Homeopathy: Application of homeopathy for treatment of acute and chronic diseases

1
HomeopathyApplication of homeopathy for
treatment of acute and chronic diseases

• Dr. Sharum Sharif, N.D.

2
Overview of the talk

• Acknowledgments
• Who are NDs?
• Dr. Sharifs biography
• Why homeopathy?
• History
• Credentials of practitioners that prescribe
  homeopathic remedies
• What is the constitutional homeopathic remedy?
• What are polycrests (or polycrest remedies)?
• Fundamentals of homeopathy- how it works.
• First aid use
• Chronic conditions
• Homeopathy for children
• Homeopathy in epidemics

3
Acknowledgements

• I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr.
  Richard Mann, ND, chair of the homeopathy
  department at Bastyr University, and a good
  friend who played a key role in encouraging me to
  pursue homeopathy with two of the main
  homeopathic figures in the world, Ms. Henny
  Heuden-Mast (the Belgian master homeopath) and
  Dr. Paul Herscu, ND (one of the foremost figures
  in homeopathy in the world, the creator of the
  cycles and segments approach to homeopathy, and
  one of the founders of the New England School of
  Homeopathy).
• I am honored to have graduated from New England
  School of Homeopathy, and learned from Dr. Paul
  Herscu, ND, and his wife, Dr. Amy Rothenberg, ND.
  Going through this program has been absolutely
  critical in my success as a homeopath. I am
  forever indebted to these wonderful teachers.

4
Acknowledgements

• I would like to express my gratitude to Dr.
  Robert Ullman, ND, Dr. Judyth Ullman, ND, for
  the wonderful book they have written, titled
  Homeopathic Self-Care. I have used some of the
  information in this book for the preparation of
  my presentation.
• I would like to thank all my patients who have so
  willingly shared their deepest feelings and
  emotions with me in order to help me find their
  constitutional homeopathic remedy. I would not
  ever truly learn homeopathy without them.
• I would also like to thank all my other wonderful
  teachers (and who isnt a teacher to us?)
  throughout my life that have helped increase my
  awareness of the universe as it is through
  increased awareness and consciousness that you
  can practice homeopathy successfully.

5
Who are NDs (Naturopathic Doctors)?

• 1) Licensed PCPs (primary care physicians) who
  almost exclusively use natural medicines instead
  of pharmaceutical drugs.
• 2) Specialize in finding and treating the root
  cause of disease, going beyond symptom
  alleviation (using drugs or herbs).
• 3) Provide health optimization, as opposed to
  treating disease.

6
What types of therapies do NDs usually prescribe?

• NDs (naturopathic doctors) prescribe a large
  variety of natural supplements. Most commonly,
  they prescribe
• Nutritional supplementations (such as vitamins
  and minerals)
• Herbs
• Most NDs do NOT typically utilize single
  homeopathic remedies in their practice.

7
Which practitioners use homeopathy in their
practice?

• Homeopaths
• NDs (naturopathic doctors)
• DCs (doctors of chiropractic)
• MDs (medical doctors)
• Dos (doctors of osteopathy)
• PAs (Physicians assistants)
• L.Acs (Licensed acupuncturists)
• NPs (nurse practitioners)
• Vets
• Nurses
• Dentists
• Lay people can use it for first aid situations,
  but for chronic disease, you need to refer to a
  practitioner with professional training in
  homeopathy.

8
Credentials of the practitioner are important

• Since you can practice homeopathy with just about
  any license (even if you are not trained in
  homeopathy), patients need to be careful about
  the credentials of the professional they are
  seeking advice from.
• Licensed homeopaths and NDs are the only two
  professionals from the previous list who actually
  have professional training in homeopathy as a
  part of their regular curriculum. Even NDs are
  not required to have extensive training in
  homeopathy to practice it. Therefore, always
  seek out either a homeopath or a naturopath who
  has had additional training in homeopathy.
• It takes years of additional training to become
  adept in homeopathy. A weekend seminar or two
  does not suffice.

