TRY HOMEOPATHY

BACH FLOWER THERAPY FOR PARKINSON PATIENTS

2011-04-11T15:41:00.000+05:30

“ The symptoms that you are talking about are nothing but an indication that you are suffering with Parkinson’s disease”. Almost all patients suffering with Parkinson’s disease have heard this statement at least once from their physician, and have not been able to forget it.

Almost all patients suffer with a major setback when they try to adjust with the harsh reality of getting diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD). That is usually the beginning of a life-long fight with an irreversible ailment that makes one more and more dependent on the environment with every rising day. Each and every patient (and most of their care-takers) experience an episode of depression at least once in their life time, and at least 50% of them have to take a treatment for it.

The ever-increasing dependency, not being able to do small and easy day to day jobs, unaffordable cost of treatment, failure of the current medical world not only to cure but even to control the growth of the ailment,… everything leads to a state of anguish and vexation, which itself can hinder the efficacy of the medication given for the disease.

The most commonly occurring emotional changes are:

· Excessive worrying about the ailment

· Constant unwanted negative thoughts

· Feeling of dependency and being handicapped

· Asocial and aloof feeling

· Loneliness

· Indifference and ennui

· Fear of attaining a vegetative state

· Loss of memory

· Insomnia – loss of sleep

· Suicidal thoughts

· Irrational fear, anxiety and phobias

Medically it has been proved that the ‘orbito-frontal’ region of the brain does not work optimally in these patients. This is the region that deals with generating the positive and healthy feeling states, and is directly under the influence of the dopamine secretion.

Bach Flower Therapy: a simple yet effective therapy for emotional ailments

Bach flower therapy comprise a therapeutic system that uses dilutions of flower essences developed from 38 naturally occurring flowers, to balance physical and emotional disturbances. This therapy was developed and introduced by Dr Edward Bach, a Harley street physician, in 1936, who believed that the right essence can nullify the ‘predominant, persistent negative mental states’ to bring back the patient to a positive mental state. These essences interact with the subtle bodies and so can help people by addressing the emotional responses of patients towards oneself and the disease.

There are 38 original Bach flower remedies, each prescribed for certain mental and emotional problem, together forming a complete therapeutic system of healing. The remedies are prepared by picking fresh flowers, still wet with dew, placing them in a clear glass bowl of spring water and leaving them in sunlight for several hours during the early–morning.

Dr Bach believed that the remedies contained small amounts of the plant’s life-force energy which enabled them to provide vibration patterns needed to either neutralize or serve as an antidote to negative emotional, behavioral, or cognitive states. Each one of the 38 remedies corresponds to a precise psychological imbalance and is suitable for treating an extensive series of symptoms. There is no standard remedy for any one disorder as the same problem experienced by different individuals can produce quite varied psychological reactions. Each individual requires a unique treatment. Depending on the symptoms, the remedies can be used singly or in combinations to a maximum of 7. The remedies are taken on the tongue, under the tongue, or at the pulse point of the wrist a minimum of 4 times per day.

Commonly prescribed Bach flower remedies for PD patients:

1. Gorse:

Very useful to treat the hopeless and depressed state where the patient has lost hope and denies any kind of treatment. These patients literally need to be carried to the doctor. These patients will concentrate more on the intractable nature of the ailment, to feel utterly low.

2. Mimulus & Larch:

These remedies can be prescribed for specific fears and the lack of confidence, respectively. Patient always has got a fear of falling while walking, which can be relieved with Mimulus. The addition of Larch to it will boost the self-confidence.

3. Olive:

This remedy is useful treating the state of marked prostration resulting due to the unfailing tremor, loss of appetite, digestive complaints and recurrent negative thoughts. The patient feels completely drained and exhausted. There is a significant lack of vitality. The remedy Olive can help these patients to regain their strength. Also is useful for the care-taker.

4. White chestnut:

A good remedy for loss of sleep due to recurrent negative thoughts, leading to a state of irritation or agitation.

Advantages of Bach flower therapy:

The flower remedies appear to have no side effects and do not seem to interfere with any form of treatment including homeopathic, herbal or allopathic medication. In fact, due to their ability to improve the receptivity and reaction-pattern of an individual, these remedies can in fact improve the efficacy of the concomitant medication. Many psychotherapists take help of these remedies as an adjunct healing force, along with their counseling. It is important to know that the remedies seem to act as catalysts in releasing unwanted negative psychological states.

In case of patients suffering with Parkinson’s disease, these remedies can help the patient (and the care-taker) to get relief from the negative emotions like fear, anxiety, depression and hopelessness. Once the emotional balance is achieved, one can deal with the physical ailment in a better shape and can face life more positively.

Love, Affection, Sympathy, Care and Homage, we use flowers in all situations of life. Bach flower therapy has proved that, flowers not only represent our emotions, but can also help to heal them, naturally !

For more details contact:

Dr Amit Karkare

Homeopath and certified Bach Flower Practitioner

amitkarkare@gmail.com || Mobile: +91 98222 52533 || www.dramitkarkare.com

Homeopathic Remedies For Apoplexy Or Paralysis

2011-03-24T06:45:00.002+05:30

The incidence of apoplexy or paralysis of nervous origin leading to unconsciousness has drastically increased with increasing number of patients suffering the medical conditions like hypertension or atherosclerosis. It can also be seen in conditions like meningitis or some other cerebro-spinal diseases.

Here, we will discuss few homeopathic remedies indicated for such cases.

Arnica:

Apoplexy due to the sudden rupture of cerebral blood vessels. The resultant is paralysis and loss of consciousness. There is involuntary evacuation of bladder and bowels on the onset of apoplectic attack. Arnica is a known remedy to control hemorrhage and aiding the absorption of accumulated blood within the cranium. I have used this remedy with wonderful results in cases of head trauma, showing concessional injury to the brain tissue. It has also been effective in relieving the chronic headaches in cases of sub-dural hematomas of long standing origin. Thus it is a powerful drug with hemostatic as well as hemo-absorbant properties. Arnica is also useful in cases of meningitis after mechanical or traumatic injuries - such as from falls or brain concussions, etc.

Causticum:

Disturbed functional activity of the brain and spinal cord calls for this remedy. The causative factors are exhaustive diseases or severe mental shock, that result in paralysis.

Cicuta virosa:

Effective in cases with injurious chronic effects from brain and spinal cord injuries of concessional nature. Spasms and trismus. Tetanus from getting splinters into flesh [also seen in hypericum cases]. Masters have given its indication in the brain diseases due to suppressed eruptions.

Natrum sulf:

Indicated in cases of spinal meningitis with violent and crushing pains at the base of the brain. Gnawing pains in the cranium with head drawn back. Spasms with mental irritability and delirium. There is a violent congestion of blood to head along with the pain. Delirium and opisthotonus. One of the best known remedies for the ailments from or after the head injury. Ailments coming after head injury of remote origin. I have seen a case of chronic headache getting cured with few doses of natrum sulf, where the origin of the headache was traced back to the trauma received to the brain almost ten years back.

Picric acid:

Remedy for the brain fag or literary or corporate community. Headache brought about by the slightest of excitement, mental exertion or overwork, causing burning along the spine.

Tuberculinum:

Acute cerebral or basilar meningitis with threatened effusion. Hallucinations of all kinds. Wakes from sleep in a frightened state. Screams with fright.

Zincum met:

Defective vitality calls for this remedy. Wanting of brain or nerve power. Patient is too weak to develop exanthemata or menstrual functions.

Sir, Do You Prescribe Rare Remedies?

2010-11-16T15:51:00.002+05:30

An inquisitive student was asking me this question, as a part of an interview she was conducting before joining my clinic as a learner. That’s a very common experience now days. I remember, not more than 10 years back when I had just passed out, me and my colleagues were interested in learning whatever the physician could teach us from his busy clinic hours, but today’s learners are quite selective, and they have to be! They are much more oriented and aware about homeopathic schools, methods and techniques than what we were even after couple of years of practice.

But what exactly are RARE remedies?

Dictionary gives the meaning of the word ‘Rare’ as – ‘Not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness’ or ‘recurring only at long intervals’. If I try to apply these definitions to homeopathic practice, I find each and every homeopath has got his own repertoire of medicines that he plays with. To give an example, it might be surprising for most of you but, I have yet not prescribed Thuja, Ambra Grisea, Palladium or Medorrhinum in last 10 years of practice as a constitutional remedy. For me these are rare remedies.

The point I want to put forth here is – do we talk about rare remedies for the faculty of homeopaths or for the individual ? I think what counts the most is the later. And I thoroughly would like to prescribe rare remedies, the remedies that have been prescribed rarely by me till now, due to my ignorance and lack of knowledge about them. It takes some hard case that makes me to solve it in the learnt protocols, to find some odd remedy emerging from the process, leading to a rare remedy prescription.

I have met my colleagues who have prescribed more ‘calcarea silcatas’ than ‘pulsatillas’. I have yet to unfold the mystery behind numerous remedial forces, by rising against my blocks. Yet to discover the scope of known remedies in its true sense.

Thus, my dear student (?), YES, I would like to prescribe rare remedies. Will you help me to reach them by questioning my prescriptions ? Would you like to be my teacher ?

Dealing With Cancer Through Homeopathy

2010-11-05T15:19:00.003+05:30

INTRODUCTION:

Cancer has reached almost every household in today’s era of lack of exercise, healthy food habits, addictions, stress and moral famine. The overall treatment options available in the medical ‘market’ outside provide pain more than the relief. Various kinds of surgeries, radiations and newer chemotherapy drugs are posing threat to the ‘quality of life’ of an individual, in their own ways and methods. Apart from the treatment options, the patient is getting bogged down by the battery of investigations and imaging requisitions, often without assessing the case clinically. The pain of cancer has thus extended, from mere physical or emotional sphere, to moral and financial downfall. The patient is getting exhausted and emptied in all sense, and what s/he gets in return? Nothing but a different form of suffering. Is there anything that we as homeopaths can offer?

Most of the patients we meet at our clinics are already in an advanced stage of cancer, or have already undergone a couple of cycles of chemotherapy for the respective malignancy. They pose three significant questions to a homeopath:

1. Do you offer anything for cancer, and if yes, what is its scope?

2. Is it safe to take homeopathy simultaneously with chemotherapy? Won’t that affect the efficacy of either of them?

3. Can you prescribe anything on the preventive basis for the patient to avoid the recurrence or to the rest of the family?

We will try to discuss all such issues…

I have heard a lot of claims by the eminent homeopaths of my city to CURE the cancer, but I think let’s not cheat patients and homeopathy. I do not doubt the efficacy of homeopathy, but if we make such claims without statistically and objectively proving it, the medical faculty will obviously accuse us for mis-guiding the patients, in turn diluting the faith of the public towards our system.

Apart from its effect against the malignant growth, I have seen homeopathy doing wonders by -

1. Dealing with the mental trauma that the cancer diagnosis causes, with further depression and hopeless mental state.

2. Reducing the side-effects of chemotherapy, especially in cases of CINV (chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting).

3. Relieving the pains in the terminal cancer cases.

The shock and the aftermath:

It is very common to have a patient in a mental state of shock and its aftereffects after being diagnosed of a cancer. There is a strong sense of approaching death leading to a mixed feeling state of fear, despair, hopelessness and sadness. Within no time, you suddenly shift to a permanently unhealthy state never to return back to your original health. The strong feeling of ‘why me?’ haunts the patient day and night, leading to a sense of guilt within.

ARNICA is the best remedy for such a mental shock, and I have used it often to relieve the state of sudden blow, when the patient least expected the diagnosis. There is a strong sense of being good for nothing in such patient, with a morose and hopeless feeling along with great apathy.

An ARSENIC ALB patient will be in a state of anguish with marked restlessness with fear of approaching death. The restlessness gets aggravated at night keeping the patient awake. Oversensitive mind with great melancholy and despair of recovery. Gets irritated at trifles, especially over untidiness around.

A patient needing ACID PHOS would be sitting quiet, with unwillingness to talk or discuss his health status. There is a strong apathy and indifference with strong reluctance to answer the questions. Hopeless state with a dread of anticipated crisis or death. There is a weeping mood at least stimuli.

ACONITE will be called in if the patient is in agonizing frightful anxious state with strong sense of death. He screams with fear and is afraid to get out of the house. It is a situation of emergency due to the state of panic and terror. There is a strong nervous state with typical prediction of death.

I have also seen remedies like SEPIA and AURUM MET working excellent to lift the mood of the patient from the sad and indifferent state. I also use certain Bach flower remedies like Aspen, Rock Rose, Wild Rose, Gorse, White Chestnut, or Rescue Remedy to relieve the acute panic and hopelessness.

CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED NAUSEA AND VOMITING:

Chemotherapy-induced nausea vomiting can negatively affect the quality of life, making it hard for the patient to function in a normal manner on daily chores, often making him to consider stopping the chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment cycles. Almost 50-60% of the patient experience severe nausea and vomiting and rank it as the most disturbing side effect of the cancer therapy.

Along with remedial measures, the patient should follow a pattern of small and frequent meals. A dry toast or crackers can relieve the nausea. One should drink plenty of fluids throughout the day and avoid eating spicy and oily stuff.

Among the top-rated remedies for CINV, I have used – IPECAC, ARSENIC ALB, VERATRUM ALBUM, RADIUM BROM and COLCHICUM.

In case of colchicum, I have often found patient craving for aerated drinks [pepsi or coke] and alcohol [which obviously should not be provided]. There is a strong nauseating feeling on slightest smell of food. Patient craves a specific food but when offered, the smell gives rise to nausea, preventing him to enjoy or relish that.

The RADIUM BROM patient shows a strong feeling of nausea that is better by eating, just like in case of SEPIA; while the patient who needs VERAT ALB would complain of a strong nauseating feeling that is triggered by starting to eat, along with marked prostration.

THE PAIN RELIEF:

I often get patients that are in advanced or terminal stages, referred for the pain relief, especially due to the bone metastases. There is a severe bone pain that is relieved by nothing in particular. No specific position can relieve the pain and it gives rise to intense physical restlessness.

I had used various remedies for this bone pain – including ARNICA, RUTA, EUPATORIUM and RHUS TOX; but the most significant relief has been achieved with the administration of SYMPHYTUM in a mother tincture form.

Conclusion:

Homeopathy has much to offer in cases of cancer, apart from treating the malignant growth. A patient or his family would often enquire about the role we as homeopaths can play in the overall treatment process; and we need to be clear within ourselves about our scope.

Utility of Phatak's Repertory in Acute Prescribing

2010-10-02T15:01:00.001+05:30

INTRODUCTION:

Acute prescribing as always posed hurdles for a neo-homeopath, who is trying his luck (!) in this wonderful healing system. Such difficult situations often present to you right since you take admission in a medical school. Relatives, neighbors, friends and foes meet you to seek relief from their cough, cold, diarrhea or headaches. Not knowing the process, one can find lost in the jumble of remedies, and can lose the confidence in oneself, unreasonably.

Fortunately, books and repertories do come to our rescue. Yet the representation, the volumes and the philosophy can make someone sick. To help us from such drastic situations, PHATAK’S REPERTORY can present to us as a helping hand, a true friend in need and a valuable guide during acute prescription.

REPERTORY CONSTRUCTION:

The repertory is primarily based on the BOGER’S SYNOPTIC KEY, and functions on the same philosophy. The most important feature of the repertory is its alphabetical arrangement of the rubrics, thus making it the easiest way to find our desired destination. Another unique feature is the inclusion of Indian food items, thus one can identify with the picture presented by the patient in a more refined manner.

There is a mythological tale from ‘Ramayana’ about lady Shabari. She tasted each and every berry, to be sure that it is sweet in taste, before presenting it to Lord Ram. Dr Phatak has done the same thing for us. He has confirmed, tested and clinically proven each and every rubric and remedy before including it to his repertory. Thus the inclusion has either come from his own case experiences and clinical observation or if it has been strongly justified by masters like Kent, Boger or Clark. Thus it is a time-tested repertory.

PRESCRIBING PHILOSOPHY:

Dr Phatak stressed on giving importance first to the modalities – in that too the causative modalities, followed by the time modalities and later the postural ones. It is often shared by his students that he used to make his patients try various postures to check the postural modification to the symptoms. Further, his repertory has followed the concept of ‘generalization’ and thus if you can’t find a symptom at the ‘particular’ level, you can generalize it to find a suitable remedy.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES:

1. A case of an IT professional focusing on time modality

An IT professional, working in a reputed software company, consulted for the complaint of severe headache which was a part of an acute exacerbation of chronic sinusitis. His eyes were red, nose was congested and he complained of severe throbbing headache in frontal region.

Obviously I prescribed BELLADONNA, which did not relieve him at all in 24 hours. He came the next day with same symptoms, but this time the anxiety had increased. Actually he had to appear for the interview for US VISA a couple of days later and was worried about his sick appearance. Those were the days when ‘swine flu’ cases were at their peak, and he felt the red eyes and the nose will make the embassy officials worried about his health status, and it would affect his visa probability.

On further questioning about any specific time modality, he added that the headache peculiarly starts at around 10:00 am and lasts till 4:00 pm. It was a characteristic time modality.

I referred Phatak’s repertory:

Time, agg and amel - forenoon - 10 am agg - to 3 pm agg

Head - Pain - Throbbing or pulsating

Just two doses of NATRUM MUR 200 at 12 hrs interval were enough to relieve him off his entire symptomatology. He was quite healthy and fresh for his interview and is currently in the US.

2. A case of pulmonary hypertension

Mr DVK, a 66 yrs old man, was an old associate of mine. He was working as a public relation officer of the same hospital where I had done my internship. We knew each other since long time. He had seen my practice since its beginning and used to consult me for seasonal coughs and colds, whenever required.

It was last year’s august, when his wife called me for consultation. DVK had been admitted in ICU of our hospital with an acute exacerbation of pulmonary hypertension. His condition was quite critical since it was difficult to stabilize his oxygen saturation without external life supports. His treating physician did not believe in homeopathy and was thus not allowing adjunct medication. Finally DVK’s wife asked me to prescribe on the picture given by her.

DVK had become quite restless since the attack. He was constantly restless and had not slept calmly since was in ICU. It was difficult for him to lie down and the only position that was comfortable for him was a propped-up posture, keeping three-four pillows below his head. There was a marked loss of thirst since the attack.

I used the facility of diagnostic / clinical rubrics in the Phatak’s repertory:

Chest and lungs - edema pulmonary

Thirstless, aversion to water

Lying, head high, with amel

Restlessness anxious

Both ARS and ANTIM TART came strongly as the remedies covering the totality. A synthetic prescription was done with - ANTIM ARS 200 [since had a characteristic symptom totality with mental concomitant] to be given four times a day.

Within two days of starting homeopathic medication, his oxygen saturation started stabilizing like never before, his restlessness subsided and he was taken off ICU within the same week.

3. A baby with constipation

A three month old baby was brought with complaints of severe difficulty in passing the stools, although soft in nature. The complaint had started since the child was shifted to ‘Lactogen’ an artificially formulated milk, since the mother was unable to feed the child due to her long working hours. The child used to cry a lot while passing motions, which were surprisingly never hard in nature.

Along with the gastric complaints, the child was seen moaning constantly even while playing with the dolls in my consulting room. When asked about it, mother said , “he moans constantly even during sleep or while playing. There is no fixed reason behind the moaning, it just goes on almost as a background music. We have got used to it now!”

I searched Phatak’s repertory:

Constipation - infants of - bottle-fed, artificial food

Constipation - stool difficult from - though soft

Moaning, groaning - involuntary

Moaning, groaning - continuous

As indicated by the reportorial result, ALUMINA was prescribed in 200 potency to be given once a week. Within the first dose the moaning stopped and the child started passing stools comfortably. The dose was repeated in the next week, as well to complete the curative action.

The availability of a particular rubric “Constipation in bottle-fed, artificial food-fed children” was the key to the case solution, which was the highlight of the repertory. Most of the times, it is said that Phatak’s repertory does not represent particular symptoms well, but this case was an eye-opener. One must know where to find!

CONCLUSION:

If any one asks me to pick one repertory for the entire life left for me, I would certainly pick Phatak’s repertory. I have found it as the best guide while I was a beginner. Even today, after completing a decade of homeopathic practice, I find it as helpful as it was on the first day in resolving acute as well as chronic prescriptions, especially at the bedside.

It is easy to carry, easy to find rubrics due to the alphabetical representation and once you get accustomed with its language, it becomes your key-tool in resolving any kind of case that presents to you.

Dr Phatak has included each and every rubric and the representing remedies after confirming from the results in clinical practice. The use of this repertory has given me wonderful results, which have confirmed his observations and inclusions. Thus the circle is complete!!

Diagnosing Autism – Tests and Challenges

2010-07-10T02:35:00.002+05:30

The earlier you diagnose, the faster you can start the specific line of treatment – is a universal thought process adhered to by the medical faculty around the globe. For an ailment like autism spectrum disorders [ASD], coming to a confirmatory diagnosis poses lot many problems and challenges that it at times becomes too difficult to diagnose it in time. Here, we will discuss the various aspects of diagnosing an autism spectrum disorders.

The first challenge that we face in doing so is the lack of any kind of medical test to confirm the autistic disorder. You just can’t pull blood from all children at birth and test them genetically. The diagnosis is predominantly based on the observations about the development and behavioral traits of a child, thus it becomes impossible to detect such ailment before the child attains a specific age that is more than 18 years. The reason being there has been a lot of physiological variation that one can expect in the usual or normal development of a child. Developmental delay has been a common occurrence, and is not known to cause any major obstacle in the overall growth of the child – mentally, physically or otherwise. Thus, just because a child does not start communicating till 1 year of age, may not be autism in making.

Yet another problem faced by the pediatricians is the lack of awareness in the parental community about autistic disorders – especially regarding the various forms of it. Autism is still considered an equivalent or just another form of mental retardation by most of the people. Thus if a child fails to communicate, or keep an eye contact, it will not be reported to the pediatrician immediately, thinking it just a part of slow speech development. When the child does not take interest in social interactions, it can be mis-understood as a moodiness or shyness, instead of looking at it as a possible autistic trait. Denial also plays a significant role, thus rejecting the possibility, even if the awareness about autistic traits is made.

To avoid this, every child should be screened for developmental delays and disabilities at regular intervals of 9 months, 18 months and 24-30 months of their age. Additional visits can be arranged if the child shows some traits other than the normal ones. The children who give a history of preterm birth, or low birth weight, or having a sibling with an ASD should be screened more thoroughly and frequently, including an educational session with the parents or guardians or care-takers to understand what to expect, and what not.

The child can be further directed to comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, if shows positive signs of any traits characterizing ASDs. It can be done by developmental pediatricians, child neurologists and finally child psychologists, for refined problem definition and management planning.

To conclude, I would repeat the motto – earlier we define the problem, healthier we can resolve it.

Homeopathic Cure for Canine Epilepsy

2010-07-06T11:59:00.003+05:30

Pets are among the most favorite subjects for any pet owner, and if your pet suffers with convulsions or epilepsy, it is a quite distressing experience. There can be increased salivation, tonic clonic spasms, involuntary howling and in few cases listless state remaining for long time, with a strange look in the eyes. Being sensitive souls, dogs can anticipate the attack much earlier and get restless. Those who have witnessed these attacks would only know how scary the situation can be.

A seizure is nothing but an uncontrollable muscle activity caused by an abnormal upswing in the nervous activities from the brain. A seizure can be an individual incidence, while epilepsy is a term to indicate the recurring pattern of getting seizures, a habitual or chronic state. Seizures themselves are never life-threatening, except if the dog hurts himself badly during the fit of convulsion, by hitting to some object. The sustained seizure activity, often called as status epilepticus, can prove fatal at times, since it hampers the brain function for the significant time.

The causes for getting seizures in dogs are numerous. The potential factors include various kinds of infections – like distemper, toxoplasmosis, cryptococcosis; hydrocephalus; various kinds of tumors or growths within or around the brain; hypoglycemia; low levels of calcium; insecticide ingestion or idiopathic, where there is no firm cause identifiable for the seizure occurrence.

As regards the management of the seizures in dogs by homeopathic treatment, one needs to take a comprehensive history and base the prescription on the available totality. The pattern can be treated with a well-selected deep acting remedy, while the acute attacks can be prevented or curbed with a acute presentation remedy, selected as per the symptomatology. Let us see some cases to explain this in detail:

Dinky, a female Labrador, used to get tonic clonic seizures especially around the new moon. The attack used to start with the lower limbs, ascending to the abdomen and followed by loss of consciousness with foaming at the mouth. Left sided predominance was noted by her owner. The frequency was almost once in 10 days. Few doses of Cuprum met 200 given on weekly basis stopped the activity within a couple of months. The treatment commenced with a dose of Tuberculinum 1M [as a miasmatic remedy].

Browney, another Labrador female, used to get seizures just with foaming at mouth and a loss of consciousness. The presentation had a slow insidious pace with most of the episodes starting towards the evening. The frequency of attacks was irregular, from an attack within a week to an attack in 4 months. The dog used to stop drinking water almost since morning, whenever she got an attack. She also showed strong fear of other dogs, especially the male ones. Pulsatilla 1M prescribed after every attack cured the dog from the epileptic ailment within a year’s time.

