Homeopathy – Alyson Garvey

Homeopathy is a brilliant alternative and complimentary practice of healing and wellbeing. It is a huge topic, endlessly fascinating, and to understand even the simplest basics is to make available a priceless source of self support and sustenance.

As I said, it's a huge topic, so what I would like to do here is give you an overview of the underpinnings and theories behind this well established method. And then I've written up descriptions of a few remedies available in any health food store that are highly effective for two issues that affect just about everyone dealing with cancer: anxiety and nausea.

What is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is an effective and scientific system of healing which calls into play the natural tendency of your body to heal itself. Homeopathy and its application are not new: it has been widely respected and used in Europe for over 200 years to treat disease, chronic ailments, and even psychological problems. In America homeopathy was well established by 1860, being taught in 22 colleges throughout the country. Today, worldwide, homeopathy is the fastest growing alternative medicine.

There are two ways of treating ill health: the way of opposites and the way of similars. Homeopathy deals with similars, and delves into understanding your whole life to order to find the remedy that matches you in your deepest spirit. This is called the simillimum, or like treats like.

An example of this would be treating insomnia. The conventional treatment is a prescribed drug that induces an artificial sleep. Using similars to treating insomnia means that a minute dose of a substance that normally causes insomnia or wide awake-ness - like coffee - would be given. What in large doses causes sleeplessness in a healthy person, given in infinitesimally tiny doses, in this example a homeopathically prepared remedy called Coffea, would enable you to sleep naturally. Homeopathy meets you exactly where you are.

How does it work?
Homeopathy treats the whole body/mind by making a perceptive judgment of your entire constitution. Ultimately you are treated at core level, the level of your Vital Force. Chi, almost a household word by now, is the Chinese word describing the same concept of vital force.

Homeopaths believe that the Vital Force is an energy that animates all of your body's chemical processes. When your Vital Force is in balance, you feel healthy. On the other hand, when your Vital Force is disturbed, your chemistry becomes disordered and you feel the symptoms on the physical, emotional or mental level. Homeopathic remedies stimulate your body's Vital Force and thereby stimulate healing by clearing any imbalance.

What will a homeopath ask you?
Homeopaths ask you everything that has to do with who are: what you do, what you eat, how you feel, what you think—everything! Because, in order to treat you at the deepest level, we need to know your nature, the nature of your complaints and how you experience them. We need to know the sensations you feel with your body and mind and your personal and medical history. Homeopathy is not a replacement for your primary care physician, yet is ideal to use in conjunction with your treatments for support. Because homeopathic remedies are in such minute doses, they cannot cause side effects, nor will they interfere with your medical treatment.

Then what?
After a lengthy one-on-one intake session (usually two to three hours) and many pertinent questions later, your descriptions are distilled down to their essences of the most important patterns that present. When your homeopath understands what it is that makes you YOU, and not somebody else, then a homeopathic match is made in the form of pellets or prepared liquid remedies and you would be directed as to how, exactly, to take it. Many of these remedies are available in your local health food store.

Symptoms & Remedies

Anxiety
Anxiety is an organic response to extreme stress and, by any standards, living with cancer qualifies as just that and more. You could define anxiety as a feeling of apprehension, worry or dread that feels overpowering and can become chronic. It is a state of unrest within your Vital Force, and manifests in a variety of ways: as nagging anxiety that pulls you down, or a panic state that wakes you up in the night. Symptoms include disturbed sleep, increased heartbeat, muscle pain and tension, increased need to urinate, palpitations, cold chills or hot flushes, epigastric discomfort, nausea and dizziness.

Remedies for Anxiety
Before looking at the remedy list below, take a moment to think about your anxiety, and ask yourself these questions: When do you feel most anxious? Is there a certain time of day or a day of the week, or a circumstance when your anxiety peaks? Lots of people say their worst time is waiting for treatment; others say their anxious times seem random and come upon them unexpectedly.

To better understand your own anxiety, and what remedy would work best to alleviate it, ask yourself, Is what I feel absolute fear, or is it dread of treatment, or is it fatigue oriented? Ask yourself, How does it feel in my body? Search for an image to express the anxious feeling: e.g., it's like my mind is on fire, or it's a dull weight pulling down in my lower abdomen. Ask yourself, how intense is this feeling on a scale of 1 to 10? Ask yourself how your body responds: does anxiety make you irritable? Does it make you tired? Know your own symptoms.

Aconite: this remedy is for panic anxiety, when you feel overwhelmed to the point of being in shock.

Arsenicum: a remedy used for restless anxiety, the kind that wakes you at 2 or 3 a.m., and keeps you up worrying about everything.

Remedies for Nausea
As there are many ways to feel nauseous, read through the following list of remedies for one which best relates to your symptoms. There is nausea felt in the stomach, nausea with gagging, or persistent nausea that vomiting doesn't relieve. Nausea can register as a bad taste in your mouth, or clammy perspiration or dizziness. Or you may feel nausea with symptoms like headaches, perspiration, dizziness or burping. Go with the remedy which relates most to your symptoms.

Remedies
China: Helps you recover from vomiting and/or diarrhea by restoring fluid balance in your body.
Ipecac: Relieves violent and/or persistent nausea that vomiting doesn't relieve.
Nux Vomica: Relieves the irritability and headache that can accompany a congested digestive system, burping, constipation

Notes:
I would like to mention two remedies, one specific and one general, which are especially useful.

Arnica is a homeopathic spa treatment: It's a powerful restorative that hospitals are now using as an all-purpose post treatment (including dental work), when you feel sore and achy. The feeling is Don't touch me.

Staphisagria is a remedy especially for women who have had uterine, cervical or ovarian surgery, because it addresses the emotional responses to this very personally invasive surgery.

© 2006 Alyson Garvey. All rights reserved