Respiratory Disorders

Hoarseness

There is a sound box in the throat with which we speak. Due to cold, overuse of voice or any sudden atmospheric change, speech becomes hoarse and difficult on account of inflammation.

Aconite/Belladonna/Spongia/HeparSulph/Lachesis/Kali Bicgrom/Ferum Pic

Bronchitis

The mucus membrane of the air tubes is inflammed due to cold, suppression of perspiration, etc, and fever, difficult breathing and cough are common  symptoms. Sometimes it takes a serious turn, specially in children.

Aconit/Antim Tart/Bryonia/Kali Bichrom/Phosphorus/Lyco/Hepar Sulph/Sulphur/Bacillinum

Pneumonia

Inflammation of lungs is called Pneumonia. High fever, difficult breathing, thirst and restlessness are the primary symptoms. In the second stage, exudation in lungs collects and comes out as sputum. In the third stage, sputum is ejected easily, fever subsides, and cough remains foe some time. In the bad cases, the third stage does not come and disease takes a serious turn. Then the sputum increases, extremities get cold, temperature falls to subnormal and subsequently the patient expires. A physician should be consulted in this disease. However, the following medicines are found useful.

Aconite/Phos/Hepar/Bryonia/Lyco/Antim Tart/Sulphur/Bacillinum

Pleurisy

When the covering membrane of the lungs is inflammed, it is termed pleurisy. There is severe pain in the chest, fever, cough and sometimes a watery fluid collects between the lungs and membranes.

Aconite/Bryonia/Apis Mel/Arsenic/Kali Carb/Silicia/Sulphur

Tuberculosis

This is a serious disease, but the discovery of antibiotics has made it curable. The Bacillus Tuberculosis enters the body with the breath and attacks the lungs, deteriorating them. Fever, cough, debility are common symptoms. The patient loses weight. The bacilli can be detected in the sputum of the patient by microscopic examination. Those who are weak in health can contact the disease from any T.B patient but those who are health will not. Open air is essential for a T.B patient. Living conditions in cities are responsible for disease. Anxiety, disappointment, loss in business, grief, mortification, humiliation etc. are also some of the causes of T.B.

Tuberculinum/Bacillinum/Arsenic Iodide/Baptisia/Ferum Phos/Echinacea/Pyrogenium/Jaborandi/

Heart Diseases

The heart is the most important organ in the human body. Its structure is very delicate. The ailments of the heart are very complicated and serious. Therefore, when a heart disease is suspected, senior physicians should be consulted, here we are mentioning remedies of some common diseases of the heart. If given in the beginning they will arrest the diseases and give relief to the patient.

Palpitation

Ordinarily our heart beats 72 times in a minute and these beats are responsible for the circulation of blood in the whole body. When there is some disease of the heart these beats are increased in number. This is called palpitation. The beats are increased even without effect of the heart. For example, when there is anaemia (poor blood ), anxiety, grief, loss of vital fluids, over-indulgence, fear, shame, mortification or drinking. During palpitation the patient is restless and anxious. To cure him the cause should be removed.

Aconite/Natrum Mur/Arnica/China/Cactus/Digitalis/Spigelia

Heart Attack

The pain is not due to any defect in the heart itself but it is due to some defect either in the muscles or nerves of the heart. Smoking, drinking, worries or rheumatism are also its causes. A shooting pain starts suddenly in the left chest and travels up to the left shoulder and arm. Dyspnoea, restlessness, rapid breathing and cold sweats occur and sometimes the patient becomes unconscious. At the time of pain often a few drops of Amylnitrate are put on a hand-kerchief and placed at the nose of the patient. It gives relief.

During the attack the pain is severe, rather unbearable. Take half a cup of hot water and dissolve 5 tablets each of Mag Phos 6x and Kali Phos 6x and administer spoonful doses every 5 minutes. This will relieve the pain. In case the fear of death, extreme restlessness and anguish, Aconite 1x or 3x drop doses should be given every 15 minutes.

