Tag Archives: health

What’s in My Kit: Chamomilla

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This is the thirteenth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

It hurts!! Help me now!! Leave me alone!!

If you’ve ever had a toddler in your life, you have probably experienced this sequence of demands. A feverish, teething child will often act just like this. They’re in pain, they need your help, they want to be held… and then they push you away, while screaming bloody murder. If you know anything about homeopathy, you know that this is the best time for a dose of Chamomilla! And you also know that in short order, after a dose or possibly two, the suffering child will be asleep and the affected adult can relax a moment as well.

Homeopathic remedies are never only good for one thing, though, and Chamomilla is no exception. It can be a very effective constitutional remedy when used in the Classical Homeopathy method, and is one of the primary pain remedies in the Practical Homeopathy© method, which is what I practice.

For example, in 2024, nearly 3 years after I broke my right ankle, I suffered a series of sudden episodes of extreme pain in that leg, making it difficult for me to drive and ultimately sending me to the emergency room for X-rays and a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon. Between the ER visit and the follow-up, some of my homeopathy classmates reminded me that Chamomilla 200c taken every 15 minutes for an hour (a total of four doses) can often be helpful in extreme pain. I took their advice, and the next time the pain hit me I grabbed my vial of Chamomilla. By the second dose, the pain was noticeably less, and about 5 minutes after the fourth dose it was gone. Not even sore – gone. Later that day it threatened to return, so I got ready to repeat the sequence. It only took one dose and the pain left. At the scheduled follow-up, the surgeon was intrigued by my experience and told me to keep doing whatever worked. The pain was likely due to the cord that was installed to draw my tibia and fibula back together, which sometimes causes patients issues later on. The surgery to remove it is the same as the surgery to install it – not something I want to go through again. The pain has not returned.

Chamomilla also shines when there’s an ear infection. Similar to teething, an ear infection puts the sufferer in extreme pain, the area is usually hot to the touch, there are often tears and even screaming due to the discomfort, and the person tends to be quite restless. Sometimes just one dose is enough, and other times the series I used for my ankle pain is better. The use of homeopathy requires close observation on the part of the caregiver in order to achieve the best results. (insert shameless plug for my classes here – you’ll learn all about observation in those!)

I’ll end this post with a strong recommendation for Chamomilla when someone has a fever. I could go on and on about Chamomilla AND about fevers, but I won’t…this time. We have a few all-star fever remedies in our homeopathic arsenal, and Chamomilla is one of the best when the feverish person is also restless, demanding, fractious, and sensitive to pain. If your feverish sufferer is listless and quiet, Chamomilla is not likely to be your best remedy. Check out my blog on Belladonna if that’s the case! Or register for my next Gateway 1 course and learn about ALL of our favorite fever remedies.

I never leave home without Chamomilla and hopefully now you know why. I chose the 200c potency for my “everyday kit,” but Chamomilla 30c is also very effective, especially when you notice the symptoms early and can address them right away. Depending on your needs, you might rather have that potency instead. Remember when ordering products from Boiron, use the code “Joette” at checkout for a nice discount!

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, I’d be honored to help you in any way I can.

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

What’s in My Kit: Cantharis

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This is the twelfth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

Ouch! It burns!!

How many times in our lives have we heard (or said) that phrase? Probably too many to count. But if you know homeopathy and if you have Cantharis around, you’ll have a ready response to the situation, making it less and less likely that you’ll hear the phrase again anytime soon. Let’s look at a few scenarios.

Ouch! It burns!! It’s a bright and beautiful day in July and your family decided to have a picnic at the local park. Later that evening, you notice that everyone has the telltale red nose, cheekbones, and shoulders of a burgeoning sunburn. That’s a great time to give everyone a dose of Cantharis – either 30c or 200c, whichever you have on hand (see my notes on potency below). Another dose may be in order at bedtime if anyone seems redder or more uncomfortable, and if burns tend to be an issue in your family, you might need to have two or three more doses ready for the following day. I also love Calendula cream or Calendula burn ointment for sunburn – it’s incredibly soothing and is a great partner with homeopathic burn remedies. There are several other remedies that are amazing for sun exposure, and I promise to do a blog about that sometime. But for now, back to…

Ouch! It burns!! The delightful aroma of frying bacon is too often accompanied by the uncomfortable experience of a pop in the skillet and a splatter of hot fat on the arm of the poor cook. That’s another great time to have Cantharis at the ready! I have personally seen kitchen burns fizzle and amount to absolutely nothing after a single dose of this amazing remedy.

