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Letters Focus: Homeopathy and stress: Holistic healing

Homeopathic ‘Sunsigns’: Know your personality; know your remedy. Dr Mukesh Batra distils the homeopathic Tarentula, this month

Medical Marvels: Case reviews from Dr Joseph Kellerstein

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How Homeopathy Helped Me Q&A: Doctor’s Orders Quintessence: Homeopathy for trauma

What Lies Beneath: Healing with homeopathy

Home[e]o Truths: Homeopathy: Balanced, synergetic therapy

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24 COLUMNS

Living Well: Be young, be strong

Good For You: Dr Richard Firshein

Vitamin D & bone health

Fightning Fit: Kerry Dulin

Pot-Pourri

Whole & Soul: Radhanath Swami

Poise & Balance:

Health Happenings Fitness Quotient

Preeti Mandawewala

Goodness of aloe vera Read. Watch. Listen. Explore Celeb Fitness: Varun Dhawan

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HOMEOPATHY: THE POWER OF THE MINIMUM DOSE Science is about a healthy dose of scepticism with an open mind, open to all possibilities, not a mind already set and trying to prove others wrong. Scepticism and disbelief are not the same, and disbelievers have no place in true science. I am an MD specialising in infectious disease. I’d heard of accusations against homeopathy in my medical faculty. But, while practicing medicine, within a space of three months I heard from four different patients that homeopathy had helped them the most. That was 23 years ago. Should I have just followed what my professors and colleagues told me about homeopathic ‘quackery,’ or should I have made a personal investigation of the truth? My doctoral thesis was on the ‘placebo effect’ and I deeply believed in personal and ‘direct experience’ of reality as opposed to following the accepted norm. I am glad I opted for the second choice, even though it took me 3-4 years of intense studying. But, when I saw the initial cures with homeopathy, it was worth all the effort. Today, several MDs come for consultation for themselves and their family and refer me their most challenging cases. My challenge is not anymore to explain to them that homeopathy is not placebo, as they have given the best of what medicine can offer [and all those drugs are already tested against placebo and have proven superior to it, yet their patients are not better]. My challenge is to explain some of the initial aggravations. When they see how quickly these patients recover with the right homeopathic remedies, they become believers, even though none of us are able to explain precisely ‘how’ homeopathy works. Homeopaths have shown that homeopathy works. Millions of patients have experienced deep cures. It is now the duty of ‘science,’ the physicist, the biochemist and the cellular biologist, the immunologist and the geneticist to show ‘how’ it works. Homeopaths have done their part. — Dr Shahram Ayoubzadeh, MD, ND, HD, FIACA, in a letter on Extraordinary Medicine

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FOCUS

HOMEOPATHY & STRESS

NATURE’S ‘PROZAC’ Homeopathy is natural, holistic, mind-body medicine. It not only eases the song of one’s stressful burden, but also stimulates both the mind and body to rebalance and usher in harmony and emotional poise. By Dr RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR

tress is an inevitable part of life and existence. It makes us ready for what is referred to as shortterm stress response, or ‘fight-or-flight’ response. Most of the biological changes that come with the stress response are designed to rally the body’s fuel reserves — to convert them for immediate use. This includes providing extra oxygen required for the organs most likely to need it — for example, the brain and the muscles. Prolonged stress impacts the secretion of certain hormones, including the sex hormones. Stress also ‘acts’ as a go-between for one part of the nervous apparatus — called the sympathetic nervous system — which deals with the body’s ‘maintenance’ functions under normal conditions. It is, therefore, well placed for rapidly re-adjusting our priorities. STRESS RESPONSE In the wake of stress, your pulse, blood pressure, and breathing rate increase — to help boost the supply of available energy. The heart beats faster under stress and pumps a greater quantity of blood than usual with each beat. The bronchial tubes dilate to assist the passage for more air with each breath. The blood vessels supplying

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

the muscles expand just as well. The palms of the hands and the soles of the feet begin to perspire, primarily because a damp surface provides a much better grip of things. The pupils of your eyes dilate to let in more light and perk up your vision. Likewise, your mental alertness and reaction time are also speeded up. During a stressful episode, long-term energy reserves, such as stored fat are also broken down into fatty acids and glycerol to be metabolised right away. Likewise, carbohydrates stored in the liver are mobilised and converted into glucose, as blood is shunted from the extremities towards the heart, muscles and brain. When stress goes far beyond one’s control, the situation becomes terrifying for the other part of the nervous system — the parasympathetic mechanism. This leads to involuntary urination [rushing to the washroom] and also stools. What also happens is that your peripheral blood vessels constrict — you get cold hands and develop ‘cold feet,’ a famed literary expression, in anticipation of an unpleasant event. This, in effect, leads to the shutting down of energy-consuming processes, including salivation. The result is a parched mouth,

loss of appetite and troubled bowels. Put simply, these are nothing but physiological responses of our nervous system. FACT-FILE • Stress has psychological causes as also psychological outcomes. It changes the way we perceive the world, our senses, memory, judgment and also behaviour • During a stressful episode, your network of cells provides the boost to your general level of arousal and awareness — to make you more responsive to signals from your sensory organs and less receptive to information that is of no immediate significance. For example, in times of severe stress, an itch or runny nose will not divert your attention • It is not infrequent for people with severe stress to be subject to frequent colds and infections, or allergies, thanks to reduced immune system reaction time, or function. As a matter of fact, stress can set off skin conditions such as itching and rashes, including atopic dermatitis [eczema] and psoriasis • Panic [stress] attacks are characteristically distinct and intense. They have an abrupt onset with symptoms peaking in intensity within minutes of onset. Symptoms include feeling of terror and a fear of dying. GOOD & BAD The stress response is entirely normal. We have evolved to respond to stressors over the ages. It drives us to reach our goals faster. Yet, it is not surprising to find threats to our health and well-being unpleasant; so, we have the urge to avoid them. However, it is a totally different thing if stress is triggered several times a day, under unusual circumstances, or for long periods. This can lead to adjustment difficulties and also illness. CORTISOL A high cortisol — the stress chemical — level is a characteristic feature of stress. This is followed by a reduction in sensory acuity. When someone has high cortisol levels, they will not be able to decode the presence of a weak resonance [sound], but they will be able to tell 2-3 somewhat different sounds apart, because of the heightened state of sensitive-receptivity aroused by stress. Whatever the nature of our evolutionary origins, a readjustment in our sensory abilities makes good biological sense. It is established that a hormone released during the stress response — noradrenaline — also enhances the signal-processing capability of our sensory system. It must be remembered too that several parts of the brain play a key role in processing information. When your brain decides — consciously or unconsciously — that all is not well, the hypothalamus is activated. The hypothalamus is the ‘seat’ of many electrical and chemical signals which trigger stress responses in our body. The hypothalamus also regulates

functions such as eating, drinking and sensual pleasures. During the preliminary phase of a stress response, the hypothalamus, as touched upon earlier, stimulates the nerve endings in the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal glands — this causes them to release the two hormones, adrenaline and noradrenaline. A slightly stressful activity, such as public speaking, may generally bring forth a 50 per cent rise in noradrenaline. People having chronic stress, or anxiety, tend to have persistently raised levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. STRESS IN DAILY LIFE Just look around and you will know. It is said that one out of ten people is over-stressed at any given moment in time. If stress is a compass that lets you know any change in your normal routine or health, it also gives us the warning signal before ‘bad’ things happen. Similarly, it indicates good and happy things, or tidings. Picture this. The anticipation of getting a raise or promotion is stressful; so also being ‘fired’ from the job. Women are primarily more ‘open’ to stress caused by hormonal changes. Stress, likewise, also occurs during puberty, menstrual cycles, or periods, pregnancy, and menopause, owing to variations in hormone levels. We are prone to emotional and physical changes in our day-to-day life, no less. This includes illnesses and environmental elements — heat, cold, or altitude, pollutants and toxins. Besides this, some of us have a tendency of pushing our body too hard at work. This has the potential to drain our body of energy it needs to restore itself. This leads to excess stress. STRESS-LINKED ILLNESS Stress is suggested to be one of the contributing factors for loss of libido, backaches and insomnia, cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome [CFS], absence of menstruation [amenorrhoea], abnormal bleeding, fibroid tumours in women and fertility problems in couples. Heart disease and diabetes are also stress-related disorders. HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

While some women experience changes in their sexuality and bump into various sexual dysfunctions such as loss of desire and vaginal dryness, because of stress, both men and women often feel the rebounding effects of stress — viz., headaches and migraine, anxiety, depression and sleep difficulties. Stress can also cause gastrointestinal disorders, including ulcers, lower abdominal cramps, colitis, diabetes, high blood pressure and irritable bowel syndrome [IBS]. No one is exempt from the manifold pressures and stresses of life. Some of us cope with stresses well, while some allow them to run riot and create serious trouble for themselves and also for others around them. Stress is more than a by-product of the frenzied times we live in. It is the catchphrase of our epoch — the more successful or unsuccessful an individual is, the more alienated s/he is from family, friends and also from oneself. A stressor, or trigger, is an environmental stimulus. It acts on us in more ways than one — physically and biologically. It also changes the way we respond to pressure situations. The outcome is often anxiety and stress, aside from depression — this is famously called as physiological arousal. In simple terms, stress is the blurry response to the demands that life places on us. This is also how it builds up. In the course of time, it may lead to stressful frustration — an inseparable component of modern life. STRESS REALITIES Stress is, in actuality, an infinite process. Think of it — peer pressure, business competition and danger lurking around the corner, of crime and rape, social taboo or tensions. These are issues and also reactions that cannot be put under the lid or ‘purged’ easily. Our day-to-day life too has its allocation of stresses — marital, financial and workplace problems. If there were no human resilience, stress would have probably knocked us out, or made us as dead as the dodo. The fact is our psyche is so stunningly ‘engineered’ that some stresses are managed well, while some are yielded to, or accepted. Besides, one manages — sort of — to live with them, till one ‘breaks’ down in the wake of amplified

stressful hopelessness. Not all stresses are stressful or negative, though — if one deals with anxiety or stress effectively, stress can work and help us to reach our goals more quickly. You’d call this ‘good’ stress, or ‘eustress’ — it motivates and propels us to do well in life. Eustress can be defined as a pleasant or curative stress. We can’t always avoid stress, in fact, sometimes we don’t want to. It is often controlled stress that gives us our competitive edge in performance-related activities, like work, sports, a speech or acting. For example, if you are going through a job interview, you will ‘profit’ from a certain amount of stress. It is such ‘motivating’ stress that provides you with focus and gives you that ‘competitive edge’ which will help you to think quickly, clearly and also express your thoughts in ways that will ‘jazz-up’ the entire interview process. In like manner, some stressors can cause both good and bad stress. Exercise is often a good stressor, a great means to beat stress. However, overtraining can lead to injury and illness. Because, when you overdo your exercise regimen, more so when your body is fatigued or weak, it can trigger a variety of overuse injuries and dispose you to illness states. This is where homeopathy, with its mind/body principles, fills in to pre-empt stressful situations going out of hand and also achieving safe and effective therapeutic outcomes. Other examples include — • Overcoming a challenge and winning — where the joy of stress motivates us • Excitement, while winning a competition — our body releases a large amount of endorphins, the feel-good hormone • The thrill experienced while watching a suspense film, the pressure of excitement • Joy experienced on a roller-coaster ride — this results with a feel-good surge • The great delight felt on the birth of a baby in the family. There is a rush of serotonin, the feel-good chemical, in our body. • There are, as stress research pioneer Hans Selye propounded, three stages in stressful situations, or our response to them: an initial period of alarm, or physiological arousal, a longer phase of resistance, marked by irritability, impatience, anger and fatigue, and a final stage of exhaustion, represented by physical and emotional imbalance, maladjustment, withdrawal, illness or disease and, in extreme cases, death • All of this can be evaluated by your homeopathic doctor in a clinic consultation, while identifying the source of stress and anxiety, choosing an appropriate homeopathic therapeutic course of action for reducing stress and anxiety, implementing a course of action, with counselling, stress management measures, relaxation techniques and behavioural modification

• Follow-up: evaluating the outcome of homeopathic treatment. Stress, anxiety and depression are primarily a result of either psychological or physiological causes. An unsolved emotional issue can affect an individual’s physical health just as much as emotional well-being. Conversely, it can lead to biochemical imbalances or deficiencies, while influencing their mental outlook negatively. It is, indeed, ironical that the connection between mind and body is often overlooked in most conventional protocols. It is also evidenced that even mild-to-moderate emotional, or mental, illness can have unfavourable effects on our body. Research suggests, no less, that mild forms of depression can hasten death in patients with heart disease. Stress is, likewise, suggested to elevate cholesterol levels, potentially increasing the risk of heart disease. ANXIETY The word, anxiety, is derived from the Latin anxietas [to choke, throttle, trouble, or upset]. It envelops behavioural, affective and cognitive responses to the perception of danger. Anxiety is arguably an emotion that predates the evolution of man. The ability to flee [‘flight or fight’ response], the hallmark of the anxiety state, is a primaeval attribute. Anxiety is characterised by a host of symptoms, most notably, fear, trepidation, inattention, palpitation, respiratory distress, sweating, giddiness, and apprehension, or fear of death. In certain instances, the cause of anxiety may be early childhood experiences, or situations, especially in school — of being castigated by a stern teacher, or bullied by a classmate. All of us know that it is not uncommon for an apprehensive person or child to show fear, generalised anxiety, or ‘holding back’ certain behaviours, due to past experience or events. The fact also is, ‘anti-anxiety’ defence mechanisms, such as donning the role of a ‘victim,’ often evokes sympathy and rewards the anxious individual for playing the nervous role. Anxiety is a normal phenomenon. What’s more, some degree of anxiety or arousal is essential for optimal performance in situations which require it. Too little or too much anxiety or arousal, likewise, leads to suboptimal performance. When a person’s anxiety is out of proportion with a particular situation, it causes distress and impairs our overall functioning. It may then be considered the individual has an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are subdivided into generalised anxiety disorder [GAD], panic disorder [PD], social phobia [social anxiety disorder – SAD], post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD]. SYMPTOMS • Accelerated heartbeat, sweating, goose bumps, dilation of the pupils in the eye, paling or flushing of the skin

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• Symptoms of anxiety tend to be persistent and get increasingly worse, while flooding their victims with great fear and affecting the quality of their lives with a negative connotation. Anxiety is, however, different from a mild, anticipatory or transitory trepidation that most people experience before a job interview, presentation, or an important meeting. TYPES • When anxiety is characterised by excessive or uncontrollable ‘free-floating’ worry about a number of events or activities, it is called generalised anxiety disorder [GAD] • Symptoms include irritability, nervousness, sweating and sleeplessness • When anxiety presents with excessive or persistent fear of specific objects [e.g., snakes] or situations [i.e., heights, or travel by air], it is called specific phobia • When anxiety follows a frightening physical or emotional event, causing the person, who witnessed or survived it, to have continual, terrifying thoughts and memories, or flashbacks of the nightmare, it is called post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. PTSD is a debilitating condition — people affected feel emotionally ‘frozen.’ They have difficulty to focus and get frightened at the drop of a thought. Common examples include soldiers who have returned from combat, or people who were witness to gory incidents, such as rape, bloody violence, or terror attack. Some people experience excessive anxiety or fear in social situations. They believe they are going to be judged negatively or make a mess of things, while speaking in public, or meeting new people. This is called social phobia. When anxiety is heightened by a sudden thrust, accompanied by palpitation, shortness of breath, increased sweating, trembling, nausea and diarrhoea, with a powerful feeling of imminent doom, it is called panic attack. This state may last for a few minutes to half-hour, or longer. People, who suffer from panic attacks, have a palpable anticipatory sense of anxiety about future events. They also tend to avoid situations that they connect with anxiety — for example, travelling by air. Yet another type of anxiety may obsess some people’s mind; this is hard to do away with. For example, a person may be ‘fixated’ about germs and agonise incessantly about ‘picking up’ bacteria, or illness. There may also be compulsions. These are specific, ritualistic actions that are performed, over and over again, to deal with an obsession — for example, washing hands after touching anything, such as a door-handle, or railing on the staircase — to get over superstitious beliefs, or bad omen. This is called obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD]. PANIC DISORDER Panic disorder [PD] is a chronic, frequently disabling

disorder. It is characterised by episodic panic attacks that typically occur unexpectedly. Some people with panic disorder avoid all situations that are likely to precipitate a panic attack and so experience few panic attacks. A majority of people with panic disorder experience co-existing agoraphobia, a fearful anticipation of a variety of situations from which they would find withdrawal or escape difficult. Varying degrees of avoidance may result as a consequence. People with panic disorder also experience high levels of functional impairment with levels approaching, and in some cases exceeding, those with chronic medical conditions. PD is generally complicated by other psychiatric conditions, most notably, anxiety disorders, depression and alcohol excess. The high likelihood of such coexisting conditions may complicate diagnosis and also treatment outcomes. Panic attacks may also mimic a wide range of medical conditions. Many of these conditions — cardiac, respiratory, substance or drug-induced and ‘endocrinetriggered’ — may have associated signs and symptoms that could alert your doctor to certain underlying factors and assist them in diagnosing panic disorder or differentiating them from others. In a minority of patients where such factors may not apply, your doctor may maintain a high index of doubt at initial evaluation. During follow-up, patients who fail to respond as expected to treatment are carefully screened for underlying medical conditions. Whenever we experience extreme worry, unrelenting fear, social phobia, or panic attacks, we feel we are all alone. You are mistaken. The reason is nearly 15 per cent of any given population is affected by such ‘overanxious,’ or sometimes ‘panic-ridden’ spectre, or symptom-picture. HEALING WITH HOMEOPATHY Homeopathy is natural, holistic medicine. It stimulates both the mind and body to rebalance and usher in harmony and emotional poise. Homeopathic treatment of anxiety and other stress-related disorders involves taking the complete

case history, followed by family history, presenting symptoms, including likely triggers that account for one’s health concerns, sensitivities, sensibilities and also idiosyncrasies. The reason being all of us are unique — because, no two people with anxiety show the same symptoms. They experience stress or anxiety differently — even when the diagnosis of the disorder is the same by name. For over 200 years, homeopaths have treated stress and anxiety — safely and successfully — without side-effects. Homeopathy is mind-body medicine. It aims to help the mind and body achieve balance and also harmony. In a national survey, conducted by The Society of Homeopaths [UK], and published in The Homeopath [25.2; 2006], 87 per cent of patients who complained of mental and emotional problems reported positive change after homeopathic treatment. Homeopathy has also been found to be as effective as conventional prescription drugs in the treatment of anxiety. In a typical Primary Care Trust [PCT] of 200,000 people, there will be around 25,000, who suffer from depression, anxiety or neuroses. The IMPACT Service in Nottingham, UK, offers homeopathic treatment for National Health Service [NHS] patients with common mental health problems. The Service, according to published reports, has demonstrated that 74 per cent of patients in this category experienced significant improvement with homeopathic preparations, while many were able to give up their conventional drugs. USEFUL HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES Gelsemium Sempervirens is handy for stressful emotions associated with apprehension and anticipatory anxiety Ignatia Amara is helpful for stress associated with a sad event, or after shock, alarm, apprehension and emotional worry Kali Carbonicum is helpful for that typical stressful, or anxious, feeling of daily life, felt at the pit of the stomach Natrum Muriaticum is effective in stress states with intense fear Piper Methysticum is useful for stress and worry associated with day-to-day life. CASE EXAMPLES Twenty-eight-year-old Vaibhav, a dynamic salesman, presented with high levels of anxiety, nervous agitation and fear of things going haywire for ‘some reason.’ He was already diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome [IBS], possibly triggered by financial worries and workrelated stress. Vaibhav also presented us with a unique symptom. He felt as if his ‘abdomen was full of some liquid’ — water, to be precise. This prompted us to prescribe him the homeopathic remedy, Kali Carbonicum. It slowly reduced his anxiety levels and also his gastrointestinal disquiet. During one follow-up session, after three months, Vaibhav informed us that his anxiety and HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

nervous levels were much, much better. Following 6-8 months of homeopathic treatment, he reported that he no longer felt emotionally troubled, or overanxious — or, feared that things would go wrong. Thirty-five-year-old Ruchika experienced panic attacks on a daily basis. She reported about “an intense fear of dying.” She said her panic attacks reminded her of heart attacks dramatised in the movies. In addition to a lurking fear of death, Ruchika was terrified of being alone, especially at midnight. This affected her sleep. We prescribed her the homeopathic remedy, Arsenicum Album. When Ruchika came for one of her follow-ups, four months later, she reported that her panic attacks had reduced considerably and her quality of sleep was ‘happily sound.’ After 8-10 months of homeopathic treatment, Ruchika no longer complained of panic attacks, or imaginary fears of dying suddenly. SELF-HELP No one is exempt from some form of mild-to-moderate anxiety and stress, one time or the other. The more our failure to deal with anxiety and stress the worse it gets. It is, therefore, not without reason that how we manage or handle the duo — stress and anxiety — is related to various efforts that we use to control and/or reduce it. This can, in more ways than one, be ‘fine-tuned’ to suit individual needs. The following strategies would, along with professional homeopathic treatment, help to keep the stress and anxiety ‘wolf’ from the ‘door’ — • A positive attitude, or thinking • De-focus on the negative

• Do not grumble. Instead, try to bring in some enjoyment into your daily activity, or take a break • Exercise regularly. Exercise, or physical activity, is one of the best remedies available to reduce stress • Nutrition is just as important as exercise. Eat a wellbalanced diet. Also, take a vitamin-mineral supplement in consultation with your doctor. Calcium [800mg] and magnesium [400mg], in supplement form, with a meal, preferably dinner, is evidenced to be useful in easing anxiety and stress-related problems • Interact socially with friends. Remember — when you are extremely stressed out, you will feel quite relaxed talking to loved ones and/or friends • Get in touch with people you know or don’t know, and exchange a smile. A smile takes you a mile • Pamper yourself with positive feelings, entertain yourself, seek yourself and also others. Take time for personal interests [‘me-time’] and hobbies. Also, for your family • Practice relaxation and meditation techniques. Listen to soft, soulful music • Practice yoga and visualisation • Try to know yourself, the ‘Real You’ • Go for a quick, brisk walk • Read a funny book. Or, watch a slap-stick comedy. Try to laugh and ‘laugh your stresses out.’ Laughing aloud releases as much endorphins, the feel-good chemical, as a strenuous bout of physical exercise. Speak to your professional homeopathic doctor, if or when things go out of control, or you are not able to focus, manage or bring balance to your life, with simple lifestyle and other changes.

