The Most Suitable Cases for Treatment

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Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 1 SIMILLIMUM

Editor: Melanie Grimes R.S.Hom(NA), CCH Simillimum is a journal published by naturopathic physicians for all people interested in homeopathy. It is dedicated to the practice of classical homeopathy as formulated by Samuel Hahnemann in the Organon of Medicine. The editors encourage homeopaths of all professions and backgrounds to write. Accounts of cured cases, essays, articles and letters to the editor are welcomed. The journal is published bi-anually in June and December. Material must be submitted eight weeks prior to publication (the first of April or October) to be considered for the coming issue. General HANP membership is open to everyone, and includes a subscription to Simillimum and access to exclusive content on www.hanp.net..

Contact HANP Office: Kelly Wilkinson, Executive Assistant Melanie Grimes, Simillimum Editor PO Box 126 [email protected] Redmond, WA 98073-0126 [email protected] Phone: 253-630-3338 Fax: 815-301-6595

Advertising: Neil Tessler ND, DHANP [email protected] www.hanp.net

HANP Board of Directors: John Collins ND, DHANP John Millar ND, DHANP Gregory Pais ND, DHANP Manon Bollinger ND, DHANP Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Stephen Albin ND, DHANP Brent Mathieu ND, DHANP President: Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Executive Assistant: Kelly Wilkinson

Winter/Spring 2008 Volume XX Simillimum (ISSN 1526-1964) is published bi-anually by the Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians PO Box 126 Redmond, WA 98073-0126. The HANP is a non-profit organization with no owners or stockholders. Subscription price in USA is $55 ($52 for subscription, $3 for dues), Canada $60 ($57 for subscription, $3 for dues) and outside North America $70 ($67 for subscription, $3 for dues). Periodicals postage paid at Kent, Washington and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send Address Changes to Simillimum, c/o HANP PO Box 126 Redmond, WA 98073-0126 • [email protected].

2 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI 

EDITORIAL: Melanie Grimes...... 7 : RHODIUM PROVING Joy lucas...... 9 : THE SIMMILIMUM CONCEPT: understanding aphorisms 275 and 276 Zara Lashkova, DIHom...... 26 CASE OF LAC LEONI Patricia Hatherly ...... 35 APPROACH & METHODOLOGY IN DRUG DEPENDANT ASTHMA (Broncho-Spasm) Dr. Subrata K. Banerjea...... 43 A CASE OF ASPERGERʼS SYNDROME By Tim Shannon...... 58 TWINS: IDENTITY AND DUALITY - A CASE FOR ALUMINA Tim Ticehurts...... 75 SPIDERS Peter Fraser ...... 81 DOUBLE-BLIND PLACEBO CONTROLLED STUDY WITH COFFEA FOR INSOMNAI By N. Kolia-Adam, Dr. E. Solomon, Dr. J. Bond, Dr. M. Deroukakis ...... 91

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 3 TREATING HAY FEVER By Michael Thompson...... 101 A CASE OF MENSTRUAL HEMORRHAGING By Julek Meissner DHANP ...... 107 AS IF ONE PATIENT Greg Bedayn...... 115 : HISTORY OF HOMEOPATHY CONFERENCE...... 123 A PILOT PROJECT FOR CHC CERTIFICATION OF EXPERIENCED HOMEOPATHS. By Richard Pitt CCH...... 129 STUDENT HOMEOPATH Barbara Resendes ...... 133 : REQUEST FROM WELCOME LIBRARY IN ENGLAND...... 147 GREG BEDAYN OBITUARY...... 149 MORRISON ON SANKARAN...... 152

 : Sensation Refined by Rajan Sankaran Reviewed by Misha Norland...... 155 Sensations: The Healing Power of Homeopathy Reviewed by Neil Tessler...... 158 Insight into the Consciousness of Snakes Reviewed by Neil Tessler...... 160 Homeopathic Remedy Pictures: Studying with Cartoons Reviewed by Melanie Grimes...... 162

DIRECTORY OF DIPLOMATES ...... 164

AUTHOR GUIDELINES & ADVERTISING RATES ...... 168

4 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 5 Editor: Melanie Grimes Production: Jason McMillan of Neosonic Design Corp.

Cover: Photo by Melanie Grimes

4 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 5 ��

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6 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI  Melanie Grimes

Diluting Politics This past year has brought increased notoriety to homeopathy, so much so that we have stirred up a hornetʼs nest of vocal detractors. The dialogue was particularly noisy in the UK, via blogs and message boards. The ongoing discussion is not one of facts, not one of the efficacy of homeopathy, but rather an emotional outpouring and flag-waving about credos and philosophy and ʻscienceʼ. My general response to these conversations is to say, “Letʼs get back to the healing work.” Some have asked me to step in to the fray. If that need be the case, here is my two cents worth of advice. First of all, I suggest the homeopathic community turn inward and heal our own rifts. Certainly, since the time of Hahnemann, we have had enough division among ourselves. I suggest we find ways to support each other, not undermine, to say kind things about each other, turn a patient cheek to our different points of view, and work as a team. Certainly this turbulent world needs all the good homeopaths it can get! Backbiting and gossiping in the community continues to divide our ranks, separating this philosophy from that. I encourage all of us to be inclusive, to see what unites us despite our minor differences. We all follow the principal set down in the Organon, though some may use water and some dry potencies, some high and low potency prescribers, some use kingdoms and some systems, or sensations, or stages, or miasms, or maps, or color preference or keynotes, or circles, squares, and perhaps parallelograms. The commonality is the minimum dose, the succussion, dilution of remedies, the lasting cure. Instead of attacking in an allopathic manner, fighting word-for-word and creating a tug of war polarity, I wonder what the smallest dose would look like. Let us think as homeopaths and view our detractors as we view our patients. What is the underlying issue? What is the minimum dose, how do we potentize it? How do we dilute it? What is the lasting cure? We have great tools at the ready: succussion, dilution, and the Laws of Cure. Perhaps we can apply them to both politics and our community. Perhaps our community of homeopaths will unite to send healing to ourselves and the world at large. If not us, who will spread this small, powerful, potent, healing message? Be the first in your neighborhood! Melanie Grimes, editor Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 7 8Winter/Spring SIMILLIMUM 2006 - Volume Winter XIX / Spring / SIMILLIMUM 2008 - Volume XXI114     By Joy Lucas

THE SUBSTANCE

Rhodium comes within the precious metal group (also known as the platinum group), atomic number 45, group number 9, nestled in between cobalt and iridium (above and below) and palladium and ruthenium (right and left), and not too far away from ferrum, osmium, platinum, niccolum. Quite a bunch – I say “bunch” because there is a definite tendency towards a “group” embodiment with rhodium – a group that has individual characteristics as well. (More of that later.)

Rhodium metal is silvery white and has a higher melting point and lower density than platinum. It is highly reflective and is hard and durable. Upon heating it turns to the oxide when red and at higher temperatures turns back to the element.

Rhodium nearly always occurs with other metals in the group or with others such as silver and gold, thus making extraction a complex process. Adding to the complexity is the fact that rhodium acts as a catalyst.

Rhodium was known about and used by ancient civilizations, long before the Periodic Table was formulated and long before it was re-discovered in crude platinum ore by W. H. Wollaston in 1803-4 at about the same time that Palladium was also re-discovered. Industrially, rhodium is used as an alloying agent, as catalytic converters, electrical contact material, in optical instruments and in jewelry. Rhodium is highly toxic and carcinogenic; the compounds are capable of strongly staining skin. The name comes from the Greek rhodon = “rose”.

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 9 HOMEOPATHIC PRESENTATION

Jan Scholten and Peter Tumminello have offerings regarding rhodium.

For Scholten, the mental picture for rhodium is concerned with taking the final steps in an experience, all the work that precedes this and making sure all will be perfect, but with a chance still remaining that there will be a mishap along the way. They undertake a “dummy run” to ensure that perfection. The end result is important because success, praise and worthiness will be forthcoming, and that is needed, that is part of the hard work and ambition. Needless to say this places them under undue pressure to get it right, and understandably creates high tension and lots of nerves – a combination that can have the opposite result – failure.

We are already familiar with this in the symptom picture of Palladium and Platina but as said before, the Platinum Group is a group out of essential being, but they do all have individual characteristics.

Scholten further expands the picture with the following:

Fear of heights, narrow places, making speeches Dreams of falling, height Irritability << being humiliated Delusions of whispering Haughtiness and variable moods – laughing, friendly, nervous, hurried Introverted Menses profuse Weakness Headaches behind the eyes, pressing outwards, sensations of a lump Mucous membranes dry and rough Twitching about the eye and other optical disturbances Muscle compression Lung complaints High blood pressure Cancers – various

Peter Tumminelloʼs experience with rhodonite (a sample of which he found when meditating) led him to have a beautiful vision and transportation to the location of the sample. These are some of his references:

Local miners wear it round their neck to keep them warm in the mines. It is a carrier of life force. It can change color in sunlight depending on the quality of the sample. It is often found covered by a protective layer of black oxide. There is a need for this protection. 10 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 11 He conducted a proving of the rhodonite after immersing it in pure water and exposing it to the sun and moon for twenty-four hours. Higher potencies were then prepared from this water.

In summary, his proving offered suspicion and guarding by the possessors, so there can be a feeling of greedy desire and aggression to protect it.

But there is a good side to nurture and protection as well—the need for security, love and support. There is a need to protect from violation or being intruded upon.

It offers a new beginning so fertilization awareness is present but new only comes out of destroying the old.

There is energy and force, driving through resistance, breaking through barriers, like a comet, earthquakes, volcanoes, and eruptions.

A sense of wealth.

Affections of the bone marrow, reproductive organs.

Blood is the river of life – red, the color of rhodonite.

Dreams of clamshells, angels, abundance or loss, the surprise of opening the clam shell to see what is inside.

Rhodonite represents a journey through materialism to a true understanding of abundance, generosity and trust.

Both Scholten and Tumminello have cured cases of rhodium poisoning.

Historical sources include Boericke from a proving by MacFarlan with 200c: Nervous and tearful; dull frontal headache; shocks through the head; fleeting neuralgic pains through the head, over the eyes, in the ear, both sides of the nose and the teeth; loose cold in the head; dry lips; nausea from sweets; stiff neck and rheumatic pain down left shoulder and arm; itching arms, palms, face; loose stools with gripping in the abdomen; hyperactive peristalsis; tenesmus after stool; more urine passed; scratchy cough; wheezy breathing; thick, yellow mucous from chest; feels weak and dizzy and tired.

PREAMBLE AND MUSINGS

Ancient civilizations referred to the Platinum Group as adamas or firestones and apparently knew how to extract rhodium from gold or silver or 10 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 11 wherever it was found. They used their own form of electrolysis and knew that rhodium would become soluble in molten gold. Ancient people ingested these elements, including rhodium, for a variety of purposes too elaborate to go into here but suffice it to say also that 5% of brain tissue is composed of iridium and rhodium. Both are also known to have anti-aging properties and most of the Platinum Group is able to activate the endocrine system in a way that heightens awareness and aptitude to extraordinary levels – this certainly occurred during the proving of rhodium. It is the effect on the pineal gland that allows for this, along with close reactive links to melatonin production from the pituitary gland, bringing to light (almost literally) unused parts of the brain.

Melatonin, known as the hormone of darkness, is secreted by the pineal gland. People with high levels of melatonin react strongly to bright light, and an excess of natural light makes the gland smaller and so lessens spiritual awareness. High levels of melatonin also enhance the immune system as an anti-oxidant so there is resistance to some diseased states, especially cancer. It also heightens energy, physical tolerance and regulates sleep patterns.

During this proving there were certainly issues regarding light (in all its metaphors), enormously enhanced intellectual capacity and an overall healing factor.

The pineal gland is considered to be the third eye, the seat of the soul, that which regulates the flow of thought – it contains the nectar of supreme excellence. No wonder that the ancient people ingested rhodium along with other elements of the Platinum Group.

If this whets your appetite then I would suggest you read Laurence Gardnerʼs book Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark, specifically Chapter Eight, ”The Orbit of Light”. It clarifies and enhances all that Scholten and Tumminello write about, as well as adding to my own proving data. It is an excellent source, displaying a deep understanding of the ancient history of substances in use homeopathically (not just those that come within the Platinum Group but others as well). It is also worth researching the work of physicist David Hudson who worked tirelessly on the mysteries held within these precious metals; he had a specific interest in rhodium and iridium. The revelations that these two people offer, and I am sure there are many others involved in this interesting pioneering work, are quite extraordinary, not least in the fact that they explain the ancient past but that they also define the future regarding these precious elements. As Gardner writes (in summary), “forget oil, the materials of the future will be gold and the Platinum Group metals. . . . It is a future of superconductor technology that will involve levitation, teleportation, space time manipulation and parallel dimensions”. – This is powerful stuff. You could also do your own proving 12 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 13 and experience this first hand.

Rhodium has also been used for honoring, or to symbolize wealth (at one point in recent history rhodium was selling for $3,000 per ounce), when more commonly used metals such as silver, gold, or platinum are deemed insufficient. In 1979 the Guinness Book of World Records gave Paul McCartney a rhodium-plated disc for being historyʼs all-time best-selling songwriter and recording artist. Guinness has also noted items such as the worldʼs “Most Expensive Pen” or “Most Expensive Board Game” as containing rhodium.

Spending quite a lot of money was no problem whatsoever during this proving.

To help our appreciation of rhodium a little bit more I offer this proving:

RHODIUM – Above and Below

From Shakespeareʼs Romeo and Juliet, 1594:

JULIET:

ʻTis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. Whatʼs Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! Whatʼs in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo callʼd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.

“Rhodium” means “rose” – the color that rhodium reaches when it is heated to oxidation. This is when it begins to lose itself, lose electrons and become something else. But as the temperature keeps on rising it shape-shifts back to its elemental whole. Although rhodium is never a “whole” within itself because it is always part of a group (part of the Platinum Group) and thus does not like to be extracted – it occurs only with other metals, likes their company.

Even though it is hard and durable rhodium becomes nervous and tearful when taken away from the group. Even though it can shape-shift and pull

12 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 13 itself back to its origins, it still remains in a nervous and weepy state. So, a rose by any other name is not good news for rhodium. It wants to be what it wants to be and suffers during modification.

This is seen within the symptom picture as mainly physical symptoms that conform to fleeting pains and shock like pains – gripping and neuralgia – the bowels and intestines are always on the move and in other parts of the body stiffness evolves as if to halt the hyper active and nervous gripe. The hyperactivity within the intestines relates to the acceleration known to belong to catalytic agents and this is a well-known use for rhodium. Much of this gripe comes from eating sweets, as if sweets are cold comfort to the nervous and weepy state that lies within, all they do is exacerbate, cause headaches, diarrhea, itching skin, wheezy but loose cough, dizziness and tiredness. This suggests that the oxygen component is then missing and possibly an anemic state is developing.

Above and below we have cobalt and iridium.

Cobalt is present in both meteorites and marmites! So it is an edible ride to outer and inner space. It has a very deep sense of guilt, all about stealing, and it hangs on to this guilt as if to condemn the self as a criminal and so alternating moods take hold as it tries to deal with the process of indictment. With all this responsibility of burdens, the back and knees become so weak and unstable they can hardly stand up to accusations.

But rhodium is much heavier than cobalt and so the symptom picture is moving rapidly via hyperactivity and nervousness towards something much denser, dizzy and tired – quite typical of the after effects of eating too much sugar. Definitely a rose by another name.

Iridium is the rainbow remedy (delusions of rainbows) and this is because of the iridescence of the salts of iridium and although this might suggest something light and beautiful (just like the rose in rhodium suggests a thing of beauty), Iridium is even heavier than cobalt and rhodium and the symptom picture truly is that of anemia and exhaustion.

Iridium is very hard and brittle and even more resistant to corrosion that either cobalt or rhodium but this comes at a price. The anemia affects the mind and the body. The mind feels like a void and the body is thoroughly weakened. Internally both putrefaction and septicemia are possible. As with cobalt the back becomes weak, even paralyzed and other body parts become numb and as in rhodium there is also a profuse yellow discharge from the lungs. Everything is shutting down now and the true feeling of heaviness that is associated with Iridium takes hold (it is one of the heaviest known substances). Exhaustion prevails and the delusion of rainbows is drawn from the eyes to the brain – feeling as if eyes were affected from below 14 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 15 upward.

Above and below – iridium has a triangular reputation, perhaps taking on board both cobalt and rhodium – with the sensation of a triangle in the face, the base formed by the two malar bones and the apex in the vertex.

These remedies really are part of the inter-dependent group and it is difficult to separate each out and as Juliet asks, “What is in a name” – everything, it seems – guilt, nervous sadness and exhaustion.

THE PROVING

Originally there were to be seven provers but three and then a fourth pulled out. So far I would say that this was not central to the proving, i.e., nothing to do with rhodium in itself. Unfortunately that left only three provers – two female and one male.

The potencies used were 30c, 200c and 1M.

In the previous provings within this project I have presented the symptoms graded pertaining to their occurrence to each prover, but as there were so few provers I think it best to present the data as themes with verbatim reports but also graded according to their importance within the proving.

Most important themes

A shift in perception – this took the form of:

Raising the intellectual ego; intensely focused on subjects, extremely determined in a linear fashion; very insightful with recognizable psychic ability; a sense of synchronicity; a merging of intuition, creativity and intellect with heightened skills and abilities; an uncanny interest in Platinum and Palladium as well as anything to do with Roses and also gems and minerals and an interest in metaphysics; manipulation of vision, often swinging off to the left; sound and smell delusions; enhanced sound perception; loss of time perception, everything seems slowed down, slow response to reactions, even emotions seem very still but clarity prevails; clumsiness, making mistakes, unable to concentrate, poor estimation of distance, very slow thinking, feeling heavy; feeling drained of energy; confusion in communications and issues with misrepresentation; cannot organize; involvement with numbers but with an inability to count correctly.

Timing – this took for the form of:

14 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 15 Timing of actions has to be perfect; diminished anxiety about completion of tasks; rushing, speeding when driving and encountering the flash of the camera light; delivery of items either lost or early; waiting for deliveries; coincidental happenings (a small example of this was the remedy being crushed in the post for two provers even though sufficient measures had been taken to avoid this); sense of progress; delays; feeling hurried and busy; repetition of states that seem aligned with moon phases (this encouraged an extra interest in moon phases and planets, the proving expiring at summer solstice); involvement with birth and delivery.

Money – this took the form of:

The need to spend with no or little regard to the financial implications, even spending money that was not really there to spend (credit or money that was needed elsewhere); delusion of abundance, feeling that the flow of money would never stop; an anxiety regarding money matters; part of the affluence was needing to travel away and buying exotic goods as well as connecting with rose oil and essence; having to pay extra postage when the remedy arrived; purchases that arrived faulty, late or missing.

Assertiveness – this took the form of:

Decisive; telling “home truthsʼ; not holding back with feelings and thoughts; no feelings of guilt when not doing work; feelings of being free; not trying to please; feeling true to self; a need to be fastidious; wanting to do activities not undertaken for a long time and doing so throughout the proving; becoming contemptuous and dismissive at the stupidity of the world especially in regard to the intellectual efforts of others (is this a reminiscence of the haughtiness of platina and the need for approbation of palladium?); finding it easy to directly talk to people and give advice.

Emotional reactions – this took the form of:

Sympathy – rescuing birds; family crisis and accidents; resolving arguments. Anticipatory but calm; weepy. Thoughts about mortality. Feeling of being healed considerably by the remedy. Lacking interest in others; relationship issues/problems. Nervous before an important event. Calm versus chaos – internal dialogue about this.

Physical symptoms

Eating - desires coffee + sudden aversion to chocolate but regained 16 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 17 chocolate craving which <<< + eating habits changed +++fruit/veg + yeast based food

Skin – eruptions on fingers and arms + itching flea bite type eruptions that came, went and came back again + skin irritated + dry and sensitive scalp + flaky skin + skin feels good but sallow + skin feels sensitive + pins and needles sensations + nails weak

Sensitivity – sense of warmth and smoothness, then very cold + adrenal glands seem stable and this is comforting + feeling of being well with increased awareness

Energy – surges of energy and inertia, easily sidetracked and irresolute + feels tired, has to sleep +; sleeps in naps +; sense of energy felt around the neck

Pains – headache < lying down, < on waking, < full moon, > coffee, extends to teeth, ears, bridge of nose +; sense of weight in the head which slows +; neck cracking +; pain in the ears

Eyes – tremor + blurred vision

Lungs – breathing slowed

Menses – profuse + breasts swollen

Rectum – pasty and floating stools + anal fissure with bleeding

Urinary – frequent urging to urinate + kidney pain on waking

General - body stance changes + acute illness developed towards the end of proving + frequent sneezing + early waking

Dreams

Dream of meeting ex-partner and saying how angry I still feel regarding his behavior and our relationship. We exchange large sheets of stamps. I had given him four sheets of plain, gold, first class stamps. The ones he gave me in return were a whole lot of different stamps in all shapes, sizes and values. Lots of red color. Iʼm thinking how nice. While tearing them out of the sheet he says I did not give him four sheets. Iʼd forgotten, then realize for all the interest and variety in the stamps heʼd given me there is a lot of wasted space on the sheet and the total value of the stamps is nowhere near the ones Iʼd given him. That echoes the energy balance in our relationship. Key references = exchange; gold; value; red; money

16 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 17 Dream of going to a conference and ended up staying in a hotel visited before in summer holidays with my father as a child. The place is completely altered but I am excited at showing people around but think I get my directions wrong, not sure, was right first time. Key references are re-visiting the past; altered states; uncertainty regards direction

Dream I am back working for a company I worked 20 years ago and going to New York again. Two people from the company are rushing me through the airport taking care of everything for me and upgrading me to “one pass”. Iʼm wondering to myself about living expenses there but then realize Iʼm getting a salary again so have no worries on that score and the company people tell me just to book into the most expensive hotel in town. Weʼre talking about the difficulties of them not having an office there any more and thereʼs a sense that this is the next episode from the last dream on this these I had where there was no longer a company office there. One person goes off to take care of something on my behalf and Iʼm left with the woman whoʼs now taking me to the gate. She gets a bit confused and lost on the way and we stop to look at some TV screens. Thereʼs a news programme on and theyʼre showing a plane crash, which has just happened in Mexico City. The commentator is citing all the factors involved and mentions Uranus. Key references = being transported; money; affluence; losing direction; accident; Uranus

Dream I am in a large apartment building, which then metamorphoses into some kind of enclosed compound, which is locked and fortified by shutters to protect the community from the outside world. Whatʼs outside is chaos and disorder, lots of violent men fighting each other like football hooligans. A visiting man wants to be let out so I oversee the process of raising the shutters. He immediately goes and joins a fight. Iʼm more concerned with getting over to the left side of the complex. To do this I have to go through an army barracks, which is housed in an old castle like area. I want to get to the woods where I can sing. As I walk along a path with a meadow and woods to one side and houses on the other, Iʼm singing a Scottish folk song. In each house I pass, I can hear someone singing a folk song from their country. Involuntarily, Iʼm pulled into joining in with every song I hear as I pass. It is like some sort of sympathetic resonance. Key references = metamorphoses; enclosed compound; protection; chaos and disorder; violence; army barracks and castles; singing folk songs; sympathetic resonance.

Dream I am being pursued through a derelict cityscape. It is like a game of hide and seek. There is no fear, even though there is a sense the person pursuing me is out to do me harm. In each instance I have a close encounter 18 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 19 with them. I outwit them and slip away at the last minute and they fail to catch me. After a while of doing this thereʼs a sense this needs to be brought to a resolution, so instead of finding some new place to hide, I go back to a room Iʼve already hidden in which is close by. It is like a metal container of some description – the walls are rusted metal and as hiding places go it is not very well hidden. I step to one side of the door, pick up a large plank of wood as a weapon and wait to strike anyone coming through the doorway but the dream ends. Key references = pursuit; hide and seek; containers; defense.

Dream: Iʼm with my children in some kind of fairground. A man there has a karaoke machine hooked into a PA that plays over the entire fairground. He has heard from somebody that I sing and is very keen that I sing through his system. He rushes off and sets the whole thing up for me though I donʼt feel ready to be singing to so many people in this sort of situation and tell him I donʼt want to do this. He doesnʼt listen and carries on trying to persuade me. The dream ends at this point. Key references = fairgrounds; noise; singing; systems; persuasion and not listening.

Dream my eldest daughter is learning to drive and driving my car along a dual carriageway. A stretch limo passes by on the opposite carriageway, veers onto the verge and crashes. My daughter veers onto the verge on our side of the road out of some sort of sympathetic resonance so I tell her to get back on the road, she does. Key references = crashes; losing direction; sympathetic resonance; getting back on track.

Dream: I am living in a house that is right at the waterʼs edge at the seaside. Sea level keeps rising and threatening to inundate the house. There are several occasions when the water comes in up to the level of the windows, then recedes again, then finally starts to spill in through the windows. My youngest daughter is frightened and upset but Iʼve been expecting it and am matter-of-fact about it, telling all the children to start going round the house moving things up from ground level. As we start the process am woken by youngest daughter phoning me from her dadʼs. It occurs to me that the progressively rising and receding water level in the dream reflects the pattern of tides coming up to full moon. Key references = water; tides; threatening but unmoved; rising and receding; organized; moon.

Dream: I was in the midst of a fairly chaotic domestic situation, trying to sort the kids out with meals, etc., keep it together to remember what everyone was supposed to be doing and when, and put up with ex-partnerʼs presence and help, when I suddenly realize that this little man who has been hanging round in his gold and maroon robes for awhile is the Dalai Lama. 18 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 19 Quite flustered and feeling bad I hadnʼt noticed him before, but tell him about the time I was first in his presence 25 plus years ago. He nods and says he remembers me in a way that gives me to understand he remembers everyone who is ever in his presence – relate this dream to a friend who is amazed because she also dreamt about the Dalai Lama the same night. Key references = chaos; gold and maroon; “higher” presence; coincidence.

Dreams that have a running and recurring theme about ʻequivalence – widely different things being essentially equivalent to each other, a sense that everything is on a level playing field. Key references = equivalence.

Dream about an old man and a young child, no more than 4 years old, going into a large warehouse-type sofa store. The old man is responsible for the child, but is plainly unwell. He lies down on a sofa at the entrance to the store and says he must sleep. He canʼt stay awake anymore. The child wanders into the store alone. Iʼm thinking the old man is going to die there and thereʼs nobody to look after the child. Iʼm in some kind of urban park walking a dog and bump into the queen. Sheʼs very down to earth and Iʼm completely unfazed at bumping in to her. It is like an ordinary event. Iʼm not even interested in talking to her and about to walk on but she says if I hang on a minute Iʼll get to meet one of her corgis. The corgi comes racing up and round and round in circles. The queen is plainly delighted in her dog. We exchange a few words about dog ownership and I move on. Iʼm an observer in some kind of soap opera. Two men have an extreme disagreement resulting from their respective subjective interpretations of some past even. It is very clear how both of them have come to their interpretations but equally clear that both of their viewpoints are badly distorted. One is standing in a doorway and the other one comes up so mad by his interpretation of events he attacks the man in the doorway with an axe and cuts off his left arm at the shoulder. The man who has lost his arm becomes a neighbor of mine. Heʼs very offhand (J) about losing his arm and picks it up saying heʼll have to go and get it fixed on again as if this is no more than a tiresome inconvenience he could really do without. Key references = ageing; separation; “higher” presence; unfazed; observation; attack; trivializing events.

Wake with the impression Iʼve finally managed to grasp what the “equivalence” theme in dreams is about and scribble something down on my bedside notebook – “a war in which the owner and the ?? are the same person”. The second word got lost but the sense was of a war in which both sides were the same person. Key references = war; collective; both sides the same.

Dream: I have a long journey to make somewhere in the countryside in the 20 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 21 south of England to my home way north. Dawn is just breaking. I just jump up into the air to fly there. I am curled up with arms clasped around my knees. I try to stretch out into my usual flying position but my body snaps back into the curled position. I am flying strongly and powerfully. Used to be in my flying dreams that I was frightened of flying too high in case the winds blew me away. That fear has gone and the long distance home from the south of England, a distance Iʼve never considered flying before, seems easy. Aware I need to urinate so descend to a ploughed field. I look for a hedge to crouch behind but the hedges around the field have all gone. Theyʼve been replaced with shelving units and each house surrounding the field has put their own ornaments into the shelves bordering their own properties. I crouch behind a shelving unit instead. Notice my urine is cloudy and tinged with blood. Key references = flying; levitation; misplaced; journey; easy transportation (there were incidents of bird rescue and bird symbolism during the proving and this links in with the themes of flying, escape, transportation, threat and rescue, that come through in the dreams).

Dream of situation with ex-colleague X. [Came back from Amsterdam to emails from Y to say sheʼd had intense words with X. Y had reflected Xʼs behavior to her, but X hadnʼt seen herself in the mirror at all and put it all back onto Y. In the dream, the background situation was as if all this had just happened, but I was in the position of Y.] X comes into a room where we have got together for a study group. She appears as two people joined together at the hip like Siamese twins, one male, one female. Iʼm trying to hide my laughter because sheʼs wearing a short skirt which has got hitched up at the back and sheʼs unaware that the naked bottoms of the two parts of her are showing for all to see. Sheʼs smoking (she used to smoke) and sits down next to me. I find the smoke very unpleasant so try to move nonchalantly away to another part of the room without making it look too obvious that Iʼm deliberately moving away from her, but she barely notices me as sheʼs intent on telling her story to everyone. Sheʼs putting across a very one-sided version, concentrating on her perception of herself as a poor powerless vulnerable victim, but in doing so is blatantly unaware of and denying the role of the other (male) side of herself which is sitting there smoking and generally behaving obnoxiously to the extent that itʼs distracting us all and making a complete mockery of her story. [Interesting that the word “obnoxious” has two meanings, the archaic use being “exposed or open or liable to attack or injury” which is the essence of the story Yʼs female side was trying to put across, while her male side was demonstrating the modern usage of the word.]

Key references = group comparison; two parts conjoined; smoke; telling stories; words and meanings.

20 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 21 Dream I am some kind of air stewardess in an aircraft that has many rooms. The walls are a kind of metallic gunmetal gray and in each room there are rows of seats – the metal-framed and wooden stackable kind you find in village halls, etc. The people sitting in the chairs belong to a tribe of gypsies. One of them stands up and explains to me that his tribeʼs worldview is that everyone is fundamentally equal and that life is encountered with complete lack of preconception and prejudice. In the way heʼs speaking to people I know what he says is true. I am thinking thatʼs the way it is and should be! I want to become a member of this tribe, to live among people who have this world view, though I am aware just how much world view conditioning I grew up with that I still have to drop. But I know at heart I am already part of this tribe. As if to confirm this, they welcome me as one of them. Key references = flying in the air; rooms; seats; tribe (group); equality; belonging.

Dream I approach the open door of a room where a bird is inside. As I get closer to the door the bird gets very large. Huge in comparison to me. I see the bird as a predator and quickly close the door and hide. Then Iʼm on a hilltop with others going ahead. They are climbing over a fence, as the person in front of me gets to the top rung the rung bows upward to the height of about 100 feet. They climb over and it shrinks back and they get over and disappear down the hill. As I approach I decide not to climb over as I was terrified watching them doing it. I slide under the fence as there is plenty of room. The down slope of the hill appears as an almost sheer drop and I feel terrified again. I wake up. Relieved that itʼs only a dream. Key references = birds (flying); predators; high places; upwards and downwards.

Try to hold on to my dream on waking. Very difficult, it was along the coastline with lots of outfits on hangers or tailorsʼ dummies and I was going back to get my clothes off, I canʼt remember reaching them. I feel asleep trying to hold on to the dream. Key references = coastline; outfits; tailors dummies; unresolved.

Verbatim summaries

(1)

22 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 23 Lunar cycle in symptoms – Around full moon: headaches, menses, thirst, increased urination, loose stool, desire fruit and vegetables, early waking, focus on websites, the “outward” Tibetan bowl. Around new moon: lack of thirst, constipation, insect bites, focus on yeast-based foods, universality and unity of consciousness, the feminine, the “inward” Tibetan bowl. Headaches. Dull, shifting focus, accompanied by nausea, vertigo, clumsiness, lack of coordination, < full moon, > coffee. Tension in cervical region and shoulders. Strong feminine energy – slow, relaxed, assertive, direct, and decisive. Focus on the nature of what the moon represents in astrology – the universal matrix of consciousness (of which we are largely unconscious, or rather, unaware) and the interconnectedness of the entirety of existence. Rose energy and my rock essence. Birds: bird rescues, bird collisions, bird “messages”. Flying dreams, wings. Faltering/stumbling/delay at the point of delivery. Last minute hitches and changes of plan. Almost, but not quite. Time: a greater amount of time seems to have elapsed than has. Inert, inertia, lack of focus versus focused intensity, direct, to the point, laser-like. Equivalence. Externalized presentation, image, smokescreens and mirrors, the illusory nature of “self” and individual (as opposed to relatively individualized) existence. Outgoing energy, radiance – easy expenditure, unconcerned about balance with incoming energy. Strong synchronicity, coincidence, heightened intuition. Desire fruit and vegetables, increased thirst. Desire coffee. Making bread. Early waking. Inner dialogue, self-reflection. Mercury retrograde issues in focus.

(2) I had meant to keep a daily diary but got caught up in my own life. Very aware that my new pattern of behavior was the proving.

Over the past few weeks I have felt very driven to complete tasks in a different way than has been my normal pattern of behavior. I have been a

22 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 23 multi-tasker to the point of only being comfortable when I had started up to six jobs at once. Now I begin one job and stay on task. I have been doing this since I recovered from the physical symptoms of the proving.