Ouch! It burns!! It’s a rare person who isn’t familiar with the burning sensation that can accompany certain bathroom functions. Whether it’s a UTI or diarrhea or vomiting that burns as it exits, Cantharis borders on miraculous for its ability to set things right. In our culture, we’re programmed to think we absolutely must run and get an antibiotic every time we might have a UTI, but I’d encourage you to do more research on that. The things our grandmas and great grandmas did to treat and prevent UTIs are still as relevant today as they were back then, and Cantharis has been part of that picture for over 200 years. Our bodies are exceptionally able to isolate and eradicate illnesses, especially with some gentle help from the natural world. I have found that a single dose of Cantharis 200c at the first “twinge” of a possible UTI will stop it in its tracks, though for some people another dose or two is needed. Certainly in the case of chronic UTIs it’s best to contact a homeopath who can help you regain a healthy balance. Cantharis isn’t my first choice for helping to stop vomiting and diarrhea, but it is definitely my first choice to help ease any burning that accompanies it. Check out my blog, “The Dreaded Stomach Bug” for some suggestions to calm an upset digestive system.

Ouch! It burns!! A common reality in our house is my husband eating a food he loves, such as raw onions and tomatoes drizzled in olive oil, and suffering later with heartburn. There are ways that we can usually prevent that with Nat phos (read about that here), but sometimes it happens anyway, and that’s when we grab the Cantharis. Usually one dose will kick the heartburn to the curb, and if it tries to come crawling back in the middle of the night, one more dose is all it takes.

I carry Cantharis 200c in my kit because I can’t carry ALL my remedies in my purse or car (as much as I would love to). I also have Cantharis 30c at home, and I would choose that potency if any of the burn issues I needed to address were moderate to light and I had the option of repeating the doses every few hours until the issue was resolved. In our Practical Homeopathy© method, we tend to use 200c when things are a little more severe or when we’re not able to repeat the dose as often. Remember when ordering products from Boiron, use the code “Joette” at checkout for a nice discount!

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, I’d be honored to help you in any way I can.

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

What’s in My Kit: C-Seps

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This is the eleventh episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

What do YOU carry with you that you hope you’ll never have to use?

One of my top answers to that question is C-Seps, a homeopathic remedy carefully manufactured by Helios Homeopathic Pharmacy in England, that combines three heavy-hitting substances to combat deep, septic wounds.

There’s a saying that when a partnership really comes together it turns into “more than the sum of its parts” and that’s what happens with this, and other, combination remedies made by our incredible homeopathic pharmacies around the world. Let me tell you a little about each of the three remedies that make up C-Seps.

First, there’s Pyrogenium, brought to homeopathic use by Dr. John Drysdale and Dr. James Compton Burnett in the 1880’s. They found it to be very successful in addressing fevers as well as sobering illnesses of the period such as typhoid, malaria, purpureal fever, and diphtheria. Today’s homeopaths don’t see much of those diseases, but we still use Pyrogenium for difficult infections, wounds that won’t heal, blood poisoning, and general septic states or conditions. My mentor, Joette Calabrese, has great blog about why we should all be carrying Pyrogenium around.

Joette’s blog on blood poisoning also mentions Hepar sulph – the second of the three remedies in the C-Seps combo. Hepar sulph is one of my all-time favorite remedies, but that’s the subject of a later blog post. The use of Hepar sulph in a remedy for sepsis highlights its ability to uproot infection and inflammation in any area of the body. Dr. Ramakrishnan, one of Joette’s mentors, referred to Hepar sulph as the homeopathic antibiotic, which gives you an idea of its importance in our arsenal of great medicines.

Finally, C-Seps also includes Gunpowder – a homeopathic remedy made from, you guessed it, gunpowder. Some of our remedies are made from weird stuff, and this is definitely one of those! But because of the complex and precise process of potentization that homeopathic remedies go through, even a substance like gunpowder can become a powerful agent of cure. How cool is that??? Anyway, gunpowder was heavily used by homeopaths on the battlefields of the American Civil War, treating countless young men with wounds that had become septic. It’s a fantastic remedy for blood poisoning and conditions that ultimately result in sepsis. If you’re super intrigued by the use of gunpowder as medicine, there’s a very informative article by early American homeopath, John Henry Clarke, that elaborates on its virtues with some pretty cool case stories.

