Affordable Healthcare

One of my earliest joys in learning that homeopathy was a comprehensive system of healthcare was witnessing the gradual transformation of my family’s “medicine cabinet.” In it one could find numerous sampled over-the-counter, as well as prescription, products, often used only once or twice.

For instance, before homeopathy came into my life, I remember finally getting desperate enough to try a nasal decongestant that was advertised as providing “12-hour relief” (I wanted the best). I remember thinking the product was expensive. I took only a dose or two, because the side effects were worse than my symptoms. Into the medicine cabinet it went!

Growing up, strep throat and sinus and bronchial infections were my bane. (These lasted into my 20’s, until – yes! – homeopathy came on the scene.) I would get a sinus and bronchial infection each winter, be treated with antibiotics, and then have laryngitis which would linger for another month or two. Eventually, my sinus infections stopped responding to antibiotics and became chronically low-grade. I would also get strep throat four times a year and be sent home from school upon being diagnosed, put on a course of antibiotics, and sent back to school the following day.

I am sure that, over the years, I became lax about taking the full course of antibiotics, probably dosing myself only until my symptoms were better. So, into the medicine cabinet the remainder would go. And (if truth be told), when my symptoms would reappear, rather than see the doctor again, I would “self-prescribe” and take more of the last antibiotic that had appeared to help. (While I strongly recommend against this, I think it is common practice. It is important, when under the care of a physician, to follow his or her directions explicitly.)

Our “medicine cabinet” became a place to stash things. From cough syrups, antacid tablets and aspirin, to decongestants, nighttime sleep aids, and eye drops, not to mention leftover prescription medicines. Over time we had our own little “home pharmacy.” Much of what was in it was, for the most part, useless. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to throw anything out due to its cost.

Many of my clients are surprised to hear that I’ve had illnesses treated conventionally just like them! Fortunately, in my extended family, health knowledge has spread in reverse order through the generations. My mother eventually become a homeopathic convert and uses it for herself and her pets, grandchildren, husband and mother-in-law. It was precisely at the moment when she dosed my then-toddler daughter, who had awakened with a croupy cough at 12:30 one night, with Spongia that my mother’s eyes opened to homeopathy. She reported that my daughter had fallen asleep within ten minutes of the dose, without any further coughing. Due to her personal experience with losing many nights’ sleep to croup when my brothers and I were young, she was duly impressed.

Before homeopathy, rather than get healthier over time, we needed more and more medicines. The reason our medicine cabinet quickly became stuffed to overflowing is because the medicines we purchased merely manipulated symptoms.

For example, when someone has a cough, there is a reason for that cough. Despite this, we take a cough suppressant. Will a cough syrup remove the reason the person is coughing in the first place (if, indeed, it even helps the cough)?

Ear infections are another example. While antibiotics, at their best, will stop an ear infection, will they prevent the child or adult from getting another ear infection? In most cases, no. Antibiotics treat the bacterial infection, but are unable to go beyond that in addressing the imbalance which creates the susceptibility the person has for ear infections in the first place.

Without a doubt, conventional medicine holds an important place in our society. Many doctors, however, feel that too much self-medication occurs. To illustrate, the trend for doctors to hand out antibiotics reflexively for every ear infection has started reversing itself, as more and more strains of bacteria become resistant to the antibiotics available. For families and individuals, it can be expensive monetarily as well as in terms of overall health.

Early in my studies, I purchased about a dozen homeopathic remedies. Each bottle cost under $4.00. These were purchased in 1981, and I still have (and use) them today. Many have only a few doses missing. The difference between my old medicine cabinet and my collection of homeopathic remedies is that, rather than accumulating more due to becoming ill regularly, I have little use for the remedies as a result of having become healthier over the years.

Rather than target only the symptom, as with conventional medicine, homeopathic treatment seeks to understand why a certain symptom exists. The body has an inherent wisdom in manifesting a particular symptom, and homeopathy, in respecting the body’s intelligence, seeks to restore the dis-ease within an organism. Conventional medicine opposes symptoms, which is why anti-inflammatories, anti-biotics, anti-fungals, etc. are used. Homeopathic treatment works with the organism, supporting what the defense mechanism is attempting to do. This results in the release of a symptom, as it is no longer needed once the organism’s balance has been restored.

I have treated many people, for example, with chronic coughs. In one boy, I recommended a remedy to address the susceptibility created by his family’s health inheritance. There was a susceptibility to allergies, and, in this boy’s case, it was the inherited susceptibility that prevented the child’s organism from overcoming the cough. Another time I treated a man whose cough was so severe that he had broken a rib. He had had the cough for four months, and it interfered with sleep. In this instance, the cough had been triggered by a fright which this man had experienced, and in treating his response to the fright, the cough resolved within a couple of days.

Some coughs are dry, while others are very productive (lots of mucus). Some come on during the day, others at night, and others both night and day. Even croups are different. Some children have a barking cough before midnight, others after midnight, and others start coughing later in the morning towards daybreak. Some coughs are better with a humidifier, and others are worse for dampness.

Many coughs are affected by position (“Every time I lie down I start coughing”), level of activity (“He doesn’t start coughing until he runs around the house playing”) or by mental occupation (“It’s worse when I think about it”). Temperature often affects a cough (“I cough every time I go inside a warm room”).

Modalities such as these are found in every illness and with every symptom. This is what most appeals to me about homeopathy. Every time I see someone, it is the person who is sick that I am treating, not the sickness itself.

Because it is not covered by insurance, some people feel alternative health care is “expensive.” With homeopathy, at least, nothing could be further from the truth. While it is necessary to pay out-of-pocket, you are investing in your health, and I can share from personal experience that there’s not an investment around with a better short- or long-term return.