Friday, November 25, 2011

Can you be Off-Medication when on Homeopathy?


This is perhaps one of the commonest questions people have in their mind, when they think opting for the homeopathic treatment. Many people come to homeopathy as a last resort, when nothing else seems to work for them. Have seen numerous people who do not feel all right despite long term medication, even when all the investigation reports are normal! This is when they feel homeopathic doctors promise to cure us; why not try it? Well, thankfully this trend is changing to some extent and homeopathic followers are increasing day by day. But still many people that come to homeopathy have some or the other treatment going on with modern medicine.

This is true especially in cases like arthritis, kidney disorders, hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, etc. And when they start homeopathic treatment, first thing they want is get rid of the high doses of medication they are on. But can they be off-medication immediately as they start with the homeopathic treatment? Let’s see-

  • Don’t hurry up-

Firstly you need to understand the difference between modern medicine principles and homeopathic principles. They are actually contrary. Homeopathy does not believe in material doses of medication, unless there is some gross pathological abnormality. But in modern medicine, all drugs are administered in material doses to visualize the effect in the patient’s blood stream almost immediately.

Therefore, for example, if you are taking beta-blockers (like Atenolol, etc) for hypertension; you are ingesting some potent medication that actually lowers your heart rate, cardiac output is reduced too, and it acts on the adrenergic receptors for controlling the hypertension. Within one hour of ingesting beta blocker, your body responds to it and blood pressure is lowered till the next dose of beta blocker yet again (which is usually repeated the following day)!

However, if you go for homeopathic treatment, along with considering your acute totality of symptoms, the physician considers your overall “Patient-Picture” to dig deep into your emotional and mental background. Thereafter he administers you the minutest dose of homeopathic medicine that he feels will stimulate your normal cardiac rhythm and output without creating undue stress on your cardiovascular system.

Therefore, it is mandatory to give time for the homeopathic medicine to act favorably. If we withdraw the physiological dose of beta blocker immediately upon starting the homeopathic regime, we often meet with failures and the patient may experience hot flushes or even chest pain due to sudden withdrawal of a material drug dose. Don’t let this happen to you.

Along with constitutional homeopathic medicine, homeopathic physician will also give you symptomatic acute therapy or even mother tinctures if necessary to relieve the acute symptoms. But it is just not possible to completely relieve you without the constitutional dose.

Once the doctor observes positive changes upon administering the homeopathic treatment in the form of relief from existing symptoms, he will slowly taper your dose of beta blockers and eventually stop it. Yes, it is possible to stop anti-hypertensive medication altogether unless there is serious cardiovascular complication in a person. But give him time! It’s in your favor!

  • End-stage Organ damage-

In cases of end stage organ damage where the gross pathological changes have already set in, homeopathy can work just as supplement, especially during emergency. But the homeopathic medicines work as powerful supplements without a doubt to help patient achieve the “feel-good” factor necessary to pull on with the harsh treatment.

For example- if a patient has chronic renal failure and his serum creatinine and urea levels are shooting up, he has to be given emergency treatment in the form of hemo-dialysis for the time being. Along with the dialysis, homeopathic medicines in low doses can be administered to help him taper his frequency of hemodialysis over the period of time. Numerous patients today are off the dialysis trouble with the help of appropriate homeopathic medication. But it takes time, as the pathological changes take time to respond positively. Thereafter the person’s overall
health is taken into consideration. But even in such pathological conditions, totality of the patients’ symptoms (physical, mental, and emotional) must be considered by the doctor, to enable speedy recovery!

Thus, remember that homeopathy can be administered not only in dormant chronic conditions but also in acute emergencies. However, in acute emergencies, we have to give homeopathic medicine along with the emergency physiological drug doses to avoid end organ damage.

But it is certainly true that homeopathic medicines are blessings for these patients too, as they can help them sustain the side effects of harsh medication with ease!

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