Packed full of top tips to treat common conditions.

Homeopathy and Flower Essences; Top Five Christmas Remedies; Hayfever Sufferers

THIS MONTH:

Hello and welcome to all subscribers, old and new.

This month in the Homeopathy Resource newsletter, I hope you'll enjoy reading:

HEALTH TIPS:

Homeopathy and Flower Essences: what's the difference?
When should I go for a homeopathic remedy, and what do I use a Flower Essence for? A quick explanation, introducing the incredible Indigo Essences.

A Message for Hayfever Sufferers
Surprisingly, if you want to avoid hayfever next spring and summer, it's best to start treatment now.

Top Five Christmas Remedies
Here are the remedies I will have to hand at Christmas: they should cover most eventualities!

CASE OF THE MONTH: IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
IBS sufferers, please read! This is an IBS case which responded really well to homeopathy, but when the client made a lifestyle change as well, she was amazed by how much better she felt.

RECIPE FOR WINTER:

Carrot, Leek and Ginger Soup
A really warming and nourishing soup

UPDATES ON SERVICES OFFERED:

Added Value
International Email Consultations
Emotional Freedom Technique
New Introductory Course Dates

MEDIA

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE: Homeopathy and Flower Essences

There's a big difference in the way homeopathic remedies and flower essences are prepared, and they have completely different historical origins, but the main difference for practical purposes is that the use of Flower Essences is mainly in the emotional and mental sphere, whereas homeopathy takes into account the physical problems, and requires a more detailed consultation.

So if you're looking for something to help you with moodiness, worries and fears, obsessive repetitive thoughts, or to support you through a big change in life such as a new school or a bereavement, then there is a Flower Essence to help you.

My current favourite range of Flower Essences comes from Ann Callahan's Indigo range. Ann is a homeopath in Ireland who has two autistic nephews, Ben and Mica. The boys told her that they could make essences using crystals which could help children like them, sometimes known as Indigo children; indigo is also the colour of the sky just before dawn, so the essences are wonderful for anyone and everyone who needs support through a dark or difficult time.

I particularly like the sprays, which come with user-friendly names like "Sleep Easy", "No Fear", "Confidence" and "I'm in Heaven". The No Fear saw my daughter sail through a flute performance and take the music prize, and helped another very nervous little girl who had to speak in her school assembly - she spoke up confidently with no mistakes. It works equally well for adults too, as a professional lady recently reported: "Speaking of the spray, I squirted some on this morning before a 'heavy' meeting and I don't know if is my imagination or what but I have to say I felt instantly more relaxed! I'm sold on it completely."

So as you can see, the essences are there for the tricky moments in life, and are wonderful even if you're in perfect physical health.

The Essence developers make no claims for their effects upon physical problems, although of course a number of physical problems can be emotional in origin, so there's always the chance that if you clear up the underlying emotional cause, the physical difficulty also disappears - but this cannot be guaranteed.

If you have a physical problem, I would recommend homeopathy first and foremost, as of course a homeopathic consultation will take the physical, mental and emotional symptoms into account and prescribe a remedy that will cover all of these aspects.

If you'd like to read my full article on Flower Essences, please click here.

On the Resources page of my website, you'll find a link to Healthlines, who are very efficient and friendly if you want to order from them.

If you're not sure whether to go for homeopathy or Flower Essences,drop me an email.

IMPORTANT: HAYFEVER

For those of you who have a hard time with hayfever, this may be the last time of year you want to worry about it. Yet it's the best time of year to start a programme of homeopathic treatment which should ensure you have a much easier Spring season. What a great Christmas present! You just need to take one or two remedies a month between now and March with the aim of reducing your symptoms drastically, and enabling you to rely on homeopathy alone next year, instead of using over-the-counter medications which can cause drowsiness.

The programme is designed to clear the underlying susceptibilities which lead to allergic reactions, as well as giving the allergy triggers back to you in homeopathic form - this reacclimatises your body and helps it learn not to over-react to irritants.