Dr Rajgopal Nidamboor is a board certified wellness physician, independent researcher and editor-publisher, H&Y

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

WHAT’S YOUR TYPE: YOUR PERSONALITY

TARENTULA: OF NERVOUS ANXIETY & FRENZIED ENERGY The homeopathic Tarentula Hispanica represents individuals who are full of stamina and verve, yet are extremely restive, hurried, and impatient.

he word, Tarentula, is derived from Tarento, weaving, drapery and other fine arts and craft, a port in Italy which is famously associated Tarentula men seem to excel in trekking, rock with the spider. Tarentula is also called ‘wolf and mountain climbing. What may, of course, spider’ and ‘hunting spider,’ primarily because be common to either is their conceited, full-ofof its convention of trailing its prey and not oneself pride and arrogance, not to speak of a ensnaring them in its web. lingering, revengeful trait. They may say that By Dr MUKESH Like several natural remedies, Tarentula is vengeance is their birthright — something that is BATRA steeped in folklore. Arachne was a Lydian girl as natural to a spider as tanginess is to a lemon. in Greek mythology — she was remarkably skillful at It is also believed that the spider is an epitome of knitting, or weaving. She was proud of her talents. As change — the original icon of trepidation and also extraher pride reached the crescendo, or resided too much sensory perception [ESP]. Clairvoyance, therefore, comes in her head, she challenged the goddess Athena for a to them naturally, just as much as ‘gut feeling.’ What does contest. To prove her superiority, much before her ‘match,’ this signify? That Tarentulas have a keen side to them, as she ridiculed the gods with scintillating patterns of her also an obscure element, which they may often conceal, weaved cloth. because it has a negative connotation, or attribute. As it so often happens in fables, the gods sought The homeopathic Tarentula was proved in by Dr retribution by turning her into a spider, so she could José Núñez, a Spanish homeopath, who used it weave to her heart’s content. This also explains why the successfully to ease a frenzied, or overstimulated nervous species of spiders is called arachnid in celebration of system. Individuals having the Tarentula personality the allegory. Yet, from the point-of-view of reality and its often present with heightened hyperactivity, along with homeopathic perspective, the classy story provides a cue excessive sensitivity to music. They are also driven by a to Tarentula’s homeopathic remedy picture. sense of powerful energy, urgency, edginess, and physical Individuals who ‘sport’ the Tarentula persona are and mental restiveness too. extremely assiduous workaholics. While some — Tarentula is characterised, no less, by mood especially women — are extraordinarily gifted at knitting, swings, what with mirth and delight overlapping, or HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

being replaced, by aggressive, or disparaging wrath and a discernible predisposition to be calculative. Illness states are typical — the individual may roll from side-to-side to manage, if not control, their symptoms. Tarentula cannot stand or sit still; they have a foreboding element of restless energy. They love salty food. They often abhor meat. Tarentula also typifies intense annoyance, twitchy limbs and symptoms of chorea [St Vitus’ dance], a brain disorder, and certain heart disorders. That it is often prescribed, and with good effect, for certain disorders affecting women, not to speak of attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], in children, is as well-known in homeopathic circles as Chris Gayle’s blistering and scintillating strokes on the cricket field. Tarentula Hispanica has the distinction of being the first spider venom to be homeopathically potentised and used. This was what that bid fair to several other venomous spiders being ‘proved’ and employed as homeopathic remedies in a range of ailments and illness conditions. Tarentula was on the top of the radar, or mariner’s compass — when the search for new, exciting remedies took homeopathic physicians far and wide to collect new specimens for their ‘provings.’ It is said that the first specimen of the local venomous spider in Cuba, during one of the expeditions, was collected and placed in a pot of formalin to be shipped to Great Britain for supplementary study. There is sometimes an overt degree of kismet that emerges out of a mishap. The container encompassing the sample was crushed, due to a storm on the high seas — this left the spider specimen shoddily stale. This led to the discovery and ‘proving’ of another fantastic remedy, Tarentula Cubensis, for treating septic conditions — safely, quickly and effectively. Tarentula Hispanica, which is the most commonly, also famously, known among spider remedies, has a remedypicture that is as fascinating as its name. It may be pragmatic to say that Tarentula Hispanica is the archetype of the spider remedies, just as Lachesis Muta is the ‘king’ of all snake remedies used in homeopathic prescribing. Tarentula is most beneficial for individuals who are full of stamina and verve, but are extremely restive, hurried, and impatient. That they suffer from extreme mood swings, odd behaviour or personality, is indication enough for the homeopathic physician to prescribe it when homeopathically indicated to effecting a holistic cure. Homeopaths have always reported that Tarentula is predominantly a woman’s remedy. It is useful in ovarian disorders characterised by a feeling that the ‘seat of the disorder’ is worse on the left side. It is also effective for symptoms, such as sensitive genitalia, when there is pronounced itching in the vagina and vulva, accompanied by dry, hot and raw bleeding ‘spots.’ Symptoms tend to get worse during scratching and excessive menstrual flow. Tarentula is prescribed for headaches accompanied

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

with a feeling of ‘pricking needles’ in the brain. It is also useful for tingling cough in certain respiratory disorders. What precisely calls for the use of Tarentula are physical symptoms, such as intolerance and vulnerability of the individual to remain still in any position. Such people have fidgety legs, which tweak and shudder. There may also be tremulousness of the limbs. In most cases, Tarentula individuals have a proclivity to roll from one side to another — the reason being the foray eases their symptoms. Tarentula is often sensitive towards music — music brings about erratic conduct, even leading them to take pleasure to doing disparaging things. It is also possible that music brings out the nastiest of behaviours in them. Most Tarentula personalities feel there is something wrong with their heart, accompanied by a feeling that it is just not in its right place, or there is something eerie in its overall health. The pulse may be erratic and wobbly. The use of Tarentula in such conditions is not only effectual in providing respite from the symptoms and treating the exasperating and niggling condition, it also leads to improved health and wellness of the individual. As Dr Marysia Kratimenos, MBBS, FRCS [Ed], MFHom, puts it so succinctly, “Tarentula Hispanica is the most dramatic of the spider remedies. All the spiders show restlessness and can be used for certain anxiety states and hyperactivity. In some cases, there may be twitching of the muscles, or even epilepsy [fits]. Keeping busy calms the person, hence the high-energy lifestyles. There are often great fears, especially of death. Fear may underlie some of the aggression, which may be almost maniacal. There is a destructive quality to anger. The women that slash their ex-boyfriend’s clothes may well need spider remedies.” She adds, “Unlike the snake remedies, which are notoriously jealous, the spiders are not particularly suspicious, or jealous. Nor are they as chatty as the snakes. Both have animal magnetism, but the spiders are less overtly sexual. Music elicits different responses. The snakes are almost mesmerised by it, whereas the spiders are energised. Spot a Tarentula woman at the nightclub, dancing on the speakers. The rhythm is all-important.” The legendary homeopath Dr H C Allen, MD, summarises Tarentula’s keynotes in the best manner possible. Here goes — • Tarentula is best used in highly nervous individuals, especially in affections where the whole body, or right arm and left leg are affected • Constant movement of the legs, arms, trunk, with inability to do anything; twitching and jerking of muscles • Restlessness, cannot keep quiet in any position; must keep in motion, though walking relieves all symptoms • Least excitement irritates, followed by languid sadness • Slight touch, along the spine, provokes spasmodic pain in chest and cardiac region • Headache: intense, as if thousands of needles were pricking the brain

• Abscesses, boils, felons; affected parts present with a bluish colour and atrocious burning pain; the agony of a felon compels the patient to walk the floor for nights • Malignant ulcers; carbuncle; anthrax; gangrene • Symptoms appear periodically • Headache, neuralgic, worse by noise, touch, strong light, better by rubbing head against pillow • At every menstrual period, throat, mouth and tongue intolerably dry, especially when sleeping • Sexual excitement extreme; spasms of uterus with itching that is intolerable • Symptoms worse by motion; contact; touch of affected parts; noise; change of weather • Symptoms better in open air; music; rubbing affected parts • The ends of nerves become so irritated and sensitive that some friction is necessary to obtain relief. THE TARENTULA INDEX Angina & heart ailments. Trembling, starts, and thumping in the heart. The heart feels twisted and out of ‘spot.’ The pulse is irregular and intermittent. Symptoms are better by fresh air, rest and music. Symptoms are worse by touch, noise, exertion and placing hands in cold water. Cystitis. Intense burning and stinging on urinating, with frequent urging to urinate. Dribbling of urine when laughing and coughing. Urine smells foul; it may have a ‘sandy’ sediment. Symptoms are better by rolling from side-to-side and rest. Symptoms are worse

by cold, by touch and in the evening, or after periods. Mood swings. Sudden mood swings from cheerfulness to blatantly pessimistic moods that are marked by argumentative, livid, unappreciative conduct. There is a propensity to display excessive sensitivity to music, inconsistent manners, or abrupt, aggressive, negative actions, such as destroying something, laughing, and then being apologetic. Symptoms are better by relaxation, massage, or smoking. Symptoms are worse by touch, noise, and after periods. Restless limbs. Continuous jerking and trembling of the hands and legs. There may be unvarying movement, coercion to scurry, and frenzied surfeit of energy, although walking and kneeling may be difficult. The twitching and jerking movements are haphazard and changeable, possibly with a ‘feeling of pins and needles,’ or numbness. Sleep is restless. Headache feels as though needles are pricking the brain. There may be great touchiness and anxiety. Symptoms are better by fresh air, bright colours and music. Symptoms are worse by touch, movement, noise, or the same time each year [periodicity], or being witness to pain and suffering of others. Women’s health. Sensitive genitalia with severe itching. The vagina may feel hot, dry, and raw. Symptoms may be associated with excessive sexual activity and ovarian fibroids. Symptoms are better by rolling from side-to-side. Symptoms are worse by touch, by scratching, after heavy periods, and on the left side.

Dr Mukesh Batra, a homeopath of international repute, is Founder-Chairman, Dr Batra’s. In a career spanning four decades, Dr Batra has treated thousands of patients, including presidents and prime ministers, and revolutionised the way homeopathy is practiced today. A writer, photographer, singer and philanthropist, Dr Batra has been honoured with several fellowships and over 50 national and international awards, including the Padma Shri by the President of India. He has authored several books, including the critically-acclaimed cyclopedic work, Healing with Homeopathy. He lives in Mumbai.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

MEDICAL MARVELS: LITTLE PILLS, BIG RESULTS

Cool Relief George works with computers. Some months ago of the head with heat.” This same medicine had a while taking a kayaking course at a local pool he general worsening of feelings at 2:00pm and was developed chronic sinusitis. As part of the course highlighted “to sweat easily and profusely.” he was obliged to turn the boat upside down and The homeopathic Calcarea Carbonicum seemed stay there for ten seconds. At that point he took appropriate. This was given in 200C. There was on a snoot full of chlorinated pool water. within a few days “no heat or heaviness” and By Dr JOSEPH It wasn’t long before he began to notice a KELLERSTEIN more than 80 per cent improvement in the head perplexing heaviness in the right ear region. He symptoms. Within the next few weeks, the weakness also developed a certain heat-like feeling in the forehead and easy sweat also vanished, although George is still and throat. These were the most discernable features confused as to how one tiny dose could do that. Could one of persistent and bothersome head congestion. Now, if say, he felt “upside down about it?” That’s the power of this weren’t bad enough, George, who was quite used homeopathy — the power of the small dose. to working energetically, found himself extremely tired every afternoon, peaking around 2:00pm. On weekends after doing the groceries, and being out in the afternoon for just a short time, he would come back home and need a nap. On exertion, unlike his usual ‘old’ self, he would easily break into a sweat. He responded temporarily to repeated rounds of Walter is a forty-three-year old handyman. His wife had antibiotics, but was frustrated with the lack of increased been a patient of mine for some time. Lorraine is intuitive duration of response after some five prescriptions. His and enthusiastically supports alternative medicine. She was ‘even’ moods had not changed and despite some effort at ultimately successful in getting Walter through my front verbally browbeating more for a case out of him, it was to door. no avail. What attracted my attention was the sensation, Walter who is 6’2” with black hair and a full beard is a that taken together marked the discomfort of this poor gentle giant. I misinterpreted his initial shyness as being a guy — heat and heaviness. kind of predetermined dislike of me. In fact, he turned out to After performing a homeopathic literature search I be warm, easy-going and a pleasure to speak with. discovered only one remedy known to have “heaviness

From Stress To De-stress

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

Dr BATRA’S FOUNDATION Spreading the Joy of Good Health… through Homeopathy!

Dr Batra’s Positive Health Awards [PHA] are India’s first health honours instituted to commend people who, through positivity and strength, have fought and recovered from severe and debilitating illnesses and disabilities to lead normal lives again, and have given something commendable to society in their own way. Mr Navin Gulia, the wheelchair-bound founder of ADAA was one of our heroes who we felicitated last year. In his own words, “It was a great honour and opportunity for me to receive the Dr Batra’s Positive Health Award for 2014. It has been a great journey, ever since I received the Award. It has motivated me to work more towards the cause of underprivileged children through my organization, ADAA Welfare Society. The cash prize has helped me a great deal in setting up our village centre for the education of girls in Barhana in Jhajjar District, Haryana, which has the lowest ratio of girls in the whole country. We have organised food, warm clothes and free medical health camps for street children. We have also provided disability aids for physically-challenged kids. I, once again, thank Dr Batra’s for their recognition, appreciation, encouragement and support for my work. It has been a very fulfilling journey, ever since, both personally and professionally.” – Navin Gulia, PHA Awardee, 2014. ‘TOGETHER WE CAN CREATE THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE!’ Join the joy-of-giving crusade to make someone smile, TODAY! For further details, please call: 0-93208 16431. E: larissa.dmello@drbatras.com pearl.vadukoot@drbatras.com — to be a part, or donate. Do ‘like us’ on our Facebook page

A H&Y ADVERTISING INITIATIVE

Glancing downward at the intake form I saw the chief complaint to be panic attacks and anxiety of some ten years’ duration. I also noted a history of asthma and allergy. It seems that less than two years after a ‘past’ divorce there was the sudden experience as if someone had injected adrenaline. His chest was pounding to the point of explosion. He was overcome by the potential embarrassment of losing it right there in public, but once having understood the problem as being panic it did seem easier to cope with. “It’s always at the full moon that I am more susceptible.” Now that, to me, is truly an amazing observation. Right now, I don’t know where my keys are. “I do seem to get stressed easily. After a long day at work and taking crap from customers I feel awfully stressed. Then I get home and there are hundreds of questions and dinner can be a real hassle. I never explode. My dad would. He was very strict. I take time out. Yelling at the kids is not me. People say I have a scowl. I do get upset. I don’t want to be angry. The time between 4:45pm and 6:30pm is a major stress zone.” Yet, he does thrive on work stress. As a senior trade person he looks after several hundred customers and is always studying and trying to better himself. He has memories of his father being upset — not speaking for three weeks after calling him stupid. Regarding his asthma, he has been taking shots for two years. There is also an allergic response to fresh cut grass. The lungs feel tight on a cold morning, the first while in damp basement and with dogs. During childhood, there was a recurring tonsillitis until Walter was four years old when they were removed. There are several vivid and not pleasant memories of childhood. “Mom pushed me against the wall and took a chunk out of it.” Horror movies are not something he can watch. Certainly, any movie where something happens to a child is out. Walter is sensitive to loss of sleep. Six hours is a requirement. Any amount less results in irritability and increased chance of panic. Interestingly, regarding daily energy he gets a second wind around 9:00pm. Temperature-wise our patient loves the heat of the sun. In bed, he will often stick his feet out from under the covers. He will not admit to being chilly or warm and further questioning was equivocal. Walter has an unexplainable fear of knives. He cannot tolerate the mere idea of being stabbed or potentially hurting someone with a knife, so much so he refuses to own any knives himself. He does say that around knives there is a sense of loss of control and images of violence. This was my cue. I needed a remedy known to have impulses around knives. In addition my shopping list demanded that this same medicine is known to help in people who were aggravated by the full moon. It would be especially nice if the profile included sensitivity to embarrassment and humiliation. This understanding led me directly to the homeopathic remedy, Lycopodium Clavatum 200C. Homeopathy requires

detailed profiles based on evidence. I constantly marvel at the diligence of our pioneers in creating the marvellous library of wisdom we have. The report was that the anxious feelings had vanished within 15 minutes. The remedy has been repeated successfully about every two months for the last two years.

Harmony Of The Spheres Anita is petite, slender and elegant. Just the bearing you might expect of a long-time ballet teacher. She presented with a case that is not yet properly called cured. As a convention we should wait for one year to call it so. A few years ago, Anita was running and fell backward hitting the occipital area of the head. In fact, she did it a second time hitting the same area. As a consequence, she was dizzy for six months. As part of the ongoing investigation of this trauma by her physician she underwent an magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]. A few days after this procedure, she began to experience a tinnitus [ringing in the ear] which persists to this day. “It’s a loud ringing, like a seashell. Occasionally, there is also a pressure felt in the ear. It prevents me from teaching and is extremely distressing.” Interestingly in Mexico, the ringing seems to stop. Here, at home in Canada, if she faces the neighbour’s satellite dish it aggravates. It also gets worse from caffeine and alcohol. It begins every morning but only after rising and it is worse in the winter. “I feel the cold.” If there is a draft she suffers a deep dorsal pain as if it goes to the lungs. When living in Scotland every Christmas would see her catching a cold that would go straight to the lungs. She would also contract sore throats and tonsillitis every year at the same time. “Eight years ago, I found my mother dead. It was a terrible shock and soon after my hair went white.” Anita is extremely quiet. She describes herself as kind and giving. She will always put herself last. There is some anticipatory anxiety and claustrophobia. When she drinks wine, she will feel “very hot” and sweaty while sleeping. She will dream often of water, drowning and snakes. I gave Anita several remedies that did her no good. Finally, it dawned on me that I had insufficient information in my profile to be accurate. I sensed she was not being entirely forthcoming with information

in her personal life and decided to be more emphatic about investigating it. I kept pushing, asking about the pressing stressors in life. Finally, it happened. Apparently, she had purchased a condominium against the wishes of her father. She now very much regretted her decision and was feeling stressed but trapped at the same time. I asked her to say more about her feelings of being trapped. She began to talk about childhood issues, but I especially noted a sudden increase in sighing as she spoke and a pronounced tension in her delicate trapezius muscle. Being persistent with my mistakes did in the end yield a tangible, perceptive insight. There is a remedy we often use when someone feels to be in an emotionally untenable place and people needing this remedy sigh when the feelings become intense. I gave her the homeopathic remedy, Ignatia Amara 30C — for feelings of emotional distress. Anita was asked to return in one week. “I feel relaxed. I can work. The noise is very faint and it is easy to forget about it. It really is not on my mind at all anymore. I am definitely more myself.” I was so happy I could have danced. Anita has met me a few times, but only to thank me for that tiny miracle. She still marvels at the speed with which everything felt better. As for me, it was interesting that giving a wrong remedy did not help, while the intensity of the subsequent follow-up gave objective physical signs that happily pointed at the appropriate homeopathic remedy.