As a combo remedy, C-Seps is a strong ally to anyone who is addressing a deep and possibly dirty wound. Whether a pathogen has been introduced via a needle, a blade, the environment, or another object altogether, C-Seps has a solid track record of helping the body mount an appropriate response and avoid sepsis or worse. Of course when there’s a significant wound it’s imperative to engage professional first responders and medical personnel, but C-Seps might make their jobs much easier when given immediately and as needed until other interventions arrive. Sometimes it has even made those later interventions unnecessary.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

What’s in My Kit: Bryonia

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This is the tenth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

What can you do with wild hops other than make beer?

It turns out that you can help heal an inflamed lung, ease the pain of mastitis, soften abdominal cramping, and address pericarditis… when you make wild hops into a homeopathic medicine through ultra-dilution and succussion! Bryonia alba 30c is one of our absolute best remedies for anything that is worse from movement and better from pressure.

It should come as no surprise that one of my favorite courses at the Academy of Practical Homeopathy was “History of Homeopathy.” It was incredible to read primary source accounts of treatments and cures from the great homeopaths of the past.

James Tyler Kent (1849-1916), whose reference books are still considered the standard today, was “converted” from practicing conventional medicine to homeopathy when he suffered a particularly difficult case of pleurisy that wouldn’t respond to any of his normal treatments, but was quickly and completely cured with a dose of Bryonia.

Dr. Dorothy Shepherd (1885-1952) received her medical training in Europe and joined many colleagues in treating the wounded during the first World War. By World War II she had switched her focus to practicing entirely homeopathically, and her books are inspiring to read. She wrote, “I must admit, homeopathy has never failed me.” Bryonia was Dr. Shepherd’s favorite medicine for pneumonia.

My mentor, Joette Calabrese, studied under modern homeopath, Dr. Ramakrishnan who said to her, “Seventy percent of appendicitis cases could be cured by Bryonia.” That’s a big claim, but he has the experience to back it up.

Many homeopaths in current practice found Bryonia to be the best and most successful medicine they used for Covid.

Bryonia truly is one of our most useful remedies, and can offer much-needed relief to sufferers when even moving the tiniest bit provokes excruciating pain. It’s gentle, effective, and yet ruthless in its ability to stimulate healing when it is indicated.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

For a very cool story and discussion of Bryonia by my mentor, Joette Calabrese, check out this podcast!

As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

Smoke Troubles!

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What can we do when the air is full of smoke, especially when it lasts for hours and even days? My friend, Lynnae, asked if I would make a video and post about the homeopathic remedies might suggest to help the folks who are dealing with terrible air quality due to current wildfires in Canada. It looks like relief may come to them in the form of rain sooner than they could order remedies, but we all know this is not an isolated occurrence, sadly. I’d suggest ordering some or all of the homeopathic medicines discussed below, so you’re ready next time! I highly recommend ordering directly from Boiron’s USA distribution center – they’re reputable, consistent, and they have free shipping! Use the code “Joette” at checkout for a nice discount.

ARNICA 30c alternating with IPECAC 30c, as needed
Arnica is one of our most versatile and best known remedies. It’s a fantastic “soother” of injured or irritated soft tissue, so of course it’s a wonderful remedy for painful lungs injured by breathing air that’s heavy with smoke. Homeopathic Ipecac is specifically gifted in helping the body rebalance from any kind of gagging, including coughs that are so intense that they end up making a person gag and even vomit. Of course we encourage people to use as little as possible but homeopathy is gentle enough that you can take a dose of one or the other of these remedies every half hour if you need to. Once you start to feel better, you should space out your doses accordingly, until you don’t need any at all.

CAUSTICUM 30c
Causticum can also help with painful coughs, especially if the coughing causes or is accompanied by weakness. Incidentally, Causticum is an effective remedy for burns as well. Of course serious burns should be checked by a medical professional.

