reduction of blood supply to various organs. It causes a vasoconstriction of the lining of the stomach wall, which makes it vulnerable to insults from organisms as well as the acid in the stomach and produces gastric ulcers. It also causes a relaxation of the lower end of the stomach (the pyloric valve) and allows the alkaline bilious secretions to enter the stomach. This alkaline juice is an irritant and once again predisposes the person to gastric ulcers.
Nicotine constricts the blood vessels of the heart causing ischaemia and leads to angina and heart attacks. Similarly it acts on the blood vessels of the limbs and can cause gangrene due to the vasoconstriction.
Homeopathy uses tobacco in a diluted and purified form to treat many illnesses. It has been used effectively to treat vertigo and seasickness, the pains of kidney stones, esp. of the left side and also angina pectoris.
After potentization, the therapeutic power of the drug becomes much more apparent and these substances, whether food or poison can be used to treat conditions ranging from simple sore throats and piles to typhoid fevers, convulsions and even manias.

For homeopathic consultation for your symptoms you may visit Homeopathic Healing or send an e-mail to office@drvaishnav.com to meet the Homeopathic Specialists.

Disclaimer: A detailed history followed by constitutional treatment by good and qualified homeopathic specialists is necessary to treat the complaints that appear during any disease. It is not advisable to resort to self-medication for any disease. The above-mentioned drugs are just a few of the remedies and are mentioned solely to create awareness about the efficacy of homeopathic medicines.

Homeopathy in Swine flu epidemic?

History has shown that there has always been a resurgence of homeopathy every time an epidemic has struck the population. From the time of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, to the present day, homeopathy has always scored over conventional allopathic medication in the treatment of epidemics. In 1813, the retreating army of Napoleon brought with it the epidemic of typhus to Leipzig. Homeopathic treatment of 180 cases of typhus by Dr. Hahnemann saw only two cases succumbing to the illness while 30% of patients under allopathic treatment died. When cholera struck Europe, the mortality rate with allopathy was 66% and the homeopathic mortality was 33%. On account of this extraordinary result, the law interdicting the practice of Homeopathy in Austria was repealed! In Britain, the statistics were suppressed because it was found that the mortality rate with allopathy was 59.2% while under homeopathic care the mortality rate was 9%
Perhaps the most recent use of homeopathy in a major epidemic was during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918. It was reported that 24,000 cases of flu treated allopathically had a mortality rate of 28.2% while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of 1.05%. One physician in a Pittsburgh hospital asked a nurse if she knew anything better than what he was doing, because he was losing many cases. "Yes, Doctor, stop aspirin and go down to a homeopathic pharmacy, and get homeopathic remedies." The Doctor replied: "But that is homeopathy." "I know it, but the homeopathic doctors for whom I have nursed have not lost a single case."
Why is homeopathy so effective?
Irrespective of the name of the disease, homeopathy works at the immunity of the patient and strengthens it so that the body is able to protect itself from diseases. If a person has already been affected, it helps to stimulate the body’s self-healing powers the body so that the disease is controlled naturally by the body’s own defense mechanism.
What should a responsible homeopath do in the face of an epidemic?
If he was in India, he would send text messages to his patients about how homeopathy can prevent it- without even having seen a single case of the disease. Not to be out done other homeopaths would join the fray and make their own suggestions about the homoeopathic medicines that can be used to prevent the spread of the disease. I call this armchair practice.
Suddenly a lot of names of drugs have surfaced- one of them being Influenzinum. And suddenly this medicine has had homeopathic doctors, pharmacies and cell phone companies rubbing their hands in glee and carrying sacks of loot to the bank! A homeopathic pharmacy made its employees work overtime and sold Rs. 20,000 worth of "Swine flu prophylactics". An allopathic pharmacy that also sells homeopathic medicines reportedly sold Influenzinum worth Rs. 50,000. All that money made in just one day! Some had huge banners put up outside their establishments to draw more customers.
A word of caution to all homeopathic doctors and their patients.
A medicine can become a preventive in homeopathic practice only if it the genus epidemicus- i.e. if after observing a number of cases of the disease in his locality a homeopath finds a common set of symptoms of this disease and works out the remedy for this group of symptoms, then he can rightly call it a prophylactic or the genus epidemicus for that disease.
Influenzinum is more often required for the after effects of influenza. Some homeopaths have found that when Influenzinum is given as a preventive, it sometimes causes the disease that has already invaded the body to come out in full force.
Thanks to the panic created by the media in India, people have been hoarding Influenzinum and masks-which is a pity because with 10 cases of Swine flu everyone wants to wear a mask but with 1 million cases of AIDS no one wants to wear a condom.

For homeopathic consultation for your symptoms you may visit Homeopathic Healing or send an e-mail to office@drvaishnav.com to meet the Homeopathic Specialists.

Disclaimer: A detailed history followed by constitutional treatment by good and qualified homeopathic specialists is necessary to treat the complaints that appear during any disease. It is not advisable to resort to self-medication for any disease. The above-mentioned drugs are just a few of the remedies and are mentioned solely to create awareness about the efficacy of homeopathic medicines.