9
Dr. Sharifs Biography

• Received doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from
  Bastyr University in 2003.
• Graduated from the New England School of
  Homeopathy in 2007. (This was a two year
  course.)
• Has been practicing in Kent since 2003.
• Received bachelors in EE (electrical
  engineering) from U.W. in 1992. Specialized in
  Bio-medical instrumentation. Prior to pursuing
  medicine, worked as an engineer for Microsoft.

10
Biography, continued

• An Affiliate Clinical Faculty at Bastyr
  University, mentoring numerous students at my
  clinic.
• Teaches a class on Biotherapeutic Drainage at
  Bastyr University. (Drainage is based on
  homeopathy.)
• Main two therapeutic modalities used in his
  practice Classical Homeopathy and Biotherapeutic
  Drainage (or detoxification).
• Area of interest complex conditions of various
  kinds, including autoimmune disease and cancer.

11
Comparing conventional allopathic medicine with
homeopathy?

• This would be like comparing apples with oranges.
  
• I believe that all systems of medicine have
  their place. Clearly, conventional (allopathic)
  medicine helps numerous people, and saves
  numerous lives on a daily basis. Therefore,
  allopathic medicine has its rightful place in the
  world of medicine. However, with the same token,
  homeopathy clearly has its place for treatment of
  numerous conditions that allopathic medicine does
  not have an answer for, or may not have the most
  effective therapy for (even if there was a drug
  to be offered). And, in many cases, even if
  there was a drug to be offered, the list of
  long-term side effects are often too long.

12
Drugs should be alternatives!

• Ideally, drugs should be considered only if
  natural medicines (which are almost always safer)
  do not prove to be effective. Unfortunately, in
  our society, we use drug therapy first, and then
  utilize alternative medicines as a last resort.

13
Example 1 to illustrate the difference between
conventional medicine and homeopathy

• For example, in conventional medicine, acne
  requires long-term management with drugs, and
  warts are typically treated with very harsh
  therapies such as the freeze and burn method.
• However, homeopathy can very effectively treat
  acne and/or warts with one single remedy that you
  take one time, NOT daily. In this example,
  homeopathy is clearly the solution because it is
  more convenient (you take the medicine only one
  time), it is more cost effective (10-15 for the
  treatment), and more therapeutically effective
  (the acne or warts will probably disappear
  completely in a few weeks after the therapy, and
  will probably not return for months to years, if
  ever).
• There are numerous other examples to illustrate
  the effectiveness of homeopathy in certain cases
  where there really arent any other effective
  therapies being offered for, including other
  natural ones.

14
Example 2

• Take sore throat as an example.
• The MD is more interested in which organism is
  causing the sore throat in order to select an
  antibiotic to kill it.
• The homeopath is looking for the substance in
  nature which can stimulate the person to heal
  himself.

15
Example 3

• A patient with complaints of headache, water
  retention, high blood pressure, constipation, and
  acne might theoretically end up on 5 different
  drugs for each complaint. However, one single
  (constitutional) homeopathic remedy can
  theoretically address and (in many cases)
  successfully treat all of these complaints at the
  same time. Note that it might take a few weeks
  to a few months (or longer in some cases) for all
  these conditions to be alleviated, however.
  Therefore, in some cases where there is urgency
  to alleviate a symptom (for example in the case
  of extremely high blood pressure), it might be
  advisable to take a drug to control a symptom
  while the homeopathic remedy is working on
  addressing the underlying imbalance (s) that has
  (have) caused elevation in the persons blood
  pressure.

16
A proposed solution to the dilemma of referrals

• I hope someday our medical colleagues (MDs)
  become familiar enough with homeopathy and other
  alternatives therapeutics to the extent that they
  can simply refer patients to the appropriate
  alternative professionals as the need arises.
  For example, a family physician should
  immediately refer a case of warts to a homeopath,
  not a dermatologist. Conversely, all doctors
  should, obviously, refer a case of a stage 3 burn
  patient to a dermatologist for surgery. These
  would be appropriate referrals. In the present
  health care system, all skin conditions are
  referred to a dermatologist, and perhaps only a
  few MDs in the country might know enough about
  homeopathy to refer a warts case to a homeopath
  instead of to a dermatologist.
• With more proper referral systems in place, many
  less people would suffer from ailments that are
  easily treatable with the appropriate tool (and
  that tool may sometimes be pharmaceutical drugs).
  