TALKING OF CHRISTMAS ...

Five handy remedies for those little Christmas emergencies!

1. The king of the hangover and indigestion remedies is Nux Vom. It's a great remedy for the stressed-out business person, who exists on coffee and becomes irritable at the slightest thing - well, we all get a bit like that at Christmas, with so many things to do and lists to tick off, long queues everywhere we go, and the obligatory alcohol and fatty, rich foods. Keep Nux Vom handy - someone is bound to need it!

2. Do certain people get on your nerves at Christmas? Whilst you soldier on, seething quietly under your breath, keeping the peace and counting the days till it's all over for another year? Staphisagria is the remedy - either all that silent resentment will melt away, making life more bearable, or you'll find the assertiveness you need to say whatever needs to be said and clear the air.

3. It can be hard to get a good night's sleep any time, and Coffea Crudum is excellent for the type of person who lies awake with thoughts racing round and round their head. On Christmas Eve, if you have a little one who just can't sleep for excitement, Coffea at bed-time should do the trick!

4. Arnica is such a great remedy - I would never be without it - and at Christmas there could be half a dozen uses for it. It's so helpful as a pick-me-up when you're simply over-worked and over-tired, legs and feet aching after a hard day's shopping. If you are travelling long distances by plane to be with relatives, or have visitors from overseas, Arnica sorts out jet-lag. And, of course, with its marvellous effect on bumps and bruises, you could be using it for anything from a fall off the ladder whilst you reach for Christmas decorations, to a toddler bumping his head on the coffee table. Recently I used it to great effect for a gentleman who suffers from palpitations. His heart has been checked out and there's nothing wrong, but he gets palpitations that last a long time and are very exhausting. Arnica has a great affinity with muscles, and the heart is a muscle, so it was very helpful in calming the whole situation down, and seemed to restore normal rhythm. (Obviously, though, if you think something's wrong with your heart, you should get this checked out by the medics.)

5. Hmmm, there are so many more remedies that could be useful - Aconite if you catch a Christmas cold, brought on by being out in the cold winds; Belladonna for a sudden fever with bright red face and a throbbing headache, which comes on just when the GP surgery is closed for the festivities; Chamomilla for the infant who decides to cut a painful tooth on Christmas Eve and screams the house down, nothing pleases or soothes him and he has one bright red cheek - but I thinkPhosphoric Acid is brilliant if you are basically burnt-out, partied out and worn-out! It's a saviour for kids who've been to sleep-overs where sleep was the last thing on their minds and they've been up till all hours consuming sweet stuff and fizzy drinks.

All the above should be available from your local chemist or health store, or you can order online/by telephone from one of thehomeopathic pharmacies. For the purposes described above, a 30c potency is fine, and you could take up to three pills a day until relief is obtained.

CASE OF THE MONTH: RELIEF FROM IBS!

This client is happy to share the success of her homeopathic treatment with other IBS sufferers, because she suffered for two years before finding relief.

Symptoms of IBS vary of course, but in this case they were: feeling bloated most of the time; the sensation of a lump in the rectum; never feeling fully evacuated; tired and fatigued, with poor appetite. IBS sufferers also can experience alternating constipation and diarrhoea.

Now, there is no one particular remedy that is guaranteed to relieve IBS. As ever with homeopathy, we have to take a full and detailed case, learning as much as possible about the symptoms themselves but also about the whole person.

This lady benefited greatly from the remedy Lycopodium, and I also supplied her with a combination remedy, containing four remedies all with a reputation for relieving one or more of the symptoms she described, which she could just take at the onset of an attack.

Her initial response was very promising; when asked to rate the improvement in her various symptoms, she indicated there had been:

- 50 percent improvement in bloating;
- 70 percent improvement in sensation of lump in rectum;
- 70 percent improvement in not feeling fully evacuated;
- 80 percent improvement in constipation;
- 50 percent improvement in sluggish digestion;
- 80 percent improvement in fatigue;
- 70 percent improvement in poor appetite;
- 50 percent improvement in craving sweets;
- 60 percent in frequency of IBS episodes;
- 70 percent improvement in duration of episodes, they seemed to be gone in under an hour; and
- 60 percent improvement in severity of episodes.