Dr Joseph Kellerstein, DC, ND, FCAH, CCH, is a naturopath-chiropractor-homeopath whose practice is predominantly devoted to Hahnemannian studies. A regular teacher at the Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine, Dr Kellerstein conducts the much-acclaimed post-graduate seminar series, “Hahnemannian Perspectives” and also lectures internationally. He lives in Canada.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

HOW HOMEOPATHY HELPED ME

Healing Thro’ Design

was at my wits’ end when I visited Dr Tulika Jain’s homeopathic clinic. I was suffering from white patches [vitiligo], on my lips for a couple of years. Knowing that conventional treatment offered no more than temporary results, I was looking for effective, long-term results. My case was evaluated under Dr Jain’s clinical expertise. After a detailed case analysis and history, she prescribed me the homeopathic remedy, Calcarea Carbonicum 200C. She gave me the prescription for the sake of compliance, more so because I am a travelling salesman — for the most part, I’m out of town. She also gave me the homeopathic perspective for the remedy — my short stature, rolly-polly physique, obstinacy, and my great craving for eggs. As the homeopathic treatment progressed, the patches stopped spreading; they slowly disappeared, much to my delight. — J Kumar, a patient of Dr Tulika Jain, MD [Hom], New Delhi

Two Ds? No Problem

came for my treatment of diabetes and depression at Dr Sheetal Sawant’s homeopathic clinic. The treatment was so good that I emerged out of depression completely as well as established good control over my diabetes. I want to continue with my homeopathic treatment for my diabetes, since homeopathy has given me good results. I thank Dr Sawant for the healthy turnaround in my health status. — P Lata, a patient of Dr Sheetal Sawant, MD [Hom], Mumbai

Editor’s Note: Readers/patients are advised to be regular while taking homeopathic treatment as it helps for proper analysis of the efficacy, or otherwise, of the remedy administered.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

By Dr MUKESH BATRA LCEH, FSRH [MED] P [LOND], MDH [USA], FBIH [UK] PADMA SHRI RECIPIENT

’m aged 34 years. I teach at a convent school. I’m suffering from sporadic cough along with dizziness and blackouts for short periods. Please advice. ough can sometimes cause temporary loss of consciousness. People often become pale and feel nauseated, sweaty, and weak just before they lose their ‘consciousness.’ This is called cough syncope. Homeopathy has useful remedies for cough syncope, depending on your symptoms. However, given the nature and subtlety of your problem, It would be ideal to consult a professional homeopathic physician, in your area, who can evaluate and prescribe a suitable homeopathic remedy for you.

am aged 40 years. I have otosclerosis, for which my ENT specialist has recommended surgery. I want to avoid surgery, if possible. Please advice. tosclerosis is the structural deformity of the middle ear. Homeopathy may not offer encouraging results for your problem. However, you may try Calcarea Flouricum 6X, 2-4 tablets, twice daily. For further queries and follow-up, you kindly may consult a local professional homeopathic physician, for the best possible results.

am 42 years old. I have had irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] for the last 20 years. It all started with total black stools for three days. After this, whenever I’d eat, there would be a terrible pain in the lower part of my abdomen. Conventional medications have not really helped me to the desired extent. Please suggest a homeopathic remedy. omeopathy offers safe, effective treatment for IBS. We would suggest that you speak to a professional homeopathic physician in your area, who would be in the best position to treat your condition, based on your physical, mental and genetic make-up, or symptom-picture. Professional treatment often gives good and long-lasting results. In the meanwhile, you’d take the homeopathic remedy, Argentum Nitricum 30C, 4-5 pills, once daily, followed by Magnesium Phosphoricum 6X, 2-4 tablets, twice daily. Please let me know your progress.

y daughter was suffering from cystic ovaries [PCOS], but has successfully conceived through conventional [allopathic] treatment. Since delivery, however, her monthly periods are not regular. We are keen to avoid allopathic treatment this time around. Please suggest a good homeopathic remedy for her. ndividuals with PCOS have abnormal hormonal levels — am a diabetic for over two years. I am on the consequence is irregular menses and certain masculine conventional medications. It is now under control, changes in the body. Homeopathic even without medicines. I am remedies, which act at the ‘causative’ level, following a strict diet regimen and o you have a health can correct natural hormonal imbalance exercise. Could you please suggest a question? Need an and prevent the need for hormonal therapy. homeopathic plan of action to further answer? The homeopathic approach is based on improve my overall health and wellE-mail your health the individual’s constitution; it takes into being? questions to: account the symptoms, physical, mental expertadvice@ t’s good that your sugar levels are and genetic make-up of the individual for homeopathyandyou.com under control with diet and exercise. Renowned homeopath better and long-lasting results. We would Kindly continue with the present Dr Mukesh Batra will need your daughter’s complete case history regimen. However, for optimal control answer your questions. to prescribe a constitutional medicine. of your sugar levels, you may take 10Meanwhile, your daughter could take the 12 drops of the homeopathic remedy, homeopathic remedy, Pulsatilla 30C, 4-5 Gymnema Sylvestre Q [mother tincture] in pills, twice daily. However, in the event her ½ cup of warm water, twice a day, before symptoms persist, please consult a local meals. If your sugar levels fluctuate, homeopathic physician. Please let me know for any reason, please consult a local her progress. professional homeopathic physician.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

FOR WOMEN

HOMEOPATHY: A WOMAN’S TRUSTED FRIEND No system understands women as well as homeopathy — the safe, effective system of medicine. Homeopathy treats women’s health concerns by correcting the body’s imbalances without suppressing the given illness. By Dr BINDU SHARMA

omeopathy is holistic medicine. It does not merely look at a given, or not given, illness, or ‘catalogue’ our body as being composed of parts. It looks at the sum of the parts, as one whole. In other words, homeopathy treats our mind, body, and soul. Not just the health issue or illness in isolation alone. Homeopathy does not also merely look into the physical causes of illness; it looks at their possible emotional causes too. It also analyses the likely underlying ‘triggers’ for pelvic infections, ovarian cysts, or fibroids, viz., intrauterine devices, or stoppage of the use of contraceptive pills. Research has shown that pregnant women have had shortened labour time, less painful deliveries or complications with homeopathic treatment. Homeopathy is also clinically effective in treating menstrual disorders, morning sickness, backache, diabetes and hypertension — during pregnancy — without side-effects.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

Homeopathy can complement conventional treatment too. It can, for instance, play a therapeutic role in women who require hormone replacement therapy [HRT], but are not suitable for HRT, or have had hysterectomies [removal of the uterus] for malignancy. Homeopathy takes into account not just the given concern, but also the distinctive presentation of symptoms in each individual. The reason being no two women show the same symptoms of a given problem, except its name. It’s imperative, that given such subtleties, they are best treated by a professional homeopathic doctor at the clinic. PERSONALITY MATTERS Homeopathy pays the greatest attention to the precise symptom-picture and personality portrait of each individual — the woman presenting with illness. Homeopathy evaluates a woman’s likes and dislikes, emotional and psychological patterns, sensibilities and sensitivities. This includes their family and medical history, such as

age of onset of symptoms, sudden or gradual menstrual

HOMEOPATHY EASES SKIN SPOTS

You guessed it right. No woman likes dark spots. These spots, also called as liver spots, or lentigo, differ in size and appear on areas most exposed to the sun, viz., face, hands, shoulders and arms. Age spots are flat, gray, brown or black spots. True age spots are not dangerous. If someone has a cosmetic ‘sensitivity,’ these spots can be bleached or removed [But, don’t mark down their sideeffects!]. The best thing is prevention. Avoid being in the sun for too long, or play safe and use sunscreen >30SPF. This is the easiest way to retain your skin’s youthful appearance and avoid dark skin spots. Age spots often occur in women with a fair complexion and/or having the most sun exposure. Surface signs include deep wrinkles, dry, rough skin, visible blood vessels on your face, nose and ears. The cause for age spots, or dark spots, is ultraviolet [UV] light, not to mention certain underlying issues, or illnesses. UV ‘ups’ the production of melanin, the dark pigment that gives your skin its colour. Excess melanin also adds more than just gloom to the dark shade on your skin. Homeopathy can help in treating and/or preventing dark, or age, spots [including tanning], without side-effects. The homeopathic remedy, Cantharis, for example, is useful in treating dark spots, caused by exposure to the sun, when accompanied by a ‘burning sensation.’ Other useful remedies are Sulphur, Thuja Occidentalis and Sepia Officinalis. In like manner, homeopathy can also ease the distress associated with acne and other skin disorders with good effect — under the guidance of a professional homeopathic physician.

health problems, age of menarche [first periods], pregnancy, change in weight, environment, occupation, or lifestyle. Or, moods, for example, or hot menopausal flushes [better, or worse, when, at what time etc.,]. Homeopathy evidences that each of us is unique. Hence, we present with characteristic patterns of a given illness we may be affected with, or suffer from. We all have our own distinguishing ‘autograph,’ in health and disease. For example, a lady with migraine may feel better with a bandanna around her head; another may feel worse. The pain in the two ‘migrainous’ individuals may be alike, but the ‘reaction’ is different. This is individuality. This is what homeopathy relates to as being unique for each individual. The two ‘migrainous’ individuals would, therefore, need two different homeopathic remedies to suit their unique symptoms, or even idiosyncrasies. This parallel also conforms to women who present with any health concern: from acne and dark spots to menstrual and emotional problems, or any other illness. Homeopathic remedies are given in exceedingly small [micro-doses]; they may, therefore, be taken by anyone without the fear of side-effects. They are absolutely safe for women — even before, during and after pregnancy; and, also for babies and children. Yet, it would be advisable for one to consult a professional homeopathic physician while dealing with health issues, because what may appear as simple on the surface, may be a latent threat, or underlying illness, waiting somewhere deep inside the body and/or mind to explode. A professionally-trained homeopath would be in the best position possible to figure out and/or decode such subtle possibilities. Homeopathy offers ‘customised’ solutions for the individual woman in question, because each of us is distinct. Put simply, every individual’s illness is as distinctive as one’s signature. HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES For example, when menstrual pains come and go suddenly, or when leucorrhoea [white discharge] is of recent origin, your homeopath would prescribe Belladonna. When leucorrhoea is attended by great anxiety and unusual heat of the body, Borax is a helpful remedy. In dysmenorrhoea [painful periods], with intermittent pains in the groin, broad ligaments and limbs, or when pains shoot to various parts of the body, Caullophylum would be a handy remedy. Gelsemium Sempervirens is a useful remedy in dysmenorrhoea in apprehensive women. Pulsatilla is a useful remedy in amenorrhoea [lack of menses]. It is best indicated in women who tend to weep over trifles, or when menses flow by fits and starts. For hot flushes during menopause, Veratrum Viride is evidenced to be an effective remedy.

Dr Bindu Sharma, BHMS, PG [Hom], UK, a gold medallist in homeopathy from Hahnemann College, UK, is Director, Medical Services, with a leading speciality homeopathic healthcare group. She is actively involved in monitoring quality patient care, including regular training of all doctors across the group. Her medical expertise in the treatment of difficult cases, as well as those not responding well to medication, has received appreciation from her patients and peers.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

QUINTESSENCE

HOMEOPATHY FOR TRAUMA The beauty of homeopathy is it takes into account not just general symptoms, but each person’s individualistic response during trauma. It does not follow a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, because there are several things, including subtleties, to think of in the face or the aftermath of physical and emotional trauma.

e often hear stories about a traumatic motionless, not moving at all. She’s not speaking, event in a person’s life. It may be an her eyes are fixed in front of her, and she appears emotional or mental shock, like the to be in a stupor. She doesn’t seem to be injured death of a loved one, seeing a violent act, or physically, but she is obviously affected by the a physical mishap, such as a car accident. It accident. The third person, in the back seat, is may not be evident to the person, yet one can slowly getting out of the car. He was thrown against By Dr RENITA retain the imprint of the accident or incident the back seat of the driver, and was carrying a glass HERRMANN for decades, if not for life. The homeopath is casserole, which has shattered. The contents are trained to see such effects of trauma, and use them to covering the person, and he is steaming from the hot choose the correct remedy to release the pain. content. There is blood on both hands, and he seems to Let’s look at an example. Four people are travelling in be in shock. The fourth person, a young girl, is crying a car, and have an accident. The driver, the first person quietly in the back seat, not showing any signs of injury, we see, leaps out of the car, yelling and blaming the but is being consoled by a bystander, whom she leans other individual. His face is set and dark, and his body on as if he’s a friend. is pumping with adrenaline. He races back and forth, This story relates to different trauma remedies; each yelling and complaining, not taking the time to assess person in the car has a different reaction to the same the damage to himself, passengers, or anyone else. The event, but each in his or her own individual way. The second person, in the front passenger seat, is sitting beauty of homeopathy is it takes into account not just

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general symptoms, but each person’s individualistic response during trauma. It does not follow a ‘one-sizefits-all’ approach, because there are several things, including subtleties, to think of in the aftermath of physical and emotional trauma. A CASE IN POINT A woman escapes from domestic violence and settles in a new area. She seems fine for two years, but then starts having panic attacks. They occur when she is in an enclosed area, but not common claustrophobic situations or surroundings. Her sleep becomes more and more disrupted, and soon she has panic attacks every day. She cries easily, and has constant digestive issues. Although the attacks stopped two years earlier, she’s remained in an acute state of fear. As her body then adjusted to her new living situation, it was able to show it was still suffering from the effects of living in constant fear. A dose of the appropriate homeopathic remedy can take away each and every one of her symptoms. Growing up, teenagers often get into trouble adjusting to their new bodies. Broken limbs and fractures are not uncommon. These may take a sequence of remedies, each one removing a block; first, the trauma, then the pain, followed by the proper alignment or fusing of the bone. Many adults, likewise, have trauma in their past. This may or may not be recognised, because it is difficult to see the forest for the trees. Things like childbirth or surgery can change a person profoundly, and a trauma remedy can make all the difference. A trauma can leave a lasting effect on your entire future, emotionally and mentally, not just physically. Our bodies have ways of holding onto set patterns, and these patterns should be healthy. Whether you have an old injury, or a recent wound, seek out homeopathic treatment to release that energy to help yourself to good health. PAST-BIRTH TRAUMA Since working with mothers and children in homeopathy, I’ve come across a large group of people that have experienced birth trauma, either as the mother or child. Often what affects one will affect the other. In her book, Origins, Annie Murphy Paul, a science writer, describes monitoring of the pregnant mothers’ physical bodies at rest [via headphones and eye covers] and their childs’ effect on their mothers when they startle the babies externally with noise. The mothers’ body shows the spike in biological markers to the foetus’ response. So not only do we affect our unborn, but they, in turn, affect us. When I read the book, I immediately remembered all those mornings after masters’ swim class, driving in the car, belting

out my rendition of all Phil Collins’ numbers. Thank goodness he has no memory of it, but I’m sure I’ve scarred him somehow. It must have been his revenge, all those evenings with his extremities rambling over my extended belly months later. Pregnancy should be a happy time, a time for the mother to be cared for and loved; it becomes evident that as society stresses the pregnant woman, the child does not grow to her full potential. Paul tells us that those exposed to stressors, such as starvation in early days of pregnancy are more prone to heart disease, whereas in later pregnancy, diabetes is the disease seen. When a mother brings a child into my office with a specific set of symptoms, I may see that the child’s rubrics, the symptoms that are presented by the child’s ‘vital force,’ or prana, call for a trauma remedy. Sometimes, I’ll see two within the first 3-4 remedies represented. Once I remember calling the mother back, and questioning her further, “Are you sure there wasn’t some birth trauma, or may be in utero?” The mother finally admitted the father never wanted the child, and wouldn’t speak to the mother for six months. The traumatised mother shared the ‘wound’ with her baby. The choice of a remedy is not a subjective decision, rather the symptoms exhibited by this new life is ‘its’ way to show there is an imbalance. If this imbalance is not corrected, it will possibly grow worse. But, it will assuredly affect the child, and when a mild problem is not treated, it may grow to a more serious representation. Stresses are normal for the human population; they encourage adaptation to our surroundings. But, at a certain point, they drag down the ‘vital force,’ and the child cannot stretch free of what holds its ‘vital force’ down. We all want to see children that are happy and healthy, because chronic illness may result from birth trauma, and not just in children. I’ve seen mothers benefit from a high dose of the homeopathic remedy, Arnica Montana, after almost ten years. In such intimate circumstances, one would imagine that even if you had just delivered your child, you would still be traumatised by the sight of your newborn’s blue pallor from a cord around its tender neck. Thus, both mother and child would suffer the trauma, but with different results; the mother may need Arnica Montana or Aconite Napellus, and the child may need Opium or Phosphorus. Annie Murphy Paul’s message is clear — to take better care of pregnant women. I’m all for it. Consult your homeopath today to clear away such physical, mental, and emotional trauma, if any, to have your bundle of joy, or grown-up child, reach and achieve their full potential.

