“Not Much” May Be the Solution When Nothing is Working

April 10, 2021 is World Homeopathy Day, and the wonder of Homeopathy can offer some relief to many of us. Thoughts and feelings cannot be seen with a microscope, blood test, nor x-ray, and yet upsetting emotions are a major disruptor of our body’s metabolism and immune system. While viruses are larger in size than our thoughts and feelings, they too are both tiny and upsetting to our health and happiness.

As a homeopath, I offer remedies that have almost no physical matter to them. The dose level is actually labeled as infinitesimal. When people find that nothing is helping them regain their health and fortitude, homeopathy can be a remarkable solution. Smaller than thoughts, these medicines are very helpful for stress related disorders.

We all know the stress of these times. Call it COVID fatigue, cabin fever, relentless grief for lost loved ones — the culmination of the last 13 months of COVID has touched all of our lives. Numbing out on food, social media or recreational drugs has only brought us a greater disconnect from our feelings, family and friends.

Safe solutions that are affordable and easily available may be as close as your nearest health food store. As a practitioner of homeopathic medicine for over 40 years, I have verified every year the usefulness of these remedies for extreme stress, grief and despair.

April 10th is World Homeopathy Day. I can think of no greater way to honor the legacy of its founder, Samuel Hahnemann, born on April 10th, 1755, than to share with you a few remedies that may lift the doldrums that COVID losses and lockdowns have brought to us.

Full disclosure: Homeopathy is savored and scorned by medical organizations, it is also fully embraced and adored by millions of patients saved by this gentle medicine. Using the Law of Similars to match a patient’s symptoms with a substance in nature known to produce that same experience, the potentized dilution of that natural substance is then made into a homeopathic remedy that provides the body with the information on how to repel and repair both acute and chronic ailments. This is the hallmark of homeopathic care.

In 1833, Dr. Hahnemann wrote in his The Organon of Medicine (Organon der rationellen Heilkunde) that, “The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles.” (Aphorism #2)

Direct experience of a homeopathic remedy is the best way to explain Hahnemann’s highest ideal of cure. Most of us have already experienced this by using the remedy Arnica Montana for bruises and soft tissue trauma from trips and tumbles. Parents praise Arnica pellets and lotions for quickly resolving the gravity-induced traumas of their young children learning to walk, run and ride their bikes.

During this pandemic of Covid-19, many of us are now seeing our relationships and finances tumble in the last 14 months and this may have brought deeper traumas than our child’s scraped knee. Let’s take a brief look at homeopathic options to assist in resolving two common stress reactions. First: anxiety, fear and disempowerment. Secondly, let’s look at remedies for grief and sadness.

Homeopathic Remedies for Anxiety, Fear and Disempowerment

Our basic survival instincts trigger powerful surges of vitality that are meant to be used to help us escape from danger. Once these forces are unleashed, their momentum feels unstoppable. Today we no longer need to outrun tigers or leap mountain gorges, and yet our survival instincts still carry the same amount of power required to perform these feats. The modern tiger today dwells in the mind. It appears in the form of mortification, unexpected losses and the fear of the unknown. Regardless of the emotion, your metabolism is at its peak and is prepared to leap the gorge in a single bound. When this tremendous surge of power is not expressed through strenuous physical feats, overwhelming feelings of anxiety and panic inevitably result.

When physical exercise, good nutrition and psychotherapy are unable to wear down these frightful surges, I have found homeopathic remedies to be a godsend. Everyone should know of the homeopathic options for anxiety, fear and doubt. In my experience, many remedies may be helpful for these maladies. While the actual list of remedies could be endless, here is a snapshot of a few very common remedies.

Aconite — Key symptoms this can remedy:

• Fear of impending doom
• Intense restlessness and agitation
• Prediction of when death will come for them
• Unbearable, frightening pains which alternate with sensations of numbness
• Sudden illness from exposure to extreme cold or extreme heat
• Inconsolable anxiety
• Anxious dreams and nightmares

Arsenicum Album — Key symptoms this can remedy:

• Properness and perfectionism to the extreme
• Tenseness and anxiousness
• Restlessness with weakness (desire movement but then discover their weakness)
• Strong desire for orderliness and companionship
• Strong desire to be warm
• Burning pains relieved by warmth
• Appears to be weak, pale and cold, improved by warmth/heat

Staphysagria — Key symptoms this can remedy:

• History of humiliation, disempowerment and degrading experiences
• Suppressed anger
• Sweetness and passivity
• Shame and guilt about sexuality

Homeopathic Remedies for Grief and Sadness

Homeopathic medicines have the unique ability to help you get through difficult situations with style and grace. Sometimes, when you get stuck in a bout of sadness and grief, homeopathy can help release pent-up feelings and bring you back to a more balanced state of function and happiness.

Ignatia — Key symptoms this can remedy:

• Any ailment (illness or problem) that began from the experience of grief, sorrow, bad news, homesickness, disappointed love, shame, and embarrassment
• Hysteria with hysterical symptoms, such as numbness, tingling or acute paralysis
• Refusal to be consoled
• A desire to be left alone to weep in seclusion
• A strong desire to avoid crying due to the person’s underlying fear that if he starts to cry, he will not be able to stop
• Deep sobbing
• Desire to travel and move around
• A sense of relief when walking in the rain
• Headaches from grief
• Lump in the throat (globus hystericus)
• Insomnia or excessive sleepiness from grief

Natrum Muriaticum — Key symptoms this can remedy:

• Silent grief
• A tendency to be closed and withdrawn
• Depression with the potential for suicidal feelings
• A desire to be overly proper but often without the social skills required
• Very loyal and sympathetic to others
• A refusal to divulge secrets — the keeper of confidences
• Easily wounded or offended by insults and criticism
• Unable to stop dwelling on past grief and humiliations
• Strong desire to always be on time and always be perfect
• Adverse to consolation — feels too embarrassed to accept a consoling hug during times of grief and sadness when such embracing would be socially appropriate
• Bites fingernails, frequent hangnails
• Known for being a serious person; a child who behaves “like a little adult”
• Headaches or migraines that are worse from light, sun, or from reading
• A craving for salt
• Insomnia caused by thoughts of grief and disagreeable things

Obviously on this day of celebrating the birth of Homeopathy’s Founder, we are not here to prescribe, treat nor diagnosis, but rather to reveal how homeopathic remedies are matched to those in need. In the above snapshots of the symptom picture of these remedies, a good match is considered when 75% of the remedy’s traits are found in the experience of the client. Seeking out the professional guidance and expertise of a full-time homeopath is the best way to attain freedom from such stress related challenges.

I hope that when stress and difficult times start to wear you down that you might consider seeking out homeopathic care. These remedies may be the solution when nothing else is working.

Author Bio:

For over 40 years, Blair Lewis has been practicing Classical Homeopathy, Ayurveda, herbal medicine and spiritual counseling. As an Integrative Health Professional, he helps people with chronic diseases regain their health, and helps healthy folks stay well and become happier.

As founder of the Alive and Healthy Institute, Blair is a dynamic, insightful speaker and author of five books, including The Happiness Revolution. Blair focuses his time on writing, teaching, consulting businesses, and mentoring individuals worldwide in all areas of health and spirituality.