17
When should NDs refer to homeopaths?

• There are conditions and diseases that dont
  respond very well to naturopathic medicine.
  These conditions should be referred to a
  homeopath. Examples of such conditions would
  be Severe depression and anxiety, deep fatigue
  that is not responding to nutritional
  supplementation and cleansing protocols,
  extremely high pulse, uncontrolled hypertension,
  and chronic conditions of various types that are
  either not responding to herbs and nutritional
  supplementations or are responding very poorly.
• If neither homeopathy nor naturopathic medicine
  is able to help a patient, then the patient
  should definitely be referred to MDs as quickly
  as possible. Example A case of chronic diarrhea
  (lasting for more than a few months) should be
  referred to a gastroenterologist for a workup.

18
When should homeopaths refer to other doctors
(NDs, MDs, etc.)?

• There are technical tasks that homeopaths are not
  licensed to perform. These are more conventional
  tasks such as ordering blood tests and diagnostic
  imaging studies.
• Additionally, there are a number of conditions
  that homeopaths do not have any therapies for.
  In these cases, the homeopath should refer to a
  ND or a MD. Examples of conditions that a
  homeopath may not be able to treat would be a
  serious life-threatening infection where the most
  powerful antibiotics are indicated. (Although
  even in such a situation, homeopathy would be a
  great adjunctive therapy to boost the persons
  vitality and immune system which will, in turn,
  combat the infection and actually help the
  antibiotic drug along.)

19
Why homeopathy?Benefits of homeopathy, in
general

• 1) In many cases, homeopathy can be more
  effective than most other systems of medicine,
  including other natural medicines (such as herbs)
  and/or drugs.
• 2) Homeopathic medicines are non toxic (Most of
  the time, they have no side effects at all).
  Homeopathic medicines do not contain any
  chemicals (they are purely energetic), and
  therefore, unlike pharmaceutical drugs or even
  herbs and nutritional supplementation, they are
  not a load on the detoxification pathways of
  the body (namely liver and kidneys).
• 3) More friendly towards the body (They dont
  powerfully suppress or stimulate various
  biochemical reactions in the body like drugs do.)

20
Why homeopathy?

• 4) The pills taste good (pills are usually sugar
  coated), and thus higher compliance especially
  for children
• 5) Often, the remedies can provide relief in a
  very short period of time, ranging from minutes
  to hours, even in chronic illnesses.
• 6) The results can be astoundingly effective and
  rapid in some cases
• 7) Extremely inexpensive

21
Why is homeopathy so inexpensive?

• One dose of a constitutional remedy can be
  obtained from your doctors office for typically
  10-15, and the effect of this one dose can last
  for a few months- You do not typically take your
  constitutional homeopathic remedy daily, unlike
  herbs or drugs.
• Even if you had to take your homeopathic remedy
  daily (say a 12c or 30c potency), it is still so
  extremely inexpensive that it simply does not
  compare to drugs or even herbs for that matter.

22
History of Homeopathy

• The 200th birthday of homeopathy was in 1996.
• Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, MD, is known to be the
  founder of homeopathy.
• In the U.S., by 1900, there were more than 100
  homeopathic hospitals and over 20 homeopathic
  medical schools.
• Political opposition from conventional physicians
  in the early 1900s, however, led to eventual
  closing of all of the homeopathic medical schools
  and nearly led to the demise of homeopathy in the
  U.S.

23
Definition of various types of medical conditions

• First Aid Emergency situations such as injuries,
  burns, insect bites, and sunstroke. (self care
  is OK.)
• Acute Self-limiting conditions such as colds,
  flu, acute bladder infection, earaches,
  headaches, and anxiety. (Self care is OK.)
• Chronic Long-standing conditions such as
  allergies, asthma, headaches, eczema, and
  depression. (Seek professional advice.)
• Chronic diseases that are potentially
  life-threatening or very dangerous definitely
  lend themselves to homeopathy as well. Examples,
  suicidal tendencies, glaucoma, uncontrolled
  hypertension, etc.