She also commented:

This was a great result which we were both very happy with!

But as soon as she stopped taking the Lycopodium, she reported that her symptoms were beginning to worsen again.

This told me that something in her lifestyle was causing the IBS, since I would expect an improvement like this to last, and not slip back.

Fortunately I was able to advise her to cut out wheat from her diet. Initially she was reluctant, since it seemed like a difficult change to make, as she ate so much wheat! However, I persuaded her, telling her that so many IBS sufferers in my practice have been willing to give up wheat for just four weeks - this is enough time to see whether it makes a difference or not. In about 80 percent of cases, it does make a huge difference, which convinces the sufferer that it is worthwhile to give up for good.

Here's her response:

People do eat a lot of wheat without realising. A typical day's diet can be a wheat-based cereal with toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, biscuits with a drink, and pasta at the evening meal. Alternative therapists are well aware of the link between wheat and digestive problems in sensitive people. Cutting out wheat from your diet can make a huge difference to IBS, and you don't need to spend a fortune in the health food store buying specialist wheat-free products. All you need to do is substitute an oat, corn or rice based product for your normal wheat stuff. Oat porridge for breakfast, corn crackers or rice cakes instead of bread, brown rice instead of pasta, that type of idea. Read the packets and just don't buy it if it contains wheat or gluten.

I hope the above has been helpful - if you know someone who could benefit from this, please forward the newsletter on to them. And by all means contact me if you'd like to try homeopathy for your IBS. I should add that the above was achieved by email consultation, since this lady lives in Wyoming, USA, and it would have been rather difficult for her to travel to see me here in England!

RECIPE: CARROT, LEEK AND GINGER SOUP

This recipe comes from "SUPERfoods", one of my favourite cookery books, by Michael van Straten and Barbara Griggs.

Ginger is a great winter warmer, and the nutritional benefits of carrots are too many to list! Suffice it to say, this is warming and nourishing on cold winter nights - just the colour of it cheers you up!

Ingredients
2 large leeks, 2 large carrots, 1tbs oil, piece fresh ginger root, 900ml vegetable stock, 1 bayleaf, 2 tbs single cream, a little chopped fresh coriander (if liked)

Method
Clean and finely slice the leeks, including some of the green part; scrub and thinly slice the carrots. Heat the oil and melt the leeks, but don't let them change colour. Add the carrots, stir, grate in the peeled ginger, add the stock and the bayleaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the bayleaf and puree in a blender or food processor. Reheat and serve in individual bowls with a swirl of cream and a sprinkling of chopped coriander.

SERVICES UPDATE

After two years study with Dr Ramakrishnan's Homeopathic Education and Research Foundation, I have obtained the post-graduate diploma in Homeopathic Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Oncology. I feel that my clients are already benefiting from this additional knowledge, and I was able to join my colleague Sean Rayner in presenting a talk to a Breast Cancer Support group, which was extremely well received.

International Email Consultations

It's been good to see that so many people have found the e-mail consulting service useful, and I have been able to help people in the United States as well as the UK. One of my latest US clients just emailed me - she says:

The email service is also highly suitable for deaf people, and if your disability means you are housebound, it's a great solution to haveyour appointments by telephone.

If you know someone who could benefit from a long-distance consultation then please feel free to forward this newsletter on to them.

Emotional Freedom Technique

I qualified as a Level II EFT practitioner in the summer and am now using this technique both in tandem with homeopathic treatment and as a stand-alone therapy. So far it has been extremely useful in cases of phobia, fear of confrontation, low self-confidence and for a child who was finding it hard to sleep after an emotional shock.

