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USING HOMEOPATHY TO
TREAT DIGESTIVE
DISORDERS: AN OVERVIEW
By Editor Posted January 1, 2017 In Homeopathy
3 6
TOLLE TOTUM
Sharum Sharif, ND
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6/7/2018 Using Homeopathy to Treat Digestive Disorders: An Overview – Naturopathic Doctor News and Review
If you don’t already use homeopathy in your practice, the good news
is that it’s easier to incorporate than you might think! Homeopathic
remedies are extremely fast-acting, easy to use for all ages,
inexpensive, and earth-friendly, and, you don’t have to worry about
adverse interactions between homeopathic remedies and other natural
therapies or drugs since the remedies are energetic in nature, not
biochemical.
You can, of course, use homeopathy in many other situations that are
not so difficult or urgent. For instance, I often find patients use
numerous supplements, such as digestive enzymes or hydrochloric
acid, as crutches in order to alleviate symptoms. Although
homeopathic remedies can be just as non-curative as supplements,
when used appropriately, they can cure patients’ digestive challenges,
often rather quickly.
HOMEOPATHIC CASE-TAKING
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1. Ask questions about the details of the symptoms that characterize the
main concern as well as accompanying symptoms. These include quality
and intensity, sides, times, modalities (better with or worse with
questions), extensions, localizations, and detailed descriptions of all major
and accompanying or concomitant symptoms. General or common
symptoms (symptoms that everyone with that condition might have) are
not as helpful as characteristic symptoms (symptoms that are unique to
your patient).
2. Concomitant symptoms. The symptoms that occur at the same time as
those related to the chief complaint are known as concomitant symptoms.
For example, if the patient has the chief complaint of abdominal pain and
happens to be angry, anger is a concomitant symptom. Look for remedies
with abdominal pain, and then pick from the ones that have anger. Note
that you should not look for remedies in the anger section of the repertory,
and then pick the ones that have abdominal pain because, in this case,
abdominal pain is the chief complaint, not anger.
3. Prioritization of symptoms. Although the correct remedy can improve
many symptoms at once, if the patient presents with more than one
symptom, you need to prioritize and treat them accordingly. For example,
if the patient presents with acute severe bloody diarrhea, chronic
headaches and eczema, you clearly should focus on treating the acute
bloody diarrhea first, and when the diarrhea is entirely resolved, focus on
treating the chronic headaches and eczema.
4. Etiology. Knowing the etiology (causes and contributing circumstances)
of a condition can be critical, and is sometimes more important than the
totality of the symptoms. Possible etiologies include trauma, shock, grief,
infection, and cancer. Prescribing based on etiology often leads to better
results, especially in the short term.
5. Diagnosis/pathology. This is absolutely critical in any branch of medicine.
In homeopathy, knowing the diagnosis can help guide treatment because
each remedy has an affinity for particular organ(s). Abdominal pain, for
example, may be caused by a number of different pathologies, and
different pathologies point to different remedies. In some cases, pathology
takes precedence over symptoms when choosing a remedy.
6. Center of gravity. An example can best illustrate this concept: If a patient
presents with chief complaint of severe diarrhea and vomiting, and feels
fine otherwise, the center of gravity in this case is the digestive system. A
homeopathic remedy that centers on the digestive tract may help this
patient more than their constitutional remedy. The constitutional remedy
may be useful again for ongoing care after the diarrhea and vomiting are
entirely resolved.
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REPERTORIZATION
1
One of my favorite repertories is Dr. Robin Murphy’s repertory. It is
a modern repertory that lists the various traditional repertory chapters
alphabetically, and also lists numerous diseases by their actual
modern names. Most repertories list mainly symptoms, and do not
contain many disease names, but in this repertory you can find disease
terms such as Parkinson’s disease, hypertension, and cellulitis.
Homeopaths using Murphy’s repertory may find that the painstaking
process known as repertorization—breaking a disease down into all
its symptoms, finding each symptom in the repertory, and finding a
remedy that is listed under all of the symptoms—is required less
often.
There are many sections listed in the repertory that are related to
digestion, starting with mouth, throat, stomach, abdomen, rectum, and
stool, and numerous remedies may be effective for the treatment of
each condition listed. Food cravings (or better yet, change in a
person’s food cravings) and symptoms associated with the
consumption of particular foods should be considered as confirmatory
symptoms, helping you confirm your remedy choice, rather than as
key symptoms to be addressed by the remedy.
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Below are some of the most common digestive conditions and some
of the most useful remedies for their treatment, in alphabetical order:
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POTENCY SELECTION
Any potency may be used for treating any condition, whether acute or
chronic. The lower the potency of a remedy, the less powerful the
effect, and the faster it wears off. As a general rule, the 6C and 12C
potencies are prescribed to be taken daily or every few days. The
effect of 30C potencies can last for days to weeks, while 200C and
higher potencies can stay active in the body for weeks to months. I
typically start out with lower potencies, and increase them over time
if needed. The effect of a homeopathic remedy may be shorter in
patients with acute illness, those weakened by a chronic debilitating
condition, and those experiencing intense physical or emotional
stress. For example, the 30C potency of a remedy may need to be
repeated daily for a few days in an acute digestive tract infection;
however, a remedy in the 30C potency may stay active in a person
with a chronic condition for weeks to months.
If you are not totally confident in your remedy selection, you should
stay away from the 200C and higher potencies since they can have a
powerful impact on the body and mind; you can always test the
waters with potencies of 12C or 30C. Keep in mind that these lower
potencies are so weak that you may not discern significant changes,
especially in chronic cases, so you and your patient may both need to
be patient! If there is a dire need for immediate and serious help,
regardless of whether the condition is acute or chronic, the patient is
sufficiently vital to handle a higher potency, and I am certain of my
remedy selection, I usually prescribe a 200C potency, which can often
bring out rapid recovery. How do we know when to re-dose? As a
simple rule, the remedy can be repeated when the symptoms are
starting to return.
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CASE FOLLOW-UP
Since homeopathic remedies affect the whole person, you should do a
full review of systems and physical exam to find out how all of your
patient’s symptoms changed immediately after taking the remedy, as
well as days to weeks or even months later.
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Reference:
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Digestive Disorders, DIgestive Health, Homeopathy For Digestion
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