24
Homeopathic self care?

• Homeopathic self care is for first aid and
  acute diseases, not for chronic diseases

25
Should you or can you treat chronic conditions
homeopathically yourself?

• It takes a significant amount of professional
  training in homeopathy to be able to treat
  chronic cases. Therefore, I would not recommend
  that you treat your own chronic condition (s).
• You typically cant treat deep-seated chronic
  conditions with OTC (over-the-counter) potencies
  (12 or 30C). The OTC potencies are, generally
  speaking, too weak to effectively treat most
  deep-seated, chronic conditions.
• Even if you had the higher non-OTC potencies
  (200C or stronger), you could cause undesirable
  side effects if you give a person the wrong
  remedy at a higher potency.

26
Constitutional Remedy (200C or above)

• Each person has a constitutional homeopathic
  remedy which can ultimately help them more than
  any other natural medicine known, including herbs
  and nutritional supplementation.
• The constitutional remedy can be referred to as a
  persons celestial signature. It is a perfect
  fit to the person like a lock and a key. It can
  help a person on the physical as well as
  mental/emotional levels.
• A persons constitutional remedy is often
  ultimately required for curing their chronic
  disease (s).
• Constitutional remedies are typically prescribed
  in 200C or higher potencies that can only be
  obtained with a prescription from a natural
  medicine practitioner.

27
How many remedies are there in Homeopathy?

• There are over 2000 homeopathic remedies, and new
  ones are continuously coming out.
• These medicines are made from plant, animal, and
  the mineral kingdoms.
• Of these, close to 100 or so are considered
  polycrests. These are the most common ones.
  Most people, in most situations, can benefit from
  the polycrests. Most first aid kits have 30-50
  of these most common remedies.

28
Homeopathic Polycrest remedies

• Polycrest remedies in homeopathy are those that
  are most commonly prescribed. A persons
  constitutional remedy is typically one of these
  polycrests. Since there are less than 50
  polycrest remedies, finding a persons
  constitutional homeopathic remedy is pretty much
  limited to one of these 50 remedies unless the
  person is very unique on all levels (emotionally,
  mentally, and physically) in which case the
  homeopath has to look at other remedies that are
  not in this group. If the person is not a
  polycrest, it is typically much more difficult
  to find their constitutional remedy since there
  are hundreds of homeopathic remedies available to
  choose from.

29
Homeopathic medicines are highly diluted

• A very highly diluted, especially prepared
  medicine is made from the original (parent)
  substance, which stimulates the body to heal
  itself.
• The diluted nature of the medicines is typically
  counter intuitive to most people- The more dilute
  a homeopathic remedy is, the more powerful its
  action in the body!

30
A foundational concept in homeopathy

• A homeopathic medicine can treat what its parent
  substance causes!
• (Read on)

31
A foundational concept in homeopathy

• Any substance in nature can be made into a
  homeopathic medicine and, depending on which
  symptoms it causes in a healthy person, can be of
  great benefit in relieving similar symptoms in a
  person who is ill.
• In other words, the symptoms a substance can
  CAUSE are the same symptoms it will CURE when it
  is made into a homeopathic medicine (by the
  process of dilution).

32
How they came up with homeopathic Materia Medicas?

• Materia Medicas (and there are numerous ones
  available) are a compilation of research studies
  on numerous homeopathic remedies. The
  description for each (diluted) homeopathic remedy
  explains what symptoms can show up in a healthy
  person when they take a small amount of the
  (undiluted) parent substance in nature.
• This process is called proving. The proving
  process is extremely meticulous and scientific.
  Due to the vast body of proving studies, one
  can argue that homeopathy is perhaps the most
  scientifically sound branch of medicine,
  including conventional as well as natural
  medicine.

