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Entries in homeopathy (13)

Wednesday

Jul142010

Why am I so tired? Chronic Fatigue Part 1

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 5:58PM

Chronic fatigue is often a term given to individuals with a set of symptoms that cannot be labelled as anything else. It is a somewhat tricky label to have, because it carries with it a sense that you are in it for the long term and often individuals hear discouraging statements such as "You never really get over it - you just learn to manage it".

I am writing a series of articles to try and shed some light on this tricky health problem, not only because there are many suffers out there, but also because I received this chronic fatigue diagnosis myself many years ago and had to successfully negotiate my own way to health.

What is Chronic Fatigue?

Chronic fatigue is, in my opinion, a catch-all label that covers many different conditions. Most chronic fatigue sufferers actually have functional disturbance in many systems in their body. Although this makes it complicated to diagnose and treat, it also is an opportunity for health, because often most of the problems are related to functional pathology rather than tissue pathology. This means that when you find out what is miss-functioning you can work out to put it right and response is often very good.

Follow the 5 Steps

In my experience as a practitioner, a condition such as Chronic fatigue, with its many underlying issues, needs five main steps to enable recovery to be possible:

Careful, clear diagnostics from a good natural therapist who understands this problem, OR a conventionally qualified medical person who has specialised in this very condition. The reason for this will become clear later on in this article.
Nutritional supplementation and dietary support.
Homeopathic constitutional treatment to trigger the body's healing capacity.
Mental/emotional support.
Active rest and exercise programs.

As there are many reasons for chronic fatigue, this article will focus on one of the underlying endocrine issues that often present with it - Adrenal Exhaustion. Subsequent articles will look at self help, nutritional support and detoxification, and active rest and exercise.

Adrenal Fatigue or Exhaustion

Very common in cases of chronic fatigue is Adrenal Exhaustion. Let's firstly look at what the adrenals are and what they do.

What are the Adrenals Glands?

The Adrenal glands are small glands located on the top of each kidney. They are 3 x 1 inch and have two parts: the outer cortex and the inner medulla. The outercortex produces three types of hormones:

Mineralcorticoids such as aldosterone which conserves sodium ions in the body and influences water balance
Glucocortoids - mainly cortisol which influences blood glucose levels amongst other things
Gonacortoids (sex hormones) - androgens in men and estrogens in women (and to a lesser extend men).

The Inner medulla produces two hormones which are secreted in response to stimulus from the sympathetic nervous system. These are epinephrine and norepinephrine. They are usually secreted in response to stress.

What is adrenal fatigue?

Adrenal fatigue (which can also be called Non-Addison's hypoadrenia or sub-clinical hypo adrenia), is when your adrenal glands cannot produce sufficient hormones to meet the body's demands. You can easily understand how prolonged stress can exhaust the adrenal medulla's ability to keep up with epinephrine production, but sometimes the causes behind adrenal under function or exhaustion can be very complex and involve other parts of the endocrine system, mineral and nutritional sub clinical deficiencies, as well as other complex factors.

For the purpose of this article, I want you to be able to understand IF adrenal exhaustion is potentially YOUR problem and how you can find out.

So what are the Adrenal fatigue symptoms?

excessive fatigue and exhaustion
frequent infections/low immune function
non-refreshing sleep/sleep issues
overwhelmed by or unable to cope with any stress
feeling rundown or overwhelmed
craving salty and sweet foods
food/environmental allergies
you feel most energetic in the evening
low stamina, slow to recover from exercise
slow to recover from injury, illness or stress
difficulty concentrating, brain fog
poor digestion
premenstrual syndrome or difficulties that develop during menopause
consistent low blood pressure
extreme sensitivity to cold

How can you get a diagnosis?

Endocrinologists are unable to diagnose this problem as the tests they rely on are only able to diagnose adrenal failure such as Addisons disease where the adrenals are close to shut down. Your natural health practitioner such as your Homeopath or Naturopath will be able to send you for a salivary cortisol test

which examines the profile of cortisol in the saliva at 4-6 hourly intervals throughout the day. Often the shape of the profile is a good indicator that the adrenals are struggling, rather than the levels being consistently low. For example, a low reading on waking and a relatively high reading at night is a common profile for adrenal exhaustion. An under active thyroid gland, especially if prolonged can also put a strain on the adrenal glands and so this should ALWAYS be tested in addition; because without sufficient thyroid hormones the adrenals hormones cannot archive their aims.

