Monday, March 22, 2010

Why Skin Diseases Find Perfect Cure in Homeopathy?


Do you know that many people feel that homeopathy is the therapy module to be chosen basically or skin diseases? When it comes to nasty skin conditions, even eminent skin specialists refer their patients to homeopaths recognizing the ability of aptly chosen homeopathic remedies to cure the malady. Why is it so? Why homeopathy is considered as the best dermatologic treatment, whatever the disease may be? Let’s see.


Skin, the largest organ:

Skin is the outer covering of the body and constitutes the biggest organ. It is the organ that absorbs and emits maximally. All the internal vital organs are protected by this coating. And skin is the organ that reflects the health of internal organs. As is well said, skin is the reflection of mind. But frankly speaking, skin conveys the affections of all vital organs most clearly than any other organ; just it needs perfect perception on part of the examiner.


Psychosomatic illnesses show themselves on skin:

What are psychosomatic illnesses? These are the problems those crop up due to deranged mind, emotions, and their correlation with physiology of the functioning body. No wonder being the reflection of internal organs, skin is the first to notice imbalances on mental plane. That is the reason, most skin diseases (like psoriasis, acne, lichen planus, etc) get aggravated when one is emotionally disturbed. That is why homeopathy believes that unless the skin disease is treated internally, one cannot get lasting relief. The mental symptoms associated with skin ailments are therefore of utmost importance while treating any patient homeopathically.


Why external application is regarded harmful in homeopathy?

As we saw, any skin disease must be treated internally. If one applies steroid ointment externally on the lichen planus patches, the patient may be relieved temporarily. The itching will be lessened and the skin will be cleared. But the disease will remain in the body in dormant state to appear in fullest possible force in due course. Moreover, according to nature’s principles, when the skin eruptions or patches of any kind are merely suppressed, they will subside only to affect some other vital organ inside your body. Does that make any sense? Suppress your eczema and succumb to asthma! That will happen with any skin disease being treated merely with external application or stronger chemical medicines. So, homeopathy disregards external application in cases of skin maladies.


How the action of homeopathic medicines helps you get rid of skin problems?

The minutest possible doses of potentized homeopathic medicines eradicate the disease at its root cause. The deranged internal organs are put back in order only to find glowing skin devoid of any problems. The skin diseases like psoriasis, lichen planus, eczema, allergic rashes, urticarial rashes, varicose veins, ulcers, skin discolorations, itching, and several other skin diseases find a perfect cure in aptly selected homeopathic medicines.

Well, certainly it is a great idea to get rid of any disease from inside out than in reverse way!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Let's Talk About Homeopathy!


And Skepticism Surrounding The Great Science!

Hi friends! You must be wondering what I am up to today. You all know about homeopathy and/or are interested to know about this wonderful science and I am sure you are aware of the basic facts about this science of healing. Then why this “Let’s talk about Homeopathy” again?

Well, firstly my love for this science is not limited to earning livelihood and it is “larger than life” for me. Secondly, blogging is a kind of catharsis to me where I can share what I feel with the larger community outside and feel good about it. But this is not all. Many will agree with me that knowing and learning about new things, new sciences, and new ways of life is fascinating. Reading about them makes you aware about your own science in better way and also creates greater level of tolerance to other sciences. But when I keep reading some skeptic comments about my science, that is, Homeopathy, I feel good. Why?

In Marathi we have a saying that says, “Nindakache ghar asave shejari” (It means- critic’s or skeptic’s house should be besides your house). What does that mean? It means that when you have a critic or skeptic besides you talking negatively about you, you have all the reason to ignore him and do what pleases you. It also indicates that the reasons and goals that are close to your heart should be studied in greater depths to shut the mouths of skeptics. Anyway, we are benefited. After all, work speaks far louder than words!