Dr Renita Herrmann, MS [Natural Health], CCH, RSHom [NA], who was first drawn to alternative medicine when she was an airline pilot, is a classical homeopath with extensive research experience in the area of sleep health and wellness. She lives in the US.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

YOUR LITTLE BOX: HOMEOPATHIC KIT FOR EVERY HOME

ANTIMONIUM: MORE THAN A COUGH REMEDY The homeopathic Antimonium Tartaricum is a celebrated remedy in chest complaints, characterised by the ‘echo’ of mucous rattling in the chest. It is also as effective in ‘constrictive’ headaches, nausea and vomiting, aside from skin disorders, such as impetigo.

he compound was first called ‘tartar emetic,’ by alchemists, who prescribed it traditionally as a powerful emetic. It was also famously called ‘the prince of evacuants,’ because it caused extreme vomiting and was found useful for deworming — in other words, expelling intestinal worms. The remedy, in question, is Antimonium Tartaricum, whose homeopathic corollary was first proved by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, MD, the founder of homeopathy. The homeopathic remedy is prepared by combining potassium tartrate with the oxide of antimony, formed by the reaction of moist air and antimony. This is followed by triturating [grinding] antimony potassium tartrate with lactose sugar and repeatedly diluting and succussing [shaking] the mixture. While it is agreed that illness often exhausts Antimonium individuals, making them feel fidgety, indifferent, and sleepy, it may also be said that their energy levels may be so low that they find it extremely difficult to cough up mucous, or, as a result, feel suffocated from their own secretions. In so doing, they become irritable and angry when disturbed or bothered by others. They do not like to be touched, or examined, by the doctor too. Other classical symptoms include a lack of thirst, with copious, cold sweat. That Antimonium is a celebrated remedy in chest complaints, such as whooping cough, marked by the ‘echo’ of mucous rattling in the chest is as well-known as the remedy’s gentle, curative properties in constricting headaches, nausea and vomiting. ASTHMA & RESPIRATORY ILLNESS Severe respiratory infection, chronic bronchitis, or allergic asthma, with wheezing and rattling in the throat and chest, due to a build-up of mucous. Coughing up mucous is difficult owing to relentless exhaustion. Fits of coughing may interchange with breathlessness or rapid, shallow breathing, accompanied by a feeling of asphyxiation. Symptoms are usually aggravated by bad temper, or annoyance. Symptoms are better from cold air, sitting up, and coughing up mucous. Symptoms are worse by warmth, damp and cold weather, lying down, and by movement. CHICKEN POX Large, blistering, bluish skin eruptions that present with a purple-coloured scar. When skin symptoms have not developed robustly, they may be associated with chest or digestive symptoms, such as a severe cough with rattling

mucous, or diarrhoea. The tongue is coated white, along with extreme petulance. Symptoms are better by cold, and while coughing up mucous. Symptoms are worse by warmth, bathing in cold water, when getting heated in bed, evening, and while lying down. HEADACHES Headache with a feeling of a ‘tight band’ constricting the head. Pain is often heightened by coughing. There is lethargy, with a desire to close the eyes. Symptoms are better in open air, while bathing in cold water, and movement. Symptoms are worse by warmth, at night and morning, and overeating. NAUSEA Persistent nausea with trembling, weakness, and fainting. Nausea is usually felt in the chest with a feeling as if there is some bizarre weight on the chest. This is often accompanied by coughing, vomiting, unsuccessful retching and a thick, white coating, or red streak, on the tongue. Symptoms are better by cold air, while sitting up, belching, and vomiting. Symptoms are worse by warmth, damp and cold weather, while lying down, and by movement. SKIN Pustular skin eruptions, with a purple-coloured mark, after healing. There may be warts, or acne with pea-sized pustules. Small, fluid-filled blisters and a red-coloured skin may be caused by impetigo. Symptoms are better by cold air and while sitting up. Symptoms are worse by bathing in cold water, evening, and while lying down. WHOOPING COUGH Breathlessness, leading to coughing spasms, in infants, followed by sleep, or nausea and vomiting. Mucous causes ‘jamming’ and a rattling sound in the chest. Symptoms are better while sitting up, coughing out mucous, and vomiting. Symptoms are worse by warmth, being too hot or cold, lying down, movement, grumpiness, and milk. The key symptoms for the remedy are in précis: raucous rattling of mucous in the chest and a suffocating sensation, along with escalating weakness, a strong repugnance for physical examination, as also a lack of need for liquids, especially water. Dosage: Antimonium Tartaricum 30C, 4-5 pills, 2-3 times daily, or as prescribed, or advised, by your homeopathic physician. HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

HOMEOPATHIC HAPPENINGS

HOMEOPATHY: NEW-AGE MEDICINE

ontrary to popular belief, homeopathy is not ‘placebo science,’ observed a group of eminent scientists at the World Homeopathy Summit held in Mumbai recently. Scientists from Haffkine Institute, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre [BARC], Indian Institute of Technology [IIT-Bombay], and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research [TIFR] shared their research at the summit, which attracted scientists and physicians from across the world, including Italy, Brazil and Austria. Critics claim that homeopathic medicines are extremely diluted, hence they may merely have a placebo effect. Dr Jayesh Bellare, Head of Department, Chemical Engineering, at IIT-B, and his team has proved that they do contain nanoparticles of the medicine. Physicists at TIFR and BARC have detected the effect of energy particles in homeopathy using laser beams and electrical devices. Former BARC scientist and physicist, Dr Akalpita Paranjpe explained the use of the ‘Medical Analyser’ which measures the effects of homeopathic medicines on a person’s physiology. “We measured the heart rate of a person before and after administering the homeopathic Sulphur 200C. We noticed that the body reacts to Sulphur 200C and the sick individual is ‘normal’ after being administered the medicine.” Dr Kanjaksha Ghosh, Director, National Institute of Immunohaematology [NII] vouched for homeopathic therapy in treating bleeding in haemophilia patients. “In a study conducted in Surat, Mumbai and Nashik, in 500 haemophilic patients, internal bleeding was stalled by administering homeopathic drugs. There have been cases when Factor 8 and 9 conventional injections for haemophilia management have been unavailable or

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expensive. Homeopathic remedies have proven effective in saving their lives.” Virologist Dr Abhay Chowdhury of Haffkine Institute said they are working on a homeopathy-based preparation, or nosode [a homeopathic remedy prepared from a pathological specimen], sourced from multi-drug resistant tuberculosis [TB] patients. The nosode, which is hoped to improve the condition of such patients, will undergo animal trials in the near future. Dr Michael Frass, an Austrian molecular biologist, and Dr Gaurisankar Sa have proved anti-cancer activities of homeopathic remedies in laboratory experiments on cell lines extracted from the human body. Dr Gaurisankar has also demonstrated the regression of cancer in rats following the use of homeopathic medicines. Swine flu too may have a homeopathic preventative. A Brazil researcher who conducted a study highlighted the role of a homeopathic preparation sourced from the flu virus itself to prevent the disease. — Source: Daily News & Analysis. HOMEOPATHY IS CLINICALLY EFFECTIVE FOR ARTHRITIS: A NEW STUDY Some recent research has shown that homeopathic medicines are effective in the treatment of arthritis. A study entitled, Homeopathic Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Evaluation by Double-Blind Clinical Therapeutic Trial, published in The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, has found that around 82 per cent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis [RA] experienced some degree of relief after individualised homeopathic treatment. The research also highlighted that only 21 per

transcriptase-PCR revealed an up-regulation of caspase 9, caspase-3, Bax, p21 and p27 gene expression and down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression in treated cells. The mode of cell death was suggestive of intrinsic apoptotic pathway along with cell cycle arrest at the G2/M of the cell cycle. The findings indicate that phytochemicals present in Ruta showed the potential for natural therapeutic product development for colon carcinoma [cancer]. — Source: Homeopathy [Elsevier].

cent of patients who were given a placebo [dummy pill] received a similar degree of relief. Dr Brajinish Kumar, a homeopath from Punjab, says that the homeopathic remedy that is devised with the type of physical symptoms and emotional characteristics expressed by an individual makes homeopathy a better treatment for arthritis. He explains, “The type of symptoms shown by an individual determines their biological and psychological type. We choose the most suitable remedy for each person based on the careful consideration of each symptom — both physical and psychological. Once the treatment is completed, the symptoms will never come back again. Hence, homeopathy is a complete cure for such disorders.” Dr Deepa Aji, a homeopath from Chennai, says that the symptoms of illness, from the homeopathic perspective, are considered as the body’s attempt to cure itself. She explains, “A homeopathic remedy is carefully formulated to mimic the organism’s self-healing attempts. The organism thereafter attains a disease free-state without continued dependence on external agents such as drugs. The remedy cures both mild and chronic disorders without any side-effects.” — Source: www.medindia.com DNA FRAGMENTATION & CELL CYCLE ARREST BY RUTA ON COLON CANCER CELLS In a recent study, Shagun Arora and Simran Tandon from Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, investigated the anti-cancer effect of various potencies of homeopathic Ruta Graveolens [Ruta] on COLO-205 cell line, as evidenced by cytotoxicity, migration, clonogenecity, morphological and biochemical changes and modification in the levels of genes associated with apoptosis [programmed cell death] and cell cycle. On treatment of COLO-205 cells maximal effects were seen with mother tincture [MT] and 30C potencies, wherein a decrease in cell viability along with reduced clonogenecity and migration capabilities were also noted. In addition, morphological and biochemical alterations such as nuclear changes [fragmented nuclei with condensed chromatin] and DNA ladder-like pattern [increased amount of fragmented DNA] in COLO-205 cells indicating apoptotic-related cell death were seen. The expression of apoptosis and cell-cycle related regulatory genes assessed by reverse

HOMEOPATHY IS SAFE & FREE OF SIDE-EFFECTS Several systematic reviews of the evidence base for homeopathy have been carried out to look at the published rate of adverse events during, but not necessarily caused by, treatment by a homeopath. The most comprehensive study reviewed the evidence from 1970–1995, including clinical trials, case reports and information provided by manufacturers and regulatory bodies. Adverse effects reported during clinical trials testing homeopathic medicines were found to be mild and transient, e.g., headaches, tiredness, skin eruptions, dizziness and diarrhoea. These adverse effects occurred more often in the groups given a homeopathic medicine than in the control groups given placebo [dummy pill], which is further evidence that homeopathic medicines are different from placebo. These true side-effects are easy to differentiate from what homeopaths refer to as ‘aggravations.’ A homeopathic aggravation is considered to be a brief intensification of pre-existing symptoms that is sometimes seen soon after taking a homeopathic medicine. When this initial reaction is followed by significant improvement in the patient’s overall sense of well-being, it is considered to be part of the healing process and, therefore, classed as a positive therapeutic outcome. A report by the European Council for Clinical Homeopathy [ECCH] reviewed the results of observational studies assessing the safety of homeopathic treatment since 1995. Observational studies are less reliable than randomised clinical trials [RCTs], because they do not attempt to determine precisely what caused any adverse events. However, they provide a useful measurement of what happens in real-life practice which can then be considered alongside RCT results to give the fuller picture. In 20 studies, covering a total of 7,275 patients, the percentage of patients reporting adverse events ranged from 0–11 per cent [including homeopathic aggravations]. No cases of serious adverse events or serious adverse drug reactions were found, i.e., no cases were reported resulting in hospitalisation, life-threatening situations, persistent or significant disability/incapacity or congenital anomaly/birth defect. — Source: The Society of Homeopaths, UK. HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

WHAT LIES BENEATH: MYSTERIES OF HOMEOPATHY

HEALING WITH HOMEOPATHY Homeopathy means healing diseases by the application of the law of similars, i.e., ‘like cures like.’ This means that the ‘symptom-picture’ — a recognisable and characteristic set of symptoms — of the healing agent [the homeopathic remedy] has to match the disease ‘symptom-picture’ of the patient.

lthough the homeopathic principle of THE HEALING EFFECT Healing happens quite naturally, because life has ‘like cures like’ has been known for a long the impulse to maintain its integrity, to self-heal and time and applied on occasions, it was Dr regenerate. Any adverse influence upon life will be Samuel Hahnemann, MD, who clearly established met with a response designed to counteract that homeopathy as a recognised form of medical influence, to maintain equilibrium and restore health practice. This was also the time the old worldBy Dr MISHA — to turn hell into heaven. These counteractions view was being revolutionised by the new wave NORLAND to adverse influences are expressed as symptoms. of what is now called the ‘age of enlightenment.’ These are our best defences, our best efforts. We are Community and traditional beliefs, all flimsily based upon wise to go with them rather than look for interventions. superstition, were being increasingly subjected to empirical An intervention is any action that prevents the symptoms inquiry, and it was experimentation and theory based upon from being expressed, but it does not deal with the results that Hahnemann brought to the old notion of ‘let causes. A parallel analogy could be a situation in which likes be cured by likes.’ a warning light in a car indicating a sudden increase This is of particular relevance nowadays when new in engine temperature was responded to by the driver healing forms are being sought because we are questioning smashing that indicator. the results of medical procedures with their interventional Homeopathy is a holistic method of cure that takes into approaches of cutting, burning, drugging and inoculating. account not just the physical, but also the mental and These methods are seen to be failing to bring about longemotional symptoms. Homeopaths seek to understand term improvement in health in chronic disease, although diseases ‘holistically.’ If we lose our ability to rebalance they are of undoubted service in the short-term. Increasing and stay healthy, then our whole being responds by numbers of inquiring individuals on the healer’s path evolving symptoms. When the ‘symptom picture’ of the are seeking to finding ways in which a humane system healing agent matches our diseased ‘symptom picture’, of medicine can be integrated with the clearly beneficial it enormously stimulates our capacity for re-balancing, attributes of a science rooted in empirical methodology — helping us to do the work of ‘venting’ the symptoms experimentation, observation, theory and review.

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and returning to health. This is the true life-preserving function of symptoms, that when unhindered are the means whereby the disease is eliminated. This principle is understood in the field of everyday psychology. We know that grief [inner disturbance] is eased by tears [outward expression — symptoms], that sadness when vented does not play out as chronic brooding over the past or develop into say, anorexia, insidious weakness or multiple sclerosis [MS]; that anger when it is expressed does not fester and turn to hatred or develop into, say heart disease, or cancer. Acute diseases are most readily treated by homeopathic means because the initial intensification of symptoms, due to our dynamic response to the similar healing agent, is rapidly followed by the total elimination of the disease. For instance, recent grief with chest oppression, spasmodic sighing, hiccups and acute stomach pain is cured after potentised Ignatia Amara is given because the symptom pictures match. Then, after a brief intensification of presenting symptoms, flowing tears and sobbing ensue, giving way to returning calm and acceptance. Chronic diseases are also amenable to homeopathic cures — indeed most of our cases are of this kind, but they take longer to resolve. The principle of cure in chronic illness is the same, i.e., we self-heal. It is only when this inclination for self-healing becomes perverted that we get stranded in a diseased state. This usually happens because of inherited disease predispositions, past trauma, past and present toxic overload or psychological and environmental stress, poor nutrition due to non-organic farming relying upon the use of agricultural chemicals and pesticides. The disease, also being a manifestation of life, albeit a distorted one, behaves as if it were a separate entity that also wishes to express itself. It does so by the development of chronic symptoms. These symptoms are a compound of the disease and our unique individuality — they are the outward expression of our internal state. Just as in the case of the treatment of acute disease, they indicate what needs to be cured. We can read this information as we may read a book. In order to bring about a resolution of chronic disease, we require a return to natural living and eating as well as the thrust that the ‘intelligence’ of the healing agent confers. Then, as in the acute situation described above, the disease is eliminated from the inside towards the outside via established venting routes. It does this in a reverse time frame [last symptoms to appear are first to disappear; first symptoms to appear are last to disappear], and from the most important organs for survival to the least important. This means that as health is re-established, deep distress is supplanted by temporary superficial disturbances. To put this in another way, we would expect to see transient acute manifestations in place of chronic degeneration. For instance, these disturbances could range from tears to temper tantrums, from skin eruptions to diarrhoea.

HEALING AGENTS Substances are selected from either past experience of a medicine’s healing powers or intuition as to their potential healing properties. The details are then worked out experimentally. Homeopaths call this ‘proving.’ This is how it works. A group of stable volunteers comprising of both sexes are given a potentised dose of the substance under enquiry. They usually do not know what that substance is. Over a period of time [usually about two months] and while under supervision, they keep a detailed daily log of their altered state. They examine not only new and/or changed physical symptoms, but also scrutinise their mental and psychological state. This information is gathered from all the volunteers and collated. During this process it is established which symptoms are most frequently experienced, which moderately and which least. This organisation of symptoms constitutes the ‘picture’ of the healing agent. It is verified and enlarged upon, given its therapeutic range, by clinical trials. As we have written, in homeopathy the remedy and the disease are similar. The remedy assists what the disease symptoms were unsuccessfully trying to do. Because homeopathy is now more than 200 years old, we work with several medicines that are well tested in clinical settings. Thus, their healing characteristics and depth of action are well-established. A QUESTION OF POTENCY Let us first examine how healing proceeds. Healing agents work by harnessing the life preserving power within us. This power is invisible; indeed, it is immaterial. We know of its existence by the result of its actions. We certainly know when it is absent — as death ensues. Without its influence only the material constituents of the body remain, unanimated and lifeless. In order that healing should commence a subtle, immaterial, life-empowering force needs to be applied and recognised by the life-preserving power within us. Healing agents are said to be potentised when they have been prepared in a particular manner, so as to increase their healing properties. What are homeopathic healing agents and how are they prepared? Healing agents, or remedies as they are

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called, are derived from the natural world. Most typically they are of mineral, plant, animal or human origin. Examples of these are: salt [Natrum Muriaticum], club moss [Lycopodium Clavatum], venom of surukuku snake [Lachesis Muta], and cancerous tissue [Carcinosin]. They can also be derived from energy sources, for instance electro-magnetic sources, such as X-ray. When soluble these substances are dissolved in water and alcohol; when insoluble, they are ground in a mortar and pestle. If electro-magnetic, the rays are concentrated and permitted to pass through water where their influence is ‘recorded’ by the water. A process of serial [successive] dilution and agitation is then applied. By these means the material is reduced, within the bulk of the dilutant, while at the same time, the medicinal potency is increased. This achieves maximum effect for minimum stimulus. This process is also called dynamisation. This refers to the dynamic [as opposed to static] nature of the potentised [now potent] dose. It is the subtle, dynamised state of remedies that have resonance to the dynamic life-preserving function of the living organism. In other words, homeopathic practice rests upon the similarity of the remedy to disease and resonance of the remedy potency with an organism’s life-preserving force. THE POWER OF HOMEO-HEALING Let us take a look at two co-existent methodologies and worldviews which prevail. If we apply the senses and ‘logic’ to the enquiry, the world may be understood as a collection of objects. Each object may be assessed, weighed and measured. In this manner the symptoms of diseases and the healing properties of their corresponding remedies are categorised and catalogued. The world may also be encountered as a communion of subjects. These subjects are interrelated and informed of each other’s existence and of their participation in the whole by allowing feeling and intuition to enter into the experience. This gives birth to an appreciation of the world as sacred and is best expressed by art — it is sung into being, danced, sculpted and painted. The impulse to practice the art of healing also ensues from this perception of the world. It is to the first world view that reductionism owes allegiance and by the second that imagination is inspired. As healers teaching at the School of Homeopathy, in the UK, we integrate both views as we celebrate spirit, body and soul. The sacred view maintains that we regard all expressions of creation as intrinsically equal in value, whether mineral, viral, bacterial, fungal, plant, animal, human, and no matter what race or creed. We are all connected as well as dependent upon each other. No one is better or worse than another. No creature or plant

or stone or water or air or fire is higher or lower than its counterpart. No things can be owned or possessed [except in the most temporary manner], nor can humans lay claim upon them, for they belong only to themselves and are related to others only through love — a love which is given unconditionally, just as parent to child, mineral to plant, plant to animal, prey to predator. Our DNA has been passed over aeons, evolving through successive life forms. We are the sum of all that has been and is now and is yet to be for the seeds of the future are in the present. This is a description of a living experience of the natural world of which we are participant and caretaker as well as exploiter and destroyer. This description is given here because as homeopathic practitioners, we are devotees of nature, for it is the natural world which provides for our sustenance and our healing. Nor is reductionism an outmoded concept for us because we view, not the world, but its attributes in this manner: we name the parts, catalogue the symptoms and we use computers to help us in our analysis. As homeopaths and teachers, we learn to listen nonjudgmentally — although our analysis of what we learn involves careful judgement and feedback. Through reflecting upon ourselves — looking into the mirror of our motivations and our actions — we appraise ourselves, finding a path between our own opinions of right and wrong, good and bad, finding a way which is nonaggressive, which is informed by respect for ourselves, and others and the world in which we live. This is the pledge which we make as we work upon our own nature through the study and practice of homeopathy. Put simply, homeopathic healing results through reestablishing the relationship between our inner selves and outer nature through the application of remedies [medicines] which are derived from the natural world.

Dr Misha Norland, FSHom, is the principal clinical teacher for the School of Homeopathy’s [UK] international study programme. A founding member of The Society of Homeopaths, UK, and first editor of its journal, Norland has been a homeopathic practitioner for over 30 years. He’s also the first to head homeopathic research at a UK homeopathic college. In addition to his perceptive teaching and practice skills, Norland is also widely acclaimed for being a globally renowned clinical facilitator, lecturer and author, aside from for his insightful contributions to the new Materia Medica. He lives in the UK.

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HOM[E]O TRUTHS

THE BALANCED SYNERGY OF COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY Modern medicine [allopathy] is highly dependent on the role of ‘pharmaceuticals’ — why does homeopathy ‘avoid’ their use is a common query. There is more to the whole credo than what meets the eye, or mind.

irst things, first. Homeopathy depends on also comparatively not as large — but, they are homeopathic pharmaceuticals, no less, going to be in the future, thanks to the growing where medicines are manufactured as popularity of homeopathic speciality products. per homeopathic pharmacopeia in accordance There are homeopathic alternatives vis-àto international norms and FDA regulations. vis allopathic drugs too — to highlight the While modern [or, conventional] medicine ‘pharma’ credo. Some of them have undergone By Dr AKSHAY uses drugs either as ethical or over-theclinical trials — and, also successfully. The BATRA counter [OTC] products. Homeopathy uses only thing is they have not been marketed homeopathic medicines as ethical, potentised, as aggressively. A representative list of such side-effect-free prescriptions, even though the area of homeopathic alternatives appears on page 34. OTC products in homeopathy may not be as expansive, The best part is — such homeopathic treatments can or widespread, as modern medicine, except for speciality be used alongside allopathic treatments. This is contrary products manufactured and marketed by a handful of to the old, or traditional homeopathic, opinion that they top-notch homeopathic pharma groups. should not be used together, because homeopathy believes in the theory of suppression — through the PHARMA CONTEXT use of certain conventional or modern medications. For The pharmaceutical concept in modern medicine is old; example, a cold, suppressed by modern medicine, may there are over 200 major, multinational companies in lead to asthma. Likewise, the application of steroidal the field. Their strength is derived from surplus funding, creams can suppress a skin eruption, and lead to flareresearch and development [R&D] and aggressive ups, or other unrelated illnesses, because the underlying marketing. Homeopathic pharmas are relatively factors, the real cause of the problem, or toxins, are not new. There are about 5-6 multinational homeopathic naturally expelled. Homeopathic remedies remove such pharmas today. Besides, funding that focuses on flagrant mechanisms from the inside out — not treat areas such as homeopathic R&D and marketing are them just at the superficial level. HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

Therapeutic Group

Allopathic Drug

Example of Homeopathic Remedy

Analgesics

Paracetamol

Magnesium Phosphoricum

Anti-asthmatic

Salbutamol inhaler

Arsenicum Album

Anti-rheumatic

Diclofenac Ibuprofen

Rhus Toxicodendron

Cardiovascular

Propranolol Nifedipine retard

Baryta Muriaticum

Diuretics

Amiloride Co-amilofruse Furosemide

Natrum Sulphuricum

GI Tract

Famotidine Ranitidine

Nux Vomica

Hypnotics

Temazepam Zopiclone

Passiflora Incarnata

Laxatives

Isabgol

Senna

To cull another case in point of the ‘pharma connect’ of homeopathy, or the pharmaco-toxicological properties [pathogenesis] of the homeopathic remedy, Gelsemium Sempervirens [yellow jasmine]: • Drowsiness, languor, prostration • Occipital headaches, diplopia [double vision] • Fullness of head • Myalgia [muscle pain], incoordination, trembling • Emotional diarrhoea, pollakiuria [abnormal urination]. Primary indications also include nervous apprehension with flu-like symptoms, similar to headache symptoms. Today, there is agreement that some ‘life-supportive’ conventional medicines can lead to drug-dependence. For example, hypertension and diabetes. Homeopathy can complement modern medicine in such cases. The idea is to use the two together — and, gradually reduce conventional medications. This is like ‘weaning,’ yet not stopping the conventional medicine completely. There’s also clinical evidence to show that complementary medicines work better with homeopathic remedies in controlling high blood pressure and diabetes. MORE THAN ADJUVANT Homeopathy has been shown to be a useful adjuvant therapy in post-operative care, or after bypass surgery, too. The homeopathic remedy, Arnica Montana, is the remedy of choice in either situation. Homeopathy can also play a balancing role. In cases that require hormone replacement therapy [HRT], for example, but where patients are not suitable for HRT, because they have had hysterectomies [removal of the uterus] for malignancy, homeopathy is useful.