Self-Help: What you can do

If you have been diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion there are some steps you can take immediately that will help.

Support your adrenals with a natural adrenal extract. Depending on your country, compounding pharmacies can make an adrenal extract that can temporarily supply your body with some of the hormones it normally produces whilst your adrenals can have a rest. Think of it like plugging in an appliance to the main electricity instead of running down the battery. Sources vary from country to country so try Google first.
Set yourself a sleep routine: Your body is struggling so you need to provide it with a routine that supports it. The adrenals have a natural low around 2-3pm so if you are not at work, it is essential that you lie down and rest BEFORE this time. 1.30pm is ideal. Meditation is optimal but as long as you lie down and relax it will definitely help. More on rest/exercise routines for health recovery in a subsequent post!
Eat to support your adrenals: One of the role of the adrenal hormone cortisol is to influence your blood sugar levels. If you eat the wrong foods infrequently, your system will require cortisol to enable it to access glucose. Eating small, frequent protein meals supports the adrenals by lessening the demands made on them.
Avoid stimulants such as Caffeine in chocolate,coffee, tea, Red Bull etc, gurana, and any other known stimulants must be avoided at all costs. These cause your adrenals to over produce hormones unnecessarily and are a short term fix causing more strain.

In part 2 of this Chronic Fatigue series I will look further at the steps you can take to get well from this condition.

Happy Homeopathic Prescribing!

If you want regular homeopathic inspiration from The Homeopathic Coach, visit her new blog and join as a member to be the first in line for new tips and offers as they are released!

Would you like to include this article in your newsletter or website?

You can as long as you include the following blurb with it:

This article was brought to you by Sam Adkins The Homeopathic Coach who teaches families about healthy living and natural remedies using homeopathic medicine. An internationally renowned expert, her helpful articles are regularly syndicated online. She publishes the ezine Homeopathy@Home to provide free Homeopathic tips, tools and resources to educate and inspire you to use Homeopathy at home. www.thehomeopathiccoach.com

Sam Adkins |

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Wednesday

Jun022010

A Day in my Homeopathic Clinic

Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 11:16AM

So yesterday was a pretty typical day in my Homeopathic

clinic. For those of you that have never been to see a Homeopath, I wanted to share a bit about what went on yesterday, so you can get an idea of what Homeopaths treat and how they work.

Typically I might see 5-6 patients in an average clinic day. This may not sound like many, but with new patients I spend an hour with them and follow-ups are usually 30-45 minutes depending on the case. I will also answer ongoing and current patient emails and take a phone consult or two for an acute prescription, usually from an existing patient or for a child. I also do online skype consults from around the world.

Immunity boosting Homeopathy

Yesterday I treated a pregnant mother of a two year old, who has also booked in her toddler to see me next week. She needed help with her weakened immune system and various pregnancy ailments.

I prescribed three medicines for her. One to use now to alleviate the chest infection she is experiencing, and then another to follow on after that to really boost her immune system and eliminate her susceptibility to bronchitis. I also prescribed a tissue salt homeopathic medicine to help her energy levels. I will see her again in three weeks. I also shared with her my Treat Yourself Natural Pregnancy System because she is very keen on Homeopathy and knows that this is the only type of medication you can safely take during pregnancy.

A case of major disappointment

I then treated by phone, a client whose symptoms are primarily emotional but causing a strong and alarming physical heart pain. In this case I treated both his intense emotional symptoms and physical symptoms, because the direct correlation with this heart symptoms was obvious and I know from experience that the latter will cease once the emotional symptoms are re-balanced. Homeopathy is wonderful for treating the whole person and in fact this is what we try to do in almost every case! I have known this patient for years and can predict with accuracy how things are likely to unfold.

A case of bullying at work

My next patient was an emergency appointment due to severe stress caused by work victimization. I knew that this patient will respond to some acute Homeopathic medicines (which I gave her on the spot and to take home) but her situation needed dealing with by some direct, head-on action. After taking her case, giving some coaching and allowing her the space to 'let go' emotionally, I phoned through to a GP/MD colleague that I refer to, so he could see her and write her the necessary documentation for what I deemed was essential sick leave. She is now home and sorting out what needs to be done.

