The preventive role of homeopathy and the treatment of headaches and migraine

Clique em Longevid!

Andrew Lockie, a gifted physician, generously shared his knowledge with the thousands of people who consult his books. As a tribute to him, here are three extracts from The Family Guide to Homeopathy.

At the deepest level, homeopathy is preventive in intent. Homeopathic remedies do not wade in and “zap” offending organisms, leaving the immune system less able to cope than before. Quite the opposite. They nudge the immune system – not only the white cell populations of the body but also the mental and emotional states which keep those populations healthy – into greater responsiveness and readiness so that disease is kept away or prevented from recurring. In fact, homeopaths are trained to look for diseases before they happen. When a homeopath prescribes constitutionally, he or she is prescribing not only for the present ailment but for tendencies which have not yet manifested themselves as medically recognised ailments.
The foetus in the womb can be treated homeopathically to minimise imbalances inherited from the mother and father. Homeopathic treatment of childhood ailments lessens the risk of the latent weaknesses they cause being activated in later life – infants and children, with their newly minted immune systems, respond excellently to homeopathic treatment. Homeopathic immunisation against the graver diseases of childhood is not usually offered unless a child is particularly at risk; most homeopaths prefer to take the route of boosting general resistance to disease.
In adults, prompt homeopathic treatment of minor illnesses can often prevent persistent, and sometimes serious, complaints developing in later life. At all points in the cycle of development, birth, growth and maturity, subtle symptoms of constitutional weakness can be picked up by careful homeopathic analysis and treated before they burgeon into chronic and entrenched disease. The following hypothetical case history shows how a homeopathic physician might approach a case of late-onset asthma.
At nine months old, the future Mrs X develops eczema; the ointment used to treat it leaves her skin very dry. Apart from dry skin and constipation, she is a generally healthy child. At the age of 14, she has a bad fall from a horse. A year later she develops hay fever, which turns into allergic rhinitis (a runny nose all year round). Skin tests show that she is allergic to house dust mites, grasses and horses. Desensitising injections clear up her runny nose but leave her feeling unwell for some time afterwards.
In the early 20s she is underweight and suffers from an almost continuous post nasal drip (catarrh dripping down the back of her throat). In her late 20s she marries and has two children, both full-term, healthy babies. Apart from dry skin, constipation, occasional nosebleeds and irregular periods, she feels reasonably well throughout her 30s. In her early 40s, she loses two people very close to her, her mother and eldest son. Shortly afterwards, she develops asthma.
She consults a homeopathic physician for the first time. High potency Natrum mur is prescribed to help her through the grieving process, and she is advised to cut down on salt and carbohydrates. A month later, the asthma has all but disappeared, but she continues to suffer from dry skin, constipation, and catarrh at the back of her throat; if anything, she reports, her throat feels worse than before; and she feels chilly and irritable, and has had several boils. Hepar sulph is prescribed. This clears up the boils and the catarrh, but the runny nose remains. Allium and Arnica clear up the runny nose; Sulphur clears up the dry skin and the constipation. At this juncture the eczema she had as a very young child reappears. Since there is a family history of tuberculosis and allergies, she is given Tuberculinum; this clears up the eczema. She is then advised about her diet. She continues in good health, visiting the homeopath at infrequent intervals, until the age of 75 when she dies of pneumonia.
The homeopathic treatment involves a peeling away of layers of illness, removing symptoms in the reverse order in which they appeared, each time reaching further back into the chain of cause and effect. Unlike many ot