Dedicated to the hard work of my mother, and deceased father (may his soul rest in peace) who did everything they could to bring me to the level where I stand today. Also dedicated to all my fellow homeopaths, and my teachers, striving to heal the suffering of humanity with their hard work and dedication to this incredible branch of science.

Words I live by: “Do what is right, not what is easy”.

Disclaimer:

The names of the patients have been changed to safeguard their privacy. Any similarities to persons living, or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Although the names of the remedies used to treat them have been mentioned in an effort for clarity, please note these remedies were not prescribed based on their diagnosis or the title of the disease the patients were suffering from.

Homeopathic remedies are prescribed on the complete symptom picture of the patient, including their individual personalities, and are therefore unique to them and should not be taken to cure any similar illness without prior consultation of a homeopath.

This book is in no way intended for self-help, or DIY cures. For your problems, you must always consult a doctor or homeopath. For emergencies, and life-threatening situations, always go to the hospital.

Homeopathy, a natural approach to healing

Introduction:

Homeopathy- or homeopathic treatment- is a system of alternative medicine created by Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, based on his doctrine of “like cures like”, a claim that a substance causing the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure similar symptoms in sick people.

Homeopathy has been a recognised discipline of treatment in Ontario, Canada since April 2015. With the rise in chronic diseases, people are now turning towards safe, more holistic approaches and have started to acknowledge homeopathy as an alternative method of treatment.

My discovery of homeopathy was linked to my search for a cure for my kids; both my children were diagnosed with problems that traditional medicine had no cure for, and as a mother before an allopathic doctor, I began to look for something to help alleviate their troubles and pain. Thankfully I found that very thing in Homeopathy, and for my children’s health, above all else, I will always be grateful to it.

Even years later, after my family’s immigration to Canada, I kept pursuing my quest for homeopathy. As my thirst for knowledge grew, I enrolled myself in post-graduation courses in Homeopathy (DHM) and simultaneously took several online live courses, the most significant of which were sessions offered by a renowned homeopath George Vithoulkas. There is no doubt that his efforts revived the credibility of homeopathy in these modern times. He is the staunchest supporter of homeopathy, having studied it in India for many years before he started teaching, and returned to treat patients in his hometown in Greece. He has also written many books about homeopathy, and his explanation of the levels of health still fascinates me. Even now, I consider myself a humble student of this wondrous science as despite practicing for 29 years, I continue to learn something new every day.

During the three decades since my exposure to Homeopathy, I have witnessed many patients recover from ailments which the traditional field of medicine believes to be incurable. These ailments ranged over many different types, but the one thing they all held in common was their severity, and the belief of allopathic doctors that they can only be managed to a certain extent with symptomatic treatment, not cured.

As someone who studied to be a traditional MBBS doctor long before I became a homeopath, observing patients who were deemed incurable by the very hospitals I was trained to serve in- was always the most painful part of being a doctor. It was initially very strange when I saw those very patients benefiting from homeopathic treatments operated out of a small clinic by a simple but learned homeopath.

Dr. Ashfaq was a wonderful man, with a vast experience in homeopathic practice, and an even greater belief in helping people. He became my first mentor, and I am forever indebted to him for guiding and motivating me in the pursuit of knowledge when I was a beginner confused by the sheer contrast to regular medicine. I hold the most profound respect for Dr. Ashfaq, may he rest in eternal peace.

The resilience of human nature is a beautiful thing, and I am also grateful to have the opportunity to play my part in helping so many people, and to be able to share this with everyone reading this. Every day, I find myself amazed by the healing capacity of the human body, and the intricate responses it gives to this marvellous branch of medical science. The true key to a healthy life is to engage in and help the body’s own natural responses to heal the ailment rather than suppressing them, and that is what Homeopathy is all about.

Last, but not least, I am thankful to my immediate family for being there to support me always, and for their roles as guinea pigs in my initial days of learning the art and science of homeopathy.

 

Who is this book for?

I felt the need to write this book, as an introduction to homeopathy for my patients. In it, I will address the questions I usually face during a typical first visitation with a new patient who, most of the time, doesn’t know what to expect out of it.

I have written this book- in particular, for:

·         People who are consulting me for the very first time. These patients are usually unaware of homeopathy themselves, but are referred by someone who was cured by it in the past.

·         People who are interested in understanding the basics of homeopathy.

·         People who were unable to receive a cure for their conditions through conventional medicine.

·         This book is not intended for homeopathic practitioners, or students of homeopathy.

My journey to homeopathy:

It is interesting to mention that I had wanted to become a doctor for as long as I can remember. I believe myself to have had the passion for healing the sick from the very beginning, and that very drive led me to graduate as a medical doctor- obtaining my MBBS degree in 1980.

After completing my internship in Pediatrics and Gynaecology, I served in several different hospitals, seeing a great deal of things, both wonderful and terrible. However, the tough times were always worth the catharsis I received from being able to help someone in need. A profession as a doctor is one of the most demanding but rewarding things in life, and I was happy to be a part of the healing I had always wanted to bring about in the world.

My life took its first turn away from conventional, when my daughter at the mere age of 10 months was diagnosed with Celiac disease i.e. wheat intolerance, which is an autoimmune disease. Being a purely allopathic doctor at that time, I was terrified to learn about the diagnosis, as I had been taught in Medical School that an autoimmune disease cannot be cured, and once diagnosed you have no choice but to live with it for the rest of your life. I was told by a renowned Paediatrician that the only treatment was for her to stop eating wheat throughout her life.

Around the same time, my son- the elder by 5½ years- developed chronic tonsillitis, with repeated bouts of sore throat, accompanied by high grade fever. Despite my care, and desire to be able to cure him, his condition worsened. It required recurrent courses of antibiotics. Finally, I was advised to have his tonsils removed.

As there was no treatment for either of my children in conventional medicine, I was pushed to investigate alternative methods of treatment, even though I was highly sceptical about it. Before opting for something as irreversible as Tonsillectomy, I decided to look into avenues I might not ordinarily have considered back then.

I consulted a renowned homeopath of the time, Dr. Ashfaq. To my amazement, my son was completely cured with homeopathy within a short span of time.

His sensitivity to the slightest change of temperature vanished, and his appetite improved. It was something unbelievable for me, and I wanted to know what was prescribed to my son, fearing that it might be cortisone. Instead, I was informed, that these were homeopathic remedies which caused such an impressive improvement in my child.

As a token of thanks and my own growing curiosity, I started volunteering with the same homeopath, and began studying homeopathy under his guidance. I used to read all the laboratory tests and different investigations which the patients used to bring with them, and to this day, I remember how stunned I always used to be to see improvement in the patient’s- usually severe- physical symptoms, alongside their test results.

Meanwhile, at home, I noticed that my daughter- now 3½ years old, who had been on a gluten free diet since diagnosis, had developed the habit of eating the heads of matchsticks. Having a medical background, I concluded that her Phosphorus metabolism must have been deficient in some way.

In Homeopathy, there happens to be a remedy by the name of Phosphorus also.

Upon studying it, it dawned on me that the symptom picture of Phosphorus fits nicely with the symptoms of my daughter. A couple of doses of Phosphorus cured her completely of not only her diarrhoea and sensitivity to wheat, but any trace of Celiac disease in her system.

I am indebted to homeopathy for more than just the health of my children; I, myself, have been a patient of homeopathy, and cured myself of the severe migraine headaches I had long been suffering from.

What’s interesting is that it took a while to cure myself of this condition, and I experimented with several remedies to achieve the goal.

One of the reasons behind it could be that by then, it was a prolonged, chronic problem worsened by the suppression caused by consuming different, strong painkillers; instead of improving, the headaches were becoming more frequent with increasing intensities, and steadily more intolerable with the passage of time. It seemed to me that these headaches had several different causes; for instance, bright sunlight could trigger it any time.

Once I was driving to Dr. Ashfaq’s homeopathic clinic on a very hot sunny day, and on the way, I developed a headache for which I took a Tylenol. It didn’t help much, and at the end of my shift at the clinic, I mentioned my headache to my mentor.

He asked me a few questions regarding the headaches and my history, and gave me a high dosage of a remedy called Sanguinaria Canadensis covering this specific symptom i.e. head pain due to exposure to sunlight.

While I was driving back home, I began feeling really sick, so I took the given remedy. I still can’t forget the response; the remedy was still in my mouth and to my utter surprise, my headache vanished in a few seconds. It felt like as if an invisible hand had peeled off the headache, like the relief of taking off a tight cap releasing the pressure from my head. From then onwards this specific trigger- pain due to hypersensitivity to the sunlight- never bothered me again. However, my struggle with the migraines persisted for a few years, as if layers of the ailment were being removed gradually, like the peeling of an onion. It took time to get to the core of the problem, but eventually, that too was addressed, and the migraines ceased.

After my personal experiences, and witnessing the cure of scores of chronic incurable patients, I found myself whole heartedly falling in love with homeopathy.

I am a firm supporter of homeopathy and have been practicing it for more than 27 years now. I believe it to be everything that medicine should be especially for chronic and non-life-threatening (acute) diseases.

Emergencies and surgical problems, however, should always be treated by the regular conventional way.

 

 

 

 

 

What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy had its beginning in eighteenth century Germany; Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician, was the founder of Homeopathy. Disappointed by the conventional way of treating the sick, he gave up his medical practice and came up with this new way of treatment.