CARBO VEGETABILIS
One of the main keynotes of this remedy is “oxygen hunger.” If the air quality makes you feel like you can’t get a big enough breath, or you find yourself taking way too many small breaths in an attempt to get enough air in your lungs, Carbo veg 30c or 200c may be the remedy for you. Like other remedies for acute situations, you should take more frequent doses when you’re really suffering and scale back as you begin to improve, stopping when the condition resolves. If the smoky air hangs around a while, you can take this remedy twice daily until all is well again.

NATRUM MURIATICUM
“Nat mur” 6x is one of the original 12 cell salts discovered by Dr. Wilhelm Schuessler in the 1800s, and it’s very tuned to the body’s moisture balance. It’s also a great remedy for people who are extremely sensitive to cigarette smoke. Many people have found it incredibly helpful for smoke inhalation, whether from a campfire, a wildfire, or a housefire.

EUPHRASIA 30c
It’s not just our lungs that are adversely affected by smoke in the air – our eyes can also suffer greatly. When that happens, it’s a wise idea to reach for the Euphrasia! Used in potency (30c, 200c, etc taken orally) or tincture (homemade eye drops made from 1 part tincture mixed with 19 parts water), it’s very soothing to irritated, dry, and even allergic eyes.

IGNATIA 30c
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Ignatia. This particular situation and others like it are fraught with worry and concern for the wellbeing of ourselves and others. Ignatia is a wonderful remedy to use when we’re feeling overwhelmed, worried, and sad. Like all homeopathic medicines, it doesn’t suppress anything; rather, it helps stimulate the body into the elegant balance it was created to maintain. I love Ignatia because I can take it and still feel all the feels while remaining in complete control of them. It helps me, and many, many others, be able to both feel AND think, which results in better decisions and healthier actions.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

Comment below to keep the conversation going!

What’s in My Kit: Camphor

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This is the ninth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete, especially since I interrupt the series all the time to tell amazing stories about how homeopathy helps heal people and pets!

The Academy of Practical Homeopathy taught me that a dose of Camphor (also called Camphora) 200c is our method for opening cases of chronic disease and clearing the slate for our homeopathic remedies to act as fully as possible. Camphor can stop the action of a drug or remedy that is causing negative effects on a person, so it’s incredibly useful as a clearing remedy when we’re going to start a new remedy schedule. With that kind of talent, it’s obviously also of benefit when someone has taken something they shouldn’t (more on that below).

Homeopathic Camphor is made from the leaves and bark of the Camphor tree, distilled and succussed multiple times, the way all homeopathic medicines are made. You can find it in various potencies, but Practical Homeopaths generally use it in 200c.

Historically, Camphor has been extremely useful to homeopaths, all the way back to Samuel Hahnemann, who discovered homeopathy in the first place. Because it is so great at helping to balance conditions that cause extreme chilliness, it is a fantastic remedy for cholera and was indispensable during the epidemics of the 19th Century. If you’ve got a fever with chills, Camphor is a remedy to strongly consider.

Camphor is most famous among homeopaths as the Universal Antidote. Truly, a dose of Camphor will stop most negative reactions to herbal medicines and ill-chosen homeopathic remedies. In case you didn’t know, taking the wrong homeopathic remedy in too high a potency, too many times, or for too long a period, can cause a negative response called a “proving.” Camphor will nip that reaction in the bud and give you a chance to start afresh. Camphor is even used to stop the negative actions of conventional medications (think, adverse reactions and side effects), which is why we use it especially in cases where the person has been on multiple conventional medications and is experiencing a spectrum of side effects.

In the case of illegal drugs, Camphor can be an important remedy to consider. We have others, depending on the drug that was used/overused, but Camphor is a solid choice to help clear the current effects of a substance.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

For even more information on Camphor, check out this blog by my mentor, Joette Calabrese! As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.

A New Logo

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Some of you know the story of how I met my husband, but since it’s relevant to this story I’ll give a quick recap. Way back in 1993 when I decided to do music full time, I hired him to design a logo for me. What started out as mutual respect for our expertise in our fields turned into true love… but not before we misjudged each other, were totally annoyed with each other, and tried really hard not to fall for each other! I got a great logo, though, and eventually we each got the partner God intended for us.