Yet another advantage is homeopathic remedies are safe, natural and non-toxic. Besides, the two [conventional and homeopathic] medicines work on different planes. Modern medicine acts at the chemical plane. Homeopathic remedies act at the nervous [system] level, through the sentient nerves. What also adds strength to homeopathy today is it is one of the fastest growing systems of medicine. It is the second largest medical system in the world, according to World Health Organisation [WHO]. It is used by 500 million people worldwide. People are increasingly fed up of the side-effects of modern medicine. They are opting for safer, holistic medicine — homeopathy is one of the foremost options. Homeopathy is mindbody, holistic medicine. It is non-invasive and free of side-effects. It fits the safety aspect bill perfectly. THE BIG SHIFT There has been a real shift in the way people think about their health today. Rising healthcare costs are yet another factor for the surge of interest in homeopathy. Many people are attracted to homeopathy because of its emphasis in treating the whole person — body, mind and spirit. In this age of managed care and impersonal group practices, most people/patients find this individualised approach of homeopathy particularly appealing. Statistics suggest that over 150 million people in our country depend solely on the homeopathic form of medical treatment. According to a survey by A C Nielsen, 62 per cent of current homeopathy users, in our country, have never tried conventional medicines, while 82 per cent of homeopathy users would not switch to conventional medical treatment. During the past 25 years, there have been over 200 controlled and 125 randomised trials into homeopathy, analysed by meta-analyses. In each case, the researchers confirmed the healthy, healing benefits of homeopathy. There have also been scores of new clinical trials and studies on homeopathy — testing its efficacy in a host of ailments, right from acne, anxiety, arthritis, diabetes, hypertension and irritable bowel syndrome [IBS], to children’s and women’s diseases. There are a number of ongoing research [evidence-based medicine] studies in the area too — augmenting the tangible benefits of homeopathy in the clinical setting, along with patient-based evidence. The World Health Organisation [WHO] brought out a draft report [WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy, 2002-2005], which showed that homeopathy was therapeutically useful. It also cited that homeopathy should be integrated worldwide with conventional medicine to provide adequate global healthcare.

Dr Akshay Batra, a renowned homeopath, is Managing Director, Dr Batra’s. He is the first-ever homeopath-trichologist from Asia to be elected President of the Trichological Society of London, his alma mater. He is the youngest and the first-ever non-UK-based trichologist to receive the prestigious Robert Olding Award for outstanding achievement in the field of trichology. Dr Akshay is also India’s first hair specialist to be associated with the European Hair Research Society [EHRS]. His published work includes the first-of-its-kind, bestselling book, Hair: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know, which is available at all good bookstores and on www.flipkart.com. He lives in Mumbai.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

GRIN & BEAR IT

LAUGHTER,

THE BEST MEDICINE WORD CONFUSION, WORSE CONFOUNDED A man walked into a doctor’s office and the receptionist asked him what problem he had. He replied, “I got shingles.” She said, “Fill out this form and supply your name, address, and medical insurance number. When you’re done, please take a seat.” Fifteen minutes later a nurse’s aide came out and asked him what he had. He said, “I got shingles.” So, she took down his height, weight, and complete medical history, and said, “Change into this gown and wait in the examining room.” A half-hour later a nurse came in and asked him what he had. He said, “I got shingles.” So, she gave him a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram [ECG], and told him to wait for the doctor. An hour later the doctor came in and asked him what he had. He said, “Shingles.” The doctor gave him a full-cavity examination, and said, “I just checked you out thoroughly, and I can’t find shingles anywhere.” The man replied, “They’re outside in the truck. Where do you want them?” ‘BITE’ LIST Doctor: “I’m sorry to have to tell you that you may have rabies.” Patient: “Well, doctor, please give me pencil and paper.” Doctor: “To make your will? Patient: No, to make a list of people I want to bite.”

waiting room and announced that Mr Smith’s wife has just had triplets. Mr Smith stood up and said, “Well, how do ya like that, I work for the 3M Company.” The gentleman that was sitting next to me then got up and started to leave. When I asked him why he was leaving, he remarked, “I think I need a breath of fresh air.” “I work for 7-Up.” FIREFIGHTING BASICS A firefighter was working on the engine outside the station, when he noticed a little girl nearby in a little red wagon with little ladders hung off the sides and a garden hose tightly coiled in the middle. The girl was wearing a firefighter’s helmet. The wagon was being pulled by her dog and her cat. The firefighter walked over to take a closer look. “That sure is a nice fire truck,” the firefighter said with admiration. “Thanks,” the girl replied. The firefighter looked a little closer. The girl had tied the wagon to her dog’s collar and the cat’s tail. “Little partner,” the firefighter said, “I don’t want to tell you how to run your rig, but if you were to tie that rope around the cat’s collar, I think you could go faster.” The little girl replied thoughtfully, “You’re probably right, but then I wouldn’t have a siren.” [Culled and Collated from the ‘Net]

LEGAL HEART A man has a heart attack and is brought to the hospital emergency room [ER]. The doctor tells him that he will not live unless he has a heart transplant right away. Another doctor runs into the room and says, “You’re in luck, two hearts just became available, so you will get to choose which one you want. One belongs to a lawyer and the other to a social worker.” The man quickly responds, “The lawyer’s.” The doctor says, “Wait! Don’t you want to know a little about them before you make your decision?” The man says, “I already know enough. We all know that social workers are bleeding hearts and lawyers probably never used them. So, I’ll take the lawyer’s!” OF TWINS & TRIPLETS… OR… I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital after my wife had gone into labour and the nurse walked out and said to the man sitting next to me, “Congratulations, Sir, you’re the father of twins!” The man replied, “How about that, I work for the Doublemint Chewing Gum Company.” The man followed the nurse to his wife’s room. About an hour later, the same nurse entered the

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

“Sticking to my diet is hard work. I can’t do it on an empty stomach!” Courtesy: www.glasbergen.com

LIVING WELL: LIFESTYLE

BE YOUNG. BE STRONG There are numerous theories, books, studies and ‘experts’ out there, each with their own understanding of what makes for the perfect athlete’s or fitness enthusiast’s diet. Here goes a balanced distillation — a treatise that separates the hype from the facts.

uring the course of researching this topic, who desire nutritional counsel. That said, let’s get this writer looked at several different down to business. approaches and found that while they STRESS had many things in common, they also varied in You might find it strange that this mini-course on significant ways. As a Holistic Health Practitioner nutrition begins with a section on stress. I found and someone who has enjoyed exercising that odd, too, as I worked my way through Thrive. for the last 10-12 years, I found myself drawn By RYAN N There is wisdom, however, in taking this road, and predominantly to one of the theories more than HARRISON you’ll find later that the nutritional aspects of this to the others. As a result, what I write here will mini-course directly connect to the concept of be primarily taken from that source: Thrive, by stress and its effect on the body. Brendan Brazier, ultra-marathon champion and professional Stress is anything that causes strain on the body, vegan athlete. regardless of its origin. There are actually several kinds of What is an athlete? According to the Houghton Mifflin stress: pollutants in the air and water, job dissatisfaction, Company Dictionary, an athlete is “a person possessing poor nutrition, relationship problems, exercise, etc. Stress the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and isn’t necessarily a problem, though it certainly can be. “In endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise, or amounts that our body is capable of adapting to, some sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.” stresses are beneficial. Exercise, for example, is a stress.” I bring this out early, because it’s really important that you If you exercise and then rest, your body will grow stronger. realise that this mini-course is going to be geared towards However, if you stress the body continually from multiple a relatively small population, aside from the people who directions and it never gets a chance to recuperate or rest, are dedicated to sports and exercise in the context of you will find yourself swiftly on the road to ill-health and a competition, or otherwise. shorter life span. While much of the information here is generally helpful, There are basically three categories of stress — some of it may actually be detrimental to those who are not Uncomplementary stress. This is stress that produces interested in such ‘hardcore’ athletic pursuits. This is not no yield, no benefit. This type of stress should be a mini-course on weight loss, nor is it directed at staying completely eliminated, or reduced as far as possible. generally fit and healthy. Rather, this is about nutrition for Examples include poor nutrition, worry, poor planning, training and is intended for your use as much as athletes HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

and environmental stressors [such as toxins in the air and water]. Complementary stress. This is stress that instigates growth and stimulates renewal within the body. Exercise in proper amounts and with adequate rest/recovery time is complementary stress; the right balance of exercise strengthens us, mentally and physically, once we’ve recovered from it. Production stress.This is “a wise and necessary way to stress yourself to yield a positive payoff.” Examples include physically demanding exercise sessions to prepare for competition, working overtime, working on personal or family problems, and taking calculated risks. This kind of stress can be seen as a fun and challenging part of life, with a rewarding payoff — just viewing it this way can reduce its negative impact. Stress breaks the body down in varying degrees. In some ways, this is good — it’s how we grow stronger. If we have the resources to facilitate recovery from stress, then this process is healthy. If you lack the proper resources, it can be detrimental. All this to say that “it’s not in our best interest to take on projects that ultimately slow our progress.” A far better approach is to work on one aspect, become proficient, and then move on to the next. In the context of nutrition, we need to recognise that change is a stressor… and so is changing one’s diet. Unfortunately, what often happens is that those who are making positive changes actually are more likely to discontinue them than those who make negative ones. This is because those who see themselves as making a sacrifice to try and achieve better health want their investment to pay off quickly. Slow progress usually leads to dwindling interest. “Any physical deviation from the routine will be perceived as stress. Even if the change is a positive one, the body must first adapt.” So, if an athlete changes his or her diet to improve performance, muscle tone, endurance, etc., the immediate result could be unexpected detoxification: the body’s way of eliminating toxins accumulated over years of poor quality food consumption. This means that the first few days on an optimal diet may actually not be pleasant. And, naturally, the poorer the quality of the previous diet, the longer the detoxification process will last. We know that optimal health is about balance. “To be a serious competitor in any demanding sport requires that health must occasionally be overlooked.” However, with proper precautions, a healthy athlete is actually able to train at unhealthy levels a few times throughout the year, in the name of performance. Such intense training does indeed stress the body and will actually lower its immunity to illness and toxins; during these high-stress times, optimal nutrition is of paramount importance. It is literally the difference between sickness and health.

tries to, in a sense, ‘self-medicate.’ This is where cravings come from, which are the body’s way of making itself feel good. Giving into cravings, however, perpetuates a vicious cycle in which the source of the problem is never really addressed. “The most effective way to permanently break the cycle is to reduce uncomplementary stress by eating a nutrient-rich, whole food diet; one which contains sources of easily digestible protein, fibre, whole grains and vegetables as a low glycaemic form of carbohydrate, essential fatty acids from nuts and seeds, along with vitamins and minerals.” What this means is that the foods you eat need to be packed full of nutrition — not cheaply produced, massfarmed foods. Otherwise, your body will develop cravings to fill in the gaps with things that will make it ‘feel good,’ even if only temporarily. For an athlete, or someone who wants to be fit, energy is just about the most important thing there is. You need it to exercise and to perform. Without it, you cannot be an athlete at all. This requires that the athlete assesses the energy provided by food by considering its net gain: what we are left with once the food has been processed for energy by the body. We all know that we get energy from food. But, consider this: the more energy the body has to expend to digest, assimilate and utilise the nutrients in food, the less energy we are left with to use as we please. “By consuming more easily assimilated foods, a large amount of energy can be conserved. There are two main reasons for this; the first being that the nutrient-rich easily digested foods can be assimilated with less expenditure, and the second is that when more nutrient-rich foods are present in the diet, the body does not have to eat as much as if it were ‘average’ foods.” Essentially, this means that you need to eat less and, therefore, digest less, but you end up with a huge net energy gain… to be spent, however, you choose. Or, rather, however your body chooses, which will likely be to improve immune function and speed up the restoration of cells damaged by stress. Foods that offer a superior net gain in energy are: • Alkaline-forming, high in chlorophyll • Rich in enzymes, raw and alive • Rich in prebiotics and probiotics • Best consumed in liquid form. Another way that many self-sabotage their efforts is by taking too many supplements. While it may be common practice to take as many as you can afford [just to be sure you’re getting everything you need], an excess of synthetic fat-soluble vitamins [A, D, E, K] can actually load up the fat cells, and eventually lead to toxicity. Athletes who are concerned about getting their vitamins can rest easy if they consume whole foods on a daily basis. The fibre contained in the complete foods doesn’t permit overconsumption, making them the best option.

NUTRITIONAL STRESS It is possible to put unnecessary stress on the body simply by eating foods that are not good for it. When not provided the nutrients that it requires to function optimally, the body

GETTING YOUNGER, GETTING STRONGER Now that we know how stress can keep us from our athletic or fitness goals, let’s turn our focus on what we can do proactively to become the strongest, healthiest,

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

most athletic versions of ourselves. One of the best things about exercising regularly is that it literally helps to ‘grow’ a younger body, which is simply a body that has regenerated its cells more recently [When exercised routinely, the body must regenerate its cells more quickly than when idle. Depending on our activity level, 6-8 months from now nearly 100 per cent of our cells will have regenerated. The important concept here is that these new cells will literally be made up of what we eat between now and then. The body of an athlete is forced to regenerate rapidly, therefore, it is comprised of ‘younger’ cells — literally a younger body]. Remember that exercise is little more than breaking down body tissue. Its ability to grow stronger comes as a result of the regeneration process when supplied with premium fuel. Premium fuel. That’s a key concept, because the quality of newly-fabricated cells is completely and wholly dependent upon the fuel source supplied. “When rebuilding cells, the body can go one of two ways. If it has the right resources, the new cells will be strong and healthy. However, if the only available ‘building blocks’ are drawn from sub-standard resources, the body has no choice but to fabricate weaker ‘filler’ cells. This is called degeneration, more commonly known as premature aging.” If an athlete consumes nutrient-poor food, then his or her exercise — which should be complementary stress — can actually convert into uncomplementary stress, simply by virtue of degeneration. In fact, according to experts, “performing strenuous exercise regularly without eating a nutrient-rich diet will actually speed degeneration of the cells and therefore the aging process.” It cannot be stressed enough — especially in the case of ‘hardcore’ training athletes and individuals who love optimal fitness — that what you eat today will literally be the stuff from which your body is made within a year. Your current body — right now! — has been constructed from the food you’ve consumed over the past year. However, an athlete or a fitness enthusiast wants his or her body to look and perform depends entirely upon the food eaten, activity level, and how he or she deals with stress. The plain truth is that the more diligent an athlete’s exercise programme and the better the diet, the sooner he or she will have a ‘new and improved’ body. NUTRITIONAL ADVICE So, here’s the part you have all been waiting for, when I finally give you a list of the foods that you need to consume in order to become the fittest, strongest, most agile and flexible athletic-fitness self that you can be. Well, first a few guidelines. The alkaline advantage. Alkalising foods are an integral part of the regeneration and repair process that takes place during the resting phase after exercise. Athletes in peak training are the most affected by excessively high acid levels [acidosis], as vigorous exercise causes a buildup of lactic acid in the body. Stress of any kind only makes the situation worse. Maintaining an acidic body leads to fatigue, joint pain, muscular stiffness, and a whole host of unpleasantries, including heightened risk of cancer.

Besides consuming alkalising foods, other steps to take that raise the body’s pH level include: deep breathing, yoga, light stretching, and meditation. Plant-based foods. Raw plant protein is superior to animal protein in several ways. First, naturally-occurring enzymes, present only in raw protein, are assimilated and used by the body far more easily and efficiently than processed proteins. Second, raw plant protein has a higher pH than many ‘manufactured’ forms of protein, including whey and other isolates. Additionally, plant-based foods are digested easier; many whole plant foods have their own enzymes, which contribute to their quick and efficient digestion. The quicker nutrients can be extracted from food, the sooner the waste can be eliminated and the faster you can experience optimal health. Finally, according to Brazier, “the consumption of chlorophyll-rich, raw plant food combined with moderate exercise is the best way to create a biologically younger body.” SuperFoods. The following foods can be extremely beneficial to the serious athlete, provided they are of high quality and are consumed correctly and in appropriate amounts. Interesting, perhaps, but not surprising in the least, is that the majority of the foods and ideas you’ll find below are exactly what leaders in holistic nutrition have been saying for years and years. A note to meat eaters: Brazier is vegan and obviously does not believe that meat is a prime source of bioavailable protein. You will not find meat in the following list of foods that make for athletic excellence. Yet another book that I looked at is The Paleo Diet for Athletes, and it endorses animal sources of protein. It does, maintain, however, that the best sources will be those that are organically raised, free-range/grass-fed. If you choose to use meat as a source of dietary protein, your best bet is to consume only meat that is not loaded with chemicals and toxins, for all the obvious reasons, and the foods mentioned above. Foods rich in chlorophyll. These are paramount in the anti-aging process. The best sources are dark green vegetables and chlorella. Why chlorophyll? It helps maintain the alkaline balance in the body and also assists in the detoxification process. Additionally, it is the richest source of nucleic acids [necessary for RNA and DNA replication] in nature. Fibre. This helps to control cortisol levels in the body by stabilising insulin. Elevated cortisol levels inhibit the body’s ability to really restore itself during sleep, a vital part of regeneration. Fibre also ensures that wastes leave the body quickly. Raw, complete protein. This is the optimal facilitator of the regeneration process. Brazier recommends hemp and pea protein. The protein in hemp is complete, containing all ten essential amino acids. This amino acid profile translates into augmented immune function and quicker recovery. Hemp foods also have natural anti-inflammatory properties, which help to speed the recovery of soft tissue damage caused by exercise. Maca. This is an anti-aging root vegetable known to increase energy, assist in adaptation to stress and balance HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

