Ruminating on Remedies, My thoughts on homeopathy

5/20/2023

Ringworm

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I’ve been hearing that ringworm is going around. Is it true? I must confess, it’s getting pretty hard to tell what is true these days when you’re looking at the news.

Regardless of all that nonsense, it’s important to be pro-active and know what to do if whatever is going around is coming your way.

With that, let’s talk about ringworm.

Ringworm is a fungal rash, named because of the ring that encircles the rash — no worms are involved. It is related to athlete’s foot and jock itch and it’s important to remember that fungal infections are likely to be contagious. They can spread through contact with the infected skin of others (including animals) or objects like towels, bedding or clothing.

What to look for, according to Mayo Clinic:

a scaly, ring-shaped area (on the bottom, the trunk, the limbs)
itching
slightly raised rings with a round, flat patch of itchy skin
the rings may overlap

“Ringworm may cause bald patches and consistent scratching leads to oozing and blistering” (Alton and Alton 2021).

Sounds kind of miserable. How can homeopathy help?

My first homeopathic stop would be from the Drs. Banerji who recommend the following protocol:

Graphites 200c, one dose taken every 3 days
Kali sulph 3x, taken twice daily
and, if the itching is really bad, Coffea cruda 200c, every hour until better.

They also caution that if one member of the family has it, it may spread to the whole family (Prasanta Banerji and Pratip Banerji 2013), so be prepared!

Now, let’s look at these remedies individually and see why they might help.

Graphites is a big skin remedy. In this instance, it can be helpful for moist, crusty eruptions and has thick borders. Blisters which itch and ooze. Skin that comes off in scales or flakes. It is well indicated for eruptions which burn or itch as well as “smarting” — they just hurt. Itching skin, with the need to scratch it until it is raw. It’s also helpful for spots of falling hair (bald patches).

Kali sulph is the primary cell salt which is indicated in ringworm, according to Natural Healing with Cell Salts ((Weintraub 1999). I’ll just let George W. Carey, MD sum up the skin conditions noted in his book, The Biochemic System of Medicine (1896):

“All sores on the skin, when exuding a thin, yellow, watery matter, sometimes with dryness and desquamation of the surrounding skin. Skin scales freely on a sticky base… This salt also greatly aids desquamation in eruptive diseases and assists in the formation of new skin.” [author’s emphasis, not mine]

Coffea cruda, a homeopathic remedy made from raw coffee, helps to keep one’s mind off of things. In my mind, I have somehow squashed the squirrel from Hoodwinked with the dog from Up to represent this remedy. The squirrel becomes hyper-focused when he has coffee and Dug the Dog’s attention leaves whenever there is the mention of a squirrel. So, my mind justifies this craziness in this way… when your mind is hyper-focused on the itching (think: squirrel from Hoodwinked) take the Coffea cruda remedy and it can remove the attention of the itching to the “squirrel” over there (think: Dug the Dog). In other words, the remedy removes the hyper focus and allows your mind to go elsewhere.

Here’s to being prepared for the real stuff as well as the (possibly) over-hyped stuff. May we one day be able to easily decipher truth from fiction again.

Julia Coyte, CHom
Classically Practical homeopath

#wellnessawaits

Reference list

Alton, J. and Alton, A., 2021. The survival medicine handbook : the essential guide for when help is NOT on the way : a Doom and Bloom guide. United States? Doom And Bloom Llc.

George Washington Carey, 1896. The Biochemic System of Medicine. F. August Luyties.
Lockie, A., 1993. The family guide to homeopathy : symptoms and natural solutions. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Mayo Clinic, 2018. Ringworm (body) - Symptoms and causes [online]. Mayo Clinic.

Morrison, R., 1998. Desktop companion to physical pathology. Nevada City, Calif.: Hahnemann Clinic Publ.

Prasanta Banerji and Pratip Banerji, 2013. The Banerji protocols : a new method of treatment with homeopathic medicines. India: Pratip Banerji.

Weintraub, S., 1999. Natural healing with cell salts. Pleasant Grove, Ut: Woodland Pub.

11/8/2021

Stolen Sleep

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Sleep is too important to just throw it away, like we do twice a year. Daylight Savings Time affects your health. Period. End of discussion. We think the “fall back” isn’t as hard on the body and mind as the “spring forward,” but it’s still a thing (Harrison 2013). Every year this stupid practice screws me up for days. I instinctively knew this was the case and just a little bit of digging proved me right.

Manfredini (et al. 2019) found a significantly higher risk of heart attack during the two weeks following the clock change.

Poteser and Moshammer (2020) found during the week after the spring transition a significant increase in daily total mortality of about 3% per day was observed.

Even simple things like making it to medical appointments is affected by this arbitrary clock change (Ellis et al. 2018).

People assume falling back gives us an extra hour of sleep and is therefore a bonus, but research shows (Harrison 2013) there is little evidence of getting extra sleep on this night and in fact the early risings for the following days result in a net loss of sleep for the week.

See! I told you Daylight Savings time was a bad idea!

