HOMEOPATHY

Homeopathy is an established system of medical treatment which assists the tendency of the body to heal itself. In recent years it has been the subject of increasing interest and is now widely used for the treatment of a wide range of ailments. There are many reasons for this resurgence of interest, including the fact that the remedies used cause no side effects and are not addictive.

The name homeopathy is derived from two Greek words - Homios, meaning like or similar and Pathos, meaning suffering.

Homeopathy is based on the principle of similars, treating like with like, this means that when a doctor is treating a patient with homeopathy, a substance is used which in a healthy person would produce symptoms and signs similar to hose presented by the patient.

The remedies used in homeopathy are prepared in a unique way from repeatedly diluted extracts derived from materials such as plants and minerals. Remedies can also be made from particular antigens, e.g. house dust, cat hair etc, if patients have a sensitivity to these substances.

It is important to realise that homeopathy is not the same as herbal medicine, where only the direct effect of plants are used.

Homeopathic remedies work by stimulating the body's own healing power. The body's response will depend on the prescribing of the right remedy in the right potency or strength and also on the body's vitality.

Homeopathy has been in existence for approximately two hundred years. It was  rediscovered and formulated by Dr Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician in 1796 but the principle of treatment of like by like was first suggested by Hippocrates in the fifth century BC.There is no class of disease in which homeopathy can not be used, but if for example a patient has reached the stage of needing surgery, then this should not be delayed.

Results of homeopathic treatment may range from minimal to spectacular. In injuries and accidents, homeopathic remedies can be of immense value.

Homeopathy can definitely help with allergies. The use of the potentised allergen is in most cases very successful in relieving the symptoms of the allergy. For a deeper cure, this can be followed up with the constitutional remedy. This is a remedy which takes into consideration the personality of the patient as well as their symptoms.

Remedies can be given both pre-operatively and post-operatively to speed up healing and to counteract any effects of anxiety, shock and the anaesthetic. In general, patients treated with homeopathy make a much more rapid post-operative recovery than patients who have not had this treatment.

Since there are no toxic effects homeopathy is safe for babies and children. Additionally, since babies and young children often have a high level of vitality, excellent results are to be expected. Also, it iis impossible to overdose on homeopathic pills, so if a child swallowed a large number of them, there would be no adverse effects.

It is not harmful to take homeopathic and orthodox medicines together. Homeopathic remedies are so highly diluted, that there is no chemical interaction with orthodox drugs.

A consultation with a homeopath is not really like a visit to a GP. The homeopath needs to obtain a large amount of information from you, which requires a longer consultation time. Thus the initial visit usually lasts considerably longer than a normal consultation. You will be asked many questions about yourself as well as your illness and also about the health of your family, both past and present so it is helpful to think about these things before your consultation.

He wanted my complete medical history: childhood diseases, vaccinations, pregnancies, premenstrual tension, sleep patterns, food likes and dislikes and allergies. I need to understand how your body functions, if there are any peculiarities, instability, traumas.

The homeopathic treatment would involve regular visits - first four weekly and then six-weekly, while taking prescribed remedies. Homeopathy encourages the body to repair itself. It requires time and effort, but the attention you pay to your health now could not only improve your current immunity, it may prevent you developing chronic degenerative diseases.

Homeopathy works on the energy system of the body, including the immune system. The problem with scientific medicine is that it does not relate to the body having an energy system. It tends to view illness only in terms of itself.

I wish I had seen you at the start of all this. We could have sorted everything out then.

ZERO BALANCING

Zero balancing - known to the cognoscenti as "zeebee" - was developed about 20 years ago by Fritz Smith, an American osteopath and acupuncturist.

Zero balancing is a form of healing, but on e with a clear theory and practice that can be taught and repeated. While each spiritual healer differs from the next, all practitioners of zero balancing do essentially the same thing.

