Editorial: Homeopathy in Places of Need

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Editorial: Homeopathy in places of need

by Deborah Collins

Last month, we highlighted some projects undertaken by homeopaths in remote areas of the world; places where there is very little healthcare available and often nothing at all for those who cannot pay. The living conditions are often inconceivable for many of us in western countries: extreme poverty, life threatening situations, extensive pollution, and illnesses that one would seldom encounter elsewhere. Likewise, homeopaths themselves often find themselves in dangerous situations, stretched to their limits, with no possibility of a backup from a nearby hospital, in emergency situation. This month we continue on this theme, with accounts not only from impoverished countries, but also from disaster zones, like Fukushima after the earthquake and tsunami.

Thankfully, homeopaths tend to rally around to help those who have been severely traumatised, for instance in Christchurch, in Australia after the floods, in Haiti with the cholera epidemic, etc. The following accounts illustrate how homeopaths, while been stretched by their experiences, have also been enriched, often relying on resources over and beyond their knowledge of remedies.

In Nepal, a clinic initially set up by Tinus Smits and Ortrud Lindeman in 1995 is now well-established and has also become a training institute. Today, it is run by Nepalese homeopaths and supported by European colleagues who freely share their time and experience, taking one month turns treating and teaching. Accounts from Dutch homeopaths, Resie Moonen and Huib Wijtenberg, illustrate the conditions under which they practice and what it means to them personally. More can be read about this project at:

Torako Yui from Japan, known for introducing homeopathy to her country, has jumped in the fray after the disaster of Fukushima’s nuclear power plant. Oblivious to the danger of radiation, she has gone directly to the area to help not only the people but the land itself.

Joanne Gundry from New Zealand gives a vivid description of her trip to the outback of Indonesia; a small group of islands, where people seldom receive medical care. Armed with faith and courage more than with homeopathic experience, she was still able to help hundreds, showing how a thorough knowledge of the basics of homeopathy can work seeming wonders in cases of need.

Again, we hope you will be inspired by this issue.

Categories: Editorials
Keywords: editorial
Remedies:

The Baktapur homeopathic clinic in Nepal

by Resie Moonen

Since 1995, a group of European and Nepalese homeopaths, headed by Tinus Smits from Holland and Ortrud Lindeman from Barcelona, began a project to create a centre for homeopathic medicine in Nepal: the International Homeopathic Clinic of Bhaktapur. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which aims to improve health care in Nepal, one of the world’s poorest countries. The clinic is run by a Nepalese team, and supported by European colleagues who are on location on a monthly cycle to help in patient care and vocational training: the centre is also a training centre for future healthcare professionals in the area of homeopathy and natural medicine. During morning and early hours they work in the Homeopathic Clinic to give supervision and see complicated cases. The rest of the day, they prepare lectures for the College, seminars for homeopathic colleagues in the country, and have appointments with the Professional Health Council, ministries, etc.

Bhaktapur is one of the three cities of the Kathmandu valley, with 200,000 inhabitants. In Nepal, there is only one doctor for 80.000 people and in some remote areas, there is even only one doctor for 200,000 people! The Nepalese live in very precarious conditions: lack of clean drinking water, lack of a healthcare system, uncontrolled deforestation, high levels of environmental contamination in the cities, and rapid population growth. This last year, there is also a shortage of electricity in the country.

The clinic serves a large number of patients, mostly from one of the cities and villages of Kathmandu Valley, many of whom are helped almost for free due to the lack of financial resources. Patients are generally seen at the clinic but those who are unable to attend are sometimes seen at their homes.

In 2008, we started with the training of Homeopathic Health Assistants, a 3 year course in Primary Health Care and Homeopathy. The College and Training is recognised by the Nepalese government and provides young students from all over the country the opportunity to study without having to travel abroad. They can, then, return to their community to treat patients and earn a living from their work. To read more about the project:

Case: a boy with typhus

A father brought his 15 year old son, who was suffering from typhus. The boy was terribly ill, with a high fever and weakness. I first gave him Belladonna due to his general symptoms. The next day, however, the father brought him back as he was even worse than before. I then gave him Baptisia because of his puffy face and the fact that he could barely think or speak; his father had to answer questions for him. The next day, they came again and the condition had deteriorated even more. The boy reminded me of my own 15 year old son in the Netherlands and I realised that all day long I had had a sort of anticipation anxiety concerning their next appointment with me. I was very worried about him and I knew that the parents could not afford to send him to hospital. The third day, the father came carrying his son, as he was too weak to walk. He still had a very high fever. He said that he had a terrible headache and that he could hardly keep his eyes open because his eyelids were so heavy. All his muscles hurt and on examining him, I noticed that he was trembling. Fortunately, I thought of Gelsemium – it is important to note that I myself was almost in a Gelsemium state, as though I had to pass an exam. If I did not succeed the boy would die. I put Gelsemium 200 in his mouth and had him take a sip of Gelsemium 200 dissolved in water once per hour. The next day, they showed up again, and what a joy: the boy had slept well, the fever was gone, he was able to eat and drink, and the headache has disappeared. The father was extremely happy and so was I! A few days later, I saw the boy walking through the streets of Bhaktapur, strong and healthy, the way a fifteen year old should be.

Photos: Huib Wigtenburg

Categories: General
Keywords: Nepal, homeopathic clinic and training
Remedies:

Acute abdominal pain and traveller's diarrhea

by Huib Wijtenburg

Acute abdominal pain

On my second trip to Nepal, I was finally sitting down to dinner late one evening, when there was a knock at the door. One of the participants of the course was there on his scooter, asking if I would come to help someone who was acutely ill. I quickly finished my dinner and jumped on the back of the scooter with my repertory and a kit of remedies. It was dark quite early and after a trip through alleys and bumpy paths, we came to one of the kind of houses that are so familiar there – half finished. The first storey is finished, above, however, the corners of the second storey are in place but the storey itself is not there.

A young woman was lying on the second floor, on a bed under a tarpaulin. She looked very sick and it was clear that something was very wrong with her. She had terrible pain in her belly and could not keep any food or drink. On examining her, I found that she had a painful swelling in the middle of her belly and no peristalsis. I assumed that it was an invagination or torsion of the intestines, and said that she would have to go to a surgeon. After much talking with the course participant, it became clear that hospitalisation was not an option. In those parts of the world, people are of the opinion that one simply dies in hospital, if one can afford to go there at all. All eyes were looking hopefully at me. I was clearly seen as her doctor, the only one treating her, and I had permission to treat her homeopathically.

In such an acute situation, I assume that a good remedy should produce a reaction within a quarter of an hour. Using the rubric “Intussussception”, I gave Arsenicum. Nothing happened and I sat quietly beside the bed, becoming uncomfortable and unconfident. Of course, I tried to understand what had happened with her, via the translator, and gave her Bryonia, since she was lying there so very still. Again, there was no change. Then Opium, but alas, no reaction – except for the fact that she sat up and bent over, drawing her knees up, offering a clear picture for the next remedy: Colocynthis. Around that time, the story finally became clear: something had happened in her family that had made her extremely angry. Within fifteen minutes, the pain was gone and she asked for something to eat. I dared to get back on the scooter and go bed, knowing that she would live. The next day, she came to visit the clinic and there was no palpable mass at all in her belly.

Needless to say that I would never have dared to do this in Holland; crisis and necessity break the rules!

Traveller’s diarrhea

After a personal experience, I always ask patients with chronic diarrhea after a trip to the tropics, if they have experienced any severe frights on their journey. Twenty five years ago, I travelled through Nepal. One evening in a lodge, we felt very threatened by a group of young men who were partying and we fled, with the idea that we were being chased for a long time (which, luckily, was not the case). Thank goodness, some people put us up for the night. This was the last day of a three week trek; we were going back to Kathmandu by bus the next day. It was only when we were actually on the bus that I started to feel safe. As soon as we departed, I felt the first signs of diarrhea. I will always remember that trip: having diarrhea while travelling on a bus from the fifties, driving over mountain paths next to ravines is not such a fun thing to do, and in my case it was charged with feelings of shame. Unfortunately, in that time, I didn’t have a homeopathic traveller’s kit with me, so I just sat it out. A few weeks later, my complaints were over. About ten years later, I did a proving together with several colleagues. On the second night of the proving, I had a dream: I was being chased by 3 giants. I could just escape but I felt terribly anxious. The next day, I went to work but I could hardly sit at my desk as I often had to run to the toilet with diarrhea. The remedy that we were proving turned out to be Opium: diarrhea after fright, ailments from shame. Later, I saw a patient who had come back from a trip to the tropics with intestinal complaints after he having been mugged. Opium relieved his symptoms.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Rainer Haessner; construction of a new house nearby the street between Kathmandu and Bhaktapur
Kogo; market day at Namche Bazar (Khumbu, Nepal)

Categories: Cases
Keywords: severe abdominal pain, abdominal swelling, unable to eat or drink, extreme anger, diarrhea after fright, feelings of shame
Remedies: Arsenicum album, Bryonia alba, Colocynthis, Opium

Homeopathic approach to catastrophe and radiations problems; Fukushima, Japan

by Torako Yui

The Tohoku earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, which occurred off the Sanriku coast of Japan at 14:46 JST on Friday 11 March 2011, caused enormous devastation, mainly in eastern Japan, earning the name: the Great East Japan Earthquake. I am writing this article, in which I will briefly present the JPHMA’s activities, as well as my view on the meaning of this catastrophe, just one month after it happened.