Alfredo decided to change the logo after a few years, to reflect more of what he saw me doing in my business. You can see the evolution on the back of my recordings and dance publications. He designed the logo for Happiness Hills Farm in 2010 while we were working with my dad to get it all set up, and updated it a few years ago after we became the sole owners. The new version is on the sign at our entrance – come for a visit and see it!

Of course he designed a logo for his business, Good Impressions Screenprinting & Design, when he opened it in 2010, and continues to create fantastic logos and T-shirt designs for customers all over the world.

When I went back to school at my “mature” age, none of us thought it would result in my needing yet another logo! But God has a way of surprising us, and that’s exactly what happened. There’s a story about that, too. During the Covid shutdown, the girls and I did a daily live singalong on Facebook for over two months, to help bring some happiness and a sense of community to people in their isolation. After that, they encouraged me to continue posting encouraging messages to people via TikTok, and to start each video with “hello to my Rosebuds.” I was surprised at the response, and was happy to hear from some of the people who looked forward to those little “Rosebud” videos. I have continued that conversation with my “Homeopathy Corner” videos, and I always start with “Hello to my Rosebuds.” Obviously, this new business, focused entirely on helping others find balance and true wellness, had to be called “Rosebud Homeopathy.”

The single snake wrapped around a chalice is the symbol of Hygeia, the goddess of heath in Greek mythology, and the daughter of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. In the Christian tradition, we tend to think of snakes as symbols of the tempter in the Garden of Eden, but that’s not the only way snakes are included in the Biblical narrative. Wisdom and healing are associated with serpents in the Bible and other ancient texts. Several of homeopathy’s most important remedies are made from snake venom, and have been known to save people from dire circumstances. The chalice of Hygeia symbolizes cleanliness – you have probably already recognized that her name is the root of our modern word, hygiene. For me, the chalice also represents the communion cup shared by Jesus at His last supper. It reminds me of all the times I have participated in Holy Communion with my earthly family and my church family over the decades. I am grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus made so that I can be assured of my salvation. Of course, Alfredo made the cup of the chalice a rosebud, and the droplet that connects it to the snake might be the tincture of grace, mercy, and goodwill that God extends to us all.

Always, what I have done for business has been an extension of my faith and a response to the gentle guidance of God into the areas where He wanted me to serve. When it was time to change, He would let me know and I would follow. Not always right away, and not always without some argument, to be fully honest. But the longer I live, the more I know that His plans are greater than mine. I’m so grateful to be right where I am, and so grateful to be connected to each one of you.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

I Hit My Head!

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Before I return to the series on my Everyday Remedies Kit, here’s an embarrassing story about me lacking grace and balance, and homeopathy coming through to help me not pay quite as dearly for my blunder.

My daughters and I had a chiropractor appointment (we all three go at once to make it more fun), and we decided to eat breakfast together afterwards at a nearby restaurant. It was raining a bit and the floor just inside the restaurant door was wet from various people coming and going. There definitely should have been a rug at the entrance, but sometimes things just don’t work out the way they should. My Crocs flip-flops made contact with the wet tile floor and magically turned into water skis. The next thing I knew, I was skidding headfirst, Saturday morning cartoon style, into the metal frame of the inner door. Later, when I was a little less surprised, I laughed at how I must have looked – I could almost hear the “whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!” sound effect, like this one:

Lydia and Isabel sprang into action immediately. One of them lifted my purse from my shoulder and pulled out my homeopathy kit while the other patted my arm and looked at my eyes to be sure I was OK, while telling me that I was OK. Honestly, if you’re going to hurt yourself, they’re the best team to have around when it happens!

They got out a dose of Aconitum 200c and dumped it in my mouth because they know that Aconitum is the first thing to give someone who has just experienced a shocking event or sudden trauma. The smack my head made on that door frame definitely qualified! They walked me into the restaurant and sat with me at a table, where they got out a dose of Arnica 200c for me. By then, my focus had returned and I was able to thank them for their perfect and knowledgeable response to the situation. I knew that a dose of Arnica 200c every 15 minutes was very likely what my body needed to set itself on the right path to quick healing, so I looked at my watch and calculated the time of my next dose. Over the course of the next hour, we ordered food and ate it, I took the remaining doses of Arnica, and we took a few progress pictures of the welt on my head. The lighting made it difficult to see, but here are a couple of photos where the developing swelling and discoloration are visible.

