homeo question

[Kanga]

I went to a natropath for the first time last week for my son's eczema. The meeting was great and she perscibed a remedy. However there are several questions I have and thought someone here might help me out.

The remedy is natrium muriaticum. I've done some research on this and found that it is Chloride of Sodium. Sodium Chloride or salt. The remedy comes in a tablet that is mostly lactose. The NP suggested diluting two tablets in water to minimize the lactose my son recieves. Wouldn't it be better to just give him very very dilute salt water? I would have no problem with this and would actually prefer it since my dh is very skeptical of homeopathy and presenting it to him from a nutritional point of view would be much easier. He's more likey to accept that the NP suggested ds needs more salt in his diet than he should talk tablespoon of natrium muriaticum daily.

Any advice?

[brett]

I am definitely not a homeopath and don't completely understand it, but we use homeopathy in our family, and I will try clarify. Homeopathic medicines are diluted so many times, and are supposed to be stronger remedies the more you dilute it. They are so diluted that substances like arsenic and snake venom are used in remedies but are so dilute that they aren't harmful. I think it is supposed to give the essence of the substance rather than the actual substance. They are also prepared a specific way. So salt water wouldn't work the same as nat mur, because they are prepared differently. I don't think this will help your dh skepticism though!

[hippiemom]

i am not fully understanding homeo either, except to know that each time i have used it , it works!

and yes, the active ingredients in remedies are so microscopically attenuated as to be nearly non present, something you could not replecate at home. my son's remedy is "chalk" basically. it sounds funny but it works! he suffered very much last winter from multiple asthma attacks with the many colds he caught. this year, after seeing a homeopath, he has had 2 colds and handled them like a normal kid. amazing! it has given us our life back in the winter. i love homeopathy! it is cheap, easily accessible, non invasive and most of all, very effective. blessings!

[Kanga]

I guess I don't understand the mystique re super dilute solutions... It's not that difficult to determine the concentration of a solution and then continue to dilute it until the desired concentration. It sounds like vigorous mixing is required to "imprint" the energy of the remedy on the surrounding molecules.

I guess I just don't get why the little bit of salt currently in his diet doesn't do the trick... is it because antidotes were present (coffee and eucalyptus)? or is it because the salt was too high in concentration. And if that is the case, how will adding a sub-atomic amount of additonal salt change that?

I'm starting to think that it is a balance between wave and matter characteristics. E=mc2 Every bit of matter possesses some wave-like properties while the same can be said for light energy... that's were phonons come in. And the more of one, the less of the other. So perhaps reducing the matter side of the remedies to the point that their wavelike properties are stronger is what makes them work... the wavelength of the remedy is what needs to be "in tune" with the wavelenght exhibited by the person.

SOrry, thinking outloud... does this make sense to anyone? Does anyone understand the principles of why homeopatic remedies work?

[L.J.]

Hi Kanga.
My ds also has eczema. I use lots of homeopathic remedies with him for other things & they work effectively. However, eczema is often related to an allergy to dairy. When I gave the ones with the lactose base, his eczema was worse. We do a treatment called NAET which gets rid of all allergies. I had to get rid of my sons lactose allergy before I could use the homeopathic remedies again without his triggering the eczema. Might be something to ask your homeopathist about too. Good luck.

[MysticHealerMom]

Hi,

Your wave anology sounds pretty good.

The thing about homeopathy is that we don't know all the mechanics about how it works. This bothers a lot of people, but we don't know how a lot of allopathic drugs (mainstream med) work, either. Except that it is in huge amts and has a worse track record for positive results and a much greater percentage of doing harm. It's frightening what they don't know about allopathic drugs. And they definately don't take the time to discuss the simtoms in such great detail as homeopaths do.

Homeopathy is older than allopathy. All the drugs listed in the Materia Medica are approved by the FDA because of the testing or "proving" process utilized by homeopaths. Basically, they take the drugs themselves and report the findings. It's a sort of reversal. If a drug (mineral, herb or compound) causes the symptoms of an illness, it is used to treat that illness.