Homeopathy is based on a unique, fixed law of nature “like cures like” also known as the Law of Similars. It is the basic and most fundamental law of homeopathy. According to the Law of Similars, any substance which can cause a set of symptoms when given to a healthy person can also cure someone who is suffering from similar symptoms.

The word homeopathy comes from the Greek word “homeo” meaning like or similar and “pathos” meaning pathology or illness. The word homeopathy thus literally translates to the definition that a substance which can produce symptoms, similar to the symptoms to be cured in a person, can heal and cure the patient.

According to Hahnemann, there are three ways of treating a disease:

1. Preventive medicine– removing the cause of the disease e.g. disease inducing factors which could be anything from stress, and poor living conditions to lack of nutrition, etc. 

2. Allopathy– healing by opposites e.g. pain killers for pain, antipyretics for fever, and laxatives for constipation.

3. Homeopathy– healing by similars e.g. symptoms which are produced by a remedy when given to a healthy person, cures those same symptoms if present in a diseased person.

In other words, homeopathy is working in the same direction of cure which nature wants and the organism is trying to achieve, by producing the symptoms instead of suppressing them and causing the body itself to achieve the cure by fighting the problem.

The conventional method of treatment, however, works in contrast i.e.: the opposite direction of cure; for example, anti-allergic for allergies, antacids for acidity, anti-diarrheal for diarrhoea, anti-emetic for vomiting etc. Usually these medicines manage to suppress the symptoms for the time being only, and they inevitably resurface till the time when the person being treated becomes too weak to push them out. With the passage of time, the original symptoms are completely suppressed, but a new set of more severe problems appear at a deeper level.

For example, in children with skin problems- such as eczema, or rashes- if the symptoms are suppressed through aggressive treatments, they often develop asthma after the disappearance of the original problem in question. The dermatologist then declares that the patient is cured of the skin ailment, but the patient is referred to a chest specialist instead.

However, as homeopathy is a holistic approach to heal the sick, we know that in sickness it is not just the specific part of the body, which is ill, but the whole organism that is suffering.

Keeping this simple principle in mind, when we look closer, we notice that the problem is not truly gone, but instead suppressed. With the immune system weakened, whatever is causing the original symptom in the ill child is not able to express itself outwardly- as an eruption on the skin- and the problem is shifted to a deeper level, in this scenario to the lungs.

Thus, it is logical to expect that the skin problems may reappear when treated with homeopathy as the immune system gaining strength may push the old symptoms out i.e: skin eruptions, and the asthma may subside, and get cured.

Think of it like a tight bandage on a cut or scrape; sometimes in order to heal the wound, the bandages must be removed to air it out. You have to let the symptoms manifest to figure out what the problem really is. In this case, the symptoms are not an issue, instead they are an expression of your body’s immune system that some sort of problem is happening within the body chemistry, whether through mental imbalances or external stimuli.

Unlike common perception, however, homeopathy is not naturopathy. It does have many remedies derived from the plant kingdom, but it is not entirely comprised of herbal medicines. In fact, the sources of homeopathic remedies are not so limited; its remedies can come from literally any substance which could have medicinal effects, and this list ranges from anything from plants, minerals and the animal world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How is Homeopathy different?

The uniqueness and difference of homeopathic remedies lies in the process of their preparation. These remedies are highly diluted, and most importantly succussed.

Succussion is a process in which after dilution, the remedy is vigorously shaken. By this method, the remedy is dynamised– also called potentized– and the toxicity of the remedy is removed.

Along with dilution, succussion- i.e. shaking or hitting the vial containing the remedy- is the process which brings out the healing power of the substance, hence the term “potentization”. The potency of the remedy is increased by these two processes. When fully prepared, especially in higher potencies, these remedies do not have any raw material i.e. crude substances left in them, but we are left only with the medicinal effect of the substance it is made from.

Critics of Homeopathy often talk about the high dilution of the remedies, and wonder how such diluted doses could have any effect, but what they fail to understand is that it is the process of succussion which makes the entire difference. The higher the dilution and succussion the more potent the remedy becomes, due to the simple process of succussion.

As I said earlier, during the preparation of the remedy, only the essence of the source material i.e. its medicinal effect is left behind. This means that the dynamic effect of the substance used to make the remedy remains, but the physical raw substance itself is not left behind. For example, crude poison like Arsenic when taken by a person will cause palpitations, vomiting, diarrhoea etc. and may kill the consumer depending upon the dosage, but the same poison prepared in homeopathic dilution has a curative effect when given to a patient having similar symptoms. The dilution, and succussion, unleashes the healing effect of the remedy and removes its toxicity, making it a safe, viable cure for all the symptoms that the poison Arsenic would induce.

Some critics often say that homeopathy is a scam and that its treatments probably work via the placebo effect. They say that it’s the time the homeopath takes to listen to the patient which works like psychotherapy, and helps the patient feel better. To this criticism I can only say that giving the time to truly listen to a patient helps, and might improve their mental state, but in order to get a complete cure at deeper levels, something which has the ability to touch the person at that level is needed.

Secondly, if it was truly just a placebo effect, or psychotherapeutic in nature then homeopathy would not be that effective for newborn infants, innocent children and even animals; and many case studies and research will show you, all of the above respond well and can get completely cured with homeopathy, if given the right remedy.

Minimum Dose:

It is well known that every new Physician is supposed to take a renowned promise- the Hippocratic Oath:

“Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient.”

This is exactly what any doctor or homeopath is supposed to do; at the heart of any health-related science is the desire to help and heal people. It is no different for homeopaths.

After selecting the most accurate remedy to match the patient’s symptoms, in both body and mind, the homeopath has to determine the best fitting potency to deal with the problems the patient might be facing.

According to Dr. Hahnemann- the father and founder of homeopathy- one should always select the minimum potency and dose which can stimulate the innate healing mechanism of the human body to bring out its cure.

Some patients respond well to a very small potency, and sometimes may recover fully after a single dose. Someone else may need a high and repeated dose to achieve a similar response.

Thus, the dosing of the remedy should always be according to the response of the patient. Keep in mind that the remedy should not be repeated when the healing process is already in progress. It should always only be repeated when needed.

Homeopathy is rightfully said to be an art as well as the science of healing. It is not as cut and dry as conventional medicine; along with the knowledge of the Materia Medica– which is like the sacred book of homeopaths, containing the entire list of homeopathic remedies and the symptom picture they cover, a homeopath must also have the knowledge and insight to select the best minimum dose to match the sensitivity of the patient. To achieve this, the homeopath usually starts with a very low dose and adjusts the potency according to the response of the patient.

In my experience, people who are sensitive to their environments, or have taken too many medicines are more responsive to homeopathic remedies.

 

Materia Medica of Homeopathy:

The Materia Medica of Homeopathy comes from two sources:

1.    Toxicology i.e. accidental poisoning, which is achieved by noting the symptoms which the poisoning produces at mental, emotional and physical levels.

2.    Proving, which is the recording of different symptoms after taking a small repeated doses of a remedy. Hahnemann conducted provings with different remedies on himself, his relatives and friends. He also compiled signs and symptoms of victims of accidental poisoning (accidental proving)

People often wonder what the scientific explanation of this approach to healing could be. Homeopathy is no doubt a scientific system of medicine.

I personally believe it to be the medicine of the future; how homeopathy works is difficult to comprehend, and explain- yet still, the science is advanced enough to deal with this question. Nowadays, we are talking about nanoparticles- those particles which are a billion times smaller in size than a meter- and its uses in conventional medicine.

In my opinion, homeopathy should be considered and declared the very first application of nanotechnology in the field of medicine. Our body’s balanced ecosystem and functionality at a microscopic level is working on the same principle at nanoscale. It is understood that the body’s cells maintain their internal balance by the same process i.e. nanoparticles which transmit messages, and perform different functions at the cellular level.

As humans our knowledge is limited. Science is still in the process of exploring different venues of knowledge.

It is a known fact that an adult human body is comprised of 55-65% water depending on the age and gender of the person. Infants and newborn babies have more i.e. between 70-80% of water in their bodies.

It is worth mentioning here, the work done by Dr. Masaru Emoto of Japan on the memory of water. He took samples of water from various sources; he froze a few droplets of water, examined them under a dark field microscope, and photographed the crystal formations produced by the water at the moment when it passed from liquid to freezing state.  He also studied the effect of different emotions on water, and concluded that water has memory. According to his research, water turned into beautiful crystals when gratitude was expressed to it, and formed distorted crystals when condemned. This could be the answer to the query of effectiveness of the highly diluted and succussed homeopathic remedies.

We are all provided with wonderful bodies by the Creator, which have the innate ability to heal themselves. Unlike machinery, which is dependent on others for maintenance and repair, nature has blessed our bodies with the ability to grow, and repair itself.

This is due to the energy in our body that the different organs and systems in our body coordinate with, and resonate together in harmony to maintain a healthy organism. This energy body or vital force departs when we die, and our bodies cease to function and start decaying. 

Hahnemann recognised this as fact and named this phenomenon as vital force. Health exists only when this vital force is capable of balancing and repairing the body and our internal organ systems. We become ill when the vital force is disturbed, or fails to effectively balance the internal mechanism of its organism with the stresses of life.

Every personality, however, is unique and may react differently to the same external influence. So, two individuals reacting to similar outside stimuli may still produce different symptoms. These symptoms are, in reality, produced by the body in an effort from the internal vital force to create a balance in order to survive in the best possible way.