According to the Japan Metropolitan Police Department’s statistics, on 30 April 2011, the figures are as follows:
Deathtoll 14,662; Missing 11,019; Injured 4,373 among 12 districts including Fukushima, Gunma, Igaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, Yamagata, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano, Saitama, Tokyo and Chiba. 2.500 shelters have been built in 18 districts, caring for 127,000 evacuees. 48.564 buildings have completely collapsed, spread over 9 districts.

The shock of this catastrophe is as vivid today as if it had just happened yesterday.

On the day of the earthquake, I wanted to go straight to the affected area, but as I had already been booked for lectures in western Japan and as there was no access to the east nor electricity in the zone, I had to postpone my trip. Initially, I could only offer remote support via text messages to mobile phones. JPHMA members in the affected areas had home kits of 36 homeopathic remedies and contributed outstandingly by distributing homeopathic remedies to their neighbours; many of them are indicated for the kind of physical and mental trauma caused by such a disaster but none of them were appropriate for treating exposure to radiation. The fact that JPHMA had given homoeopathic self-care lectures to the general public on a routine basis became a great advantage.

Another unexpected situation occurred, however, at the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant. In 1971, General Electric Mark I nuclear reactors were introduced and have been working for nearly 40 years. The earthquake and tsunami disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to nuclear radiation leaks due to a partial melt of fuel rods.

At the time of the earthquake, there were 54 active nuclear power plants in Japan, which would have totalled 77 if inactive and newly planned ones were included. The fact that such a large number of nuclear power plants should be built in Japan, a country of earthquakes, is equal to pouring gasoline on a fire!

Luckily there was not a complete meltdown, as in the Chernobyl nuclear accident on 26 April 1986. In Chernobyl, the reactor exploded and melted, sending huge amounts of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. In Fukushima, the leakage is one tenth that of Chernobyl.

Nevertheless, some international media have reported incorrectly that the whole reactor had exploded, releasing an atomic cloud, making Japan an extremely dangerous place to visit. The press used pictures of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb on 6 August 1945, next to pictures of land destroyed by the 11 March tsunami, implying incorrectly that the land was damaged by the nuclear power plant incident rather than by the tsunami. Products from Japan could not be exported and, even Japanese people started to avoid products from Fukushima. When I visited Fukushima, where vegetables and fruits are produced, people there were deeply depressed. A farmer in Fukushima had committed suicide because he could not sell his produce, which was about to be shipped out.

Let us consider the Arndt-Schulz law, one of the major principles of homoeopathy. According to this law, if we are exposed to a large amount of radiation, a small amount of the radiation could cure the ailments due to the exposure. If it is the exposure is minimal, our own healing power should be able to reverse the damage.

I have created a radiation remedy ‘RA’ to heal the effects of radioactive substances. It is a combination of Cadmium sulphuricum, Sol, Plutonium nitricum, Kalium iodatum, Radium bromide, Uranium nitricum, Caesium hydroxide, Thyreoidinum, and Parathyreoid gland. Caesium 137 was carried to neighbouring European countries after the explosion in Chernobyl, but people who were not exposed to great density of radioactive rain seemed not to be affected.

After all, huge amounts of radioactivity have been spread by more than 2,000 nuclear experiments all over the world. Therefore, we do not have to worry about radiation out of hand. On a daily basis, we should try to avoid any intake of harmful substances and use a treatment like homeopathy to stimulate our own healing powers and push toxins out of our bodies. Radioactivity is not the only dangerous pollutant we encounter: substances in vaccines, drugs, pesticides, and food additives are also harmful. I think this nuclear incident has demonstrated the necessity to replace harmful energy, medicine, and foods with healthy ones, derived from nature.

From the time of the earthquake to my visit to the affected area

Immediately after the earthquake, on 11 March, I contacted the Institute of Homoeopathy in Japan and started to distribute the remedies I had created: ‘RA’, as mentioned above, and ‘AAA’ (Aconite, Arnica, and Arsenicum), free of charge. I also offered information to the public through our website and by email.