Digestive Ailments: An Approach with Homeopathic Facial Analysis - homeopathy360

Digestive Ailments: An Approach with Homeopathic Facial Analysis

Introduction
In the homeopathic model, there is a limited value for defining a pathology or type of disease. With homeopathy, we are not treating the disease – we are treating the patient; however, it is that set of symptoms of the disease diagnosis is what we are aiming to abate so as to leave the patient in better health and greater comfort. In doing so, the knowledge of that disease is not always required for the selection of the most appropriate remedy for the case. Thus, we are looking at how the symptoms are being presented and what is individual to that patient, which helps us select a remedy that works for that case. Therefore, the focus should be on a bigger picture than the disease itself.
Knowing the remedies, that is, ‘knowing’ their qualities and their ‘essence’ is a very difficult task. A single remedy such as Sulphur has approximately fifteen thousand proving symptoms, all of which are indexed in the repertory as rubrics. If a patient who needs Sulphur has less than twenty of these symptoms, imagine how many possible permutations can exist within the one remedy.  The remedy pictures we read in materia medicas, or listen at the seminars, are at best only a limited picture of the one remedy – but often presented as if those pictures are the remedy; when that particular picture is just a drop in the ocean (like homeopathy itself) of the potential of that remedy and all the ways it can be used. Bringing remedies down to their smallest image – via keynotes, essence, or the materia medica, actually prevents many remedies being used in practice. If we use only one hundred remedies, those can still suit a billion different types of people. So instead of ‘knowing’ the remedies, we need a system to find the best remedy out of those hundred. We have a system, as defined by Hahnemann himself; find the totality and use a miasmatic approach and always repertorise. So, even with a billion types of people, and only hundred remedies, we can find a match for the majority of our patients with any specific type of illness.
When learning remedies, getting to know their keynotes, their essence, or their materia medica picture is helpful – but only to a certain degree, because each remedy is so much more than these pictures. When practitioners have a true understanding of the breadth of the proven remedies – the homeopathic polychrests – they can use any of these remedies for any pathology or disease – with greater results than applying limited pictures of these remedies.
So instead of looking at a case of digestive ailment and doing a differential of Pulsatilla, Calcarea carbonica, Lycopodium, Nux vomica, Carbo vegetabilis or China, we must know that there is potential to treat digestive complaints (or any other complaint) with any of the hundred or more polychrest remedies; and on many occasions, the best digestive remedy is not one of the ‘common’ digestive remedies.
 The HFA approach
The methodology to find those remedies is straightforward. Once the case is taken, look for the general symptoms within the case history. Choose between four and eight of those symptoms and add a mental or emotional symptom only if it is very obvious – otherwise leave it out. Then examine the facial structure of the patient to determine the patient’s dominant miasm. Use the Homeopathic Facial Analysis (HFA) method and then repertorise the symptoms. The majority of the polychrests have been tested against the facial structure of the patients’ to determine their dominant miasm. From the repertorisation result, select only that remedy which has the same dominant miasm as the patient. The remedy must match both the totality and the miasm. Using this approach 80% of the patients find a deep acting totality/miasm remedy within four remedy choices. In half of those cases, a deep acting remedy is found on the first remedy. This method brings homeopathy away from the subjective guessing game that is essence into the clarity and reproducibility of a system that prides itself on its scientific foundations.
Here is a case to illustrate. This case was taken by Ellen V. Kire, a graduate of the Victorian College of Classical Homeopathy HFA course. Although the case presents with the particular symptoms, note that the rubrics selected for repertorisation are only generals and there has been no mental or emotional subjective interpretation made to find the correct remedy. The continued daily dosage of the correct totality/miasm remedy also indicates how long the body can tolerate the right remedy – without any negative effects or a proving – whilst continuing to heal and to maintain homeostatic balance.
 Case Report
D. Female, age 22 years
Chief complaints: Abdominal pains with diarrhoea, menorrhagia since six months. Itchy scalp since 8-12 years.
Initial consult: 2nd October 2010
 Life-space Background
D. has been married for two years. She is enrolled in a two year dental hygiene course and works full time split between the two jobs on evenings and weekends. Her husband works full time. Their plan is for her to graduate, secure a good job in her field and then he will return to college in a field that will offer a good income. He has school loans that are due from a prior school year and hers are pending after graduation.