33
How can you use the homeopathic Materia Medica to
select a remedy for a person?

• If a person happens to have the symptoms listed
  under a remedy in the Materia Medica, and you
  give them this remedy, then, over time, you can
  theoretically reverse (or at least help) most (if
  not all) of these symptoms. This is the
  foundation of how homeopathy works.

34
Example Apis for bee-like people

• Each substance in nature possesses its own unique
  traits. Examples,
• The remedy Apis mellifica is made from
  honeybee. You know that bees are busy and they
  dont like to be crossed. So, it will not be too
  surprising that people who need the homeopathic
  remedy Apis can demonstrate all of these same
  traits as bees!

35
Example Ferrum for iron-like people

• Ferrum metallicum is the homeopathic medicine
  prepared from iron. So, just as iron has the
  property of being strong and unbending, of being
  used to make prisons and armor, people needing
  the medicine Ferrum tend to be red-faced,
  irritable, and strong willed and tend to engage
  in battles with other people.

36
One homeopathic remedy for numerous ailments?

• In conventional, Western medicine and even in
  herbal medicine, there is typically one medicine
  for one or two complaints. For example, Tylenol
  is for pain and fever. Or, in herbal medicine,
  the herb echinacea is for combating the common
  cold. However, in homeopathy, one remedy can
  literally affect numerous symptoms in a person.
  This concept is so foreign to most people, and
  unless you have experienced the effect of a
  constitutional homeopathic remedy on yourself,
  you will likely not be able to appreciate the
  beauty of homeopathy.
• This fact can help illustrate the wholistic
  nature of homeopathy- How homeopathic remedies
  are for the WHOLE person, and not for treating a
  persons ONE or TWO diseases.

37
Are there problems and limitations in homeopathy?

• Yes, but they mostly apply to constitutional
  homeopathy, not to first aid situations. (Read
  on)

38
Problems and limitations in constitutional
homeopathy

• First, sometimes, it is extremely difficult to
  find a persons constitutional remedy, and thus
  years of professional experience is needed in
  such cases. Finding a persons constitutional
  remedy is much more an art than science!
• Second, sometimes, it can be very time consuming
  to find the right constitutional homeopathic
  remedy for the patient. Average office visit is
  1-2 hours, and sometimes return visits are
  required for further investigation.

39
Problems and limitations in constitutional
homeopathy

• Third, for some conditions, homeopathy may simply
  not be sufficient by itself. An example might be
  diabetes- Diabetics might need to take their
  drugs even if their constitutional homeopathic
  remedy might be helping them in many other areas
  of their health such as mood, energy, and
  headaches.

40
Homeopathy for First Aid?

• Homeopathy is extremely effective for most
  first-aid situations and many acute illnesses.
  For these purposes, you do not need to be very
  experienced and skillful. Any literate person
  should be able to utilize a first-aid book on
  homeopathy, and have a fairly good chance of
  finding the right acute remedy for someone in
  need.
• Warning Having said that, first aid conditions
  can sometimes be very dangerous. Therefore, you
  should not try to use homeopathy to treat these
  conditions unless you feel comfortable to do so.
  This would take some basic education in
  homeopathy.

41
Homeopathy for First Aid?

• Since homeopathy is based on your ability to
  observe the patient, anyone can practice it. You
  do not need any equipments or labs to decide what
  medicine to give.
• The practitioner (or the lay person who is
  practicing homeopathy on their own) asks a number
  of questions from the patient, makes some
  observations, refers to their homeopathic
  self-care book, and tries to find a remedy that
  best matches the persons symptoms.

42
Book Recommendations

• Homeopathic Self-Care by Dr. Robert Ullman, ND,
  Dr. Judyth Ullman, ND.
• The Homeopathic Emergency Guide by Dr. Thomas
  Kruzel, ND.

43
You need 1) A homeopathic first aid book

• These books contain charts for each condition.
  These charts list the most useful medicines for
  treating the problem, their key indicating
  symptoms, and other symptoms that can help you
  decide which medicine to give.

