homeopathic medicine

naturopatHic homeopathic medicine By LAurie WerTiCH Treating the Whole Patient, One Symptom at a Time When CaThY disTefano was diagnosed with diffuse B-cell lymphoma, her doctors told her that her outlook was good—so long as she underwent chemotherapy. Without the chemo her cancer could be fatal. Cathy is a firm believer in divine healing as well as in the mind-body connection. she had used herbal and alternative medicines in the past, and she believed that she needed more than “just” chemotherapy. “My husband and i prayed together,” Cathy recalls of her struggle to make treatment decisions. “i think the mind, body, and spirit are all important in healing.” after undergoing surgery to remove a cfthrive.com tumor from her throat, Cathy opted to have the chemotherapy, but she didn’t stop there. for her the chemotherapy was only part of the equation. “With the very invasive treatment of chemotherapy,” Cathy says, “i wanted it to work without interference, and yet i wanted to be free of as many of the side effects as possible.” so Cathy turned to homeopathic medicine for relief. “i noticed immediate relief whenever i would take a homeopathic remedy,” she says. “for example, with the homeopathic sulfur i would take for severe itching, i would notice very quick relief, sometimes within a minute or a few minutes.” More recently, heather Wright, nd, Cathy's naturopathic physician at Cancer Treatment Centers of america® (CTCa) recommended a single homeopathic remedy for her, tailored to target her specific symptoms. “i definitely noticed relief from a lot of different symptoms i was having after taking that one dose,” Cathy says, noting that the homeopathic remedy greatly diminished the nausea she normally felt after chemotherapy. What Is Homeopathy? Many people interested in natural health are familiar with those little blue vials filled with tiny white pellets that dissolve cancer fighters thrive | summer 2009 23 naturopatHic to overcome symptoms. he created the centesimal, or C, scale, which measures the number of times a substance has been diluted by a factor of 100 at each stage. for example, a 2C dilution refers to a substance that was diluted (in water or alcohol) to one part in 100 and shaken vigorously; one part of the resulting diluted solution was diluted by another factor of 100. a 30C dilution repeats this process 30 times. The process can be repeated over and over, resulting in different degrees of dilution and, as a result, varying potenshauna Birdsall, ND, uses homeopathy as one of many therapies under the umbrella of naturopathic medicine. cies of the same remedy. under the tongue. But what is in those pellets, and how do they work? referred to as homeopathic remedies, the biochemistry in the pellets forms the cornerstone of homeopathy. homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine developed in 1796 by german doctor samuel hahnemann, Md. The system is based on the Law of similars, or the idea that “like cures like.” dr. hahnemann noticed that large doses of certain substances were toxic to the body and caused any number of symptoms; when given in minute doses, however, those same substances would actually stimulate the body to heal those same symptoms. it’s not as complicated as it sounds. homeopathic medicines work in a similar way to vaccines. a vaccine is a very diluted, low-potency form of a virus that trains the immune system to recognize that virus and become resistant to it. similarly, a homeopathic remedy is a very low dose of a substance that will cause the symptoms a patient is experiencing and trigger the body to overcome those symptoms. 24 cancer fighters thrive | summer 2009 Homeopathic Remedies Homeopathy and Cancer Treatment shauna Birdsall, nd, the director of homeopathic remedies are composed naturopathic medicine at Cancer Treatment Centers of america in Phoenix, arizona, says that homeopathic remedies are an excellent option for cancer patients because they are safe, inexpensive, and have virtually no drug interactions or side effects. “homeopathic medicine can help address a lot of the concerns and complaints that oncology patients face, and they can be used in conjunction with their conventional treatment,” says dr. Birdsall. Many cancer patients struggle not only with symptoms of their cancer but also with the side effects of treatment. They may be undergoing chemotherapy or taking multiple medications, and they need something that is easy to use. homeopathic remedies are a safe, easy, no-fuss approach—they simply dissolve under the tongue. homeopathic medicine won’t cure cancer, but it can make cancer and its treatment more tolerable. dr. Birdsall says that she uses homeopathic remedies for a varicfthrive.com of various botanical, mineral, and animal substances. There are hundreds of homeopathic remedies, and they are the direct result of dr. hahnemann’s research and experimentation. dr. hahnemann conducted what he called “provings”—testing the homeopathic substances on himself and others for years and then carefully documenting the results. These provings resulted in a large volume of information referred to as the homeopathic Pharmacopoeia, which provides a comprehensive list of symptoms and their corresponding remedies. doctors today still use the homeopathic Pharmacopoeia to prescribe appropriate remedies for patients. homeopathic remedies come in different potencies, such as 12C, 30C, and 200C. The C is a reference to the degree of dilution of the remedy. dr. hahnemann found that the more dilute a substance was the more potent it was and, therefore, the more it seemed to stimulate the body naturopatHic ety of symptoms with her patients, including nausea and vomiting, hot flashes, surgical trauma, and the mental and emotional stress of treatment. There is a corresponding remedy for any symptom imaginable. “homeopathics can be extraordinarily useful for nausea,” dr. Birdsall says. “They’re dissolved under the tongue, so they’re usually really well tolerated, and there are a whole variety of different remedies that match different symptoms for different kinds of nausea.” homeopathic remedies are also helpful with hot flashes. “hot flashes can be challenging to treat, particularly in patients with hormonally sensitive cancers like breast cancers,” dr. Birdsall says. homeopathics provide a unique approach because they can be matched to a patient’s Homeopathic medicine won’t cure cancer, but it can make cancer and its treatment more tolerable. exact symptoms. each patient may experience hot flashes differently, and there is a corresponding remedy that will treat the hot flashes without stimulating estrogen production the way some other natural remedies do. There truly is a remedy for every need— from stimulating tissue repair after surgery to addressing the anxiety and the depression that so often accompany cancer treatment. “it’s a very gentle therapy that is going to be inexpensive and may or may not work,” dr. Birdsall says. “if it doesn’t work, we can go on to the next remedy. Patients are generally excited to try something that is going to be inexpensive and potentially helpful.” A Trusted Provider of Home TPN for Over 30 Years Coram's Nourish Nutrition Support Program provides a customized care approach to home TPN patients. We are dedicated to providing high quality clinical care, nutrition expertise and personal support for nutrition consumers in the home. Contact us today to learn how we can service your home nutrition patients. A service of cfthrive.com cancer fighters thrive | summer 2009 25