When I ask about her childhood and difficult times in her life, she says that at age of eight, she was sent to live with her aunt for a few months because her younger sister was very ill. D. says she coped well during this time away from her immediate family, and that she enjoyed being the ‘only child’ due to all the attention she received. Schoolwork had always been easy and because of this, found it boring – that she ‘loves a challenge’. She was at the top of her class, an A-grade student. In sixth grade her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend and she felt betrayed. She did not want to stay in school after this but did finish the school year. She was home schooled the next year after begging her mom to be allowed to do her schoolwork at home. She didn’t date again until she met her husband at the age of 19 years. Another stressful time occurred after she and her husband got engaged, when the elders in her faith accused her of sexual misconduct with him. She was angered, felt unjustly accused and both decided to leave their local church. Money is an ongoing issue and they are on a very tight budget, with D. in charge of their finances. After marriage, they had rented a small apartment, but because of the financial hardship, they have moved in with her parents. This living arrangement is stressful for her husband, but not for her. She worries about paying their school loans and if they will be able to afford a home of their own.
 Symptoms
D. complains of lower abdominal pains at night that awakens her from sleep between 1 am and 3 am with massive bouts of explosive diarrhoea. She has to push hard on her stomach in a small spot to go. These episodes started six months ago, occurring once a week and then increased to every night for one to two weeks. She changed her diet; gave up eating meat and dairy products, which alleviated the nightly abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Before the diet change she had black stools. Greasy foods and dairy cause either diarrhoea or constipation. Her feet are always icy cold which causes nausea or vomiting. Putting her feet in very cold water leads to vomiting. Warm drinks can cause nausea at times.
Her menses last for four days and occur 28 days apart. Occasionally menses are delayed by a month. She tells me she has two patterns of menstrual periods, one pattern is intermittent flow, bleeding for 24 hours, stops for next 24 hours followed by two more days of bleeding. Profuse, heavy menses (more than ten pads daily) with bright red blood and only one clot at end. Swelling in the body during menses, including her fingers and has distension in her abdomen. There is achy pain all over which stops with one ibuprofen. Pain in abdomen, hips and back relieved by heat. The second type is painless and she needs to eat constantly or she becomes tired and irritable. She craves chocolate, pasta, and salads. No pre-menstrual symptoms before either type of menses. She does not use contraceptive measures because it is not natural.
Her scalp is very itchy and worse in winter and from the cold with dry, red, itchy blotches that started 8-12 years ago after she used a body wash product on her head. Her doctor says it is not psoriasis or eczema. Baby oil is the only thing that helps after trying numerous hair and scalp products but she dislikes the oily hair. Her face has dry, scaly patches on the cheeks and forehead, and a patch on the right thigh and left upper arm – but there is no itching in these. Her skin in general and her scalp are worse from perspiring, showering, and swimming.
Migraines began when she was in the fourth grade; she got headache episodes from the fluorescent lights and odour of the floor cleaners used at school. Her headache is worse from odours and perfumes, scented candles. Her eyes feel tired and her vision is 20/20. She experiences a sensation of ‘moving backwards slowly’ when riding in the car. She has shoulder and neck tension. Imitrex or ibuprofen helps her for migraine.
Bilateral ear infections were an issue from birth until the age of six years. These infections responded to antibiotics. She has tinnitus, a ringing sound in the ears. After showering, she feels as if there is water trapped in the ears.
Her feet are very cold all year long. The tendons in hands and knees ‘snap or crack’ which is worse on her right side. She is better from cracking her joints of fingers, back, and knees.
Sleep problems began at the age of eight years when she went to live with her aunt. She has difficulty falling asleep and is always tired on waking whether she gets a little or a lot. Some nights she will sleep only a few hours and other nights she will sleep for 14 hours straight. But she only needs a two hours sleep to function. Her sleep is not restless and does not have any dreams. She snores loudly and has a deviated septum on her left side. Her energy is high in the winter and loves the cold; low from heat and worse in summer.
Obesity has been an issue all her life which she attributes to an unhealthy diet as a child that was too high in fat and dairy. Her current weight is 220 pounds and was 180 pounds in high school. She is not hungry in the mornings and doesn’t need to eat until 7-8 pm. But she is very thirsty and prefers icy cold drinks. She drinks six to eight bottles of soft drinks, two to three glasses of white grape juice, and four glasses of water every day. She urinates only twice a day. She does not perspire in general and only from exercise, just a little on face and in armpits. She is not chilly or hot in general.
Food preferences: She craves spicy foods and on a scale of 0-10 she rates spicy as 12+, pasta 10, soda 11, cheese 9. Aversion to milk and celery. Worse from fat, milk, cheese, ice cream, and eggnog which cause either constipation or loose stools.
Past medical history: Ear infections, chicken pox, insomnia, dermatitis, nausea, diarrhoea and constipation, obesity, migraines, dysmenorrhea, tinnitus, deviated septum. Medications- Imitrex or ibuprofen for migraines.

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