Their work is based on the Eastern concept that energy flows through the body and, in particular, through the body and, in particular, through bones and joints. It is believed that emotional problems and physical ailments block, disturb or interrupt this force, leading to pain and incapacity.

He spent ages examining her, but the actual treatment lasted about 10 seconds. He held his hands on either side of her knee.

People who come to see the practitioner suffer from physical problems, emotional problems or a combination of both.

The practitioner seems to do almost nothing, but the effects are profound.  The zero practitioner places his hands on particular parts of the client's body - under the head, neck, shoulders and back, along the arms and lower legs - and briefly supports them. This apparently releases the blockages and rearranges the energy so that harmony is restored. The treatment involves very gentle touch with no manipulation - and no need to undress. At the end of the session, the client should feel "zero balanced", with no stress or pressure on any particular part of the mind or body.

Usually I know when something has shifted. I can feel a movement under my fingers where previously there wasn't any. There are all sorts of signs. If the eyelashes flutter, it is an unmistakable indication that there has been an energy change in the body. Nobody can fake that.

They do not diagnose, nor do they claim to cure. New practitioners are told not to work on the sick, pregnant women because mother and baby have separate energy fields, or those with epilepsy.

You are aiming to amplify their wellness. It is good for people going through difficult times who want to enhance their potential. I also find it is brilliant for people with bad backs, painful hips and stiff necks. The other category is women who have had a difficult childbirth. Clients tell me that, afterwards, their work and relationships improve and they enjoy life more.

As so often with healing, the placebo effect may have a significant part to play. The therapy is also said to address emotional problems that have been stored in the body. Practitioners claim that it can bring about the sort of profound and lasting changes usually associated with long-term psychotherapy.

When something bad happens to us, we react, perhaps with anger. If we can't react, the event is taken into the bone. In particular a lot of childhood issues are held in the bone because, as children, we can not respond to adults behaving badly.

The idea that memory is stored in the bone is difficult to swallow. Experience is stored in the mind, but why should the mind mean only the brain? Experience is absorbed right through the body.

Something is happening - but it's hard to say what. Hands are supporting me in a way they have not done since childhood. I feel strangely "looked after". I feel weightless, balanced. If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was floating.

REFLEXOLOGY

Reflexology is a form of "alternative" or "complementary" medicine and involves a method of treatment using massage to reflex areas found in the feet and the hands. Most commonly, the feet are used as areas to be treated.

In the feet, there are reflex areas corresponding to all the parts of the body. These areas are arranged in such a way as to form a map of the body in the feet with the right foot corresponding to the right side of the body and the other way round. By having the whole body represented in the feet, the method offers a means of treating the whole body. Natural therapy allows not lonely symptoms to be treated but also the causes of symptoms.

The method has been used for several thousands of years and is known to have been practised in a similar manner by the Chinese and the Egyptians. More recently, Reflexology was described in the form in which it is now known by the late Eunice Ingham, an American lady who based her method of treatment on work called "Zone Therapy" which had been described some years earlier in the 1920s by an American, Dr. William Fitzgerald.

Reflexology does not claim to be a "cure-all" but numerous disorders have been successfully treated by this method. These disorders include such things as migraine, sinus problems, hormonal imbalances, breathing disorders, digestive problem, circulatory problems, back problems and tension and stress. Most people who have experienced treatment would agree that the method can be most beneficial and is also a very relaxing therapy.

Then first visiting a reflexology practitioner, a detailed medical history will be taken. The patient will then be seated in some form of recliner chair and will be asked to remove shoes and socks. The practitioner will initially examine the feet before commencing with the precise massage movement. The massage requires the application of a firm pressure using the side and end of the thumb. In some instances, the fingers may also be employed. All areas of both feet will be massaged. Areas corresponding to parts of the body which are out of balance will feel uncomfortable or tender when massaged and the degree of tenderness will indicate the degree of imbalance. The sensitivity of the feet varies from person to person and the trained practitioner will understand the correct pressure to apply and how to interpret the tenderness felt. The massage should not be uncomfortable to even the most sensitive feet.