Diseases can be either acute or chronic. Acute diseases are sudden in origin, short-lived, and not deep seated. In a healthy organism, these can be cured on their own by the body’s defense mechanism, if given enough time, but sometimes, they become fatal in a weak organism e.g. in cases of meningitis, pneumonia, and nephritis etc. 

Sometimes, though, when acute diseases are incompletely cured, and are suppressed over a prolonged period of time, they may cause the ailment to become chronic.

Chronic diseases are far more deep-rooted. They start slowly and are prolonged in nature. The patient’s vital force tries to deal with the disease in the best possible way by producing signs and symptoms, but the body is not capable of curing itself without external help.

This is where medical intervention comes in, to gain back complete health but in such a manner, which should help the body’s natural responses, not go against them.

Essentially, what I’m trying to explain is that just as there are different reasons behind different ailments, each individual is also different with their own idiosyncrasies and unique backgrounds. As such, there are different responses to remedies, and varying time frames for cures. It is not a one size fits all situations, as homeopathy is a holistic treatment that requires the homeopath to look at the bigger picture, and deal with it as a whole.

 

 

Natural Ingredients:

As mentioned earlier, homeopathic remedies are derived from natural ingredients. There are no chemicals or crude substances in it, once the remedy has been prepared, and thus there are no side effects.

The only caution is to repeat the remedy only when needed and avoid overdosing, because if repeated too often the symptoms which these remedies can cure may also appear, or grow in intensity. Once the patient stops taking the remedy in excess, however, these symptoms settle down without any lasting side effects.

As a matter of fact, the person comes out stronger after homeopathic treatment, as it stimulates and boosts the body’s natural immune system to achieve the cure.                

 

What to expect when you visit a Homeopath:

Taking a patient’s history in homeopathy is very different from the history required in conventional medicine.

It usually takes at least an hour to understand the case fully for the first prescription. The patient should clearly explain the ailment, and detail the symptoms they are experiencing, whether or not they think they are relevant to that particular case.

The homeopath then usually asks further questions to get clarity about the state of health of the patient.

It is necessary that the patient answers the homeopath’s questions truthfully, without embarrassment.

I have mentioned this before, but it merits repeating that homeopathy is a holistic way of treating the sick. A patient might have come for something as simple as a mild discoloration of the skin, but to a homeopath their deeper physical, emotional and mind symptoms (if present) are of more importance.

Any symptoms which stands out or is unique to the patient is very important to a homeopath, and often is the key to finding the best matching remedy.

Holistic Approach: ­

In Homeopathy, the patient is treated as a whole, rather than treating only the part of the body where the ailment is expressing itself. The overall picture of the patient is taken into consideration, with all the varying symptoms of body, mind and personality, instead of spot treating any one organ, or the categorized labels of disease.

In other words, homeopaths treat the patient and not the disease. According to homeopathy, the ailment is never limited to a single part of the body, but taken as the reaction of the whole organism to the outside threat it faces.

According to Dr. Vithoulkas, a person can become sick at physical, emotional and mental-spiritual levels. That is the reason why, when a patient consults a homeopath, his emotions, and mind symptoms are also taken into account- only if applicable, and especially if these quirks are strong. Even the patient’s past, personal and family history can be very important.

Health is essentially the absence of disease and the ability of the human body to withstand stresses at all levels. This is evident even in the word itself: dis-ease.

Health is, therefore, the freedom to react at emotional, mental, physical, and psychological levels in a non-harmful, non-negative manner. In disease, this personal freedom is limited. 

The best matching remedy can only be selected when the information provided by the patient is truthful and covers the patient as a whole. To be more precise, in order to treat someone, the essence of the patient is matched to the essence of the remedy to bring out their body’s cure.

When the remedy resonates with the vital force of a diseased person, it acts at the level of that vital force and strengthens the immune system of the person. During the primary action, the symptoms may be aggravated for a while, but then the curative action (also known as the secondary action) kicks in. Alternatively, the cure may even start without any symptomatic aggravation. During the curative process, old suppressed symptoms or problems may also resurface. These are all indications of correctly prescribed remedy. As such these are not causes of concern and only mean that you are heading towards the right direction of cure.

According to Constantine Hering (1800-1880), another renowned Homeopath, the direction of cure begins either from the innermost organs of the body to the outer organs, from above downwards, or in the reverse order of symptom development. 

Sometimes, the patient improves upon taking the remedy but then relapses after a short time. These difficult cases have obstacles or blocks to cure which are called miasms. Hahnemann recognised that in these cases, there were certain diseases in the past, or family history. It is common knowledge that people have a high likelihood of getting diseases that are prevalent in their families and ancestry.

For example, if somebody has a history of asthma, their next generation will also be prone to asthma. Their children may develop asthma as soon as their immune system becomes compromised due to any reason. This can be both because of genetic inheritance, and factors stemming from the family lifestyle. This is the reason why the family history of patients is very important for a homeopath.

It goes without saying that every human being has a unique personality, with their own likes, dislikes, preferences and idiosyncrasies. It is thus of utmost importance to a homeopath to pick up on any symptoms which stand out, and are unique to the patient. It can often be the crucial line between a successful cure and something that falls just short.

For example, a patient, Mohit once told me that he feels pleasure in the thought of his death; it was a very unique expression, especially in that particular age group, contrary to the more ordinary response, i.e. being afraid of dying and avoidance of thinking about it at all. A homeopath cannot ignore such unique symptoms, as it tells you a lot about the person and what he is facing.

As in homeopathy, there is no one remedy for any given disease, a homeopath must take the time to understand the person as a whole, and then suggest the treatment that best fits.

It is also important to find out the cause of the ailment; the human psyche is delicate and can be responsible for a lot of the physical responses of their body. For example, a patient can become ill because of the death of a loved one, or get sick after exposure to cold winds, or getting wet in the rain. It is very interesting to note that different people respond differently to any given stress and shock.

Part of the burden lies on the patient too; that is to narrate the symptoms and emotions, feelings etc. as clearly and truthfully as possible. Some patients only tell you about the problem they want cured; ignoring all other complaints and ailments they may be facing at the same given time. Other times, they are too embarrassed to be honest.

As a homeopathic doctor, we are just as committed to the expertise of our profession, and adhere to the same rules of patient confidentiality. Concealing, or giving incomplete facts hinders the treatment process as homeopaths are interested in the whole symptom complex, and if it’s possible, the progressive timeline of the disease (i.e: the sequence of the events, and symptomatic appearances) to be best able to understand the pattern, and progress of the disease.

Homeopathy has long been neglected and not given the due importance it deserves. It has all the potential of helping the suffering of humanity. It needs dedicated and fully committed medical professionals to further research and expand its boundaries. As a matter of fact, I believe Homeopathy does not need us, humanity needs homeopathy.

Finding the cause of the ailment:

Homeopathy is a difficult subject, and for me, also a fascinating one. As a homeopath we must understand what happened to the patient, where the ailment is manifesting its symptoms, why it is happening and how it progressed to the current state?

In our current time and age, environmental pollution caused by the introduction of chemicals, and excessive usage of conventional medication has led to the birth of complex symptoms in the human body. These are called “iatrogenic diseases”. In such cases, changing the location of the patient and attending to the specific nutritional needs of the patient helps.

Humans respond to different stimuli differently; their cultural backgrounds, personal histories, their upbringing and environments all have life-shaping effects on them. The reactions of people are relative to their world views and life experiences; for instance, some people react very strongly to isolation from family, developing homesickness and becoming ill, however this may be inconsequential for someone with little to no family ties, and thus would not hit them as hard.

Once this relativity in human nature is understood, and taken to be fact, it only stands to reason that there can also be a myriad of reasons for falling ill. Devastating life changes, shock, anger and grief can all be linked to developing ailments. In homeopathy, the real strife for the homeopath is figuring out the why’s behind ailments.

              Emotional causes of disease:

Emotions play a vital role in a person’s life.

Emotions if felt too strongly, can sometimes manifest themselves in the form of physical symptoms. It is common knowledge, and experience, that when stressed before examination, often students suffer from diarrhoea and may develop frequency of urine. Some people, when tense, get diarrhoea commonly called IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and others may develop peptic ulcers.

It is studied at great length in psychology that physical symptoms can be produced by unresolved emotions. As homeopathy is a holistic treatment, incorporating medicine with psyche, emotions are of utmost significance.

A good clarification to drive this point home is a case I worked upon several years ago; a patient I had the chance to treat- let’s call her Alicia- was associating a repeated strain of headaches to her delivery, as she had developed them after the birth of her third child. She was taking many different pain killers for her headaches.

Alicia came to see me for the treatment of vertigo, which had developed recently. She told me her headaches had become focused to the right side just four days back which caused her feelings of vertigo which was new to her. She then consulted a doctor who diagnosed her with “Ménière’s disease” and prescribed half to one tablet of Betahistine (16mg) three times a day. She was on the medication for the last couple of days with no improvement.

On inquiry about her past history, Alicia told me that she had been suffering from loss of sleep for the last four years and was sleeping only about four hours a day. She also complained about constipation, and incontinence of urine- upon coughing and sneezing- ever since her delivery a couple of months back. She told me that alongside these problems she had also recently developed a difficulty in maintaining her balance, especially if she had to move suddenly.