Homeopathy has many ways to address sleep problems, and, like all things homeopathy — choosing the “right” homeopathic remedy can be very specific to the individual and their sleep patterns and habits. But, from a practical homeopathic perspective, Coffea cruda 200c, twice a day, can often do more than an adequate job and may be all that is needed to help you get some good ZZZzzzzs.

Coffea cruda really shines when your mind is keeping you from sleeping. (Think of Twitchy the squirrel from Hoodwinked.) Your mind is going a million miles a minute, flipping from subject to subject … when you just can't turn off your brain.

Sleep that is easily disturbed (like from noises), when falling asleep is difficult and when waking too easily or even when startling in your sleep.

Homeopathic Coffea cruda can also help with full blown insomnia, in general and more specifically insomnia following childbirth, or drinking too much coffee, or after too much excitement or after nursing sick loved ones and even sleeplessness from excessive joy! Do you see the pattern here? Your brain is working overtime in all these situations and keeping you from the elixir of sleep.

Sleepless children, too, can benefit from Coffea cruda, either in general or when there has been too much excitement or even when the pain of teething is keeping them (and you!) awake.

Not your busy mind keeping you up? Coffea cruda can also help to tame the interfering itching (as from a bug bite or eczema) or coughing -- shutting down the physical disturbance and allowing that much needed healing sleep.

Don't underestimate both the power of sleep and the destructive nature of a lack of sleep. Your mind, your heart and your wellbeing depend on those hours of shutdown.

Sleep well and don't let the bed bugs bite. (But, if they do, Coffea cruda can help you sleep through that, too!)

Julia Coyte, CHom
Classically Practical homeopath

#wellnessawaits

For more information on Daylight Savings Time -- how it came about and why it's still around, check out Spring forward : the annual madness of daylight saving by Downing, M., 2009. Berkeley: Counterpoint.*

* I have no affiliation with this book, I just enjoyed reading it.

REFERENCE LIST

Daylight Savings Time
Ellis, D. A., Luther, K., and Jenkins, R., 2018. Missed medical appointments during shifts to and from daylight saving time. Chronobiology International [online], 35 (4), 584–588.

Harrison, Y., 2013. The impact of daylight saving time on sleep and related behaviours. Sleep Medicine Reviews [online], 17 (4), 285–292.

Manfredini, R., Fabbian, F., Cappadona, R., De Giorgi, A., Bravi, F., Carradori, T., Flacco, M., and Manzoli, L., 2019. Daylight Saving Time and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine [online], 8 (3), 404.

Poteser, M. and Moshammer, H., 2020. Daylight Saving Time Transitions: Impact on Total Mortality. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health [online], 17 (5), 1611.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28679595/

Homeopathy & Insomnia
Harrison, C. C., Solomon, E. M., and Pellow, J., 2013. The effect of a homeopathic complex on psychophysiological onset insomnia in males: a randomized pilot study. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine [online], 19 (5), 38–43.

Hellhammer, J. and Schubert, M., 2013. Effects of a homeopathic combination remedy on the acute stress response, well-being, and sleep: a double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, N.Y.) [online], 19 (2), 161–169.

Michael, J., Singh, S., Sadhukhan, S., Nath, A., Kundu, N., Magotra, N., Dutta, S., Parewa, M., Koley, M., and Saha, S., 2019. Efficacy of individualized homeopathic treatment of insomnia: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine [online], 43, 53–59.

Naudé, D. F., Stephanie Couchman, I. M., and Maharaj, A., 2010. Chronic primary insomnia: Efficacy of homeopathic simillimum. Homeopathy [online], 99 (1), 63–68.‌

Waldschütz, R. and Klein, P., 2008. The homeopathic preparation Neurexan vs. valerian for the treatment of insomnia: an observational study. TheScientificWorldJournal[online], 8, 411–420.‌

Sleep & Health
Lyall, L. M., Wyse, C. A., Graham, N., Ferguson, A., Lyall, D. M., Cullen, B., Celis Morales, C. A., Biello, S. M., Mackay, D., Ward, J., Strawbridge, R. J., Gill, J. M. R., Bailey, M. E. S., Pell, J. P., and Smith, D. J., 2018. Association of disrupted circadian rhythmicity with mood disorders, subjective wellbeing, and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study of 91 105 participants from the UK Biobank. The Lancet Psychiatry [online], 5 (6), 507–514.

Minkel, J. D., Banks, S., Htaik, O., Moreta, M. C., Jones, C. W., McGlinchey, E. L., Simpson, N. S., and Dinges, D. F., 2012. Sleep deprivation and stressors: Evidence for elevated negative affect in response to mild stressors when sleep deprived. Emotion [online], 12 (5), 1015–1020.

Pillai, J. A. and Leverenz, J. B., 2017. Sleep and Neurodegeneration. Chest [online], 151 (6), 1375–1386.

Sprecher, K. E., Koscik, R. L., Carlsson, C. M., Zetterberg, H., Blennow, K., Okonkwo, O. C., Sager, M. A., Asthana, S., Johnson, S. C., Benca, R. M., and Bendlin, B. B., 2017. Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults. Neurology [online], 89 (5), 445–453.

Ruminating on Remedies

Julia Coyte, CHom

Ringworm

Stolen Sleep

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