It feels like thereʼs stability in my adrenal levels. Itʼs very comforting. I donʼt have rushes of anxiety about completing tasks. I just do whatʼs important and donʼt worry about the rest as I have a steady certainty about my decisions.

I have been making decisions rather than analyzing the issues from the point of view of everyone concerned. I feel more able to see whatʼs right for me and not see that as being selfish. It feels very male and quite reassuring. This has been a very healing remedy for me.

Items being delivered to my house either arrive before I had expected them or they get lost or have some issue regarding delivery. I could give examples but donʼt feel the need to. I also chose home births as my research topic for my degree project.

Synchronicity and psychic ability. Almost every day I think of someone and seconds later someone who I may not have seen or spoken to (for years in one case) appear, email or telephone me. Even when I donʼt know someone, there is synchronicity on a psychic level.

I was on the telephone to SOH to place an order with Tradco. I had sent a request for HAW the day before and now was ordering some leaflets. As I gave my name the woman burst out laughing, she had just clicked off my name to place my new order. Earlier that day I typed a friendʼs name onto the email and she rang me on the telephone.

ʻUnder the wire” is another phrase that I have been using; it is associated with the timing of my actions. For me the issue seems to be timing, perfect timing, being at one with time.

My dreams have been about traveling and they disappear on waking, making it very difficult to capture them.

My personal issue has been misrepresentation. Any one can use SoH leaflets and non-members are able to add their stickers to them to promote themselves. I have complained to SoH and now plan to write to the members through the next SoH publication.

Still have no desire for chocolate. Very unusual for me. I either desire or deny stopping the obsessive nature of chocolate eating.

I have felt driven to keep going on a very self-determined path over the past 24 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 25 two months. I experienced synchronicity on an almost daily basis. I felt that I was very in tune with a strong female energy that expressed its self as a heightened intuition. I found that although I wanted to stop and write about my proving, I was driven to keep going with my activities.

About two weeks ago I felt a slight insecurity and had to check myself when I wanted to fix up relationship with a colleague. I knew this would be a backward step, as this person had been very manipulative so I questioned myself and took no further action. It did, however, inform me of my change of mood. I sensed that it was the remedyʼs effect waning or at a plateau; I feel that it was the latter. I have progressed spiritually and emotionally since starting the proving and see it as a curative remedy for me. I feel what I have learnt about myself will stay with me for a very long time.

I desired chocolate intensely and as I was about to add BoojaBooja chocolates to the online shop that I created during the proving I promptly ate large amounts sent as samples. Shortly after I started to have low immunity health problems, the first since August 06.

I developed a cowʼs milk allergy after my spleen was removed over twenty years ago, I get allergic rhinitis and flu like symptoms when Iʼm in contact with cowʼs milk or my adrenaline levels dip.

I have noted that the waning occurred in the week before the summer solstice when energy tends to reach a peak and stand still before changing direction and pace.

Joy Lucas began her studies of homeopathy in the early 1980s and has had a busy practice for the last 15 years. Although a bit late, she finally began to realize the wonderment gained from new provings of new remedies and also realized that there were a lot of remedies already in our materia medicas that hadnʼt had sufficient proving. Now is the time to put that right and she hopes her proving project provides new and enlightening material so that we can use all our remedies efficiently. Joy practices in Saddleworth, North West England.

http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.com http://www.homeopathicmateriamedica.blogspot.com

24 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 25   :      By Zara Lashkova, DIHom

There is a wide-spread notion among contemporary homeopaths, both students and practitioners, which seems alarming and is progressively spreading misunderstanding within the homeopathic community, preventing the consolidation of a uniform view of potency, dose and time of repetition of the indicated remedy. In other words the whole conceptual meaning of the term simillimum in homeopathy is still improperly and poorly understood. The next very important question that comes to mind is whether finding the well indicated remedy is sufficient to result in a cure. What is the difference between potency and dose, two ideas that are very often confused?

It is surprising and somewhat misleading for the student or young practitioner who is easily impressed to hear suggestions such as: “As long as the simillimum is given, the potency and dose are of little importance” or “The properly selected remedy will do the job regardless of potency and dose”. Frequency of repetition is not even addressed as an issue of concern. Such claims are very dangerous and highly contagious since they are proclaimed by some of our eminent homeopaths, hence creating the risk of blind imitation of such erroneous and groundless claims.

It is a very sad story that we witness today: the lack of critical observation and thinking, the search for shortcuts in gaining knowledge and fame, the lack of thorough research and study of the old writings.

I would like to believe that every homeopath actually reads and studies the Organon of Medicine in sufficient depth to give him an accurate and detailed understanding of homeopathic philosophy and allow him to practice the great healing art judiciously and successfully and according to its firm and steady laws and principles.

There is no other way to find the truth, but by searching for it, driven by the intention to find it. The truth will be revealed to the one who seeks it, to an

26 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 27 extent measurable by the strength of his intent to uncover it. It is the Law of Attraction – the attraction of like by like.

Is finding the simillimum self-sufficient to result in a cure? What about dose, potency and frequency of repetition? How are these significant in the whole picture? If the latter does not matter, as quoted before, why were they developed in the first place?

In the attempt to address these questions and throw some light on the subject, I looked for an answer in the Organon, which never ceases to amaze me with the astonishing depth of perception and wisdom revealed by its master Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.

The issue in question is virtually capable of creating enormous room for thoughtful debate; this is far from the scope of this rather short paper. However, I will try to make every effort to demonstrate my personal understanding on the subject through a careful reading of aphorisms 275 and 276.

The information provided in these two aphorisms, and further expanded in subsequent ones, is more than clearly presented in a way that creates in the reader a basis to construct an overall and complete concept of what the simillimum actually resembles. Most of the time this idea is only partially understood and its application owes much more to blind assumptions and notions, which have little support in the teachings of Hahnemann and his diligent followers. What is the Simillimum, actually? Isnʼt it the indicated homeopathic remedy for a given case selected according the totality of the symptoms expressed by the morbidly deranged vital force, in other words, the remedy that is similar to the case that is sought to be cured? Is this what defines our simillimum? The answer is “Yes” and “No”.

“The suitableness of a medicine for any given case of disease does not depend on its accurate homeopathic selection alone, but likewise on the proper size, or rather smallness, of the dose…” - §275 (Organon)

The very first lines of this aphorism suggest that selecting the remedy, even in such a way that it is homeopathic (similar) to the case, is not a self-sufficient premise and creates precognition for deviating from what homeopathy has set as a standard of highest ideal of cure, as Hahnemann stated in the first two paragraphs of theOrganon . He further explains that the suitableness of a medicine depends on considering a very important aspect – Posology. In other words, the proper size of the dose is of crucial importance, the smallest possible amount of medicine, which will result in establishing the balance and restoring health. How much is small enough? There is no exact formula: it all depends on each individual case and is a matter of skillful case management. 26 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 27 Hahnemann strongly emphasizes the importance of the dose size and further explains the concept of the minimal dose here and in subsequent paragraphs:

“…If we give too strong a dose of a medicine which may have been even quite homoeopathically chosen for the morbid state before us, it must, notwithstanding the inherent beneficial character of its nature, prove injurious by its mere magnitude, and by the unnecessary, too strong impression which, by virtue of its homoeopathic similarity of action, it makes upon the vital force which it attacks and, through the vital force, upon those parts of the organism which are the most sensitive, and are already most affected by the natural disease.” - §275 Why is this so? How do these unique mechanisms work? What is the interrelationship between the size of the dose and the phenomenon “similar aggravation”? Is there any way to avoid this?

There are two main points to consider here: 1. The medicine that is homeopathically selected to the case (artificial disease) and the natural disease expressed by the morbidly deranged vital force possess an extremely high level of sensitivity to one another due to their similarity in qualities and characteristics, hence their affinity to mutual attraction. 2. Giving too strong a dose will produce an unnecessarily strong aggravation, heightening the symptoms of the natural disease. This occurs not REGARDLESS, but BECAUSE of the homeopathicity of the medicinal substance. Obviously, this is not desirable and should be avoided at all times. The prescriber who uses the advanced 5th and 6th editions* will at any cost avoid such worsening of the natural disease by good management; this can be done with the watery remedy solutions. This is one of the major differences from their 4th edition colleagues, who in fact are seeing this similar aggravation as a positive sign confirming their choice of remedy, while there are other much more gentle ways for us to confirm whether the remedy is properly selected.

The vital force plays the role of “vehicle” and “target” at the same time (Fig.1). It is a vehicle responsible for maintaining a state of perfect balance in the entire organism by distributing pure energy throughout. It is a vehicle once again by expressing disagreeable sensations and functions in every part of the living organism in a state of mistunement. The vital force is a target for morbid agencies that are inimical to life and are capable of producing a response by the life principal, thereby creating the risk of developing certain types of pathological derangements and then becoming a vehicle for disagreeable symptoms expressed as a state of non-health. And again the vital force is in the position of a target for the 28 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 29 dynamized medicinal substance, which is homeopathic to its deranged state.

Fig.1. The Vital Force as Target and Vehicle

In §276, Hahnemann has stated: “…medicine, even though it may be homoeopathically suited to the case of disease, does harm in every dose that is too large, the more harm the larger the dose, and by the magnitude of the dose and in strong doses, it does more harm the greater its homoeopathicity and the higher the potency1 selected, and it does much more injury than any equally large dose of a medicine that is unhomeopathic…”

The concept here is very clear and comprehensible. In addition, any existing doubts and misunderstandings on dose and potency are dispersed. The vital force is extremely sensitive, irritable and apt to readily respond to the remedy that is homeopathic (similar) to its malady. Hence it is logical to conclude that the proximity to the simillimum is inversely related to its other characteristics – potency, dose size, and frequency of repetition. The closer the simillimum is, the lower the potency, dose and frequency of administering the remedy. Here, Hahnemann further clarifies that dose and potency are two very different notions, each one having very clear and well defined meanings. Dose refers to the size/ amount of medicinal solution administered, while potency describes the strength of the prepared remedy or, as Hahnemann refers to it in footnote 1 to § 276., the dynamization of the medicine.

28 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 29 Let us consider two possible cases here for illustrative purposes:

Fig.2. Case A: Complete Simillimum = right remedy + right potency + right dose + proper+ right frequency of repetition _Minor aggravation _ Speedy cure Case B: Incomplete Simillimum = right remedy + potency? + dose? + timing between doses? _ Strong aggravation _ Impeded cure

The complete simillimum is a combination of: • the properly selected remedy that is homeopathic to the natural disease • potency • dose, and • frequency of repetition,

These correspond with the nature and magnitude of the natural disease in a like fashion as the simillimum.

In Case A the amplitude of similar aggravation produced by the similar and somewhat stronger artificial disease is so minor, due to the resemblance of the simillimum to the totality of characteristics (totality of pathological symptoms, nature, magnitude, vibrational/energetic properties of the natural malady), that it usually passes off unnoticed by the vital force or, if any

30 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 31 discomfort is felt due to the patientʼs increased sensitivity, it is very minute and transient in time.

In Case B, although the remedy corresponds homeopathically to the natural disease, it is not a simillimum in terms of potency, dose or frequency of repetition. If any of the latter three characteristics does not correspond to the properties of the natural malady, then the simillimum becomes incomplete in its action, and will produce a very strong similar aggravation (the strength of the aggravation being in magnitude, in a direct ratio to the deviation of the proper value (mathematical term for illustrative purpose only) of any of the characteristics of the simillimum (these are different for each and every case).

The incomplete simillimum will produce such a strong similar aggravation, which, as Hahnemann points out, is going to annihilate the natural disease from the sensations of the vital force, but will lead the patient into such an aggravated state, that it might impede the cure or even result in fatal consequences (§ 276, Organon).

“…[in] strong doses it does more harm the greater its homoeopathicity and the higher the potency1 selected, and it does much more injury than any equally large dose of a medicine that is unhomoeopathic, and in no respect adapted to the morbid state (allopathic)” (§ 276, Organon).

What is to be concluded from this excerpt is that the homeopathically selected remedy is much more harmful if given in a too large dose than the one that is unhomeopathic to the malady and it seems very logical to be so, since the morbidly deranged vital force has a very diminished sensitivity and irritability, and is less likely to respond distinctly to its influence because of the lack of similarity in their characteristics.

With regards to the vital force the following four qualities can be considered: • Predisposition • Sensitivity • Susceptibility • Reactivity The peculiar combination of these four features results in the uniqueness of the vital force as phenomena, which creates the need for an individualized approach in homeopathy.

The sensitivity factor determines the choice of potency, dose and frequency of repetition and it is to be decided in every individual case. There is no exact formula or set protocol here. Other factors which also have to be taken into account include the nature of the disease, level of pathology, energy state of the vital force, age, sex, occupation, mode of living, etc., as outlined 30 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 31 in the Organon.

As Hahnemann advised, the smallest possible dose of the similar remedy should be given as a rule. But how much is small enough to satisfy this requirement? Again, there is no formula that reveals the algorithm and it is up to the sharpness of the senses and level of perception of the experienced and unprejudiced practitioner to find the answer in each individual case. These issues are further explained in subsequent aphorisms and will be within the perimeter of discussion in subsequent articles.

In conclusion, the essence of § 275 and 276, which Hahnemann had most clearly and skillfully presented to the attentive reader, is the concept of the simillimum and the mechanism of its action.

In summary, the simillimum is an integration of four major conceptions: • The similar (homeopathic to the totality of symptoms in a case) remedy. • The similar potency (corresponding to the vibrational energy of the malady); potency refers to the strength of the prepared medicinal solution, the energetic magnitude of the remedy. • The similar dose (in accordance with the magnitude of the natural disease); dose is different from potency and refers to the amount of the medicinal substance (remedy) administered to the patient as a single dose received. • Proper frequency of repetition (only when necessary, after the action of the previous dose is exhausted, and not before that, in order to avoid heightening of the original symptoms).

It is our duty and highest obligation as practitioners of the healing art of homeopathy to unravel the hidden treasures of the Organon, to construct a high level of understanding and skillful application of its principles and philosophy and provide our patients with the gift of our highest ideal as set in the first two aphorisms: rapid,“ gentle and permanent restoration of the health”.

* The later editions of Hahnemannʼs Organon, with more advanced methods of prescribing, were translated into English decades after their date of publication in German. For this reason, whole schools of homeopathy developed based on old techniques using the 4th edition, which these schools still consider the best, whereas the 6th edition, though more updated and perfected, is considered questionable by most English-speaking homeopaths.

Zara Lashkova, B.Sc, DIHom, Holder of Bachelorʼs degree in Geology and Geochemistry. Has completed the Chartered Herbalist Diploma program at Dominion Herbal College in BC. DIHom from the British 32 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 33 Institute of Homeopathy. Her first introduction to Homeopathy started in 2002.

Contact Information: e-mail: [email protected] Edmonton, AB Canada ph.(780)428-5775 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Templiers_Organon/

References: Hahnemann, Samuel. 2003, 2004. Organon of Medicine, 6th edition reprint, translated by W. Boericke. B. Jain Publishers (P.) Ltd. Hahnemann, Samuel. The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann. Translation by R. E. Dudgeon. De Schepper, Luc, 2001. Hahnemann Revisited. De Schepper, Luc, 2004. Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum.

VF: Dynamized medicinal substance (homeopathic remedy)

Pathological agencies

Organism in disease

Organism in health

Secondary reaction

Disagreeable sensations & functions

ND: Legend:

ND – Natural Disease

AD - Artificial Disease (Simillimum)*

Asa – Amplitude of similar aggravation

32 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 33 Asa

AD*

Case A *Complete Simillimum

Case B * Incomplete Simillimum

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34 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI        Patricia Hatherly

A woman consulted with me in early August 2005 in a state of extreme nervous prostration. Her distress was palpable and it was one of those cases where I had to say but little as it all came tumbling out.

DOB: 9/4/55 Intake: August 3, 2005

How can I help you? “I donʼt quite know. I hope you can. I donʼt even know who I am or where Iʼm going or where I belong. This is my second marriage and itʼs a disappointment to me especially since my first marriage of thirteen years was horrible and just didnʼt work. That husband was useless. He did nothing and it was all on me to do everything. This second husband is a worker, Iʼll give him that, but heʼs neurotic. Heʼs a bank manager; life is stressful!

I really like it here in Australia. Life is much better than it was in South Africa but my husband doesnʼt care for my children (from my first marriage) and this causes me enormous stress and heʼs walked away from co-responsibility for the business we bought in order to get residency.

Iʼm dizzy, nauseous, and have ringing in my ears. Iʼm crying all the time and feel pathetic and childish. Perhaps itʼs hormones? I was on the OCP but had my tubes tied and havenʼt gone for HRT. Iʼm so angry I want to hit something!

We emigrated five years ago, not long after we married. My only recognised qualification in South Africa is as a blood technician and when we married he made it clear from the start that heʼd not support my children as he had his own from his first marriage to support. So I took on a haberdashery business to try and support my kids. But I had no training and no idea of how to run a business and it ran dry because I used it to run my household. Heʼs never given me any house-keeping money and we never discuss money. [just below: he berates me constantly over money]

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 35 I walked out of my first marriage with nothing and met my new husband soon after. We went on a holiday to the US together and we had great fun. Because both of us had been deeply hurt by broken marriages it was a healing time and I saw a caring and responsible person and I thought that heʼd be able to look after me.”

Does he look after you? “Yes; up to a point because itʼs at a price and he berates me constantly over money. He reckons that all he does is shell out dollars and that I never contribute. Heʼs manipulative over money and confuses it with love. Because I fell behind with my car payments and re-possession was looming, he stepped in and paid it off without so much as a by-your-leave. Then for the next five years, every time we had a blow-up over money heʼd throw it in my face. When we came to Australia we rented a large house together and heʼs always threatened to pull out and leave me with the lease. Itʼs always been a fight to get money from him to support my kids. [above: he said he would not support them] [I would put quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph but not at the end until it is the end of the quotation. I wonʼt make that change in case you donʼt do it like that.]

As it was I left my older child in South Africa when we came as he was just finishing his final year at school. Leaving him behind and moving to a totally unknown situation nearly un-hinged me and I nearly lost it on the plane coming over. He [unclear who he is since just above it appears to be the kid]was strong and gave me good moral and emotional support during the flight and my thought, at the time was…yes; heʼs my man and heʼll look after me. But itʼs turned out that heʼs a wimp and that Iʼm the strong one.

Since coming here I discovered he has a drinking problem. He drinks a bottle of whiskey a night and picks at me every night. He even accuses me of stealing because the business we bought is not doing well. We should have gone into food but we bought a hairdressing supplies franchise and I thought weʼd get back-up from the head office but none has been forthcoming and it was apparent soon after taking the business over that the books were cooked. The lady who had the franchise had two stores. One was in the city and the other one that we bought was in the suburbs in a lower socio-economic area (not that I knew that at the time). She used ours to offset her city profits.

After we were here for three months, he told me he no longer loved me and that he wanted my kids gone. We were supposed to be in business together making a go of it so that we could get residency but he wonʼt come near it. Itʼs all been left up to me. He hates everything. Heʼs withdrawn, bitter. Because my first marriage failed itʼs really important to me that I succeed in 36 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 37 this one. Iʼm married but lonely and starved of love.

Well, Iʼve always been starved of love. I was a sickly child and my father was the headmaster at the school I went to so I had no friends. He even caned me once because I went out with a guy he didnʼt approve of.

I grew up resentful. He wanted me to be a teacher like him or a nurse and I wanted to be a hairdresser. His view was that only bad girls go into hairdressing. I did it my way and fell in love in my late teens with a guy (teacher) who cheated on me and then dumped me so I married on the rebound and had my first baby at 22. was a sales rep. It was a very stressful time. I waited for ten years to have my second child.

That husband was worse than useless so I had to leave or go mad and it seems as if this marriage is not much better but I know it could be and Iʼm determined not to have a second failed marriage. I want to be successful and know I can be if I get the support but he wonʼt give it. Heʼs a banker and wonʼt do the books and then turns around and tells me that the failure of the business is all my fault and heʼll be ruined and will lose his job at the bank and weʼll lose our house. Itʼs a nightmare.

We should be there for each other. We got our residency simply because I did all the work towards it. There was a window when the books looked good and I borrowed heaps of expensive jewelry from my friends I had them valued and presented them as our assets with the story that jewelry was the easiest way to get assets out of South Africa and they were all family heirlooms. They bought it and we got our residency so now I want to sell the business but itʼs such a stress because thereʼs no support from my husband or the franchise owners. There is a lady interested but Iʼll have to walk away with no profit just to save my sanity and my husband is furious with me over it.”

What are you most scared of? “Grasshoppers! They freak me the way they jump at you and their crunchiness. Iʼd rather a snake than a grasshopper any day.”

Are there any creatures that you really like? “I love the elephants because theyʼre great mothers and supportive of each other. They mourn and grieve together. But, I love the independence of the female lions more. They too, are supportive of each other and they prepare their babies for the real world and do a great job of it with no support from their mates. Actually, come to think of it I may as well be talking about myself! I have a husband with no balls and I have to do it all myself. My kids are great kids and Iʼm pleased with how theyʼve turned out and itʼs no thanks to the men in my life.” 36 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 37 Food desires? “I love salty food; biltong is my favourite snack. I can eat any amount of meat. I LOVE meat.”

Prescription: Lac leoni 200C one dose.

Rubrics chosen:

A/F indignation [2] Anger, blamed, from being [1] Anxiety, household matters, about [2] Confidence, want of self [2] Delusion, criticized, she is [2] Delusion, hindered, he is, everyone by [2] Delusion: put down, she is [2] Fight, wants to [2] Forsaken feeling [1; 2] Impulse, morbid, violence, to do [2] Quarrelsomeness, scolding [2] Rage, fury [1; 2] Resentment, husband, to [1] Reproaches others [2] Sensitive, oversensitive, reprimands, criticism, reproaches, to [2] Generalities: meat desires [1] salty food, desires [1]

The spread of rubrics in the hierarchy associated with anger; indignation; rage; fury; desire to fight (quarrelsome) goes [antecedent: spread] deep to the heart of the lac-leoni state. In the wild it is the lioness that does the brunt of the work in the pride and so the woman in this state is, invariably, at odds with her husband whom she perceives to be domineering. This is consistent with the situation that exists in the wild when a change in leadership of the pride (through challenge) is successful, and the new dominant male kills all the offspring of the females in the pride and fathers his own cubs. Not only does the woman in the lac-leoni state feel that she carries the total burden for maintaining their lifestyle but she does it with no sense of autonomy or prestige or unconditional safety for her offspring.

Follow-up September 9, 2005

She had a bad flu following the dose and presented a month later still stressed because the sale of the business still hadnʼt gone through.

“Iʼm a total bundle of nerves and wonder that Iʼm managing to keep it together. Iʼve had little sleep and weʼre not talking. Last night I asked him if he wanted me to leave and he said no. That surprised me as he doesnʼt 38 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 39 act as if he wants me to stay. Iʼm confused and bitter. It was difficult for me to marry a second time and it was a matter of trust. I canʼt rely on him for support so how can I trust him with my feelings? Business has been really bad for several months because of work on the center and Iʼve complained to Centre Management but theyʼve done nothing about it. As a result Iʼve not paid rent for two months. So thereʼs no support there and still none from head office who are supposed to be facilitating this sale. Iʼm let down on all sides.

I donʼt know why I feel guilty about it. I was chucked in the deep end and I abided by the rules but no one else did.

Iʼm SO angry at him for being so unsupportive and useless that I want to hurt him physically and he knows it. I think heʼs scared of me and what I might do to him if I get mad enough.”

Prescription: Lac leoni 1M one dose

January 13, 2006 Phone follow up. The business sold. She lost money but financially theyʼre out of the woods. Sheʼs working as a massage therapist and loving it. The marriage is slowly mending and she feels positive that theyʼll be OK and sheʼs looking forward to getting her Australian citizenship next week.

September 23, 2006 She presented again feeling exhausted from working long hours as a massage therapist.

“Iʼm tired of his attitude and the blame he puts on me for the failure of the business. Iʼm sick of his drinking. Iʼm totally exhausted from the sheer hard physical work of massaging. Iʼm working on one of the island resorts and it seems as if Iʼm living two lives. Although the work is physically draining, itʼs almost a relief to get the barge on a Monday morning knowing that I wonʼt have to deal with him again until the weekend.

Iʼm feeling empty, lost and angry. Heʼs still not into sex and is never welcoming to me when I come home. All he can go on about is my kids and money. Donʼt think harshly of me but Iʼve looked elsewhere for love. Heʼs a rep 20 years younger than me. I know its crazy but itʼs a release for me to be with him. Iʼm at a crossroads. I look around at all the happy couples and wonder if we can ever be like that. How can I help him so that we can be a happy couple? I have to hold out until the middle of next year when the lease on the house expires. Maybe we can go our separate ways then.”

Any physical symptoms? “Thereʼs a constant burning feeling in my solar plexus which I know is all 38 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 39 about how badly I still feel about the failed business. There are no dreams to tell you. My sleep is poor. Iʼve got tinnitus and the only way I can get any sleep is to play the radio in my ear. Iʼm exhausted and poor sleep doesnʼt help. (Sleep unrefreshing is a Lac leoni symptom. However tinnitus did not show up in the provings. Perhaps it needs to be added.)

Iʼm not really hungry. I force myself to have a muesli bar for breakfast and live on jelly babies and fruit throughout the day for quick energy-- that and lots of cups of sweet milky tea. I find that comforting. I do keep my water up (I like water) and have meat and veggies for dinner. I still like my meat.

My hands are playing up. Theyʼre aching from all the massaging. I think itʼs arthritis so Iʼve been taking glucosamine. I need to keep up my upper body strength in order to cope with all the massaging, so I do a boxing session once a week. Anyway, it also helps me to get rid of some of my frustration.”

Prescription: Lac leoni 1M one dose

Rubrics chosen

Anger, blamed, from being [1] Anxiety, future about [1] Delusion, criticised she is [2] Forsaken feeling [2] Resentment, husband, to [1] Stomach: appetite wanting [2] Extremities: stiffness, joints [1] Female: sexual desire increased [1] Sleep unrefreshing [1] Generalities: fruit desires, juicy [1] meat desires [1] water desires [1] weakness [2]

February 16, 2007 Follow-up phone consult “I decided to give up the massage work. It was far too draining on me and my hands hurt too much. Besides that, it was boring spending my days being quiet and not able to chat. I much preferred it when I had the shop and could chat to customers. It suits my outgoing nature more. So, Iʼve decided to use my original training as a blood technician and work as a medical rep.

I still have my love interest. Itʼs a release for me and makes up for the lack of affection in my marriage. Iʼm not in the least starry-eyed about it and it will eventually come to its natural conclusion when it no longer suits either of us. Iʼll let it go then; no regrets.

40 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 41 However, Iʼm still hanging in there in the marriage. The lease on the house is up in a few months and Iʼd like us to buy a small townhouse together. Iʼve been to see a psychologist for counselling and found that helpful but I canʼt get him to come also. He needs to, as he speaks to me abominably. I donʼt tolerate it any more and give it back to him when he verbally abuses me. Iʼm still there because I believe in marriage but Iʼm more philosophical regarding what he can give me.

I have my own circle of girlfriends and donʼt hesitate to spend time with them. I go out regularly. He hates it because he canʼt be bothered making any friends and relies on me totally for building social networks. I do that but I have my own special girlie time out also.

I feel positive about the future. I have goals and am slowly working towards them. If he doesnʼt want to buy the townhouse with me Iʼll do it by myself and thatʼll be the end of it. Iʼm feeling especially positive about the prospect of a new job. Itʼll good to be back among people, in the corporate world, building business networks and a client base.”

That, for her, would be a form of hunting; and, ironically, working with blood products would be consistent with her essentially lioness nature.

December 2007, Follow-up phone consult She walked away from the marriage in June of this year with the termination of their lease on the house as he seemed to have no inclination to change and her children were very keen to get away from him. She still has her casual “love interest” and is currently working in real estate but still trying to get a job as a medical rep as sheʼd enjoy that more and feels more suited to the work because of her earlier training. In all sheʼs happy…”free” and feels positive about the future.

Bibliography:

[1] Herrick N: Animal Mind, Human Voices Hahnemann Clinic Publishing; Nevada City, 1998

[2] Sankaran R: Provings Homœopathic Medical Publishers; Mumbai, 1998

Patricia Hatherly BA DipEd IBCLC BHSc(Hom) AROH regʼd MAHA ALCA ANPA 40 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 41 is a classical homœopath who has, for 14 years, run a busy clinical practice in the western suburbs of Brisbane. She has, however, spent over 30 years working with families (particularly mothers and babies) as a lactation consultant; childbirth educator, and parent effectiveness training instructor (PET). This unusual combination of skills, added to the wealth of personal experience acquired through mothering 3 children (all breastfed), gives her a unique perspective on the Lac remedies.

Patricia lectures in materia medica at the Brisbane campus of the Australian College of Natural Medicine (ACNM), and is also a clinical supervisor on that campus. She is immediate past president of the Australian Homœopathic Associationʼs National Council and is the author of The Homœopathic Physicianʼs Guide to Lactation

Patricia Hatherly Homœopath, Lactation Consultant & Educator Amamusus Natural Therapies Centre 24 Mirbelia Street Kenmore Hills Qld 4069 T: + 61 7 38789767 F: + 61 7 38785208 E: [email protected]

42 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI        (Broncho-spasm)

By Dr. Subrata K. Banerjea

Methodology: Contaminated Drug Dependent Cases: Cases Without Clarity Of Symptoms

In drug dependent asthma cases when the patient is on an inhaler and/or steroids, it is very difficult to get a clear picture of the case. The artificial chronic disease is superimposed on the original natural disease (Aphorism 91), therefore symptoms are contaminated or suppressed and the patient cannot give a clear picture of modalities, etc. In such cases, homoeopathic bronchodilators such as Aralia racemosa, Blatta Orientalis, Aspidosperma, Cassia sophera, Eriodictyon, Pothos foetidus, etc., can be prescribed on the basis of few available symptoms (according to §173--§178) and gradually the conventional allopathic bronchodilator can be withdrawn. The patient sips the homoeopathic bronchodilator medicine prescribed on the basis of the few available symptoms in drug-dependent asthma cases, therefore considering the partial symptomatic similarity in accordance with §173- -§178. When the patient is out of breath and in need of a conventional bronchodilator, the patient takes the homoeopathic medicine and tries to defer the conventional medicine as much as s/he can. In this way, a steroid dependent patient who used to take steroid/inhaler every 8 hours can, with the help of homeopathic medicine, defer the steroid use to every 12 hours, then every 24 hours and so on. In this way the patient is gradually weaned off the conventional medication/inhaler.

In the same way, for painkiller-dependent migraine cases, the artificial chronic disease is superimposed on the original natural disease, therefore symptoms are contaminated or suppressed and the patient cannot give a clear picture for a constitutional prescription; the modalities of the pain are masked. Therefore, the following medicines can be selected on the basis of the few available symptoms: Acetanilidum, Anagyris, Bromium, Chionanthus virginica, Epiphegus, Ferrum pyro-phosphoricum, Indium,

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 43 Iris versicolor, Kalmia latifolia, Lac defloratum, Melilotus, Menispernum, Menynanthes, Oleum animale, Onosmodium, Saponin, Usnea barbata, Yucca filamentosa.

Similar examples are used for drug dependent hypertensive cases with the following medicines: Allium sativa, Crataegus oxyacantha, Eel serum (Serum ang.), Ergotinum, Lycopus virginicus, Rauwolfia serpentina, Spartium scoparium, Strophanthus hispidus. In the same way, a patient is then capable of gradually being weaned off the conventional medication.

Experience shows that after approximately 50% weaning from the conventional medicine, suppressed symptoms will surface and then the patient can give much clearer modalities and a constitutional prescription can be made. Through this approach, not only does the patient gain immediate confidence that homeopathy works, but s/he can also be weaned off conventional medication.