Advantages of homeopathy:

The biggest advantage is the curative action – and not just controlling the attacks as done by the usual anti-epileptic drugs [AEDs] prescribed by the vet. It also keeps the dog in an active state, unlike those treated with AEDs, who show a dampened activity due to the effect of the drug. Homeopathic treatment, since based on the constitutional features, also helps the dog to get relieved of the concomitant ailments or behavioural problems.

After experiencing the wonderful effects of homeopathic remedies, I would certainly recommend it in the treatment of epilepsy in dogs.

Autism cure with homeopathy

2010-07-02T12:43:00.004+05:30

Introduced by Dr Leo Kanner of the John Hopkins, in 1943, autistic spectrum disorders include a group of disorders including autistic disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder. These disorders are characterized by varying degree of impairment in communication skills, social interactions, and restricted, repetitive or stereo-typed patterns of behavior. A lot of research is ongoing to find any kind of therapeutic measure for autism, but there has not been any significant option available. On the contrary, homeopathy does play effective therapeutic role in its treatment. Let me demonstrate this with a case example.

Nimish [name changed], a 8 yrs old boy diagnosed with mild autism with Asperger’s syndrome, presented with complaints of spells of hyperactivity and excitement, where he used to cry or laugh aloud on trivial stimulations. He had a habit of rocking himself constantly and aimlessly playing with his fingers [a common autistic feature]. He could follow complex commands easily and could convey his needs in short sentences; but he could not reproduce or rehearse a small story told just a few minutes back. His attention span was noted to be very less – except for the film songs. The psychometric assessment had also mentioned about a global developmental delay [by six months] with slow writing and ill-defined handwriting. His IQ was 60+. He could not button his shirt properly but could put on the socks easily. He was toilet-trained – but in spite of that used to get nocturnal enuresis once or twice a week.

On emotional plane, he showed a severe violent behavior when contradicted or teased by anybody. He used to throw whatever he could hold on to, and had even bitten one of his friends in such fit of anger. He showed strong fear of heights, and he liked rhythm a lot. He could dance all day on the film songs [as mentioned earlier, the attention span too was significantly better with respect to the songs].

Physically – nimish is ambithermal to hot, has aversion to sweets and sweats a bit more on scalp.

The case was referred to homeopathy by the treating pediatrician, with a doubt about the exact outcome especially with the pathology in mind. The prescribing totality was:

· Anger – violent

· Anger – contradiction intolerant of

· Anger – rage

· Music – sensitive to, rhythmic

· Music - ameliorates

· Fear of heights

· Concentration – difficult

· Involuntary movements

First prescription: [27 October 2009]:

Tarentula hisp 200 twice daily x 1 month

Follow ups:

Nimish visited his grandmother in Bangalore after the first visit, and due to some unavoidable circumstances had to stay there for next four months. His grandmother called in between reporting “slight improvement” and since no details were available from her, same medication regiment was continued for couple of months [Jan & Feb 2010].

19 March 2010:

Hyperactivity and violence has reduced a lot; Understanding has improved – could grasp the normal school he attended while at Bangalore; Now can button his shirt perfectly; Recollection of story and telling it later has improved – though makes some mistakes; Enuresis has stopped completely since Feb.

Rx: Tarentula H 200 BD x 1 month

08 June 2010: reported on phone from bangalore

Could not continue the medication for a couple of months. overall he has improved a lot. Even the neighbors can feel the difference. Recent psychometry showed his IQ in the range of 75-80.

Discussion:

There has been a lot of emphasis to understand various treatment options available in the complementary medicinal system, especially homeopathy for the autistic cases. This case clearly indicates how effectively homeopathy can deliver results in autism. I have also seen improvement in the eye-to-eye contact and social interaction in other cases, where it was the presenting complaint.

For the parents of autistic children, who are reading this article, please note that Tarentula was selected for Nimish as per the symptom similarity and thus may not help all autistic children. An individual assessment is necessary from a trained homeopath for a effective treatment.

Mental wellness of your pet

2010-07-01T16:39:00.005+05:30

Though we may not see any of our pets smoking a cigar or sitting in a pub to relieve their mental stress, they do experience mental stress just like us. It can have some serious impacts on their lives, and eventually on ours as well. Here we will discuss the things that you can do to harbor a positive emotional stimulation in your pet on a daily basis, to promote mental wellness within your pet.

When you bring a puppy home in his first few days on earth, do make sure that you desensitize him properly, to encourage social awareness in him. Most of the emotional traumas originate from the fear and anxiety experienced by the puppy in these tender days, due to unsocial treatments received.
Just as exercise is must for us, it is for our pets as well. But don’t just restrict yourself with taking your dog for a morning walks; make some interesting changes in it – change the road, do jogging, play fetch-a-ball, at times make him run behind your pace-changing car… your dog should look ahead for what’s stored for him today. It will make you both happy by losing the monotony out of the daily walks.
Your pet needs room to roam freely. A most of the times tied dog will always find it boring to spend his life within a tied-space.
Though variety adds spice, the dogs love habits and pattern. Thus sticking to some pattern or routine will always keep their stress level to minimum. The exercise or the eating menu might change every day, but the timing should not.
Maintain the instincts of your pet alive by designing some games like ‘hide and seek’.
Let your pet know that you are the boss. Not maintaining the dominance hierarchy will only make the things worse.
Have your pet neutered, since this will keep them less aggressive and frustrated, if not allowed to satisfy their sexual urges.
If you are throwing a party at home, where you expect a lot of people visiting, keep your dog away from the crowd to avoid the stress of getting exposed to a lot many strangers at once.
If you are planning to get a new pet, do take care of the stress-levels of the adult. A suitable Bach flower remedy combination [consisting of chicory, holly or vine] can help your pet to take the situation in much positive way.
Give them fresh food and water.
Last but not the least, spend enough time with them. Observe their skin, their legs for injury. Make a good touch with them, this will improve the bond between you and your pet, which will improve their health to a great level.

In spite of all this, if you find your pet having any emotional disturbance, take help of suitable Bach flower remedies.

Bach Flower Therapy in Obesity

2010-06-25T12:09:00.003+05:30

Ishita worked for a software company and weighed 102 kg when she first reported to my clinic in 2008. Apart from the complaint of obesity, she also suffered with polycystic ovarian syndrome and hypothyroidism, both accentuating the weight-gain. She has had an excellent work record and was getting promoted on a regular basis. But due to the ever increasing weight, she could not sustain her physical stamina much and would fall into the pits of fatigue and depression quite often. The ovarian disharmony also posed a risk of infertility. She had tried all sorts of treatment options, including the liposuction, for getting rid of the extra weight. Finally somebody suggested her to try Bach flower therapy.

Bach flower therapy is a natural and thus holistic healing system that deals with regulating our emotional pattern by using flower essences. The modus operandi is to resolve the negative states prevailing in the mind by the administration of suitable remedies that can counteract those negative emotions. In other words, to provide a necessary positive quality, that can extinguish the negative mental state. For example, if a person lacks confidence in talking to a large group of people, and thus in spite of having necessary skills is not able to perform and grow professionally, a Bach flower remedy called Larch and Mimulus will help him to overcome those fears. Larch primarily provides self-confidence, while Mimulus deals with specific fears, in this case the fear of public appearance.

Thus you may have guessed it, there is no specific remedy for a particular disease, but one has to select the remedies as per the emotional state of the person regarding that ailment. If we are observant enough, the reactions of each and every person is unique and individualistic, let the stimulus be the same. For example, if a teacher scolds three students at the same time, not all will receive it the same. One may find it insulting to get reprimanded in front of all his peers, while the other might get frightened, or the third one will just ignore the scolding and will behave as if nothing went wrong. As per their individual sensitivity, they will receive the stimulus and naturally react to it accordingly. While selecting the medicine, one has to see the characteristic ‘receive-react pattern’ for that individual.

Coming to the case of Ishita, she had a very strong feeling of guilt added with inability to control when faced with sweets. She was prescribed Pine for the guilt and Cherry plum to gain the self-control. She was also treated with a suitable homeopathic constitutional remedy [calcarea carb]. Working together, it not only brought her thyroid levels to normal, but also made the ovarian cysts to regress. Her weight dropped to 88 kgs within a year, making her to find herself a new.

I can see a world-map on my tongue

2010-06-24T05:17:00.003+05:30

Rohini, a television anchor and a news reader by profession, visited my clinic with a very strange complaint, she had never even heard about before. For the last few months, she was observing patchy white areas of yellowish white coat on her tongue. She first ignored it thinking it just due to the disturbed gastric schedule, but within a couple of months, she started getting burning or soreness in the tongue area on eating any citrus fruits like oranges or lemon. These areas were getting resolved spontaneously, but a new patch used to appear on the other region of the tongue, thus not letting the lesions resolve completely.

She had been to her local physician for the same, who first prescribed her local mouth wash, but instead of relieving the complaints, it aggravated the irritation further. She was then treated with antihistamines and topical steroids, without any significant improvement in the lesions. She was thus asked to continue a dose of multi-vitamin tablet, especially of b-complex vitamins.

Apart from the soreness, the major concern for Rohini was the dirty appearance of the tongue, which was prominently hampering her screen-image. She was once asked by the cameraman not to laugh with mouth wide open, since it made the appearance of the tongue much obvious. One of her friends then suggested her to take a homeopathic treatment and thus she came to me. Rohini suffered with what is called ‘Benign migratory glossitis’ or ‘Geographic tongue’.

Clinical features:

As the name suggests, the condition is benign [possessing very less morbidity and no mortality] affecting almost 4% of the human population across the world. It is mostly asymptomatic but patients can experience burning, irritation or soreness that gets aggravated by certain food items and astringent flavored items. Many patients also get swelling of the tongue along with the appearance of deep fissures on the tongue surface.

It is believed that it is more common in patients suffering with psoriasis, but it is insignificant to link the two ailments, since geographic tongue is seen commonly in non-psoriatic patients as well. It is also linked with hormonal changes withing the body, diabetes, smoking and spicy diet. It can be seen running in the family, but it is attributed more to the diet pattern than the genetic predominance. Females are seen getting affected more than males.

Treatment:

Ideally there is no particular treatment for this ailment. Mostly the lesions can resolve without any treatment, giving undue credit to the multi-vitamin or local steroidal preparations prescribed empirically.

Homeopathic approach towards this ailment is that of a constitutional disorder. Rohini was interviewed in detail for the constitutional assessment and was prescribed Natrum mur, which not only resolved her tongue patches but also relieved her recurrent migraine attacks.

Other significant remedies that can be useful are – Nitric acid, Rhus tox, Taraxicum, Arsenic, Kali bich and Mercurius.

Handling Syncope with Homeopathy

2010-06-20T10:08:00.005+05:30

Syncope accounts for almost 40 percent patients visiting a clinic for the complaints of ‘sudden fall episodes’. It is a transient loss of consciousness associated with the loss of body tone. Most of the patients recover spontaneously. It may occur as a single event without any specific causation or can also be recurrent when it is associated with some organic pathology. The basic pathophysiology includes reduced cerebral blood flow.

An occurrence of syncope needs to be differentiated from a seizure episode, since it mimics the later very closely. A recurrent an d unexplained episodes of syncope need to be examined for possible structural cardiac pathologies, since it can lead to death if not attended in time. Most of the times, syncope occurs suddenly without any warning, but few patients can experience pre-syncope manifestations like light-headedness, dizziness, a feeling of warmth, nausea, and visual blurring.

Causes:

The transient reduction in the cerebral blood flow is mostly due to three basic causes

1. Disturbance in the vascular tone or blood volume

2. Obstructive cardiovascular disorders and rhythm abnormalities

3. Cerebrovascular diseases

The disturbance of vascular tone or blood volume can be due to situations like cough, micturition, defecation or valsalva maneuver as well as due to carotid sinus hypersensitivity. Also due to orthostatic hypotension because of some vasodilator drugs, pure autonomic failure, peripheral neuropathy, and decreased blood volume. Cardiac rhythm abnormalities like sinus bradicardia, sinus arrest, atrioventricular block or atril flutter and fibrillation can also lead to syncope. Vetebrobasilar insufficiency or basilar artery migraine are one of the cerebrovascular diseases causing syncope.

Disorders that can mimic syncope are few metabolic disorders like hypoxia, hypoglycemia, anemia or hyperventilation or some psychogenic events due to anxiety attacks or hysterical fainting.

Neurocardiogenic or vasovagal syncope is usually associated with both sympathetic withdrawal [vasodilatation] and increased parasympathetic activity causing bradicardia. These are precipitated by alcohol consumption, severe pain, extreme fatigue, hunger, prolonged standing, exposure to hot or crowded environment, and during emotional situation.

Diagnosis:

The above mentioned pathologies should be ruled out by conducting diagnostic tests after a thorough clinical history – including serum electrolytes, glucose and blood counts. Electrocardiogram, cardiac enzymes need to be checked in case of cardiac causes. An electroencephalogram will rule out the possibility of a seizure activity.