To quote Gary Craig, the founder of EFT: Based on impressive new discoveries regarding the body's subtle energies, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) has been proven successful in thousands of clinical cases. It applies to just about every emotional and physical issue you can name and it often works where nothing else will.

This quote by Eric Robins, MD captures the essence of EFT:

"Some day the medical profession will wake up and realize that unresolved emotional issues are the main cause of 85% of all illnesses. When they do, EFT will be one of their primary healing tools .... as it is for me." Eric Robins, MD

Contact me if you think EFT could help you, or go to Gary's website athttp://www.emofree.com - it's fascinating. (I only offer EFT consultations at my clinic, not by phone at the moment.)

NEW INTRODUCTORY COURSE DATE: 17 + 18 MARCH 2007

Click here for details.

MEDIA

My website and services were singled out for a cynical attack by Dominic Lawson, in The Independent: Can You Tell the Difference between Homeopaths and Witch Doctors?

Dominic is well-known to be antagonistic towards alternative therapies, and his article is a poorly argued diatribe, which didn't show him in a good light.

My response was published a week later: you can read it in situ here - or just click to the end of this newsletter where I've reproduced it for your convenience.

I was delighted to receive a charming email from a doctor, who thanked me for lighting a candle in the darkness, instead of adding to it.

(If you're interested in Dominic's article, it's here).

A BOOK MENTION

If there's a budding female entrepreneur in your life, maybe this would make a welcome Christmas gift?

Make It Your Business by Lucy Martin and Bella Mehta has now been published! ISBN 1 905862 00 8

Bella Mehta interviewed me for inclusion in the above book, which she says is "the new must-have for all budding and seasoned female entrepreneurs".

The book covers everything from deciding whether business ownership is right for you, to taking your business to the next level, providing comprehensive business advice as well as focusing on the issues and concerns around business start-ups and business growth that affect women in particular.

The book can be found either on Bella's website Enspiralwww.enspiral.co.uk or on Amazon.

Make It Your Business will soon be available in major branches of Waterstones, Books Etc, Borders, Blackwells, and is already for sale on Amazon (see link above).

I truly wish you a magical, happy, healthy Christmas and a wonderful 2007!
With my best wishes,

Linda

Letter published in The Independent, 3 June 2006
Treatment for the whole patient

Sir: Dominic Lawson quotes me out of context (Comment, 26 May). My telephone and e-mail consultation services are for the convenience of people who are housebound for some reason, do not have easy access to transport, or live miles from a practitioner. NHS Direct makes medical diagnoses and prescriptions by telephone, and chartered NHS psychologists offer a number of therapies using a live chat exchange.

The purpose of a homeopathic consultation is not to cry crocodile tears as we tell people how much we feel their pain, but to elicit exactly the physical, mental and emotional symptoms, as well as the dietary, lifestyle and medical information needed for a homeopathic analysis and prescription. This is known as holistic medicine.

The mind-body link is powerful. That is not a New Age statement, it is a fact. Chronic stress, for example, is associated with elevated blood pressure, insomnia, mood changes, stomach ulcers and cardiac problems. Practitioners who ignore this link are failing their patients by "curing" symptoms and leaving the cause unresolved.

The placebo response is extremely complex, but is estimated to account for about 30 per cent of perceived improvement, and this figure is the same for the GPs. It is certainly not something we can rely on to do our work for us in every case. No doubt we also see a percentage of people who were going to get better without intervention, as do the GPs. There remains a percentage for whom we must assume that the drug given was effective, whether homeopathic or orthodox, and whether it took six minutes or 90 to prescribe it.

In the present climate, where iatrogenic death and injury are rife, the issue at stake is patient choice.

Sincerely,
Linda Lloyd
MLCHom, DipHEAR, FARH, Homeopathic Consultant,
Chesham in Bucks, England

Telephone: 01494 416376
Email: Linda@HomeopathyResource.com
Web: www.HomeopathyResource.com

Posted on December 01, 2006 09:16 PM

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