In this, the patient has full control (as the patient is also aware of the side effects of the chemicals of the conventional medicine and wants to go off them). Giving the “weaning-off power” into the hands of the patient makes him feel that he is taking control, and therefore the patientʼs willpower works toward the raising of patientʼs energy level. I do not advise exactly how much to wean-off, because that should be guided by the general practitioner. But as I give control to the patient, I get a disclaimer signed by the patient. (See footnote.1)

Eight Homoeopathic Bronchodilators Used to Wean Patients Off Conventional Medication

Amyl. nitrosum Asthmatic dyspnoea with angina. Chest: Oppression, Fullness, Suffocation. Anxiety: must have fresh air. Cough: Spasmodic, Suffocative, Paroxysmal. Constriction: Throat, Chest, Larynx. Manifestation: Pulsation, Oppression, Constriction. Miasmatics: Psora (++) Sycotic (+) Syphilis (+) Tubercular (+)2 Potency of Choice: Q, 6c

Aralia racemosa A = Asthma with wheezing. R = Right lung: affected A = Agg. at 2 A.M. L = Lying agg. I = Inspiration is difficult

44 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 45 A = A foreign-body sensation. Wheezing in throat. Constriction in chest and throat with a sensation of foreign body in the throat. Inspiration is more difficult than expiration. Cough < after lying, < 2 A.M. Expectoration is salty and hot. Miasmatics: Psora (++) Sycotic (++) Syphilis (+) Tubercular (++) Potency of Choice: Q, 6c, 1M

Aspidosperma Want of breath during exertion is the guiding symptom. Useful in cardiac asthma. It is the digitalis of the lungs: broncho-dilation. Miasmatics: Psoric (++) Syco (++) Potency of Choice: Q, 30c, 1M

Blatta orientalis Doctrine of signature: Cockroaches live in cracks and crevices in damp shady places, therefore this is a wonderful asthma medicine for people who live or work in damp basements, cellars, or damp dwellings. Aggravation from damp and rainy weather. Asthma with bronchitis, especially indicated after Arsenicum when this is insufficient. Acts best in stout, or corpulent persons. Seem to act on patients who have a tendency to obesity. Much pus-like mucus. After the spasm. For the remaining cough, use higher potency and stop with improvement. Miasmatics: Psora (++) Sycotic (+++) Potency of Choice: Q, 30c, 1M

Cassia sophera Skin diseases (like dandruff, eczema, itching, ringworm, etc.) are associated with bronchial troubles. Cough (in asthmatic patients) and more for a painful and distressing cough. Asthmatic symptoms with rattling of mucus in the throat but not much expulsion. Aggravated during rainy and winter season. Worse: later part of the evening and past midnight, towards early morning, better by sitting up. Note: Cassia sophera is antidoted by smoking or chewing tobacco, so patients should avoid them during medication. Miasmatics: Psora (++) Syco (+++) Syphilitic Potency of Choice: Q, 30c, 1M

Eriodictyon glutinosum 44 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 45 Bronchitis followed by tubercular cough. Profuse nocturnal sweat and spasm, > by expectoration. Cough after influenza. Miasmatics: Psora (++) Sycotic (++) Syphilis (+) Tubercular (+++) Potency of Choice: Q, 30c

Pothos foetidus For asthmatic complaints, which are caused and are made worse by inhaling any dust. Difficult, troublesome respiration; oppression with perspiration. Anguish with oppression. Asthmatic symptoms are better by passing stool. Deep-acting Syco-Psoric remedy Miasmatics: Psora (++) Sycotic (++) Tubercular (+) Potency of Choice: Q, 30c, 1M (For Allergic Broncho-spasm)

Solidago virga Periodic asthma with nightly dysuria. A 15-drop dose promotes expectoration in bronchitis and bronchial asthma in old people. Expectoration: Profuse, blood-tinged. Miasmatics: Psora (++) Sycotic (++) Syphilis (+) Tubercular (+++) Potency of Choice: Q, 30c

(Footnotes) 1 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (Homeopathic Consultation with Dr. Subrata K. Banerjea)

I understand that homeopathy is a safe complementary system of medicine and it works gently to stimulate the bodyʼs own healing power.

I understand that there is no recommendation by the homeopath to stop, vary, reduce or change any medication prescribed by my G.P. and/or consultant and if I intend to do so, that will be at my own choice and my concerned homeopath will not be liable for any consequences thereof.

______Signature

Date ______, 200 ______

______

______(Name and Full Postal Address) 46 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 47 2 Number of plus signs indicates the degree of miasm in a particular remedy, one being low and three being high.

46 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 47   :   :      By Dr. Subrata K. Banerjea

MTEK is a useful memory aid to arriving at a correct prescription.

M = Miasmatic Totality T = Totality of Symptoms E = Essence (should include gestures, postures, behaviors, etc.) K = Keynotes (which should encompass PQRS symptoms, refer to §153 and §209 of Hahnemannʼs Organon) When the above criteria are considered and the steps below followed, a correct prescription can be made.

Step-I: Make the miasmatic diagnosis of the case, i.e., ascertain the surface miasm. Step-II: Assess the Totality of Symptoms + Essence + Keynotes and PQRS (if any) of the case and formulate the indicated remedy. Step-III: Ensure that the indicated remedy covers the surface miasm, as diagnosed in Step I.

Step-IV: Administer the remedy, which encompasses the miasm as well as the totality of symptoms.

Miasmatics of Bronchospasm Psoric bronchospasm: Hypersensitiveness of the tracheo-bronchial tree to any allergen is psoric. Often associated with F/H or P/H of allergy-like rhinitis, eczema, urticaria, even allergies to different kinds of foods. Nasal allergy ‡ sneezing ‡ cough ‡ dyspnoea ‡ expectoration. Frequent congestion of throat with accumulation of much mucus/phlegm. Nasal mucosa: dry ‡ then watery mucus ‡ blow ‡ dry (++) again. Expectoration is usually mucus, scanty and tasteless.

48 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 49 Sycotic bronchospasm: Hereditary bronchial asthmas are generally sycotic. Without history of any allergy. Dyspnoea starts with cough q then expectorationq No nasal allergy or rhinitis. Starts or aggravates in rainy weather. Prefers open air. Early morning << or late morning < ; > by movement, lying on abdomen (some author suggests: Asthma > by lying on back: Sycosis). Patient is compelled to move, which is a characteristic. Yellowish or greenish-yellow discharge or expectoration. Profuse mucus ‡ Nose blocked ‡ Sinusitis.

Syphilo-Sycotic Bronchospasm: Starts with dyspnoea (no manifestation of nasal allergy to start with). Worse in winter, summer, warmth, midnight, sweat, lying down, before going to bed. Paroxysmal coughs with tasteless, yellowish, greenish or clean, sticky, thread-like discharge. Worse midnight, lying down, warmth. Sticky thread-like discharge. Dyspnoea to began with (no cough, no allergy).

Tubercular or mixed miasmatic bronchospasm: Dyspnoea on ascending stairs. The chest is often narrow (pigeon chest), lacking not only in width laterally but also in depth: antero-posteriorly. Sub-clavicular spaces are hollow. One lung is larger than the other. Poor-breathers: they have no desire to take a full respiration. Nasal blockage and therefore mouth breathing. Yellowish expectoration with an odor of old cheese or sulphur. Patient cannot fully expand the chest, constant desire to hawk. Teasing cough and expectoration, which is sticky, viscid, pus-like, offensive and tastes sweetish or salty. Always getting colds, despite a desire to be in the open air.

Biography Dr. Subrata Banerjea Fellow: Akademie Homoopathischer Deutscher Zentralverein (Germany) Director: Bengal Allen Medical Institute Principal: Allen College Of Homoeopathy, Essex, England “Sapiens”, 382, Baddow Road, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 9RA, England Tel & Fax no. 44 (0) 1245 505859 [email protected] www.homeopathy-course.com 48 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 49    By Dr. Subrata K. Banerjea 4 Gradually withdraw the drugs Cases with scarcity of symptoms (suppression or masking sensations, modalities etc. by strong and off prolonged effect of drugs) If there are not good symptoms to characterize the patient and frame a good totality for selecting constitutional medicine , it is better not to prescribe a constitutional medicine on few vague/common symptoms but rather employ homeopathic organopathic medicines. This oOrganopathic medicine will help withdrawal from the allopathic drugs and also will clear up the suppression, and bring more symptoms to surface. To stimulate the vital organs Re-assess after 50% - 60% of the withdrawal drugs Try constitutional medicine bronchodilators (with homeopathic medicine) Cases with clear picture (clarity of symptoms to make it complete, e.g. with sensation, modalities, etc.) Constitutional prescribing with the use of homeopathic organopathic broncho-dialators (to gradually wean the patient off the inhalers, etc.) Flowchart for gradual weaning patients off conventional Inhaler and/or steroid dependent broncho-spasm APPROACH OF TREATMENT

50 SIMILLIMUM / Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 51 5 MONTHS 19-24 Reduce (100%) Use SOS tincture only if and when required. Ventolin Inhaler should have ceased. Steroid Inhaler should have ceased. Asthma under control barring exciting cause, e.g. colds, virus. Continue constitutional treatment. Patient may well have ongoing homeopathic treatment for some years – it takes 25-40% of the time they have been ill. MONTHS 13-18 Reduce (100%) Use SOS tincture only if and when required Steroid Inhaler – can patient now do without? (Bear in mind this takes two weeks to build up in the body) Continue constitutional treatment. MONTHS 7-12 Reduce (75%) Ventolin – can patient now do without? Use SOS tincture when required only, not on a regular basis. Steroid Inhaler – reduce to 1 puff once a day for months 7-9, 1 puff every other day on months 10-12. Oral steroids – should have ceased. Use SOS tincture as and when required. Continue constitutional treatment – deal with any acutes as they arise. Need to get more symptoms, may need to open up case with nosode if stuck. with homeopathic Rx Reduce (50%),balance MONTHS 2-6 Ventolin (Reliever) One puff when required. Need to monitor frequency – use SOS tincture X 4 hourly or when necessary. Steroid Inhaler (Preventative) try to reduce to two puffs once a day over the period. Oral Steroids – usually weaned off over a few weeks and then stopped. Aim to reduce frequency of use. Continue to take constitutional remedy, increase potency if necessary or change remedy depending on symptoms. . �� Aim for 10% less in six months; long weaning off period; takes time. If on a constitutional remedy but inhaler dependent, use tinct ure to help decrease dependency. Use constitutional remedy first. This will cover all the sympt oms anyway-- tincture assist as organopathic. Need to withdraw steroids finally, homoeopathy won’t work and make a ny permanent results if steroid dependent. Tincture to start. Once the patient is 50% off allopathic reme dy, go 6c potency. 80% withdrawn, 30c but only if tincture is simillimum. �� MONTH 1 Using: Ventolin (Reliever) 2 puffs when required. Steroid Inhaler (Preventative) 2 puffs twice a day Oral Steroids – assumed being taken as a one off course. If not needed, to be gradually reduced. (10% less in six months) Continue all inhalers and steroids as usual. Take Constitutional remedy e.g. 30c (potency according to patients vitality). Start indicated homeopathic tincture 8 hourly to bolster the lungs e.g. Use tincture as SOS well, if necessary. Withdraw in order 1 – Ventolin 2 – Inhaled Steroids 3 – Oral Steroids Allopathic Treatment Homeopathic Treatment

50 SIMILLIMUM / Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 51 5 6 MONTHS 19-24 Reduce (100%) Use SOS tincture only if and when required. Ventolin Inhaler should have ceased. Steroid Inhaler should have ceased. Asthma under control barring exciting cause, e.g. colds, virus. Continue constitutional treatment. Patient may well have ongoing homeopathic treatment for some years – it takes 25-40% years – it takes 25-40% of the time they have of the time they have been ill. been ill. MONTHS 13-18 Reduce (100%) Use SOS tincture only if and when required Steroid Inhaler – can patient now do without? (Bear in mind this takes two weeks to build up in the body) Continue constitutional treatment. MONTHS 7-12 Reduce (75%) Ventolin – can patient now do without? Use SOS tincture when required only, not on a regular basis. Steroid Inhaler – reduce to 1 puff once a day for months 7-9, 1 puff every other day on months 10-12. Oral steroids – should have ceased. Use SOS tincture as and when required. Continue constitutional treatment – deal with any acutes as they arise. Need to get arise. Need to get more symptoms, may more symptoms, may need to open up case need to open up case with nosode if stuck. with nosode if stuck. with homeopathic Rx Reduce (50%),balance MONTHS 2-6 Ventolin (Reliever) One puff when required. Need to monitor frequency – use SOS tincture X 4 hourly or when necessary. Steroid Inhaler (Preventative) try to reduce to two puffs once a day over the period. Oral Steroids – usually weaned off over a few weeks and then stopped. Aim to reduce frequency of use. Continue to take constitutional remedy, increase potency if necessary or change remedy depending on symptoms. Continue use of tincture as SOS and reduce dose to once a day, if possible. . . �� Aim for 10% less in six months; long weaning off period; takes time. If on a constitutional remedy but inhaler dependent, use tinct ure to help decrease dependency. Use constitutional remedy first. This will cover all the sympt oms anyway-- tincture assist as organopathic. Need to withdraw steroids finally, homoeopathy won’t work and make a ny permanent results if steroid dependent. Tincture to start. Once the patient is 50% off allopathic reme dy, go 6c potency. 80% withdrawn, 30c but only if tincture is simillimum. �� MONTH 1 Using: Ventolin (Reliever) 2 puffs when required. Steroid Inhaler (Preventative) 2 puffs twice a day Oral Steroids – assumed being taken as a one off course. If not needed, to be gradually reduced. (10% less in six months) Continue all inhalers and steroids as usual. Take Constitutional remedy e.g. 30c (potency according to patients vitality). Start indicated homeopathic tincture 8 hourly to bolster the hourly to bolster the lungs e.g. lungs e.g. Use tincture as SOS Use tincture as SOS well, if necessary. well, if necessary. Withdraw in order 1 – Ventolin 2 – Inhaled Steroids 3 – Oral Steroids Allopathic Treatment Homeopathic Treatment

52 SIMILLIMUM / Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 53 7 MONTHS 19-24 May be incurable case, may only be able to palliate or reduce allopathic medicine. MONTHS 13-18 MONTHS 7-12 MONTHS 2-6 As time goes on – may need to change tincture as asthma symptoms may change. MONTH 1 May need to use LMs if patient is unwell or cannot handle aggravations. Notes Every patient is individual; the length of time they have bee n on asthma drugs must be taken into account. Severity asthm a also key factor. The more severe, the gradual reduction has t o be. If they are using a nebulizer (ventolin), withdraw ver y gradually until inhaler only, then gradually withdraw that. They may need organopathic tincture to boost lungs as outlined above. Very chronic patie nts are usually more difficult to wean off nebulizers, as permanent organ dama ge may have already occurred. Withdrawing medication in asthma: Stop inhalers (wean off gradually), then stop oral steroids Withdraw in order 1 – Ventolin (reliever) 2 – Inhaled steroids 3 – Internal steroids/Nebulizer Aim for 10% less in six months – long weaning off period, takes time. If they are put on a constitutional remedy, but inhale r dependent, then use tincture to help them decrease inhaler de pendency. dependent is equivalent to “status asthmaticus” – “got do s omething” help breathing, as can’t without! Use the constitutional remedy first. This will cover all s ymptoms anyway, tincture assist as it is organopathic and helpful to lungs. Need to try and withdraw steroids, homoeopathy won’t work if st eroid dependent, need steroids. Balance homeopathy with bronchodilators withdrawal. Law of Similar acting on physiological level. Use tincture if ventoli n dependent and start withdrawal 50-60% = get more symptoms. As soon as patient is clear of SOS medicine – mental ability t o reflect on symptoms better, need to get more symptoms. Ventolin/Steroids mask symptoms. Dosage of Homeopathic Broncho-dialator:

52 SIMILLIMUM / Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 53 8 7 wean the MONTHS 19-24 May be incurable case, may only be able to palliate or reduce allopathic medicine. MONTHS 13-18 MONTHS 7-12 X 4 to 6 hourly in a cup of lukewarm water sip ever y 5 – 10 minutes, very MONTHS 2-6 As time goes on – may need to change tincture as asthma symptoms may change. MONTH 1 May need to use LMs if patient is unwell or cannot handle aggravations. patient off the allopathic medication. slowly X during acute attack of asthma and try to delay the int ake / inhaling drug. In this way, gradual reduction inhaler. If patient says, homeopathic tincture not acting quickly or sufficientl y, even then insist to carry on the as it will and s hould gradually Six to ten drops (according the vitality of patient), Notes Every patient is individual; the length of time they have bee n on asthma drugs must be taken into account. Severity asthm a also key factor. The more severe, the gradual reduction has t o be. If they are using a nebulizer (ventolin), withdraw ver y gradually until inhaler only, then gradually withdraw that. They may need organopathic tincture to boost lungs as outlined above. Very chronic patie nts are usually more difficult to wean off nebulizers, as permanent organ dama ge may have already occurred. Withdrawing medication in asthma: Stop inhalers (wean off gradually), then stop oral steroids Withdraw in order 1 – Ventolin (reliever) 2 – Inhaled steroids 3 – Internal steroids/Nebulizer Aim for 10% less in six months – long weaning off period, takes time. If they are put on a constitutional remedy, but inhale r dependent, then use tincture to help them decrease inhaler de pendency. dependent is equivalent to “status asthmaticus” – “got do s omething” help breathing, as can’t without! Use the constitutional remedy first. This will cover all s ymptoms anyway, tincture assist as it is organopathic and helpful to lungs. Need to try and withdraw steroids, homoeopathy won’t work if st eroid dependent, need steroids. Balance homeopathy with bronchodilators withdrawal. Law of Similar acting on physiological level. Use tincture if ventoli n dependent and start withdrawal 50-60% = get more symptoms. As soon as patient is clear of SOS medicine – mental ability t o reflect on symptoms better, need to get more symptoms. Ventolin/Steroids mask symptoms. Dosage of Homeopathic Broncho-dialator:

54 SIMILLIMUM / Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 55 54 SIMILLIMUM / Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX Winter / Spring 2008 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 55 56 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 57 56 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 57     By Tim Shannon, ND

Date of intake: June 14, 2004 Patient: Salvatore, a 10-year-old boy

What grade are you in? Third.

Do you like it? Good. Iʼm going into fourth grade. (Patient has a clear, audible, speech impediment.)

What do you like about school? I really like the internet. My favorite is Emergent Reader.

What do you do at school? You learn stuff.

What else? The coat closet, where you get to hang up your coats. All the grades have a coat closet.

What about coat closets? Yeah, because you get to hang all your backpacks up. If there wasnʼt one, you couldnʼt hang up your backpack, and you would have to lay it on the floor. Sometimes, I go to the library, because it is too loud.

Loud? Donʼt like; it always hurts my ears.

Both ears? No, only that one (points to right).

Tell me more about noise. Sometimes when they were outside, it was so loud. I had to cover both of my ears.

Noises? Loud ones, like a car honk.

What things in school donʼt you like? Writing, in our writing journals because sometimes it hurts my hand. I have to shake it off (motions with left hand).

58 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 59 Other things? I donʼt like math, because sometimes itʼs hard, and there is writing in it.

Anything else? No.

Is there something more about school? On Halloween, there is this loch monster. It really was Mr. Summers (the computer teacher). It scared me. These two boys went out and he gave them candy, and it was a trap. He traps them in a cage.

It scared you? Yes. We also got to play this game. Mr. Summers dressed up like the loch monster. There were all these signs that said, “Wanted: Loch Monster, but it was just a joke. My heart was beeping like butterflies in my stomach [motions towards chest – I think he means palpitations]. On TV, they said, “Breaking news, and you have to help us.” Whenever I go on roller coasters that happens me too, my heart beeps like butterflies. Or scary rides, donʼt like the loop-to-loop. [Observation: He appears to have a lazy right eye.]

What other things scare you? Sometimes Iʼm scared of the tooth fairy, scared he might be right by me. I want him to be this far to me, [motions about one foot away] just a little close to me when he takes the tooth. Because he might touch me or something. But he didnʼt. Sometimes I want to back up from the tooth fairy, want to move over to the next pillow so he doesnʼt get me.

Is the tooth fairy a bad guy? No.

You were scared though? Yup.

What could he do? Move to my pillow.

What could he do? Take the tooth out; itʼs scary when he takes the tooth out. I like that he always trades it for a dollar.

Are there other things that scare you? Nope, nothing else.

Animals? I really like turtles, and I like lizards.

Do you have a favorite? Yeah, my favorite is a frog, second favorite is turtle, third is lizard.

Frog? They hop. Once I got a frog and Brian got a lizard. I named my frog Percival; he named the lizard Nanners. Brian made a book about Percival and Nanners go on a trip.

58 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 59 Are there other animals that scare you? Cats, the wild cats, like the big ones in the jungle. Like tigers and wild cats.

What do they do? They might eat me, because they eat meat.

Do you like heat or cold? I like warm places, and not cold places . Do you have any dreams? Nope. [While thinking about it, it looks like heʼs talking to himself under his breath.] I had a nightmare before.

Tell me more. There were all these monsters, surrounded by some, they tackled me, one of them killed me. Then I woke up and shook my head, and I said it wasnʼt real. Then it came out of my head, so I donʼt remember it anymore.

Do you like your lights on or off when going to bed? Like the lights off. What environment do you prefer? At the beach.

For instance? It is hot, and you can catch lizards and go swim in the lake, help my grandpa or help cousins. Sometimes I help pick up my suitcase and move it into the houseboat.

Do you have other speech difficulties other than saying your letter Rs? Just them.

Any other problems with your mouth? No.

Throat? No.

What are your favorite foods? Pancakes, and my drink would be lemonade.

Do you have any other favorites? No.

Are there foods you donʼt like? Nuts. Whenever I eat a nut cake. Donʼt like them, but I really like peanuts.

I excuse the patient, ask him to wait in the waiting room and have his mother come in.

Motherʼs interview: He has seen a lot of doctors in the last two years. It was a difficult birth; he didnʼt walk until 17 months, no talking, not a word until age three. There were always some concerns for us, but we couldnʼt measure anything until he went to school. He started school in the first grade, in 2000. I was concerned because he couldnʼt write his name. He has been through speech intervention since age three. He still 60 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 61 had very immature speech. He wouldnʼt talk; basically he just shut down. He couldnʼt really add, and he didnʼt know his alphabet. There were some learning struggles. Then about a year and a half ago, he was diagnosed with severe auditorial processing dyslexia. He doesnʼt understand what you say, and he canʼt communicate back to you. He gets mixed up, for instance, he confuses ʻaskʼ and ʻtellʼ.

What treatments has he had? We just finished some alternative treatments, some physical therapy, which weʼd started in February 1993. He made tremendous progress; he can communicate and carry on a conversation. He has a very anxious personality. He isnʼt fidgety, but the anxiety is there. And he rearranges things. He is probably reorganizing your waiting room as we speak. I have him working with a dyslexic specialist. There are still minute things with him, like moving things around, or touching things. He is a different child from a year and a half ago. He still does struggle in school. Before, he was in another world and everything was a foreign language to him. He plays very little sports; instead he looks up at the sky and counts things. Heʼs not involved.

Counting things? Yes, or talking. He does numbers a lot. He talks to himself. He whispers.

How was he when he was worse? He was defiant. If I said ʻblackʼ, heʼd say ʻwhiteʼ.

Defiant? If we were going into a store, Iʼd say “Donʼt touch anything.” Heʼd say “okay.” Then Iʼd ask him to repeat it – which he did. We would go in to the store, and he would immediately do what he/we agreed he wasnʼt going to do. He doesnʼt get it. I used to think he was doing it on purpose but now I think he just doesnʼt process it. Heʼll be the one to get his younger boys in trouble. That word “defiant” was how it was. If one brother makes an observation, heʼll say that wasnʼt happening. He chews on his shirts, the sleeves, and the collar. He used to do that all the time but itʼs reduced somewhat. A year and a half ago, he wouldnʼt do homework. He struggled. He couldnʼt add 5+2, or if he did, it would take forever. Now it is different. Now, heʼs not doing that well, but heʼs somewhat capable of doing it. He has been very responsible about it.

Tell me more? He is obsessive-compulsive about rearranging, or he goes to turn the lights on. He is a happy child, not a violent one. He will get really upset if someone messes with his stuff, or touches his stuff. He thinks things should be a certain way, like the paint samples in the paint store. Cleaning up-- he is always cleaning. Heʼll spend some time cleaning up the basement, but then he will get upset if his brothers mess it up. Anything that is his, he is very partial to. He gets really upset about it. His anxieties are huge. He has a hard time when we go on trips, with those types of changes. If we 60 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 61 go somewhere new, he gets out of control. He paces and re-arranges. He constantly adjusts things. In school, he struggles with reading and math. When he wakes up in the morning, heʼs pretty unhappy. He moans when we say “good morning” to him. He talks to himself and arranges things. He has to touch and feel everything. He is sensitive to hot stuff and smells, but not cold. He always smells things. He doesnʼt have physical skills—he canʼt tie his shoes still, and he doesnʼt want to ride a bicycle. He doesnʼt try to throw or catch a baseball. He plays on a team, but he doesnʼt want to. We want to show him how to tie his shoes or to ride a bike like his 4-year-old brother. He has no passion for physical accomplishments. Socially, he has friends, but Iʼm worried because he has communication problems.

What about his birth? His birth was traumatic.

More? His blood pressure went up and mine went down, or vice versa. I canʼt remember which it was. I almost had an emergency C-section. They had to use the vacuum assist.

Pregnancy? I had some morning sickness in the first trimester.

You said something about him sniffing things? He will smell things, like food. Not a lot of things. When he was a baby, he never cried. There was no excitement for him, no passion. He never cried for food, or anything. Heʼd go for days without crying.

Pain tolerance? Normal, he has an appropriate response.

Cautious? He is very cautious.

Physical health complaints? Heʼs never had an ear infection. He didnʼt have any toilet training until age five. He had ear surgery when he was six years old.

For? He had protruding ears, like an elf.

Say more about him chewing on things? He chews on his shirt collar and sleeve, and he used to chew his blanket. He still carries the blanket around with him.

Mouth? He struggles with speech to get lʼs, and rʼs. His tongue doesnʼt really move.

Other oral problems? No. He began the chewing when he was five.

Are there any other issues? Toilet training, walking and talking. Heʼs 62 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 63 always been a sweet boy, never pushes or bites. He doesnʼt get angry or violent. He was so easy.

Clean or arranging things? Itʼs not about being clean, or about germs, it is about arranging things. It can even be in someone elseʼs place. That straightening up and cleaning is about order.

You said he counts? I hear him a lot, counting. I see him doing it in baseball and soccer.

Fears? He doesnʼt fear heights, thatʼs for sure. He goes on the 100-foot Ferris wheel by himself. He can climb heights. [The patient whispers to his mother that he is afraid of heights]. He is very cautious--he wonʼt get on a bike, or walk a bike, or walk a balance beam. He is afraid of dogs, but heʼs not really afraid of animals out of the ordinary.

Is he particularly cautious? For example, two weeks ago, we placed a ladder up to the second floor. Initially he was cautious, but then he went up. But heʼs cautious about other things. Heʼs afraid to ride a bike. [Salvatore says itʼs because heʼs afraid of falling]. Heʼll go on the inner tube, behind a boat and put his hands up. He is a water kid. He goes in Jacuzzis that are pretty hot. When he takes a shower, it has to be cold or tepid.

Is he inappropriate? He shouts a lot. After being released from school, he will shout very loudly, and often, people wonder if he is okay. Sometimes that is inappropriate. When his brother comes out of the shower, Salvatore flashes him. He doesnʼt do it all the time, but he does it to bug his brother.

Does he ever flash others? Not in front of me or anyone else, just his brother, Brian. He is very comfortable with himself and with his body. He doesnʼt need privacy, and heʼs comfortable with that.

Does he prefer solitude, or company? He loves to be by himself. If his friends get released from school, he is still by himself.

Food? He is sensitive to food if itʼs too hot. It has to be tepid, less than warm. He doesnʼt like steak. Or he likes it tender, like filet mignon. He likes cold foods, but doesnʼt like hot foods.

Sleep? Heʼs a good sleeper; he always has been. Within five minutes, heʼll crash out. Heʼll wake in the middle of the night and talk in his sleep. Heʼs a little uncoordinated in walking and running.

62 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 63 Baseline: 1 Grumpy every morning – every morning

2 Talking to self - daily

3 Physically cautious – bike riding, tying shoes, catching & throwing baseball

4 Chewing on tee shirt – maybe once per week.

5 Re-arranging things – furniture, objects etc.

6 Touching and feeling things in stores

7 Socially withdrawn – daily.

8 Speech – Lʼs and Rʼs. Difficulty enunciating

9 Writing – sloppy, incoherent

10 Computation.

11 Defiant, Contrary, Obstinate – it is daily now.

12 Nightmares – at least once per week, sometimes more.

Analysis: Given the counting, love of frogs, developmental delays, cold bathing, fastidiousness, sensitivity to noise, the biting at his clothing, and perhaps shamelessness – this is a match for Bufo.

Prescription: Bufo rana (Boiron) 200c-- three doses dry 12 hours apart.

Friday, August 13, 2004 Salvatore interview:

Did you take that medicine? Yes, I didnʼtʼ notice anything, but it helped

64 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 65 me with my behavior.

More? As goodness and badness. How good you are and how bad you are.

Any changes? [Long pause] Well, I have to stop doing teasing, but it helped me with my behavior.

Sleeping? Good. I had lots of bad dreams and good dreams.

Tell me one? No.

How is your sound sensitivity? I donʼt remember that, saying that sounds could hurt my ears. [Observation: seems more present not quite so smiley and vacant.]

Any new friends? No, same original friends.

Habits? I used to suck on my blanket, but I gave that up - my Grandpa gave me $25 to give it up.

Sucking on a shirt? A long, long time ago, when I was eight I used to suck on my shirt.

Mom interview: The remedy made him worse right away and I couldnʼt stand it. It brought him back to where he was in the past. Now though, when in a new place, he is not as extreme as he was with picking up, touching and moving everything. He also plays with his cousins more and is involved in the group—heʼs not on his own as much. He also communicates his thoughts better. I havenʼt been able to measure his physical challenges, and heʼs not doing any reading or writing during the summer. Recently he wrote a note and spelled everything perfectly. That is different for him.

The aggravation? It was horrible between him his brother. He wouldnʼt listen, he was defiant, and at his worst.How long did it last? The worst was maybe three or four days, and then it took a week for it to taper off. After that, I noticed it was gone. He is still defiant, teasing and bugging his brother. His worst behaviors were the obstinacy, and defiance.

1 Grumpy every morning – a constant That has gotten a little bit better 2 Talking to self – daily It is the same

64 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 65 3 Physically cautious – bike riding, tying shoe, catching & throwing baseball That is the same 4 Chewing on tee-shirt – maybe once per week He has gotten better with that 5 Re-arranging things – furniture, objects etc. That is better 6 Touching and feeling things in stores That has gotten better, much better 7 Socially withdrawn – daily That has gotten better 8 Speech – Lʼs and Rʼs. Difficulty enunciating Same 9 Writing – sloppy, incoherent n/a 10 Computation n/a

Assessment: A definitively good response. Good improvement in OCD, and social issues. Some other issues still to be addressed. Return in one month to confirm. Wait and watch on last 200c dose.

September 17, 2004 Mother reports that he is transitioning into school very well and maintaining everything that improved in the summer. Although he is still struggling with a couple of mathematic concepts, he is reading much more now than before, which is highly unusual for him.

1 Grumpy every morning – a constant Still wakes up grumpy, especially if you say good morning to him first. The other morning got up and said good morning momma, very unusual. Maybe one out of seven days it is better 2 Talking to self – daily Still does that, about same

66 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 67 3 Physically cautious – bike riding, tying shoe, catching & throwing baseball Same with that, although used to play soccer, but not playing it this year. I let him decide this year, and decided he didnʼt want to do it. However he says he wants to do fencing; what is unusual is that he is very excited about it. That is unusual, never been excited about anything he has wanted to sign up for or that Iʼve signed up for. Never overly excited, this fencing thing, he canʼt wait. That is weird – different for him. 4 Chewing on tee-shirt – maybe once per week That has stopped 5 Rearranging things – furniture, objects etc. It has slowed down a little 6 When goes into a store, touch and feel things in a store Not doing that much anymore, not at all 7 Socially withdrawn – daily He is not doing that at all. More? Does withdraw some, but since this summer, it was after the medicine, definitely. Heʼd be by himself 99% of the time. Still playing with his brother is big for him. That he is still out there playing with his brothers is unusual for him. Before heʼd go off and start rearranging by himself. 8 Speech – Lʼs and Rʼs. Difficulty enunciating No change -- Been working with a speech pathologist for three years 9 Writing – sloppy, incoherent It is neater. His teachers said he has really nice writing. Oh! he did write a summary, which was amazing to me. It wasnʼt his penmanship that was a problem; it was the story that was incoherent, out of context. Now the summary he did, he got it right. 10 Computation No changes 11 Defiant, Contrary, Obstinate – it is daily now That has gotten a lot better

Even the neighbors have said he is different. He hollered across the street to a neighbor, ʻHi Charlotte!ʼ I see a big difference in him. It is like he is in the conversation, whereas before he was out there in “la la land”.

66 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 67 Assessment: Wait and watch on original 200c dose.

Thursday, December 16, 2004 Mother interview:

How is he? Heʼs doing better. A couple of weeks ago, he was behaving very defiantly, like he used to. I noticed two strong days like that, then the full moon. He is doing extremely well in school. In school, he got a great report card. Math is always where he struggles, and they are starting division and multiplication, and he totally gets it. He talks to himself a lot, carrying on a conversation. He is not counting a lot of things, but talking to himself. The biggest thing is that he is present in conversation. I can tell he is “there”. He is finally here with me, eye to eye, still there, not faltering.

1 Grumpy every morning – a constant He still is 2 Talking to self – daily Still 3 Physically cautious – bike riding, tying shoe, catching & throwing baseball Still not riding bike, or tying shoes. But did mention that he wanted to get the kind of shoes that you tie. Which is unusual for him. 4 Chewing on tee shirt – maybe once per week No, doesnʼt do that anymore at all 5 Re-arranging things – furniture, objects etc. He has gotten a little better, still does it. Has his days. But before would do it in places like this, rearrange your desk, now not doing that. 6 When goes into a store, touch and feel things in a store He doesnʼt do that as much anymore. Donʼt find myself telling him to keep his hands in his pocket 7 Socially withdrawn – daily Now he is talking to kids, still withdraws somewhat, but he can carry on a conversation. Before it was 99% withdrawn, now more like 5%. He does explain to me, where before he never would explain things. Heʼll explain things that happened, and why he was by himself, that someone was arguing. Heʼll tell me I just walk away, donʼt want to be involved. Before he wouldnʼtʼ tell me. Before he could never explain.

68 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 69 8 Speech – Lʼs and Rʼs. Difficulty enunciating Hard for me to know. I can always understand him. I feel as though he is understandable, it has probably gotten better. In the past, did feel as thought I had to repeat a word he said. 9 Writing – sloppy, incoherent His writing has gotten a lot better. His penmanship is excellent for a fourth grader that was struggling. It has improved. His paragraph writing has gotten better as well, in writing cohesiveness, gotten better. His spelling test, got like two words wrong on test. Problems before? Yes. Now doing consistently better with spelling 10 Computation That is going a lot better 11 Defiant, Contrary, Obstinate – it is daily now Yes that is better too - not like before

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Patient reports that he signed up to run track and loves it. He is doing well in it. Mother reports that he still has the habit with his tongue, but usually only does it when focusing on something like a task. Stuttering happens only once in a while.

