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The Difference of View

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As I have mentioned in other posts, I have been focussed on using homeopathy for quite a long time. You can understand that with this experience one comes to see things differently. The homeopathic view is almost the opposite of what we may call the conventional medical system, or what we homeopaths refer to as the allopathic system.

The allopathic view of patient and disease is that these two things are separate. There is the patient which is a physical being and the disease which is some external agent or infuence. The emphasis, then, is to identify that disease condition which affected the physical body so that, once known, an approved means of counter-acting it will be used. Another way to say this is that the treatment will be something that counter-acts the perceived symptoms and this counter-action is based on the use of drugs or surgery that directly blocks the expression of that problem. It could be an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory drug, a hormone, etc. Surgery is a similar method in that the unwanted physical change is removed from the body by that method.  Granted there are some health conditions that are not ascribed to an external agent in the usual sense but more to the wearing out of parts like with arthritis. However, even here, the idea is to block the symptoms that are expressing. You see, there is not the idea that these health issues cannot be cured in the sense of the person (or animal) being brought back to their previously healthy state. Even the use of the word cure is frowned upon.

The homeopathic view is based on the initial discovery, by Dr. Samuel Hahneman, that what we call disease is not caused by an external agent but rather a change in the condition of the patient at the level of what he called “the life force.” This means that disease is not physical but is a disturbance on what we might more familiarly call the energetic level. In today’s culture we can equate this to addressing the quantum vacuum from which all observed forms manifest. Dr. Hahnemann discovered that if a substance (herb, mineral, animal product) was given to this sick patient that was already know to be able to cause a very similar disturbance it acted as a stimulus and brought about return of health. So the medicines used in homeopathy are used differently than the allopathic drugs.

  • Remedies bring about a condition in the patient similar (though not exact) to what is observed in their unhealthly state.
  • Becauses of their ability to do this, the individual patient is very sensitive to them so they are given in very small doses and usually much repeated.
  • The remedies are never used to, in any way, block or tinterfere with the symptoms of the patient.
  • The choice of remedy to used is based on a direct observation of the condition of that individual, never on the idea of diagnosis (which is considered an erroneous concept).

In the story that follows you might be able to see what I am talking about here. It is the story of the contrast between the allopathic system and the homeopathic  – and an interestinsg outcome.

The “Disease Entity”

During the third week of August 1991, my 80-year-old father was hospitalized in New York. A few months earlier, he had been put on dialysis. The doctor had assured him that the inconvenience of having dialysis three times a week and having the rest of the time to live a full life was a better alternative than dying of renal failure.

He was hospitalized after he experienced extreme weakness, confusion, and a rapid decay of his mental faculties. I was joined by my brothers, and we prepared for the worst. The hardest part, for me, was the unbelievable interaction with the mind of conventional medicine. The renal specialist (who was a kindly soul— one of the few encountered), told us that they “have not yet diagnosed a disease entity.” And there, in a nutshell, is the problem. In conventional thinking, you must know what’s wrong before you can treat. They stood helpless as they tried to find something to treat. They did blood tests, Doppler tests, and CAT scans. They called in a neurologist (perhaps Dad’s confusion was neurologic in nature). He wanted to do a spinal tap to check for a rare strain of meningitis. He also checked for Lyme disease.

The neurologist was a picture of everything I fear in a physician. We were unable to reach him by phone, and his visits to my father’s room were less than three minutes long. He was always on the run. My brother, who coordinates emergency medical service in the rural area in which he lives, asked if he could meet the doctor to discuss what might be happening. “Are you a doctor?” he was asked. “No,” replied my brother. “Then we don’t have anything to talk about,” said the neurologist.

They called in a psychiatrist to determine my father’s mental state. Maybe they could find something wrong there that they could treat. Perhaps a psychosis or a delusional state. I arrived at the hospital with a kit of (homeopathic) remedies and a Repertory (the reference guide that enables one to choose the appropriate remedy). I was in touch, by phone, with several experienced medical homeopaths. I remembered the words of Kent (historically a famous and admired homeopathic practitioner and teacher): It is not up to the physician to determine if an illness is incurable. Take the case, give the remedy, let the vital force sort it out.