It went through all the stages: throbbing pain, swelling, tightness, redness, total goose-egg roundness in two places, tenderness – everything within the hour that we were sitting in the restaurant. I drove home to show Alfredo and go on with my day, and I didn’t actually take any more Arnica orally the rest of the day. I used my Arnica cream twice just because, but the pain, swelling, and everything else decreased quickly over the next few hours so that by evening when I made the video there was no visible swelling or discoloration left.

Wouldn’t you love to have a natural remedy that effective in your “wallet” at all times? I’m sure glad that I do!

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

Jerry’s Story

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I have another important interruption to the “Everyday Remedies” series. Our black cat, Jerry, is OK after a very close call with a fatal tick-borne parasite. This blog will be a little longer than usual, due to the complexity of what happened. If you’d like a quick audio recap, link over to my 3-minute video about it on YouTube.

On a Tuesday afternoon, I noticed that Jerry had spent the entire day in her high rise cage, which we call the Cat-stle. She looked very tired, but otherwise seemed OK.

By Thursday, I was worried. She hadn’t wanted to go outside with the rest of the animals for two days, and she wasn’t eating much. She was drinking a lot more than usual, and her nose seemed stuffy. I went to the Internet and found that those symptoms correspond well to an upper respiratory infection – a common malady in cats that they get over relatively quickly with plenty of rest and hydration. I sat with Jerry all I could and dosed her with a few homeopathic remedies that related to respiratory illnesses: Hepar sulph, Ferrum phosphoricum, and Histaminum. Colleagues suggested Kali iodatum, Natrum muriaticum, and Arsenicum album, which I tried on Saturday.

I knew by Sunday afternoon that a trip to the vet was in order. If she had a respiratory infection, she should have responded to the remedies, and she hadn’t. Additionally, she had stopped being able to walk without stumbling, her head shook when she tried to drink the broth we made for her, and she started peeing herself. Her eyes were tiny slits with no life in them, and she was covered in shed hair even though we were brushing her every few hours.

I gave her Cantharis on Sunday and that helped with the involuntary urination, but nothing was touching her weakness, lethargy and stuffiness; it was only getting worse.

On Monday morning at the vet, Jerry was limp like a doll and completely compliant – not at all her normal personality. Blood tests done in-house showed that Jerry’s  pancreas, liver, and gall bladder were in trouble, and she was very anemic. She had a high fever and was dehydrated, so they gave her fluids and prescribed an antibiotic. We decided we would give her a couple of days on the antibiotic and then bring her back for more tests, including a couple of specific parasites that attack the blood.

Jerry responded very well to the fluids and was more responsive by the time we got home. We gave her a dose of the antibiotic, which she took willingly, and we sat with her the rest of the day. I mixed up a solution of Chelidonium, Carduus mar, China, Ferrum phos, and Nat mur and gave her a dose every three hours until bedtime.

By Wednesday, she was able to walk without stumbling and was eager to eat the pate we were feeding her. That morning, she groomed herself for the first time in a week, and I was surprised to see her on her usual perch at the top level of the Catstle on Wednesday afternoon. I stopped giving her the homeopathic solution via the dropper and just put it in her pate instead, making sure she got a dose three times a day.

On Thursday, we took her back to the vet for the blood test that would confirm a possible parasite diagnosis. The change in her condition was remarkable and everyone at the clinic was relieved – even “cautiously hopeful.”

On Friday I found Jerry sitting on a blanket that had been washed, folded, and set on a side table, ready to return to the downstairs sofa. It would normally have been off limits, and she knew it. She looked at me with her bright yellow eyes, no third eyelid visible, no eye boogers stuck to her face, and dared me to shoo her off. I let her be. I found her in various forbidden places over the next few days, with the same results. We had to start wrapping her in a beach towel burrito to give her the antibiotic because she had plenty of energy with which to fight the dosing syringe.

On Sunday, she jumped to the railing of our balcony and assumed her usual stance, surveying the property and watching the birds as they gathered food and nesting materials.

On Monday she yowled at me all day long asking to go outside. It was exactly one week since she was a limp dishrag at the vet clinic. I did not allow her to go outside.