Radio Interview with 2SER

Early afternoon saw me doing a radio interview for 2SER Community radio in Sydney for a Homeopathy feature. The interviewer was nervous and I almost gave her some great Homeopathic medicines for anticipatory anxiety. In her case it would have been good old Gelsemium 30c.

A case of severe endometriosis and infertility

My final case of the day was a case of long standing endometriosis. We have been working together for a few months now and have had some great success with her more debilitating symptoms. This case is such a great example of what Homeopathy can do that I will save the details for another post and share the case with with you in full. Let me just say that this was her response recently after a Homeopathic medicine:

"I'm just so, so happy Sam!"

I just love Homeopathy when I get results like this for a patient! So that's a typical clinic day for me. I hope this gives you some insight into how Homeopaths work and what kind of things we can successfully treat.

Happy Homeopathic Prescribing!

If you want regular homeopathic inspiration from The Homeopathic Coach, visit her new blog and join as a member to be the first in line for new tips and offers as they are released!

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Top 10 Tips for Health!

Monday, March 1, 2010 at 5:38PM

It often occurs to me that if many of us just knew a little bit more about how to move ourselves from ill-health to health, or to move from average health to tip top vibrancy, we would all be happier. I cannot profess to have all the answers, but in this aticle I want to share with you some of the key strategies that I have found from both personal and professional experience, actually make a profound difference, whatever your health starting point might be.

Before I start with the top 10 tips I have to tell you that I wanted to write at least 20! When you begin to see what changes can be made, and think about information that may just make a difference to the health of other people, it's very hard to decide what to leave out! However, in the interests of keeping my posts short and sweet, here are my 10!

Eat more living and raw foods in your diet and remove processed and refined foods. If you are already aware of the idea of increasing raw food in your diet you will understand that this is because raw food is literally packed with life force, enzymes, water, oxygen, hormones, vitamins and minerals. No-one has processed it or changed it, and it is just as nature produced it. As Karen Knowler says, raw food is "living food for living bodies". Once you start eating it you will immediately notice the difference not only in your physical body, but also on the mental and emotional levels too. The easiest way to give yourself a raw food boost is by raw juicing.
View yourself as a complex and beautifully balanced system capable of profound healing.Then you will know that when things go awry not only do YOU have the capacity to put it right but that you can do that in a holistic way.
Recognise that physical, mental and emotional symptoms are signs of an underlying imbalance. Do some work to understand what the underlying imbalance is and what your system is telling you. Once this is a common part of your understanding you will find answers to your health issues in all kinds of interesting places. Here's a tip: the answers do NOT usually lie in the use of pharmaceutical drugs!
Use complementary medicines such as Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Naturopathy and Nutrition. These medicines support your system and work with it; and in the case of Homeopathy, provide it with the catalyst to heal itself.
Combat daily stresses with a routine that does not get put aside when things are busy. Find ways to de-stress and do them regularly. Think of it like changing the oil in your car....if you don't take steps to create balance in your busy life, things will certainly break down over time.
Learn a new skill from time to time. Even if it's a small thing like cooking a new recipe, or bigger like learning a new language, new experiences allow us to re-experience WHO WE ARE in the world, and act as opportunities to nourish and give back to ourselves.
Spend as much time as possible with people you love. When you are busy working and with your life, its so easy to feel stretched and your couch becomes your social life. Mutually loving relationships feed our souls.
Find some beauty everyday. Even in a city, a simple sight of someone's smile, or a bird on a wire can serve to re-invigorate and give a moment's rest to your busy mind. Recognise a moment of beauty, enjoy it and permit it to rest you.
Look at your health patterns. Do you get sick the same time each year? What are your triggers? What preventative steps can you take to stop this cycle? Sometimes just seeing a pattern helps big changes to come. Homeopaths are expert in identifying patterns and strengthening your immune systems to prevent ill-health.
Don't wait until you are sick and in crisis to take action on your health! See looking after your self with preventative medicines such as Homeopathy, as an investment in your self, time and money. You are so worth it and it is time to treat yourself as the perfect being that you are!

For more information on health and Homeopathy visit The Homeoapthic Coach website and to have an online skype consult with Sam herself go here.