44
You need 2) A homeopathic medicine kit

• A basic homeopathic medicine kit can be obtained
  from natural pharmacies.
• A medicine kit should contain at least 30-50
  remedies in it. (Refer to Dr. Ullmans book.)

45
Potencies available OTC (over-the-counter)

• 12C OTC or Over-the-counter
• 30C OTC
• 200C By prescription only
• 1 M By prescription only
• 10M By prescription only
• 50M By prescription only
• 100M By prescription only

46
1, 2, 3 of homeopathic case takingLOOK, LISTEN
AND ASK

• What does case taking mean? Case taking is
  a process that a person (a lay person or a
  practitioner) utilizes in order to find out in
  what way the person they are treating is sick.
• The 1, 2, 3 method of case taking can be used
  in helping someone with an acute or chronic
  condition.
• The idea of looking, listening and asking is
  one that all homeopaths utilize in order to find
  the appropriate remedy for a person. However,
  the phrasing of the expression 1, 2, 3, of the
  Homeopathic case taking Look, Listen, and Ask
  is one that I have borrowed from the book called
  Homeopathic Self-Care by Dr. Robert Ullman, ND,
  Dr. Judyth Ullman, ND.

47
1, 2, 3 of homeopathic case takingLOOK, LISTEN
AND ASK

• Here is what you need to do
• Look for everything about the person that has
  changed since the acute illness symptoms began to
  develop.
• Listen to what the person says to you about their
  illness.
• Ask the right questions to get the information
  you need to discover the correct medicine.

48
Look, listen and ask in taking the case of an
acutely (versus chronically) ill person

• You look for everything about the person that has
  changed since the acute illness symptoms began to
  develop. (These changes are what make up the
  symptom picture of the illness.)
• You will then match this symptom picture to
  descriptions of various homeopathic medicines.
• Give the remedy that best matches the persons
  symptom picture. If that does not work, then try
  the next best match. If you cant find the
  match, you will need professional assistance.

49
Familiarity with common conditions is very
helpful

• To use homeopathy in first aid or acute
  situations, you do not need extensive knowledge
  of various conditions, but you do need to be
  somewhat familiar with some common conditions.
  Some of the conditions are obvious such as
  headache, but some are less obvious such as
  tendonitis. So, in order to decide how to help a
  person with, say their hand pain, you will need
  to know if the person has tendonitis or if they
  simply bruised it. Depending on the answer, you
  end up with two different classes of medicines
  (in two different sections of the book
  Homeopathic Self-Care).

50
Uniqueness of the symptoms matter

• MDs and even NDs look for commonality of symptoms
  in a particular condition
• Homeopaths look for uniqueness of the
  individuals symptoms. Why? The individuals
  particular way of being sick is the disease to be
  treated, NOT the common symptoms that are similar
  to everyone else who would be given the same
  diagnosis by a conventional doctor.
• Example on next page

51
Example on why uniqueness matters in homeopathy

• Two patients with sore throat can be given two
  different remedies based on the subtle
  differences between their symptom picture. For
  example,
• Lachesis sore throat Worse on left side, worse
  by swallowing, better by drinking cold drinks,
  and a sensation of lump in throat
• Lycopodium sore throat Worse on right side,
  feels better after he swallows warm drinks.

52
Example on why uniqueness matters in homeopathy

• Note that even though we are treating the same
  condition (sore throat) in both of the people in
  the previous example, we are using different
  homeopathic medicines to treat each one. In
  fact, there are numerous homeopathic remedies
  that can help treat a sore throat, or any other
  condition for that matter.
• (Note that in conventional medicine, anyone with
  a sore throat might be offered the same drug or
  perhaps only a few different drugs might be
  available for sore throat.)

53
Case taking

• Example questions to ask during case taking
• Tell me whats going on.
• Tell me more.
• What was happening just before the .
• What happened after the .
• Describe your complaint in detail. For example,
  which side of the body hurts, what makes it
  better, what worse, etc.
• How do you feel overall. Do you feel cold
  overall, or hot?