I was prepared for my father’s death. In the next three days, I gave him three remedies. I put them in his drinking water. Each day his symptoms changed, and the remedy selection changed with them. On the fourth day he was able to recognize us and have snippets of a lucid conversation. Within a week he was wondering why he was in the hospital. The doctors never found anything to treat. They were baffled by his sudden decline, and equally baffled by his recovery.

He continued to have some problems after his release, and I took him to a local homeopath who prescribed with a detachment I could not have. My father, though far from being in perfect health, is now functioning fairly well. In this age of modern medicine, with its tests and machines, I thought about the times past— when people understood that there was a process in life that began at birth and ended at death, and that death was a part of the whole. Instead of trying to freeze the person in life (i.e., to keep the person’s body alive at all costs), they accepted that the end does come to all. And what do you do when you are faced with an elderly man who is, apparently, running out of life? Yo u give him the proper remedy and trust the vital force. It never lets either of you down.

Mother Teresa & Homeopathy

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I went through a personal crisis many years ago about what treatment to offer my patinets. Perhaps crisis too strong a word to use, but it was a significant trouble for my mind at that time. I am talking of the period about the middle ’70’s. I had “given up” on the allopathic medicine I had learned in veterinary school. I had tried my best, had gone back to school and gotten a graduate degree (PhD in immunology), gone back into practice, and still not feeling I could restore health in any consistent way. Of course, it might just be I am not a smart guy, but I prefered other viewpoints.

I did have the idea that there might be another way that would work better. I looked into several of these, such as color therapy, herbal medicine, polarity therapy, Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, etc. I am not saying I had training in these methods, but I would read about them and experiment to some extent.

Then I came across a little book on homeopathy for dogs which intrigued me.  I can’t say why exactly but my interest was engaged. I started a path into this form of medicine that leaves me sitting here some 40+ years later — still studying it.

You may well think I am naïve about this but I feel that when more spiritually oriented and kind people accept homeopathic medicine it confirms my interest in it. I would like to share this little piece with you as it is meaningful to me.

Mother Teresa and Homeopathy

by Dana Ullman, MPH

The fact that Britain’s Royal Family are strong supporters of homeopathy sometimes gives people the incorrect image of homeopathy as primarily a medical treatment for the upper class. Those of us involved in homeopathy know better. We know that homeopathy can be of value to anyone who is sick.

The fact that homeopathy is practiced in India by more trained health professionals than anywhere else in the world provides some evidence that one does not have to be rich to experience the benefits of homeopathy.

Caring for the poor is nothing new to Mother Teresa. She has worked with and for the poorest of the poor for over a half century. She has brought a message of love to them, and her Missionaries of Charity have provided medical care to millions of people. The physicians and para-professionals who have worked in her Missions have not simply prescribed just conventional drugs, they also have prescribed homeopathic medicines. Mother Teresa has a special interest in homeopathic medicine because of its effectiveness and low cost.

At present, four charitable homeopathic dispensaries are run under the guidance of the Mother’s Missionaries of Charity. One of these dispensaries primarily provides homeopathic medicines to poor and sick children in Calcutta, while the other three provide homeopathic medicines to anyone who needs them.

Considering the serious health problems that poor people in India experience, it is truly miraculous that homeopathic medicines are so effective as the primary method of treatment for many children and many adults. Mother Teresa opened her first charitable homeopathic dispensary in Calcutta in 1950. She even prescribes homeopathic medicines herself sometimes.

Dr. (Sister) M. Comes, a physician who has worked at the Mother’s Mission in Calcutta since 1945, notes that one of the obstacles to the spread of homeopathy in the Mother’s work is inadequate funding for homeopathic hospitals. At present, several Sisters are studying homeopathy at a homeopathic medical college in order to improve the care they can offer poor people.

My thanks to Dr. Parameswar Bose and Dr. Iva Pal for providing me with much of this information.

The Vaccine Question

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There seems to be much controversy about the use of vaccines which is surprising to those of us that have studied the immune system. My PhD is focused on immunology which includes the study of vaccine use. During my graduate work it was presented as understood that vaccines were not always effective, sometimes even working the opposite direction – making the individual even more susceptible. It is not surprising, is it, that this is more complieated than we would at first think.

