Can anyone help with my husband? He is definitely a Nat Mur person, not only has he been helped by Nat Mur (headaches, gloominess etc) but every time I read in the postings here about typical Nat mur traits, it fits my husband.

What Nat mur not has cured is his hayfever, and a very itchy back, almost excema, this last goes in the summer with sunshine.

He saw a homeopath in England a couple of years back who gave him Arsenic Album 200c, which had no effect whatsoever. Also, when I read about Ars alb it didn't fit him at all. Nevertheless he took one Ars alb 200 in the automn when we saw the homeopath and one in February. That was several years ago.

He has also taken Nat Mur 200 c once these last years, but his hayfever comes every year. He got his hayfever in his late twentys when his marriage started going wrong. His wife had affairs and after some time left him for another guy. He was left with his three small children wich he adored, but later lost these in a very bitter figth in court. His exwife then made it impossible for him to see his children.

When I met him he was full of repressed bitterness and anger at society, which leaves a father without a chance. He used to get terrible headaches. He also has physical caracteristics of Nat Mur. However, he has been helped enormously just by Nat Mur 6 c which I started giving to him, headaches gone, no repressed bitterness (although of course you never get over having lost your children, of which he often dreams). His divorce was 20 years ago, we met 12 years ago.

But hayfever is a nuisance, I hate to see him take all this allopathic stuff. It is mainly in the eyes, but of course a bit of runny nose to. I bought Euphrasia drops, he tried it once or twice, but didn't find it helpful enough. We still have them.

Whenever he is very busy with something it's better, even when he is doing physical work in the garden (or making love) but as soon as he relaxes it immediately comes back. The culprit is tree pollen.

What can be done? The homeopath I saw when I was ill did not inspire confidence. I would be ever so grateful for some help.

Inger

If your husband has only taken NM 6 and had such a benefit from it, I think you can confidently go higher with NM.
It would be good to use water potencies with a condition like this to minimise the possibility of aggravation and to speed cure. You do that by dissolving one tablet in water and dividing the solution into ten doses, giving a dose a day. Just go up to 30c for the first dose if a 6 is the highest so far - only one pill dissolved in water as described. STRIKE THE BOTTLE FIRMLY TEN TIMES BETWEEN EACH DOSE - this is essential.
Sorry to hear yet another story of the failure of UK homoeopathy - all too common I regret to report.

ps In order to get the pill to dissolve easily, crush it with the back of a spoon into a powder. Remember not to touch the pill or powder yourself.

Thanks Anna for your prompt answer.

He has taken Nat Mur 200 c once, I can't exactly remember when, perhaps this winter or the previous one. It was when I thought he was getting a bit gloomy again and I think it helped. So shall I give him Nat Mur 200 c now, in water, or Nat Mur 30, I think we have both?

I forget to say that he has dandruff, which he keeps in check with shampoos but which comes back immediately he stops them. Greasy hair.

Inger

Hi Inger,

Hayfever is something that can very easily be palliated by homeopathy, so that instant relief can be had...but it can also be treated and cured. That requires constitutional treatment and usually a course of 2 or 3 years' treatment before it subsides for good.

There are many, many rememdies in the materia medica which look so similar to Nat Mur. Two which come to mind right off the top of my head, given the history you described regarding your husband's first marriage and its outcome, are Carcinosin and Staphysagria. Another one is the Arsenicum, which is often prescribed to allergy sufferers because their symptoms during one of the attacks matches the symptoms of the remedy. All of these remedies including the Nat Mur are commonly used in the deep constitutional treatment for hayfever. So it is important to be very thorough in case taking to determine which would be most appropriate in addressing the allergy issue. You need to find a local homeopath who is classically trained to see your husband--preferably someone who does inspire confidence in you and your husband. The treatment will take at least one or two seasons to be complete, and it usually involves the use of a remedy classified as a nosode--often the carcinosin I mentioned is used in hayfever treatment along with other appropriate remedies.

With the little information you've given here, it looks to me like the Nat Mur has done all it can do for your husband, and that Carcinosin (the history you describe and the fact that the rash on his back improves with sunshine) may be a good "next" remedy for him. But the information here is too sketchy--and I can't see or hear or question your husband myself, so it's no good.