54
What to expect from a homeopathic medicine?
(different scenarios)

• The following applies to treatment of acute as
  well as chronic cases
• 1) Nothing happens ? Find another medicine and
  give the new one.
• 2) There is some definite change for the better ?
  Wait for more improvement. Do not give another
  dose.
• 3) Complete, rapid relief ? Only repeat if there
  is a definite relapse.

55
What to expect from a homeopathic medicine?
(different scenarios)

• 4) Symptoms are aggravated no improvement ?
  Either the medicine was not correct, or it was
  antidoted. So, look for another medicine that
  may match the case.
• 5) Symptoms are aggravated, but definite
  improvement follows ? Medicine is correct. Do not
  repeat the medicine.

56
What to expect from a homeopathic medicine?
(different scenarios)

• 6) Original symptoms go away partially or
  completely, and a new symptom picture emerges ?
  Restudy the case, and give the medicine which
  most nearly matches the new set of symptoms.

57
Aggravations or side effects in homeopathy

• Homeopathic remedies can and do indeed cause
  aggravations or side effects, but very rarely.
  However, the side effects are not due to the body
  being chemically overwhelmed by the remedy itself
  as in the case with pharmaceutical drugs (Drugs
  can often have side effects because they are very
  strong biochemical agents that can sometimes
  overwhelm our bodies.) The side effects to
  homeopathic remedies are the result of your body
  healing itself, and once the body is in a
  healthier and more balanced state, the side
  effects disappear.
• The side effects, if they ever do occur,
  typically disappear in a very short period of
  time, minutes to days.

58
How can you reduce possibility of experiencing
side effects?

• In my experience, you can significantly reduce
  the chances of having side effects to homeopathic
  remedies by first cleansing/detoxifying your
  body. That is precisely why I often recommend
  cleansing protocols to my patients prior to
  giving them their constitutional homeopathic
  remedy. I do make exceptions in some cases where
  there is some urgency to move forward,
  homeopathically speaking.
• Practitioners that do not cleanse people first do
  tend to see some aggravations (to homeopathic
  remedies) in their patients more frequently.

59
What does antidoting mean?

• Antidoting is a concept that is important to
  understand in homeopathy because homeopathic
  remedies can be antidoted.
• To antidote means to cancel the effects of.

60
What factors can antidote the effect of
homeopathics?

• Coffee (regular as well as decaf)- Coffee does
  not always antidote, but it can in many people.
• Certain drugs
• A lot of stress (emotional and physical)
• Marijuana
• Electric blankets
• Aromatic substances such as camphor, eucalyptus,
  and menthol are also a possible culprit.
  However, I am not nearly as concerned about these
  substances as I might be about coffee.

61
When do you decide to repeat the dose (or redose)?

• Making the decision of when/if you need to redose
  can be very tricky, and can require some level of
  expertise.
• Repeat a homeopathic remedy only when its effect
  has worn off.
• For acute conditions, might have to redose in
  minutes if you are using lower potencies such as
  12c or 30c.
• For chronic conditions, might have to redose a
  persons constitutional remedy in a few weeks or
  few months if you are using a 200c potency of the
  medicine. If you are using a lower potency
  version of your constitutional remedy such as
  12c or 30c, then a daily or weekly redosing might
  be required. (Typically, 12c is given daily for
  constitutional prescribing, and 30c might be
  given weekly or more sparsely.)

62
How do you know when your constitutional remedy
has worn off?

• The following is a simplistic view on the
  subject
• Since the correct constitutional remedy
  provides improvements on the emotional as well as
  physical level, you know the remedy has worn
  off when you just dont feel as good on both
  levels.
• Typically, it might take a few weeks to a few
  months for your constitutional remedy (200c or
  higher potencies) to wear off.

63
How often should you redose your constitutional?

• Basically, you redose as needed.
• Ideally, you dont want to redose more often than
  needed. A constitutional remedy is not meant
  to be taken too frequently. Every few months, on
  average, would be acceptable. (This is assuming
  that your constitutional remedy is at 200c
  potency which is very strong.)
• If you are taking your constitutional remedy in
  12c potency, then you are probably going to be
  advised to take it daily in which case you dont
  have to worry about it wearing off.