Happy Homeopathic prescribing :)

If you want regular homeopathic inspiration from The Homeopathic Coach, visit her new blog and join as a member to be the first in line for new tips and offers as they are released!

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Tuesday

Feb092010

Research Proof for Homeopathy

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 12:44PM

2009 saw Homeopathy under attack particularly in the UK but also worldwide due to the effectiveness of the internet. There seems to be a small but organised anti-homeopathy lobby who have very loud voices and the press tend to provide considerable media coverage to their press releases. When there is so much clinical evidence that Homeopathy works, this set of individuals have to practice intellectual dishonesty by literally ignore its existence in order to hold what is a very negative position about this effective medicine.

This article seeks to share some research and clinical trial references with you, so if you want to know more you can go and read them for yourself. The amount of research available is considerable but with the permission of Robert Medhurst from Brauers, I have reproduced some of his information, and this article contains some useful inks for you to look further.

Homeopathy has been around since the late 18th century and was developed by a German chemist. Currently Homeopathic medicines cost very little to produce and dispense, and therefore are not a potential high profit option for pharmaceutical companies. In fact ,when Homeopathic treatment eliminates the need for continued use of pharmaceuticals, this is not good news for drug companies! Interestingly, it has been said that some of the most loud dissenters of Homeopathy are supported or linked to some of the largest pharmaceutical companies. Go figure :)

Unfortunately the negative voices against Homeopathy have excellent support in the media so retractions and articles in response are not sensational and do not get coverage and exposure, so it is important that if you want to be informed about clinical research for Homeopathy, that you have some resources to guide you.

Clinical research comes in several different types and so thanks to the excellent article by Robert Medhurst from Brauers, I have grouped the research into three main types.

Human Clinical Trial Meta Analyses

These are systematic statistical analyses of existing human controlled trials that have met certain predetermined quality criteria. Their purpose is to determine if the research can show a trend exists.

Kleijan et al in the BMJ report that of the 105 clincal trials that met the reviewer's quality criteria, 81 of those trials showed a positive effect for Homeopathy (BMJ 1991:302:316-323)
Coucherat, et al state, "There is some evidence that Homeopathic treatments are more effective than placebo". 16 studies were evaluated. (European journal of Clinical Pharmocol, 2000, 56,27)
Mathie states, "The weight of evidence currently favors a positive treatment effect in eight areas: childhod diarrhoea, fibrositis, hayfever, influenza, pain, side effects of radio or chemotherapy, sprains and upper respiratory tract infections." 93 studies were evaluated. (Homeopathy 2003 92:84-91)
Barnes J, et al on post operative ileus, "There is evidence that Homeopathic treatment can reduce the duration of ileus after abdominal or gynaecological surgery". 6 studies were evaluated. (Biomedical Therapy, vol XV11, 2 1999, 65-70)
From Bornhoft, et al, "Effectiveness of Homeopathy can be supported by clinical evidence". 74 studies were evaluated. (Forsch Komplementarmed. 2006;13 Sippl 2:19-29)
Linde, et al, "Amongst the high quality studies, positive effects were reported 50% more often than negative effects". 105 studies were evaluted. (Human and Experimental Toxicology, 1994, vol. 13, No 7, 481-492).

Individual Human Clinical Trials

These are high quality randomised controlled human clinical trials that have been carried out using Homeopathy. The list is too great to include them all here but access to them can be found on Medline, websites such as the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital and websites such as Homeopathic Doctor and Nutrition Matters.

A good example given of this type of study is a placebo controlled randomised trial looking at the use of Homeopathic medicines with 28 patients with allergic asthma caried out by David Reilly and published in The Lancet in 1994. Homeopathy proved superior to placebo (often the anti-homeopathy lobby claims that Homeopathic successes are due to the placebo effect). This trial was so well conducted and designed that The Lancet commented:

"either there is something amiss with the clinical trial as conventionaly conducted, or the effects of Homeopathic immunotherapy differ from those of placebo.....carefully done work of this sort should not be denied the attention of Lancet readers." (Lancet vol 344 December 10, 1994, p1585)

Cohort Studies

These are observational studies analysing quality of life, clinical or other outcomes that have come about as a result of some specific invention.