Arsenic/Digitalis/Cactus/Spigelia/Crataegus/Acid Hydro

Blood Pressure

Nowadays there is much unnecessary propaganda of Blood Pressure. If any one feels a little headache he goes to his physician and asks him to check his blood pressure. Doctors too when they examine the patient, will check his blood pressure without fail, and will express anxiety about it, but the fact is that the blood pressure is not a disease in itself but only a symptom of a disease. When our blood vessels-veins and arteries-become a bit stiff due to old age or disease of heart, liver or kidney, the pressure in the blood vessels increases. Normally when the heart contracts the blood pressure is between 130-160, and 90-120 when it dilates. It is less when one is younger and high in old age. It is normally believed that one’s age plus 100 is his normal B.P

Dull headache, heaviness of head even without pain, loss of sleep, dyspnoea, anguish and restlessness are some symptoms of B.P. it becomes normal after a disease of the heart, liver or kidneys is treated successfully. Sometimes it is rises due to anxiety, worry. Loss in business, disappointment in love or due to failure in examination or defeat in elections etc. This rise is temporary and time cures it.

Ignatia/Acid Phos/Baryta Carb/Baryta Mur/Conium/Glonine/Sanguinaria

Low Blood Pressure

In some disease the blood pressure falls below normal which is not good. Sometimes it falls due to worry and anxiety or in some debilitating diseases.

Cactus/Crataegus/Lyco/Natrum Mur/China

Try Homoeopathy To Avoid Surgery

We have explained in brief the principles of Homeopathic science, but we find that there are many misunderstandings in the minds of even well educated persons. We should therefore want to remove these as far as possible.

It is often said that there is no surgery in Homoeopathy and without it, it cannot be called a complete science. This is a great misunderstanding. Homoeopathy is a therapeutic science or the art of healing the diseases of human beings by using medicinal substances. Surgery is a technique, a method of removing certain impediments in the way of curing a disease, such as removing a thorn from one’s foot, or setting up a dislocated bone. If a foreign particle has entered one’s eye, we would have to remove the foreign body by washing the eye by using and eyeglass, or if we turn over the lid and clear the eye with wet linen, the foreign body will be removed. There cannot be two opinions about it. All sciences whether it Allopathy, Homoeopathy or Ayurveda, will take the same step. Therefore, where this kind of manipulation or surgery is needed, Homoeopathy will agree to it.

But there is difference of opinion regarding where surgery would be essential and where it could be avoided. We are of the opinion that in 50 percent of the cases where surgery is practiced it can safely be avoided. As soon as a case of tonsillitis or appendicitis is detected, Allopathy would at once advice surgery, but I can say from my own experience that many cases of appendix and tonsils have been completely cured by oral medicines, though there have been such cases of appendix and tonsils or fistula in which I myself have advised operation. Cases of gangrene declared incurable and advised amputation of the affected limb, yielded to Homoeopathic treatment and the patients are hale and hearty. Therefore no system of medicine and be called incomplete if it does not have surgery. It fact, surgery is common to all medical systems.

Often patients ask Homoeopaths: “Doctor, can homoeopathy treat a case of Asthma?” “Are there remedies for liver troubles in Homoeopathy?” “Can enlarged prostates be cured by medicines without operation?” There is only one answer to all such questions- that Homoeopathy can successfully treat and cure all such cases. It will, therefore, be wiser to give it a trial.

Dose And Selecting Potency

Homoeopathic medicines are available in four forms:

Mother Tinctures

Pillules

Globules

Triturations Powder

Mother Tinctures are extracts of original remedies prepared mostly in alcohol. Pillules are made of cane sugar which is then absorbed with a few drops of liquid medicine. These are kept in small bottles and are quite easy to handle. Globules are smaller than pillules, and Triturations are in the form of powder or tablets made from powder which contains the medicine triturated with sugar of milk.