Homeopathic treatment:

Sporadically occurring syncope attacks do not need any treatment if they are of vasovagal origin. Remedies like gelsemium, belladonna, conium and phosphorus have been most effective in treating recurrent episodes of syncope. The totality should be based on the precipitating factors like exposure to direct sunlight [as in belladonna and gelsemium] as well as the factors that modify the episodes such as getting aggravated on sudden rising, looking up, etc.

Symptoms that follow the syncopal attack too play a significant role in remedy selection. Gelsemium patient will have a drowsy and dull look with reduced thirst. Belladonna will show marked congestion of eyes along with throbbing headache after the episode. Arsenic album will have anxiety with frequent thirst for small quantities of water. Phosphorus patient will have intolerance of light, especially the artificial one. Of course, these symptoms will help to select a remedy for preventing the future attacks.

A well-selected deep-acting constitutional remedy will always have its role to restore the vital force back to normal, so as to treat the basic pattern.

Cure Epistaxis with Homeopathy

2010-06-19T05:47:00.004+05:30

Almost all of us must have experienced bleeding from the nose at some point or the other. Medically it is called as Epistaxis. The nasal septum, the thin wall that divides to nostrils, has been highly supplied with capillaries, especially in the upper region. This portion is called as 'Little's area'. The walls of these capillaries are so thin and delicate that even a normal increase in the pressure within can make them burst open. The cause for this raised pressure can be just a small sneeze, boring the nose, or even slightest blunt trauma to the nose. The bleeding from such bursting usually stops on its own, and does not necessarily need any medical attention; but if it forms a regular pattern and/or if it does not stop on its own, it needs to be investigated for the underlying cause and the respective treatment plan.

The most common cause for recurrent nose bleed is anti-coagulant medication for the cardiac ailments. Almost all patients suffering with ischemic heart disease are given aspirin derivatives which keep the blood thin and does not allow it to coagulate easily, to prevent formation of the blood clot [thrombus] with the artery. If these patients start bleeding from the nose, it may not stop easily on its own.

As said earlier, a blunt trauma due to some object put in the nostril, or even a sneeze can trigger Epistaxis. Many children put beads, pencils, toys or their finger in the nose, which can irritate the sensitive areas in the nasal cavity, leading to vasodilation and eventually bursting.

Epistaxis can also be a common manifestation or presenting symptom of increased blood pressure. The raised blood pressure can lead to intermittent disruption of the nasal capillaries.

Any change in the normal process of coagulation can lead to epistaxis. There are certain infections [Dengue] that reduce the platelets count, leading to reduced coagulatory capacity of the body. Certain liver disorders lead to deficiency of Vitamin C and K, which are also significant influencers of the coagulatory process.

Generally, the bleeding stops if one applies firm pressure from the outside of the nostril, while breathing from the mouth for some time.

Common homeopathic remedies for epistaxis:

1. Ammonium carb: typical presentation of epistaxis while washing the face and hands in the morning. Usually from the left nostril. Aggravation after eating. Rushing of blood to the tip of nose while stooping. Offensive smell from the nose.

2. Bryonia: epistaxis as a symptom of vicarious menstruation. Nose bleeds when the menses should appear [also seen in Phos].

3. Hamamelis: passive, long-lasting bleeding from the nose with difficulty in clotting. Venous hemorrhage - dark colored blood.

4. Phosphorus: sudden and profuse bleeding from the nose of bright red blood. Mostly is aggravated after getting exposed to sun for even slightest time. Tendency of bleeding in pale and thin individuals.

5. Melilotus: bleeding from the nose preceded by intense redness of face with flushing and throbbing of carotids. Bleeding from the nose relieves the headache.

6. Lachesis: vicarious menstruation especially towards the menopausal period. Dark, clotted and especially from the left nostril.

Homeopathic treatment not only cures chronic epistaxis, but can also correct the underlying pathology by restoring the dispositional imbalance to its normalcy.

Do You Sweat a Lot?

2010-06-18T17:51:00.002+05:30

Radhika came to my clinic for the complaints of excessive sweating of palms and soles. She almost used to have cold clammy palms throughout the day, more pronounced while she studied for her exams. She had stopped using an ink-pen since the sweating used to bloat the writing. She had hyperhydrosis. It is a condition that leads to excessive sweating - either on the entire body or on specific parts.

It was very embarrassing for her to shake hands with anybody since the immediate reaction from the opposite person used to be removing the hand as early as possible and wiping it. She had marked chilly response to the environment, fanning and would need more woolen garments than her friends. She was prescribed Silica in infrequent doses [weekly one dose]. Within two months, her perspiration reduced significantly and she could perform her daily chores without any discomfort.

Homeopathy has always proved itself as the best therapy for hyperhydrosis. The modern medicine does not have anything to offer to these patients. Homeopathy treats this complaint as a dispositional derangement. Thus assessing the emotional - intellectual - physical composition of the individual to select a suitable constitutional remedy is the key to success.

To aid this, here are the indications of few prominent remedies that cover excessive sweating as a symptom. To help locating an individual remedy I have italicized their names:

The patient of calcarea carb constitution sweats profusely while sleeping - almost wetting the pillow, like the patients of silica or sanicula. There is also perspiration on the back of the head, neck and chest. Mostly sweats in the upper part of the body. The sweat has a sour smell and the sweating is more during sleep. Conium also sweats more during sleep; almost as soon as one sleeps or even when closes eyes to sleep. Exactly opposite is seen in Sambucus - where there is a profuse sweat over the entire body during waking hours, while on going to sleep, the dry heat returns.

If calcarea sweat smells sour, the sweating of Bovista smells like an onion. Offensive sweating is a characteristic of many remedies including Alumina, Graphites, Psorinum, Phosporus, Sanicula, Thuja and their leader Silica. Among these, phosphorus sweat has the odor of sulphur fumes, while thuja smells like honey. Most of these also show a tendency to sweat more on palms and soles.

If we are discussing the smell of the perspiration, the taste should not be left un-noted. The remedy Caladium has a unique quality - the sweating of this remedy is sweet in taste, so much that it can even attract flies. It has got yet another characteristic - the patient of caladium sweats profusely after any acute diseases, so distinctly that we can even say that the profuse sweat relieves all sufferings in caladium [also in Natrum mur].

Thuja shows sweating only on uncovered parts, or all over except the head. These patients also sweat a lot of sour smelling or fetid sweat during sleep.

The prominent remedy for cholera, Veratrum album has cold perspiration on the forehead with nearly all complaints. Tabacum has it all over the body.

Isn't it interesting to know the various characteristic features that a remedy can throw just in the pattern of sweating? Knowing all this will not only improve our remedy selection but also our case-taking. We would only ask those questions, whose probable answers we expect already.

Don't you have any pain-killers in Homeopathy?

2010-06-17T05:31:00.002+05:30

Acute pain is one of the leading ailment for which a patient presents as an emergency in a private practice. The pain can arise from multiple organs and locations ranging from ear, teeth, and head up to abdomen and spine. The type of pain also can be varied - from colic to neuralgias. In such situation of acute pain, patients always necessarily need a remedy that can give them immediate relief from the painful crisis. To obtain it, they usually opt for allopathic analgesics, but always with a caution since they are known to cause some adverse effects. This gives rise to a pertinent question from patients visiting homeopaths, "doctor, don't you have any pain-killers in homeopathy?"

The answer is yes, we do have. In this article, we will discuss the approach to select an appropriate remedy for acute pain.

Generally the acute painful situation is seen in patients suffering with some underlying chronic ailment that is characterized by acute exacerbations, such as sciatica, renal calculi, cholecystitis or cholelithiasis, angina, dental caries, chronic otitis media, migraine, prolapsed inter-vetebral disc, gout or pelvic inflammatory disease. Prescribing a suitable homeopathic remedy for these acute exacerbations is difficult unless we explore the individual symptomatology comprehensively. Homeopathic practice that rests on the philosophical platform of individualistic remedy selection does not allow a general remedy for all patients, even if they suffer with the same ailment. This is because each and every patient is unique in presentation of the ailment with respect to the cause, manifestations and conditions of aggravation or amelioration. A single remedy cannot cure everybody. Considering this, we usually face two kinds of situations in case of patients presenting with an acute pain.

1. Patient visiting your clinic for the first time - directly in an acute pain situation

In such patients, one needs to take a quick history comprising of the location, sensation, modalities and concomitants, if any. The advantage of this situation is easy to get the entire symptomatology, since the patient in pain is available in front of you, detailing all the symptoms as well as for the observations that are key indicators towards certain remedies. For example, a patient who needs chamomilla for acute pain often presents with uneven congestion on face with one cheek red & hot while the other pale. Belladonna patients often show marked congestion on face, earlobes and eyes. Since patient is in pain, we can ask the patient about various kinds of modalities. If patient has not observed them, you can ask him to check it by actually trying various postures or conditions.

2. Patient presenting with a chronic ailment that pose a risk of developing an acute exacerbation

In this case, the patient is not in pain, but poses a risk of acute pain, or might have experienced it in past. History taking in these patients should ascertain the dispositional features as well as an acute totality that is based on the presenting symptomatology recollected by the patient from his past experience. While we prescribe a deep-acting constitutional remedy, we can also give a set of corresponding acute remedies to keep in stock. By doing this, we can even manage acute pain situation on phone, by selecting an appropriate remedy from this stock, based on the situational manifestations.

Thus, although homeopathy bases its prescription on individual basis, it is not difficult to relieve a patient in an acute painful situation.

Treating Ganglion with Homeopathy

2010-06-13T11:38:00.000+05:30

Quite a number of patients visiting a surgical unit end up with a diagnosis of a ganglion. It is a small and semi-hard bump situated above a muscle tendon or in a capsule that encloses a joint. It is also known as synovial hernia or a synovial cyst. All ganglions are non-cancerous.

A cyst means a fluid filled cavity. Ganglions are filled with a thick, jelly-like fluid. Ganglions particularly are seen in patients within the age group of 20 to 40 years of age. Mostly they are fond on the hand or wrist thus are easily noticed and can set the alarm within. They are more common in those who use those group of muscles more - like in case of wrist or hand ganglions, it will be more common within handball, squash or tennis players or those bikers who ride their bikes accelerating the throttle constantly. Runners or athletes can get them on the foot muscle tendons, since those are the group of muscles they need to use more often.

The cause is usually mild sprains or repeated injuries to the tendon causing irritation or tearing off of the thin membrane covering it. Once torn, the vitalizing fluid leaks into the sac that swells up and takes form of a ganglion. They are usually painless but can limit the range of motion at the affected site. Though they may not give rise to any pain, they definitely can produce a discomfort. Ganglions also can be internally developing, thus causing just some soreness or a dull aching sensation, but not making the mass palpable during the examination. Calcification of a ganglion is very rare.

The diagnosis of ganglion is usually easier through a physical examination to aid to clinical features. Imaging techniques like ultrasound or x-ray or at times a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be required for the suspected internal ganglions. The fluid within the cyst can be aspirated and evaluated for cytological assessment.

Most of the ganglions will disappear without treatment and on the other hand, many will reappear despite treatment. Surgical excision is needed if the cyst is causing pressure over the adjacent vital structures like nerves or blood vessels.

Homeopathically, I have found remedy 'Ruta' helping me in almost 90% of the cases. Given in 200th potency in thrice daily regimen can reduce the cyst within few weeks, thus avoiding the surgical correction. Increasing the muscle strength and flexibility by regular exercise is yet another way of avoiding the recurrence of the lesion. Warming up or cooling down around the exercise schedule also decrease the rate of developing ganglions

Samavedana – Providing Hope, Help and a Healing hand

2010-06-12T15:29:00.001+05:30

In last few decades, medical science has seen enormous advancement in terms of diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation techniques. But unfortunately it has increased the overall cost of the medical facilities, making it unreachable to a majority of the population. Unlike other services, medical service can neither be substituted nor neglected when the need occurs. In developing countries, where many families find it difficult to get enough food for the day, how can they afford expenses of the medical treatment if their earning member needs an urgent operation or a costly treatment regimen? This question has haunted me for a very long time, since I got admission to the medical school. But recently, I came across an organization called Samavedana that not only provides hope to poor and needy patients, but in other way supports the existence of the entire family, as well.

Internationally acclaimed neurosurgeon Dr Charudatta Apte and his associated have been working hard for last six years to provide not just financial assistance to the poor and needy patients, but at times free medical treatment as well. The group that started with an aim of providing neurological treatment to the poor, has now expanded its activities to cardiology, hematology, pediatrics and ophthalmology, through a team of around 30 doctors and more than 2600 donors.

With a motto to ensure that non a single patient is left untreated due to the lack of financial resources, till date, Samavedana has provided help to almost 250 patients, providing medical facilities worth 12 million rupees. All with the help of donors and Sahyadri Hospital [that contributes around 3% cost per patient] administration. Doctors who work for the organization, treat patients completely free of charge, owing to their responsibility towards the society.