Upon asking for further details, I was told that her first child was born after four and a half years of marriage, and was now five years of age. After her birth, Alicia had remained bed ridden for about six months, as she had no strength in her legs though sensations of touch and pain were present. She recovered gradually although it took more than six months for her to become fully mobile. There was also a history of two miscarriages.

After learning that Alicia was the mother of three daughters.  I enquired if she was happy to have had this child. On this question, she started crying, and revealed that her in-laws had passed derogatory comments after her delivery. She explained how she was deeply hurt by these unjust comments, who were somehow expecting a baby boy instead. As the remedy was selected based on her emotional state, and not only on her physical complaints, her headaches, vertigo and constipation all improved gradually, and she recovered completely in a couple of weeks with Causticum. With the help of this case, it is simple to see the power of emotions, and the degree of their effect on a person.

Another example which I want to share, is a case of threatened miscarriage due to sudden severe anger. The lady- Rose- was 10 weeks pregnant when she was offended by one of her relatives. Rose felt bad about it, but kept quiet. Very soon after, she started bleeding and was advised complete bed rest by the doctor. She approached me for treatment.

Upon taking the details, I enquired if something had happened just before this bleeding started e.g.: any falls, trauma, or emotional upset etc. To which Rose responded that there was no history of physical injury, but she recalled that she was very emotionally upset on a relative’s uncalled-for remark, and soon after she developed this problem. Once the real cause of the ailment was determined, and treated accordingly, the problem was completely resolved, and the baby was saved with a couple of doses of Chamomilla.

Emotions can be of different kinds. Finding the right feeling, especially if it is very strong, is crucial to achieve complete recovery. I recently saw one particular case which proved very concerning for me. The patient, Priya was highly prone to self-blame. She was a very brave woman, having had a very tough, traumatic life, but remained practical albeit with a tendency to internalize her problems. She developed severe anorexia (loss of appetite), difficulty in swallowing and a continuous dripping from her nose. She went through all kinds of medical tests, including brain scans, and consulted several specialists. They could not find anything abnormal in her scans. One of the doctors eventually suggested to her that it was probably her CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) leaking out through her nose but that there was no treatment for it. Finally, she thought to try homeopathy and consulted me for treatment.

On enquiry, she told me that she had developed this passive, nasal dripping after being insulted by a relative, who had offended her a great deal, but she kept quiet about it and brooded. She initially developed a difficulty in swallowing and began to lose a lot of weight as she was forced to be on a liquid diet. Clearly, she was depressed, and that had been the trigger for her physical lack of wellbeing. I based my prescription not on just the difficulty in swallowing, or nasal discharge, but also her emotional state, her sensitivity to people’s remarks, and blaming herself for all the misfortunes of her life. Within two weeks of starting the treatment, despite the severity of her problem, her nasal drip ceased, and she gradually started to recover. The remedy selected on her unique symptoms was Natrum Muriaticum.

A body’s response to cure is also dependent on the reason for it being ill in the first place. It is worth mentioning here, that some illnesses manifest simply due to deficiencies; it can be anything from deficiency of basic vitamins, minerals and micronutrients to malnutrition due to lack of proteins and starvation. Such illnesses can be easily cured by rectifying the deficiency, and focused care of diet and its nutritional values. However, if these deficiencies are due to a disease or larger scale problem, for example, mal-absorption due to gastroenteritis, diarrhoea etc. it can be cured by homeopathy.

Some ailments can even be due to unfavourable surroundings e.g. lack of sleep, or lack of sunlight, stress, exposure to cold wind, wet basements, exposure to strong sunlight (heat stroke), abusive/ controlling relationships etc. which need to be addressed to bring about the cure.

It is very intriguing to note that homeopathy can cure animal ailments, and can be used to strengthen weak plants too. This works solely as homeopathy is based on the symptom picture of the disease. People are also successfully using homeopathy to treat cattle in their farms.

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I take the remedy?

Homeopathic remedies are usually dispensed in milk sugar pills, which can be put directly on the tongue without water; for the sake of ease, these pills can also be dissolved in water and administered. Children in particular, love to take homeopathy in milk sugar pill form, as it tastes more like candy than medicine.

Some patients are sensitive to homeopathy, especially if they are elderly, weak or have a chronic problem with a history of having taken too many antibiotics, and the consequential development of a suppressed immune system. In such cases, a homeopath is always extra careful, and starts with a very small potency and a highly diluted dose, which is then adjusted according to the patient’s response.

It is interesting to report that Homeopathy can also be dispensed by olfaction i.e. smelling the remedy in the case of a heightened sensitivity in patients.

Homeopathic remedies can also be given safely to young children and even infants. Interestingly, it can even be given indirectly to the breastfeeding infant via the mother. Usually mother and child both need the same remedy soon after delivery, and both can benefit from the dose given to the nursing mother simultaneously.

One important thing to note about homeopathy is that its effect manifests upon contact with the mucous membrane of the mouth. This is the reason it is highly advised not to eat or drink anything 15-20 minutes before, and after the remedy.

 

What can be cured by Homeopathy?

People often ask me what kind of ailments can be cured with homeopathy.

My answer to them is that human bodies have an immense, inherent potential to heal. The body balances itself against external threats in the least damaging, most favourable way, through the formation of physical symptoms. Homeopathy helps the body’s innate ability to self-heal by improving, and strengthening the immune system. Thus, recovery due to homeopathic remedies is always the optimal way in any given circumstance.

In my opinion, homeopathy has a vast scope in curing all kinds of illnesses, especially if the patient comes in for consultation early in the course of their disease. If it is caught early, there is always a higher chance for complete, and uncomplicated recovery.

If the damage is already too great, and the patient’s symptoms are highly suppressed with aggressive treatments e.g. repeated antibiotics, cortisone and surgery; then it is important to realize that the improvement in health will be slow, but the patient still generally feels better than before. Depending upon the severity, it may take time, patience and several consultations, but in the end, the body’s healing potential usually always comes back into action and recovery can be achieved to the maximum extent.

However, for people who need operations, for example, from major accidents where the stitching of wounds is required, and fractures need to be reduced, set or operated on, one must go to the hospital for medical assistance and get it treated in the conventional way. Homeopathy might be a miraculous art and science, but it is not magic. It doesn’t always work in severe emergencies, or physical mishaps.

A common misconception is that homeopathy is good for chronic problems only. I want to make it clear that homeopathy is also very effective for acute illnesses, and childhood diseases. As a matter of fact, it is when a person gets repeated acute illnesses that the body’s capacity to recover fully is compromised, and the problem develops into chronic status. For example, repeated attacks of flu or tonsillitis may end up in chronic tonsillitis, sinusitis, chronic bronchitis or even asthma, depending on the susceptibility of the person and the strength of their immune system.

Any classical homeopath takes the time, and makes an effort to select the best matching remedy as only one remedy is the best match at any given time to bring out healing in the right direction of cure. If the symptoms change, the remedy might change in the future, depending upon the changed symptoms and their intensities.

However, it is not just about the homeopath; the healing also requires the patient’s full cooperation, to notice any change in their symptoms, no matter how slight, irrelevant or insignificant seeming. The symptoms are reassessed in the follow up of the case, to ensure that the treatment is progressing in the right direction. Follow ups enable the homeopath to select a new remedy, if needed, or to adjust the dose and potency of the same remedy.

Any reappearance of past suppressed symptoms, however, is nothing to worry about, and is taken as something along the right direction of cure. It shows that the body’s own immune system has become stronger, and is throwing any previously suppressed symptoms.

Can both allopathic and homeopathic medicines be taken at the same time?

Patients often ask me if they can continue with their regular medication while they are on homeopathic medicines.

My answer to them is always that they should never abruptly stop taking their prescribed conventional medicines, as their bodies are accustomed to taking them for months and years. On sudden halt, their bodies may even undergo shock and cause a variety of symptoms.

It is only as their condition improves, and the patient begins to feel better, that their physician may decrease the dosage of medicine slowly.

Having said that, however, some conventional medicines are so strong that they antidote the effects of homeopathic remedies, and as such the remedy may have to be repeated frequently to have an effect.

The bottom line is that a careful decision must be taken, which should always be in the best interest for the welfare of the patient.

Are there any side effects of homeopathic medicines?

As mentioned earlier, homeopathic remedies are highly diluted and as such are extremely safe, even for infants and newborns.

The only precaution is to not repeat the dose unless needed. One should avoid overdosing, and follow the instructions of the homeopath fully.

Does homeopathy work for children and infants?

Children love homeopathy as it is child-friendly, sweet to taste and easy to dispense. It is always a huge relief to mothers that they don’t have to struggle with the kids to give them medicine. Instead, they face the opposite problem; they often have a hard time explaining to their kids not to take it themselves, as it is not a sweet treat, but medicine. Usually, my littlest patients when visiting for their consultations, end up demanding the medicine they love so much.

Homeopathy has also proven to be very effective in childhood diseases. The primary reason of this is that children have not had the chance to take many medicines, and thus their ailments and immune systems are not suppressed for too long. Their symptoms are usually very clear which is why they respond very well to homeopathy.

I get all kinds of acute cases of throat and ear infections, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections, bronchitis, skin problems and many other childhood ailments. Many difficult to handle children, who complain and are generally fussy, calm down with homeopathy like a charm.

Kids with teething problems also respond very well to homeopathy.

Often an ailment, which for all purposes looks like a bad habit, also gets cured with homeopathy. I recall several children with secondary habits of nail biting; another had a habit of picking her nose until it bled; both of them were completely cured with homeopathy, along with the main complaint they had come to be treated for.