The full treatment session will last approximately three-quarters of an hour and at the end of a session the feet should feel warm and the patient relaxed. The number of treatment sessions required will vary depending on the condition being treated.

=> help rid the body of unwanted toxic matter.

OSTEOPATHY

Basically the body has its own mechanism of righting itself, and people who go to see their doctors have somehow lost their way in righting themselves. A doctor will give you a chemical remedy to alleviate the pain or to act as a catalyst, and an osteopath will simply attempt to remove the barriers to health.

It is important to treat the body as a whole. Quite often people come to an osteopath last of all. Often they are the end of the line. People have gone through the normal system of seeing their doctor, perhaps having some physiotherapy, having X-rays and perhaps due to the fact that you have to wait a long time to have treatment on the health service. Their problems may be well hidden.

What an osteopath does is first of all to take a detailed case history to give himself some idea of the problem and once he has assured himself that there is nothing more seriously wrong with the person than for example a back problem he will examine the back and see if he can find the barriers to health.

Osteopathy, like many of the other complementary therapies, are holistic therapies and people can have all sorts of problems related to their backs such as lung conditions, heart conditions or even peripheral problems like ankle pains and just simple joint pains. The back is just one aspect - it is a very multi-faceted therapy.

What I would like to do is just ask you a few questions about your current health and a few questions about the history of the problem you have had. Now, first of all, I would like you to tell me when the first back pains started to occur. Go back as far as you can remember. Did they occur as a result of anything? And is the pain you have in your back similar to the pain you had then? A fairly constantly nagging ache, it becomes extremely painful with shooting pains down my leg. Did you have treatment or did you just let it ride? I have rubbed in one of the creams but that would have been about it. When is the problem at its worst. Now can you tell precisely where the pain is? Are you getting any pains elsewhere? Now I'd like to have a closer inspection of your back, including taking your blood pressure and listening to your heart and lungs.

ACUPUNCTURE

As an acupuncturist, I think it's important to understand the philosophy of Chinese medicine, which includes the belief in Chi, the body's energy flow. If you have an even flow of Chi, you are in good health. What acupuncture offers in an ability to tap into the Chi. It is then possible to readjust a person's flow of energy, if it has become unbalanced. Before I treat somebody I take some time to study a patient's medical history. I also read the body's pulses. We can take the pulse at twelve different places, and each place relates to a different organ. From this information I can decide if there are any blockages in the flow of energy or indeed any surges or energy. It is at this point that I decide where I am going to insert the needles. These needles increase or reduce the flow of energy when they are inserted and twisted at the appropriate meridian points. Don't worry - it does not hurt and you will not bleed! There is great interest and acupuncturists have a long waiting list. The reason for this is partly because conventional medicine has become increasingly impersonal. Ordinary doctors are over-worked and don't have enough time to spend on each patient. It is often easier and quicker for them to hand out pills than to give proper personal attention.

What acupuncture does in encourage the body to heal itself, which is, after all, a natural tendency. There is nothing drastic about the treatment, and people feel more in control of their bodies than when they are subjected to all that high-tech equipment in a modern hospital.

A great many people have headaches. To many they are merely a nuisance that can easily be cured by taking a couple of aspirin. For some headaches become a nightmare. Headaches of such severity are nearly always due to migraine. Cases of migraine are on the increase, largely due to stressful city living, where noise and pollution are contributing factors. In addition it is recognised that particular foods and wine can bring on a migraine, as well as inadequate sleep.

Conventionally treatment is with painkillers which are usually ineffective, especially if the patient suffers from nausea. A more successful approach is to use alternative therapy. Mild bouts of migraine can be relieved by homeopathic remedies. Usually in the form of tablets which dissolve under the tongue and do  not irritate the stomach.

Acupuncture produces excellent results in cases of severe migraine. Four needles applied to points of the face give rapid relief, and freedom form attacks can be achieved after as few as six treatment sessions.