64
Is homeopathy safe for children?

• Definitely. In fact, children respond the best
  to homeopathic remedies. Why do they respond the
  best?
• As we age, we accumulate layers and layers of
  disease and toxicity. The more layers we have,
  the more challenging the job of the remedy will
  be the more repair work the remedy will have to
  do. In a child, there typically isnt as much
  repair work to be done. Therefore, they
  typically respond very quickly and effectively.

65
Can homeopathy provide an answer in very
challenging diseases such as autism?

• There are no effective conventional therapies for
  a large number of conditions such as autism,
  autoimmune diseases, etc.
• Autism is a great example of how homeopathy can
  potentially reverse the irreversible! Not all
  autistic individuals respond to homeopathy, but a
  good number of them appear to improve (at least
  to some extent).

66
How can a homeopathic remedy last for so long?

• A constitutional remedy (prescription potency-
  200C or stronger) is given one time, on ONE day,
  and can last for months. How can it last for so
  long?
• A constitutional homeopathic remedy will set
  into motion a process of healing that can
  continue for days, weeks, or months. This
  process is analogous to jump starting a cars
  dead battery. When you jump start the battery,
  you do it once, not repeatedly! With the same
  token, you stimulate the deep self-healing
  mechanisms of the body once, not repeatedly.

67
Selecting the potency of a remedy depends on the
nature of the disease

• Mental/Emotional disorders/conditions such as
  depression, manic disorder, suicidal tendencies,
  etc, typically respond much better to a one-time
  consumption of higher potencies such as 200c or
  even higher.
• Chronic physical ailments can respond well to
  both lower as well as higher potencies.
• The selection of the potency is actually a rather
  complicated subject.

68
Some example chronic Cases

• Examples of cases at our clinic that have
  responded very well to constitutional homeopathy
• General complaints Chronic fatigue and
  fibromyalgia
• Head Chronic headaches
• EENT Chronic sinusitis and sore throat of
  unknown origin
• Digestive Chronic digestive disturbances (such
  as constipation, abdominal pain, and acid reflux)
• Urinary Chronic bladder infections

69
Some example chronic Cases

• Cardiovascular Heart palpitations, uncontrolled
  high blood pressure, and tendency to form blood
  clots
• Female Excessive menstrual bleeding and painful
  cramps
• Nervous chronic neurological deficits (secondary
  to stroke or unknown causes) and autism
• Psychiatric Suicidal ideation, depression,
  anxiety, anger, etc.
• Musculoskeletal Aches and pains of unknown
  etiology
• Skin warts, acne and eczema.

70
Homeopathy in Epidemics?

• Historically, homeopathy has been very effective
  in treating epidemics of life-threatening
  illness, including cholera, scarlet fever, and
  yellow fever.

71
What to do in an epidemic?

• Find out what local/national homeopaths are
  giving for the specific type of flu that is going
  around.
• You can email our clinic, and if we know the
  remedy, we will email you back with its name.
• Where to obtain it? You can obtain the 30C
  potency OTC (over-the-counter) which may be
  strong enough.

72
Some common remedies for the flu

• Arsenicum album
• Belladonna
• Baptisia
• Bryonia
• Eupatorium
• Gelsemium
• Phosphorous
• Rhus tox
• Influenzinum
• Oscillococcinum
• Note Remember that homeopathy is highly
  individualized- you give a remedy for a person,
  NOT for a disease. Therefore, we really cant
  offer a list of remedies for the flu, but the
  above list contains remedies that have commonly
  been helpful for the treatment of the flu.

73
Can you take prescription drugs and homeopathic
remedies at same time?

• Yes. Homeopathic medicines will not prevent
  prescription drugs from working, but some
  prescription drugs may interfere with homeopathic
  remedies. Do NOT discontinue your prescription
  drugs without conferring with your physician.

74
Contact Info

• Dr. Sharum Sharif, N.D.
• Office phone [phone]
• Email DrSSharif_at_WholeHealthClinic.Net
• Website www.WholeHealthClinic.Net