hormones naturally. Brazier is insistent that maca is what has given him the cutting edge. When selecting maca, be sure to choose the gelatinised form for best results. This removes the hard-to-digest starchy component of the root, and allows the body to assimilate the nutrients more quickly. Flax. “Out of the entire plant kingdom, flax contains the highest level of omega-3, an essential fatty acid.” Omega3s are vital to the athlete as they reduce inflammation and play a role in the metabolism of fat. According to Brazier, “a diet with a daily dose of 10gm [about 1 tablespoon] of whole flaxseeds will allow the body to more efficiently burn body fat as fuel.” Who doesn’t want that? For athletes, this is especially important, as they need to spare muscle glycogen. Be sure to select whole flaxseed, not flaxseed meal. Dates. These are high in glucose and have been called ‘nature’s fuel.’ When consumed, the glucose is quickly converted to glycogen in the liver. Maintaining an adequate glycogen supply in both the muscles and the liver is imperative for sustained energy. Therefore, dates are best consumed shortly before, during, or immediately following exercise. [Extra bonus: dates are also alkaline-forming]. SUPPLEMENTS Believe it or not, most reliable research does not justify the need for extra single or combination vitamin supplements, except when the athlete is in a deficiency state. At first you might feel like this leaves you in a position where you’re limited in giving sports nutrition advice, but take another look at that sentence again. It states that supplements are not needed unless the athlete is in a deficiency state. Most athletes that you speak with, unless you live in a holisticallyaware community, will probably be labouring under false sports nutrition beliefs. Taking time to get a full nutritional profile from them will allow you better understand in what ways their diets could be improved. That said, let’s look at a few vitamins and minerals and see the role they play in athletic nutrition. The B vitamins. These are involved in energy production from carbohydrates and fats as well as with red blood cell production. According to Lisa Dorfman, MS, RD, LMHC, “The rationale for using supplements is due to their physiological effect on the athlete and the fact that prolonged deficiency can affect endurance performance. Since cooking and the use of certain medications can affect nutrient absorption, it may be likely that a secondary deficiency exists… Therefore, it seems logical that any activity requiring additional energy would justify the need for extra Bs.” Vitamin C. This is easily the most popular supplement; it plays a role in a host of functions important to athletic performance including collagen and hormone synthesis, enhancing iron absorption, and the oxidation of food and energy production. Even a slight deficiency can affect

performance and immunity in an athlete. Fat-soluble vitamins [A, D, E, K]. Athletes should really focus on getting these nutrients from foods, as this will reduce their chance of ‘overdosing’ and the resulting toxicity. Minerals. If an athlete is making wise food choices [a vegetarian diet high in complex carbs, quality protein, and fruits and vegetables], he or she is probably getting enough minerals. Still, it is noted that athletes who may be at an increased risk for iron deficiency [such as regular and heavily menstruating females, endurance athletes, and low-body-weight and long-distance runners] may benefit from iron supplementation. Too much iron, however, can cause problems, so to improve iron intake and availability without supplementation, do not consume calcium and iron products together, limit the amount of fibre with high-iron meals and take a citrus source of at least 100mg of vitamin C with an iron-rich food to increase absorption. Probiotics. It means in Greek, “for life.” Probiotics are also known as the ‘friendly’ bacteria that live in your body. A positive balance of friendly bacteria will help the body digest, process, and utilise complex carbohydrates and protein. Consider a dairy-free probiotic for use, daily. Other supplements. The jury is still out on a number of well-known and widely used supplements [such as creatine, L-carnitine, pyruvate, etc.], and it would be a disservice to only present one view here. CONCLUSION Most people scoff at the suggestion that an athlete, or a fitness enthusiast, can excel on a vegetarian [or vegan] diet. Yet, this has been done and continues to be done today. As far as energy goes, getting it from fruits and vegetables really does eliminate the ‘middle man,’ you can either eat your veggies or eat the meat from animals that have eaten veggies. Why not go directly to the source? Beyond that, the net gain of energy that comes from eating whole foods that are easily digested really does give an athlete extra energy from conservation rather than consumption. Anyone who wants to trim off the extra weight and yet receive more energy should read this sentence again. Also, of prime importance for the holistic athlete are nutrient-rich, whole foods of organic plant origin. When consumed, they become the building blocks from which our bodies are actually re-made. An athlete who wants to excel in his or her chosen area of competition cannot afford to regenerate an unhealthy body. The subject of nutrition is vast and well-studied, but several theories exist regarding the best way to eat, exercise, rest, and supplement the diet in order to excel as an athlete. The general information given in this mini-course was designed not to inundate with technical jargon, but to educate you on the benefits of making holistic nutrition choices for athletes, and for you to keep fit and healthy.

Ryan N Harrison is a US-based holistic health educator and consultant in private practice. He has taught holistic nutrition, therapeutic herbalism and natural health for several years — in traditional and online settings.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

LIVING WELL: LIFESTYLE

VITAMIN D & BONE HEALTH Vitamin D plays an important role in protecting our bones. It helps our body to absorb calcium and also increase bone strength. By KAVITA NADKARNI

his writer never thought that a small accident, just the twisting of an ankle while walking, would lead to three broken bones, a 3-hour surgery, three months of recovery period and about six months to get back to normal routine. It was only after the event that one realised how much we take our health for granted, especially our bone health. In this case in point, it was also low bone density and calcium deficiency that led to broken bones. With the rains approaching and roads getting slippery, there is a possibility of several such accidents taking place. Along with precautions, like wearing good footwear and other safety measures, it is also important to keep our bone density high. This is where the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D, comes to our aid. Vitamin D helps our body to absorb calcium and increase bone strength. Therefore, even if our diet is calcium-rich, one needs a sufficient amount of vitamin D to increase bone density. Vitamin D deficiency might lead to lower bone density and breaking of bones even with a minor accident. Would you believe it? Vitamin D is not a vitamin. Vitamins are special nutrients that the body needs, but cannot produce by itself. This is why they should be obtained from the food we eat or through supplements. However, our body can make vitamin D by itself when

exposed to sunlight. This is also why it is considered a hormone and not a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;typeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of vitamin, although it is called a vitamin. VITAMIN D FOR GOOD BONES Children need vitamin D to build strong bones, and adults need it to keep their bones strong and healthy. It is essential because it helps the body use calcium from the diet. Symptoms of bone pain and muscle weakness can mean you may have a vitamin D deficiency. It is also an immunity booster and helps keep insulin, calcium and phosphorus levels in balance. Studies have proved the link between vitamin D consumption and reduced risk of developing conditions, like autoimmune diseases, heart disease, chronic inflammation, and some types of cancer. Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of conditions, including type-1 and type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis [MS]. Stress is evidenced to trigger heart disease. Studies point out that cold weather and a lack of sunlight can exacerbate your moods, increase the chances of depression that may eventually lead to heart disease. It all comes down HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

to vitamin D. Doctors say that people with heart disease are often found to have low levels of vitamin D. DEFICIENCY SIGNPOST A deficiency of vitamin D may lead to low bone density, so you are more likely to break bones as you age. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with rickets, a condition in which the bone tissue does not properly mineralise, leading to soft bones and skeletal deformities. Children who lack vitamin D can develop rickets. Yet, many children today are not getting enough vitamin D. One of the important reasons is that few foods contain substantial levels of the vitamin D. Even the healthiest of diets would probably not provide you with adequate amounts of vitamin D. Besides, changes in lifestyle have also played a part. Children today spend hours in front of the computer or television, rather than playing outdoors. Few children walk to school on a regular basis. This has reduced their exposure to sunlight, thereby reducing vitamin D intake. Children should be encouraged to play outdoor games at least for some time during the day, preferably in sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with the following — • Increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease • Cognitive impairment in older adults • Severe asthma in children • Cancer Lack of vitamin D causes calcium-depleted bone [osteomalacia], which may further weaken the bones and increase the risk of fractures [NB: Vitamin D, along with adequate calcium, as a part of a well-balanced diet, may reduce the risk of osteoporosis]. The health problems associated with vitamin D deficiency, however, do not stop here. Medical News Today reports that a study led by the University of Kentucky, US, indicated that vitamin D deficiency may damage the brain. New research claims that low levels of vitamin D in the first 26 weeks of pregnancy may increase the risk of preeclampsia [high blood pressure and protein in the urine]. DAILY REQUIREMENT Women and men under the age of 50 need 400-800 international units [IU] of vitamin D daily and after the age 50, they may need 800-1,000IU daily [Please note that some people may need more]. According to the Institute of Medicine [IoM], US, the safe upper limit of vitamin D is 4,000IU per day for most adults. SOURCES • Sunlight • Food • Supplements. To help get your daily dose of vitamin D you should try to spend some time in the sun. Vitamin D is produced in your

SELECT FOOD SOURCES OF VITAMIN D IU per serving*

Per cent DV**

1,360 566 447

340 142 112

Tuna fish, canned in water, drained, 3 ounce Orange juice fortified with vitamin D, 1 cup [check product labels, as amount of added vitamin D varies]

154

137

Milk, non-fat, reduced fat, and whole, vitamin D-fortified, 1 cup Yogurt, fortified with 20% of the DV for vitamin D, 6 ounce [more heavily fortified yogurts provide more of the DV] Margarine, fortified, 1 tablespoon Sardines, canned in oil, drained, 2 sardines Liver, beef, cooked, 3 ounce Egg, 1 large [vitamin D is found in yolk] Ready-to-eat cereal, fortified with 10% of the DV for vitamin D, 0.75-1 cup [more heavily fortified cereals might provide more of the DV]

115-124

29-31

Cheese, Swiss, 1 ounce

Food

Cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon Swordfish, cooked, 3 ounce Salmon [sockeye], cooked, 3 ounce

* IU = International Units. ** DV = Daily Value. DVs were developed by the US Food and Drug Administration to help consumers compare the nutrient contents among products within the context of a total daily diet. The DV for vitamin D is currently set at 400IU for adults and children age four and older. — Courtesy, http://ods.od.nih.gov/

body when ultraviolet [UV] rays from sunlight ‘hit’ your skin. The synthesis of vitamin D in the body is activated by the UV rays and gets converted by the liver into its active form. One of the best ways to get vitamin D is to spend about 10-15 minutes a day outside in the early morning sun. Those with dark skin tones may spend about 2-3 times more time than that. Also, one should keep in mind that wearing sunscreen will make it a tad difficult for your skin to make enough vitamin D. The top sources of vitamin D in food are — • Cod liver oil • Fish • Fortified cereals • Oysters • Caviar. Vitamin D can be found in multivitamins and also in combination with several calcium supplements. The inference is obvious — adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D are important for maintaining bone density and strength and also good health and well-being.

Kavita Nadkarni holds a degree in microbiology with a master’s in bio-informatics. She has worked in media groups, specialising in healthcare and pharmaceutical publications. Her areas of interest include complementary medicine and alternative healthcare. She is Assistant Editor, H&Y.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

GOOD FOOD

By TARLA DALAL

HEALTHY, CALCIUM-RICH PARATHAS This is for the health-conscious, as much as it is for others. A healthy version of parathas — yummy, nutritious and rich in calcium. When you hear the word, paratha, all that comes to your mind is yummy aloo parathas with oodles of butter on it. The health-conscious, however, would stay away from this popular delicacy, considering its high calorie value. For them, H&Y presents a healthy version of parathas, which are equally tasty, nutritious and rich in calcium. The parathas are made from ragi and wheat flour, while the dough is prepared in a different way. It is cooked using drumstick stock, like khichu — while the parathas are made from the same dough. Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 15 minutes Makes 4 servings. INGREDIENTS • 2 drumsticks • 1 1/2 tsp chili-ginger-garlic paste • 1-1/2 cups blanched fenugreek [methi] leaves • 1 to 1-1/2 tsp sesame seeds [til] • Salt to taste • A pinch of turmeric powder • 1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds and dry fenugreek leaves powder • 1/4 cup ragi [nachni/red millet] flour

• 1 cup wheat flour • Oil for cooking and rolling. FOR SERVING • Garlic chutney METHOD • Cut drumsticks in small pieces and boil in water for 10-12 minutes, or till it becomes soft and tender • Drain and keep aside the stock • In a pan heat 1-1 ½ cup of drumstick stock, add little water • Add chili ginger garlic paste, fenugreek leaves, sesame seeds, salt, turmeric powder, cumin seeds and dry fenugreek powder, mix well and cook for a minute • Add red millet and wheat flour, stir with rolling pin for a while, or till it becomes a little dry • Transfer to bowl, cool to room temperature • Knead well • Roll out the paratha using little oil • Heat non-stick tava [gridle], grease with little oil • Cook paratha from both the sides using little oil, till it turns golden brown on slow flame • Similarly prepare other parathas • Serve hot with garlic chutney. [Courtesy: www.tarladalal.com]

Tarla Dalal was a noted Indian food writer, chef, best-selling cookbook author and host of cooking shows like Tarla Dalal Show and Cook It Up With Tarla Dalal.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

GOOD FOR YOU

MILK THISTLE: LIVER’S BEST BUDDY Milk thistle, the humble herb, not only protects the liver from damage, it actually stimulates the growth of healthy new cells.

ybil Stevens had no idea that her adult A poor diet is a frequent cause of excess acne [pimples] was connected to liver stress to the liver. Any toxins that leave the gut dysfunction. A graduate student in art are transported almost instantaneously into the history at twenty-three, her face had become an liver, almost as if they’d been beamed up by the unsightly battleground, pocked with acne pits and starship Enterprise, right through a special vein flaring up with cystic pimples that took weeks to called the portal vein. The liver immediately has By Dr RICHARD to detoxify this material. The liver produces bile, go away. FIRSHEIN Cybil’s dermatologist had prescribed Minocin, which is crucial for emulsifying fatty acids. It even an oral tetracycline drug, for the last six months. produces special substances that stimulate blood She took 200mg a day. He also gave her a topical antibiotic clotting. The liver, along with the kidneys, acts as a superb called Cleocin T, as well as Retin-A cream. Although filter for any substance that might be hazardous to the these drugs helped initially, the antibiotics made her body, from drugs to chemicals, solvents, and pesticides, more vulnerable to yeast infections, and she still suffered and even our own hormones and inflammatory chemicals. from frequent breakouts. Finally, her doctor prescribed I explained to Cybil that today, more than ever, our liver Accutane, a drug that can cause liver toxicity and is known faces a hugely difficult task. And, that is where milk thistle, to concentrate in tissues and remain there for years. It is an the liver’s best friend, comes into the story. extremely potent acne medication, a last resort. In addition, A LITTLE HELP FROM DAISY her dermatologist warned her that Minocin could cause her Milk thistle is a North American weed, a member of to be photosensitive, and that she shouldn’t spend much the daisy family that grows all over the United States. time in the sun. It has shiny dark green leaves with spiny edges and It was June, the semester had just ended, and Cybil had reddish purple flowers. Known as Silybum Marianum been planning a summer out on the Jersey shore with her [milk thistle], it is an extraordinary herb that powerfully family. At that point, she came to me. They say that the protects, assists, and even regenerates the liver. In the skin is the mirror of the soul, but the truth is, the skin is words of Joseph Pizzorno, ND, founding president of the mirror of the liver. When the liver is weak and fails to Bastyr University, US, “Milk thistle is possibly the most perform efficiently, toxins can pass into the bloodstream. potent liver protective agent known. It is so effective that These toxins can easily cause skin problems. in experiments with mice, if milk thistle is administered MORSE CODE within a few minutes of ingestion of the deadly Amanita I explained to Cybil that her face was like a Morse code Phalloides mushroom, death is not only prevented, but being sent out by her liver, and the code kept repeating the little liver damage is found!” word “Help!” The liver is the largest organ in the body, and Traditionally, when liver disease strikes, such as after it is involved in almost all metabolic processes. It filters a an infection with hepatitis B or C, most patients are told Herculean two-quarts of blood every single minute. The to take medications like alpha interferon, which can liver is as crucial to our continued health as the heart, cause numerous side-effects, including bone marrow kidneys, and lungs. When I asked Cybil to think back about suppression. When steroids have been used against the time when her acne had first begun, she instantly said, hepatitis, they have often proven ineffective and damaging “It was when I began graduate school two years ago.” to the immune system. Liver transplants can be life-saving; She had moved in with her boyfriend, and the relationship however, reinfection of the new liver usually occurs. was stressful and punctuated by arguments. She recalled Although not a cure, milk thistle, on the other hand, has coming down with bronchitis that winter and being given been found to be not only rapidly effective, but also safe three courses of antibiotics before she finally got well. and free of debilitating side-effects. In addition, she’d begun to adopt his way This is why milk thistle is my centrepiece in restoring of eating — ordering in pizzas and downing the healthy functioning of this organ. It not only protects a couple of beers each night. the liver from damage, it actually stimulates the growth The puzzle pieces began to fit. First, high levels of stress. of healthy new cells. Amazingly, studies have shown that Then, a month of antibiotics that had disrupted the balance this humble herb can reverse liver damage, protect against of flora in her gut. Frequent yeast infections. Add a poor diet hepatitis and cirrhosis, speed recovery from jaundice, and nearly a year of prescription drugs. No wonder Cybil’s and even protect laboratory animals from kidney toxicity liver was unable to do its job. normally caused by a potent drug.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

A fifteen-year study in Sweden showed that the active ingredient in milk thistle, called silymarin, protected against potentially fatal mushroom poisoning. Silymarin is now a standard part of emergency room [ER] treatment for mushroom poisoning in Europe. Another study of over 2,600 patients with liver disorders found remarkable improvement with daily doses of milk thistle extract. After two months, 63 per cent of patients reported that their symptoms had completely disappeared. They no longer suffered from nausea, itching, bloating, lack of appetite, and fatigue. Laboratory tests found that elevated liver enzymes, a signal that the liver is inflamed, had decreased by an average of 40 per cent. Other studies have shown equally impressive results and have confirmed the improvements with actual liver biopsies. Silymarin can protect the liver from a wide range of potential poisons, from alcohol to mushrooms to prescription drugs [without interfering with the drugs’ potency]. Not surprisingly, an herb this potent has long been known to folklorists and has been in use for thousands of years. Research into its liver-protecting properties began some decades ago in Germany when the active ingredient, silymarin, was first discovered. I sometimes think of silymarin as a Secret Service Agent taking a bullet for the President, because the compound binds to receptors within the liver that are vulnerable to toxins, thus preventing their damaging effects. Silymarin has been used to treat cirrhosis, hepatitis, gallstones, and skin disorders like psoriasis and acne. In fact, herbalists find it useful in any chronic illness that stresses the liver. HELPING THE LIVER TO HEAL ITSELF I wanted to wean Cybil from her drugs, treat her for the yeast that was incubating in her gut because of constant doses of antibiotics, and support her liver function. First, I placed her on a weeklong detoxification diet. Day one consisted entirely of vegetables; on day two, she could add rice; on day three, fruit, especially lemons as juice or salads; and, on the fourth, fish. On day five, she substituted beans for her vegetables, and on day six she was allowed to eat all the foods. “Doctor,” said Cybil, “this diet sounds like hell. Why do I have to do it?” I explained that this short detoxification programme would lay the foundation for recovery of her liver. On day one, we were removing any foods to which she might be allergic. On day two, rice would help absorb water and toxins in her gut, so the lining would not be irritated. On day three, fruits and lemon would stimulate detoxification in her liver. By day four, she was adding back protein, and on day five, fibre and vegetables like broccoli and beets, which also stimulate liver detoxification. Each day, she should consume one teaspoon of flaxseed powder

in an eight-ounce glass of water. Flaxseed helps bulk up bowel movements and absorbs bacteria and toxins. It also contains healthy omega-3 oils and fibre called lignans, which are known to reduce the risk of cancer. “All right,” she agreed. “I’ll tough it out.” After the weeklong detox, Cybil followed a maintenance diet that eliminated fried and excessively fatty foods, which are often hard for the liver to handle. I literally ‘prescribed’ daily doses of the vegetables and fruits that are known to support liver detoxification, including lemons, beets, and broccoli. I asked her to stop consuming beer, pizza, and sugars, all of which stimulate yeast and were a staple of her diet. Finally, and most important, we addressed Cybil’s liver directly. Vitamin C, at 2,000mg a day in four divided doses, was important as an antioxidant and general detoxifier. B complex, zinc, and magnesium were added because the liver needs these nutrients in order to function well. N-acetyl cysteine [NAC], a special form of an amino acid, is a powerful liver protectant, because it stimulates the liver’s most powerful antioxidant, glutathione. I suggested Cybil to take 250mg four times a day. Most important, however, was silymarin. I prescribed 400mg daily. The rest of her story is short and sweet. She improved steadily over three months. My receptionist, Amy, didn’t recognise Cybil the last time she came into the office for a consultation. Her complexion was smooth, almost flawless. She looked wonderful, thanks to silymarin, which had helped her liver to help her.

Dr Richard Firshein, Founder-Director of The Firshein Center for Comprehensive Medicine in New York City, is a leading innovator and authority in the field of preventative and nutritional medicine, integrating both Eastern and Western medical practices. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has served as professor of family medicine. An internationally recognised leader in the field of integrative medicine and healthy aging, a cancer researcher, prolific author and writer, Dr Firshein has written several groundbreaking books, including the bestselling Reversing Asthma, Your Asthma-Free Child, The Nutraceutical Revolution and, most recently, The Vitamin Prescription [For Life].