 

How can you, as an MBBS doctor, believe that homeopathy is more effective?

I am often asked how, despite my education and training, I can discount everything that I have been taught, and believe in an alternate practice to medicine.

To this, I have to say, it is not an unfounded belief, I too, started as a sceptic; it took me a lot of time, the treatment of my children, and many witnessed miracles of healing that changed my opinions, and brought me along this path.

I will share some of the amazing but sometimes unbelievable- even for me- cases that I treated patients for. I hope it will help you better understand the true limitless capacity of Homeopathy, as an art and a science.

Many faces of a remedy:

Homeopathic prescription is not based on the title of disease, but the unique and specific symptom picture of the patient. Just to bring this point home, I want to share some incredible cures with a single remedy: Pulsatilla Pratensis.

It is interesting to note that the ailments cured vary from something as simple as earaches, flu, fevers, and sore throat, to incontinence of urine, bronchitis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and something as deep-rooted as a mind-related psychological issue.

It is to be mentioned that while I am giving only the example of Pulsatilla, but each other homeopathic remedy follows the same pattern and rule i.e. a single remedy which ever it is, can cure totally different kinds of ailments as long as the remedy fits the symptom picture of the patient.

Hallucinations:

 

One such patient that I was able to treat, Amara was a very polite lady who cried easily and sometimes without any cause. She used to hallucinate that as she watched, grass would begin to grow rapidly out of the room’s tiled floors. Besides this symptom, she also had incontinence of urine upon coughing and sneezing. Upon engaging her in conversation, and being told her history, I learnt that her state of mind had become like that ever since her husband passed away a couple of years back. Her incontinence and hallucinations were cured completely with Pulsatilla in a couple of months.

Prostate Enlargement:

One of my earliest cases, which is about 27 years old, and which I can never forget is the case of an enlarged prostate. One of my neighbours back then, Rashid was a young man in his late twenties. One day, I saw him walking in the street, with a urine bag in his hand.

I had stopped just to say hello, and out of concern, asked about his health. Rashid told me that he had developed obstruction of urine, after frequent attacks of urinary tract infections, for which he had taken repeated antibiotic courses.

After detailed investigations, and laboratory tests, it was found that his prostate was enlarged, and that the urine is full of pus cells. Rashid was told that the infection had settled in the prostate, and that was the reason behind its enlargement. He was advised to remove his prostate.

Rashid was unmarried, and was booked for surgery in about 2 weeks’ time. I offered him homeopathic treatment, and told him it might give him some relief while waiting for the surgery, to which he agreed.

He came for the consultation; upon taking the case in detail, I found that he did not ever feel thirsty, couldn’t eat too much of heavy and rich foods. Rashid was a very gentle and polite person. I prescribed Medorrhinum- followed by Pulsatilla- to him based on my observations, and asked him to update me if he felt any changes.

It had been a shot in the dark, as this was in the earlier days of my practicing homeopathy. I only expected for his pain to be eased, but much to our surprise, Rashid recovered completely; his urine was completely normal on the next lab test. The size of his prostate had also recovered to normal. The surgeon removed the catheter, and placed him on observation, cancelling his surgery entirely. I gave him a few more doses to repeat in case he ever felt burning, or obstruction in passing urine.

In the next 9 years, after his treatment that we remained in touch, Rashid was happily married with kids, and never had any further complaint of UTI’s, or prostate problems

Excessive Crying, and Depression:

I treated another one of my neighbours, Samiya, a woman who had once visited our home, following one of my guests, who also happened to be her close friend.

She sat there complaining about her relatives, and weeping nearly the entire time.  It was obvious that she had wanted consolation, and a shoulder to cry on. I listened to her as she was narrating her grievances to her friend. I offered Samiya my sympathies and mildly asked a few questions about her symptoms, and her life. As she was leaving, I offered her a dose of a remedy Ignitia, which she casually took, and both the ladies left.

The next day, the weepy neighbour came back, and enquired about the remedy I gave her. Samiya told me she had fallen asleep while watching TV in the family room, which had not happened in ages. She was so in awe, that she wanted a detailed consultation immediately.

On taking her history in detail, Samiya told me she couldn’t sleep with the door of her room closed. She always wanted one of her children to sit outside the room door, on guard, so that she could sleep comfortably. She was a very sensitive person, who cried easily. She was never thirsty, wanted consolation and sympathy all the time. Based on these symptoms I prescribed Pulsatilla to her, and Samiya overcame her fear of closed doors and sleeplessness. She became emotionally more stable, stopped crying and complaining, and her thirst also improved. Samiya recovered completely in two months of homeopathic treatment and was grateful for how much easier her life had become.

Another patient of mine, Alya came to me on the recommendation of a relative of hers that I had treated previously. Her need for consultation was due to overwhelming feelings of depression and loneliness. Alya had been feeling forsaken by her husband ever since he had started a new job in a different country. As I talked to her, I discovered that her personality type fit the profile of Pulsatilla. Once I gave her the right remedy, these heightened feelings of loneliness became manageable once more, and she recovered from the depression that plagued her.

Stomach Pain and Acidity:

 A woman, Lin once came in for consultation for the burning pain in her stomach, and severe acidity for which she was prescribed antacids. They had had little to no effect, which convinced her to take homeopathic treatment. On asking Lin for details, Pulsatilla was indicated as the personal remedy and cured her of this ailment in a simple dose.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS):

A young girl, Helena once came in for a consultation in regards to her irregular, and delayed periods. She had been diagnosed with PCOS and had all kinds of test reports with her, including ultrasounds..

After taking a detailed history, the emotional picture of Pulsatilla was indicated, and I prescribed it to her in repeated, increasing doses. Helena improved emotionally as well as in physical health. Her period system became normal, and timely.

Within the next few months she underwent blood tests and ultrasounds once more, and there was no lingering sign of PCOS.

I once had a very sensitive lady, Joanne come in for consultation for irregular and scanty periods. She suffered from obesity, lack of thirst, and wept easily. Joanne also had complaints of feeling too hot even during winters. She regained her health after Pulsatilla. She became stronger both emotionally and physically, started drinking water and her menstrual cycle became normal.

Rheumatoid Arthritis:

A patient that I once treated, Edith had developed pain and swelling in her joints, but most so in her finger joints which looked highly inflamed and swollen. Her blood test showed positive Rh factor, and she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, for which she was given strong painkillers and cortisone.

Edith was a polite, thirst-less, slightly overweight lady who felt overheated a lot, and frequently wanted windows open with fresh air coming into the room.

Based on the symptom picture and her unique personality I prescribed Pulsatilla and her joint pains were cured completely. Edith recovered, and has been without pain killers for over 8 years now. Besides being pain-free, she is far more composed and energetic now. She is also much happier.

Edith even told me recently in one of her follow up consultations, that one of her relatives had also developed the same disease around the same time, but that lady opted for treatment other than homeopathy, and is now sadly bed ridden with deformed painful joints.

Ear Infections, and Toothaches:

A 10-month-old baby, Lola developed sore throat and fever, and was taken to a doctor for examination. The doctor checked her temperature and her ears, and declared that one of her ears is infected. The sick infant was calm and quiet before, but did not like this interference in her personal space and Lola started crying and clinging to her mother, Marie.

This went on for hours when Marie- a previous patient of mine- brought her to me for consultation in the evening. I observed that Lola wanted closeness to her mother, and wanted to hold her hand while crying almost constantly. Based on this symptom, I prescribed Pulsatilla to her immediately. After the very first dose, Lola stopped crying and calmed down. She went to sleep as we watched, and the fever gradually settled. Her appetite also improved.

Next day, upon consultation by phone, I recommended a second dose to Marie for the child, which completed the cure and she recovered.

A young man, Hugh, who was suffering from severe toothache responded very well to Pulsatilla and his toothache vanished entirely with a few doses.

H. Pylori:

A middle-aged man I knew, Sebastian suffered from constant pain in his left lower abdomen. He was thoroughly investigated, and the test results confirmed that he suffered from H Pylori. The doctor advised the standard triple therapy which includes Amoxil, Clarithromycin, and a proton pump inhibitor. As I talked to Sebastian about the possibility of homeopathic treatment, during history taking, he began to tell me how he felt lonely and abandoned, as he was away from the family in another country due to his job. He also experienced little to no thirst.

Sebastian’s pain settled with a single dose of Pulsatilla and his thirst also improved.

Prolonged Acne, Ringworm:

David, a man with a longstanding history of a decade old ringworm eruption on the skin got cured with Pulsatilla as it was the indicated remedy based on his unique personality and symptoms.

Another woman, Iliana, who was having constant severe skin eruptions of many years was also cured of her illness by Pulsatilla.

The point of sharing these varied cases- some extraordinary, and some completely within the realm of the usual, was to highlight how a single remedy in homeopathy can cure different diseases of different magnitudes in different people, provided that their personality/ symptom picture fits the profile of the remedy; in these cases Pulsatilla Pratensis.

Many times, ailments the patient is suffering from- though they have not yet been diagnosed by medical lab tests- provided that they have clear symptoms pointing towards diagnosis, can also be cured with homeopathy as the symptoms are the body’s way of trying to create a balance to survive in the best possible way. It is these symptoms which can guide a homeopath to the right remedy, and therefore, a cure.