The organization works with complete transparency with the donors, where each donor, even if he makes a contribution of Rs 100, is given a detailed feedback on how and where his money has been utilized. The donor gets a report of the patient along with the case-history and details of the surgery, to ensure that the money has been spent in the right way. The donations get tax-exception under 80G. Being a trust having a Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act [FCRA] certificate, it is eligible for accepting donations from foreign sources as well.

Not only doctors, but few patients have also joined the movement, by becoming volunteers – that can help by spreading the message by word or mouth, or contacting prospective donors, and not the least, talking to patients with a soulful heart.

As it is aptly said, God realized that he can’t be present at every place to help the poor and the needy, and thus he sent his messengers – like Samavedana. Cheers to their work and hats off for their dedication!!

If you need any further information about the movement called ‘Samavedana’ you can reach them at www.samavedana.org or just dial +91-9673338052 [Priti Damle, the chief co-ordinator].

Dacryocystitis - The Tear Duct That Cannot Cry

2010-06-12T11:46:00.000+05:30

The apparatus for creating and draining of the tears from our eyes consists of a tear sac or lacrimal sac, little tube-like canaliculi, and the nasolacrimal duct. The tears drain into little opening situated at the inner corner of the eyelid, called puncta, from there they travel through the canaliculi to the tear sac and finally taken to the nose by the nasolacrimal duct. Dacryocystitis is a condition where the tear sac gets inflamed and consequently blocked.

It is usually caused by the blockage of nastolacrimal duct, thus stopping the passage of excess tears into the nose. This flow of tears from eyes to nose is needed to get rid of the excessive tears; and that is why we do have to blow our nose while we are crying aloud. When the draining gets blocked, the accumulated tears provide a suitable medium for the bacteria to grow, adding a bacterial infection to the earlier inflammatory response.

There are cases presenting with failure of the nasolacrimal duct to open on its own in the infantile stage, a condition called dacryostenosis. Like infants, it gets more common in the elderly or adults who are above 40 yrs of age. In adults, it is usually associated with inflammation and/or infection in the nasal region. It can be acute with sudden onset, or it can be long-standing with the symptoms occurring over the course of weeks or months.

The presenting symptoms are pain in the region of orbit with other inflammatory manifestations like redness, and swelling. The area looks swollen and shiny due to stretching of the delicate skin around the eyes. A gentle pressure over the swollen area can lead to a purulent discharge from the punctum. It is usually unilateral, that is occurring in single eye at a time. The eye looks watery.

Diagnosis can be made clinically through signs and symptoms. It can also be supported with lab tests where the white blood cell count is raised indicating acute infective origin [which is mostly normal in case of chronic variant]. In some cases, a procedure called dacryocystography can be done to locate the blockage area, by injecting a radio-opaque dye into the duct.

Treatment includes warm compress and antibiotics. Homeopathic medicines like Belladona, Apis and Arsenic have shown remarkable effect on this particular ailment. Surgical procedures are often required to release the blockage of the duct, in case the patient does not respond well to the medication.

Vitiligo Cured With Homeopathy

2010-06-11T23:52:00.001+05:30

Which is the most un-homeopathic question asked by most of the current homeopaths? Well, it is – “What are the homeopathic remedies for XYZ disease?”

Visit any homeopathic discussion websites or forums on social-networking websites where people discuss homeopathy, and you will find only one question – tell us ‘the remedies’ for a particular disease. Believe me, the process of homeopathic remedy selection has not stopped surprising me even after practicing it everyday for more than a decade. We definitely can narrow down our remedy repertoire for a particular disease to 15-20 remedies, but in spite of that, not more than 50% of cases get the benefit of it. Finally one has to understand the case in its individual aspect and prescribe a suitable remedy for it.

The cases of vitiligo [Leucoderma] have always proved tricky to treat, for me. I have tried all sorts of specific remedies [no need to mention], but without any good effect. I only got results in 3 cases [out of 8] and in all of them, the key was the constitutional remedy. I would like to present a recently treated case here:

Vitiligo before and after

Ms KS, age 7 years. Daughter of a rickshaw driver.

Chief complaint:

Skin: Vitiligo since 2 years, spreading rapidly. Earlier she was slightly better with homeopathic treatment, but discontinued treatment as she could not afford it.

It started with the left forearm as a 50 paise-coin sized round patch, which has now enlarged to a diameter of almost 3 cms.

She then got a few patches on her forehead and scalp – left side.

Family history: father has widespread vitiligo almost covering 80% of his body.

Dispositional features:

Ambithermal-Hot; Perspiration ++ especially over the scalp;

Cravings or aversions – nothing specific.

Developmental milestones – normal; No history of dentition aggravation;

Nature:

Emotionally not much affected with the lesions. Continued socializing with friends with the same ease, and without any awkward feeling. She does feel the patches should get resolved. [buoyancy]

Overall she is quite bold and doesn’t have any kind of fear.

She has a tremendous pain tolerance; mother can hardly remember patient crying due to pain, although getting injured is an everyday ritual.

Remedy selection:

Constitutional = Calc Fluor

[Totality: Left sided + Scalp perspiration + Ambi-Hot + buoyancy + pain tolerance]

In my experience, the fluoric element provides a tremendous amount of ‘tolerance’ to the personality. It can be a tolerance to pain or reprimands or criticism or exertion or for that matter anything which generally we cannot tolerate much.

16^th April 2009: case defined Rx: Syphilinum 1M [1]

Placebo BD x 1 month

[syphillinum was given as an anti-miasmatic start, considering the extensive spread of vitiligo in the father’s case, and with appearance of lesions in the patient’s case at a very early age]

20^th May 2009: status quo with all lesions Rx: Calc flour 30 QID

23^rd June 2009: Forearm patch reducing from the periphery;

Face patches – one patch totally gone, others >>; Rx: ct all

22^nd July 2009: Reported to be better – patches resolving Rx: ct all

21^st Sep 2009: Forehead patches gone completely;

Forearm patch – almost 40% better Rx: ct all x 2 months

2^nd Dec 2009: Face patches all gone;

Forearm – 80% better Rx: ct all x 1 month

10^th Jan 2010: Father reported ~100% resolution of forearm

Patches. Patient could not visit. Rx: ct all x 1 month

Update 3/30/2010 : Thanks to her sincere and regular efforts in giving follow-ups and taking the medicines religiously, almost all her vitiligo patches over the body have disappeared in one year.

Being An Unprejudiced Observer

2010-06-11T00:02:00.000+05:30

“Did you see that thin tall guy? He seems to be a typical Natrum mur, isn’t it?,” one of my colleagues started a usual debate with one of his quick-bites. “But he also can be a Phosphoric acid, a Silica, or for that matter a Phosphorus…” said the other listener. “Impossible! Just see his mannerisms and facial expressions. If he enters my clinic, I will take his entire case-history only if Natrum mur fails to cure him.”

Don’t we hear such words of confidence around us? You may call it an ‘intuitive prescribing’ or ‘snap-shot prescribing’ or anything, but we often come across homeopaths trying to hit the bull’s eye from as far as possible. Since based on natural laws, homeopathy does not fail to surprise us and makes us re-evaluate the case for a more thoughtful prescription. Unless we learn from our deeds, we will never grow as professionals, but every time we do so, we are one step closer to becoming an unprejudiced observer. Believe me, it’s a tough job. Even after 10 years of practice, an acute case can also make you aware of your prejudices. I would like to share a case with you, which did exactly that.

Mrs. S, came with complaints of chilliness with body-ache, that had started four days back. This was followed by a high grade fever with marked chilliness starting from the feet. Surprisingly, there was marked knee pain only during fever, with severe burning in both eyes. She was running 103’F fever when she visited my clinic. On examination, there was an irregular distribution of heat with palms and soles hotter than the rest of the body.

Remedies started coming to my mind and it made me more and more confused. I started thinking of ARSENIC and EUPATORIUM and WHAT NOT!! I had a case in front of me with many characteristic concomitants, and thus was in apprehension of whether I would be able to give full justice to them by prescribing a simillimum. The confusion was mounting and I was unable to come to a prescription with assurance. At this moment I thought of referring to the repertory on my PC. Boenninghausen was a clear choice looking at the characteristic concomitants.

I searched for the rubrics and clicked for the result. Here is what I got to my surprise:

PETROLEUM ???

I had not used this remedy except for treating dry cracked skin or motion sickness. The patient was running a high grade fever. There was no trace of my “FAVOURITE REMEDIES” in the repertorization result. It put me into a totally different dilemma. My understanding about Petroleum did not assure me about giving relief from a high grade fever, but the repertory was confident to indicate this remedy to me.

To be really frank, I thought of taking a chance and prescribing PETROLEUM 200. But before that, I referred back to my materia medica text on petroleum and discovered that Petroleum does have symptoms of fever and those other indications. So the repertory guided me to the materia medica and I decided to prescribe Petroleum. To my disbelief, the lady called within 3 hours to announce 80% amelioration of all her symptoms. She recovered totally within a day.

Petroleum for a fever? I had just tried to follow the available TOTALITY and followed the direction it showed me. Dr Kent came to my rescue in this state of “want of reason”. He says in his lesser writings (Pg 213-214), “. . . We have asserted, as our belief, that the only true guide for a prescription is the totality of the symptoms and the proven drug. Let us not, then, prescribe upon any other basis; it cannot be homoeopathic nor wise to do so.” I had just experienced it! That’s the reason we call these stalwarts MASTERS.

A lesson well learnt and my prejudices and favoritism towards remedies exposed. It was another step taken towards becoming an unprejudiced observer.

Plantar Fasciitis - Heel Pain That Hits the Head

2010-06-10T11:49:00.000+05:30

I have been treating patients of plantar fasciitis since I started my clinic a decade ago. At first there were patients mostly coming from the professions that needed long periods of standing, like those of teachers or professors or advocates. Recently, one of my happy patients wrote a testimonial in a reputed daily newspaper and that followed a huge number of patients reaching my clinic to get relief from the most troublesome ailment of their life. Let's discuss few things about it.

Our feet are made up of almost 25-30 small bones that are arranged in an arch-shaped manner. Every time we put a step ahead, we put our whole weight on a single foot. This weight bearing gets divided at the knee-joint, the ankle-joint and finally the arch of the foot. To keep the bones in place and to add a buffering or spring-like function, we have got a thick fibrous band, called plantar fascia, that extends from the heel bone till the balls of the foot. It not only helps to reduce the impact but also maintains the curvature of the sole. If due to some reasons it gets overstretched or if it gets weak, due to age or poor health, it starts getting inflamed, resulting into the condition called plantar fasciitis.

The radiograph of many patients suffering with this ailment also show a spike like overgrowth at the base of the heel-bone, popularly called as calcaneal spur. It is a result of the normal wear-and-tear of the bone due to walking on it for our life time and the subsequent healing by calcium deposition by the body. Since it's a repair without absolute rest, it doesn't attend the smoothness it requires and results into a thorny shape. Presence of such spur can result into an additional bothering factor for the inflamer fascia.

As regards the symptoms, the patient of plantar fasciitis typically complains of excruciating pain in the heel region, especially when s/he steps out of the bed first time in the morning or starts walking after a long period of rest. The pain is so severe that the patient almost limps for some time. The pain gets relieved once you walk a few steps. It also gets relieved with cold compresses. Few patients also get pain if they stand for long time or sit on a high-chair with their legs hanging down.

The usual treatment options are giving some pain-killers or anti-inflammatory drugs, that give a temporary relief. If you are aiming for a permanent cure, the best relief can be obtained by trying out homeopathic remedies. I have been treating patients with homeopathic drugs like Calcarea flur, Valeriana, Natrum carb, Cimicifuga and Rhus tox, prescribed as per their individual indications. Once there is more than 80% amelioration in the pain, one should start doing plantar exercises that should be continued for few years to give a better load-bearing capacity to the plantar fibrous tissue.

GM Diet: My Experiments with the Truth…

2010-06-09T15:35:00.000+05:30

You may love it or you may hate it, but I am very sure, if you are seeking for weight-loss methods, you can never ignore it. General Motors Diet or popularly known GM Diet, ranks highest in the most-sought diet charts. Surprisingly, I have yet not found any information about GM Diet on any of the official sites of General Motors (update me if I have missed any).

Various sites, blogs and forums have discussed about GM diet, but in a scattered manner. My primary intention behind this post is to represent various facets of this diet plan and to give a comprehensive overview, based on the experiences of my own as well as of my friends.

Background:

This diet plan was introduced at a general meeting of General Motors Corp. on 15^th August 1985, initially intended for the use of the employees of General Motors company, to facilitate wellness and fitness. It was granted by the United States Agricultural Department and the FDA, further tested by the Johns Hopkins Research Centre.