I completely agree with Dana Ullman’s (a great proponent and instructor of homeopathy) views expressed in his blog. He says- “advocating for or using homeopathic medicines does not preclude appreciation for or use of selective conventional medical treatment. Advocates of homeopathy simply honor the Hippocratic tradition of "First, do no harm" and therefore seek to explore and utilize safer methods before resorting to more risky treatments. This perspective has historical and international roots, and it is thus no surprise that American health care which has been so resistant to homeopathic and natural therapies in its mainstream institutions is presently ranked 37th in the world in the performance of its health care system.(1) In comparison, the number one ranked country in the world is France, a country in which around 40 percent of the population uses homeopathic medicines and around 30 percent of its family physicians prescribe them (2)."

One simple fact is that unless homeopathic medicines worked, it would never have such a huge fan following. One thing here I want to ascertain that skeptics would help homeopathy grow. Rather, they are doing it by spreading the word about it. When people read about negativism, they are certainly not fools to agree to any and all comments that are passed about anything. Such derogatory comments make them think more and delve deep into the matter that is being talked about, and I must say that is the reason behind growth of homeopathy.

Any human being with the gift of “thinking capability” has conscience. This conscience is a great thing that can move mountains. It is defined as ability to differentiate between good and bad. Let’s hope that at least where it comes to “health” of the world as whole, skeptics will pay attention to what is right and what is wrong and seek shelter of wisdom, knowledge, and open mindedness. Skepticism is like stress. If it is taken in right perspective, it helps discover newer avenues to existing sciences. But if it exceeds its limit, it leads to closed minds that are not open to learning new things and imbibing right values.

“Health Industry” as a whole should work on the basis of selfless “give and take” relationship. It should harbor interests of people those are sick and want to fight back. Well, to some, this may seem pretty difficult in this world of materialism but everything has its time and I am very optimistic that one day, we all will walk hand-in-hand for the betterment of humanity! Amen!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

How yoga and homeopathy are two complementary sciences to relieve patients of their sufferings?


As I always say, the naturalism should be the way of life. Among various natural methods of living, yoga and homeopathy are the ways of living. As regular and nutritious eating is the way of life to remain healthy, yoga and homeopathy are the ways that need to be inculcated in everyday life to avoid harsh effects of unnatural things and maintain harmony.

It is a myth that yoga should be done only by people who have some or the other problems related to their spine. “Yogah Chittavrutti Nirodhah” (Yoga is the way to balance and control our mind and various tendencies). We all have some or the other fallacies. Yoga teaches us how to gain control over these fallacies and cultivate better things in order to lead a happy and healthy life. As I keep saying in my blogs, no one can be happy without perfect health. Then why strive for things those deteriorate our health? If even after attaining those things, we will not be happy due to ill-health, what the value such things have?

Yoga is not just postures and exercise. Definitely these postures and exercise are important but one should realize why Yogasanas like Shavasana and Yoga-Mudra are included in them. These are the postures that give us complete harmony with oneself and utter relaxation from our worries. To be frank, relief from stress is the true way to attain perfect health. You seek whatever treatment, whatever costly strategies to alternate your health-status; you will not be successful in your attempt unless you win over stress and/or use it positively to do better.

Similarly, homeopathy is the science that entails how every individual is different from the rest, how a single treatment or remedy may fail to elicit effective cure in day to day maladies because of differences in the symptoms and personalities of these patients. Homeopathy is no doubt a difficult science and one must master the art of comprehending the patient’s personality and treat individually. But certainly when this is aptly done, the patient is relieved of his suffering tenderly yet completely.

What happens when both these sciences are joined together?

Many of my patients ask me why you send us some of the Yoga postures or stress about Pranayama when you send us prescriptions. Many times when patients do not know about asanas, I send them the URLs and related things about the asanas which I believe will make their suffering nil along with homeopathic medicines. Some of the examples are here-

(1) In patients of lumbar spondylosis or cervical spondylosis, I have found that when the homeopathic remedies like Lachnanthes, Paris q, Hypericum, kali carb or Rhus tox ameliorate the pain and suffering, the asanas like Pavan-muktaasana, dhanuraasana, paschimottanasana, etc help in faster relief.