1 Grumpy every morning – a constant It is good. Mother: it is probably getting better, still whines in the morning 2 Talking to self - daily Still does that, but not that much. Salvatore: I talk to myself. Mother: Before youʼd hear him in the car, talking. Now if he is doing that, you donʼt hear him. Still does it at the baseball games, or playing at school, heʼll wander off at school. Heʼll wander and talk to himself. 3 Physically cautious – bike riding, tying shoe, catching & throwing baseball He is getting a little better. Not completely gotten rid of all of fears. Almost ready to ride his bike. Fencing? He wanted to do archery instead. He loved track, loved it. Last year when I asked him to sign up for it, he said didnʼt want to. 4 Chewing on tee shirt – maybe once per week Mostly gone

68 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 69 5 Re-arranging things – furniture, objects etc. I donʼt do that anymore, used to do it, but not anymore. Mom: I agree. For a few weeks that has relapsed a bit. 7 Socially withdrawn – daily No, I donʼt do that anymore. Mom: yes that is a lot better. Before used to have to really stress and remind him not to do that. 8 Speech – Lʼs and Rʼs. Difficulty enunciating My Lʼs are okay. Rʼs are still difficult. The speech pathologist wrote: still having difficulty with Lʼs & Rʼs. 9 Writing – sloppy, incoherent Think he is getting better. All in all, his reading and spelling, all of that has skyrocketed, he has been doing really well in that. He works with a dyslexia tutor. He has skills and strategies sheʼs taught him. How long working with this tutor? Two years. Improvement since remedy? I noticed back with the remedy in June, it helped him with the behavioral issues. He focuses, and really on top of it, doing tremendously well. Back in Sept took him awhile to get there. Dec and January, really started progressing. 10 Computation It is going good, learning about fractions. He is doing really great in fractions. Multiplication and division he has just picked up on. But doesnʼt like dividing with the remainders. It is a struggle if you throw in one more thing. With measurements, that was a huge struggle. But now all of a sudden heʼs in fractions and he is totally getting them. Can add them together, but the next step, reducing them down to the simplest form. If it has one focus, he is on task. 11 Defiant, Contrary, Obstinate – it is daily now Salvatore? Yeah, I kind of still do that. Mom; He still does that, does it very occasionally. Now maybe twice per week, maybe not even. That is when I need a chill pill, instead of him. But it totally infuriates me.

Dreams? Mother reports lots of nightmares one or two times a week.

Assessment: Although there seemed to be a good overall response, the recent nightmares, lack of changes in enunciation, seeming shyness and overall obsessive-compulsive symptoms, I gave another dose of Bufo 200c. My plan was that if mother reported back that there were no changes with this dose, particularly with nightmares, I would dispense one dose of a 1M.

Prescription: Bufo 200c single dose 70 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 71 8/8/05 1 Grumpy every morning – a constant Once in a while heʼll wake up and say good morning, whereas in the past never did. Out of seven days, maybe twice per week, wakes and says good morning, other five days is crabby. Last year waking up every day grumpy 2 Talking to self – daily I donʼt think he does it as much, does it occasionally, but not a daily thing 3 Physically cautious – bike riding, tying shoe, catching & throwing baseball He did tell me he wanted to learn to tie his shoe that was just after the second dose. He has never had an interest in it. Riding a bike, still no interest. He is doing so much better on his scooter. In the past, couldnʼt ride it and if he did, was very awkward. Now he can race with his friends, looks comfortable. 4 Chewing on tee shirt – maybe once per week He doesnʼt do that at all anymore, came back for a moment, then went away 5 Re-arranging things – furniture, objects etc. He is done with that. Yesterday was at a friendʼs house, and checking everything out, but hasnʼt done that re-arranging thing anymore. It is so rare now that he does that. 6 When goes into a store, touch and feel things in a store Heʼs done with that 7 Socially withdrawn – daily Heʼs gotten a lot better with that. For example, this summer we spent with his cousins, heʼs right in there with them. But he has no problems with keeping up with them. Was even playing cards with all the older cousins. Usually if social, it is only with one person, and this summer social with more than one. 8 Speech – Lʼs and Rʼs. Difficulty enunciating I donʼt pay attention to that 9 Writing – sloppy, incoherent Not sure

70 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 71 10 Computation He seems okay. We are doing workbooks, heʼs keeping up with it. Probably about the same 11 Defiant, Contrary, Obstinate – it is daily now Heʼs not like that at all, gets his normal moments. But more as a kid, rather then his mood. Now when being defiant it is in a smart mature way. Before heʼd be defiant because he was stuck on what he thought. 12 Nightmares – at least once per week (added 5-10-05) Those are gone, hasnʼt had any in LA

Mother reports that she feels Salvatore seems to be maturing, more helpful. He is helping with his little brother and communicating more with his middle brother. She says he seems to be more like he should be as an 11- year-old child. He is doing his tongue habit about five times per week and the stuttering is completely gone.

Analysis: Everything appears to be going very well for this patient. His presentation is about the same, but his motherʼs report is glowing. Apparently just about every important symptom is markedly improved with little exception. I told her to bring him back if he is relapsing or getting stuck, but otherwise there is no reason to put an appointment on the schedule.

8/27/2007 Patientʼs mother called because heʼd been doing well except recently having some difficulty.

Salvatore reports, “School is starting. Sometimes I stick my tongue out and bite it a lot. It is a habit.” Mother reports that there was an incident where Salvatoreʼs brother was messing with his sleeping bag. Salvatore cried uncontrollably about this. Mother is concerned because he was so upset and because of his need to have everything perfect and done in a special way. Overall? Mother reports that Salvatore is still particular about how things are done, particular around personal habits and routines of the family and table setting. He occasionally still talks to himself although not as prominent. He still struggles with math, but is teaching himself French and is very interested in history.

New Baseline: 1. The sneezing happens every single morning 2. The tongue habit (lapping) is every day

72 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 73 3. Sporadic – getting angry or emotional 4. Control happens every day – straightening things up – daily 5. Stuttering - daily

Analysis: Give him an additional dry dose of the 200c. Work with 1M or liquid dosing if needed.

Prescription: Bufo 200c

12/20/2007

Mother reports there was no negative response from dose in August and there has been definite improvement in Salvatoreʼs communication with others. He is doing well in school and asking questions. She reports that the tongue habit seems to be gone, and although he still occasionally stutters, he doesnʼt seem to need to straighten things up so much and is not so angry or emotional when things are out of order.

Analysis: He is doing well, but repeat the Bufo 200c once more to see how he does. His sneezing is returning and mildly some of the other symptoms.

Prescription: Bufo 200c

Case commentary: This is an interesting case. As in other Bufo cases Iʼve seen, the need to organize was not so important. What Iʼve seen in other cases is the backwardness, the tongue lapping or speech difficulty, often there is counting and loving to be in water as well. In a few other cases, there is often a sort of “Bufo” smile. This child had it as well. It is when you look at the child and they smile at you, but they look somewhat vacant even though they are looking right at you. It is almost like a type of naïve look.

In addition, some Bufo cases also become obsessive about talking in “baby talk.” This can also be true of other regressive remedies like Lac humanum, or Nux m in children. Some drug type remedies tend to be daydreamers and donʼt want to grow up, so they resort to regressive behaviors.

Massimo Mangialavori has added repertory additions about counting and children who love to play in water, bite their tongues, have high pain tolerance and profuse salivation. I have seen many of the above observations consistently in Bufo cases. Massimo considers Bufo to be similar to drug-like remedies – though none of my cases have presented in this manner.

Bufo children often donʼt want to learn new things, or they donʼt want to do things that represent change. They need to keep their world very safe and 72 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 73 simple. They are not so much clingy in their regression. Instead, they tend to be more cheerful and simply naïve in their presentation. Bufo is almost famous for being sexual, though Iʼve not always seen it in my successful cases.

Epilogue: It was interesting seeing this boy again after several years. He was clearly more present. Most of his old issues were either gone or so much better that they were not an issue. The immaturity dynamic was gone. He was much improved from two repeated doses of Bufo 200c in the first year.

Tim Shannon, ND is a licensed Naturopathic Physician in private practice in Portland, Oregon. He serves as adjunct faculty at National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland. Dr. Shannon specializes in the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral health. He uses classical homeopathy to treat a wide range of mental health complaints: ADHD, OCD, ODD, Touretteʼs Syndrome, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, PTSD, bi-polar, schizophrenia, etc. Dr. Shannon regularly lectures at the Naturopathic College as well as to the local community on a variety of mental health complaints. He publishes case studies regularly as well as utilizes video technology to illustrate and teach patient care.

Tim Shannon, ND 4405 SE Division Street Portland, OR 97206 503-236-8853 www.drtshannon.com [email protected]

Mitra Charitable Trust UK ��

Up to £500k available as a one-off funding award in support of research and development in Complementary Medicine

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74 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI :    -     By Tim Ticehurst

Imagine having someone who looks just like you, talks like you, dresses like you, thinks like you and has the same mannerisms as you. What would this create in your mind? Would it be strange or annoying? One can only surmise that it would. Our society and culture place quite high value on being an individual, being unique and special. Yet twins also hold a special place in the hearts and minds of our society. In astrology we have Gemini, the twin. Shakespeare himself was the father of twins and twins are featured in two of his comedies: A Comedy of Errors (with two sets of twins) and Twelfth Night”.

In classical literature and popular entertainment, countless plot devices and story lines have employed the twin. Common language reflects the idea of twin: evil twin, seeing double, double trouble, double vision, duality, mirror image, and reflection. One canʼt help but wonder what it must be like to be a twin--unless you are one. Less than two percent of the worldʼs population are twins. In the United States, three percent of the population are twins. From this standpoint, twins are “strange, rare, and peculiar”. Yet none of this was on my mind when a mother and her two 5-year-old boys, identical twins, walked into my office in the spring of 2006.

Tyler came to see me for a dry tickling cough and a crusty nose. Both symptoms occurred in the early morning and had been continuing for sometime. Tyler was the younger of the twins, and was a shy boy at first meeting. I learned that he was quite boisterous and silly when he got going. Seeing only an acute picture at the time, I selected Rumex crispus 30c. Upon follow-up, his cough and crusty nose had disappeared. Good. Yet his mother stated that his moodiness had increased. He would get irritable, sulky, and volatile, even though his mom spoke of his increased spontaneity.

After looking more at Rumex, I realized that his initial acute state was no longer there and a new remedy was needed. Going through the case piece by piece, there appeared to be improvement. I was happy that the dry, tickling cough had ended as well as the crusty nose. Rumex seemed to do the trick for that. But what to do next? Where to go? What is to be healed here from a deeper sense? One thing that seemed to come to the surface

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 75 more was the sensitive, moody aspect. After Rumex, he could more easily tap into his emotions in a direct way “happiness or sadness or frustration” as his mom let me know. He was also much more affectionate. From this standpoint the remedy seemed to uncover, or allow for, more mental emotional expression.

But this raises an interesting point in the case. Kent discusses the idea that the second prescription may be the most important. Now we are a bit deeper, and I get the sense that this will be a case of layers until the disturbance of the vital force is seen more in its entirety. Still, during this follow-up, not much else was revealed--just a fuller expression of his emotions. My mind now turns to miasmatic influences, the presiding influence in this case being his mother. His mother had done well with the remedy Carcinosin. Hahnemann discusses this idea of miasmatic influence: when there is really nothing else to go on, it is safe to give a nosode that corresponds to the miasmatic tendency. This is where I feel I am with this case, and my mind returns to some Carcinosin features that Tyler and his brother share. They both have the café-au-lait appearance that is a keynote of Carcinosin. There is also the fact that both boys have had moles removed at an early age. Their mom is quite a go-getter, an overly compassionate and talkative person. Always on the go, rather like a whirlwind. A few doses of Carcinosin over a six-month time period really helped to quell her “caffeine-high” feeling. Based on these hints, I decide to give Tyler Carcinosin 200c in a single dry dose.

A month later, at the second follow-up appointment, Tylerʼs mom reported that he had developed a strange facial tic. He was blinking a lot and wiping his face. She said that it seemed as if he were brushing something off his face. She also reported he was impulsively touching everything, and quite inappropriately so. While she was recently editing video footage of her children from years past, she was amazed to see that Tyler had had the same tic back then, though it had gone away in the last year or two. Ah, thank you Carcinosin! This was a textbook return of an old symptom. Nosodes, when employed well, can be great un-suppressors. Now I can see Tyler more clearly. His state is far more animated, aggressive, violent, silly, and bombastic than before. In the previous month, Tyler told his mom that he wished she were dead, and also that he wished someone would chop off her head. He had also become quite violent toward his younger brother, impulsively whacking him on numerous occasions. And there was a distinct lack of focus. “He used to be able to sit still,” said his mom. Luckily for me, his mother didnʼt want my head for turning her son into an aggressive monster. She knew that a healing was in progress and she held her own quite well. I am truly thankful for parents and clients who have to wait through some difficult times to see the light. However, the case is now at another interesting point. Stick with the Carcinosin or find a new remedy? My thought was that the Carcinosin had done its job and done it well. Now 76 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 77 it was time to find a remedy that fit his new symptom picture: the tics, twitches, and rhythmical wiping, as well as the aggressive behaviors and the restlessness.

The rubrics selected:

EYE - WINKING MIND - GESTURES, makes - repeating the same actions MIND - GESTURES, makes - tics; nervous MIND - TOUCHING - impelled to touch - everything MIND - STRIKING MIND - KICKING - children; in MIND - STRIKING - children; in MIND - GESTURES, makes - hands; involuntary motions of the - brushing the face or something away; as if

Upon this repertorization and study of the materia medica, the remedy Hyoscyamus was selected in the 200c potency, based upon Tylerʼs aggressive and silly behavior, the compulsive touching and the involuntary brushing of the face – as well as the tics. Hyoscyamus certainly covered the case.

A month later at the third follow-up, Tylerʼs mother reported no improvement. Everything was the same. And as she spoke she began to elaborate more on what was happening to her son. She said that he seemed “lost,” as though he didnʼt know his place in the world, or who he was. In preschool, his twin brother had relinquished the role of caretaker for Tyler.

The case now becomes crystal clear. Along with the neurological complaint of the tics and the repetitive brushing of the face is Tylerʼs sense that he is lost. He has lived the life of a younger twin, being protected by older twin brother, being taken care of. And now the older brother has had enough of care taking and protecting and is setting off on his own. Tyler is left with a feeling of being lost, a feeling of “who am I if this person who looks just like me and mirrors me in every way is no longer there to protect and coddle me”. This is a confusion of identity, and the case made me consider the idea of duality from the standpoint of being a twin. For this case, clearly, is about duality and confusion of identity.

New rubrics:

MIND - GESTURES, makes - hands; involuntary motions of the - brushing the face or something away; as if EYE - WIPE, inclination to EYE - WINKING GENERALS – TWITCHING 76 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 77 MIND - PESSIMIST MIND - CONFUSION of mind - identity, as to his - duality, sense of MIND - CONFUSION of mind - identity, as to his

When Alumina came to the top in this revised repertorization, it became clear that no other remedy was close. This was indeed a revelation. Sankaran speaks of the third row of the periodic table as having issues with identity. He goes on to state that Alumina along with Magnesium and Natrum have issues with an identity that hasnʼt developed completely; they are still in a dependent state. Specifically concerningAlumina , Sankaran states, “Do I want to be me or do I want to be what you want me to be… confused about identity?” After one look at the remedy I knew this was it. And it was reinforced by the lovely rubric Mind, Gestures…brushing the face in which there are only three remedies: Chamomilla, Hyoscyamus, and Alumina. No other remedy made sense by a long shot. Yet this remedy challenged my preconceptions about what remedies are for and whom they are for. Certainly every homeopath knows about the affinity for the elderly, dementia, and dryness in Alumina. But Alumina for a 5-year-old?

Remedy selection: Alumina 200C – single dry dose.

A relieved mother emailed me the next day.

“Great news. Tylerʼs tic is gone! Pretty amazing stuff, this homeopathy!” Then in two weeks I received this correspondence: “Yup, his tic is gone. Amazing!” The latest remedy did have an effect on his behavior. With each day I am seeing less of Tylerʼs ʻunusualʼ behavior and more of the ʻold Tylerʼ coming back. School is going great for both of them.”

Mom reported at the next follow-up that Tylerʼs tics had totally improved, but he still seemed a bit sulky. His aggressive behavior had lifted. I felt it was an appropriate time to increase potency and give one dry dose of Alumina 1M, after which he did extremely well, and his sulky behavior disappeared completely. One month after he was given the 1M potency his mom reports:

“He is doing great…No repeat of the aggressiveness. Play dates are much better. He doesnʼt talk back to me anymore. He is doing beautifully, blossoming. It was critical for him to separate. He is doing his own class homework. Itʼs his, not his brotherʼs…identity unique to him. The withdrawn quality used to concern me; he was almost depressed. While everyone else was playing, he wouldnʼt want to be part of the fun. Now none of that. He has found his own friends in his classroom, always playing together and doing recess together with them.”

78 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 79 This was the resolution I was hoping for with the 1M potency. Tyler is stronger in himself, and it shows.

All was well for four months, at which point I got an email from Tylerʼs mother stating that the tics had started up again. I give a redose of Alumina 1M and scheduled a follow-up for one month later.

At the follow-up, Tylerʼs mom reported a shocker. His tics hadnʼt improved much, but it had been discovered that he was blind in the left eye. His vision score was 20/220. [I checked that on the internet; it is 20/220!] At the outset, I was a bit disappointed that such severe pathology came to the forefront. Blindness? While things seem to have held for a while (four months,) the tic had come back and taken over. But, his vital force had more to say. Underneath, there was a latent issue that needed to come forth. Initially, of course, thoughts of “did the remedy make him go blind?” distressed me. But then I realized that his vital force needed this pathology to come forth to be dealt with.

Tyler began treatment with an eye doctor, including patching the better eye so the weaker eye has a chance to get stronger. But what to do now from a homeopathic standpoint? After studying Alumina more, I found that it covers loss of vision – which was added by Kent. And though the last dose of 1M didnʼt seem to have helped much with the tics, Tyler seemed to be much better in general, socially, emotionally, and mentally. So I decided that moving up in potency to a 10M was the way to proceed. The 200c and 1M potencies had yielded very good results and I didnʼt want to move away from this remedy yet. Next stop, Alumina 10M.

As fate would have it, Tyler and my youngest son were selected to be on the same T-ball team in our community only a few weeks later. There I had the opportunity to watch Tyler outside of the office and to see him interact with his environment. What I saw amazed me. This child who had been withdrawn and sullen, not really an organized-sports kind of kid. From months of seeing him in my office, seeing how he moved his body, I wouldnʼt have pegged him as a “ball player”. But what I now saw on the field was really spectacular. He had a patch over his eye and yet, he was catching every grounder hit to him, and his batting was good as well. He was making contact every time and getting solid hits off the tee. His mother and father were ecstatic, saying that he had never done this well before. As the season wore on, he just continued to improve. He actually became one of the better players on the field. As summer changed to fall, I contacted Tylerʼs mom (in October 2007,) to find out how Tyler was doing. Hereʼs what she had to say:

“Tyler is doing great. His eyes were last seen about five weeks ago and were 20/30. Next appointment is next week. He has gone from 20/220 to 20/60 78 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 79 six weeks later, then to 20/40 after six weeks and to 20/30 after a further six weeks. He is still wearing the patch from breakfast until dinner and then is allowed to take it off for the rest of the evening. The doctor is really pleased with the progress. He will continue to wear the patch until there is no more progress. Still no more tics. School is going great. He was already doing First Grade work in Kindergarten, so the teacher is finding it hard to keep him challenged. In the classroom he is focused, eager to learn, takes school seriously and enjoys it. Socially, heʼs doing great. In terms of him being under his older twinʼs shadow, that is no longer a problem. He really is his own person and with that has come a real confidence that was not there last year. This summer I was able to get him and his brother into a soccer camp and a day camp, which was not an option the summer before because of their issues with being in new situations. So, that is much better. New situations, people he does not know, things that unfamiliar do not throw Tyler off the way they used to. He is really doing well.”

This case has left me with many interesting thoughts and ideas, especially of the realm of the twin, duality, and identity. And as fate would have it, again, I received a call a month ago from a mother of twins, where the younger is having emotional stability issues, so I will have another opportunity to ponder the duality of twins! I canʼt wait.

Tim Ticehurt, DCH 5308 Ballard Ave. NW #5 Seattle, WA 98107 206 240 9513 [email protected]

80 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI  -      by Peter Fraser

The spider remedies are an important group of remedies that have always had a significant role in homeopathy. However, there do seem to be even more cases in the modern world where spider remedies are indicated. Even though the pictures of the various spider remedies are very similar they appear to be extremely precise in their action. An incorrect remedy has little or no effect whereas the precisely correct remedy has a deep and dramatic effect.

This is the case with many groups of remedies including the snakes, the birds and the insects and with many, if not most, families from the plant kingdom, but the spider remedies are both particularly close in their pictures and have particularly little overlap. It is both frustrating and misleading to prescribe a remedy that seems very well indicated and to see so little response from it. It sometimes almost seems as if the deviousness and malice of the spider remedies is also being directed at the poor homeopath trying to discover the remedy.

The Massimo Mangialavori case reported by Krista Heron in the Fall/ Summer 2007 edition of Simillimum is a case in point. Given all the general features of spider remedies, the patientʼs greatest and most obvious complaint is his exaggerated sensitivity to, and fear of, pain. This is a major feature of Latrodectus mactans, the black widow spider, yet the remedy had little or no effect. Rather the less obvious features of the case, the unlikable and demanding old man and the self-hating and self-destructive tendencies, indicated the correct remedy: Loxosceles reclusa.

If as prescribers we are to stand any chance of finding the right spider we need to know well the features that are general to spiders so we can see more clearly those that are unusual (characteristic) or which are particularly emphasized in the picture of the particular spider that is needed.

The general picture of any group of remedies is easier to see, to understand and to remember if it is arranged around an image that both connects and illuminates the individual features. One of the useful examples of this for

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 81 some remedies is the way in which they interact with the different realms. This is particularly true of the spiders.

The most distinctive feature that separates the spider from other creatures is its ability to spin silk. While not all spiders use their silk to spin a web and only a few to spin the ordered web we generally think of, this is still the archetype of what the spider is and so informs all spiders to some extent. The web hangs suspended in the sky but in order to function it must be anchored to the earth in some way. At the center of the web sits the spider motionless but in a state of tension and awareness, sensitive to the tiniest movement anywhere on the web. Thus, although the spider has left the ground, it is still tied to the earth and, though it is in the air, it is not fully of the sky. The confusion and disorientation of being neither in one place nor the other is widespread and can be found in many areas, including: a disconnection from time, disorientation and clumsiness, making mistakes and weakness of memory, and even confusion of identity.

The clearest and most distinctive confusion in spider remedies lies in a state of awareness without understanding. The spider knows exactly what is happening both in the realm of the sky and the earthly realm but has no proper understanding of what this means. Having no real connection to the sea or the underworld, they cannot comprehend the emotional or instinctual content of what they know. The most extreme form of this is autism and spider remedies can be indicated right across the autistic spectrum.

The birds, though they must return to the ground for all the earthly functions are fully committed to the air when they are flying. Their spiritual connection through the realm of the sky is complete and functional, so they have a deep empathetic connection with people and they understand people on a deep and spiritual level. The snakes are another group that knows other people very well. Their knowledge comes through the underworld and is generally clairvoyant in nature; it is particularly clear about the instinctual or animal aspects of people. The spiders, through their sensitivity, have knowledge of people but no understanding of them. They know exactly how people are, but they have no real understanding of what this means.

The spider is sensitive to what is happening in the environment, but having no way of grounding and regulating this sensitivity, the sensitivity almost invariably runs out of control and becomes a hypersensitivity. The least disturbance to any sense is noted and magnified. The spider on her web picks up vibrations most easily, which are detected through hairs on her legs. It is thus vibration, in its earthly form of touch and in its airborne form of sound, to which the spider is most sensitive (though the other senses of sight, smell and taste also tend to over-sensitivity). The spiders are also emotionally and mentally very sensitive. They are able to pick 82 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 83 up on the mood and the sensitivities of others but again they have no real understanding of what this means or how to react to it appropriately.

To maintain a place that lies between two realms requires a continual balancing act. To be still is simply not an option. This means that in spiders there is always a great restlessness. They have a great deal of energy held ready to keep them in balance and to spring into action when ever their trap is sprung and their prey is caught. However, maintaining a reserve of energy like that is very difficult to do and it tends to dissipate into, often fruitless, activity. Restlessness is almost always associated with anxiety, which is in some way a mental restlessness. The difficulty in balancing in this unnatural place can result in vertigo. There is also a lack of stability in the way things are expressed, moving from one expression to another rapidly and without cause.

Although spiders are very restless and full of pent up energy, it is a nervous energy and does not require the enormous metabolic input that birds require to keep themselves airborne. Spiders, like many insects, do not have an internal digestive system but have to digest their prey externally. They inject digestive enzymes into their prey and then suck back the liquid containing the digested prey. Spiders on the whole do not have great appetites and are particularly averse to solid, heavy food. Because their energy does not come out of an overactive metabolism, they do not generate an excess of heat. Spiders, though they might have brief incidents of fever and heat, are very chilly and are generally worse for cold and damp and better for warmth.

The fact that their energy does not come from solid metabolic sources but is nervous energy, almost whisked out of nowhere, means that it is unsustainable and the state of nervous excitement tends to alternate with states of exhaustion.

The spider is in a constant state of readiness and just as its restlessness finds an outlet in fruitless activity, so this preparedness creates for itself a reason: the spider feels that if it must always be prepared, then there must be a threat for which they are prepared and a paranoid suspicion and feeling of persecution results. They are also secretive, having to hide any emotions or feelings lest they become a weapon that can be used against them. This is often in contradiction to their urges to seek attention and be noticed.

The sexual behavior of spiders encompasses many of the general features of the family. These include confusion, restlessness, anxiety and, most importantly, a lack of empathy or understanding. Although the concept of the female spider eating the male as soon as mating is over is not as common as legend would have it; it is certainly not completely unknown and the legend encompasses much of the feeling behind the reality. Sexuality is important as a means of display and attracting attention and 82 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 83 as an outlet for energy. However, it also involves touch and contact and to be healthy should include at least some sort of emotional dimension, all of which tend to be anathema to the spider. The spider is unable to make the deep spiritual connection of the realm of the sky or the practical, satisfying connection of the earth, but they know that these exist and feel a discontent, that they should be able to reach them somehow. The instinctual, animal sexuality of the Underworld and the maternal, generative sexuality of the sea are completely unavailable to them.

The spiders are one of the most homogenous groups of remedies and they all share what are basically the same symptoms. There are very few symptoms that are characteristic of only one of the family. The differentiation between them will therefore almost always be difficult and may rely on comprehending the slightly different emphasis in the common symptoms. Finding where this emphasis lies is not as easy as it may sound. It may not be where most of the symptoms occur or where they are strongest, but it will always be where there is dynamic activity, where there is contradiction, conflict or some sort of dilemma. It is always a matter of quality rather than quantity. The fact that a patient has a great number of symptoms in one particular area of the overall spider picture may be helpful, but it is never as important as the fact that an area of the picture is dynamic, changing and brings the patient into an internal conflict.

In order to differentiate between the spider remedies it is important to build up a clear picture of the overall spider group.

The first symptom of the spider is restlessness. The spider patient is never still, always in motion. This restlessness arises from an abundance of nervous energy that is very difficult to control and is always on the edge of running amok. Many of the symptoms of the spiders come out of the tactics used to try and control and release this nervous energy. It comes out in great activity but often this activity is not regulated enough to be productive and becomes fruitless and unproductive. Physically it is often expressed as uncontrollable movement, chorea and twitching.

One way of controlling this energy is to use an outer influence to pace it. This is why it is ameliorated by rhythmic music. By allowing the music to dictate their pace of their energy they can slow it down and bring it into a more controlled and productive form. Periodicity is another version of the same thing. By linking their activity to the rhythms of the Earth, whether they be the rhythms of the day, the month or the year, activity is given pace, is regulated and so can be more productive. The work or activity that spiders enjoy and at which they are most productive involve set patterns and repetitive or rhythmic actions. Physical and mental symptoms are also likely to be paced by external rhythms and so to become periodic in their 84 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 85 appearance and modalities.

When the nervous energy does not have a regulated and productive outlet it tends to be held in great tension. There is a feeling of tension about the spiders. They are like coiled springs always ready to be released in explosive action or emotion. Physical symptoms can also be tensive in nature and tension or tensive pain is found generally, particularly in the head, back and limbs.

Anxiety and restlessness are common bedfellows but in this, as in most things, spiders have a perverse take on it. In most remedies, Arsenicum being the obvious example, restlessness arises out of anxiety. Because they are so anxious, they keep moving about and the motion ameliorates their anxiety. In spiders the reverse is true: because they are driven to restlessness by an excess of nervous energy, they feel the anxiety that usually corresponds to such movement and dissatisfaction.

As the spiderʼs excess of energy is nervous rather than metabolic, the symptoms around it are quite different from those normally found in remedies with high levels of energy. Usually, as in a remedy like Iodum, great energy is accompanied by indicators of rapid metabolism. There is usually great hunger as a lot of food is required to fuel the energy and the processing of that fuel creates an excess of heat. In spiders the reverse is true: they are among the chilliest of remedies and they have a strong aversion to food. The spider digests externally and then drinks the already digested prey. In spider remedies there is an aversion to food, especially solid or stodgy food. They often prefer to take their food in a liquid form, liking soups and thick drinks and they are generally very thirsty. Urinary symptoms, particularly retention, are common.

As the enormous energy does not come out of a solid metabolic background it is not sustainable. They will move suddenly from a state of great activity to a state of exhaustion and collapse. Though this exhaustion can become deep pathology, in its less serious form it is often easily dispelled by a quick nap.

One of the distinctive features of spiders is not just a desire for tobacco, but a strong amelioration of symptoms from smoking. The normal effects of tobacco: restlessness, sensitivity, lack of appetite, vertigo and nausea are identical to the usual spider symptoms and so it acts homeopathically to relieve those symptoms. On a more symbolic level smoking is for a spider the ideal form of nourishment, to be able to feed by breathing and to leave behind the process of eating would be wonderful and somehow smoking feels like this to them.

There is a great deal of nausea in the spiders. This combines three of the 84 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 85 important issues for them: the aversion to food, their sensitivity, particularly their sensitivity to smell, and the instability that leads to vertigo and a sensitivity to motion. Spiders are affected greatly by movement and particularly by any jarring motion, and are important remedies in travel sickness.

As spiders are suspended between realms, tied to both earth and sky but not properly anchored in either, they are very unstable. The least movement pushes them further than would be expected. They tend to overreact to everything. Physically this is felt as vertigo and it is seen in the instability of their symptoms which can change and move in unpredictable ways. The same applies to their moods, which change very quickly and unpredictably.

It also means that they are not connected clearly to anything and so are easily confused. Physically the greatest confusion is around time. They move at a different pace to the rest of the world and thus, unless bought into step by something like music, they find it very difficult to relate to the time structure of the rest of the world. There is also spatial confusion. They can feel lost and are often very clumsy, unable to relate the already dyskinetic movement of their limbs and body to their physical environment. They are equally disconnected from the people around them and find it very hard to make an emotional connection. They often prefer to be alone but, as they also have a tendency to feeling isolated and forsaken; they do not necessarily feel better for a lack of company.

Spiders are extremely sensitive; they can sense the least change in their environment. It is to motion and vibration that they are most sensitive. Thus the senses of touch and hearing are the ones that are most often involved in symptoms. They are very sensitive to music. As mentioned before, the right kind of music ameliorates their symptoms, but any other kind of music is likely to be extremely irritating or even painful to them.

More generally all sounds and noise are acutely sensed and will usually cause distress, aggravation or irritability. Spiders rely on touch much more than the other senses and their sense of touch is very sensitive. They can find being touched overwhelming and many have an aversion to being touched, which ties in with their sense of isolation. One exception to this can be some forms of rubbing or massage when there is a sense of rhythm to the touch and then it works like music and periodicity to bring them into step with their environment.

Most web spiders do not rely heavily on their eyesight but some of the hunting spiders do. Though it is in them that eye and vision symptoms are more pronounced; sensitivity to light and particularly to certain colors is widespread. Sensitivity to odors is also common and this is often tied into the aversion to food and tendency to nausea. 86 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 87 Spiders are equally sensitive to their emotional environment, even though they do not understand it very well. They will sense the atmosphere but are quite likely to be confused by it and to misinterpret what it means. They are very egocentric and find it hard to understand that everything is not about them. Their state of permanent but groundless anxiety and tension leads them to look for reasons that might explain it. They are in a continual state of preparedness and so they feel that there must be something that they need to be prepared for. They tend to be in a state of paranoia believing that everyone is intent on hurting or harming them. They are oversensitive to criticism and will take the most harmless remark as a personal attack and they will respond to it.

They can perceive very clearly other peopleʼs weaknesses and vulnerabilities. This is one of the reasons that they feel vulnerable; they think that others might be able to see their weaknesses and take advantage of them. They can also use this knowledge to attack others with great effect. Furthermore as they never quite understand the emotional effect that their attacks can have on people, they will appear to be cruel and malicious. Their attacks seem to be out of all proportion to any offence they have received. They also believe in getting their revenge in first and will make entirely unprovoked and vicious attacks on people who, to everyone else, appear to be completely innocent bystanders.