I came from my graduate work and then a stint on the faculty of the veterinary school in Washington, back into practice. I assumed vaccines were overall very safe and effective. It took some time, and reluctance, to admit to myself that I was seeing health problems coming up after vaccine use. I did not like it, yet over time, had to admit that was the case. You can understand it was a disappointment to me as well. Nonetheless, it had to be faced.

To put it briefly, some of the animals I vaccinated became ill after the vaccine in a short ime, just hours or days. Just as often it was not so immediately obvious but for the next period of time, months, they would have, instead, more illness of other types. In other words, the vaccine had made them more susceptible to other diseases.

The use of Rabies vaccine especially ineterestng as a common change in dogs was of behavior. They would become less friendly, more aggressive, more likely to bite, and also to wander far away. These are all symptoms of the Rabies disease which were showing up in these vaccinates.

I want to share with you an example story of what is  often experienced with children. This is not unusual except in that it is not always understood. By this I mean that the changes in  health following are not mentally connected to the giving of the vaccine but other presumed causes given by the health professionals. However, in the story that follows, you can see how obvious it is.

Vaccines, What Is Right for You?
by Kathy Arnos

We, as mothers and fathers, have a commitment, and an obligation to our children to find out as many facts about the unknown as possible, to research things to the best of our ability, and to open our eyes. Then we can make an educated decision as to what we feel is right for our children. Thousand of mothers and fathers make a decision every day on whether or not to give their child the DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) vaccine. If you are like most parents you don’t even know you have a choice. You have no idea of what consequence there could be one way or the other. My husband and I didn’t. I would like to share our story with you.

Our story is not a tragic one; it is one to be shared in the hope that it can help parents recognize signs before it does become a tragic story. My husband and I consider ourselves health-oriented. So how could I let something as important as research on vaccines get by me? To this day, I still ask myself that question! Neither of us had ever seen any of the specials on television (i.e. “DPT Russian Roulette”, produced by Lea Thompson). The book, DPT: A Shot In The Dark, written by Harris L. Coulter and Barbara Loe Fisher, had not yet been published.

There comes a time during pregnancy when you start interviewing pediatricians. What do you look for? Well, you want someone with whom you feel comfortable, someone with a good reputation, someone you can trust. In my case my obstetrician gave me a list. I interviewed three and went with the one that I liked best. Also a friend of mine had been with the same one for years (my friend was a nurse at Children’s Hospital). That made me feel more confident that I had made the right choice. The next step was Lamaze class at a well-known local hospital, where we met some other nice parents-to-be. After my daughter was born, a group of mothers from the class contacted each other and joined a support group at the hospital where our children were born. The woman who ran the group was a trained psychologist and really helped us through the rough spots. The main thing that we all had in common was a new baby, our little miracle.

As a new mother I wanted to do everything right. What’s right? For thirty years I had only been responsible for making decisions for myself. Then I found myself responsible for making decisions for my daughter. We went for our first doctor’s visit and all was well, she gained, she grew, she did everything she was supposed to. The doctor said she would see us again at two months at which time Danielle was to get her first DPT shot and oral polio vaccine. My husband and I expressed our fears about the vaccines at which point the doctor gave us some statistics on reactions and told us the damage from whooping cough was much more dangerous than the chance of Danielle having a reaction.

At the next visit, we expressed our concerns again and she assured us again there should be no problems. Then she asked us to sign a waiver, not holding them responsible if something did happen. Danielle was now two months of age. They gave her the DPT and polio and left the room. Danielle was crying so hard the only thing that helped was to nurse her, so I did. We then went into the doctor’s office where the doctor told me not to give her anything to drink for thirty or forty minutes. But it was kind of after the fact, wouldn’t you say? Then we were told to give her Tylenol twenty minutes after the shot. By the time we got to the car we figured it was time, so we gave it to her as we got in the car. Two minutes later she started vomiting. We were so scared. Danielle slept the rest of the day and when she did wake up she just would nurse and go back to sleep. This went on for 24 hours. She also had quite a knot in her leg for a full week where the shot was administered. When I questioned the doctor, she said it would just go away. And it did.