Pillules and globules may be taken dry on tongue or sucked but should not be swallowed. These could also be dissolved in pure water and taken. Trituration should be taken dry on tongue. One should clean his month before taking a medicine.

Ordinarily the dose of a liquid medicine is one drop in an ounce of pure water for an adult, for children ½ drop and for babies ¼ drops. If the medicine is in triturations, i.e. powder form, 3-4 grains for adults, 2 for children and 1 grain for babies is quite sufficient.

Pills or globules can be prepared of all the liquid medicines. Take small phial, fill two thirds of it with globules or pills and saturate these pills with a few drops of the liquid medicine. Shake well. These globules may be given 1 or 2 to babies. 2 to 3 to children and 4 to 5 to adults.

REPETITION OF DOSE: The dose is repeated according to the severity of the disease. For example, in cholera we can repeat the medicine hourly, half-hourly and even quarter-hourly. In ordinary diseases, doses may be repeated 4 to 6 hours. In chronic ailments, medicines are given once a week or even once a month or so.

SELECTION OF POTENCY: This is a very ticklish question. There are no prescribed rules for selection of potencies, but ordinarily low potencies such as 3x, 3, 6,6x or 30 are used in acute diseases, but in chronic diseases high potencies such as 200, 500, 1000 are used at long intervals. The highest potencies such as 10M, 50M, and CM are given in very chronic diseases at intervals of several weeks or even months.

IS AN ANTIDOTE NEEDED? When a patient begins Homoeopathic treatment, it is not always necessary to give him some medicine to antidote the effects of the previous medicines. Generally Nux Vom 30 to 200 one dose is said to antidote all other medicinal effects. But only time neutralizes the effects of drugs. If the case is not acute and urgent a dose of Nux may be given to start with.

Build A Symptom Picture To Cure The Disease

In Homoepathy we do not prescribe for a disease or a single symptom but we take in to account all the symptoms of the patient. We compare them with the symptoms or characteristics of suggested medicines and then prescribe one single medicine for the totality of the symptoms.

Symptoms are physical and mental. Physical symptoms include temperature, pulse, variations in behaviour, excretions from the body like stools, urine, sweat, vomit, phlegm, etc. The time when the disease is aggravated or ameliorated and its exact locations on the body have to be carefully noted. These should be noted in as much details as possible.

One should try to build a complete symptoms picture of the patient, starting from the head downwards, in a systematic and orderly way.

Great Importance is attached to mental symptoms. These symptoms include the patient’s appetites, cravings, feelings of anxiety, apathy, anger, etc. his dreams, and also his aversions. One should then compare these symptoms with the characteristics of medicines and select whichever is closest. This should not be done in a hurry.

It should now be clear that in Homoeopathy every patient is treated individually according to the symptoms of his ailments, and if carefully selected remedies are administered in the initial stages, many chronic and serious diseases can be avoided. The remedy thus selected acts upon the Vital Force and gives it the right guidance. It is this Vital Force that eradicates the morbid symptoms in totally and restores the patient to normal health.

I would like to quote a few instances from my own experience to impress upon the readers the importance of mental symptoms. A female patient about 50 years of age had developed cancer in her breasts and one breast was removed in the hospital. After some time she developed a small tumor in the other breast and came to me for treatment. One of her mental symptoms helped me to select the right remedy for her cancer. She was afraid of being alone but at the same time was depressed, felt timid and averse to society. This particular condition indicated CONIUM which was given in 1000 potency and this saved removal of other breast. She has been well for the last 7-8 years. The tumor still exists though reduced to great extent and without and pain whatsoever.