(2) In obesity patients, when I prescribe constitutional medicines to the patients, the asanas like Yoga-mudra, Vajra-asana, Uttanapaad-asana, Leg-cycling and rotation pose, etc help a great deal. Moreover I have observed that people who find it difficult to control hunger spells, Yoga help them find control over their binge eating, which obviously leads to weight loss.

(3) In patients with recurrent allergies, along with constitutional medicines and medicines like Lemna minor, Sabadilla, Pothos, Senega, Ipecac or Pulsatilla, different yoga postures offer lasting relief. Also Pranayama helps a great deal in preventing future attacks.

These are just very few of the examples that I daily encounter. Most importantly, when taken and done under expert supervision, both Yoga and homeopathy do not lead to side effects. Changing your lifestyle while inculcating such habits may not be easy but it is certainly not impossible. Rather, once you change yourself to this, you will never fall back in the trap of unnatural things those drain away your natural energy and immunity!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Why homeopaths ask so many questions?


The idea of today’s blog emerged from the mail of one of my new patients. As the routine procedure of online consultation, I had mailed Mr. XYZ the big questionnaire that I send to my patients for filling up in details. Weary about his trouble, Mr. XYZ mailed me the next day—“Dear Doctor, I am suffering from hemorrhoids chronically. I can understand if you ask me details about my bowel habit but felt little weird when you asked me about my emotional disposition. Do you think doctor that being a little reserved kind of person that I am, affects my bowels and that’s why I am suffering from hemorrhoids?”

Well, good question indeed! Actually his remedy lies in the question that he asked me here. Anyway, why really homeopaths ask so many questions? Are they really necessary? Many people however know that history taking is one of the most important steps to reach correct homeopathic remedy. But why is the question. So let’s see-

(1) History of physical, mental, and emotional health of the patient decides the patient’s constitution. The constitution of the patient is the sole way to reach to correct remedy in homeopathy. The reason is as below:

· Homeopathy is an individualistic science and it is this characteristic that gives upper edge to homeopathy. What is individualization? It is the method by which every person is segregated from the other as far as his constitution is concerned. It means that if two people are suffering from piles, the remedy for both may not be the same. It will be decided depending upon the symptoms of hemorrhoids of both patients and their mental and emotional quotients.

· However, in homeopathic philosophy, it has been stressed that direct questions pointing to the answers should be avoided while taking history of the patient. This may dilute the crux of the case. But in day to day practice, certain direct questions are asked by some homeopaths in an attempt to find exact simillimum. And unless this simillimum is found, it is impossible to impart perfect cure to the patient.

(2) Homeopathy is definitely not an easy science. The artistic expression of homeopathy is the most tedious job homeopathic physicians need to do. We all know that many diseases are psychosomatic. It means that they emerge due to psychological, mental and/or emotional disharmony. They are seen on physical plane but their cause lies solely on mental plane. This is the time when merely treating the physical expression of the disease will not suffice. One has to find the exact root cause and then treat it accordingly. And unless the patient describes his mental and/or emotional history, it is not possible to reach to correct remedy.

But if you think asking too many questions bores the patient, it is not true in almost all cases. It is always desire of a man or woman to speak about self. Everyone wants a good listening ear. And therefore a homeopath serves as the most needed listening ear to the patients. Also speaking out about self suffering, positivities and negativities of life is a great catharsis for most patients. There are patients of mine who while on treatment just come to meet me to tell something fascinating or saddening story that happened to them. Well, that is certainly not boring to me but I call it EEE (Extremely Educating Experience). In short, history taking is good for doctor as well as patient, as through this history, homeopath can perceive the essence of his patient and can give him perfect treatment that he deserves!