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

FIGHTING FIT

RUNNING FOR OPTIMAL FITNESS When you are ready for a running fitness programme, all you need to do is follow a few simple steps and a graduated running plan — to help you get back on your feet.

irst, the basics. Clear it with your doctor. If Week 2. This is the beginning of the it’s been several years [or, more] since you alternating phase. By alternating we mean ran regularly, check with your healthcare walk, run, walk, and run in succession. Start by provider just to be sure. Pick up a pair of walking for five minutes at a brisk pace and then comfortable, quality running shoes. Sometimes jog for a couple of minutes. Repeat this [walk just spending the bucks for a good pair of shoes is for 5 minutes; jog for 2 minutes] three times. Try By KERRY enough incentive to actually get you to use them. to get in three walk/run sessions this week. DULIN You have to walk before you can run. Right now, Week 3. Heart Jogging. You will be picking you have nothing to prove, at least not yet so at this up the intensity a bit this week, so be sure that time, forget about what you used to do and focus on what your shoes are up to the task. Start with your five-minute you are doing now, and that is walking. By walking I don’t brisk walk now followed by a three-minute jog. Repeat mean a treadmill, or an elliptical trainer, but walking on the this walk five minutes/jog three minutes, split for three same surface that you will be jogging on. You need to get walk/jog periods. Try to get in four sessions this week. your feet, joints and muscles used to the feel and texture of Week 4. Are you sore? Some muscle soreness is the pavement. Treadmills and elliptical trainers are great, to be expected, but joint soreness is another matter. but they are low impact. Then, again, if your programme is Know the difference. This week you are going to to be a treadmill runner then by all means go for it, but this walk for three minutes and jog for five minutes. programme assumes that you will be running outdoors. Repeat this process four times and try to get in Run with a partner whenever possible. Running with a 3-4 sessions this week. You don’t have to push it, partner is safer than running alone and the accountability three is enough to do the job; a fourth session is to someone else is helpful in maintaining commitments. okay if you can handle it and really want to. Week 5. Walk two minutes and jog for seven minutes. THE PROGRAMME You should be starting to get your ‘wind’ back at this 8 weeks to becoming a runner again. point. Try to develop a rhythm in your steps and keep Week 1. Day 1. You have to walk before you can run, your breath in sync with that rhythm. Repeat this process especially if you have been off for a while. So, this week three times and aim for three sessions this week. is dedicated to walking. At this point walking should Week 6. Walk at a brisk pace for two minutes followed be comfortable, but faster than your usual pace. Try to by jogging for nine minutes. Repeat three times per walk the course that you will be using in your routine at session and again shoot for three sessions this week. a modestly fast and steady pace. A good walk would be You should be starting to feel like a ‘runner’ at this point. 3-4km in 30-35 minutes; this will have you moving at 4-5km Week 7. Walking less, jog more, you are already at an hour. week seven and hopefully loving every minute of it. Your Week 1. Day 2. After day one you may be a bit sore and sessions now begin with a 1-minute walk followed by considering that you have nothing to prove, use your best a 10-minute jog. Repeat this process three times per judgment as to whether your body needs time to recover session and again aim for three sessions this week. or not. If you are okay, repeat day one, but if you are sore, Week 8. This week’s programme starts with a don’t push yourself and call this a recovery day. 5-minute walk followed with a 20-minute jog and Week 1. Day 3. Same rules from day two apply. If you ends with another 5-minute walk. This is the entire walked yesterday and are pretty sore today, consider this a session. Your goal is to get in three sessions while recovery day. If not, enjoy the air and get in your distance. increasing the jog time with each session. Aim You may be tempted to start jogging already but do for a 30-minute run by the end of the week. yourself a favour and get your walking time in first. Congratulations. It’s just 8 weeks ago, you Week 1. Continued. Your goal this week is to get in 3-4 were living in the past talking about what you good walking sessions. If you can squeeze in more, great; used to do, and now you are actually doing but, don’t push yourself too hard. it. Don’t stop, you’re a runner now.

Kerry Dulin, a world-renowned fitness guru, first got into professional bodybuilding at age 40. He won his first bodybuilding competition at 41. Now 55, with a physique that would put someone half his age to shame, Dulin has what he calls “a manageable programme,” 12 top trophies to show for his fitness endeavours and three health and fitness websites. He lives in the US.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

WHOLE & SOUL

KNOW THYSELF The way we react to opportunities that come in life depends a lot on our attitude. In fact, the world is nothing but our vision enveloped by our attitude.

he energy that is being transmitted today? How much people are investing in that by antennae is everywhere. It is being which brings peace and stability? Whatever we transmitted through satellites; we can are and whatever we have is all that we can give turn on a weather station, a news station, to society. If I am myself begging on the street, just by the touch of a button. We can turn how can I help other beggars? on a soap opera or drama where people are I can, perhaps, help emotionally, but certainly killing each other, or a scene with romance, or not with food. So, what we have is what we can a religious channel; all we do is just press a give. In this world today compassion is such a By button. What we are essentially doing is that great need. In human life, it is so essential to RADHANATH we are accessing a particular frequency. There take responsibility, because if we are not part of SWAMI are unlimited frequencies everywhere in the the solution, we are a part of the problem. world. When you look into the mirror, you see yourself. But, By everything that we say, everything that we do, what if that mirror has been neglected for hundreds of everything that we think, we are generating a particular years? There are layers and layers of debris, dust, dirt energy and it goes right into the atmosphere all around and filth. And, when you look into the mirror, all you see us. It is very subtle, but it is very real. The energies we is dust and the dirt that is accumulated, and all you think are accessing is determined by the type of company we is, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is me!â&#x20AC;? But, when you clean the mirror, little by keep and by what we open our hearts and mind to. And, little you start seeing the image of yourself. And, when that is why good company is important to feed our good the mirror is actually clean, you see who you are. qualities, to nourish our good qualities, to access the Spirituality is essential for that purpose; prayers are divinity within us and the divinity all around us. for that purpose; to cleanse our heart, to cleanse our In business, intelligence is in proper investments. How lifestyle, so that we can actually and directly experience you invest will determine your future. What are people our own essence, which is eternal, full of knowledge and investing in the internal nourishment of their hearts full of love. Radhanath Swami a spiritual guide, is the author of the bestselling book, The Journey Home. To know more about his work on leadership and spirituality, visit www.tulsibooks.com. Website: www.radhanathswami.com

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

POISE & BALANCE

THE SOUL-CHAKRA CONNECT The soul is, in reality, identical with god [paramatma], or the Supreme Lord. The chakras are the powerful energy centres of the soul.

oul [atma] is the immortal and spiritual formation of a subtle ‘connect’ between our body of light that stimulates life and body and our soul; they are the transformers reincarnates again and again until all of energy as well. The energy of the seven necessary karmas [action by free will] are centres is used for our physical, emotional, created and resolved and its essential unity mental, and spiritual processes. The first with god is fully realised. three are more physical, the last three are The soul is, in reality, identical with god more spiritual, while the heart chakra forms By Dr PREETI [paramatma], or the Supreme Lord, which is the correlation between the physical and MANDAWEWALA One, Infinite and Eternal. The soul is beyond spiritual. According to the yogic system, the physical, subtle and mental worlds, an individual [ jiva], the human being, is but experiences itself as being limited, owing to its composed of three ‘bodies.’ identification with the physical, or gross body, the • The physical body, or the gross body [sthula sarira] subtle body, or prana [which is the vehicle of desire • The astral body, or the subtle body [sukshma sarira or and vital force], and the mental body or manas [which Lingadeha] is the seat of the mind]. • The casual body, or the seed body [karana sarira]. This The chakras are the powerful energy centres of the body functions as a vehicle for the inner self, or purusha, soul. Each chakra has a separate function and certain or jiva. power. The health of our chakras affects our physical Physical body or the gross body [sthula sarira] is and mental health. They are responsible for the composed of five elements: ether [aakasha], air [vayu], HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

fire [agni], water [ jala], and earth [prithvi]. The body [deha], action [karma], love and hate [raga-dvesha], egoism [ahamkara], non-discrimination [aviveka], and ignorance [ajnana], are the seven links of the chain of world-experience [samsara]. From ignorance [ajnana], non-discrimination [aviveka] is born. Ignorance is non-discrimination between the real and the unreal. From ignorance is born egoism [ahamkara]; from egoism, like and dislike [ragadvesha] is born; from like and dislike, action [karma] arises; from action, the body [deha] is produced. If we want to free ourselves from the pain of birth and death, we need to destroy ignorance [ajnana] through the attainment of the Knowledge of the Absolute [Brahman] with the help of chakra meditation, or any other kind of meditation. When ignorance is removed, we will be able to break all the other links. Our physical body is the result of our past actions; it is the seat of our enjoyment of pleasure and pain. Subtle body [sukshma sarira or Lingadeha] is composed of 24 principles [tattvas], five organs of knowledge [gyanendriyas], five organs of action [karmendriyas], five vital airs [pranas], five subtle energies [tanmatras], mind [manas], intellect [buddhi],

the subconscious [chitta], and the ego [ahamkara]. In the subtle body exists the seven chakras, or astral centres. Causal body [karana sharir]. Within the subtle body is a yet more subtle body called the causal body; it is the creative force behind the other two. In other words, the causal body is not actually the body, but a higher mind. Before the birth of a human being, the ‘cause’ on the basis of its past life actions [prarabdh, karmas, bad or good], our causal body in the form of a seed is created. The seed is then covered with the subtle body and finally the gross body. Yogic literature generally describes the life [vital] force as creating individuals through the manifestation of the three bodies cited above, in which are contained the five sheaths [koshas], known as annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya and anandamaya, which form the human being. The body links with one another through the chakras, or energy centres, five major and five minor pranic fields of energy, from 72,000 nāḍis. The nāḍi emanates from the root chakra [mooladhara], the root and support of the subtle body system, close to where the kundalini lies coiled. The anandamaya kosha controls the causal body.

Dr Preeti Mandawewala, PhD, comes from a traditional Marwadi business family. She first discovered, as housewife, her love for yoga and completed Yogacharya certification followed by Yogavachaspati. A few years later, she learned all she could about chakra meditation and pursued her doctorate in the subject. She conducts regular workshops and has found chakra meditation to be therapeutically effective for acidity, spondylitis, diabetes, high blood pressure, migraine, thyroid disorders and tennis elbow, among other health issues. She lives in Mumbai.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

BY INVITATION

BIRD SONG Feeding chirpy birds is always a good thing — good, irrespective of time, or place.

he Tamil poet, Subramania Bharathi, the short shrubs and bushes around, eyeing the despite the fact that there was little rice pots and signs of human benevolence. at home for himself and his wife, gave In winter, the small birds depend entirely on what away all of it to the sparrows. It was one of households dole out to them in these bird-feeders. those moments of reverie, when he was closely The bigger birds somehow manage as they can communing with Mother Nature. fly over longer distances. But, the little ones — These days, this would be an utterly sparrows especially — have to eke it out through the By G VENKATESH cold winters. I remember a case in point. We once impossible thing to do — most likely to be dubbed as outright foolish. I confess that I went on a vacation for four weeks. The pots would would never really be able to emulate the poet, but I remain empty for a month — the coldest part of winter, have been inspired by his action [I read about the story typically. when I was in school], and lately by what I commonly In Mumbai, on a recent vacation, I visualised the see in Norway in winter. You can do some things that the Norwegian sparrows flying over to the pots expectantly, Romans do, in Rome. The good things that is — good, chirping, waiting for a while and then flying away, just as irrespective of time, or place. I was feeding Indian sparrows and pigeons. They would I had this instinct — quite like waking up in the morning have done this for a few days, before concluding that those to brush my teeth and light incense sticks and apply the pots would never be filled with food for them. holy ash mark on my forehead — to feed the sparrows, I could not help wondering where they would get their crows and pigeons, when I was a resident of Mumbai. food from. I remember that a whole flock of them had I carried this habit with me to Norway, but could not their buffets, three times a day, at those little pots when implement it until I moved into an apartment with my wife, we were there. But then, as the Hindi proverb goes, jisne which had a lawn outside, and facilities to mount a birdchonch di hai, wohi daana bhi dega [He who has given the feeder. beak will also provide the food]. The old good habit romped in, and every morning I used I am back in Norway now, and have filled the pots to fill the ‘pots strung on branch’ with ‘bird-food’ which is again. It has been several days and the sparrows have sold in supermarkets in the country. not returned. I wake up in the morning hoping to catch a On weekends, I used to take my first sip of coffee in the glimpse of a sparrow feeding on the food from the pots. morning only after the earliest bird had ‘got’ the worm Have they found an alternative? Are they safe and sound? from the bird-feeder outside our home. Have they managed to scrape through somehow? Will There used to be at least a dozen of them at a time, they be back soon? quarrelling, but taking turns and having their fill. Soon, No luck, thus far. May be, tomorrow morning, I pray, will they became habituated to this, and they would wait on bring me good, bird-driven, happy news. G Venkatesh, PhD, is an engineer, writer, and poet — a man of many parts. His interests also include sustainable development, cricket, philosophy, spirituality, photography, and travel. He lives in Trondheim, Norway.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

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LIFE COACH

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE Positive intentions often provide us with a ‘new’ edge. It also propels us to take actions that could save us an entire lifetime of toil and effort.

otwithstanding the industry you’re in, get to, then any road will take you there. profession, stage of your career or life, One of the best things that you can possibly do or even if you aren’t part of any industry, for yourself is to ask this most relevant question: profession or career, one thing remains What do you want in life? common to everything you do. It is always Or, better still, what do you actually want in done with a positive intention. In essence, life? everything that anybody does has a positive I have personally asked these questions to By VINESH intention. This is not to be mistaken for the SUKUMARAN several people and one category of responses fact that everything that anybody does is done you get is: for the greater good of humanity, or the world. That’s • A better job obviously not true. The point is that when anyone • A higher salary does anything, they do it with the positive intention of • A big house getting a particular outcome. What often gets muddled • A fancy car is that people may not have absolute clarity about • An ideal life partner what exactly they want to achieve and what things • A fat bank balance, etc. would look like after they achieve it. It is safe to say These are what you call MEANS goals. These are not the that often in life, we end up aiming for and achieving things you actually want in life but, unfortunately, there are things that are not, in fact, what we actually wanted. many who might spend an entire lifetime pursuing them This reminds me of the wonderful old story in while not even getting past their allure. If you scratched Alice in Wonderland. There is a point where sweet the surface a little more, you would realise that the reason little Alice is walking in wonderland and is looking someone wants a fat bank balance, a big house, or an for direction. On the bough of ‘this’ tree, she sees a ideal life partner, is to achieve something larger like — beautiful cat called the Cheshire cat. A conversation • A feeling of security between the cat and Alice goes something like this: • A sense of pride Alice: ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to • A feeling of joy go from here?’ • Happiness Cheshire Cat: ‘That depends a good deal on where you • Peace of mind want to get to.’ • Love, etc. Alice: ‘I don’t much care where…’ These feelings or emotions are what you call ENDS Cheshire Cat: ‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.’ goals. They are essentially what all human beings Alice: ‘… So long as I get SOMEWHERE.’ are trying to experience in life. Just realising this Cheshire Cat: ‘Oh, you’re sure to do that, if you only walk helps you to shift gears from chasing momentary long enough.’ excitement to experiencing sustained positive Though this is a lovely book for children, there are emotions. This shift typically gives your positive useful lessons for people in all walks of life in it. For intentions a ‘new’ edge and, therefore, propels you to example, the conversation cited makes it crystal clear take actions that could save you months, years and, that even in life, if you don’t know where you want to sometimes, an entire lifetime of toil and effort.

Vinesh Sukumaran is a Bengaluru-based applications specialist in behavioural dynamics and neurolinguistic psychology. A writer and coach, Sukumaran’s principal area of work is keyed to helping organisations and individuals apply neuropsychology to perform better at work and live more fulfilling lives.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

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POT-POURRI

STRESS TO DE-STRESS WITH MASSAGE THERAPY A massage therapy session eases your thoughts from the monotony of everyday worries and allows your mind and body to relax.

tress seems to be the song of everyone’s burden in the frenzied times we live in today. A massage therapy can help turnaround things for you. Gently. In fact, you’ll be surprised to see know how a relaxing body massage can have a calming effect on the body and mind — and, also keep stress at bay. Stress is considered a risk factor for several chronic diseases; it can also make symptoms worse. Take some time to figure out what massage technique benefits you the most and, subsequently, reduces your stress levels. PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF STRESS • Sleeplessness • Fatigue • Headache • Stomach upset • Chest pain • Low libido. PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF STRESS • Depression • Anxiety • Lack of motivation • Irritability, or anger • Restlessness. BEHAVIOURAL EFFECTS OF STRESS • Social withdrawal • Over- or under-eating • Angry outbursts. Massage therapy can lower your heart rate, stabilise your blood pressure, calm your muscles and enhance

the production of endorphins, your body’s ‘feel-good’ chemical. A body massage at a spa by professionally trained therapists can help release serotonin and dopamine too — this will make you feel calm and relaxed. Once you’re in this state of mind, tackling stress and stress-related symptoms becomes simple. A stressful week can be easily overcome with a massage therapy session at a good beauty spa. Even a single body massage session is often enough to do away with the feelings of stress and strain and to achieve a healthy lifestyle. A massage therapy loosens your thoughts from the monotony of everyday worries and allows your mind and body to relax. A thoroughly relaxing body massage helps you feel in control of your health too. Hence, the idea behind dimly-lit massage rooms and lilting background music with aromatic candles, or incense, to calm you down to such an extent that your mind chooses to shutout all the distressing reasons for stress. When stress bothers you for a period of time, it leads to muscular tension. This can lead to joint aches or pains, chronic backaches, neck pain, headaches and more. When a massage therapist uses techniques to rub, stroke, stretch or apply pressure to the muscles to help them return to their previous relaxed state, your stressrelated aches and pains disappear in no time. A massage therapy also helps to restore normal circulation, it ‘ups’ immune system activity and plays a vital role in restoring normal digestive function. So, what are you waiting for? Go for a therapeutic body massage, today. For further details, visit: http://www.o2spa.org/ HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

HEALTH HAPPENINGS HAIR STORY & THE RIDDLE WITHIN: A NEW PERSPECTIVE It has long been known that bacteria can ‘talk’ to one another, but now a study has shown mammalian cells may similarly co-ordinate group action. Bacteria chatter among themselves, yes. A chemical signalling system called quorum sensing allows those single-celled bugs to detect when their numbers have multiplied enough to mount an effective attack or emit glowing light. Yet decades after scientists learned about this brainless bacterial co-ordination, a research team has uncovered new evidence suggesting animal cells may speak the same lingo. These new hints were revealed through an unexpected approach — plucking hair. When a researcher at the University of Southern California, US, and his colleagues plucked 200 hairs from mice in a specific pattern in a confined area — ensuring that many neighbouring hairs were pulled — more than 1,000 hairs grew back in their place, including some beyond the plucked region [The mice were anaesthetised so they did not feel the hairs being plucked from their bodies]. The findings were first published in Cell, reports Dina Fine Maron in The Scientific American. Why didn’t the same number of plucked hairs grow back to replace their fallen kin? It appears that hundreds of affected hair follicles released chemical signals relaying distress. Then, once enough neighbouring cells sent out similar chemical flares, sensors on the skin detected the messages and took collective action: incredibly, those messages induced the regeneration of as much as five times the amount of replacement hair. If quorum sensing was behind this action, as the research team suggests, it would represent some of the first evidence to date that this phenomenon occurs in animal cells. Earlier work has suggested quorum sensing may also explain how bees and ants decide on social action as a group. Other studies have indicated that bacteria and cells lining the intestine may interact with one another via this system too. But, this would be the first indication that such signalling can occur across the skin and prompt ample hair regrowth. “It’s a pretty new field, but if cells can signal to bacteria in the gut, as research has shown, you would think they could signal amongst themselves as well,” so these findings make sense, says Julia van Kessel, an assistant research scientist at Indiana University, Bloomington, US, who focuses on quorum sensing. Of course, this hair plucking reaction does not mean that if humans start to go bald, plucking a few surrounding hairs would trigger a massive resurgence, or that irritating the scalp will necessarily be the key to luscious locks, according to lead author Cheng-Ming Chuong, a professor of pathology. To combat something like male pattern baldness — which is fuelled by genes and hormones and involves changes in the hair follicles themselves — further studies would need to take place before researchers could understand how or even if