Because they believe that they are continually under attack they are always looking for ways to strengthen their position. In this they are similar to the snake remedies: both are cunning, ruthless and manipulative. It is a bit of a generalization, but on the whole snakes tend to convince the world of their strength and ability to cause harm: whereas spiders tend to make out that they are weak and harmless. This often comes out as hypochondria and a concern about their health, which not only establishes their vulnerability but also confirms that everyone, even nature and their own bodies, are out to get them. If they do not have an illness they will create one, and only Veratrum ranks with the spiders in feigning illness.

The spiders have a need for attention. Unless a personʼs attention is fully on them they can never be sure of how that person feels about them. They therefore expend substantial amounts of their excessive energy in drawing attention to themselves. Just as their instinctive knowledge of people means that their cruelty and malice is always directed where it will do the most damage; so they will find the most effective, and often most destructive, way to attract attention.

Hypochondria and the sense of victimization combine with this need for attention in a propensity to complaining which is found throughout the spiders. They will rail against the world that has it in for them and against 86 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 87 their bodies that always let them down. There is also the contradiction that attention could indicate an interest in harming them. Therefore, while going out of their way to attract attention, they are just as likely to turn on anyone who does direct attention to them.

Sexuality is an area in which this contradiction is particularly powerful and apparent. The spiders mating behavior is complex and often, particularly for the male, dangerous. Although the devouring of the male after copulation is perhaps partly myth, it certainly has some foundation in reality and it reflects some of the dangerous nature of sexuality for the spider. The spider remedies are very sexual in their nature. Precocious sexuality in very young children, especially when taken farther than it usually is in Hyoscyamus, is often an indicator for a spider remedy. Overt sexuality is an effective way of attracting attention and it is also an effective outlet for their excess of energy. However, the reality of sex is much less suited to the spider. The need for contact, both physical and emotional, that goes hand in hand with sex is not something that spiders are comfortable with. On the whole spiders desire sex but it aggravates rather than ameliorates them.

The physical symptoms of the spiders are generally concentrated in the affinities of the nerves and the heart. They are therefore remedies of the will rather than the understanding. The most common symptoms are twitching and involuntary movements. Pains tend to be sharp and stabbing though there is also numbness or an alternation between pains and numbness. Just as the patient is unconnected to time and needs a rhythm to pace them so their hearts often lose their rhythm and begin to race resulting in an accelerated pulse and palpitations. Also there are often respiratory symptoms that are perhaps best described as the lungs struggling to get enough air to supply the racing heart.

It is useful to look at the way in which the spiders used as remedies are divided up by the taxonomists, as there is a general correlation between the closeness of botanical or zoological grouping and the similarities of homeopathic remedies. Substances that are closer to each other in taxonomy, and therefore probably in evolution, are also closer to each other in the homeopathic pictures they produce.

The spiders used in homeopathy come from two main groups: the Mygalomorphae and the Araneomorphae (previously called the Labidognatha):

• The Mygalomorphs are generally more primitive and have straight up and down fangs. As their system for delivering venom is less sophisticated, the venom itself may be more powerful. Two families in this group are represented homeopathically: o The Theraphosidae, tarantulas and bird-eating spiders, which 88 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 89 include Mygale and almost certainly Tarentula cubensis. o The other group, the Depluridae, includes Atrax robustus.

• The Araneomorphae include the majority of spiders, are more developed and have crossing fangs, which are better able to inject their venom. It has two major groups.

o The smaller group is the Haplogynae, which includes Loxosceles reclusa. o The Entelegynae is the largest family of spiders and is divided into many sub groups. § The Dionycha contains the Salticidae, Jumping Spiders, of which Aranea scinencia is one and Portia fimbriata another. § The Lycosoidea contains the Lycosidae, wolf spiders, which includes Tarentula hispanica. § The Orbicularia, web spinners, include the Araneidae, Orb Web Spiders, Aranea diadema and Aranea ixobola; and the Theriidae, tangle web spiders, including Lampona cylindrata, and the Latrodectus species: mactans, curassavicum, haseltii and katipo.

In terms of their behavior the spiders can be divided between the hunters and the trappers. The Orbicularia, web spinners, trap their prey in their webs, while most other spiders either ambush or hunt and chase their prey. Spider silk can be used not only in webs but to build ambush hides or to catch and disable prey.

Another interesting differential between the spiders is their type of venom. Most of the spiders use a neurotoxin that interferes with nerve transmission leading to paralysis and kills by preventing respiration or stopping the heart. The venom of the Loxosceles reclusa is necrotoxic, causing the flesh around the bite to die. The venom of the Lampona cylindrata is also necrotoxic but not reliably so. It seems that the venom causes enough damage to sometimes, but not always, allow infection to set in. The venom may contain bacteria to promote such infection.

In terms of our knowledge, and particularly in repertorization, Tarentula hispanica is by far the best-represented spider in the homeopathic literature. This is not merely a historical accident, for Tarentula is the spider remedy for whom attention is most important, therefore it demands to be looked at. This does mean that using the repertory with any spider case will usually indicate Tarentula. Theridion, Latrodectus mactans and Aranea diadema are fairly well represented but with only 20-30% of the rubrics of Tarentula they will come through clearly in only a very good repertorization. The other spiders have less than 10% of the rubrics that Tarentula does and so 88 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 89 are not going to show up in a repertorization unless it is very precise and very lucky. On the whole using the repertory will indicate a spider remedy but the differentiation has to be done by knowing the differences between the spiders.

Peter Fraser has been a homeopath in Bristol, England for ten years. He has a particular interest in the provings of new remedies and has been involved in some twenty, which can be viewed at www.hominf.org. He is the Director of the Institute of Homeopathy and the author of The AIDS Miasm, Using Realms in Homeopathy, Using Mappa Mundi in Homeopathy. Books on Miasms, Archetypes, Philosophy and Correspondences are in the works. A Supplement to Clarkeʼs Dictionary is an on going project with the first entries, including several insects, available on the website. He can be reached at [email protected].

90 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI       :     Authors: N. Kolia-Adam (main author) Dr. E. Solomon Dr. J. Bond Dr. M. Deroukakis (corresponding author)

Abstract: Insomnia is defined as inadequate sleep intake due to difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking too early and not being able to get back to sleep. In industrialized nations between 30%-40% of individuals suffer from at least occasional periods of sleep disturbance. The significance of sleep lies in its impact on the central nervous system as extended periods without sleep result in disturbances in mental function.

The remedy used in this study was Coffea cruda 200c. Although there is some research evidence that it has an effect on the sleep of animals, there is no research on its effect on humans.

The aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of the homeopathic remedy Coffea cruda 200c in the treatment of insomnia characterized by a difficulty in falling asleep due to nervous excitability and a flow of ideas. The quality of sleep was assessed in terms of duration of sleep and improvement in sleep pattern. The study was a double-blind placebo- controlled study, which lasted for four weeks. A total of thirty participants meeting the inclusion criteria were recruited by means of advertisements. At the initial consultation participants were presented with information on the study and were requested to sign a consent form as well as complete a questionnaire. A homeopathic pharmaceutical company blinded the study, so that when the participants selected their 50ml bottle of medication, they automatically allocated themselves to the experimental or placebo group. Participants were also requested to complete a sleep diary every morning and follow-up visits were conducted on the second and fourth week of the study.

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 91 All results were compared with the initial assessment and changes were recorded. Data were analyzed according to the General Linear Model, Mann-Whitney Test, Cross Tabulation, Fisherʼs Exact Test and Regression Analysis.

It was found that the experimental group (Coffea cruda) reported an increase in sleep duration (p= 0.003) to a greater extent than did the placebo group (0.007). Improvement in sleep pattern elicited by the experimental group yielded a p-value of 0.002 compared with that of the placebo group (p=0.011). Therefore, on both parameters, the homeopathic group fared better than the placebo group. This study serves as a point of departure for other studies wishing to examine the effect of homeopathic remedies on insomnia.

INTRODUCTION

Insomnia is defined as inadequate sleep intake due to difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking too early and not being able to get back to sleep (1). Insomnia occurs when the sleep regulation system is affected by several psychological, environmental or physiological functions. Chronic insomnia is estimated to affect at least 10% of the adult population (1).

Individuals suffering from insomnia complain of impaired daytime functioning, fatigue, sleepiness, depression, anxiety and other mood changes due to poor sleep (2). Chronic insomnia merits serious attention since it is associated with an increased risk of automobile accidents, increased alcohol consumption and excessive daytime sleepiness (3). Individuals with insomnia also have an increased risk of making mistakes and report more absenteeism at work than do persons who sleep well (4).

Etiology and Precipitating Factors

During sleep, a normal individual encounters several short awakenings of which they have no clear consciousness. If during the short of waking, some factor causes anxiety or anger, there is then progression to full awakening and remembering of the awakening. In many cases, subjects check the time on awakening and repeat this cycle many times throughout the night. The result is anger and frustration, which delays return to normal sleep and may promote subsequent awakenings (5). Individuals then develop maladaptive strategies in an attempt to get to sleep. This contributes to perpetuating factors in the evolution of a long-term problem. Spending excessive time in bed and staying in bed while awake are the most common of these behaviors.

In some individuals there is a difficulty initiating sleep due to conditioned 92 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 93 arousal. This is often due to anxiety about falling asleep and lack of confidence in the individualʼs ability to fall asleep. The individual becomes increasingly alert, which further inhibits the ability to fall asleep and therefore increases anxiety (6). The following factors may precipitate insomnia: Psychological factors Stress is defined as a natural arousal reaction and can have any combination of affective, cognitive and biological components (2). If the source of stress is prolonged, and/or uncontrollable, feedback mechanisms will fail to restore equilibrium. Acute or chronic stress is listed as one of the causes of insomnia (3). In some individuals, stress-related transient insomnia may serve as the basis for the development of a persistent psychophysiological insomnia (2). Psychiatric Disorders Insomnia may be the result of anxiety or depression. The presence of chronic insomnia increases the risk of onset of major depression. Other psychiatric conditions that can cause insomnia include panic disorder, mania, acute psychosis, anorexia nervosa and post-traumatic stress disorder (7). Drugs A wide variety of medications have been implicated in the etiology of insomnia. Among the most common medications that disturb sleep are beta-adrenergic blockers, corticosteroids, thyroid replacement therapy, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, monoamine oxidase inhibitors and methyldopa (8). Medical Factors Many medical conditions cause insomnia, which in itself can worsen the prognosis. Disorders associated with pain are the most common causes of sleep disruption. Pregnancy may also induce sleep disruption due to nausea, backache, nocturia and heartburn. Disruption of the Circadian Rhythm Circadian stresses such as jet lag, schedule change and shift work are typical precipitants of insomnia. A circadian rhythm sleep disorder is characterized by a persistent or recurrent pattern of sleep disruption that results from a mismatch between the individualʼs endogenous circadian sleep-wake cycle system and exogenous demands regarding the timing and duration of sleep (6). Recurrent Nightmares Nightmares usually occur during REM sleep and are characterized by the repeated occurrence of frightening dreams that lead to awakenings from sleep. Stimulants Stimulants such as nicotine, caffeine and appetite suppressants may result in a sleep disturbance. Alcoholism is associated with significant sleep disruption, which may persist for months after abstinence is initiated (8).

92 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 93 Diagnosis A complaint of insomnia is diagnosed by means of a detailed anamnesis, a sleep history questionnaire and a structured sleep interview (9). Most sleep laboratories stress the importance of a sleep diary, which documents the patientʼs usual bedtime, time of rising, time of meals, alcohol intake, exercise, medications and descriptions of the quality and duration of sleep. These parameters reveal aspects of the individualʼs lifestyle that can be destructive to sleep. Although sleep diaries collect subjective judgments of sleep, the sleep diary is nevertheless the most valid tool as it is measures the essential feature of insomnia, i.e., the individualʼs complaint of poor sleep. It is therefore, the standard practice in the assessment of behavioral sleep medicine (3), (5).

Treatment The Consensus Development Conference held by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1983 concluded that insomnia is not a disease but merely an underlying symptom (2). As such, initial treatment involves identifying and treating underlying causes (7), (9).

Pharmacological Treatment

A prescription of hypnotic medication is the most common therapeutic intervention (10). Benzodiazepines form a major part of treatment of sleep disorders and acute anxiety stress. They are known to have anxiolytic, hypnotic, muscle relaxant, anticonvulsant and amnesic actions (11). Individuals taking benzodiazepines for even short periods may develop dependence and experience withdrawal symptoms. Benzodiazepines should only be administered to patients after sleep hygiene and non- pharmacological methods of treatment have been considered (9). Tricyclic antidepressants have a sedative effect and are useful in inducing and maintaining sleep (10). Overdose of tricyclic anti-depressants may lead to cardiotoxicity and anticholinergic effects (dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation and difficulty with micturition).

Barbiturates are far more depressant than benzodiazepines and a small overdose may be fatal (10). The side effects of barbiturates include hypotension, respiratory depression, apnea and laryngeal and bronchial spasm.

Apart from the adverse reactions, long-term use of many psychotropic or sedative hypnotic drugs may actually impair sleep. Pharmacological agents appear to act more reliably in the short-term and therefore behavioral intervention provides more sustained effects (3), (7).

Alternative Treatment

94 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 95 The use of melatonin has been considered as an alternative for the treatment of insomnia. Melatonin is a hormone that is synthesized and released from the pineal gland and acts as a reliable marker of the circadian clock (12).

Coffea cruda 200c is a homeopathic remedy commonly prescribed for the treatment of insomnia. In the healthy person, the remedy causes insomnia, where the individual is unable to sleep due to an overactive mind (“theorizing, abundant ideas in the evening, causing sleeplessness”) (11). When the individual does eventually fall asleep, it is a very restless sleep and he wakes at frequent intervals.

A double-blind study conducted with Coffea cruda intimates that it enhances slow-wave delta activity (and therefore, non rapid eye movement sleep) (13). The study compared two potencies of the remedy, i.e., Coffea cruda 30c and Coffea cruda 200c on rats using EEG recordings. It concluded that the two hundred potency had an effect on the synchronization of sleep, while the thirtieth potency had positive effects on sleep pattern.

METHODOLOGY

The Design of the Study The study was a double-blind placebo-controlled study, which took place over a period of four weeks at the University of Johannesburg Health Clinic. The medication was dispensed and blinded by Natura Laboratories, who assigned numbers to the treatment bottles. Neither the researcher nor the participant was aware of which group they belonged to.

Study Sample The study was conducted on 30 participants of both sexes, between the ages of 18 and 50 years. The inclusion criteria were: • Participants suffering from insomnia for longer than a year. • Insomnia associated with “nervous difficulty” which manifested as difficulty in falling asleep. The exclusion criteria were: • Participants taking prescribed medication for insomnia. • Participants taking any over-the-counter medication for insomnia more than 3 times a week. • Insomnia, which was the result of side effects of any treatment, or due to a disease. • Participants suffering with chronic diseases and taking medication for it.

Research Procedure At the initial consultation, participants were requested to sign a consent form and the researcher filled in the questionnaire, which formed the basis of inclusion in the study. 94 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 95 Participants received a 50 ml bottle and were requested to shake the liquid medication and take 10 drops under the tongue before going to bed for 4 weeks. Participants were also requested to complete a sleep diary and were shown how to complete it every morning. This also allowed for recording of the nights that participants took over the counter medication for the insomnia. The latter data was excluded from the analysis. Participants were followed up after two weeks and then again after four weeks, where compliance was checked and case histories were conducted. The study was approved on August 18, 2006 by the University of Johannesburg Faculty of Health Sciences Academic Ethics Committee. Details of the study were explained to participants and a consent form was signed. All information pertaining to the participants was kept strictly confidential.

RESULTS

All the results were analyzed according to the General Linear Model, Mann-Whitney Test, Cross Tabulation, Fisherʼs Exact Test and Regression Analysis. The p-value was allocated at the conventional 0.05.

Group C was the Coffea cruda group, whilst Group P received the placebo.

Demographics

The mean age of participants was between 32 and 33 years. The age range was divided into three groups, as shown in Figure 1, below:

96 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 97 Figure 1: Age and Gender Distributions

Of the participants who received the homeopathic remedy 66.7% were females, while 86.7% of those in the placebo group were female.

The duration of sleep was measured and in the experimental group the number of hours slept increased from 357.6 minutes to 395.4 minutes. The p-value for this increase was 0.003, which is statistically significant.

In the placebo group, the duration increased from 346.8 minutes to 382.2 minutes. The p-value was 0.007 which is also significant but to a lesser degree than in the experimental group. In addition, the experimental groupʼs improvement occurred at a faster rate.

The change in sleep pattern was assessed as well. Group C had greater changes in sleep pattern than Group P. The average p-value for the overall change in sleep pattern was 0.001, which is statistically significant. The average p-value for the overall change in sleep pattern in the placebo group was 0.534. This indicates that there was no significant difference in the change in sleep pattern in Group P.

Improvement in sleep pattern yielded a p-value of 0.002 in the Coffea cruda group, whilst the placebo group experienced an improvement to the value of 0.011, which is not statistically significant.

DISCUSSION

Demographics

More women are affected by insomnia than men, with complaints increasing with age (Zorick and Walsh, 2000). In this study, there were three times as many females than males, although the increased incidence for females is only 1.3 times more than for men. Therefore, females were over-represented in this study.

Most patients fell in the age range of 25-30 years. The placebo group consisted of 86.7% females and 13.3 % males, whilst the experimental group consisted of 66.7% females and 33.3% males.

Statistical Significance

Statistically significant results were found in the following areas of investigation:

The increased duration of sleep The homeopathically administered remedy Coffea cruda 200c increased 96 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 97 the patientsʼ duration of sleep. As the study was investigating early-onset insomnia (i.e. difficulty falling asleep) the conclusion can be drawn that participants fell asleep with less difficulty. The placebo group did not produce statically significant results.

(Change) Improvement in the pattern of sleeping The experimental group experienced an improved change in sleep pattern that was statistically significant. In addition, they experienced a more constant improvement in their sleep pattern than the placebo group.

Limitations The greatest limitation of the study was that objective measures of sleep were not made using EEGs. Therefore, the information obtained was of a purely subjective nature. Patients who were included in the trial were required to have suffered with insomnia for over a year and therefore results may not be generalized to those suffering with an acute episode of insomnia. Another limitation was that the study was conducted in a clinical manner and that only one symptom of insomnia was used as the defining criterion for inclusion. Other characteristic symptoms of the remedy may have been used as a screening tool for the appropriateness of the remedy (such as neuralgias, palpitations and irritability). In addition, as there are many insomnia remedies, the most similar remedy for the patientsʼ particular symptoms may have been chosen.

Compliance was also another limitation, as was the ability of the participant to complete the sleep questionnaire accurately. In terms of classical homeopathy, one dose of Coffea cruda 200c may move beyond the minimum dose and further studies may investigate other potencies and durations of treatment. Given the widespread occurrence of insomnia and the addictive nature of allopathic treatment for it, this trial forms a starting point from which others may follow and improve upon.

CONCLUSION

Coffea cruda 200c had a statistically significant improvement on duration of sleep (and therefore the onset of sleep) as well as on improved patterns of sleep. Although the placebo had an effect, it was not statistically significant.

REFERENCES

1. Vallieres, A., H. Ivers, C. H. Bastien, S. Beaulieu-Bonneau, and C. M. Morin. 2005. Variability and predictability in sleep patterns of chronic insomniacs. European Sleep Research Society 14:447. 2. Dement, W.C., M. H. Kryger, and T. Roth. 1989. Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company. 3. Kupfer, D.J. and C. F. Reynolds. 1997. Management of Insomnia. New

98 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 99 England Journal of Medicine 336 (5):341-346. 4. Leger, D., D. Biol, M. A. Massuel and A. Metlaine. 2006. Professional Correlates of Insomnia. Sleep 29(2):171 5. Nutt, D and S. Wilson. 2005. Assessment and Management of Insomnia. Clinical Medicine 5 (2):101-104. 6. Bentley, A and M. Berk. 2002. Sleep Disorders. In Textbook of Psychiatry for Southern Africa. Robertson, B., C. Allwood and C. Gagiano. Cape Town, South Africa: Oxford University Press. 7. Rajput, V and S. Bromey. 1999. Chronic Insomnia: A Practical Review. American Family Physician 60 (5):1431-8; 1441-2. 8. Pigeon, W. R., and M. J. Sateia. 2004. Identification and Management of Insomnia. Medical Clinics of North America 88(3):567-588. 9. Holbrook, A. M., R. Crowther, A. Lotter, C. Cheng and D. King. 2000. The diagnosis and management of insomnia in clinical practice: a practical evidence-based approach. CMAJ 162 (2):210-216. 10. Neal, M. J. 2003. Medical Pharmacology at a Glance. London, UK: Blackwell Publishing. 11. Tyler, M. L. 1995. Homeopathic Drug Pictures. 10th ed. Homeopathic Research and Educational Trust 1952, pg. 300. 12. Zorick, F.J and J. K. Walsch. 2000. Evaluation and Management of Insomnia: An Overview: Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. 3rd ed. USA: W. B. Saunders Company, pp. 616-621. 13. Ruiz-Vega, G, L. Pérez-Ordaz, O. León-Huéramo, E. Cruz-Vázquez and N. Sánchez-Diaz. 2002. Comparative effect of Coffea cruda potencies on rats. Homeopathy 91 (2) 80-84. ��

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98 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 99 100 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 101    Michael Thompson

In 2001, as the hay fever season approached I reexamined my approach to this condition. For some years I had stuck to the maxim of prescribing only the constitutional remedy, as I had found very little success with any of the common acute remedies and also Mixed Pollens, Mixed Grasses, many of which I had tried over 20 years of practice. However in the previous years or so I had become aware of tree pollen allergies (which typically affect people in early spring), together with a broader understanding and experience of allergy testing in general, and a fearlessness of combination remedies! I resolved to find a new approach. And so I combinedMixed Grasses, Mixed Pollens, Mixed Weeds and Shrubs and Mixed Tree Pollens together in a 30c and 200c. That year the pollen count index was much higher than usual, supposedly due in part to the lack of grazing by cattle and sheep because of the foot and mouth epidemic in the UK. I was delighted because at last I had found a remedy which proved to work well for acute hay fever and also for prevention. Mainly I gave the 30c but resorted to the 200c for more stubborn cases together with a constitutional remedy, of course. I continued to use the two potencies throughout 2002, with generally good but not 100% results.

So far so good. Before the 2003 season, I did some further research. I wanted to find out what theMixed Pollens, Mixed Grasses, Mixed Weeds and Shrubs, etc., contained. Armed with this information I looked at possible additions to these combinations; for example, I discovered some obvious omissions but also for the tree pollens that some people can be allergic to some insect pollinated trees as opposed to wind pollinated trees. I also decided to add a reconstituted Mixed Moulds to the overall combination which is called Stop & Prevent Allergy Formula. I am very grateful to Vital Homeopathics Pharmacy for sourcing additional remedies and making up the new combinations. The remedy is available under the name Stop & Prevent Allergy Formula in 30c and 200c potencies, as well as the newer versions of the Mixed Pollens, etc.

I also had the idea to make a more traditional homeopathic hay fever combination remedy; examining the rubric Corzya, annual in the

100 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 101 Millennium edition of the Complete Repertory which contains 138 remedies, I decided to select only plant remedies and even then only the ones that were either generally not constitutional remedies such as Pulsatilla or Thuja or ones where coryza symptoms were not a significant part of the remedy picture. This whittled the list down to 27 remedies. I usually give the Treat Acute Hay Fever Formula if the Stop & Prevent Allergy Formula is not effective enough.

Does this protocol work in every case? Of course not, but I have found it to be a valuable addition to my treatment of hay fever. In some patients it works very well and they are symptom free, others get relief if they take the remedies quite regularly and others are only helped a little or not at all. In other patients I use using acupuncture in both a constitutional and symptomatic way; suffice it to say that in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) the view is that hay fever is both a lung and kidney problem-- the kidneys explaining why hay fever is inherited.

I have omitted from the article the lists of what the various Mixed Pollens, Mixed Weeds, etc., contain and the new additions to them. For those who feel they need this information, email me at [email protected].

References

Anthony, Birtwhistle, Eaton, and Maberly.1997. Environmental Medicine in Clinical Practice, BSAENM Publications Brostoff, Dr. Jonathan and Linda Gamlin. 1993. The Complete Guide to Hayfever, Bloomsbury

The following is the information leaflet I give to patients (feel free to copy it but with an acknowledgement, please):

The hay fever kit consists of three combination or formula remedies, which are new versions of my very successful homeopathic hay fever treatment which was pioneered after the foot and mouth epidemic in 2001 when, due to lack of grazing, grass pollen levels were unusually high. Both remedies are a very effective alternative treatment to patients who would prefer not to use anti-histamines (even though they can be used together if necessary!).

Stop & Prevent Allergy Formula 30c & 200c The 200c should be given once a week before the patientʼs hay fever season for 2-3 months to attempt to desensitize a patient. The 30c up to four times a day for any acute hay fever symptoms. It contains mixtures of: weeds & shrubs, flower pollens, grasses, moulds, and tree pollens.

Treat Acute Hay Fever Formula 30c 102 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 103 This is a new combination of traditional homeopathic remedies used for acute hay fever. It can be used instead of or in conjunction with Stop & Prevent Allergy Formula 30c up to four times a day for any acute hay fever symptoms. It contains the following remedies: Ailanthus glandulosa, Allium cepa, Ambrosia artemisiefolia, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Aralia racemosa, Arum triphyllum, Arundo mauritanica, Cyclamen europaeum, Ephedra vulgaris, Eucalyptus globulus, Euphorbia resinifera, Euphrasia officinalis, Grindelia robusta, Phellandrium aquaticum, Phleum pratense, Ranunculus bulbosa, Sabadilla officinalis, Sanguinarea canadensis, Senecio aureus, Senega officinalis, Sinapsis alba, Sinapsis nigra, Solidiga virga aurea, Sticta pulmonaria, Teucrium marum verum, Trifolium pratense, Wyethia helenoides

How to get more information If you wish to discuss homeopathic treatment for your hay fever and/or to buy the Hay Fever Program, please phone or email Michael Thompson. Also for more information about homeopathy, acupuncture, clinic locations, treatment costs, etc., please visit the website www.naturalmedicines.net. For practitioners it is possible to get a Hay Fever Program dispensing kit which has all three remedies in medicating potencies together with instruction leaflet and label templates.

Michael Thompson RSHom FSHom Lic.Ac MTCMCI has been practicing classical homeopathy and traditional acupuncture in the UK and Ireland for over twenty-five years with clinics in Ennis, Limerick and Northampton. Michael has a general practice treating a wide variety of complaints and all ages but has also developed specialized remedies for specific problems, which includes the treatment of hay fever, allergies, injuries, etc. Michael is blessed to live by the side of Lough Bunny in the Burren, Co. Clare, with his partner and daughter.

For more information about Michael Thompson please contact: The Health Haven, 8 Parnell Street, Ennis, Co. Clare phone 065 68 40613 or The Integrative Medicine Centre, 4d Market Walk, Northampton NN1 4BU, phone 01604 628767

Some useful suggestions for hay fever sufferers

• Donʼt walk in long grass. • Keep windows and vents closed in the car. If you drive a lot, air conditioning or an electrostatic air filter in the carʼs ventilation system 102 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 103 can help. If you have neither, turn off the ventilation. • Keep windows closed as much as possible and hang net curtains to help trap any pollen. • Stay indoors during peak pollen times - 7am to 9am and 3pm to 7pm. • Avoid mowing the lawn during the daytime, as it creates clouds of pollen. Even better, ask someone else to do it for you. • Avoid grass and hedge cuttings. • Wear wrap around sunglasses to protect eyes when going outside. • Avoid stroking pets that have been outside - they may be carrying pollen on their fur. • Shower and wash hair after being outside to eliminate all traces of pollen. • Avoid contact with cigarette smoke; wearing perfume is not a good idea. • When planning holidays, remember mountains tend to have fewer flowers, and pollen counts are lowest by the sea. • Itchy eyes can be bathed in a solution of Euphrasia. Put one drop in an eyebath of water. NEVER put tincture directly into your eye. • Try splashing your face with cold water, or sniffing cold water up through your nostrils to soothe the inflamed membranes. • Cut out all dairy products and wheat if you can for the duration of the hay fever season. These are the food allergens which are most likely to aggravate your symptoms. • If you have to blow your nose, do so gently. Hard blowing can burst the grains of pollen, which increases their irritant effect. • Applying a cold pack on the nose and face can help inflamed nasal membranes. • Put Vaseline inside the nose to stop pollen settling in the lining of your nose. • Use an ionizer indoors. Ionizers give off a negative charge which can help to reduce the amount of allergens in the air.

Michael Thompson [email protected] Michael Thompson RSHom FSHom Lic.Ac MTCMCI Classical Homeopath & Traditional Acupuncturist Ireland: The Health Haven, 43 Merchants Square, The Market Street, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland Work: 00 353 65 68 40613; Home: 00 353 91 633344 [email protected] & [email protected] www.naturalmedicineworks.net UK: The Integrative Medicine Centre, 4d Market Walk, Northampton NN1 4BU, UK 00 44 1604 628767

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Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 105 ��

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106 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI      Julek Meissner

A 39-year-old woman consulted with me in March 2003, for what she called “life threatening menstrual hemorrhaging,” that flooded her tampons and stained her clothes and furniture by running down her legs. Bleeding was also characterized by large bright red clots the size of mice. Once her period began, she had to sit still, as the bleeding was a lot worse if she moved. If she had a quiet day at the onset of flow but then gets busy the next day, hemorrhaging returns. Periods were painful, a stabbing pain, better with painkillers, which she took every month. Periodity was irregular, from 22-30 days apart. Her periods started suddenly and ended just as suddenly, lasting five days, bright one day, gone the following.

She felt tired during her menses and her face looked pale. Blood work showed borderline anemia. An ultrasound showed no signs of fibroids.

PMS Intolerant and irritable for a week before onset with breast soreness, during which time she felt tired and hungry. One to two days before onset of flow, she had an energy burst, cleaned a lot and got all kinds of domestic chores accomplished.

Onset Hemorrhaging began three years ago after a tubal ligation with D & C. She gained 15 lbs since her tubal ligation, despite a good lifestyle that included plenty of exercise and a good diet, avoiding sweets and alcohol.

She was treated with hormonal supplements, which helped normalize her menses and eliminated the hemorrhaging. However, she developed severe headaches at the end of her period, behind her eyes and through the top of her head, worse motion, with waves of nausea. They woke her and were accompanied by vomiting, and were frighteningly intense. After a few of these, she discontinued the hormonal supplements, the headaches ceased, and the monthly hemorrhaging resumed.

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 107 She has benefited from homeopathy before: her severe morning sickness improving quickly after Sepia. Since the onset of her menstrual problem three years ago, she tried Sepia several times without success.

Personality, lifestyle, and family of origin: She is currently self-employed, having been a media consultant for, among others, the Financial Post. She sees herself as self-made, having gotten into sales when young, and as “a one-man show.”

“Itʼs all up to me. If I donʼt pick up the phone to call potential customers, no money comes in. I work out of my home, and often find many other things to do, avoiding calling people. Iʼm easily distracted, by the dishes, the laundry, house cleaning chores, doing the chores rather than getting to work.

“Iʼm a mommy to the whole family, which means everyone else is always taken care of first, my needs last. No time for myself, as Iʼm attending to everyone elseʼs needs. I donʼt mean to sound bitter, but I wish theyʼd fend for themselves sometimes.” Stress increases her menstrual bleeding. “Activity gets me fired up, resulting in more and bigger clots. After Christmas, I had one clot after another, from all the commotion. I do all the Christmas baking and decorating. It all falls on my shoulders, and Iʼm fed up with it. If I donʼt get it done, it wonʼt get done. Iʼm kinetic, organize, and get things done. Itʼs almost self-abusive, as I can do everything. Half-seriously, Iʼve told the kids Iʼll run away one day.

Anger before and during menses. “No tolerance. I just stew, internalizing it, as I hate to yell. I hate disharmony. I come from a family of yellers. Both my parents were yellers, as was my motherʼs father. I canʼt handle yelling, I walk away when someoneʼs yelling.

“I never knew my father. Six months into being pregnant with me, Mother moved back home to live with her parents. I was with my grandparents and my mother till at least age three, when mom and step-dad and I became a unit.

“Stepfather worked in the air force. He wasnʼt a big part of my life. Heʼd give me lunch, and then Iʼd nap… no afternoons together, no going to the park, no playing, and minimal involvement. He used to be so opinionated though, calling me names, yelling at me when Iʼd ask him for help in math. Relations with him were awful. I could never please him; he had a short fuse. Heʼd put a fist through the wall; any little thing would set him off. Iʼd lie in bed, hear them fighting, frightened a lot as a little kid. I tried being invisible, staying out of his way. I kept to myself, made myself busy, and went anywhere but home. I was anxious, afraid to go home. Took off/ran away ten times as a kid.

108 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 109 “Stepfather made me strong. I became too independent. What doesnʼt kill you makes you stronger. ʻ[No thank you,ʼ is what Iʼm often saying. I feel I canʼt count on anyone but myself. Mom wanted that second marriage to work, so her kids just became baggage. It had an effect on me. I dismissed my stepfather when I felt old enough to do that. I transferred my love to my grandparents. Didnʼt like my parents, so I chose my grandparents, spending a lot of time with them. They were my confidants, my friends. I did nothing to displease them. It was great, though it made my parents miserable, that I had chosen my grandparents over them.

“Mother and I have a good relation now, though it wasnʼt always so. Being my stepfatherʼs protector, she used to deny knowing what I was talking about. All my life she took his side, never mine, wanting her marriage no matter what, not having any time for my brother and me.