On Thursday, one week after Jerry’s follow-up visit, the clinic called with news: the blood test results had come back and they were NOT what the vet had expected. The vet tech had initially mentioned Bobcat Fever, and the vet later mentioned Mycoplasma, and I thought they were talking about the same thing. It turns out, they were not. Jerry tested positive for Bobcat Fever, also called Cytauxzoonosis or C felis, and tested negative for Mycoplasma. She was the first Bobcat Fever case our clinic had seen, and since there had been no other cases in our local area, the vet had prescribed the antibiotic for Mycoplasma – a much more common parasite. The protocol for Bobcat Fever is a different antibiotic plus an antiparasitic along with oxygen therapy, IV fluids, and occasionally blood transfusions. That protocol has a 64% survival rate. Outside that protocol the survival rate has historically been zero (with no treatment) to an optimistic 25% (with non-protocol treatments started at the onset of symptoms). The vet was amazed to hear that Jerry was faring so well and was very interested in the fact that I had been supporting her treatment with homeopathic remedies. She wanted to know the names of the remedies, and I was happy to provide them. I love our two vets – they are extremely caring and smart, and they treat me with respect even though I don’t do all the conventional things. Caring for animals, and people, should always be a collaboration and this was no exception.

Today is the20th day since the vet visit, and the 26th day since I first noticed symptoms. Domestic cats infected with Bobcat Fever generally die within 2-3 days of symptom onset if not treated with the correct protocol.

I’m not claiming that homeopathy cured Jerry. You can make that assumption if you want to. I do believe that it at least played an important role in keeping her here with us, and that’s why I want to share with you what I did to help her beat the odds so beautifully. I will also not discount the power of the prayers of Jerry’s friends, the determination of our daughter, Isabel, who hovered and fussed over Jerry every moment she was not at work, and the experience of our daughter, Lydia, who almost always knows what an animal is thinking.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

What’s in My Kit: Belladonna

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This is the eighth episode in a series highlighting homeopathic remedies I carry with me all the time. There are almost 50, so it will take a while to complete!

I don’t know what it is about Belladonna that causes me to be so intrigued by it. Maybe it’s the Latin name, which means “lovely lady,” or the common name of “Deadly Nightshade.” The Nightshade family of plants includes banana peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, also some of my favorites, along with a host of other plants that we shouldn’t be eating if we want to live. There’s a great list here. I loved learning about Belladonna in the Academy of Practical Homeopathy, and reading about how Samuel Hahnemann found that the genius method of dilution and succussion that he discovered changed toxins like Belladonna into tremendously effective agents of cure. When Dr. Hahnemann was practicing conventional medicine, he and his colleagues were taught to use Belladonna, Mercury, Digitalis, and other poisons as medicines. They had to be extremely careful with their dosages or they would kill rather than heal their patients. Hahnemann quit practicing medicine because the treatment of far too many patients worked to their detriment rather than their benefit, and far too many died from the overzealous use of deadly toxins used as “cures” in their gross (original) form. I love to imagine the joy he must have felt when he realized that his signature process of finding the “minimum dose” could turn all of those substances into healers.

Homeopathically, Belladonna is used for many of the same pathologies that Hahnemann’s colleagues used it for in their day: fevers, pain, delirium, and the like. Except with Belladonna 3c, 6c, 30c, 200c, etc. there is no risk of overdose. The main mistake that can be made with any homeopathic medicine is taking a remedy too frequently, which can cause a slight negative response that’s usually easily handled by stopping the remedy and taking a strong sniff of mint.

Belladonna in potency has been used throughout homeopathy’s 200+ year history to bring the following illnesses to a successful resolution: Measles, mumps, joint pain, gout, boils, ovarian cysts or pain, sinus infection, respiratory infection, scarlet fever, tonsils, glandular swelling, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, cataracts, stroke (excerpted from Nature’s Materia Medica by Robin Murphy). It’s referenced in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (Alcott was an advocate for and user of homeopathy). And it’s in my everyday remedy box at all times.

I would love to share more information about homeopathy with you. Please click “subscribe” below to join my homeopathy email list, and consider taking one of my classes! If you would like to schedule an individual consultation about a health problem you’re experiencing, just send me an email and we’ll get the process started.

For even more information on Belladonna, check out this blog by my mentor, Joette Calabrese! As always, please subscribe, email, or comment to keep the conversation going.