Did you know?...

March is Women's History Month in the United States, and Joette sent out some info in her newsletter today that I found to be interesting and thought I'd pass along to you!

Did you know that Florence Nightingale (1860-1919) was a patient of homeopathy and had homeopathic nurses that she worked with?

Clemence Sophia Lozier, MD (1813-1888) opened a homeopathic medical school for women at a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to take on this role. Consider her quote, "That woman was, by every instinct and aptitude of her nature, better fitted for the medical profession than man."  I'm not sure I agree with her there, as sex does not determine a caring attitude, but it was impressive that she served in this capacity during an era when educated women normally stayed home.

Mother Teresa, of course, spent the second part of her life serving the poor in Calcutta with the Sisters of Charity. She used homeopathy which was widely used historically and today by Indian doctors. Her knowledge in homeopathy was in acute prescribing, as she left the more chronic cases to homeopathic doctors. She opened several homeopathic dispensaries to serve the people there.

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On a very exciting note, having to do with homeopathy, I was able to get a copy of a brand new book How Aphorism 27 Changed the World by Grant Bentley, who is the homeopath and teacher I wrote about previously here. He is the guy who studied and wrote the Homeopathic Facial Analysis method.
I'm sharing this with you because I think this book is going to shake up the homeopathic world AND it is definitely going to shape how I practice! He makes some radical statements and there are some things that I have already been wrong (gasp!) about!...

Well, in his new book he really challenges homeopaths to understand what Samuel Hahnemann truly wrote and believed about the practice of homeopathy. He says that we need to properly record the clinical successes of our patients through video and photography, and not just take people's word for it. We need to make sure that it stays scientific and true to the laws of nature. There are quite a few homeopaths (and even schools) that tend towards the folkloric practice of homeopathy, and blame the patient for failed prescriptions. He says in his clinical experience that things like mint, camphor or coffee have not antidoted the correct remedies. He says that homeopathic medicine is not so fragile as most people describe it to be. He has successfully treated people with homeopathic remedies while they were undergoing treatment by conventional doctors and medicine, even during chemo and radiation!

We can use homeopathy to help heal, along with conventional medicine. Most conventional medicines do not cause a healing in the body, they only ameliorate a symptom (i.e. taking away the pain of a headache does not cure someone of the root cause). Homeopathy's job is to cure the patient so they never experience the pain again. These two can actually work hand-in-hand, yet homeopaths tend to be anti-modern medicine because of the strong stance that Samuel Hahnemann took back in the days when he developed it-- during times of blood-letting, leeches and administering poisonous mercury to patients by regular doctors! That doesn't happen now.

Homeopathic doctors have also long believed that using conventional medicine will always suppress symptoms to the point of pushing that illness deeper and to a worse level. Some things, like ibuprofen to help a fever go down, do not. Not unless you have one every single day and we know that it can hurt the lining of your stomach!  He also says that sometimes people in the natural health world believe that letting nature take it's course will always result in the body coming back to a balanced state of health by itself. That is definitely not true, as in the case of a fever that goes so high, that it could lead to death or a disease overpowering the intestines so that it does great damage. I'm not even done reading the book, but I'm finding it to be exactly what I need to hear and it answers so many questions I had. I am definitely going to study HFA (Homeopathic Facial Analysis) and become certified in that, because it is an excellent way of understanding the patient and how to properly prescribe so that we can reach a cure! I am also dedicated to being the best homeopath I can be, staying close to the real facts-- of the case, of the laws of science and the laws of cure-- so that patients that need help, will receive it. I am so excited about this! Back to my studying...
xBeth