“ Saying ʻnoʼ to family demands is tough for me. I take on too much; mothers do in general. I donʼt want to come across as being selfish. I want to do stuff for my children, for and with my husband. Itʼs tough though, if the kids or my husband are selfish. If I didnʼt take out the garbage, would my husband? Iʼve never talked about it, with him or any of them.

“My husbandʼs going through tough times at work. Heʼs notoriously unhappy with his job, drowning it out by watching TV. I protect everyone from his upset, trying to keep peace, putting the kids to sleep, doing all the chores, etc. Guilt is what I often feel. At least Iʼm in a beautiful house all day, while heʼs unhappy at his work.

“My husband is into depression. Heʼs just spoiled, a child. I havenʼt the time for it, or for nervous breakdowns, neither mine nor my husbandʼs. Things happen, life goes on. What shows a personʼs character is how they deal with whatʼs thrown at them, a spiritual test. God didnʼt throw anything at me that I wasnʼt able to handle. Everyone has problems. I had mine. I got over them; my husband can get over his, too.”

This is her second marriage. “My first husband had affair shortly after our first child. I helped him pack.” She met current husband while on blind date set up by mutual friend. “I didnʼt want to seem rude, so I went. He was very nice; we talked well. He was kind to my daughter. He had two kids of his own and was kind to them.

“My kids are on me all the time. They crowd me, make me feel claustrophobic, smothered. Iʼm very independent. I want my children to be independent; they have to learn to walk on their own. I canʼt always be there for them. At times they need to fall to know their limits. Yet, Iʼm so physically available for them; I sleep with my son nightly as he asks me to come sleep with him. Itʼs my duty as a mother. Iʼm there whenever my 108 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 109 kids ask me to be there for them. We laugh, dance, do all kinds of things together, play well.

“My husbandʼs kids are a sore area for me, an area we donʼt go to often. His relationship with his kids is purely guilt-related. If he doesnʼt do what they want/say, heʼs afraid they wonʼt come and see him. Theyʼre not accountable for any of their actions. My husband never makes them responsible for their misbehavior. His daughter and some of her friends came over and organized a party. When they left, two of my pillows were missing. When I confronted her, she became defensive and angry and offended that I was accusing her friends. Now, my husbandʼs upset that weʼre upset with each other over some pillows. It makes me feel heʼs siding with his daughter.

“Iʼm doing with my husband what my mom did with my stepdad; not standing up to him. I despised that about my mother, yet am doing it myself now. I have made his children welcome, as I love my husband. I go out of my way, then they throw it back in our faces each time with no consequences from their father. They threw a party at our cottage without us knowing, left a mess, and my husband didnʼt confront them.

“When making love, I never orgasm. My husband does everything in his power to try to assist me. I can by myself, masturbating, but when making love, I donʼt want to. Itʼs a control thing. I donʼt want to give in completely.”

DREAM Of husband. “He had cut his hand and was bleeding all over the place. His eldest daughter wasnʼt doing anything. She kept trying to grab his arm for attention. I pushed her away. Iʼm trained in first aid, so I went to grab his hand, to raise it above his heart. I felt angry.”

Knees sore. Sciatica, history of, left leg, worse now. Knees extremely sore on rising from stooping, since daughterʼs birth. Must straighten knees out slowly.

Family medical history: Motherʼs mother developed lung cancer in her 80s. She never smoked. Her husband did when he was young. Treatment with Essiac tea, spontaneous remission.

Analysis: When I first began working on this case I considered many remedies, including Carc, Erig, Ferr, Phos, Sab, Sec, Erig, Ust, Sep, and Nux. v. From repertorisation of the menstrual hemorrhaging alone, Ipecac, Secale, Sabina, Ustilago, and Ferrum all came up, though Ipec was the 110 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 111 strongest. Particularly useful was the tiny rubric MENSES copious from shocks where only Arnica and Ipec are listed. Her dream of blood merely duplicated what she was already going through. Although not listed under DREAMS, blood, Ipec, which in any case is poorly represented in the dream section, continued to intrigue. Although nausea was missing in her current condition, by recalling her history of severe morning sickness resolved with Sepia (a remedy she had tried again more recently but without benefit) that keynote made me considerIpec all the more strongly.

Repertorisation with Radar:

FEMALE GENITALIA/SEX – MENSES – shocks, from FEMALE GENITALIA/SEX - MENSES - motion - agg. FEMALE GENITALIA/SEX - MENSES - clotted - large clots FEMALE GENITALIA/SEX - METRORRHAGIA - bright red - clots, with MIND - AILMENTS FROM - anger - suppressed MIND - AILMENTS FROM - anger - indignation; with MIND – AILMENTS FROM – scorned; being MIND - FORSAKEN feeling MIND - INDUSTRIOUS - menses - before STOMACH - NAUSEA - pregnancy - during

Prescription: Ipec 30 once a day for three days discontinuing dosage after the first day should there be a change for either better or worse. (Despite the evidence, a lack of certainty made me choose this potency.)

One month follow-up

“I canʼt believe it!” Menses were normal for the first time in three years. They came late, which had been a sign of a difficult period coming. She was going to be out of town, and so she prepared herself for the worst, packing an arsenal of tampons and pads. To her surprise, she brought them all back home. Menses were painless too, with no need for drugs. No clots, and instead of hemorrhaging bright red blood, it was brown and scanty, like it used to be prior to the tubal ligation.

Other changes from remedy: Knee soreness improved. Facial hair, hair around nipples, without this month. PMS was improved, too. Breast tenderness before menses was less intense, not as long lasting. Irritability before menses was milder, not as long lasting.

Family dynamics improved, too. “I had a pep rally with my family. Told them that weʼre all responsible for house chores, that itʼs not fair that 110 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 111 everything falls on my shoulders alone. I used the garbage as an example, that they go right past it, as they know Iʼll do it. Things get left, default to me, then everyone wonders why Iʼm irritable. I asked that they be at least responsible for themselves. It was good for me. I canʼt keep internalizing, otherwise Iʼll end up getting sick again. Menses may be the tip of the iceberg. Iʼm thinking of ways of reclaiming whatʼs mine, instead of me always being expendable. We mothers fall into that role too easily, wanting to care/provide, over-caring, at our own expense.

“Stronger is how I feel, able to ask for what I need, to say no when I need to. Since I started on the remedy, have more will power to say no, sticking to it, being firm, that Iʼm the childrenʼs parent, not just their friend. Theyʼre going to bed on their own now with my husband pitching in. My husband put the kids to bed last night while I went out with friends!! I felt rejuvenated, being out with other adults. I need to be out of the house more. No longer am I willing to be run into the ground. The kids brought me breakfast in bed. It was nice, touching, to see them so happy to be able to do that for me. My husband picked up the rake this weekend, raked the lawn. He never does any gardening. He worked up a sweat. I found it enticing. I told him how manly and sexy he looked. I like this change. I donʼt normally find him sexy. Heʼs always in a suit at his desk. He hires others to do his gardening. Talking with him has been so appealing, like an aphrodisiac.

“Part of this independence thing is that Iʼm not needing anything. Iʼm the giver, I donʼt like to take, which gives me control, but for a price. Iʼm realizing I must ask my husband to take more initiative, to be more demonstrative, less lazy. I need him to be in control sometimes, instead of me always initiating, orchestrating the whole thing. He rarely gets off his seat. Itʼs my own fault. People respond to you the way you train them. Iʼve trained him into receiving, not giving. Heʼs just obliging. I must undo this habit. Heʼll like it; heʼs accommodating to me.”

Insight into the orgasm issue: “Itʼs connected to my upbringing, trying to keep peace at home, becoming independent so as not to bother anyone, never asking for help. ʻI can do it myselfʼ was my way of not bothering my dad.” Trust in men is what she ended up lacking. “Orgasms never happened, as I didnʼt think I could ever get that emotionally close. When I tried to open up, be vulnerable, I kept getting hurt. My wall got to be too high.”

Weight didnʼt change.

Plan: Wait. August 20, 2003 (five months after remedy)

Menses have become regular, 25-27 days apart, lasting five days. Only one mildly heavy day, and even that is totally manageable. First day is light; last 112 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 113 day light.

“Itʼs like night and day, the way my periods are now, compared to before the homeopathic remedy. My periods used to dictate the way my life would be for days. I felt I was bleeding to death; the bleeding was so heavy, so upsetting. I couldnʼt help but wonder whatʼs wrong, do I have cancer, is my uterus falling apart, with all these clots coming out of me! It was tough on me psychologically. You have no idea… to have this rush of blood on standing up out of chair. I was always checking chairs.”

Her menses are normal and healthy to this day, and she has required no further homeopathic treatment.

Conclusion: In an earlier article (Summer/Fall 06 issue of Simillimum), I wrote about Ipecʼs respiratory sphere of influence. To add to my growing respect for this family relative of Coffea and China, this article contributes insight into its sphere of influence in the hormonal/menstrual hemorrhage arena.

In retrospect, given the nature of this case and the one in my previous article, according to Sankaranʼs miasmatic schema, I recognize the acute-like typhoid nature of this remedy. The clinical problem comes on suddenly and intensely, recurring monthly with no end in sight. While the predisposition in this case was there, it lay latent until woken by surgical intervention, the “shock” to the system.

We never did discuss further the dynamics between herself and her stepchildren. Of interest is her own step history, with parallels between her childhood resentments toward her stepfatherʼs scorn and the disrespect she gets as an adult from her stepchildren, her childhood lack of support from her mother, and the current lack of support from her husband when it comes to his children.

Intriguing from a comparative materia medica point of view are the similarities between Ipec and Sepia, particularly the tendency to domestic angst, the feeling of having to do things in the family scene that they donʼt want to do, then holding resentment toward the family. Other parallels between the two remedies are the PMS edginess, the industriousness preceding menses. (Unlike Sep, Ipec is not listed under fastidiousness.) While the victim-mother theme is well known in Sep, and while MIND, Ailments from suppressed anger is shared by both remedies, Sep is missing under MIND, Suppressed anger with indignation. Interesting too is that Coff (another well known member of the Rubiacea family) is one of only three remedies listed under MIND, ailments from anger with vexation.

112 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 113 Hormonally, Sepia is indicated for HEAD PAIN from suppressed menses. Perhaps Ipec might be valuable here too, though more cases of the sort are needed to confirm this. Another hormonalSepia indicator (in the Complete Repertory) is facial growth: FACE, HAIRY, lip, upper, in women. Again, Ipec is not listed here, either because itʼs an exception to this particular case, or because our materia medica overlooks it.

BIO: Julek Meissner DHANP graduated from NCNM in 1983. He practices in Canadaʼs capital, Ottawa. He can be reached via his website, homeopathyrocks.com, or by calling 613-234-5151. [email protected]

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114 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI     By Greg Bedayn, RSHom (NA), CCH

In 1799, Hahnemann first applied the genus epidemicus, the single homeopathic remedy, to treat a similarly affected population, during a scarlet fever epidemic he treated in Konigslutter, Germany. The story of how he accidentally discovered the genus epidemicus is interesting: There was a large family that had members with scarlet fever. Hahnemann noticed that one of the children who had been taking Belladonna for another reason did not have symptoms of scarlet fever. He discovered that by giving the other members of the family Belladonna, as a prophylactic, that they did not get scarlet fever. Hahnemann concluded that a remedy that rapidly cures at the onset of an illness would be the best preventative.

This serendipitous discovery led Hahnemann into developing the principle of genus epidemicus --where if one takes the strongest symptom-totality from each person in an epidemic and then puts those features together into one case, as if one person, and gives the indicated simillimum to the entire affected population --that it will cure. The curative results of the genus epidemicus were so positive during the epidemics in the ensuing decades that they not only cured the majority of those affected where nothing else had worked, but they also drew international acclaim towards homeopathy, the new, the rational, medicine. There is something intrinsically powerful about the success of homeopathy in curing large populations that is undeniably attractive to anyone gifted with the power of observation, and it was through these early cures with epidemics that Hahnemann was able to quickly and widely spread the word: homeopathy. It was from his discovery of the genus epidemicus that Hahnemann later developed his theory of miasms, the taints that color and shape all family trees, as representing the basis of chronic disease.

About six years ago there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about an epidemic that was killing the northern California sheep population. They referred to it as “Ergot poisoning” and one of the finest schools of Veterinary Science in the country, the University of California at Davis, had thrown up their hands in frustration and called it “an act of God,” or

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 115 something similarly provocative for a homeopath.

I dialed the operator and asked for the phone number of the two ranchers named in the article. I called both, the second one had many sheep that were affected and we had a long conversation.

I was told that ergot smut is a mold that grows on the autumn grass found on the typically foggy California coast, but it grows only in the absence of rain, which would otherwise wash it off. Some years the rains come early and there is no problem; other years the rains come late and there is a substantial loss of livestock due to complications arising from the poisonings that continue sometimes for up to five months.

The sheepsʼ symptoms were of a neuralgic-convulsive sort. The stricken animals would quiver and shake and then get so stiff they could no longer balance their bodies over their feet; they would topple over onto the ground and then bounce around a bit in an effort to right themselves. Anxiety mounting, their seizure would only worsen if approached by man or beast. They would die within an hour or two if not rescued by a rancher. It is interesting to note that when the ranchers found sheep in this state, they would hold their hand over the animalʼs eyes and slowly the animal would calm down and allow itself to be lifted to its feet, at which point it would gallop off. The ranch terrain is mostly steep hills, and if stricken on the side of a steep slope, the sheep would fall then pitch-pole, end over end, down the hill --a frightful sight. The ranches involved were 200-2,000 acres each, with a total population of approximately 10,000 animals. Many of the animals were dying daily. The rancher videotaped the evening feeding process and mailed it to me --saying he was interested in homeopathy if it could help his animals. The video showed some of the symptoms very clearly, so I started packing a field- kit of remedies;Cicuta , Lolium, Ustilago, Strychninum, Nux vomica, Solanum nigrum, Secale as an isode, and a few others. I telephoned the late great George Macleod, in Scotland, and he suggested I try Belladonna followed by Strychninum. Before I could journey to the ranches and apply the remedies, the rains came and washed the mold off the grass, new grass sprouted almost immediately, giving the sheep toxin-free food --the seasonal episode was over. Then, in November 1995, (six years later), the first rancher from the newspaper article called me and said a new episode of toxicity had started and would I come out and take a look at his herd.

A few days later, I gathered my travel kit and a homeopath-colleague, Sarah Nielsen, RN, and we drove to the ranch, located a few miles inland from Tomales Bay, about one hourʼs drive north from San Francisco. We arrived and inspected the herd at their morning meal. There were two 116 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 117 distinctly different problem-groups. For example, some of the lambs were suffering from failure to thrive and a marasmus, which we repertorized in general as emaciation. The lambs were from just- hours to 5 days old and looked markedly emaciated. Some appeared as if they did not know how to suckle. Many of the lambs were gaunt, back arched up, head hanging down with droopy ears. The sheep, on the other hand, had no emaciation but instead had a transient ataxia made worse from touch or loud noises. These “shakers” would become anxious when approached, and, if we moved in close to touch them, they would suddenly get much worse, and, trying to run, would usually fall down into a position of opisthotonos (head thrown back, chest bowed out, limbs straight and rigid). Once they had fallen down, their breathing would often get faster and faster in fits of increasing anxiety. In extreme cases the mouth would open and the tongue would appear thickened; the air passage seemed to be cut off with accelerated heart rate; death would follow. Just before death, they would often go into a frenzied fit; eyes bulging, lips pulled back tight on the teeth in trismus, the body in tetanic rigidity.

Repeatedly I asked the ranchers, in differing ways, if there was any incidence of gangrene, bleeding, uterine symptoms, or any discharges from the sheep, in an attempt to confirm that the symptoms were indeed caused by ergot poisoning (Secale). Repeatedly I was told there were no such symptoms. I read everything I could find on Ergot and Ergotism. This source has an interesting history, being the substance from which Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is made; these ranches happened to be in Marin County, where much of the “Acid Generation” of the 1960ʼs was spawned and I grew excited, anticipating a “new work” case of Metaphorical Naturalism --where the in-nature characteristics of the simillimum are reflected in the characteristics of the patient. I also uncovered stories of how, during the American colonial period, the Salem witch trials involved people who had been surreptitiously poisoned with ergot (Claviceps purpura) causing a convulsive, hallucinogenic state, which was often the sole reason that they were burned at the stake as witches. While the symptoms of ergotism were somewhat similar to our sheepʼs symptoms, ours had no discharges, no uterine symptoms, no hemorrhages, and no symptoms of gangrene --at least one of which we would like to see in Secale poisoning.

I pondered what LSD and the Salem witch-hunts might have to do with these staggering/dying sheep but decided to look beyond Secale, based on the lack of any confirming symptoms of ergot poisoning. At about that time, the UC Davis team produced a paper written on the subject of the New Zealand Ryegrass Staggers --referring to a seasonal poisoning-epidemic in sheep caused by the toxic endophyte, Acremonium lolii. These symptoms matched those of our sheep perfectly and I felt that it must have been the 116 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 117 Acremonium that had activated the sheepʼs predisposed susceptibility to their transient-ataxia made worse by anticipation of being touched. This was showing up as a presentation of individualized susceptibility, or non- specific resistance. That is to say, all the sheep ate the same grass but not all the sheep were affected in the same way. Only the susceptible sheep were affected by the toxin. (This is a crucial key to understanding chronic disease that western medicine sadly ignores.) At this point I felt it was possible to cure the herd of this problem, if we could find the genus epidemicus; a single remedy selected for the entire population based on the totality of symptoms of that population, as if it were one patient.

The most important sentence in homeopathy is “as if one personʼ. --Jeremy Sherr, Homeonet 1996

A repertorization of the sheepʼs general symptoms brought up only polychrests remedies with the exception of two rubrics that caught my eye: Stiffening out of body, and Fear touch, which seemed to be at the crux of the problem. After graphing these with Emaciation, (in the lambs), the main remedy choices in the Complete Repertory (with MacRepertory analysis set to: totality, small remedies, and rare-strange-and-peculiar remedies) were: Arnica, Ignatia, Cina, Ipecacuanha, Chamomilla, Cuprum, Angostura vera, Ferrum- phosphorica, Stramonium, Phosphorous, Plumbum, and Camphora. After some thought, we werenʼt satisfied with any of the polychrests so we studied Angostura.

Angostura vera was first proven by Hahnemann and is listed in his Materia Medica Pura (1827). It is made from the bitter bark of the Galipoea cusparius-officinalis tree from Venezuela (Hahnemann mistakenly refers to it as Bonplandia trifoliata in his Materia Medica Pura). Its local reputation was almost as significant as that of Cinchona bark as a febrifuge in certain fevers, and as an allopathic suppressant for discharges. (Note: The ever popular gastronomic-tonic, Angustura aromatic bitters, is not made from Angustura but was originally made in the town of Angustura in Venezuela, after which it was named.)

Hahnemann talks about the symptoms of Angostura poisoning:

Trembling, soon passing into violent convulsions. When touched, tetanus suddenly ensued. Eyelids wide open. Trismus, with wide separation of the lips, so that the teeth were quite exposed. Limbs stretched out to the utmost, stiff, and stark. The spinal column and head strongly drawn backwards. The trunk was from time to time shaken by violent jerking along the back, as from electric shocks, and somewhat raised. Respiration intermitting. Death after an hour. Half an hour after death the body was stiff and stark. 118 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 119 These being the exact symptoms of the sheep, I packed the remedy with instructions and shipped it.

Two weeks later, the rancher called me to report they had given the Angostura vera 12c daily to the orphaned lambs (in their formula) and to the general sheep population (in their water troughs). I had written detailed instructions on how to charge up gallon containers of distilled water and then charge the community water troughs with them, which they did religiously every day for one week. The lambs that had been suffering from marasmus had leapt back to the land of the living, with remarkable growth and renewed vitality --it amazed the ranchers who had been hopeful but skeptical. The sheep stopped shaking and falling over; it was a short tapered resolution, --the acute symptoms of toxicity were over.

Then it rained, washing off the existing mold; the green grass popped up and the sheepʼsʼ intake of the toxins stopped. I remember thinking at the time Iʼd have liked to have had more time to test and confirm the limits of the curative potential of Angostura with this herd, but this seasonal episode of endophyte proliferation was now passing until the following autumn.

This process showed us the true genius of the genus epidemicus, in that the same remedy cured both the lambs and the sheep, each of a different pathology. Only the lambs had emaciation --the sheep had totally different symptoms --the shaking/stiffness that grew worse from touch. By finding a remedy that was indicated for both sets of symptoms, and by treating the entire population as one patient, we discovered Hahnemannʼs genus epidemicus. It is interesting to note that the sick lambs were mostly orphans, and had not had motherʼs milk. It is possible they were exposed to the toxin in utero. Sarah found Ang. listed in the rubric trismus neonatorum, which might explain the lambsʼ inability to suckle.

Then something quite unexpected happened. Two weeks after the sheep were given the first dose of Angostura, an unusually violent storm swept over Northern California. It devastated the subject ranch, which is located on the tallest hills within sight of the ocean at Tomales Bay, approximately 45 miles north of San Francisco. The winds were clocked at 100+ mph. The roof was blown off the barn, as were the barn doors. It blew a 2,500-gallon steel water tank through the air one and a half miles until it crashed into a distant neighborʼs building. Most trees, fences, and gates were destroyed by the high winds.

Before first light the following morning, the ranchers went out in the onslaught searching with flashlights for animals in trouble. They found 118 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 119 twenty-four new lambs that had not lived through the night, dead from exposure. There is a peculiar symptom with the local ewes that they tend to birth during storms. It appears to be a contraction response from their fear of the storm. Another theory is that during storms the predators are too busy avoiding the elements to be on the prowl for new lambs so the birthing sheep (might) tend to deliver during stormy weather.

The husband and wife team were very depressed as they gathered their dead lambs on the truck to take for burial. The woman rancher relates the following story: “I saw Gordon pick up one of the lambs and just as he was putting it on the truck he stopped and turned it over a few times --he said he thought he had seen its ear twitch --so I took it up the hill to the house and put it in front of our wood-burning stove on a pad and left it while I checked the house for damage (I should mention that this same lamb had had one eye pecked out the day before by a crow). The electricity had gone out during the night and we had no phone. I checked the lamb periodically --it was not breathing and had no pulse. I held it in my arms and rubbed it and sang to it but it seemed to be going into rigor mortis.”

“Half an hour after death the body was stiff.”

Materia Medica Pura, Angostura

--S. Hahnemann, Jain, 64

“I felt so defeated I wept. Gordon came in and we just sat in silence together with the dead lamb. For some reason I decided we should decorate the Christmas tree to take our minds off our problems. With flashlights we began to hang ornaments, then I remembered the story you told me...”

During my first visit to the ranch, I had seen a newborn lamb lying dead on the barn floor when I arrived in the morning. It was such a disturbing sight; this lifeless caricature of youth. Later that afternoon, the woman rancher noticed me staring at the dead lamb and told me that she thought she had seen it move, so I immediately kneeled down and gave it a squirt of Cicuta 1M which I had with me, but to no avail --she looked at me and said “Now that would really impress me!” So I told her the story about how Dr. Stuart Close had once treated a 45-year-old woman who had already been pronounced dead, on site, by her family physicians. Close arrived at the residence as the relatives were standing around the parlor, drying tears, etc.; he quickly examined the patient. No radial pulse, limbs cold and rigid, face with an expression of death, both feet and legs were gangrenous up to the knees --the living manifestation of death. He tapped a few pellets of Ars. 45M (Fincke) under her lip and rubbed it against her gum. “Presently 120 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 121 she opened her eyes and looked at me as I bent over her, and whispered to me Iʼm coming back. In ten minutes more she was talking to me in an audible voice, asking questions about herself and what had happened. I had difficulty keeping my patient quiet and had to prevent her from talking. Reaction had come on with a vengeance. She went on to make an uneventful recovery and has led a healthy life for these 20 years past.

So, with this story in mind, the woman rancher got the bottle of Strychninum 12c (in water) and put a few drops on the lambʼs nostrils. She relates: “Instantaneously the lamb twitched and jerked around a bit and shook, then went still again. I could hear the heartbeat; then it slowed and stopped again. I gave him another few drops of the remedy and the same thing happened. Then I put a squirt of Angostura vera. down the lambʼs throat and with that he simply leapt back to life! Within ten minutes he was up and walking and would not let us alone as we decorated the Christmas tree in the morning twilight, rubbing his little head against our legs to show us his gratitude.”

By the following morning, the lamb was doing so well that they put him out in a pen, and heʼs done quite well since. He turned into a husky little lamb and theyʼve named him “One-eyed Jack.”

I was stunned when I received this information. It was enough that the single remedy had acted on the entire herd for differing pathologies, but to bring back the dead...

One week later the woman rancher called to ask advice on how to follow- up on a sheep that had been attacked by a coyote: its throat had been torn open and the esophagus was punctured. Wide eyed and terrified, the sheep would not calm down. A hissing sound came from the punctured throat as she breathed. The rancher had only the remedies I had left there earlier to test on the staggering sheep. No Aconite, no Stramonium, no Op. no Arnica, no Calendula, etc. Not being able to reach me at first for advice, the desperate rancher had given it a dose of Angostura. The sheep immediately calmed down to the point where they could approach it and touch it. This sheep went on to have an uneventful recovery. A few days later, the rancher called me again. Another lamb had been similarly attacked by a coyote and had open wounds on its ear, throat and jaw with much swelling, and it was acting extremely frightened. It was almost impossible to herd her into the corral. Again they squirted a stream of Angostura that made contact with the animals nose and it immediately calmed down and even walked up to the woman rancher and nibbled on her tattered coattail. This would have been an unusual display of ease in a typically pusillanimous sheep, rare in one that only moments before had been so terrorized. We felt this to be very 120 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 121 significant. The woman rancher commented on how the entire herd had become much more approachable and less skittish since the prophylactic watering-trough dosings of Angostura.

I feel this case shows the broadly curative potential of the genus epidemicus/simillimum. The single remedy showed curative action on acute poisoning-epidemic symptoms --as a specific, on chronic symptoms (pusillanimous/shyness), and on acute first-aid symptoms (terror, open wounds), in one herd of animals including a subgroup that was possibly made toxic in-utero. I would like to spend more time testing the limits of Angostura vera on this herd. I have since given entire herd on this one ranch (as a control) a single dose of Angostura vera 10M, to see if it will permanently shift their susceptibility to the ryegrass staggers, as I suspect it will.

Greg Bedayn, RSHom (NA), CCH, Reprinted from The American Homeopath, Vol 4, 1998, North American Society of Homeopaths. Reprinted with Permission.

122 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI  :      F. von Reiswitz, London Conference of the International Network for the History of Homeopathy (INHH) Stuttgart, 4th to the 6th July 2007

The Institut für Geschichte der Medizin (IGM) of the Robert Bosch Foundation played host to the 7th International Conference of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Healthʼs International Network for the History of Homeopathy (INHH) from the 4th to the 6th of July, 2007. The conferenceʼs theme was “Homeopathy and Hospitals in History,” addressing the curious fact that, despite homeopathy and “the clinic” emerging around the same time, the relationship between the two had so far not been seriously examined in any great detail. Proceedings were divided into four sections, Europe I: North-West, Europe II: The Cradle of Homoeopathy, USA and Central and South America.

In his opening words, Martin Dinges (Stuttgart, Germany) reflected on past INHH conferences that took place in such disparate places as San Francisco, Budapest and Montevideo. The history of homeopathy is a flourishing field, a fact to which the attendance of delegates from four continents bore testimony at this conference. The only note of regret was that, since the first conference, the history of homeopathy was still not completely fulfilling its potential as a strong field in its own right, with anthropological approaches to “alternative” medicine still being more widespread.

In her inaugural lecture, “The Last Frontier: Hospitals, Homeopathy and History,” Naomi Rogers (New Haven, USA) talked about the origins of the hospital as an institution and of the importance of the hospital for the flourishing of homeopathic practice, through its role in demonstrating and explaining homeopathy. Through hospitals, homeopaths were not only healing the sick, but doing so publicly. Controversially, Rogers argued that the hospital should not be seen as the pinnacle of medical practice; historians of homeopathy should embrace the hospital as an institution with a contingent role in history. Discussion over the purity of homeopathic hospital practice is futile, as hospitals were “messy” places by necessity. The changes and adaptations that occurred within the hospital should

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 123 therefore be seen as necessary choices rather than a betrayal of principles.

Following the introductory lecture, the first section on North-West Europe, began from a Dutch perspective, with Hein De Lange de Klerkʼs (Groningen, Netherlands) paper “Homeopathic Hospitals in the Netherlands.” Homeopathy entered a Dutch hospital for the first time in 1907 and homeopathic hospitals were constantly dogged by financial worries. Practitioners did work beyond homeopathic institutions: unlike the rigid structure of other countries, condition in North-West Europe meant that homeopathic doctors could be found in allopathic hospitals, treating patients by homeopathic means. Faced with the ziekenfondsbesluitʼs requirement of insurance through large regional companies, an unwillingness to unite spelled the end for the small homeopathic insurers around 1950. Furthermore, a lack of recognition as a medical specialty meant homeopathy was not covered by the National Health Service, resulting in the end of hospital homeopathy in Utrecht in 1969. The discussion following this paper focused on issues of finance, the availability of insurance schemes and the presence of professional nurses in these hospitals, most of whom apparently were used to work “for love,” and were resigned to insufficient remuneration.

Moving west across the English Channel, Felix S. von Reiswitz (London, United Kingdom) presented “A Case Study of the London Homeopathic Hospital.” Its founder, Dr. Frederick Quin, effectively utilized the existing orthodox medical professional structures as a blueprint for a professional homeopathic association, the British Homeopathic Society. This made the society and the hospital unassailable to the orthodox profession, while simultaneously ensuring a standard of training, perceived respectability and legitimacy for the hospital and its practitioners. An analysis of patient numbers and case types for the first decades, using published figures and returns from journals and annual reports, showed that the hospital successfully used the existing “specialist” hospital model, transcending it to become the first genuine homeopathic “general” hospital in Britain. Discussion centered around the current “black box” status of the hospital, as we do not know what really went on inside the wards beyond few published case studies, although all evidence suggests that they really did use homeopathy to obtain their positive results. Furthermore, it was suggested that the role of managers and administrators in the homeopathic hospital would be an interesting subject for further analysis.

Flying north once more, Motzi Eklöf (Linköping, Sweden) presented an intriguing alternative to hospital history from a Swedish perspective, namely, the history of “The Homeopathic Hospital That Never Was: Attempts in the Swedish Riksdag from 1835 to 1863 to obtain support of government authorities for establishment of a homeopathic hospital, and the issue of theory versus empiricism in medicine.” Four separate attempts to 124 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 125 obtain government funds for the establishment of a homeopathic hospital were made between 1853 and 1862, yet all failed. Political arguments turned around the issue of demonstrated success abroad on one hand and accusations of unscientific quackery on the other. Eklöf argued that Swedish medicineʼs perception of itself as being more theoretical and having “a greater purpose than the treatment of patients” meant foreign examples never carried much weight in any debate. Furthermore, it was mostly agreed that the State had no business in passing a bill that amounted to taking sides in an ongoing scientific dispute. Eklöf also argued that a political undercurrent was present in the opposition to homeopathy, which represented to some a direct threat to the unity and power of the highest social and scientific spheres present in the Riksdag.

In the second European section, Martin Dinges (Stuttgart, Germany) presented a lecture on “Homeopathic Hospitals in Germany in the International Context.” This presented the situation of hospitals in Germany, the “cradle of homeopathy,” from the first Leipzig institution and misreported trials in Berlinʼs Charité to Robert Boschʼs own efforts to secure hospital homeopathyʼs future through his Stuttgart institution. While insurance companies became increasingly unwilling to pay for homeopathic treatment once allopathic methods became more time-efficient, an emerging awareness of side-effects of the orthodox pharmacopoeia, as well as of chronic diseases during the 1980ʼs provided a resurgence of homeopathy. Beyond Germany, Dinges also provided insights into the situation in France, where the fortunes of homeopathy were always closely linked with each hospitalʼs chief medical officerʼs personal preferences and fluctuated accordingly. Dinges also pointed out the great importance of the availability of outpatient treatment as part of the services offered by the hospitals. Finally, an example of the modern economic argument for homeopathy was given with Cuba, where research is very active and even the emergency clinic at the capitalʼs airport is led by a homeopath.

During the discussion, the question of eugenics was raised in conjunction with German homeopathy. Dinges argued that, while undoubtedly eugenics was popular across Europe, in Germany this mostly affected those working in the psychiatric field. Reflecting attitudes prevalent in the larger medical community, some homeopaths welcomed the National Socialist partyʼs rise to power, while others deliberately distanced themselves.

The second day began with Michael E. Deanʼs (York, United Kingdom) lecture on “Evaluating Homeopathy in the Hospital: The First 100 Years.” This provided an exhaustive review of 19th and 20th century homeopathic clinical trials across the world. The study identified 44 clinical trials, in countries ranging from Russia to the United Kingdom, Germany and the USA, which were examined using the terms of reference of the day, avoiding anachronistic analysis. Tables of mortality were used, mirroring 124 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 125 the most important factor to patients at the time: survival, not efficacy. The emerging picture granted a fascinating insight into the skewed perspective presented by orthodox commentators on the results of homeopathic therapy. Possibly due to the fact that homeopaths could often present more positive results than their allopathic colleagues, selective reporting was widespread. Positive results, such as efficacy against cholera, were suppressed, while studies such as that of Andral in 1830ʼs France carried great weight and continue to do so to this day, despite serious flaws and Andralʼs own lack of skill and knowledge about homeopathic methods, as described by his own assistants. According to Dean, the most important trials were conducted between 1844 and 1886, yet these are seldom remembered by history.