It was designed as a ‘De-toxification diet program’, to improve ones metabolism through its cleansing systemic effects, reflected by an improved disposition and a feeling of well being. As an end-result, a weight loss of 4-6 kgs was expected within the program-week.

The plan:

Here is the day-wise diet plan and its dietary significance. I have added few things from my experience and experiments, which worked.

Day 1:

Fruits of any kind (except bananas) in any quantity. The most preferred fruits are the melons and cantaloupes, due to their high water content. In addition, you should drink at least 10 glasses of water.

By eating fruits, you are preparing your system for the upcoming program. Fresh fruits are nature’s perfect food, providing all essential elements needed to sustain life. Fruits are also a good source of antioxidants and are fiber-rich. Fruits are also considered as a negative-calorie food, thus burning more calories for its digestion than those provided.

Believe me, I have done GM diet twice and have found this day the most difficult one. Firstly because of the sweetish taste of all fruits, and further due to an intense craving for bread or spices, that one develops towards the end of the day. The solution for this is the Soup to break the monotony of the fruity taste.

Day 2:

The day can start with a large baked potato with one pat of butter for breakfast. It definitely fills you with complex carbohydrates to start your day after the first sweety-fruity day.

For the rest of the day, you should eat all sorts of vegetables of your choice, raw or cooked. Vegetables have very less calories, high in nutrients and fiber. There is no limit on the amount. This should be added with drinking at least 10 glasses of water.

One can also mash a baked potato, add some onion & curd, and spice it up with chaat masala & red chilli powder and pinch of salt.

Day 3:

This day consists of a combination of fruits and vegetables of your choice, except banana & potato. In addition, you should drink at least 10 glasses of water. Potato is avoided on this day since the carbohydrates are available from the fruits that you eat.

One can do varieties of salads mixed with fruit slices. If you take more cucumber and melons, it’s more likely to lose weight than any other vegetables or fruits. Adding a curd to vegetable salad, in a ‘raita’ form will make it more palatable towards the evening, when it gets monotonous.

Day 4:

A day when you can eat nothing but eight bananas coupled with three glasses of milk. It is not mandatory to eat 8 bananas; you can have less as well. In fact, you might feel satisfied within 4-5 bananas within the whole day. This is the day when you can clearly feel your food-craving diminishing significantly. It feels divine, to get over your ‘desires’. Do not forget to drink at least 10 glasses of water, as always.

Bananas will act as a provider of carbohydrates that is easy to digest, coupled with sodium and potassium reserve.

Day 5:

This is considered as a ‘Feast day’, where you should eat up to two portions of lean beef (10 oz.) combined with six whole tomatoes – as a source of fiber. On this day, you should increase your daily water intake to at least 14 glasses. This is to cleanse your system of the uric acid getting produced. You will experience colorless urine on this day.

Beef is a source of proteins & iron, and thus an alternative can be paneer (tofu – soya paneer for better results) coupled with mushrooms for the vegetarians. Many people have recommended rice as a replacement to beef, but if one considers the nutritive contents, rice can not be the right surrogate.

Day 6:

Another day with beef and vegetables. Today you can eat any amount of beef combined with cooked or raw vegetables. Keep your daily water intake to 14 glasses. You can add the Soup to add some spice to your day.

Iron and proteins from the beef or paneer-mushroom combination, while fiber and nutrients from the vegetables. Till this time, you must have experienced an energetic feeling and an awareness of the power of natural food items.

Day 7:

The food intake on this day should consist of a bowl of brown rice with fruit juices and any vegetables you want to eat. Drink 14 glasses of water.

The juices will break the fast (?) providing the essential nutrients along with the vegetable stuffing. The brown rice provides the carbohydrates.

Now you must be at least 4 kgs lighter than day one, yet more energetic and free from the cravings for high-calorie stuff.

The Soup:

The following soup is a modified version of the GM Wonder Soup since it is not possible to get the Lipton Onion soup mix everywhere, as suggested in GM Soup. The modified soup goes parallel to the ‘rassam’ or ‘saaram’, served in south India. This soup is allowed to be consumed in large quantities throughout the program. It is intended as a supplement to your diet.

Boil few large-cut onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and celery in water. Add the sambhar masala for the taste. You may also add tomato-puree (but with the skin) instead of tomatoes to make it thicker. One can season it with herbs and flavorings. You may also add: asparagus, peas, corn, cauliflower, green beans or finely chopped mushroom.

General instructions for all days:

You may squeeze a lemon to flavor the water that you drink every day.
No alcohol of any kind since it adds empty calories.
Salt should be used as less as possible.
Use artificial sweetener, in case you can’t stay away from the sweet taste.
No fruit juices till day seven.
Black coffee or tea is allowed.

You may repeat the schedule, if you want further weight loss, but it is suggested that you should take a gap of at least two weeks in between two schedules.

========

Now the most important part: the doubts, accusations and myths.

“It works just by losing the water content of the body and not actually a fat loss.”

Firstly, there is no mention of restricting the water intake on any day. How can one lose only water if we are consuming at least 10-14 glasses of water every day, added with the unlimited quantity of soup and the water contained in the melons, fruits and vegetables?
It basically acts on the principle of ‘negative calorie foods’ where you are consuming certain foods that demand more calories to burn themselves than what they provide themselves. High-fiber food stuffs you but doesn’t provide the required calories, instead demands more calories to burn themselves, which is derived from the stored energy-deposits.

“Skin gets dry and you may lose your hair during and after the GM diet

At least I have not met anyone in my acquaintance complaining of this, but found this on few blog-posts. The reason can be insufficient amount of water intake and not supplying enough protein sources on specific days.

“It is a temporary loss and you regain all lost weight in couple of weeks.”

Obviously, if you resume your high-calorie food once again. It is not difficult to lose weight, but to maintain it. Malvika, my wife who is a dietician, always recommends a maintenance diet program after the GM diet schedule as follows:
- Only liquids in the form of soups, buttermilk or fruit juices for dinner on three consecutive days in a week. This should be followed endlessly, until you want your weight to bounce back.
- Drink plenty of water as if you are on GM diet.
- Exercise regularly.

“It’s just a Crash-diet and a Fad, nothing else!!”

First of all, it is not promoted as a weight-loss diet, but a Detox diet that cleanses your system from within. Weight loss is just a by-product of it.
Even if one looks at it as a ‘crash-diet’, it surely will not harm you, but will ‘move’ your weight in the least period, thus motivating many who tend to leave their regular diet and exercise regimens within first month, for not getting desired results. Once you can ‘see’ your weight dropping, it boosts your will to try further.
As said above, it is futile unless you back it up with a maintenance program. You can not be on GM diet for lifetime, nor you can or should do it every month. Instead use is as an initial-motivator and switch to a liquid-dinner course later.

MY OWN EXPERIENCE:

I myself have done GM diet twice. The first time I was very sincere in following it. Thanks to my wife and my mother, who made all arrangements for the foods on each day. I lost 4 kgs towards the fifth day. I could not lose any further on the last two days and I presume that to the rice I ate, as a substitute to the beef. The lost weight remained there for a month, in spite of not maintaining it actively. I could have lost at least half a kilo more, if I would have stayed away from the rice, which in any case I do not like to eat.

The next time I started it, but had to leave it in between due to some unavoidable circumstances. But had seen significant change in my weight and the energy level for the four days that I followed it.

The most significant gain has been with my lipids coming down to normal. I have had really bad lipid levels for two years and after following GM diet twice, being on statins and taking self-prescribed homeopathic medicines for the same, the latest levels of lipids were perfectly within normal limits. The credit goes to the high-fiber rich GM diet as well.

THE CONCLUSION:

If followed sincerely, GM diet has a definite positive effect of its own on our metabolism. I agree that it is not an end in itself, and one needs to maintain the metabolism by appropriate food habits and exercise regimen. GM diet can not be a ‘quick & easy’ substitute to ‘efforts’, but surely can be a booster for those who have never seen their weight going downhill, providing a ‘kick-start’.

As Malvika says, ‘one should take a diet that s/he can follow for the lifetime…’ and that’s true! You can never have GM diet for everyday, since there are so many delicacies around to enjoy, but for that we need to have a balanced metabolism, so that we can give them their due justice.

For the Legs That Do Not Sleep Well at Night

2010-06-02T16:10:00.001+05:30

Shobha came to visit my clinic with a complaint that for her was quite funny to narrate. She felt that though she gets good sleep at night, the legs do not. She had an unpleasant tingling sensation in the legs, especially in the calf muscles, which made her to move around or apply bandage tightly. She felt better by stretching the leg out, but still the uncomfortable pain did persist for some time. The intensity of the pain also prevented her to fall asleep or getting continuous refreshing sleep.

Shobha was suffering with nothing but 'restless legs syndrome (RLS)'. In this condition, one or both legs can get affected. Though the name suggests it being a disease of the lower limbs, some patients also complain of similar symptoms in the arms as well. Apart from the sleep, the symptoms can get precipitated while being in a prolonged position like sitting at a desk, driving a car, watching a movie. The symptoms appear abruptly and can have a pulse-wave pattern of recurrence, making it more troublesome.

The prevalence of this disease increases with the age and it is believed that almost 10-15 per cent of the population is affected by RLS. It has been reported to be one of the leading causes of sleep-loss or insomnia in elderly population. It is seen more often in women than men. Though rare, children too can get affected with it, but the diagnosis is made difficult and can lead to various hyperactivity disorders or growing pains.

It is believed that RLS runs in the family; and is triggered or aggravated by epochs like Pregnancy, or systemic illnesses like kidney failure, and anemia related to iron or vitamin deficiency. The insufficient iron, which is a common manifestation of the above conditions, can be the reason to have the basic lack of dopamine. The brain uses dopamine to control limb movements. The diagnosis is usually made according to the symptomatology and clinical presentation. There is an opinion to check the levels of iron in the blood, although many people who have RLS can have perfectly normal levels of iron but abnormal levels of iron in the cerebro-spinal fluid that bathes their brain.

The treatment primarily includes dopamine-like drugs, sedatives along with behavioral strategies that include stretching, taking a hot bath, or massaging the legs before bedtime. The patients of RLS are often asked to avoid caffeinated beverages to reduce symptoms. If required and documented by the blood level tests, one can be given iron, vitamin B12, or folate supplements. Some patients may even require mild doses of anti-convulsive therapy, while some do feel relieved with analgesics.

Homeopathic medications have found more effective in relieving the symptoms of RLS without causing any unwanted side effects that are seen with any of the above treatments. A constitutional medicine approach along with the acute remedial prescription based on the symptom-similarity is the best approach to deal with this ailment.

Hair fall: Losing the Crowning Glory

2010-05-28T15:56:00.001+05:30

Hair is one of the distinct features of the mammalian skin. Though originally serving as a protective coat, during the course of evolution, it has lost this function at least in human beings. Nevertheless, its cosmetic and aesthetic importance has increased exponentially. Thus, losing hair has become one of the top most worries in both genders.

COMPOSITION:
Hair are primarily made up of protein called keratin [the same that constitutes our nails]. Its high sulfur content [than nails] gives it an extraordinarily tensile strength.

HAIR CYCLE:
The normal cycle of hair growth lasts for 2-6 years. Each hair grows almost one centimeter per month. Normal human scalp has about 100000 hair, out of which 10% are in a resting phase, that get shed in couple of months time. Therefore, t is expected to lose about 100 hair per day.

OTHER HAIR LOSS CAUSES :
One can experience excessive hair loss about 3-4 months after any major illness or a major surgery. This is usually temporary.
Hormonal disturbances can lead to hair loss, especially in thyroid and ovarian diseases.
Women lose hair after delivering a baby.
Many women lose hair during menstrual cycle.
Some medicines like anticoagulants, chemotherapy, birth control pills and antidepressants are known to cause hair loss.
Fungal infections of the scalp lead to hair loss.
Excessive shampooing and blow-drying of hair.
Crash diets, especially those that do not contain enough proteins.
Last but not the least, severe emotional stress can lead to significant loss of hair. Thus stress can trigger a hair loss, which in turn can increase the anxiety level, making it a vicious cycle.

TREATMENT:
The initial step is to identify the exact cause(s) for the hair loss and to plan out the treatment strategy accordingly. It can be in form of dietary modifications to increase the protein content or treating the underlying diseases or relaxation techniques to calm the mind.

Constitutional homeopathic medicines selected as per one’s individual composition can reduce hair fall significantly. While Bach Flower Therapy can restore equilibrium at emotional plane.

Coping With the Loss of a Pet

2010-05-27T16:15:00.002+05:30

No one will object me if I say that pets are one of the most treasured and cared objects that a human possesses. It is often considered the strongest bond that a human can make with other living organism, at times more than the bond with the human beings. Thus a loss of pet either due to the death or missing of pet is considered as one of the biggest stressors on the disturbance scale. As we all are different, we do show different reactive patterns to adjust to the loss of pet. If we understand it, it becomes a lot easier either to empathize with a person who has lost his pet or to prepare ourselves to the anticipated loss of our pet that is on a death bed. This process of grief is very complex, yet it shows some fixed pattern or stages of development & resolution. Not everyone will pass through all these stages but will fall into one or more of them, in the process.