There are also many psychological ailments that modern medicine can only regulate with medication, which the patient usually ends up taking for the rest of their lives. In my experience, even such patients, especially those with problems that are caught in early stages with homeopathic treatment, recovered completely.

Many faces of Flu:

Above, I discussed how different maladies may be cured in different people with a singular remedy. Interestingly though, in Homeopathy, the same ailment in different people may need totally different remedies. Unlike conventional medicine, homeopathy does not treat every patient the same way, based upon the diagnosis or disease title, instead, any given disease can be cured by scores of different remedies which have to be selected according to the whole symptom picture of the patient.

Just to clarify, while superficially an ailment- especially if its simple and common- may look the same in two people, a homeopath understands that every patient is different, and they may be suffering due to totally different reasons or may even have contrasting responses towards the ailment. Therefore, they may need completely distinct remedies to bring out their body’s cure.

For homeopaths, each patient is an interesting story if we listen to them carefully. Here I will narrate a few cases of flu which are separated by the remedy that cured them:

Aconyte:

A patient, Michael, developed a sudden flu with chills and fever after an exposure to cold, dry wind. He responded and got well with a few doses of Aconyte.

Arsenicum Album:

Another patient developed flu. Junaid was feeling very cold and looked visibly anxious. He was restless, and sipped water continuously from a bottle every few minutes. Junaid responded to Arsenicum Album and recovered fully after a few doses.

Allium Cepa:

A lady, Lucia developed severe flu and sneezing, with nasal discharge although the left nostril was obstructed. She came in for consultation as she happened to be a regular patient. Her symptoms were worse in the house, and yet she felt better in the open. The sneezing was loud, and used to come as if an attack. Lucia responded well to Allium Cepa and recovered in a few days.

Bryonia:

A 10-year-old boy, Hidayet developed flu which soon progressed, and he developed a high-grade fever, and dry cough. The parents brought him in for consultation. Hidayet wanted to go home and was reluctant to talk, quietly leaning on the seat he was sitting on. He recovered completely with a few doses of Bryonia.

Tuberculinum:

A friend of mine, Hajra was rather underweight, and had weakness beginning to show in her face, developed flu with repeated sneezing. She completed several courses of different anti allergic medicines as she happened to be a doctor herself. Those didn’t help her much, and Hajra turned to me for treatment. A homeopathic remedy Tuberculinum worked like a charm for her, and her flu along with the sneezing settled down eventually.

Euphrasia:

Saima, a patient with a history of pollen allergy who had developed sneezing with nasal discharge and constant watering from the eyes recovered with Euphrasia.

Lachesis Mutus:

Another patient, Zoya was also severely allergic to pollen. She was experiencing repeated attacks of flu and sneezing every spring. Zoya responded well, and was cured by a dose of Lachesis Mutus.

Natrum Muriaticum:

Sonya, a very quiet and reserved lady who was suffering from bouts of sneezing with flu responded well to Natrum muriaticum and was cured completely.

Pulsatilla:

Michaela, a child with flu and fever responded to Pulsatilla as her symptoms pointed to this remedy.

Chelidonium Maus:

Yulia, a very practical lady, developed fever, cough, sneezing and flu. She was also complaining of pain in the back, behind the right lower chest. Yulia responded well to Chelidonium Maus. Her fever and flu settled along with the pain behind the liver.

Capsicum:

I will never forget the response to homeopathy I once saw when my husband fell ill. We were new immigrants to Canada and still in the initial phase of settlement here. We landed in October and soon winter was in full force. Unaccustomed to such harsh winters, my husband got sick with flu, chills and high-grade fever.

I tried a few remedies but there was no response. The next day, he called the kids to our room and asked, “Who wants to go back home with me; I am going back.”.

Hearing this, I realized he is terribly homesick and gave him a dose of a homeopathic remedy named Capsicum. Soon, he was in deep sleep.

He woke up after a couple of hours without any trace of the fever or flu, drenched in sweat as the fever settled down. I was amazed to note that he forgot that he had wanted to go back home when he woke up.

It is also interesting to note that he had been in the habit of using capsicum plaster frequently for many years, in order to relieve back pain.

Gelsemium:

Another memorable event I would like to share here is about my son when he was only 10 years old.

We were about to leave for UK to visit our relatives. The flights were booked, and we were all packed and ready to depart in a couple of days when my son developed flu and fever.

I was still a novice in homeopathy at that time as I was still learning more about this wondrous science. I took along my beloved homeopathic kit and we left for UK with him still unwell. During this time, I gave him some remedies with no response.

When we landed and reached Derby where we’d be staying, my brother-in-law- an allopathic doctor- prescribed a broad spectrum antibiotic. But the fever continued.

After a few days the antibiotic was replaced with a stronger one to no avail. I began to notice that the fever would worsen incrementally; lower in the start of the morning and increasing gradually to its peak as the sun set in the evening, settling down completely at night only to reappear the next day with the same pattern.

My son was also lethargic with lost appetite, wanting to lie down all the time. Taking all these symptoms into account I gave him a dose of Gelsemium. My son had an almost immediate response, he began to sweat out and the fever settled down. I stopped administering the antibiotic at once as it was not effective anyway. I repeated a dose of the remedy again in the morning and that was the end of my ordeal, and my son was well again.

Homeopathy is deceptively simple; its difficulty lies in pinpointing the real cause of ailment as well as narrowing in on the relevant symptoms before choosing the best matching remedy according to factors based on the illness and the individual.

Please remember there are hundreds of remedies for flu, as diverse as the personalities of people. The above examples are taken from my patient cases just to emphasize and clarify that there is a huge range in symptom pictures for even a simple ailment like flu.

Some interesting cured cases:

Homeopathy is a difficult subject, based on attention to the minutest of details, as only the correct reason of illness should be addressed to get a cure.

Even ailments which need surgical intervention can sometimes be cured with homeopathy. Many kids who had adenoids, and enlarged tonsils- my own son being an example of the latter- and who were advised surgery, recovered fully with homeopathy. It is necessary to mention that the size of their tonsils also decreased along with the cured adenoids. In this process, their appetite also improved significantly, and they started thriving again

Some other cases aren’t as straightforward, either due to previous medical history or complications, or a simple lack of looking at the bigger picture during treatment. As mentioned before, homeopathy is a holistic treatment, which requires the homeopath to look at the patient at a variety of scales; the overall or macro scale, and then at micro scale for specific, strong symptoms whether physical or mental.

For the sake of clarifying this point, and driving home that Homeopathy truly doesn’t treat people based on just their disease title, these are some of the more challenging, and intriguing cases I’ve dealt with over my years as a homeopathic doctor.

Haematoma:

I recall this one case of a newborn baby, Daniel who had a large haematoma (blood clot) on the top of his head due to a difficult and prolonged delivery. The parents were advised to get it drained by surgery. Before going through with it, they thought to try homeopathy, as the family members were already my patients.

With a few homeopathic remedies which were dissolved in water, before being administered to Daniel in half teaspoonful doses for a few days, the haematoma dissolved, and the scalp was completely clear of the big raised mass.

The remedies that cured the haematoma- Calcarea Fluorica 3x and Silicea Terra 6x- were based on the physical symptoms, and the level of emotional distress of the infant. I also gave the mother, Gabriella, Arnica to recover from the pain, and bruised sensation she was experiencing post-delivery. Arnica also helped Daniel recover indirectly as he was breast feeding.

Sore throats:

Small children frequently get sore throats and earaches which can be effectively cured with homeopathy. There are many remedies for such ailments. As proven in earlier headings such as Many Faces of a Remedy, and the Many Faces of Flu there is no one remedy fit for all in homeopathy, even if it is just a simple ailment like a sore throat.

Sore throat is a very generic term. A person could develop a sore throat due to many different reasons.

Just to elaborate my point, I would like to share one such case of sore throat with you. A child, Mohinder was brought to me by his mother as he was having recurring bouts of sore throat, and as a complication he developed Adenoids with the obstruction of his nose.

He was given several courses of antibiotics over recurring episodes of high-grade fever and infections. Eventually Mohinder was booked for surgery for the removal of tonsils and adenoids.

As surgery is a very extreme step, the parents decided to consult me before going through with it. I gave him three remedies repeated in small doses, Thuja, Tuberculinum and Pulsatilla. Instead of all at once, these remedies were administered with gaps in time to maximize and observe the effect of each, and was based on the changing symptoms. Mohinder recovered completely, and the need for surgery was eliminated.

Even while I was writing this book, I came across a patient, Maya who suddenly developed an acute sore throat along with fever and chills. She was feeling extremely weak and had lost her appetite completely. Maya told me that as it was very cold, she believed she had gotten sick due to exposure to the cold wind blowing.

I gave a remedy to Maya based on this symptom but there was no change to her ailment. Usually this means that the correct reason of illness hasn’t been determined. It was then I recalled that besides the cold, it had also rained on the day that she claimed she had caught the cold. In fact, it was the rain which had caused the temperature to drop significantly. On further inquiry, Maya confirmed that she had gone out to visit someone, and had gotten wet in the rain too.

A remedy named Dulcamara was selected on this basis which cured the fever, chills, flu, quickly, and she made a full recovery. The most interesting part of this case, however, came after; Maya reported after a few days that her blood pressure, for which she had already been taking medication, had also gotten settled after the remedy. It turned out she had forgotten to take her blood pressure in the last few days during her acute illness.