The third section of the conference moved across the Atlantic to the United States of America. Beginning on the east coast, Nadav Davidovitch (Beer Sheva, Israel) presented “The Homeopathic University Hospital – Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital in Context,” an institution portrayed as uniquely forward-facing and situated in a location where homeopaths were exceptionally well integrated in the medical community. With the emergence of germ theory, practitioners at the MHH blazed a trail for vaccination and serum treatment as an integral part of MHH practice at a time when other homeopaths were still debating the issue. Teaching and dissemination of findings were also major parts of the hospitalʼs role and results could be published in journals, both orthodox and homeopathic. Discussion following the paper suggested that the unique ease with which MHH practitioners could publish in orthodox journals was possibly due to their having shared a Harvard education with those in charge of the publications, thus sidestepping any possible opposition by ways of an “old boys network”. A further interesting point made was that, unlike most homeopathic hospitals, the MHH retained a lot of patient records, not dissimilar to “standard” hospital records, providing valuable insights into its workings. Finally, unlike hospitals who struggled to get paying patients, 50% of MHH was allocated to private beds.

Flying west once more, Melanie J. Grimes (Seattle, USA) provided a west coast perspective through her “History of Homeopathy in Hospitals in Washington State – from Gold Rush Territory to Grace Hospital.” Besides highlighting the debate between high and low potency advocates and discussions over acute versus constitutional homeopathic treatment, Grimes evocatively argued that the early success of homeopathy in Washington State was helped by the predominance of a “frontier spirit,” which encouraged free thinking and which continues to the present day. In addition, the presence of the charismatic figures of Dr. Charles Bryant and Dr. John Bastyr, who could trace their medical lineage back to Hahnemann himself in only four and five steps (respectively), ensured the survival and revival of homeopathy as part of a newly energized naturopathic movement. In the discussion it was suggested that other cultural or political elements 126 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 127 might be considered besides the mythical “frontier spirit” that may not have been as dominant or benign as believed. As for patient records, these had been neglected for decades and possibly partly destroyed, but boxes of interesting data still exist and are being examined.

Moving south from Washington State, Josef M. Schmidt (Munich, Germany) completed the North-American picture with his “History of the Homeopathic College and Hahnemann Hospital at San Francisco,” representing research conducted through the examination of hospital records, directories of medical practitioners, telephone directories and registers. This retraced the emergence of homeopathic hospitals in the American west, from Hillerʼs Nevada City Hospital in 1854 to the Hahnemann Hospital of San Francisco and its subsequent merging with the University Medical School. Schmidt argued that the American West was not essentially affected by the sectarian problems of eastern centers. Rather than strict adherence to Hahnemannian principles at the expense of medical innovation, extensive scientific research was conducted to prove homeopathyʼs claims and attempts were made to integrate it into the standard medical curriculum. These efforts did not, however, save west coast homeopathy from the decline its east coast counterpart had experienced, and by 1958 the last chair of Homeopathy at the University of California was abolished. The subsequent discussion raised questions as to the influence of German developments over a possible American homeopathic identity at the time, as well as how homeopathy defined itself against “Germanism”, with physicians extracting nuggets of innovation from publications of a country with which they were at war.

The fourth and final session turned to Central and South America, with Paulo Rosenbaum (Sao Paolo, Brazil) talking about the “Brazilian Experiences in Hospitals from the 19th to the 21st Centuries.” Rosenbaum presented a fascinating account of homeopathyʼs progress through Brazil, from its initial period, with Duque Estrada, the first Brazilian medical practitioner to use homeopathy and the foundation of the Homeopathy School of Rio de Janeiro in 1844, through periods of expansion, resistance and rebirth, to the “golden period” of the foundation of the Hahnemannian Hospital of Brazil in 1916, the subsequent decline of homeopathy and its revival from the 1970s. Rosenbaum also summarized recent developments and the current situation of homeopathic institutions in Brazil, where progress is illustrated by the University of Sao Paoloʼs receptiveness to the inclusion of homeopathy on the curriculum. He concluded with an optimistic prognostic on Brazilian homeopathyʼs future, where, in the mid- term at least, integrative medicine and non-exclusive homeopathic hospitals must be created, to maximize the chance of homeopathy being included on a large scale as part of the national Sistema Único de Saúde.

Fernando François Floresʼ (Mexico City, Mexico) paper on “The 126 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 127 National Homeopathic Hospital in Mexico City” concluded the session, providing an insight into Mexican homeopathy. The National Homeopathic Hospital, founded in 1893, is the largest of its kind in Mexico, and remains operational to the present day. Initially located in a disused arsenal, it developed and evolved continually, even throughout the period of the Mexican revolution. By 1900, its significant contribution to the advancement of Mexican homeopathy already numbered around 20,000 consultations, with a total of 400 inpatients. By 1943, the number of beds had risen to 150 and x-ray diagnostics were introduced. State-led attempts of structural alterations and rebuilding of the hospital since the 1970s, partly motivated by a desire to remove homeopathy from within the institution, were successfully averted, not least thanks to a groundswell of popular support displayed through demonstrations on the cityʼs streets. The discussion that followed focused on specific framework conditions for homeopathic hospitals in Mexico.

Robert Jütte (Stuttgart, Germany) concluded the conference proceedings with his closing remarks on the “Specificities of the Homeopathic Hospital.” Despite the diversity a few general features can be singled out. The motifs in founding homeopathic hospitals were of four kinds: 1) to gain public recognition by proving the efficacy of the new art of healing; 2) to ensure scientific progress in theory and practice; 3) to provide training for future homeopaths; 4) to offer patients better treatment; 5) to compete with allopaths and to gain prestige in the scientific community, 6) to prove that homeopathy is the cheaper and better treatment. There are also common denominators to be observed as far as the closing down of homeopathic hospitals is concerned: Among the general problems were, for example, the lack of funds, internal strife, and lack of space. But also the trend of time played a role, e.g. structural changes in the health system or progress in biomedicine. And there were, last but not least, intrinsic problems, e.g., the failure to provide scientific evidence and the lack of research. More research is needed on open questions such as the everyday life in a homeopathic hospital or the specific treatment provided by these institutions.

128 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI         . Richard Pitt CCH Chair of the Pilot Project

A Pilot Project for CHC Certification of Experienced Homeopaths.

The following information is a description of a new pilot project being enacted by the CHC to facilitate the certification of experienced homeopaths from both North America and abroad. This project is being done in recognition of the fact that many experienced homeopaths have not become certified and because of their years of experience do not feel the need to undergo the full certification process. It is hoped that this project will encourage well-trained and experienced domestic and foreign homeopaths to become certified and help strengthen our profession.

The goal of the CHC certification process is to assess the level of competency. This supports the profession and also gives the public a means to evaluate a homeopathʼs competency. However, the CHC recognizes that there are many experienced homeopaths not certified and there are also a number of foreign-trained homeopaths coming into the country who have already gained much experience elsewhere. Given these factors, the CHC, in consultation with the North American Society of Homeopaths (NASH), The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians (HANP) and the Homeopathic Nurses Association (HNA) has decided to enact a pilot project for one year in which qualified experienced homeopaths may only have to take one part of the CHC exam to become certified.

This pilot project will be open to 40 people, ideally representing all streams of the profession, and from both domestic and foreign trained homeopaths. It will be open for a one-year duration, from April 16th 2007 to April 15th, 2008. To encourage a proportional representation of both domestic and foreign trained homeopaths, the following categories have been created. Some discretion will be allowed depending on the numbers of applicants.

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 129 The following broad categorization of applicants will be accepted, with some flexibility, depending on who applies: Fifteen applicants from abroad, e.g. UK and Europe, India, South America, Australasia etc. Twenty-five applicants from North America: twelve professional non- licensed homeopaths, and thirteen from the various licensed professions. The first 40 applicants who conform to the above criteria will be accepted and their applications reviewed. Other applicants will be taken only if some applications are not accepted.

Currently, the certification process consists of four parts: • A multiple choice exam, evaluating knowledge in repertory, materia medica, philosophy and human sciences. • A case analysis essay exam. • Submission of five chronic cases, independently taken, with two follow- ups over a six-month period. • An oral exam (done over the phone).

It is proposed that certain qualified homeopaths can be exempted from doing the first two parts of the exam although( those without medical licensure will still have to do the human sciences portion and will have to pay the appropriate fee). The first two parts of the exam evaluate basic homeopathic knowledge more than the individualʼs clinical knowledge and skills.

Therefore, the following criteria would be asked for from a candidate choosing this path of certification: • An essay describing the nature of their practice (how they work), outlining their experience and philosophy of homeopathic practice. (This would be a minimum of two pages and would be attached to the normal application form.) • Two references from professional homeopaths. • Submission of five chronic cases (as currently requested). • An oral exam

In order to qualify for this pilot project, the following criteria would have to be met: • Training and experience: A minimum of a three-year part-time program (500 hours) or two-year full-time program and a minimum of five years of clinical experience. (In these five years of experience, a candidate has to have taken a minimum of 300 new cases and done 1,000 follow- up interviews. The CHC will require a notarized letter confirming the number of patients seen in practice and contact number(s) of the office(s) worked in if possible, in order to clarify the stated experience). A practitioner of, say, 10 yearsʼ experience does NOT have to show 130 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 131 any more experience than listed above. Candidates are expected to have completed their training (500 hours) before counting their clinical experience. Extra hours added to their training total the beginning of their clinical practice will not be counted.

The cost of participating in this pilot scheme will be $300, of which $50 is a non-refundable fee. The remaining $250 will be refunded if the initial application is not accepted. Once the application is accepted and cases have been reviewed, there will be no refund, even if the cases are not accepted. The fee for re-submission of cases will based on the number of cases asked for, at a fee of $50 per case.

All applications with supporting documentation attachments need to be submitted electronically at [email protected]. Any other questions can be directed to Richard Pitt at 415-695-8200.

It is hoped that qualified homeopaths will take this opportunity to become certified and also become registered with The North American Society of Homeopaths (NASH), The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians (HANP), Homeopathic Nurses Association (HNA) or whichever professional membership organization is appropriate. The CHC, in collaboration with these organizations, wants certification to support the needs of the profession and healthcare consumers. We recognize that given the diversity of homeopathic training, experience in practice is an important part of evaluating competency and that this experience needs to be reflected in the process of homeopathic certification.

Richard Pitt CCH Chair of the Pilot Project Council for Homeopathic Certification

130 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 131 132 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI     Barbara Resendes

In 2007, I had the opportunity to visit Kenya, while I was a fourth-year student of homeopathy.

Unless you travel to what we call a “third world country”, it can be hard to imagine the magnitude of the need for basic health care around the world. Certainly, we see news briefs and documentaries through various media outlets, but the enormity of this reality doesnʼt sink in until you experience it first hand. You soon realize that most of humanity is suffering greatly from poor diet and lack of health care aid. Considering that Kenya is said to be one of the more advanced countries on the African continent, I shudder to think of conditions elsewhere.

In Kenya, parents will send their children to school even if it means the family has less food to eat. As it is, their diet is severely limited in quantity and value. Often, the only meal of the day is in the evening. The average meal consists of: ugali (a stiff play dough-like corn porridge) or, chipatis (a corn tortilla) with sukuma wiki (boiled greens with tomatoes and onions). Potatoes, rice, beans, carrots, cabbage, cassava (starchy yucca root), and squash are sometimes eaten as well, depending on the rains and quality of soil. Meat such as chicken, goat, or beef, is eaten only occasionally, and is expensive.

Fifty percent of Kenyaʼs land is abandoned due to depletion of soil nutrients and erosion from deforestation. Clearly, disease has an open door. Most Kenyanʼs suffer from amoebae and parasites. Iʼm a little embarrassed now to think that I was advising every patient I encountered, to “make sure you boil your drinking water for ten minutes.” It was hard enough for them to obtain water, let alone the fuel to boil it with. A great deal of the country is savanna with acacia trees sprinkled throughout. It can take women all day just to collect a bundle of fuel sticks and carry it home on their heads or backs.

My base as a volunteer homeopath was at the home/clinic/school of Didi Ruchira. Didi is a Yogic nun and homeopath who has been working and living in Nairobi since 1998. Her organization rents a building in the

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 133 university area, next to a morgue. I found this location had a strong chemical odor at first, but far more importantly, it was very culturally rich. An important part of a Kenyan funeral ceremony takes place at the morgue. Many days I heard beautiful voices singing traditional spiritual songs, often dwindling away later as women began keening and wailing.

A variety of holistic courses are taught at Didiʼs school, with every effort made to accommodate anyone who has an interest. She also has a full homeopathic dispensary, where the remedies are potentized and sold. Over the past nine years, Didi has trained many Kenyan students to become homeopaths. They are now working in various stationary or mobile clinics around the country. Funding for her many projects and clinics comes from donations by groups, companies, and individuals throughout the world.

Just prior to my first clinic visit, Didi gave me advice and a rundown on what to expect. - Youʼll see a lot of drug symptoms. Drugging has been in Kenya for one generation, unlike North America. Patients will have a faster response. - Itʼs tempting to start patients on Sulphur or Nux vomica like Hahnemann did, and find that half the symptoms are gone. - Clinics are diagnosing poorly and lab tests are unreliable. - Women are accustomed to miscarriage, early childhood death, and rape. - There is a great deal of infertility from sexually transmitted disease such as herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. - For strange menses due to birth control, we give Deprofovera and Foliculinum. - Malaria and typhoid are the diseases which cause the most deaths; not so much HIV/AIDS. - Kenyans may say, “I have malaria”, when they mean they have a fever. - Kenyans donʼt talk about dreams the way that we might. Their dreams are often about dead ancestors or fear of the police (both of high concern to them). We put much more emphasis on the physicals. - We see very few Thuja cases. More common are Pulsatilla (for men as well) and Lycopodium. - Youʼll see lots of giardia, amoeba, and E. coli: give the nosode and follow with the symptom remedy. - Donʼt refer to genitals more specifically than “male parts” or “female parts”. - A whole arm can be called a hand. Anything below the chest is their stomach. - All sensations bite or burn, so itʼs okay to ask multiple choice questions. - Polenta, kale, and beans are the cultural diet. There will be lots of gas. - Crisco fat is used for cooking. Advise them to use palm oil, as it is the cheapest oil and is antiviral for HIV patients. 134 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 135 - Kenyans eat way too much white sugar in their tea (throughout the day), white bread, and refined maize. - Negroid people in general have a high proportion of diabetes and heart disease. - Kenyans may cook once and eat it even after 4 or 5 days, even though it is not refrigerated. - They will have hunger pains. - Advise them to drink hot water instead of sugary tea and a banana or avocado instead of a fried donut (same price). - If the malaria medication doesnʼt help the patient within 12 to 18 hours they should go to the hospital. Cerebral malaria can kill in 38 hours. The cluster of five or six symptoms can be: frontal headache (as if it is outside the head), bone pain (as if breaking from spine to head), nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever/chills (way up and way down). Chronic cases will be much less extreme.

And so I traveled to my first clinic by matatu (bus) at Kariobangi North, a slum within Nairobi. The bus dropped us off right at the door to the clinic compound. www.youtube.com/watch?v=URC8WrzUr5U

(Please see the site above for a look at matatus. I never did see a local one as luxurious as the black matatu in the video. The ones you can stand in are reserved for long distances.)

Anyone wanting to get into the Slum Clinicʼs metal walled enclosure for a treatment knew to rattle the lock. Once inside, there was a center garden with a tall avocado tree and some flower bushes to soften the look of the place. Around the perimeter were the waiting room and treatment rooms. Unfortunately Rachel Mutinda, the full-time homeopath of this clinic, was away sick. Working today were two student homeopaths, one full-time masseuse and one student nutritionist.

It was a slow day. I saw four patients and boils were the complaint with three, as was bloating and painful gas. With questioning, it became apparent that I was going to see a lot of patients with severely limited diets. The practice in this clinic was to take a patientʼs case in the physical aspect, which took about 30 minutes. Then the patient was escorted to an adjacent office for either a reflexology treatment, or a massage by a masseuse named Rachel. She couldnʼt speak English, but I knew Rachel had magic in her hands when I was introduced and shook hands with her.

During this treatment of the patient, the homeopath is given the time needed to quickly study the case and decide on remedies. It is the method here to give the nosode for several days, followed by the symptom remedy for several days, followed by placebo for several days. The patient pays 200 134 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 135 Kenyan shillings equal to about $3.00 CAD. Their next appointment is written on a historical appointment card issued by the clinic. By now I wasnʼt surprised that patients attending a clinic in the slums were clean and well dressed with exceedingly good manners. These things are very important for all Kenyans.

My next series of clinics were out east towards Lake Victoria, near a town called Kisii. We left from downtown Nairobi at 9:30PM, in a very old Greyhound-type bus. About half way to Kisii, the mud road became treacherous due to very heavy rainfall. Sure enough, we got stuck on a very soft shoulder. Our driver must have had matatu commando training because he wouldnʼt give up until we were out of there. It seemed like a war zone to me, with buses and trucks stuck in the mud this way and that on the roadside. Not much later we passed a bus that was in flames. I wondered in fear if it had been attacked. No. Just an overworked engine. We arrived in Kisii at daybreak and stole a couple of hours of sleep before we headed out of town to where our mobile clinic was to be held. This time the matatu was an old station wagon in which they compacted 14 of us. Perhaps some of you know what a bent kidney feels like. The scenery was a beautiful patchwork in shades of green contrasting to the bright brick red soil.

Calvin Otwori, the young homeopath who initiates the clinics here, belongs to the Kisii tribe. He relies on his friend, Pastor Thomas Okinyi to make sure people know when and where a clinic will be held. Any announcements spread very quickly by word of mouth.

Something had gone wrong in the communications, because the clinic that

136 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 137 was supposed to happen in a mud house only had a couple of patients. However, we got to meet some lovely children from a nearby orphanage.

Next day, we rode out to a school on a hill and set up tables and chairs under a tree. The students were shy but very curious and talked to us a little in English. There is a certain protocol to follow. The chief of that particular tribe heard that there were white people treating with medicines and he was quite offended that he had not been advised. He insisted on a meeting with the homeopaths and volunteers, making very clear that indeed the situation was handled incorrectly by the organizers and that we were very welcome. Ugh! Politics. We ended up taking about 20 cases at that site.

After a painfully sunburned night and very little water to wash up in, we went on to the HIV/AIDS clinic at Kendu Bay on Lake Victoria. It was about two hours away. This was more of a permanent clinic, in that the small building was rented from the Seventh Day Adventists, who currently had no use for it. I teamed up with Ameena Idris, a homeopathic practitioner who was at this clinic bi-weekly. She interpreted for me as I took the cases, because many of the farmers in this area were too poor to have gone to school at all. About 60 patients came to the clinic that day, and were divided between three teams. We filled out a card on each patient that went for six months with two visits a month. The card monitored malaria, HIV, and typhoid symptoms, as well as meds, remedies, herbals, labs, and the Karnovsky scores. On each visit the patient was asked if they practiced safe sex and used a net for mosquitoes. I saw only one patient that day that was not HIV positive. However, each patient except one had a substantial improvement in his or her CD4 count.

136 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 137 This is where I first came in contact with the amazing Pili-Pili Dawa. The recipe was invented by Sister Gill of Medical Mission Sisters and Didi Ruchira of Abha Light Foundation for their HIV patients.

Mix together the following ingredients:

quantity item what it does for you vinegar (synthetic 1 liter balances the acidity of the body or apple cider) 3 whole garlics antibiotic aids digestion, medicinal for lungs and 1 piece ginger (tangawezi) intestines

25 grams turmeric powder aids digestion, purifies the blood chili powder or 100 increases appetite, aids digestion, raises 50 grams g of fresh chilies body temperature, aids in good sleep 100 grams molasses (treacle) high in minerals and vitamins Optional Add-ins increases appetite, aids digestion, 25 grams cinnamon equalizes blood pressure 10 grams fenugreek anti-fungal 10 grams thyme anti-biotic, anti-fungal

Crush the garlic and ginger. Mix all ingredients in a clean large glass jar. Let marinate (brew) for ten days or longer. Shake daily. After seven days strain through a clean cloth or filter. Take one to two teaspoons daily. Sprinkle over food, or mix into water and drink.

Increases appetite, encourages weight gain, help internal acid-alkaline balance, helps give a better sleep, raises and balances body temperature.”

The patients at the HIV clinic received their doses of Pili-Pili Dawa, along with Brazil nuts (high in selenium), fermented cabbage, and some whole lemon/olive oil drink. All this and so much more can be found in the: Immune Restoration Handbook Available from: www.keephopealive.org

138 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 139 The diet in this area is extremely limited, with little rainfall. The land has been deforested and consequently the winds have swept the best part of the soil into Lake Victoria, leaving mostly sand behind. Water iris is overrunning the Kenya side of the lake and depleting fish levels. We saw predominantly women at this clinic, a good number of them single, and raising children on their own as farmers. We continued working at this clinic the following day.

138 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 139 On to Rodi-Kopanyi! Iʼm still not used to the automatic-armed police blockades on the road that have set up huge metals spikes that would stop monster trucks. This particular day, money was demanded from the bus attendant before they would let us pass. But some of the drivers have their own sideline going on. This one had occasion to stop and do a drug deal with another bus driver later. There was a hilarious moment on this bus. It was raining and the heat coming up from the engine through to our feet was almost unbearable, but it was making me very drowsy. I looked up to check if it was still raining, only to see the passenger side wiper flailing back and forth, not against the windshield, but out over the engine. In all seriousness, it looked as if it was orchestrating us to Rodi-Kopanyi. Several of us couldnʼt stop laughing hysterically at this ridiculous sight. We were exhausted. We got into the town at sundown and managed to find a little restaurant that would fry us the local fish from Lake Victoria, tilapia. I felt quite safe eating this delicious fish. Refrigeration for regular Kenyans is out of the question, so I had stayed away from any meat.

We saw mostly new patients today, as this was only the second time a clinic had been arranged at this location.

My most sadly memorable case that day was the very reserved little boy of about eight years, who felt extremely weak and was constantly falling. His father had beaten him from birth. Thank goodness the mother and father had separated. With a situation like this, of course we would report it in Canada, but here, there is no government agency to step in and stop the abuse or to assist the victim.

Next day I was exhausted, but headed back to Nairobi and on to my next adventure. Luckily I had a day to recover. I even snuck in the Western luxury of an Americano at a tourist cafe. I felt like I was betraying Kenyans but at the same time I needed fortification for myself.

This time I went east with Jaque Morris, another young Kenyan homeopath, to a place called “Toru Health Centre” close to the town of Kibwezi. The farming area around Kibwezi is another very economically depressed area. Several years can go by before the farmers get a decent crop. It was dry savanna the whole trip out. I actually had my own little room with a bed, chair, and a tabletop two- 140 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 141 burner gas stove. Here I could boil enough water so that I wouldnʼt get dehydrated.

Now this was a permanent establishment, open six days a week, a complete dispensary, with a staff of four or five homeopaths, a receptionist, and a lab with a lab technician. What a luxury! The lab was able to perform the following diagnostic tests: - Blood smear for malaria - Widal for typhoid - Brucella - Urinalysis - Rheumatoid factor - hCG or human chorionic gonadotropin for pregnancy (urine) - HBcAg for hepatitis B surface antigen - Stool for protozoans and helminthes - HIV/AIDS - HB hemoglobin for a complete count - BP or blood pressure - RBS or random blood sugar for measurement of blood glucose - Skin fungus culture

We have enough patients to keep us busy every day here. What I like about this setup is that if patients come to this lab, they donʼt automatically get shuffled to an allopath and the resultant medication. People come to this clinic and they are pretty well med-free.

The first patient we saw today was a young man who had been having epileptic seizures since birth. His mother took quinine shots during pregnancy. Peter, the homeopath I was with, decided to give him Sulphur to clear away the previous remedies and then start again with Bufo, because the patient had done well on it previously.

Combination remedies are the order of the day in Kenya. Patients have limited time to spare from scraping together their daily bread and canʼt come back when necessary or appropriate. Some examples of combination remedies are: Malnutrition mix: Abrot, Lec, Calc-p, Bruc, Lac-d Snake bite combo: Acon, Apis, Both, Cedr, Crot-h, Grin, Hyper, Lach, Led, Naja, Plan, Pyrog

140 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 141 Malaria mix: Chin, Ars, Nat-m, Eup-per Typhoid mix: Arn, Rhus-t, Pyrog, Bapt, Typh Diabetics mix: Syzyg, Uran-n, Helon, Iris, Lac-ac, Phos-ac and many more. A good selection of nosodes was also used. Mother tinctures were available and used regularly for organ support.

The gentleman above came to me with his skin condition saying how happy he was that it had improved so much from his previous visit. We continued on with the same treatment. Unfortunately the Skin Fungus Culture kit did not arrive for use by the Lab until the next day, otherwise we would certainly have taken a culture.

Next it was back to Nairobi to recuperate and then on to a mobile clinic at Nakuru. (A good map of Kenya can be found at: http://unimaps.com/kenya/ index.html )

We reached our destination at 10:30PM. The countryside around Nakuru is very rich and they get plenty of rain. This was a girlʼs orphanage and public kindergarten run by Didi Sarvagya, another nun of the Yogi order. She actually had terrible pneumonia, so we gave her a remedy for that. The next morning, we held a clinic in a large empty building on the property. Jaque and I took the cases of over 20 patients. That was it for Nakuru! On the road again, I saw families of giraffes, and herds of gazelles and zebras off the road as we passed the Masai Mara. Why waste my money on a safari when I could see it all for free? Back to the Toru Health Clinic for a few days, then I headed to the Indian Ocean and Mombasa for the first time. I was to join Didi Ruchira there. We stayed at yet another Yogi Nun orphanage. This Didi was “motherʼ to

142 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 143 about 27 girls of various ages. She was also administrator for the school on the property. There were about nine classroom buildings, housing over 400 students at various levels.

Two men belonging to the Muslim Professionals Trust had heard that Didi Ruchira was doing charitable work and decided the Muslim community might benefit. The mission of the MPT is to better the life of all Muslims in Mombassa. They set up the interview with the radio station, themselves, and Didi to advertise the clinic being held the next day.

142 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 143 Didi handled the interview and the incoming questions like a pro. We arrived at the Muslim hall where the clinic was being held, at 9AM. It was all set up for us. Tables, chairs, and water. Patients waiting with numbers, having paid their 200 KSH and ready to come and talk to us. Ameena Idris and Munga Ndune (newly graduated) joined us so we had four stations. Didi had mini kits for sale at 1000.00 KSH and her booklets at 200.00 KSH. Unfortunately, Didi had to leave in the afternoon, but the three of us managed to work through about 100 patients. We were there until 8:30PM. This was a different group of people entirely. They werenʼt struggling to survive, as in the other clinics I had attended, and I found, in the women especially, a lot of mental/emotional issues. The culture is so rigidly male dominated, the women suppress much more of themselves than we Canadians could imagine.

I went back to the Toru Health Centre to spend a few more days treating patients for mostly malaria, typhoid, parasites, HIV, and the results of poor nutrition.

One unusual case we saw was that of an older gentleman who apparently had been treated last month at this clinic. He had originally come in because he had a huge growth under his left breast that looked remarkably like a pound of butter had been placed under his skin. Now he was concerned because it had been draining blood and fluid for a couple of days. We explained that this was good news and to allow this to continue, while doing his best to keep the exit clean. He was given a repetition of the previous remedies.

Apparently there is quite a stigma attached to HIV/AIDS in Kenya, so that practically no one admits to having it. The only area that patients freely admitted and sought help for it was at the HIV/AIDS clinic at Kendu Bay near Kisumu. At the other clinic locations, quite frankly, I wonder how many patients actually had HIV and it was mistaken for malaria, typhoid, or flu.

I personally objected to getting any vaccinations, so I made my own decision from various sources on what I would take to keep healthy and avoid disease. I do not recommend the following. I simply state that I did not experience one sick day in two months. I was rarely able to ensure any water used in food preparation was boiled for ten minutes. Be assured, I worked with many sick people as well as treating them.

144 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 145 Here is what I took:

Malaria 30 C – weekly, starting 1 wk before leaving and cont. Yellow Fever 30 C – weekly, starting 1 wk before leaving and cont. 50 mg B complex - morning and evening throughout Ledum 30 C daily - prevent mosquito bites Caladium 30 C daily - “ Staphysagria 30 C daily -” (Iʼm a magnet for mosquitoes and the 3 above didnʼt work as I would have liked them to. Everybody is different! Next time I will try Spilanthes achmella.) VERY good quality probiotics daily - started one month before leaving and continued throughout the trip - keeps your bowels totally healthy.

When I returned to Canada, I made sure I took some remedies to rid myself of any parasites that hitched a ride.

I was advised before I left on this trip to keep a very open mind. Because I did, I learned some valuable lessons. One lesson in particular I would like to share, is that if you intend to travel in this manner (not as a tourist), you will likely feel some measure of guilt, as if you are somehow responsible for conditions. This weighed very heavily on my conscience until I realized I needed to step back. We are all equal; we all have our lives to live the best

144 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 145 we can; we can give our gift of treating through homeopathy; and if we have extra money we can contribute through reputable charities that teach life skills. Do not take on a burden of guilt or make promises that you canʼt keep.

Iʼm not a person that has a great love of traveling. Volunteering in Africa presented itself to me and I went with the flow. I will forever be grateful that I did. If opportunity knocks, go for it. Many insights await you.

Bibliography All Things Kenyan, Jumamosi (Saturday) Nov 24 #107 www.worldagroforestry.org Library of Congress – Federal Research Division, Kenya. June 2007 Great Health Naturally, Didi Ananda Ruchira http://www.homeopathic.org/crtoddh.htm http://www.a-r-h.org/Publications/Journal/sampleArts/Malaria%20Prophyl axis.pdf http://www.clovelly.org.uk/documents/yellow2.html

All photographs taken by: Barbara Resendes 2007 [email protected]

146 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI    , .           Gerhard Bissels (Staatsexamen MA MA), Felix S. von Reiswitz BSc MA MA

In the 1850ʼs, the orthodox medical press rejoiced at the reported imminent demise of Londonʼs only surviving homoeopathic hospital. The institution, founded by Dr Frederick Quin in 1849, had moved from its already cramped original premises into even smaller accommodation. As a result, the hospital had to temporarily suspend all in-patient treatment, and for some time it seemed that this institution, which had achieved so much to irrefutably prove homeopathyʼs worth to the British Parliament during the 1854 London Cholera outbreaks, was irrevocably doomed to close its doors forever. Yet thanks to prudent management and generous support from its subscribers, new premises were found in Londonʼs Great Ormond Street and the hospital rose phoenix-like from the ashes. It remains there to this day, having built a reputation as Europeʼs largest provider of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). From the start, Quin was adamant that a homeopathic hospital could only exist in conjunction with a central homoeopathic library and teaching facilities. Despite the constant threats against the hospital from its allopathic opponents, these facilities were kept alive and remained at the centre of English homoeopathic education and at the heart of a hospital that, in its first two decades of existence, treated over 66.000 patients, placing homoeopathy firmly on the medical map.1 Fast-forward to the present day, and once again homeopathy is under threat in the United Kingdom. Agitation against homoeopathy provided free by the British National Health Service has already resulted in the closure of one hospital, and Quinʼs institution, now the Royal London Homœopathic Hospital, also sees its very existence challenged by opponents of CAM.2 Yet the ideal of providing a central information service for professionals and laymen, as instituted by Quin, lives on. Unlike the United States, with NCCAM in Bethesda, Europe has no comparably adequate CAM library. The Royal London Homœopathic

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 147 Hospital, to this day Europeʼs largest provider of CAM, and the Research Council for Complementary Medicine have joined forces with core professional associations in CAM to found the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Library and Information Service (CAMLIS). CAMLIS will be a hybrid (print and online) library, based at the Royal London Homœopathic Hospital with its reading room and print collection, but also delivering information via its website that will develop into Europeʼs principal portal to CAM resources. The service will be free to anybody with an interest in CAM; subscribed members of those professional bodies that contribute towards CAMLIS receive some extra benefits, such as remote access to electronic journals and databases. Closely linked to CAMLIS is an educational programme ranging from free public lectures to postgraduate training. CAMLIS receives some funding from the hospital and some from professional bodies but relies also on the generosity of publishers, business sponsors and individual donors. If you are able to support CAMLIS, either financially or through much-needed book and journal donations, your help will be much appreciated by CAM practitioners, researchers, patients and potential patients in Britain and beyond! If you wish to help, or for more information about the project, please email [email protected]

AUTHORS: Gerhard Bissels is head librarian at the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital and the driving force behind the development of CAMLIS.

Felix S. von Reiswitz is a graduate research student at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London, working on a comparative study of European homeopathic hospitals in the nineteenth century.

Gerhard Bissels Felix S. von Reiswitz Library The Welcome Trust Centre for The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital the History of Medicine at UCL 60 Great Ormond Street 183 Euston Road London London NW1 2BE [email protected] [email protected] (Footnotes) 1For an early history of the hospital, see F.S. von Reiswitz, ʻGlobulising the English ward: A Case Study of the London Homoeopathic Hospitalʼ, Medizin Gesellschaft und Geschichte 26 (2008). 2 Udani Smarasekera, ʻPressure grows against homoeopathy in the UKʼ, The Lancet 370 (2007), pp. 1677-1678

148 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI :   

November 19, 1949- Jan 4, 2008

Greg Bedayn, great friend of homeopathy, died on January 4, 2008 after a long illness. He practiced homeopathy for only a short period before his illness, but during that time he wrote extensively, conducted a thorough Hahnemannian proving, participated in a mission to Montana to discover the final home and resting place of James Tyler Kent, and carried on extensive correspondence with many famous homeopaths. His contributions during this short career were remarkable.