But, you can't just take say salt and create or prevent the illness. Through a lot of testing they realized that sucussing the agent in pure water they were able to get to the essense and power of the remedy. Succussing happens when they place a small amt of the agent into water and shake it vigorously about 100 times (it's very specific, I don't recall if it's 40 or 100 times or different), then they take out 1 part and add it to 100 parts pure water and sucuss again. Every time a remedy is succussed in this manner it is counted. After hundres of sucussions you may get the final product. I believe some remedies are sucussed 1 million times. At this point even a molicule of the original agent is no longer traceable in the remedy. But, the property of the water is changed. This is the part that they're just discovering but don't have all the mechanics to. It doesn't change the fact that it works and works well.

I liken these facts to the unknown aspects of the universe. That is, unknown to science but known to mystics for thousands of years. The difference is that mystics know it because they feel it and scientists want to be able to quantify the mechanics. This isn't a problem as the more modern physics discovers, the more it looks like the wisdom of mystics.

One of the main things about homeopathy is the goal to do no harm. To trust the in the body's ability to heal itself. Homeopathy provides a little kick in that direction and the body does the rest. Some times this process may take a while, several months or repeat remedies. Sometimes the original remedy is wrong. But, they have basically the same chance of hitting on the right remedy after the first visit as an allopathic doc. Or better since they take more time to discuss all the aspects of the illness instead of just looking for clues and picking a drug.

Homeopathy is not a placebo, although we shouldn't discount the staggering power of the placebo effect. Homeopathy is medicine and it's practiced all over the world and in some places in far greater numbers than allopathy. And it's relatively inexpensive. And has virtually no side effects.

For further reading I'd suggest Health and Healing by Dr. Andrew Weil. More info: http://www.homeopathy.com/ but that's the college. This is my doc: http://www.naturopathyonline.com/

I can understand why someone would be skeptical of homeopathy, it looks fishy when taken in account from our western, allopathic, popularist-science mindset. But I believe it's more scientific than allopathy. Once you have the facts.

cheers!

[m&m]

I think your question has been answered quite well - and I have the same energy or wavelength theory -

I just wanted to add that there are several mediums that homeopathics are availlable in - salt, sugar, lactose pellets, as well as alcohol, water, gel... Ask if you are concerned - it could just be a cost thing - pellets cost less than pennies, with a drop or two of remedy - whereas buying tha whole liquid form can be very costly.

Also, if you were to make your own "remedy" by dillution and banging (succussion) you may only get to 1 or 3 or 6 potency - depending on how many times you take that one drop and add to others and succuss - To work effectively, most practitioners give at least a 30c dose - some 200c and some 1000. Your arm would get very sore making that at home.

And no the real stuff in water is not a remedy - just a tincture - more herbal than homeopathic.

Hope this helps.

[Kanga]

Thanks for discussing this point. I believe that I've convinced my dh that the worst that can happen by giving the remedy is nothing... no harmful side effects... as opposed to our pediatricians suggestion of rubbing higher concentrations of steroids on ds' skin. I'm willing to try it if there is even a remote chance that it will work. Obviously, I'm hoping for much more.

My NP has suggested diluting two tablets (12c) in 1/4 cup water and giving one tablespoon of this to ds everyday. This is to dilute the amount of lactose he gets. Perhaps I will ask her about purchasing the remedy in liquid form... would using the liquid that hasn't been dried and then rehydrated be more effective since the original solution is being used?

[m&m]

I have found that dilluting a remedy makes for a gentler form of that same potency - so that you can take it more often - however, you can have an aggravation if you take this too many times. I find the liquid form a little stronger - and would only take or give this 1 per week, instead of daily.

I would also be cautious that your NP watches for any changes, physical as well as mental - which would then indicate that the body has enough remedy for a while - and leave time for your son's body to work at healing. Many give too much - or even not high enough (I find it depends on the person and the type of problem - I take under 30c for physical stuff, and 200c for mental - but I am very energy sensitive - my dh takes 1M (1000?) and gives these to our dd as well.)

Some times you need a different potency of a remedy - sometimes a different remedy - and sometimes just time after one.

I've been to NP who do not really know this - and some who do.


I do caution that skin problems clear up last - and generally get worse before they get better - especially if topicals or steroids have pushed the problem deeper (ie. many lung problems have been seen after topicals have been used) - it does not mean it won't get better - it seems to work on more important stuff first (mentals, internal stuff, etc.)

I hope this is not too confusing - tell your dh that it is safe - but that it is the body's way of healing revved up. do not panic if it gets worse for a while.