Now that it's spring, we're spending more time outdoors.  Thank Goodness!  

Despite that great news, we're sharing nature with our insect friends who are also more active.  In the event you or your children should have a run in with a bug and are wondering what to do without chemicals or toxic ingredients, there are several homeopathic remedies to consider.  Which one you use is dependent less on the fact that a bite or sting happened, and more on the sensation of the pain and quality of the injury.  

Here are a few homeopathic remedies you can keep in your medicine cabinet and their correspondent uses:

• Apis -- Use this for a sting where there is rapid swelling and the affected area feels warm to the touch.  The sting site also feels better from a cold application.  Think of Apis if hives are present or if Ledum does not reduce pain or swelling after 4 hours.
• Hypericum -- Use this for bites accompanied by sharp, shooting pains that often occur in sensitive areas, such as at the ends of fingers or toes
• Ledum -- Is the most commonly used for bites and stings from bees, mosquitoes, wasps, or spiders.  Unlike Apis, the affected area is cold to the touch and cold applications or immersion in cold water improves symptom.
• Staphysagria -- Use this when mosquito bites are very large and itchy, and may even create large welts.

In Austin, homeopathic remedies such as these can be found in several stores.  Contact me today for further information.  In the event of a medical emergency, please dial 9-1-1.

Enjoy the new excitement of spring and be careful for all the other friends in nature who will be joining you!  Keep these remedies close by.

Feel free to contact me for any questions.

In good health,
Noel

Disclaimer: This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, prevent, or cure any disease.  For any questions about your health, please consult your physician.

Despite advances in technology and the sophistication of medical instruments, would you contend we’re getting healthier as a nation?  

How many times have you heard about the latest medical drug offering wondrous results in a condition or disease, yet to be recalled months or a few short years later because of it’s dangers?

There has to be a better way!  And homeopathy might just be it.  In fact, it just might be necessary.

Homeopathy provides a safe, gentle, and affordable approach to health and healing that may very well be the greatest and most prevailing solution to our health care woes in this country for the 21st century.

Sound too good to be true?  Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones.  Homeopathy provides just that.

Homeopathy is a distinct and unique medical science.  Commonly misunderstood to be a term for anything ‘natural’, or simply the use of herbs, homeopathy is guided by firm principles of healing that are highly scientific, replicable, and effective.

Contrast this with conventional (allopathic) medicine.  Allopathic medicine is formed by the latest theories of the body and, therefore, change over time.  A little over two hundred years ago “medical theory focused on the balance of ‘humors’ (fluids) in the body.  The thinking was that health could be restored by removing supposedly noxious fluids from the body.  Thus, the most popular treatments tried to encourage sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding via the cutting of veins (venesection) or the application of leeches, or the creation of blisters to draw inflammation from one part of the body to another.  Toxic doses of mercury were also used to treat venereal diseases.” [Lansky]

Frequently, the sick person would die from simply losing too many bodily fluids, namely blood.  The doctor would lament “I’ve done all I could.”  Nowadays this technique seems preposterous.  Yet, the routine use of drugs that poison us and frequently cause side effects are the common method today.  Are common medical practices more effective now than they were then?

The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2000 reported:

• 106,000 annual US deaths from negative effects of medical drugs
• 27,000 annual US deaths from hospital errors
• 80,000 annual US deaths from hospital infections
• 12,000 annual US deaths from unnecessary surgery

This makes allopathic treatment the third leading cause of death in America. [Starfield]

One could certainly make the argument of how many lives it saves to counter-balance the deaths.  Yet, a 1978 report, “Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Medical Technologies” compiled by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment found that only 10 percent to 20 percent of the techniques used by allopathic physicians are empirically proven [OTA].

Is this our best option?

Homeopathy is guided by the firm principle called the Law of Similars.  This law claims that a sick person will be cured by a substance which causes, in a healthy person, the same symptoms the sick person experiences.  Homeopathy literally means similar (homeo) suffering (pathy).

The Law of Similars renders homeopathy to be an exacting science, not vulnerable to the sway of medical popularity and the dictates of mass opinion.  It will always work and the Law of Similars provides a predictable pathway to find which homeopathic remedy will best help heal someone.  It is not based on expensive exams or invasive procedures.  You will not be subjected to intimidating machinery or toxic substances to locate altered states in the body.  The guiding light in homeopathic treatment are your symptoms, as described by you, the client.  

Sounds too simple, right?  Is this all there is?  The answer is yes.  Because we are whole beings a homeopath will seek to have a full understanding of you (mentally, emotionally, and physically) Thus, the natural health pathway to healing can take a multitude of forms.  In homeopathy, you are treated as a unique individual.  No two people will receive the same homeopathic remedy for the same concern they are seeking help for.  This is because we view health as a condition of the whole person, not just in terms of specific symptoms from isolated parts of the body.

Because of its unique and individualized nature, the length of homeopathic treatment varies from person to person.  In general, healing is related to how long you’ve had the symptoms, your lifestyle habits, hereditary factors, and if suppressive medications are being used, among many other factors.  The real beauty in homeopathy, then, is to be patient with yourself and allow the healing path of self-discovery to unfold as it needs to.  In our modern culture such time for self-care is an anomaly.  Your homeopath will offer you their full attention - a gift to truly behold nowadays that is simply too difficult to come by with modern medical systems.

Homeopathy is the science and art of healing.  It follows highly scientific methods through the Law of Similars.  The art of homeopathy is that each person’s response is unique and guided through a process over time.  Homeopathy is a non-invasive and affordable natural health system wherein you are fully listened to and supported through the process of healing.  Contrast this with a brief visit from a busy doctor.  Homeopathy is also safe for all ages and has no side effects.  Newborns all the way through the life span can use homeopathy. 

Because of these reasons, and because of the dangers of allopathic medicine, homeopathy simply could be the most viable solution for our health needs in this country for the 21st century.  In fact, it’s simply necessary!

For further questions, or to begin the necessary step of natural health through homeopathic healing, contact us today!

In good health,
Noel

References
[Lansky] Lansky, Amy, PhD.  Impossible Cure: The Promise of Homeopathy.  p.25 (2003).

[OTA] “Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Medical Technologies,” Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Washington, D.C. (1978:7)

[Starfield] Starfield, Barbara, “Is U.S. Health Really the Best in the World?” Journal of the American MEdical Association (JAMA), 284(4), pp. 483-485 (July 2000).