His published articles were thorough and insightful, including treatises on Lachesis, Bufo, and natural vitalism. His very fine proving of Raven (Sanguis corvus corax principalis) has lead to several published cures. He accumulated an excellent homeopathic library, which he left to the local homeopathy community.

More important was Gregʼs infectious enthusiasm for everything he did – he was a famously skilled craftsman, pilot, blacksmith, drummer, fisherman, cook, and climber. Greg never met a project he would not tackle and never gave up on a project – even when he should have. Greg was passionate, stubborn and bigger than life. Upon his death, the universal feeling amongst his friends and family was happiness for his release from the prison his body had become.

During his long illness, Greg was treated unselfishly by many fine homeopaths. Paul Herschu was particularly kind and generous with his time and expertise. Greg was cared for by family for many years, especially by his loving sister Kathy. Roger Morrison

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 149 Greg Bedayn: writer, historian, editor, homeopath.

Greg had a creative mind and dedicated great passion to homeopathy. He was the founding editor of The American Homeopath. He originated the idea of a journal for the NASH organization. He asked permission from Lou Klein, then president, who said, “Go for it”. Greg named the journal, edited it, and oversaw all aspects from choosing the typefaces to mailing out subscriptions and selling ads. For the cover of the journal, he sourced or commissioned masterpiece paintings of historical figures in homeopathy.

Greg also had the foresight to register the domain name homeopathy.org in 1995, when few valued the internet.

Greg was an inventor and a blacksmith. He held a patent for a self- cleaning garlic press, and created surgical tools, wood burning hot tubs, fishing boats and engines. He was also a fisherman, drummer and pianist, not to mention a great chef. He attended Hahnemann College on fellowship, and briefly attended law school. Of interest is that the celebrated mountaineer, Sir Edmund Hillary, slept in Gregʼs bed before he set out for Mt. Everest. Gregʼs father had invented a carabiner (clip) used by mountain climbers. Because of this connection, when Sir Edmund Hillary came to the US on his way to climb Mt. Everest, he stayed with the Bedayn family.

Greg was a member of The Sons and Daughters of Orpheus, a

150 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 151 healing community of individuals who practice the ancient soul arts of drumming, chanting, poetry and storytelling along with contemporary group work and performance ritual. They performed at healing conferences, parades, sacred gatherings and celebrations of many kinds. They performed at Gregʼs memorial.

In 1995, Greg discovered the final home and resting place of James Tyler Kent. After reading an obscure obituary that mentioned Kent had died on “a family orchard property in Montana”, Greg and Julian Winston visited the home in Stevensville. The house was modeled after a design by Frank Lloyd Wright. Greg started a foundation to purchase the house. He got the historical commission to agree to put it on the historical register, and the owners to agree to sell the house to the foundation. This project was put on hold as Gregʼs health deteriorated.

In an interview conducted for The American Homeopath in 2000, when asked what he was most proud of, Greg mentioned his proving of Ravenʼs Blood (Sanguis corvus corax principalis). This proving is available in back issues of The American Homeopath and is included in numerous homeopathic computer programs.

Greg was also very proud of the article he wrote entitled in 1998, entitled, “As If One Patient”. It is reprinted in this issue of Simillimum, in his honor.

Greg is survived by his brothers Richard and Rodney, and sister, Katherine. Donations in Gregʼs name can be made to the National Center Fund for research and history.

Melanie Grimes

150 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 151       Roger Morrison

While writing a review of Rajan Sankaranʼs new book, An Insight into Plants, Volume III, I rapidly realized that my thoughts were creating a roadmap of this work rather than a review. This is because I have personally been using Dr. Sankaranʼs methodology for many years and cannot be considered an impartial observer but rather an adept of this technology.

There is an evolving revolution occurring in homeopathy. In the past, homeopaths began to understand remedies through pure proving symptoms – a collection of facts and no more. From frequent use and observation of cured cases, homeopaths such as Kent, Tyler, Borland and Vithoulkas developed knowledge of “remedy essences” or “drug pictures”. So from basic, unrelated facts, images are built “upward”. The current revolution takes the opposite approach: that is, by understanding the broad themes of large groups of remedies (for example, the characteristics common to all mineral remedies or to plants of the Ranunculus family, etc.) remedy choices are narrowed “downward” to the specific remedy needed. There is, fortunately, no need to adhere to one method exclusively and the two methods in no way contradict each other. Rather, the new method is simply one more tool available to homeopaths -- who can scarcely claim perfection of results.

The revolution contains several facets, the first of which is a new case- taking methodology often described as “Sensation Method” or the “Sankaran Method”. This method is a technique, developed by Rajan Sankaran for the purpose of accurately and unprejudicedly assessing the most central aspects of a patientʼs inner state. This case-taking technique (which is beyond the scope of this review) is presented in detail in Dr. Sankaranʼs two books, Sensation in Homeopathy and Sensation Refined. The case-taking technique would however be useless without an accompanying system of analysis. As stated above, in the Sensation Method, the analysis is based upon a working knowledge of families of remedies. By pattern recognition, the carefully taken case literally diagnoses itself . However, to apply what has been learned in the case- taking, the homeopath needs to thoroughly familiar with the characteristics

152 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 153 of each family. Though many have contributed to the knowledge of family themes, Dr. Sankaran has discovered and described the plant families in an unprecedented manner.

An Insight into Plants Volume III arrived in the spring of 2007, expanding the information presented in the original two volumes published in 2005. It should be emphasized that the Insight into Plants series can be appreciated on its own for the many detailed cured cases and information about new plant families and rare remedies. However, to utilize the plants remedies to their greatest effect and to do so with confidence requires a good working knowledge of the Sensation method and some months of practice working with this method. For those who have not followed these earlier books, the present text will be interesting but incomplete (and possibly overwhelming).

Homeopaths have for two centuries dwelt extensively upon the sensations produced by their remedies during the provings. In my experience, the chapters in the repertory that extensively catalogue stinging, stitching, shooting, etc are largely ignored and often misleading. How then did Sankaran develop an entire methodology based upon this data? The answer is that through cured patients, he noted the most central, deepest expression of patients from various plant families. The commonality of these deep expressions is explained and differentiated in the Insight into Plants series. The vital sensation is not limited to physical symptoms but is found in every aspect of the patientʼs history. For example, a patient from the Cactaceae will often describe his life situations in ways that amplify his physical sensations by saying he finds himself in a “tight position” or that his relationship is “constricting”. Sankaran traces these vital sensations for each of the plant families described.

The original two volumes of the Insight into Plant series presented 21 plant families describing their deepest sensations (or “vital sensation”) and confirmatory aspects. These 21 families included: Anacardiaceae, Berberidaceae, Cactaceae. Compositae, Coniferae, Euphorbiaceae, Hamamelidae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, Liliflorae, Loganiaceae, Magnolianae, Malvales, Papaveraceae, Primulaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rubiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Solanaceae, Umbelliferae, Violales. In volume III, seven new plant families are presented: Carnivorous plants (a biologically diverse group), Cruciferae, Dioscoreaceae, Piperaceae, Rosaceae, Rutaceae, Fungi. In addition, Volume III includes further exploration and many case examples from the original 21 families presented in Volume I and Volume II. This brings the total to 28 plant families for which sensation information is presented.

It may be argued that there is too little clarity in the “families” explored. For example, some of the “families” discussed are actually superorders, some are orders, some are botanical families. The fungi are not properly plants at 152 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 153 all. With such variation, how certain can we be clear about the descriptions? Again the answer is found in the clinic rather than the textbook. When Sankaran specifies a sensation, he does so after multiple experiences and the information is reliable. Moreover, hundreds of homeopaths are using these techniques in practice – confirming daily Sankaranʼs observations and working collegially to clarify and expand the sensations. It should be remembered, however, as stated in the opening paragraph, that this is an evolving revolution. That means that much remains unknown and much that is known is incomplete and requires clarification and refinement. As always, Dr. Sankaran invites us to a journey – not a fixed destination. For those who have yet to explore this work, I can only testify that the results are often astonishing – well, all cured cases are astonishing. Here, the difference is that one realizes that no use of the repertory, materia medica, or provings would have led to the simillimum but only the use of this novel system. The current work, An Insight into Plants, Volume III is an integral part of this methodology.

��

154 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI  :   Reviewed by Misha Norland, Christmas 2007 Sensation Refined Dr. Rajan Sankaran 432 pages, hardback $95.00

I have read this book with an eager desire for further nourishment and I have not been disappointed. This is because I have been learning more about homeopathic practice from this author than from anyone else for more than two decades. What he has to offer is multi-dimensional. For starters, he is able to express the insights brought to us by the genius of Hahnemann and others in a fresh manner. He speaks of these truths with the ease of a natural teacher. And that is exactly what he is and how it works: various others have transcribed his lecture notes over the past two years, while Antonia deSouza has done a fine job editing this into a coherent whole that reads well. This helps us to recognize the value of the case taking innovations and to understand how the system works.

On the main menu is a continuation of the thesis proposed in Sensation in Homeopathy and earlier books. Those who are new to the last ten years of Sankaranʼs development as a homeopathic “original” should be encouraged to begin with earlier books in order to become familiar with the concepts and methods herein refined. Here we are invited to share in a deepening understanding through the means of new and beautifully explored cases. It is a delight to follow the logic and the imaginative leaps! I feel that I must expand on this last comment, for it informs my personal and deep appreciation of Sankaranʼs work and vision. Simply stated, it is that the marriage of art and science is made visible and expressed.

Now, for the dessert! In my opinion, the greatest offerings on the feast table are the chapters on philosophy, clarifying and expanding the system, showing how to remain flexible within it. As always, each case is different, requiring different entry points, and taking the practitioner on different journeys. It is the vital energy which is leading us, both practitioner and

Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 155 patient, to the source. This occurs when the patientʼs reasoning mind and being has detached itself from its limitations of familiar thinking and defending (compensating), and is expressing the source of the disturbance. This may be communicated by unlikely gestures, doodles, dreams, hobbies, reoccurring images – it really could be anything, but it should be expressed directly at the dynamic level by the vital force when it will be a hot-line to the source of the disease, which by homeopathic analogy, is also the source substance. The patient communicates the energy of the source because the practitioner is wishing and willing to receive this communication. Now we can experience it for what it is: which kingdom, miasm, vital sensation and so forth – and from these categorizations we can begin to build a picture of what or who is sitting in the driving seat and “using” the vital force for its own purpose.

Port and cheese to finish. Many of us have beautiful cases and inspired analyses, however only few individuals have the pertinacity and the will to stay on the case and root out the essential last drop, let alone go on to develop a system which is new and elegant, which can be taught and practiced, and which gets folks better on a consistent basis. This represents the rewards of life-long dedication and deepest pondering as well as more than a modicum of genius.

In summary, ʻSensation Refinedʼ demonstrates a coming of age. It shows science practiced as art. Furthermore, since many cured cases are from practitioners using the system other than the author, the book shines a light on the fact that this homeopathy rests upon easily comprehensible principles. So, a huge thank you, Rajan, for your refined insights.

156 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 157 0111 more information, visit disciplines. Discounted on-campus housing available. CME credit s Early registration rates until April 4. For These two courses are offered to physicians and other primary c ontact health care practitioners students of these 2007 and many have claimed increased clinical success resulting from the course. A live case with analysis will be taken mid-w eek. in old journals, making the remedies easy to assimilate. Experi enced practitioners gave this course a standing ovation Germ any, Compares and contrasts 30+ remedies, with a multitude of vivid case illustrations from Dr. Saine’s clinical experience re search Course practitioner with 25 years of experience in homeopathy! successful illustrate and Provides Course Testimonials follow-up. � The Canadian Academy of Homeopathy and the Illinois Homeopathi c Medical Ass’n Present: � � � the excellent �� practice. : Essentials of Acute and Chronic Prescribing — life . knowledge “Everyone homeopathy medica myself “The effectively to take this course missing to be more successful in their practices. I highly re commend anyone who wants practice homeopathy School, experienced practitioners who had studied with various teachers reported that they finally found what was “ : Illustrated Comparative Materia Medica Pura — material. Continuing the Tradition of National Center for Homeopathy Summer School … � Effective homeopathic training is a rarity in today's world of seminars. In André Ideally ” course Louise Harvie, R.N., New York training and Evaluations and suited Taught who www.homeopathy.ca of ———————————————————————————————————— the .” on the and in Beatrix Leifeld, M. D., Germany materia practices for clinical acute by Pure Homeopathy with Dr. André Saine enthusiasm reliability practitioners from Dr. and medica results Saine homeopathy 2007 chronic ." Stephen Messer, ND, Former Dean, NCH Summer School of for was Two Courses—Montreal—Spring 2008 are his for rated wanting or contact us at [email protected] homeopathy prescribing, 16 much excellent, immense would this years to more course achieve greatly at above are clinical with the satisfying. contagious. 10/10 methodical benefit NCH all mastery experience expectations. on and Dr. from all in The described Saine’s instruction points homeopathy. Dr. in-class clearly Saine’s I May 31- June 6 or 514-279-6629 ext. 221 fax 514-279- came by June 9-13 incomparable by 100% in patients demonstrate practical back many case Live Saine's course at the NCH Summer of with taking case-taking as really attendees and knowledge a an huge brought and how thorough essential motivation analysis, , to including and the of practice teaching. prerequisite analysis the teaching prescription, to materia a apply pure medical His vividly to for

156 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 157  : :      Reviewed by Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Ildiko Ran, CCH with Anna Menyhert, Ph.D Softcover, 232 pages, Inner Experience Press

It is hard to discuss any book on Sankaranʼs method, without reflecting on the pockets of hatred and disdain that one inevitably comes across in the homeopathic world. He stole his ideas from others, he is destroying homeopathy, it shouldnʼt even be called homeopathy but he should find a new name for it. Iʼve heard all of this and so much more. We are in a peculiar transitional era, where despite the tension and resistance, the new ideas emanating from several schools including Massimo, Sankaran/ Chhabra, etc., are becoming more and more refined, increasingly influential and soon enough will be pervasive, representing a very significant historical shift and evolution in Hahnemannian based homeopathic philosophy and practice.

Many young practitioners are so imbued with Sankaranʼs philosophies and methods, that they donʼt even recall or fail to notice that this is indeed a fairly radical evolution. They talk of “Doctrine of Signatures” with blithe embrace, little realizing that the term gives the more conservative practitioners apoplexy, due to Hahnemannʼs rant against utilizing doctrine of signatures in attempting to understand medicines. That there is a relationship between source and remedy is an unarguable fact, as brilliantly demonstrated in William Gutmanʼs Homeopathy, from writings that are fifty years old. That this can be fruitfully developed in a way that serves a greater overall understanding of patient and remedy is really no surprise at all. That its place in Sankaranʼs work or that of others has been misunderstood by some and misapplied by others is also inevitable. However, the emphasis ought to be on proper understanding of its potential within homeopathic practice and practical application.

It is a self-evident fact that patterns exist amongst remedies within specific

158 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 159 kingdom, as was discussed by Farrington, well over a century ago. The movement towards ordering systems within materia medica could also be described as an inevitable consequence of the growing state of knowledge and experience regarding the extant materia medica and the pressure to derive greater depth of results without having to be utterly brilliant and possessed of a photographic memory. These ideas are here to stay. Therefore, understanding them, if one is so disposed, and proving their practical worth, makes a lot more sense then endless hair splitting.

Ildiko Ranʼs book may not win awards for the most accurately descriptive of titles, though the content more then compensates. Cutting to the chase this is an introductory guide to the work of Sankaran, based on the authorʼs own clinical practice. I have to admit that I was surprised at how much inspiration and learning could be derived for her writing. Any serious student of homeopathy seeking a synoptic overview of Sankaranʼs method should absorb this book, as it not only provides a good introduction but more importantly the cases are quite instructive. One can only admire her patient, skillful, revealing case taking, which amply demonstrates the utility of the sensation method in daily practice.

Furthermore, the cases cannot be accused of the kind of ambiguous results termed “cured case” that regularly appeared on my desk, when serving as Editor of this journal. They are good homeopathic cases with definite results. They support the voices of many in the profession that Sankaranʼs ideas are not merely theoretical constructs, but a radical enhancement to our ability to meet the requirements posted by Hahnemann in paragraph three, for a practitioner of the (homeopathic) healing art.

Naturally her very quick introduction to homeopathic ideas is colored by her contemporary influences. She then launches into a schematic survey of modern concepts primarily emanating from Sankaran, centered around the various components of the Sensation Method: kingdoms, miasms, source language, the new approach to case taking, gestures, doodles and doctrine of signatures.

The book is organized according to the major kingdoms, with several lengthy illustrative cases and discussion of each. Highly recommended.

158 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 159  :       Reviewed by Neil Tessler By Sadhana Thakkar Paperback 251 pages $60.00 ISBN: 978-0-9793180-0-9 Holistic Health Books

Sadhana Thakkarʼs new book is the most comprehensive discussion to date on the subject of remedies from snakes. It is also perhaps one of the most detailed general discussions of the world of snakes, both in general, and species by species. All aspects of their physical nature, habitats, behavioral characteristics, and venom are discussed in very considerable detail. Of course, the purpose is to create a bridge to a deeper understanding of the remedies.

I appreciated her comments on the subject of doctrine of signatures, notable for the fact that rather than simply assume that this is somehow an innate aspect of homeopathy, as in Ildiko Ranʼs Sensations, she takes a little more time to contrast Hahnemannʼs discussion with the approach that is being advocated nowadays. She discusses the clinical value as well as the relevance and drawbacks of this approach. The emphasis on the snake family itself is so pervasive, involving so much of the book, and is so central to the general presentation as well as that of each individual remedy, that it might in some quarters raise interesting questions. Hers is certainly a unique study as to the value of an associative approach between source and medicine. Certainly there is much of interest in this area as she details the animal, the remedy and the relationship between them. Her differentiation of snake families is helpful. Discussion of each individual remedy is again accompanied by a thorough discussion of the specific snake species.

Cases are offered with each individual remedy to illustrate the pattern. Some of the illustrative cases are incomplete in presentation, discussion and follow-up, which some readers will find disappointing. Sadhana explains in

160 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 161 the introduction that each case has been treated for a period of one to seven years. Each was closely monitored. She chose to exclude lengthy follow-up in order to concentrate on the materia medica itself. However, she asserts that each person had gained sustained and consistent relief from “all their suffering”.

Mental characteristics of each remedy are usefully contrasted in charts late in the book. A small point is that I might have liked more citation of her teachers. The influence of Sankaran is suggested by her overall approach and phrases, but nowhere is he explicitly mentioned. I think in advancing a theory, it is a good idea to show your full hand and refer to your specific influences. Rajan himself dedicates his new book on minerals directly to Jan Scholten, tipping his hat to the groundwork that Scholten laid down in this arena.

All in all, though, there is a great deal of information on the individual remedies and useful charts contrasting them. Since many of these remedies are less well known, a question may arise as to the reliability of the information. As with any volume substantially based on clinical findings (without reference to provings, well-established references, and many detailed cases that can be reviewed completely), to some extent we are riding on faith in the authorʼs perceptions and in the associative approach that defines this volume. While keeping this in mind, it is fair to say that this is a good reference on the subject of the snake family, from both a homeopathic and natural history point of view.

160 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 161  :   :    Reviewed by Melanie Grimes By Alexander Gothe and Julia Drinnenberg Homeolinks Publishers 2007 www.homeolinks.nl 204 pages paperback 669 illustrations ISBN 978-90-807103-4-4 $ 84

The secrets of homeopathic remedies – put in a nutshell in a humorous way.

From Aconite to Zincum, 50 remedies are portrayed in this book. In order to simplify the path for students of homeopathy, and to create a visual learning aid, the authors created a memorable study guide using cartoons to picture the otherwise dry rubrics.

A cartoon of an old woman knitting while sitting on the chest of a reclining gentleman illustrates Bryoniaʼs rubric, Pressure ameliorates complaints. Who can forget such an image? Desire to go home in the same Bryonia collection, shows the movie alien, ET, bandaged, on a stretcher, being carried by two medics while pointing his long finger to a distant yellow orb.

Each page contains three to four images, with about 10 cartoons for each remedy. For instance, the aforementioned Bryonia chapter also illustrates the rubrics: Desire for withdrawal and warmth, Great fear of poverty, Stubborn closed mistrustful (preference for tried and tested things), Any motion aggravates acute complaints, Very dry skin and mucous membranes- great thirst, Obstipation accompanied by very dry stool, Stitching pains, Dry hard painful cough (holding the chest tight ameliorates pain) and Most important remedy in appendicitis.

This is a thorough glimpse into Bryonia, covering the basics that a

162 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 163 beginning student will need to remember in order to begin successful prescribing.

While keynotes are not the end-all and be-all of homeopathyʼs extensive curative action, we all must begin somewhere. Having a picture of a remedyʼs depth, its main rubrics, the generalities, mentals and areas of effective action, are good places to start.

This book is a valuable learning tool for student homeopaths, especially the visual learners. It would be an excellent addition to any beginning homeopathic course, and can be used by advanced practitioners as a handy desktop reminder. I have used it with my students, and found students of all ages relished the simplicity and entertaining manner in which the materia medica is presented.

To the authors, I say, there are 4000 more remedies in our materia medica. Weʼre ready for more.

162 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 163   

ARIZONA COLORADO Lila Flagler, ND, DHANP Liam McClintock, ND, DHANP 6737 East Camino Principal #C Natural Resources Integrated Tucson, AZ, 85715 Healthcare, LLC 520-721-8821 2760 29th St., Suite 2E [email protected] Boulder, CO 80301 www.drflagler.com (303) 541-9600 [email protected] Samuel Flagler, ND, DHANP www.mainehomeopath.com 6737 E. Camino Principal #C Tucson, AZ, 85715 Jody K. Shevins, ND, DHANP 520-721-8821 5377 Manhattan Circle, Suite 200 [email protected] Boulder, CO 80303 www.drflagler.com (303) 494-3713 [email protected] Stephen Messer, ND, DHANP 2140 East Broadway Road CONNECTICUT Tempe, AZ, 85282 Pearlyn Goodman-Herrick, ND, 480 858 9100 DHANP [email protected] 1465 Post Road East Westport, CT, 06880 CALIFORNIA 203-256-9091 Howard Fine, ND, DHANP [email protected] 1150 Grove Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 HAWAII 805-709-7883 Jeff Baker, ND, DHANP [email protected] PO Box 20 Wailuku, HI, 96793 Luc Maes, ND, DHANP 808-572-2229 9 East Mission St [email protected] Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805-563-8660 Michael Traub, ND, DHANP [email protected] 73-5618 Maiau St., Suite A204 www.maescenter.com Kailua-Kona, HI, 96740 808-329-2114 Harry Swope, ND, DHANP [email protected] PO Box 12180 www.michaeltraubnd.com La Crescenta, CA, 91224-0880 818-541-9172 [email protected] Not Accepting Patients

164 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 165 IDAHO NEW YORK Brent Mathieu, ND, DHANP Pearlyn Goodman-Herrick, ND, 1412 West Washington Street DHANP Boise, ID, 83702 601 6th St 208-338-5590 Brooklyn, NY 11215 [email protected] 203-256-9091 www.greenmanhealth.com Pearlyn Goodman-Herrick, ND, MAINE DHANP Liam McClintock, ND, DHANP 156 5th Avenue Rising Tide Natural Medicine New York, NY 10010 50 Forest Falls Drive, Suite 5 203-256-9091 Yarmouth, ME 04069 (207) 865-1222 NORTH CAROLINA [email protected] Jennifer Smith, ND, DHANP www.mainehomeopath.com 110 Stockton Street, Suite J Statesville, NC 28677 NEBRASKA (704)871-1229 Randall Bradley, ND, DHANP [email protected] 7447 Farnam Street www.jennifer-smith-nd.com Omaha, NE, 68114 402-391-6714 OREGON [email protected] Steve Albin, ND, DHANP www.HeartlandNaturopathic.com PO Box 4568 Salem, OR, 97302-8568 NEW HAMPSHIRE 503-399-1255 Kristy Fassler, ND, DHANP [email protected] 500 Market Street suite 1F Portsmouth, NH, 03801 John G. Collins, ND, DHANP 603-427-6800 2907 NE Weidler St. [email protected] Portland, OR 97232 503-493-9155 Pamela Herring, ND, DHANP [email protected] 46 South Main Street Concord, NH, 3301 Liz Dickey, ND, DHANP 603-228-0407 PO Box 1942 [email protected] Eugene, OR 97440 541-465-1155 NEW MEXICO [email protected] Catherine Stauber, ND, DHANP 2002 Hot Springs Blvd Durr Elmore, ND, DHANP Las Vegas, NM, 87701 PO Box 990 505-454-9525 Mulino, OR, 97042 [email protected] 503-829-3060 [email protected]

164 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 165 Ian R. Luepker, ND, DHANP Christine Bickson, ND, DHANP 1607 Siskiyou Blvd. 2901 NE Blakeley St, Suite 3B Ashland, OR 97520 USA Seattle, WA, 98105 541-482-2824 206-459-1446 www.MadronaHomeopathy.com [email protected] [email protected] www.blakeleywellness.com

Steven Sandberg-Lewis, ND, Anthony Calpeno, ND, DHANP DHANP 7702 Cirque Drive West 2220 SW First Ave. University Place, WA Portland, OR, 97201 98467-2022 503-552-1551 253-565-2444 [email protected] [email protected]

Holly Zapf, ND, DHANP Krista Heron, ND, DHANP 823 NE Broadway 5502 34th Avenue NE Portland, OR 97232 Seattle, WA, 98105 503-460-0630 x2 206-522-0488 www.HollyZapfND.com [email protected] www.homeopathyplanet.com/ PENNSYLVANIA ravenna Gregory Pais, ND, DHANP www.homeopathyplanet.com/bastyr 580 E. 3rd. St. Williamsport, PA, 17701 Stephen King, ND, DHANP 570-320-0747 5502 34 th Avenue NE [email protected] Seattle WA 98105 206-522-0488 RHODE ISLAND Sheila Frodermann, ND, FHANP Sheryl Kipnis, ND, DHANP 144 Waterman St. #3 5502 34 th Avenue NE Providence, RI 02906 Seattle WA 98105 401-455-0546 206-522-0488 [email protected] Barbara Kreemer, ND, DHANP WASHINGTON 315 1st West Michael Baker, ND, DHANP Seattle, WA, 98119 2661 Bel-Red Road #208 206 281-4282 Bellevue, WA, 98008-2200 425-881-8929 Richard Mann, ND, DHANP [email protected] 1105 Newport Way www.childhomeopathy.com Seattle, WA 98122 206-325-6935 [email protected]

166 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 167 Steve Olsen, ND, DHANP Neil Tessler, ND, DHANP 302 Maple Avenue 3655 King George Hwy. Snohomish, WA, 98290 Surrey, BC, V4P 1B5 360-568-8002 604-542-9759 [email protected] Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, ND, DHANP ONTARIO 131 Third Ave. North Nadia Bakir, ND, DHANP Edmonds, WA, 98020 1255 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 425-774-5599 2017 [email protected] Toronto, ON, M2K 1E2 www.healthyhomeopathy.com 416-498-1255 x336 [email protected] Robert Ullman, ND, DHANP 131 Third Ave. North Joseph Kellerstein, ND, DHANP Edmonds, WA, 98020 179 King St. East 425-774-5599 Oshawa, ON L1H 1C2 [email protected] 905-433-8666 www.healthyhomeopathy.com [email protected]

WISCONSIN Julek Meissner, ND, DHANP Karen Kunkler, ND, DHANP 560 Queen Elizabeth Dr. 3310 University Ave. #204 Ottawa, ON K1S 3N4 Madison, WI 53705 613-234-5151 608-232-0262 [email protected] [email protected] www.homeopathyrocks.com

CANADA John Millar, ND, DHANP BRITISH COLUMBIA 187 Sherbrooke Street Manon Bolliger, ND, DHANP Peterborough, ON, K9J 2N2 Dr. Maonon & Associates 705-743-2008 3345 West 4th Avenue [email protected] Vancouver, BC V6R 1N6 604-732-6222 Paul Saunders, ND, DHANP 604-732-6223 (fax) 211 King Street West www.healingwhatis.com Dundas, ON, L9H IV6 416-498-1255x227 Lianne South, ND, DHANP [email protected] 2246 Spruce Street Vancouver, BC, V6R 1C4 QUEBEC 604-733-6811 Lisa Samet, ND, DHANP 1173 boul. du Mont-Royal Outremont, QC H2V 2H6 514-279-6629 [email protected] 166 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 167   Please send art in digital form, either on disk or via email, by closing dates:

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Frequency Discount Accepted Art File Formats 20% discount for two ads fully paid Please send your art in one of the in advance. following formats 200DPI minimum (fonts outlined): Policies EPS (encapsulated postscript), AI • All advertisements are subject to (adobe illustrator), PSD (adobe approval by the editors as consistent photoshop), Hi-res JPG, TIFF, with the HANPʼs mission of serving TARGA, PDF. the advancement of classical Unformatted Adʼs add $30 set Homeopathy. up fee. The following formats • Positioning of ads is at the will also be accepted but will discretion of the editors unless a likely have a $15-$30 surcharge specific position is acknowledged in for format conversion.Word docs, writing. Corel Draw, Pagemaker, Quark •Advertisements must be prepaid in Xpress 4, Indesign 2.(be sure to US dollars via check, bank draft, include macintosh fonts in the above VISA or MasterCard. formats)

168 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 169   Author Guidelines The editor invites the submission of articles, essays, case reports and correspondence. Simillimum provides high quality educational and clinical information to practitioners and students of homeopathy. Case reports, interviews, articles and reviews will be printed which strive to illuminate some aspect of classical homeopathic practice, defined here as a study of the totality of symptoms, the use of a single remedy, prescribed according to the Law of Similars. Articles are sought in the area of materia medica, posology, case management, miasms, philosophy, provings, history, etc. Graphics and photographs are welcome. The main point is that each article should provide a valuable homeopathic learning experience, so discussion must be thorough enough to achieve this goal. Please submit articles for peer review in a word document format, such as MS Word, or RFT. Include a few lines of biographical information, and if possible a photograph. The following guidelines are suggested to assist the author in the development of presentation and content.

Case Format A “well taken case” includes a description of the patient, occupation, etc., relevant family medical history, previous types of treatment (allopathic or homeopathic), details of the chief complaints including modalities and causations, mental and general symptoms and all other symptoms of the case, so that a clear picture of the totality can be gained.

Case analysis Case analysis, evaluation of symptoms and repertorization should be included. One of the most important aspects of case presentation is to explain your reasoning for the remedy selection and potency choice so that it is very clear to the reader. General discussion including, insights into difficulties or problems that were encountered, mistakes that were made, or what might have been done differently may also be of value. Acute cases should be written out in a similar manner. Cases using newly proven remedies should include relevant proving data for the benefit of the reader. Cases using remedies without provings or insubstantial provings should provide a discussion of the substance, references to other sources of information on its homeopathic use and the basis for its selection in this case.

Follow-up Appropriate follow-up should include the practitionerʼs assessment, repertorization where utilized and explanation regarding repetition or 168 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 169 change of remedy. Chronic cases should be followed for at least one year.

Consent and Confidentiality Please include a written release from the patient (or the parent of a minor patient) and change identifying information as necessary. Contact us if you need a sample release form.

Style Write your case out in narrative form, using quotation marks to indicate direct quotes. Remedy names should be italicized and spelled out completely, with potency number and scale specified, for example, Aurum sulphuratum 200C. Use appropriate references and acknowledgments when necessary for books, periodicals, teachers and computer programs. A summary of the focus of the case or article is helpful, whether as an introduction or a conclusion. Essays or articles critically evaluating ideas or methods of practice must be civil and well referenced as to the basis of the opinion offered. Articles may be edited for minor points of grammar, spelling, or usage. Suggestions for significant revisions will be forwarded to the author for rewriting. We welcome your questions or concerns about shaping your experiences and thoughts into readable form. Please Italicize remedy names and abbreviations, allow two spaces between sentences and supply your article in .doc format.

***Send us a few lines of biographical information, and if possible a photograph of yourself, ideally a black and white head shot such as a passport photo.

We are striving to print original material and require that you advise us of any prior or simultaneous submission to other journals.

Thank you for your interest in submitting an article for Simillimum!

170 SIMILLIMUM - Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI Winter / Spring 2008 - Volume XXI - SIMILLIMUM 171        The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians (HANP), a specialty society within the naturopathic profession is affiliated with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP).

The mission of the HANP is to further excellence and success in the practice homeopathy by naturopathic physicians. This is accomplished by:

The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians (HANP) is a specialty society within the profession of naturopathic medicine, and is affiliated with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Our purpose is to further excellence and success in the practice of homeopathy by naturopathic physicians and provide a vehicle for outreach into both the naturopathic and homeopathic communities.

HANP activities include: * Encouraging the development and improvement of homeopathic curriculum at naturopathic colleges. * Publishing Simillimum, the bi-annual journal of homeopathic practice. Submissions are accepted from all homeopathic practitioners. Periodically offering homeopathic continuing education seminars. * Working with the homeopathic community on issues of common interest. * Offering board certification in classical homeopathy to qualified naturopathic physicians

General Membership Is Open To Everyone. In order to become a general member of the HANP simply fill out the Simillimum subscription form at http://www.hanp.net/sim_subscribe.html Your general membership in the Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians includes a subscription to SIMILLIMUM. The Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians offers specialty certification in the practice of homeopathy to qualified naturopathic physicians.

The DHANP application and examination process occurs in three stages. 1. The first stage is application for DHANP Candidate status. 2. The second stage is to become a Fellow of the HANP. 3. The Submission of five cases and an oral examination are the final requirement to achieve Diploiiiate stittis.Diplomate status.

If you have questions on this process after reading the applications for DHANP Candidate and for FHANP, please contact: [email protected]

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