The next shot was two months later. She had a low fever of 101 degrees, was very cranky when awake, and slept a lot again. This time the knot in her leg was almost the size of a golf ball and it took about two and a half weeks to go away. Just about the time that the knot went away Danielle came down with what they called Viral Syndrome- Bronchitis. I remember she was having a lot of trouble breathing and had blisters in her throat.
She just had gotten over the illness when it was time for her third DPT shot. This time she wouldn’t stop screaming, she wouldn’t nurse; she just kept screaming. She finally fell asleep after a few hours. But every time she woke up she would just cry again. The fever and knot in her leg were the same as before, but this time it took three weeks for the knot to leave. Again we contacted the doctor, and she considered it to be a normal reaction.

The third shot was in July, and from July to May of the following year Danielle experienced repeated ear infections (for which antibiotics were prescribed) and upper respiratory-bronchitis infections. In May she was diagnosed as having another ear infection and had antibiotics again. When we went for a clear ear check, they gave Danielle the MMR vaccine (mumps, measles, rubella). Shortly after that, she started having very restless sleep and dreams. By August. it developed into crying fits while sleeping. She was stuck; neither asleep nor fully awake. She would get violent, crying, kicking, screaming, and become dangerous to herself. If I tried to awaken her it would get worse. It would take a good forty minutes to pull her out of this state. This lasted, off and on, for two months.

At 18 months of age it was time for Danielle’s fourth DPT. She got the shot and didn’t even cry. So off we went to the park. Everything was fine for about three hours when all of a sudden her arm swelled so badly it was sticking straight out in the air. She started screaming at the top of her lungs. Nothing would make her stop. I got her into the car, which wasn’t an easy thing to do as she was still screaming, her face was bright red and I couldn’t touch her arm. She stopped ten minutes after we were on the freeway. Then there was total silence. She became totally unresponsive, just sitting and staring, her tongue kind of hanging from her mouth. Her skin was very pale. Our house was on the way to the hospital so I stopped there to call the doctor to tell her I was bringing Danielle in to be checked. I took her out of the car seat. She was a bit limp and still unresponsive. I made the call, then called my father to meet us there, as he worked close to the hospital. When we got back in the car I kept talking to her, singing, smiling anything to try and get her to respond. During the 15-minute ride she finally started to respond a little. And then a little more when she saw grandpa. The doctor examined her and said she was fine. (Her doctor never told me that she should never have the pertussis vaccine again.) Danielle vomited the rest of the day and night and ran a fever of 102. It took about a week for her arm to return to normal.

We returned to the doctor at two years of age, at which time she gave her the HIB (Hemophilus influenza type b) vaccine. The doctor assured me she wouldn’t have a reaction to this one. Two months later Danielle developed croup. Then just after that cleared up she got the flu. For the next seven months she had repeated bouts with croup, ear infections (antibiotics taken again) and strep throat. Each time the croup would get worse and worse. No cold. No warning. It would just hit in a matter of hours. During this period she also developed terrible fears and anxiety. I was very scared and all our family and friends couldn’t believe the change in Danielle’s personality. I was at my wit’s end and knew that something had to be done. I was very angry and didn’t feel that I could talk to her doctor any more. Two of my friends, one whom is a mother of twin three-year-old girls, and the other who has no children yet, both kept telling me the same thing: break the cycle of antibiotics and look elsewhere.

I really didn’t know where to turn, so I started doing research on Holistic Medicine. I didn’t feel completely comfortable going to someone who wasn’t a doctor, (since we have been programmed to believe that if we are sick we need a doctor) so I found a female MD who also practiced Holistic Medicine. I have to admit that I was a real skeptic, but after just one visit (and one remedy) Danielle no longer had croup!

Danielle is now under what they call in homeopathic treatment, a “constitutional”, and is doing quite well. If I hadn’t seen it happen with my own eyes, I might not have believed it possible. (I plan on doing a follow-up article on homeopathic treatment with children.)
In conclusion, I’m not going to tell you that all of my daughter’s chronic illnesses were due to the pertussis vaccine. But perhaps if the facts were presented more clearly, and more time was taken on the doctor’s part to find out more about family histories, and had I done more research on the DPT vaccine, perhaps I would have seen the warning signs earlier, and stopped it sooner.

As a concerned parent for other children and their families please take the time to research vaccines in general, especially the pertussis, polio, MMR, and flu vaccines.