Another instance of a patient at Ferozepur jail is as follows. It was in the beginning of 1945 that a Muslim Asst. Superintendent was transferred to this jail from another jail. He consulted me for his bleeding piles. He had become very anaemic and had grown weak and emaciated. I gave him medicine for 3-4 days but there was no relief. He came to me in my cell and pleaded that the Dy. Superintendent was all praise for me and I should pay more attention to his cancer. He told me that the D.I.G Prisons had heavily punished him for a very small act of negligence. He had been demoted from Dy. Superintendent to Asst. Superintendent and that his piles too had aggravated since then. I took the clue and prescribed IGNATIA. This remedy acts wonderfully in ailments which follow grief, disappointment, worry, despair, mental shock or mortification. I need not say that IGNITIA cured the patient not only physically but mentally also.

Many children become irritable, they want to be carried in the lap and are obstinate, easily angered. A few globules of CHAMOMILLA 6,12 wonderfully calm such children. This remedy is often called the the opium of Homoeopathy, ACID PHOS works very well in the ailments of disappointed lovers. AURUM gold subsides thoughts of suicide and disgust for life.

Once a Member of Parliament consulted me. He said that for the last 3-4 weeks he had been feeling afraid of making and speech in Parliament, though all along he had been a good speaker. This called stage-fright. A dose of GELSEMIUM 200 totally removed this fright in him.

One Executive Engineer developed a strange sense of anguish and despondency which lasted only for about 2 hours in the evening. He felt he will not be able to work in the office; he will be unable to deal with the files. There was great tension in the morning but when he went to the office he was quite normal and the same tension returned the next morning. A dose of ARSENICUM 1000 relieved his tension in three days only.

Diseases Acute And Chronic

In Homoeopathy diseases are acute and chronic. Acute diseases or conditions are short and sharp, and the whole body is not necessarily affected. In Chronic conditions the body’s vital force gets disturbed to their depths and the disease keeps recurring. Their treatment should be left entirely to the doctor.

Every chronic disease often begins as an acute one. Acute diseases are of short duration, i.e., they begin and end within days or weeks, such as cholera, malaria,fever,cold,catarrh,measles, etc. Chronic diseases are those whose durations extends to months and years, such as asthma,cancer,T.B, piles,etc.

In acute diseases symptoms appear, increase and either end in cure or in death. In such diseases medicines are given frequently even at intervals of 5-10-15 minutes, according to severity of symptoms. In chronic diseases Homoeopathic medicines are often repeated weekly or monthly even at longer intervals.

Homoeopathy Treats The Patient, Not The Disease

The Materia Medica of Homoeopathy is nothing but the proving of the medicine on healthy bodies, i.e the symptoms which a medicine produces in healthy body when taken in physiological doses. Therefore, in Homoeopathy the name of the disease is not at all necessary to select the right medicine. Homoeopathy treats the patient not the disease, unlike other systems of medicine where diseases are treated. In fact, the so called any one disease manifests so many various symptoms that no one medicine can be prescribed for it.

For ages, we have been accustomed to treat diseases by names. We have also prescribed medicines according to name of diseases but have mentioned different symptoms of different medicines in the same disease. The nomenclatures of diseases are according to some prominent part of the effected body or some prominent symptoms.

For example, if our lungs are affected and congested, we call it Pneumonia; if there is chill and fever we call it Malaria. If there is pain in heart we call it Angina, and so on. But it should be clear that even in one disease, for example in Pneumonia some patients are restless with high fever and great thirst, but others have no thirst and no restlessness would like to lie down silently. Some will not be able to lie on the left side, while others will feel uncomfortable by lying on the right side. In Malaria too there are so many different symptoms varying from patient to patient. Homoeopathy depends much on these different symptoms. A patient craves for cold water during fever, the other is thirst less, another feels better by moving about and still another is worse by slightest motion.

Therefore, to select the right Homoeopathic remedy, we have to note the location of the disease, i.e. the part effected, the sensations of the patient and aggravation and amelioration of the troubles.

To select the right remedy, therefore, we should carefully note all the symptoms in a patient. We should note what he says as well as what his relatives nursing him, say. We should then find which medicine in the Materia Medica produces all these symptoms, or at least a majority of important symptoms. If we succeed by careful comparison in finding out a similar medicine, the minutest doses of the same will cure the patient.