A study by Spence et al found that of 6544 consecutive UK National health Service patients treated with Homeopathy 70.7% reported positive health changes, with 50.7% recording their improvement as better or much better. (Complement Ther Med 2007 Jun:15(2):128-38)
Marian, et al in a 2008 study found that "Overall patient satisfaction was significantly higher in Homeopathic than conventional care. Homeopathic treatments were perceived as low risk therpay with 2 to 3 times fewer side effects than cinventional care". 3126 patients were involved in this study. (BMC Complement Atern Med. 2008 Sep 18;8:52)
A study by Van Wassenhoven, et al found that "patients were very satisfied with their Homeopathic treatment, both they and their physiscians recorded significant improvement. Costs of Homeopathic treatment were significantly lower then conventional treatment, and many previously prescribed drugs were discontinued." 782 patients were involved in this study. (Homeopathy. 2004 Jan;93 (1):3-11)

These studies cited above are a small sample of the homeopathic research available. Even without this research, the fact that Homeopathy has been in constant use as a system of medicine for over 200 years and is in fact, (according to Contemporary Paediatrics, May 2003, 20,97) the world's second most popular form of healthcare with millions of satisfied users just speaks for itself!

Happy Homeopathic prescribing :)

If you want regular homeopathic inspiration from The Homeopathic Coach, visit her new blog and join as a member to be the first in line for new tips and offers as they are released!

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Monday

Nov162009

Treating Bleeding with Homeopathy

Monday, November 16, 2009 at 8:56PM

Correctly prescribed homeopathic medicines can stop bleeding rapidly. In many first aid situations it is imperative to stop bleeding, so ensure first that you take the appropriate first aid measures such as using pressure on the wound; and remember that any severe bleeding OR suspected internal bleeding needs urgent medical attention.

Last year a patient called and asked if I could treat her friend who was having a period so heavy that it was a heamorrage. This situation had apparently been going on for several days. Significant blood loss is NOT to be taken lightly, so after determining as best I could exactly how much blood this woman had lost, I prescribed a high potency Homeopathic medicine and told her that if the bleeding did not slow down markedly within 30 minutes of taking the medicine, she must go to the ER. Well of course the bleeding actually almost STOPPED within 20 minutes and of course the patient was delighted.

The reason for sharing this story is to show you that Homeopathy can be highly effective in first aid situations, but also to impress upon you that in serious first aid situations I recommend Homeopathy as an addition to seeking urgent medical attention when necessary.

The following medicines are indicated for bleeding:

Aconitum: Give this medicine when there is bleeding with marked restlessness, fear and anxiety. Give 30 or 200 potency every 15 minutes or until bleeding stops.

Arnica: This is very effective for bleeding whether external or internal and is appropriate also for the shock and trauma that is present along with bleeding. Give Arnica 30 every 15 mins to stop the flow or Arnica 200 until flow stops.

Hamamelis: When a cut or wound is bleeding profusely, give Hamamelis as (like Arnica) it can stop bleeding fast. Ideal for profuse nosebleeds. Can also be used for bleeding haemorrhoids. Use the 30th potency every 15-30 minutes until bleeding has stopped.

Ipecac: Use Ipecac if there are repeated nosebleeds or if there is bleeding of any kind accompanied by faintness, nausea or air hunger (the patient may gulp or gasp). Give Ipecac 30 every 15-30 mins until patient recovers and bleeding stops.

Phosphorus: For frequent nosebleeds especially in children or for dental haemorrhage. Use in 30th potency every 15-20 mins until bleeding subsides.

For more clearcut and practical information on how to treat First Aid with Homeopathy, look no further than my best selling: The Homeopathic Coach Guide to First Aid.

Happy Homeopathic prescribing :)

If you want regular homeopathic inspiration from The Homeopathic Coach, visit her new blog and join as a member to be the first in line for new tips and offers as they are released!

© Sam Adkins 2009
Would you like to include this article in your newsletter or website?
You can as long as you include the following blurb with it:

This article was brought to you by Sam Adkins The Homeopathic Coach who teaches families about healthy living and natural remedies using homeopathic medicine. An internationally renowned expert, her helpful articles are regularly syndicated online. She publishes the ezine Homeopathy@Home to provide free Homeopathic tips, tools and resources to educate and inspire you to use Homeopathy at home. www.thehomeopathiccoach.com

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