One of the most common initial reactions is of a denial. People usually do not accept the inevitable loss. If they have not seen the death, they will deny saying that may be the pet has got lost and has not died. Though others try to convince by saying that they have cremated the pet and is surely no more, the grieving person can still believe that the pet will come all of a sudden from somewhere. They continue keeping their food bowl filled and the milk plate replaced, hoping that their beloved pet will come some day to eat their favorite stuff.

There are few who can go into a phase of self-anger or resentment. They blame themselves for the loss and they believe that it is all since they did not take the necessary care or fail to provide the best medical facility to their ailing pet. The anger can also be turned towards those who were taking care of the pet, especially if one stays away from the pet. Thus there can be a hostility or anger or resentment towards the maid who nursed the pet on daily basis, or towards the veterinarian who medically attended the pet during the ailing period. These people blame them for not taking the pet to the needed care in time, as well as blame themselves for keeping their pet with such incapable hands.

The next most common emotion or outcome is depression. People show varied kinds of depressive manifestations. Some lose their appetite for weeks, some just shut themselves within their home, few take the belongings of the pet and spends hours just staring at those. There is social aloofness that prevails and the person can remain in the gloomy mood for days to come. I have seen at least 10 boys who have tattooed the name of their lost dog on their bodies. They feel incompetent to perform their day to day jobs and feel drained of all their vitality.

The final phase is of acceptance and resolution, which usually comes with talking to your friends and relatives who share your bereavement. There have been few agencies who can provide a good variety of memorabilia from t-shirts to mugs to specialized items of your choice. Thus the guilt of not able to do something special reduces and one can come to terms with the loss. Thus sets the thought pattern of having another pet, which can relieve your feelings much easier and faster. The new pet helps you to come out of the negative state faster, but still the memories of the lost one remain with you forever.

Appropriate use of Bach flower remedies like Gorse, Honeysuckle, Walnut, White chestnut, and Pine can help one to get relieved from the trauma easily.

Apple: not ‘forbidden’ anymore…

2010-05-25T15:42:00.000+05:30

You can be a physicist, historian, doctor, sportsman, religious follower, chef, story-loving child or a health-freak, APPLE is the fruit that must be close to your heart.

The contribution of this ‘forbidden fruit’ goes from inspiring Isaac Newton about gravitational force, to providing a sodium- & cholesterol-free source of antioxidants exhibiting anti-cancer properties. Though an old English adage says, ” To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.”, a doctor also bonds with it through ‘Adam’s Apple’ in the early Anatomy classes.

ORIGIN

Apple (Malus domestica) is a pomaceous fruit from the family of Rosaceae (rose) and ranks as one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. Finding its origins in the wild mountains of Central Asia, today there are more than 7500 known varieties of apples that are cultivated across the world. Most of these varieties are eaten fresh, though some are specially used for cooking or making cider.

Apple trees are deciduous, which means their leaves fall off at the end of the growing season.

NUTRITION

Apples are bulky for their caloric content (like most fruits and vegetables) and thus ranks amongst the negative-calorie fruits. A medium-sized apple provides only 80 calories. Water and air constitute almost 80% of Apple’s volume [that is why it floats].

HEALTH BENEFITS

Apples not only are cholesterol free but also help to reduce existing cholesterol by preventing re-absorption, thus helping people with heart-disease, obesity and high-lipids.

Research suggests that apples may reduce the risk of colonic cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer, possibly due to the phenolic compounds (quercetin, epicatechin and procyanidin B2) they possess, that have anti-oxidant properties. According to the USDA, apples and apple juice are among the top 20 foods with the highest antioxidant content per serving.

The fiber content, though less than in most other fruits, helps to regulate bowel movements.

Apple juice concentrate has been found to increase the production of the neurotransmiter acetylcholine in mice, providing a potential for protecting the brain from the effects of oxidative-stress.

APPLE FACTS

Apples ripen almost ten-times faster at room temperature, thus keep them stored in the refrigerator.
Store apples away from strong-smelling foods to prevent them from absorbing unpleasant odors.
Coat sliced and diced apples with a mixture of one part lemon juice to three parts water, to prevent browning.
Don’t peel your apple. Two-thirds of the fiber and lots of antioxidants are found in the peel.
Apple day is celebrated on 21st October.

Sinuses: What are they for?

2010-05-23T15:44:00.000+05:30

Visit any clinic of an ENT surgeon and you will find at least one patient who suffers with so-called “SINUS TROUBLE”. Having it as one of the most common complaints, a question naturally arises, ‘what are these sinuses really for..?’

STRUCTURE:
Para-nasal [near the nose] sinuses are paired cavities situated in our skull bones, that directly have an opening in the nasal cavity.

FUNCTION:
The air-filled cavity of the sinuses makes our skull much lighter.
The cavity also creates resonance of voice, almost acting as an ‘amplifier’.
The face gets its typical structure due to the shapes of the skull bones having these sinuses.
Protection of the eyes.

WHAT GOES WRONG:
These sinuses are lined with cells that produce secretions that are directly drained into nose. An inflammation of these linings, due to certain allergies or infections is called as SINUSITIS.

SYMPTOMS:
If you consider the functions of the sinuses, you can easily correlate the symptoms.
The irritation / inflammation of the lining leads to marked increase in the secretions, that replace the air. We thus start feeling the head becoming heavier especially in the morning when they are filled with the secretions.
The fluid hampers the function as an ‘amplifier’ that makes us ‘sound’ stuffed due to the change in the nasal tone.
Due to their locations, it leads to typical sinus headache which is frontal and the tenderness along the cheek bones. It can be checked by applying pressure with the thumb.
The swelling of the inner lining gives rise to blocked feeling and mucoid discharge. It can be blood-stained due to rupture of blood capillaries.

TREATMENT:
Antibiotics, Decongestants, and the Anti-allergics are the most common remedial alternatives to relieve the acute attacks. But what about the chronic pattern ?
Here a well-selected Homeopathic constitutional remedy can help you to get rid off the tendencies to get sinus affections.
The duration of the treatment depends on the severity, structural changes within nasal cavity and how much is it possible to nullify the precipitating factors.

Bach Flower Remedies For Fearful Dogs

2010-05-20T16:12:00.000+05:30

Fear is one of the basic emotions that every living organism experiences and our beloved pets are not an exception to it. Though dogs are known for their courageous attitude, some dogs do face situations where they exhibit signs of fright, requiring a professional handling.

Unlike human beings, who are able to express their emotions in a refined manner, dogs can't communicate their feelings in an explicit way, but a close observation of their behavior can lead us to significant information about their mental state. A dog may display his fear in varied ways: he may try to escape from the room, or may stay motionless, or can become intensely restless, or can soil the room by submissive urination, or might just bark / growl at the fear-object. In extreme cases he can even become destructive.

Bach Flower Remedies:

Bach Flower Remedies are a collection of 38 plant and flower-based remedies discovered in the 1930s by Dr Edward Bach, a Harley Street physician. Each Bach remedy deals with a specific negative emotion, so we can select and take one or more remedies to match the exact emotion or reactive pattern. These remedies can help our animals get over their own emotional difficulties. They are completely natural and harmless. Flower remedies help to restore the peace and harmony among the negative behavior of our pets.

The Treatment:

Though indicated as the behavioral patterns of the fear, as a part of treatment, it is extremely essential to get the dog examined by a veterinarian, to rule out any signs of organic disease, which might manifest in the similar manner. Once it's confirmed to be only a fear, it's worth giving a well-suited Bach Flower Remedies.

The selection of the remedy (-ies) is very simple and is based on the reaction pattern of the dog. Here are the most commonly used remedies for the fear seen in dogs:

Mimulus: Mimulus deals with fear of known causes. If you can identify the fear-object of your dog, he may need Mimulus to get over it. The commonly seen fear of loud noises or crackers in dogs can be relieved with Mimulus. Few dogs are afraid of water being poured on them, which calls for Mimulus.

Rock Rose: Rock rose will also show fear but in an extreme manner - in a state of Panic. Thus an intense fear of known or unknown reason, but manifested in a state of panic calls for Rock Rose. The state where the dog takes the whole house on toes with his frightful behavior, can be easily relieved with Rock Rose. The key is the intensity of the fear reaction.

Star of Bethlehem: This remedy relieves the state of sudden shock or trauma. A puppy, who has seen an accident and gets into attacks of fright, or a dog who was mishandled by his previous owner, or the one who has escaped a situation of great danger needs this remedy to get over the state of shock or emotional trauma.

Walnut: Walnut is the remedy for adaptation. If a puppy brought from a breeder or your friend's house, shows signs of fear in the process of getting used to the new environment, he needs Walnut to aid in the adaptation. A dog separated from his mother and exhibiting fear will get relieved with Walnut.

Rescue Remedy: This is not a different remedy but a mixture of five remedies that are used in the state of emergency. This can be used if you can not decide which remedy to be selected or if the state of your dog is of an intense one, like the one of emergency. The unique formula contains Star of Bethlehem for shock, Rock Rose for terror and panic, Cherry Plum for lack of self-control, Impatiens for agitation, and Clematis to counteract faintness and bemusement.

The Dosage:

Two drops of the selected remedy (-ies) can be added to the watering bowls or food, that the dog will drink regularly. Otherwise, two drops (each) of the remedies can be added to a 30 ml bottle containing water and four-six drops from this treatment-bottle can be administered to the dog on regular basis (at least four times a day).

It can also be put directly in the mouth of your dog, if he allows. One can also drip few drops on the nose of the dog so that he can lick it off. In case of emergency, where it is not possible to make the dog drink the medicine, few drops can be applied onto the back of the ears (being a sensitive skin area) which can get absorbed through the skin.

The remedy combination should be repeated until required. There would be no harm if you select an incorrect remedy or continue to administer the remedies even after their need is over. If any other pet drinks water from the same bowl, it should be fine, since the remedies do not modify healthy emotions.

IBS Cure with Homeopathy & Bach Flower Therapy

2010-05-13T15:38:00.001+05:30

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), also called as functional bowel syndrome or irritable colon or spastic bowel/colon, is the most common chronic gastrointestinal ailment presented to a physician. It is characterized by changes in the bowel motility, bloating and abdominal pain, in the absence of any identifiable physical disorder.

IBS is the seventh most common disease among all the out-patient diseases. In USA alone, there are around 35 million medical visits annually, due to IBS. Apart from the prevalence, it results in a huge loss of working days, with an economic loss of almost 40 billion dollars within a year.

IBS not only interferes with the work, but also can disturb your social life and your relationships with friends & family. One may feel discouraged and depressed, due to the social limitations and embarrassment, for many. Avoiding certain food items can also make one malnourished due to losing sources of few essential nutrients.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION:

The common symptoms of IBS are as follows:

Bloating and gas
Constipation and/or diarrhea with urgency; especially after eating
Mucus in the stool
Persistent feeling of incomplete evacuation of the bowels
Abdominal pain and cramping, associated with a strong urge for a bowel movement.

Patients are classified as per the predominant bowel pattern into: constipation-predominant (C-IBS), diarrhea-predominant (D-IBS), and alternating diarrhea-constipation (A-IBS). Statistical analysis shows psychological causes leading mostly in diarrhea-predominant IBS.

THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY:

The walls of our intestines are lined with muscle layers, that contract and relax in a harmonic fashion, pushing the food (only) forwards; this is known as peristalsis. In case of IBS, the contractions get stronger, last longer than normal and can be erratic, thus hampering the uniform pushing of the intestinal contents. If the process gets hastened, the food is forced more quickly; it reduces its time to get digested, causing gas, bloating and indigestion. If it gets slowed down, the stool becomes hard and dry causing constipation.

HOW TO DIAGNOSE IT:

Since there are no identifiable physical signs, the diagnosis is predominantly based on the clinical history. According to the ROME criteria, a diagnosis of IBS can be established if patient has abdominal pain and discomfort for at least 12 weeks, with at least two of the following:

A change in the frequency or consistency of stool
Straining, urgency or a feeling of incomplete evacuation
Mucus in the stool

CAUSATIVE FACTORS:

No definitive cause has been established as yet; though, decreased threshold to pain and psychosocial factors are considered as the significant factors responsible. Frequently the symptoms get worse while under stress, on tour or preparing for a meeting. In few patients, there is an aggravation on slightest change in the daily routine. Some are bothered by certain foods, while female patients may experience an uphill in the intensity of symptoms around menstrual cycle.