On learning this, I asked if Maya had other chronic problems, such as headaches, warts etc. besides high blood pressure. On taking further details from her I came to know that she often had had episodes of high blood pressure with severe headaches, and vomiting when she got really angry. Another symptom that stood out was that Maya wanted everyone at home to obey her, and had many fleshy warts.

It became clear to me that besides covering her acute symptoms, the Dulcamara was also her constitutional remedy i.e. it also covered her chronic symptom picture perfectly. It is a very rare occurrence that a person would need the same remedy in their acute as well as chronic ailments. It is interesting to note that since then, Maya only occasionally needs the same remedy with consecutively longer intervals. She is calmer, happier and far more energetic now.

Stress, & Fear of Failure:

I once treated a teenage boy, Sikander, who took the pressure of studies to heart, suddenly became very religious, and began to isolate himself until it was reported to me that Sikander had developed paranoia, saying that he saw people peeping at him from behind the curtains. The problem grew so severe that he had stopped going to his university, and stopped talking even to his close friends.

Sikander recovered with Lachesis, and resumed his studies. He occasionally needs his remedy once or twice a year now, but for the most part is healthy and well.

Uncontrollable Laughter:

I want to narrate one very intriguing case of a girl of around 12 years of age. Usha had no control over her laughter. There was no other complaints besides this. Usha used to laugh without any cause and upon telling her not to laugh, her laughter grew even more. On taking her case details, and talking to her, I could see that Usha was visibly trying her best to control her outburst of laughter in vain. Her parents were really concerned about her.

As there was no treatment for her in the conventional route of medicine, her parents brought her to see me. I came to know that her parents were quite controlling, and they had strict rules imposed at home to follow. The child had a deep conflict within, as Usha loved her parents and at the same time despised the strict environment at home. Usha was cured completely with homeopathic remedy Cannabis Indica.

Severe Headaches:

A 10-year-old girl, Ariana developed severe, crippling pain in the head (occipital region). She was thoroughly investigated but all the results came back healthy and entirely within the normal ranges.

Her parents tried different doctors, and many courses of medicine to no avail, and finally came around to homeopathy. On learning the details, it became clear that Ariana had developed the headache after the marriage of her elder sister who she was very close to.

A remedy Phosphoric Acid based on this symptom, i.e.: missing her elder sister intensely, along with headaches and her detailed mental symptoms cured Ariana completely.

Panic Attacks & Palpitations:

Iraj, a patient who was extremely panic stricken and shaking with repeated palpitations came in after this caused him to get into a car accident. He responded very well to the remedy prescribed to him, a single dose of Aconitum Napellus, and calmed down without needing further treatment.

Abdominal Pain:

A 7-year-old girl, Kaori developed severe abdominal pain. She was investigated, and every single test came back normal. The doctors could not find any material cause of the ailment, and prescribed painkillers which worked only for a short period of time. The severe cramping pain kept recurring with increasing intensities with the passage of time.

Kaori had an extreme fear of the dark, and was also quite afraid of being alone. After taking the details of her physical symptoms along with her emotional issues, it became clear that the severe abdominal pain had started after the separation of her parents, triggered by the unbearably drastic change she had felt in her life when her mother moved out.

It was simply beyond her capacity to cope with as Kaori loved them both dearly. She missed her father intensely, as she was living with her mother. On taking the details, Phosphorus came up as the perfectly matching remedy.

The correct reason behind the ailment is of prime importance to find the right remedy. Kaori recovered completely after a couple of doses of Phosphorus as it completely covered her physical as well as her mind symptoms.

Eczema & Excessive Shyness:

Behroz, a teenage boy I once treated came to me for eczema that had developed on his forearm.

He had been given many antibiotics and ointments by the skin specialist. Usually, the condition was suppressed for a few months, only to reappear with an increased intensity.

When his parents brought him to see me, I gave him different remedies based on the rash, which helped reduce the intensity of it but did not completely cure the problem.

Finally, noticing that Behroz was very polite and overwhelmingly shy, I based my prescription on his mind symptoms along with the physical complaint, and gave him Staphisagria which cured him completely of his eczema.

The mind symptoms which had stuck out to me was that he was too polite. Behroz never got angry at anyone even if they were insulting him, or being rude. It was, in fact, the opposite; he always blamed himself for everything.

Behroz is still polite, though no longer shy to a pathological level and will defend himself in an argument if the situation arises.

Rashes and Nodular Eruptions:

A patient, Nitya came in for consultation as she had developed a rash on her feet, and a thick, itchy nodular eruption on her scalp after the delivery of her fifth child.

According to Nitya, the itching used to increase whenever she was tense, and upon scratching the problem only increased.

Nitya was a very hard working, practical lady. The cause of her problem seemed apparent to me; the increased responsibility after the arrival of her fifth child, and the compounding stress of her life. Some other details that stuck out to me as important were that Nitya’s skin was pale, she was sensitive to the cold, she liked eggs and was very sensitive to the news.

Taking these traits into account, along with her skin condition, I prescribed Calcarea Carbonica.

Nitya started improving gradually, not just physically but emotionally as well. Her skin condition improved with the passage of time and treatment to a complete cure. Nitya mentioned in one of her follow-ups that she feels she is also better able to handle her tense life ever since she received homeopathic treatment.

Chronic Urinary Tract Infections (UTI’s):

A 70-year-old woman, Zohra who had a history of repeated urinary tract infections, developed high-grade fever with shivering.

She was started on antibiotics, but the problem persisted.

I was consulted after 2 days of this problem developing, as the fever was not settling even with antibiotics. On taking the details of her case, I learnt that she wanted to be perpetually covered with blankets. Zohra was also complaining of severe burning in her urine when going to the bathroom. Her episodes of shivering and fever were also time-specific, usually starting around 2 am.

Based on these factors, I prescribed a homeopathic remedy named Arsenicum Album which settled the fever promptly. Antibiotics became unnecessary, and the remedy was repeated a few more times.

The fever had settled immediately, but the sensation of burning urine also settled within a few hours of the treatment. Urine examination done later also confirmed that the urinary tract infection was cured completely.

Diabetes and Cirrhosis:

My mother-in-law, at that time above 80 years old, was suffering from both Diabetes Mellitus and Cirrhosis of the liver which resulted in Ascites (fluid in the abdominal cavity).

She was repeatedly hospitalized every 15 – 20 days in order to remove the fluid from her abdomen. It worsened to the extent that she was barely lucid, slipping in and out of consciousness. At the next twenty-day cycle, when she was hospitalized again for the procedure of draining, even in her semi-comatose state, she was repeatedly demanding to go home.

The doctors estimated that at maximum, she had 3 – 6 months of life left. My husband had left to look after her in her time of need, and after some convincing, as she did not believe in homeopathy, I was consulted on the phone by my husband.

I told him to take her home to respect her wishes, and let her spend the rest of her life with her family. On his insistence, I took her symptoms and advised him to give her a few drops of Carbo Vegetabilis, only once, mixed in a sip of water. It was administered with the help of a dropper, as she was not in a state to drink anything herself.

In the next few hours, she recovered consciousness and remained alert; She kept her eyes open, and even walked a little with the drip stand by the evening. My husband and his siblings accepted my advice and took her home the next day.

She lived for 3 more years instead of the 6 months anticipated by the doctors. During that time, the fluid from her abdomen was never removed as she refused treatment completely. She also refused to take all allopathic medicines (which included anti-tubercular treatment which had begun recently after tests confirmed that she had developed tubercular lymph nodes in her abdomen) except the medicines she took for Diabetes.

In her last days she suddenly fell out of consciousness again. I saw it happen as I was close by. I noticed that she was completely oblivious of her surroundings; she was not answering any questions or responding in any way but would scream when touched.

Based on this single symptom, I gave her Bryonia. Although it is not recommended to give any remedy on just one symptom, it was such a strong and prominent symptom in such an extreme situation that I took the chance, and miraculously, this particular symptom went away.

Her sons decided against hospitalizing her, but due to her dehydration and inability to eat or drink, she was started on a drip with hospice care at home. She no longer screamed on being touched, but remained totally unconscious- calmly unresponsive.

The family was prepared for the inevitable when she suddenly opened her eyes after 2 days, combed her hair with her fingers saying “Oh, I am so tired”. When asked if she wanted water, she asked to have ice instead. One of my brothers-in-law gave her small teaspoons filled with crushed ice the whole night through which she sipped at eagerly.

The next day when I learnt this symptom, I advised a drop of a homeopathic remedy called Veratrum Album. She recovered fully in a couple of days, once more lucid and active and lived for another 6 months. She died peacefully in the comfort of her home in the presence of her children.

Autism:

Several years back, the mother of a 12-year-old autistic child consulted me for his insomnia and aggression.

Azriel was suffering from a chronic lack of sleep which translated to aggressive behaviour, in spite of the medicines he was taking for that very complaint.

Azriel had been on different medicines since childhood. He was also admitted several times to the hospital which improved him for short periods of time only.

The doctors tried to adjust the dosage of Azriel’s medicines, increased its potency and even changed it an attempt to combat this. Eventually they decided that nothing could be done and that all medicines should be stopped as they had reached the maximum recommended dose.

The boy had been awake for many days, and as a result Azriel was agitated and aggressive. On taking the details, I found that Azriel was hyperactive, loved to dance to music, enjoyed playing with water immensely, and frequently demanded to take a bath. He could speak only in very few, small sentences.