Hypnosis is another technique which can be used. Many people misunderstand hypnosis. A hypnotic state is simply one of deep relaxation. You are still in complete control and can not be made to do anything against your will. Hypnosis is an effective cure for migraine, as it induces a trance in the patient.

QUACKERY

Despite the advanced state of medical science, many people with health problems turn to dubious methods. Faced with the prospect of chronic suffering or a terminal illness, many individuals are tempted to try anything that offers relief or hope. They are thus especially vulnerable to health frauds. Victims of quackery usually have at least one of the following vulnerabilities:

Lack of suspicion: Many people believe that if something is printed or broadcast it must be true. The mass media provide much false and misleading information . Reports are often sensationalised, stimulate false hopes and arouse fears. Some people are too easily taken in by the promise of an easy, painless, drugless solution to their problem.

Despair: Patients faced with a serious health problem that doctors cannot solve become desperate enough to try almost anything that arouses hope. Many victims of cancer, multiple sclerosis and AIDS are vulnerable in this way. The more threatening the condition, the more susceptible the sufferer may be to the promise of a cure.

Scepticism: More an more people feel deeply antagonistic toward scientific medicine but are attracted to methods represented as "natural" or otherwise unconventional.

Alternative promoters are reaching people emotionally. What sells in not the quality of their products, but the ability to influence their audience. Their basic strategies are to promise the moon: they offer solutions for virtually every health problem. To those in pain they promise relief. To the incurable they offer hope. And they have an arsenal of ploys for defending themselves against criticism. Beware of the following statements! Just one may be enough to hook you.

We really care about you: Although being cared about you may provide a powerful psychological lift, it will not make a worthless remedy effective. It may also encourage over-reliance on an inappropriate therapy.

No side effects: Alternative methods are often described as safer, gentler, and/or without side effects. If this were true their remedy would be too weak to have any effects.

Backed by scientific studies: Since most people regard scientific evidence as a plus, unscientific promoters claim to have it when in fact they do not. The references they cite may be untraceable, misinterpreted, outdated, irrelevant, non-existent, and/or based on poorly designed research.

Take charge of your health: This is probably the most powerful slogan in the quack's bag of tricks. People generally like to feel that they are in control of their life. Quacks take advantage of this fact by giving their clients things to do - such as taking vitamin pills, preparing special foods, meditating and the like. The activity may provide a psychological lift, but believing in a false thing tends to carry a high price tag.

We offer alternatives: Quackery promoters are adept at using slogans and buzzwords. "Natural", "holistic" and "alternative"; these words were popularised as magic sales words and leading buzzwords. Correctly used the word "alternative" refers to methods that have equal value for a particular purpose. The term is misleading because methods that are unsafe or ineffective are not reasonable alternatives to proven treatment.

Homeopathic products are made from minerals, botanical substances, and several other sources. If the original substance is soluble, one part is diluted with either nine or ninety-nine parts of distilled water and/or alcohol and shaken vigorously. One part of the diluted medicine is then further diluted, and the process is repeated until the desired concentration (potency) is reached. Those homeopathic remedies have not been proved effective against disease by double-blind clinical testing. They are placebos, but placebos can be powerful of course.

Victim of quackery. Conventional treatment might have saved her, but she rejected the advice of her oncologist and went to "natural healers". Didn't have any examination for 10 years and when she had it showed a cancerous lump in her breast. She had the lump removed, but she refused the additional treatment her doctor recommended. Instead she went to a naturopath who gave her some "Pesticide Removal Tinctures". Side effects occurred but the naturopath said that this was merely the effect of the herbal remedies he was giving her and not to worry. Once again she refused the recommended treatment. She continued to patronize "alternative healers". The naturopath told her she was feeling bad as a result of this medicine and to get more sleep. When the imminence of her death was obvious the naturopath blamed her turn for the worse on "giving up".