IBS PERSONALITY:

Based on the clinical interviews, patients with IBS had maximum level of anxiety, depression and social phobias. On personal levels, the most common situations were – not being satisfied with life, familial and sexual problems, and difficulties with the authorities.
The five-factor model of personality defines personality traits in terms of five basic dimensions: Extraversion (talkative, assertive and active), Agreeableness (kind, trustworthy and warmth), Conscientiousness (organized, thorough and reliable), Neuroticism (nervous, moody and temperamental), and Openness to experience (imaginative, curious and creative).
Psychologists have tried to explore whether any specific personality traits can be linked with IBS through a clinical study. In that, C-IBS patients scored higher on neuroticism and conscientiousness. Neuroticism is a function of activity in the limbic system, and research suggests that people who score high on neuroticism have a more reactive sympathetic nervous system, and are more sensitive to environmental stimulation. Conscientiousness was associated with sensitivity to ridicule, feeling of inferiority, and obsession with perfection or control.

TREATMENT:

Being a gastric ailment linked with the personality characteristics, there are two major parts of the treatment: DRUG therapies to alleviate the symptoms and NON-DRUG therapies for the personality traits so as to handle the stress and dietetic modifications.

NON-DRUG THERAPY OPTIONS:

These are the options to deal with personality traits that are the precipitating as well as maintaining factors for IBS pathophysiology.

Counseling: A psychologist or psychiatrist can help to reduce stress by looking at how you respond to events and then working with you to modify or change that response.
Deep breathing: Most adults breathe from their chests. But you become calmer when you breathe from your diaphragm, the muscle that separates your chest from your abdomen. When you inhale, allow your belly to expand. When you exhale, your belly naturally contracts. Deep breathing can also help relax your abdominal muscles, which may lead to more-normal bowel activity.
Relaxation techniques: Progressive relaxation exercises help you relax muscles in your body, one by one. Start by tightening the muscles in your feet, then concentrate on slowly letting all of the tension go. Next, tighten and relax your calves. Continue until the muscles in your body, including those in your eyes and scalp, are relaxed. Set aside at least 20 minutes a day for any activity you find relaxing – listening to music, reading, playing computer games or just soaking in a warm bath.
Food: Ideally, one should consult a dietician to plan a diet customized to your health needs. Fiber can be a mixed blessing. Although it helps reduce constipation, it can also make gas and cramping worse. The best approach is to gradually increase the amount of fiber in your diet over a period of weeks. Avoid problem foods. If certain foods make your signs and symptoms worse, don’t eat them. Common culprits include alcohol, chocolate, caffeinated beverages such as coffee and sodas, dairy products, and sugar-free sweeteners. If gas is a problem for you, foods that might make symptoms worse include beans, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. Fatty foods may also be a problem for some people. Chewing gum or drinking through a straw can lead to air swallowing, causing more gas. Eat slowly and have meals in a quiet, relaxing environment. Eat at regular times. Don’t skip meals, and try to eat about the same time each day to help regulate bowel function. If you have diarrhea, you may find that eating small, frequent meals makes you feel better. But if you’re constipated, eating larger amounts of high-fiber foods may help move food through your intestines. Drink plenty of liquids. Try to drink plenty of fluids every day. Water is best. Alcohol and beverages that contain caffeine stimulate your intestines and can make diarrhea worse, and carbonated drinks can produce gas.
Exercise: Exercise helps relieve depression and stress, stimulates normal contractions of your intestines and can help you feel better about yourself. If you’ve been inactive, start slowly and gradually increase the amount of time you exercise. If you have other medical problems, check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.
Herbs: Mint (pudina leaves) is a natural antispasmodic that relaxes smooth muscles in the intestines. Study results haven’t been consistently encouraging, but if you’d like to try peppermint, be sure to use enteric-coated capsules (like PudinHara). Peppermint may aggravate heartburn.
Probiotics: Probiotics are “good” bacteria that normally live in your intestines and are found in certain foods, such as yogurt, and in dietary supplements. It’s been suggested that people with irritable bowel syndrome may not have enough good bacteria, and that adding probiotics to your diet may help ease your symptoms.

DRUGS:

The primary drug groups are: Antispasmodics, Laxatives (C-IBS), Serotonin-agonists (C-IBS), Serotonin-antagonists (D-IBS) for IBS complaints. Along with that, anti-depressants and/or anti-anxiety medications can be prescribed if needed.

HOMEOPATHY & BACH FLOWER THERAPY FOR IBS:

Homeopathic treatment is based on individualistic treatment of ‘the patient’, instead of treating the organs or systems. Thus it aims at treating the root-cause by assessing the constitution of the patient, determined by a psycho-somatic analysis of the individual. Thus a well-selected constitutional deep-acting medicine would be the backbone of homeopathic treatment, aided by drugs like arg-nitr, gels, arsenic alb, aloe or nux vomica during the acute exacerbation.

Bach Flower Therapy aims at handling the emotional reaction pattern of the individual, leading to a more balanced or composed handling of the stressful situations. The remedies create positive vibrations against the unresolved negative feelings, which are usually the root-cause of the stress reactions, thus acting as a preventive therapy against the stressors that can trigger distress in future. Though, almost any of the thirty-eight Bach flower remedies can be used (as per the individual emotional need) in the cases of IBS, here are few very commonly prescribed remedies in my experience:

Aspen [anxiety], Cherry plum [control], Rock rose [panic], Mimulus [fear & embarrassment] and Pine [guilt] have been used as ‘Type Remedies’ in majority of IBS patients. These remedies are selected as per the basic temperament of the individual.

Apart from these, Larch [confidence], Gentian [setback], Beech [perfection] and Impatience [patience] have been used as ‘Helper remedies’, leading not only to a drastic relief in the IBS symptomatology but also a significant modification in the temperament and reaction-pattern of the patient.

Thus Bach flower remedies have offered both curative and preventive care for the patients of IBS.

Healing ‘Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome’ with Homeopathy

2010-05-07T15:47:00.006+05:30

Ms P, a successful manager at a leading IT company, was driving home after a tiring meeting at the office. Off late, she was experiencing slight weakness at the wrist and two fingers, especially while writing or holding a telephone receiver for long time. Today, while driving the car, she started getting severe tingling and numbness with stitching type of pain in the palm. After some time, she could not even drive the car efficiently and had to make an effort to reach home safely. She immediately took an appointment with a neurologist, who confirmed it to be the classical case of ‘Carpal Tunnel Syndrome’.

Background:

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a compressive neuropathy marked by weakness and pain in the hand and wrist. Its manifestations can range from a minor inconvenience to a severely disabling condition – depending on its cause, treatment and the maintaining factors.

The incidence is so common that it is estimated that approximately 500,00 people undergo surgery for CTS in the US alone.

The pathophysiology:

The carpal tunnel is located at the base of the palm and is bounded on 3 sides by carpal bones and anteriorly by the transverse carpal ligament. Inside run the median nerve, flexor tendons, and their synovial sheaths. CTS is predominantly caused by compression of the median nerve at the wrist, because of the swelling or growth of the flexor synovium. The pain in CTS is usually a secondary phenomenon rather than a direct physical damage.

Risk Factors:

* It usually runs in families.
* Obesity – or sudden increase in the weight.
* Occupation that involves repetitive wrist joint movement – e.g., piano players, or typing work.
* Medical conditions – like, diabetes, hypothyroidism, acromegaly, gout or rheumatoid arthritis.
* It is more prevalent in middle-aged females.

Clinical presentation:

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome usually progress gradually over weeks and months and sometimes years. Anyone with recurrent or persistent pain, numbness and tingling, or weakness of the hand should consult a doctor for a diagnosis. Symptoms often develop as follows:

* Initial symptoms include pain in the wrist and palm side hand. Symptoms commonly occur in both hands. (Even when only one hand is painful, the other hand often shows signs of nerve conduction abnormalities on testing.)
* Early on, the patient also usually reports numbness, tingling, burning, or some combination of symptoms on the palm side of the index, middle, and ring fingers. (Typically the fifth finger has no symptoms.) Such sensations may radiate to the forearm or shoulder.
* Over time, the hand may become numb, and patients may lose the ability to feel heat and cold. Patients may experience a sense of weakness and a tendency to drop things.
* Patients may feel that their hands are swollen even though there is no visible swelling. This symptom may actually prove to be an important indicator of greater CTS severity.

Diagnosis:

* A plain X-ray is of minimal use in diagnosing CTS.
* A magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] is reasonably accurate in locating the lesion.
* Electromyelography [EMG] or nerve-conduction studies can reveal the nerve block.

Treatment:

Drugs:

* These cases are usually treated with pain-killers.
* Local steroidal injections can drastically reduce the symptoms.
* A splint minimizing the movement at wrist joint

Exercises:

* Extend and stretch both wrists and fingers acutely as if they are in a hand-stand position. Hold this position for a count of five.
* Straighten both wrists and relax fingers for a count of five.
* Make a tight fist with both hands. Then bend both wrists down while keeping the fist. Hold for a count of five.
* Straighten both wrists and relax fingers for a count of five.
* Repeat each exercise 10 times, then hang arms loosely at side and shake them for a couple of seconds.

Surgery:

In more severe and limiting cases, surgical correction by releasing the transverse carpal ligament can be thought about. Surgery for CTS has a long-term success rate of greater than 75%.

Role of Homeopathy:

Since allopathic drugs give a temporary pain-relief, and surgery is not indicated in majority of cases suffering with CTS, a well-selected homeopathic remedy has a key-role to play in the treatment of CTS, by reducing the edema and the nerve compression. The usual duration of the therapy depends on the severity, depth of affection and concomitant medical disorders. Typically it takes around 6-8 months to obtain significant relief.

In my experience, both constitutional as well as locally acting remedies like Paris quadr, Hypericum, Guiacum, Causticum or Rhus tox have given relief. The key symptoms to elicit from the patient include: the type of pain, side of affection, causative factors, modalities and concomitant ailments.

CTS predominantly falls under sycotic miasm and thus an anti-sycotic intercurrent is needed whenever the case holds standstill.

Bach Flower Remedies For Recovering From Pet Loss

2010-05-05T16:14:00.000+05:30

Losing a pet is not only the loss of a dear friend, but also often the loss of a major source of unconditional love and affection. We get so attached to our pets that when they are no longer with us, the impact of their love and friendship still remain in our hearts. When we are unable to let go of the intense emotions around the loss of our pets and get stuck in thoughts of the past, unable to accept the present, then it is a good time for us to try flower remedies.

Bach Flower Remedies are 38 plant and flower based remedies developed by British physician Dr. Edward Bach in the 1930s that can help you to manage the emotional demands of life. Losing a loved one often begins a prolonged state of grief and despondency. There are specific Bach Flower remedies that can help with the emotions associated with grief and loss. Each remedy represents a particular emotional archetype, like fear, sadness, guilt, despondency, etc.

Recognizing exactly how you feel is the key to choosing the most appropriate Bach Flower Remedy. Sometimes this can be tricky, as our mental and emotional states can be a mixture of many emotions which might require a combination of corresponding flower remedies. The emotional states described below are ones common in pet owners after the loss of pet.

There are some remedies that are also safe to give to any co-pets, since they too are probably experiencing grief - Rescue Remedy, which is a blend of essences and Walnut. If you're having a hard time pinpointing which of your emotions should be addressed first, ask a friend to help you sort through them.

Here are few commonly prescribed remedies for healing and loss, and their key-indicators:

STAR OF BETHLEHEM: For recovering from SHOCK, if the loss was sudden and unexpected. Also helps animals who have suffered traumas or abuse.

WALNUT: If you're having a hard time ADAPTING to the loss, walnut works as a "LINK-BREAKER" to help you to let go and release your pet. Walnut is also safe for your other pets who may be grieving.

PINE: For getting over the 'GUILTY FEELING', if you are struggling with euthanasia, or having had to make a very difficult decision to let your pet go.

GORSE: For the feeling of HOPELESSNESS especially when you feel discouragement, darkness and resignation. Gorse brings deep and abiding faith and hope; equanimity and light-filled optimism.

SWEET CHESTNUT: In extreme cases of LOSS OF HOPE where nothing rejuvenates the mind and darkness overshadows ones life. Brings deep courage and faith in life.

HONEY SUCKLE: When our mind escapes the present, CLINGS TO THE PAST, and longs for what was. Helps one to learn from the past while releasing it.

WHITE CHESTNUT: If particular THOUGHTS / DREAMS of your lost pet repeat frequently, almost making you feel imprisoned. This will bring inner calm and a quiet, clear mind.

ASPEN: For any unexpected surges of ANXIETY that you may be feeling about the health of your other pets, in spite of their good health. Brings trust and confidence to deal with unknowns.

How to take them:

You can add 3-4 drops of the corresponding remedy to a glass of water. Sip frequently until the emotional state resolves to a more manageable intensity. In the case of a combination of dominant emotions, add 2 drops of each applicable essence.