Keeping in view these detailed personality traits and symptoms, I advised a remedy named Tarentula Hispanica. Soon after the dose was given to him, Azriel relaxed and went to sleep. He slept heavily for several days, catching up on his lost sleep, waking only in short intervals for food and water. Upon waking, he was calm and composed and remained that way, improving as a whole in other aspects also.

Even as I was writing this book, a young lady in her early twenties was brought in for consultation by her mother. Lily was suffering from Autism too; she could communicate and express herself like a small child would, but the most prominent symptom was her insistence to strictly follow the daily schedule, as informed to her the previous night. Any slight change or delay in the programme would trigger anger and violence in Lily.

Keeping in view this unique mind symptom and the personality gleaned from the mother’s insights, I prescribed Tuberculinum to her which worked like a charm. Lily improved in various aspects, not just the aggression. According to her mother, she can now make full sentences- unlike before- and has become far more communicative. Lily now goes to sleep on her own, and is sleeping better and earlier.

As the symptoms changed, I prescribed Pulsatilla on her next consultation which further improved her condition. The fuss about following a strict routine is not there anymore. Lily even allows her mom to hug her, which she was averse to in the past.

Insomnia and Weakness:

Matthew, a teenage boy who recently had a tonsilectomy about 2 weeks before he came in for consultation, developed severe weakness.

He vomited a few times and developed sleeplessness; Matthew would be unable to sleep till 4 – 5 am in the morning, and would wake up at noon. He also became haughty, and began to lose his temper easily. While talking to me, he mentioned that he has had a habit to go for stool 2 to 3 times a day, all his life for as long as he could remember.

After taking into consideration all these details, I prescribed Nux Vomica. Matthew came in for reassessment after a month. His frequency of stool, anger, insomnia and weakness were all cured.

PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) & Menopause:

Sophia, a lady suffering from PCOS had been having a heavy period continuously, for over two months. She was advised D & C which is a surgical procedure done for such ailments.

Before booking the appointment for surgery, she decided to look for alternative treatment for her ailment and came to me for consultation.

On taking the details, she told me she has mood swings, a constant burning in her stomach, and suffers from acid reflux. Sophia was of a very loving nature; she loved animals and cared about everyone around her.

I gave her a dose of Carcinocin which stopped the bleeding within the next few days. In the next couple of months, as her follow up symptoms changed, I also gave a few other remedies including Pulsatilla as needed for her other- less identifiable- health issues. Sophia’s next medical check-up and ultrasound report came back completely normal.

Another lady came to me for the treatment of heavy bleeding during menopause. Serena had been advised hysterectomy i.e. removal of uterus which scared her into looking for other options. She responded well to Bacillinum and Lachesis and recovered fully within a single dose each. Serena was extremely grateful that homeopathy saved her from the surgeon’s knife.

Psoriosis:

A few years back, a woman who was related to a friend of mine, consulted me for her 7-year-old daughter, Natalia who had developed a dry and itchy skin eruption all over her body which the skin specialist had diagnosed as Psoriosis.

Natalia had been suffering from this condition for just over 2 months, and was given Zythromycine, followed by Omnicef for an ear infection that had also developed recently. She was also given Locoid lipocream for local application, and Fluocinonide topical solution for the scalp.

On taking the child’s details, I came to know that in the past Natalia had had repeated ear infections and Streptococcal sore throat and for which she underwent a tonsillectomy i.e. her tonsils were removed.

Natalia was a very polite child, fond of sweets and cold drinks. I gave her three remedies: Staphisagria, Tuberculinum and Thuja, to compensate for the varying symptoms suppressed over several courses of antibiotics. Natalia responded to homeopathic treatment very well, although due to the severity of the suppression and symptoms the treatment took time, but she recovered completely in a few months.

Gangrene and Ulcers:

A 72-year-old lady, Martha consulted me for gangrene foot. She had been a patient of Diabetes Mellitus for the last 20 years, and consequently, her kidney functions were also compromised.

She had a past history of excessive bleeding for which hysterectomy was done. The affected skin of her foot was dry and shriveled, with thick, misshapen toenails. The ulcers were dark colored, and she wished to be fanned as she felt over-warm even in cold weather.

Taking into consideration her specific set of symptoms, in both mind and the condition of her foot, I selected a remedy called Secale Cornutum. Due to the complications and severity of Martha’s case, I prescribed it in very small, dilute doses.

It took a couple of months, but Martha responded to the treatment and was gradually cured of her gangrene.

Please do not think that this is the only remedy for gangrene. It only cured her because it was the indicated remedy for her specific case. There are many other remedies for gangrene in Homeopathy; like mentioned earlier several times, homeopathy does not prescribe treatment based on the title of disease, rather it looks at the individual as a whole, and the remedy is then selected on the basis of their case- mind and body symptoms.

I once treated a man, Noah who had suffered a small injury to his ankle, which refused to heal and soon turned into an ulcer which started spreading with strong, smelly pus discharge.

He was given all sorts of antibiotic to no avail. As a last resort Noah was told that his foot needs to be amputated to prevent the spread of the gangrene. At this point, he came to try homeopathy.

His detailed symptoms pointed to the remedy Mercurius Solubilis. Only a few days after this remedy, the strong smell of his discharge vanished, and he started recovering slowly. Noah visited several times over the next few months for treatment, and each time he was better than before.

Kidney Stones and Fatty Liver:

Kavya, a 54-year-old lady of South Asian descent came to consult me on 25th of January, 2013. She was referred to me by her daughter, who I had successfully treated for a skin condition in the past.

Kavya came to me only for the treatment of her kidney stone, and the resulting pain, along with fatty liver. On examining the ultrasound report, it was confirmed that her left kidney showed 0.52 cm stone near inferior pole. The liver was of normal size but showed fatty infiltration (fatty liver).

Besides the above findings, the ultrasound report also showed two small fibroids in the uterus, interiorly and posteriorly 0.55 x 0.41 cm and 2.36 x 1.76 cm respectively.

The pain was especially bad in the evening and Kavya was also suffering from frequency of urine, especially at night. Upon asking, she admitted that she liked warm drinks. Based on this one simple seeming fact, Kavya’s symptom picture fit very well with the remedy picture of Lycopodium Clavatum which I then prescribed to her.

After 10 days, Kavya called to inform me that she was feeling a lot better. Her pain had reduced by over 40% and her frequency of urine had also decreased (she was no longer waking up at night to go to the bathroom). Kavya also told me that she has stopped taking painkillers as she no longer felt the need.

As she updated me on the symptomatic changes, I told her to take Hydrangea mother tincture, 5 drops three times a day i.e.              every 8 hours.

During homeopathic treatment, it sometimes occurs that the patient re-develops an ailment supressed in the past, but not fully cured. It is nothing to worry about, and is instead a good sign of improvement as it only happens when the immune system becomes stronger.

A week after Hydrangea, Kavya informed me she had developed a rash which she had suffered from many years back and had treated allopathically. Her thirst had also improved drastically, and she was sleeping with her feet stuck out of the covers. All these new symptoms pointed to the remedy Sulphur.

In due course, her skin rash also cleared after taking Sulphur.

Kavya did not follow up for a couple of months after that, and came back on the 13^th of February 2014, with a fresh ultrasound to thank me. Her skin was back to normal, her thirst was improved. The ultrasound now showed no sign of fatty liver or kidney stones. There was also no indication of fibroids. The ultrasound report was normal.

Precautions & Antidotes while taking Homeopathic Remedies:

Please make sure to avoid the things which aggravate your problem. Do not overexert or overdo anything. Leading a balanced life is the key to remaining healthy even after treatment.

Precautions:

1. Avoid touching the remedies.

2. Keep them in a safe place, away from strong smells, scents and sunlight.

3. Don’t eat or drink anything 20 – 25 minutes before and after the remedy (This includes mouth wash and toothpaste also)

4. Place the remedy directly in your mouth, preferably under the tongue if in pill form, or if liquid, one drop (or as directed) in a sip of water before drinking it. Keep it in the mouth for a few seconds and then swallow.

5. Do not overdose the medicines, as that is more harmful than helpful; take them only as prescribed, and observe any and all changes carefully.

6. Keep remedies away from children.

Antidotes:

1. Coffee antidotes homeopathic remedies as it is a strong stimulant and has caffeine in it. Coffee has a drug-like effect, and it may bring your old symptoms back even those which were cured successfully by homeopathy in the past, as far as many months or years back.

De-caffeinated coffee and other foods containing coffee e.g. candy, coffee cake, coffee ice cream, should also be avoided.

2. Please avoid camphor, and camphor containing products e.g. Tiger Balm, Vicks etc.

3. Electric blankets should be avoided.

4. Dental work; Routine cleaning is fine, but drilling, and the chemicals used in dental work can antidote the effect of homeopathy.

5. Alcohol, prescription drugs, and recreational drugs can interfere with the action of the remedy, and the dosage of the remedy may have to be repeated more often. It is best to avoid them.

6. Skin ointments; it is common for homeopathic remedies to bring back old symptoms including any past skin symptoms. Please do not use any locally applied medicine especially topical steroids.

7. Avoid Tea Tree oil.

8. Immunization may antidote the remedy, and disrupts the immune system.

9. Routine lab and blood tests and x-rays do not antidote homeopathy, but ultrasounds, and mammograms can antidote, and MRI’s usually do antidote homeopathic remedies.

10.  It is best to avoid chocolates.