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

these findings can be translated into therapeutic steps. Still, because the skin cells mounted a massive co-ordinated response across their population, something was clearly occurring beyond individual hair regeneration, Chuong says. Indeed, when his team plucked a specific number of hairs in a particular circular configuration, it appears that the number and pattern of the plucking events acted as a tipping point to spark that reaction. Chuong’s team did not see a similar hair regrowth reaction when it plucked the same number of hairs spread over a larger area. If the plucking pattern exceeded 6mm in diametre, for example, hairs did not regenerate at all — even after 30 days. Higher-density plucking from circular areas with diametre between three and five millimeters, however, triggered the regeneration of between 450 and 1,300 hairs, including ones outside of the plucked area. The team also detected elevated levels of certain chemicals that suggest the cells were ‘talking’ amongst themselves. “Chemical communication between mammalian cells has obviously been reported before but the novelty here is about space and crowding,” says Vanessa Sperandio, a professor of microbiology and biochemistry who focuses on quorum sensing at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, US. “There is a relationship here with thresholds that no one has seen before,” says Sperandio, who was not involved with the study. Those chemical signatures were present around the massive hair regeneration spots, but not around areas that failed to have this massive regrowth — potential evidence of chemical signalling in quorum sensing, Chuong’s team reports. Collectively, these clues all suggest neighbour cells’ signalling had some importance. In bacteria it has been widely documented that communication hinges on quorum sensing. When there are only a few bacteria, they will not meet the threshold for action. But, once their concentration is high — which they can sense from a greater number of signalling molecules around them — they can and will take collective action. Quorum sensing in animal cells, Chuong says, could similarly help the body decide whether to ignore small irritations, or take collective action. “I think quorum sensing would help an organ respond collectively so it could deal with outside stimuli in the most effective and efficient way,” he says. In future research Chuong hopes his team or others will uncover whether a similar communication strategy may occur in other parts of the body, or even in other species — including humans. For now, his team studied hairs because it is easy to visualise regeneration and to appreciate the signalling behaviour, he says. “In terms of broader significance we think quorum sensing could exist in other organ systems as well,” he adds. Van Kessel, who was not involved with this work, agrees. Although bacteria are easy to work with and have been the main focus of other quorum sensing studies in the past couple of decades, “I don’t think quorum sensing

is limited to bacteria. It’s just that we’ve always studied them and they are easy to manipulate,” she says. “This is definitely a new way of thinking about things.” WOUNDS HEAL QUICKLY WITH NANOPARTICLES Researchers who are working on a way to use nanoparticles to hasten wound healing see their therapy would be useful for all sorts of wounds from surgical incisions to diabetic ulcers. The team, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, US, has tested the experimental nanoparticle therapy on mice and showed it cut the time it takes for skin wounds to heal by half compared with no treatment. They report how they developed and tested the therapy in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology. David J Sharp, professor of physiology and biophysics at Einstein, co-led the study and explains the new therapy’s potential, “We envision that our nanoparticle therapy could be used to speed the healing of all sorts of wounds, including everyday cuts and burns, surgical incisions, and chronic skin ulcers, which are a particular problem in the elderly and people with diabetes.” The new study builds on previous work where the team found an enzyme called fidgetin-like 2 [FL2] slows skin cells down as they migrate towards a wound to heal it. FL2 belongs to a family of enzymes that play various roles in the development and activity of cells. After their discovery, the researchers wondered if reducing levels of FL2 would make the healing cells move faster towards the wound. In this latest study, they developed a drug that blocks the gene that codes for FL2, loaded it into tiny nanoparticle capsules and applied them to skin wounds on mice. They found that — compared with untreated wounds — the skin wounds on the mice healed faster with the help of the nanoparticles containing the FL2-inhibitor. In the next stage of the study, the researchers found suppressing FL2 activity in human cells in tissue culture — where they could measure woundhealing features like cell migration and proliferation — caused the cells to move unusually fast. Meanwhile, another member of the team, Joshua Nosanchuk, professor of medicine at Einstein and attending physician, infectious diseases, at the College’s Montefiore Medical Center, was developing a wound healing therapy that suppresses FL2 using silencing RNA molecules [siRNAs]. The siRNAs switch genes off by binding to the gene’s messenger RNA, effectively blocking its ability to code for proteins. But there was a problem, as Prof Sharp explains, “siRNAs on their own won’t be effectively taken up by cells, particularly inside a living organism. They will be quickly degraded unless they are put into some kind of delivery vehicle.” The study team included members who had been working on a way of developing nanoparticles that protect molecules like siRNA and stop them being

degraded as they ferry them to their targets. In the final stage of the study, the combined team put the FL2silencing siRNAs inside the protective nanoparticles and applied them to mice with either skin cuts or burns. In both cases, the treated wounds healed in half the time it took untreated wounds to heal. FIT MIDLIFE REDUCES CANCER DEATH RISKS LATER Men who kept a high level of fitness in their midlife would have around a third lower risk overall of dying from certain cancers after the age of 65. The benefit was in comparison with men maintaining low cardiorespiratory fitness against treadmill tests. This is the result of a study that followed nearly 14,000 men. The men’s treadmill tests measured fitness level by slowly stepping up speed and grade until the point they wanted to stop. For specific types of cancer in the research published in JAMA Oncology, high cardiorespiratory fitness, compared with the least fit men, resulted in risk being lowered by: 55 per cent for lung cancer and 44 per cent for colorectal cancer. There was, however, no benefit for prostate cancer found in the cohort study analysis produced by Dr Susan Lakoski and colleagues at the University of Vermont, Burlington, US. The paper, in fact, shows a higher risk of prostate cancer associated with men who kept highly fit, but the authors look to other findings that may explain this ‘interesting’ result — men with higher cardiorespiratory fitness may also be more likely to get screened or to take part in preventive health consultations, and so may simply show higher rates of diagnosis. For the reductions in risk for the other two types of cancer, the paper concludes that incremental increases in fitness give incremental reductions in risk. The authors have also analysed a percentage risk reduction for every metabolic-equivalent unit of oxygen consumption — for every MET [‘metabolic equivalent of task’], a measure of exercise capacity for individuals, and a factor of increased energy use per minute for their bodyweight during activity compared with resting oxygen consumption. “Every 1-MET increase in cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with 17 per cent and 9 per cent relative risk reductions in lung and colorectal cancer risk, respectively.” For those men diagnosed with a cancer in Medicare age [65 years and over], the risk of dying from it was also reduced by high midlife fitness. Such men with cancer were also considerably less likely to die from cardiovascular causes.. Cardiovascular benefit of exercise in the prevention of heart disease and stroke is more established, but the authors believe their study is the first to demonstrate a predictive relationship between levels of fitness and cancer incidence in addition to the study’s cardiovascular disease results. [Culled & Collated from the ‘Net and media reports] HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

SELF-HELP

CREATIVITY IS JUST BEING YOURSELF Creativity is the state, or quality, of being creative. It does not always mean anything that is absolutely new. All you need to do is just think it through…

reativity, in simple terms, is a process of finding new ways to combining old ideas — moulding, manoeuvring, and synthesising, them with purpose. In other words, what you’d need to do to being creative is actually blend the ideas that already exist. Not copy, but tinker with them resolutely. This is, essentially, creativity by definition — a pursuit like no other. A person who is creative always tends to think outside the box. S/he is open to the possibility of finding a better way to accomplishing a task, or thinking of a solution to a problem. Such a person will also believe that creativity is a process. A pathway to finding answers that can take a host of directions. The important thing, however, is to be open, and find solutions when you least expect them. A manager in a company, for instance, should never be surprised with events. S/he should be like the watchful umpire during the course of a one-day cricket match, and its pressure-cooker atmosphere — in control of the situation. Now comes the big question. How can you cultivate and promote creativity in your life? There are no easy answers. But, the following points would be more than useful — to get started. First, and foremost, you have to develop the ability of finding something valuable, or agreeable, when you are not even consciously looking for it. Because, when you are open-minded, you often make lucky discoveries. What’s more, by developing your own creative powers, you can write your own creative ‘luck’ too. Luck, which is nothing but possibility in action. You know it, don’t you: that the greatest of inventions, and discoveries, have often been a result of accident? If Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Alexander Fleming, for example, had not been alert to possibility — the falling apple, and the spore of Penicillinum Notatum — their discoveries might have taken ‘ages’ to attain their objective.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

This is also one reason why most companies today are using a popular technique — brainstorming — to generating ideas and solutions in a group sitting. You’d do it too. Else, you’d do something on your own. But, you have to be gentle with yourself — because sparks of inspiration may just last for a few seconds. So, always be prepared — whatever your occupation. • Carry a scribble pad. Make notes the moment you hit upon an idea • Never postpone making notes for a ‘next’ time. You may miss something vital • Some of the best ideas/solutions may occur when you stop being ‘creative,’ by force. Reason: you can’t compel yourself to being creative — always. So, relax, whenever possible • Let ideas flow. Take a walk, meditate, listen to soft, soulful music — i.e., tune into sonic energy • Allow your subconscious mind time to work on an idea/ problem • Believe in yourself • Trust your creative instincts • Most important: don’t be preoccupied with the concept of creativity alone. When you hit upon an idea, just follow it through. Don’t allow it to fade away. Why? Because, ideas, as you may know, need to be honed, fine-tuned, and perfected. THINGS TO DO • Try to imagine a whole concept • Use your thought processes to bring order and logic • Another good idea — use soft, quiet music in the background. Listening to good, soulful music, research emphasises, actually taps both sides of your brain, potentially uniting creative and analytical functions in the mind/brain. It also helps you to implement ideas better. This is not as difficult as you’d think. It’s almost an automatic process — sort of. The best part — it opens up possibilities for your creativity to flow. And, with good results.

FITNESS QUOTIENT

OF EXERCISE & OVER-EXERCISE Some people lack the motivation to exercise enough to keep themselves fit, while some with the primary goal of having a well-sculpted body over-exercise. What holds the key is a balanced approach.

ost people suffer from lack of exercise, but once you get going, workout can be addictive. In either case, it can also be detrimental. Everyone knows the benefits of regular exercise. We also know that a lack of exercise drastically increases the risk of several health issues including high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, obesity, and diabetes. However, what people do not know is how much should you workout every day. Too less might not help you achieve anything and with too much, you are actually pushing your body to extreme levels. While some people lack the motivation to exercise enough to keep themselves fit, some with the goal of having a well-sculpted body, over-exercise, either by working out too intensely and/or too frequently. As a result, they suffer from early burn-out in the form of muscle fatigue. If it’s as serious as a muscle tear, surgical help may be needed.

• Frozen shoulder, or stiffness in limbs • Irregular menstruation cycle in women The ill-effects of excessive gymming are more prominent in women, who may even suffer from hormonal imbalances.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY It is important that you listen to your body. If you are new to workouts and gym, listen to the trainer. The problem in a majority of cases is that if a trainer asks them to work out for 20 minutes, some people fail to push themselves that long due to lack of stamina, while some try and double it to achieve quick results. They fail to understand that the energy required for high-intensity workout is not pulled from their body fat beyond a certain point, but from the muscles. So, instead of feeling refreshed, they feel tired and drained of energy. It indicates that you are pushing your body too much. Some of the other indicators of over-exercising are back pain, frozen shoulder, joint ache and feeling sore. According to experts, people often ignore their own body’s needs, and continue to push it even when their body sends out signals telling them to stop. They do not also compensate with proper rest and, most importantly, with carbohydrates. Compromised intake of carbs accelerates the burn-out process in the body.

DAILY WORKOUT It is recommended that one should workout for at least 30 minutes every day. However, if you want to lose weight or meet any specific fitness goals, you may need to exercise more. For most healthy adults, the Department of Health recommends the following guidelines for exercise: Aerobic activity. One should get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity. You can also do a combination of moderate and vigorous activities. The guidelines suggest that you spread out this exercise programme during the course of the week. Strength training. You should do strength training exercises at least twice a week. Moderate aerobic exercise includes brisk walking, swimming and jogging. Vigorous aerobic exercise includes running, or aerobic dancing. Strength training can include the use of weight machines or activities such as rock climbing.

OVER-EXERCISE: SIGNS TO LOOK OUT FOR • Backache, especially lower back • Muscle soreness [lasting for more than 24 hours] • Any pain in the joints while running on the treadmill, or on the stepper • Extreme fatigue and exhaustion • Difficulty in lifting weights, which you could have easily done earlier • Irritability • Change in sleeping and eating patterns • Unsteady pulse • Any acute or sudden pain in the muscles

ENDNOTE The best possible way to prevent under- or over-training is to follow a training schedule [preferably set by an expert] that varies your training load and includes compulsory rest phases. Acquiring a well-chiselled body is a good goal and also ambition and definitely one of the biggest motivators to exercise. However, remember that it all depends on several factors like your body type, lifestyle, food habits, work pressures, the intensity of workouts, the type of workouts and their duration. The best thing to do is not to overlook such vital elements, or factors. HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

HOME[O]PATHY

GOODNESS OF ALOE VERA Aloe vera has, for ages, been referred to as a ‘miracle plant,’ a plant with a host of therapeutic uses.

loe vera contains over 200 active components including minerals, amino acids, enzymes, polysaccharides, and fatty acids. No wonder it has been used for more than 5,000 years across civilisations. There are references galore to aloe vera in ancient writings, especially in Greek, Egyptian, and Roman civilisations, as well as in the early Indian and Chinese cultures. Aloe vera belongs to the lily family [Liliaceae], the same family that garlic and onions belong to. There are 400 species of aloe, but it is the Aloe Barbadensis [popularly known as aloe vera], which has numerous medicinal properties and has been of most use to us. A fully grown aloe vera plant stands 60-90cm tall, and a mature leaf is around 7-10cm across at the base, weighing 1.5-2kg. The lower leaf of the plant is used for medicinal purposes. When the lower leaf is sliced open, the gel obtained can be directly applied on the skin in case of burns and wounds. Leaves and seeds are the two edible parts of aloe vera. Aloe vera has internal and external applications. Some of the medicinal benefits of aloe vera are summarised below. • It is good for irritated or inflamed skin • It heals burns and sunburn • It helps repair your skin from wounds • It hydrates, rejuvenates and tones your skin • It moisturises and softens your skin • It is extremely effective in a variety of skin conditions like eczema [atopic dermatitis], pruritus [itching], psoriasis, acne [pimples], etc.

BOOSTS IMMUNITY Aloe vera juice contains polysaccharides that stimulate the macrophages — white blood cells of our immune system that fight viruses and other microbes. Also, the high level of antioxidants in aloe help combat unstable compounds known as free radicals that contribute to the aging process. Aloe is an antipyretic, which means it reduces or prevents fever. DETOX Aloe vera is a gelatinous plant food. Gelatinous plant foods move through the intestinal tract absorbing toxins

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

along the way and flushing them out of the colon. This helps in the proper elimination of waste from our body and also detoxification. DIGESTIVE AGENT Poor digestion is related to several disorders. Aloe is known to soothe and cleanse the digestive tract and help improve digestion. It helps ease constipation. It is an effective remedy for people with irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] as well as acid reflux. Aloe helps to decrease the amount of unfriendly bacteria in our gut too, while keeping our healthy intestinal flora in balance. Aloe is a vermifuge, which means it can rid the body of intestinal worms. FATTY & AMINO ACID STOREHOUSE Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are about 22 amino acids that are necessary for our body, out of which ten are essential. Aloe vera has around 18-20 amino acids, including ten essential amino acids. It also contains three plant sterols, which are important fatty acids — HCL cholesterol [which lowers fats in the blood], campesterol, and B-sitosterol, which help in reducing the symptoms of allergies and acid indigestion. Other fatty acids in aloe vera are linoleic, linolenic, myristic, caprylic, oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids. GOOD FOR YOUR HAIR Modern shampoos and conditioners can strip your hair of their protective oils. Aloe vera comes in the form of shampoos that make your hair naturally sparkle. Aloe vera gel has a 4.3pH, which is ideal for shampoos and lotions. GOOD FOR YOUR SKIN Aloe vera works well in treating as well as protecting your skin. Thanks to its well-known skin healing properties, aloe vera is one of the primary compounds used in the cosmetic industry. A known vulnerary [meaning, ‘to heal wounds’], aloe vera when applied topically helps to heal burns, abrasions and bug bites. It also pumps-in oxygen to the skin cells, increasing the strength and synthesis of skin tissue, while improving blood flow to the skin.

READ. WATCH. LISTEN. EXPLORE HEAL THYSELF Self-Healing is a useful handbook. It is aimed at readers who want and also wish to attain a holistic state of physical, mental and spiritual well-being, through proper diet, breathing exercises and by embracing a natural lifestyle. It not only details the nutritive value of various foods and their benefits, it also covers every disease, every food and every nutrient to achieve vibrant wellness. Apart from dealing with bodily functions, their imbalance and specific treatment, Self-Healing offers simplistic

solutions towards attaining holistic health. A must-read book for anyone who wants to self-heal — naturally. Self-Healing C P Arora Rupa & Co pp: 454 Price: `295.00

SOUND THERAPY When the pressure of everyday life reaches a point where you can’t function, the best way for you to gain peace of mind and inner harmony is by listening to tranquil sounds. Sounds of Nature comprises of five spiritual songs that have been inspired by nature. The songs are ideal when you are performing healthy practices, such as meditation, yoga or Reiki; they also soothe you when you’re in the spa. What’s more, you can simply tune into the tracks when you’re at home in order to relax better.

Sounds of Nature [Audio CD] Joseph Vijay Super Audio/Flipkart Price: `200.00

THE COFFEE COUNTRY RESORT Kalgreen Valley Resort is set in a 200-acre coffee plantation, near Chikmagalur, Karnataka, at a height of 3,000 feet above sea level. The resort has fifteen wellmaintained rooms, a three-bedroom villa, tree houses, and a conference hall. The restaurant, which overlooks a garden growing spices and medicinal herbs, serves Malnad, Karavali, as well as continental cuisine. There is a ‘Fire Place’ where you can relax after a long day in the wild. Kalgreen Valley also offers you trekking, fishing, bird-watching, boating etc., on its 6-acre private lake, including Ayurvedic massages — to provide relaxation for

the mind and body and rejuvenate oneself. M: +91-94482 03021/E: admin@kalgreenvalleyresort.com

A MULTI-CUISINE DELIGHT ‘That’s Aroma,’ the allure of Mussoorie, promises to satiate your mind and body. When you enter the multi-cuisine restaurant, the setting is vintage, the food masterful and modern. While the classic marble subtly enhances the antique bar, the dim lighting offers an intimate dining experience. Enjoy your breakfast, lunch and dinner, or way-past-dinnertime a late-night menu. ‘That’s Aroma’ not only takes a contemporary approach to Indian cuisine, crafting innovative dishes from seasonal ingredients, it also caters to every palate, serving dishes from the Orient and the Occidental. Call: +91- 0135-2632 657.

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

CELEB FITNESS

VARUN DHAWANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WELLNESS MANTRA

arun Dhawan, who made his Bollywood debut with Karan Joharâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s superhit movie, Student of the Year, is not only a talented actor, a youth icon, but also a fitness enthusiast. He believes in optimal health and wellness and having a fit and lithe body. We present to you his diet and workout regime, courtesy of http://healthyceleb.com/ HIS THOUGHT FOR FOOD Varun prefers wholesome food. With a family history of diabetes, the actor is overly prudent about his diet. He strictly refrains from sugary, salty, and oily food. Varun also makes sure that the kinds of carbohydrates he takes are low in their glycaemic index [GI]. GI is a measurement carried out on carbohydrate-containing foods and their impact on our blood sugar. High GI foods cause a spike in your blood sugar and raise your insulin resistance. His food consists of a perfect mix of omega-3 fatty acids and other essential nutrients. HIS DIET Breakfast. Omelet, oatmeal, whole-wheat grain sandwich Lunch. Steamed brown rice, three chapatis, broccoli,

HOMEOPATHY & YOU | JUNE 2015

baked chicken Snacks. Fruits, like papaya, banana, protein smoothie, lotus seeds Dinner. Dinner is light with plenty of mixed veggies, with grilled fish, and green tea. HIS WORKOUT Varun gets his training from celeb trainer, Prashant Sawant. Varun works out five days a week while giving ninety minutes a day to workouts. He does martial training, light weights and cardio workouts on a regular basis. Weightlifting is an efficient medium to tone your body. He does not step away from working out twice a day, when he has to appear on stage in front of large audience. He spends a fair amount of time in sculpting his upper body part. HIS FITNESS INDEX Varun recommends that his fans should aim to acquire a limber body, rather than focusing on huge and bulked up body. As you grow older, the natural suppleness of your body gets compromised, as a result of which you become vulnerable to injuries. A lithe body not only looks influential, it is powerful too.

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