P. S. Just because the ars. alb. didn't do anything, doesn't mean it isn't a good remedy for your husband. He was only given a 200c--another potency may have done the job nicely. We don't know, and can't know, given the little information given here. Remedies are very complex and sometimes what doesn't seem to "fit" works beautifully, if it is given as a result of proper and thorough case analysis which goes beyond simplified "remedy pictures". Best not to jump to hugely generalized conclusions about a country's homeopathic practitioners and their competency.

Divina

__________________
...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine

Yes, I agree, if your husband has already had 200c of Nat Mur and symptoms persist then it is not as clear that this is the best remedy. It might be NM, but it might not be, and you don't want to be guessing with the higher potencies.
It is time to find a good practitioner.

As for how long it takes to cure hayfever - I have had patients loose their symptoms very swiftly in some cases - certainly within one season, by using the constitutionally indicated remedy, not a palliative. Some patients take longer because their energy is low and/or because the homeopath doesn't spot the correct remedy. We can't always spot it, but that is not a limitation of homoeopathy itself -homeopaths everywhere need to be much better than we are to do justice to the potential of homoeopathy. Make sure you find a good one - or if you can't, send me a private message or mail and I can give the contact details for my own homoeopath who practices by email and phone for long-distance patients [Dr Banerjea.]

Thanks Anna and Divina for your answers. I know it's tricky to find the right remedy and I wouldn't judge anyone by not finding the right one at once. But the thing is, I managed to pursuade my husband to go to a homeopath once, but I can't make him go another time, that's for sure. He said only today that he doesn't doubt that homeopathic remedies have their effect, but that it seemed a lot of trial and error to him. But he would take what I give him.

I wish I knew what to tell more about him, he doesn't like being made a fuss over, but neither does he like to be ignored. He puts salt on his food. He is tall and lean and stoops slightly. He has diabetes since 4 years and manages his bloodsugar extremely well, the doctor says he never had a patient so consistent with his food and with absolutely normal sugar values. I find it incredible how he sticks to his diet. He never complains, no matter how bad he feels he always says he is allright. This is not always good, once he was seriously ill in the kidneys, from neglecting a cystits caught from cold. All the time he said, oh, it's nothing, it will pass, etc, and then he had to go into hospital and have antibiotics intravenously. This was perhaps 15 years ago. It was the same with his diabetes, I had to beg and beg him to see a doctor, I could see that something was very wrong, but he just dismissed it. Finally I said, please see a doctor just to please me, to calm me, and he did and it was diabetes. He is very stubborn!

He is also very ambitious in his work, he can't do a bad job and is always ready to help others, but never demands help himself. He is a teacher and is very creative in his teaching. He is an extremely hardworking person. He gets on very well with his pupils and gets a lot of recognition from them (they are between 16 and 19 years old). He keeps a certain distance to people and doesn't like it when people touch him (but family is different, of course).

I realise that there are many remedies, but everything I read about Nat Mur fits him, the mentals etc. Only today I read here on the BB a summary of Nat Mur in a posting, I can't remember which one, but again I thought that's him.

Please ask me what you need to know more, I would so much like to try again. I thought maybe we could see you Anna as we are going to England this summer but I don't think he would go along with that. Once is enough, he'd say.

I hope this hasn't been to rambling!

Inger

He is a gentle and kind person who suffered a little bit from an upbringing where you were not supposed to complain but do your bit and not be mardy. The parents were hardworking and didn't have much time for their children (but they were allright). My husband was a sensitive and gentle little boy who suffered from this when he was little, but found it allright as he grew older and had lots of friends.

Dear Inger,

there is a common misconception in homoeopathy that one remedy will cure all your complaints. I can tell you now after years of treating patients that this is not true. Your husband will almost certainly need another remedy, perhaps a complementary remedy to Nat-mur, perhaps a remedy more suited to the symptoms that are left. Kent used to say that Hayfever was an explosion of the Psoric miasm, the underlying inherited predisposition to illness, and that the patient must have remedies that will clear this out or they will never be fully well.

And remember there are over 5000 remedies, and it is easy to get stuck on the polycrests(the well known and commonly used remedies) that have extensive mental pictures, but I have found I use polycrests in only 50% of my cases. A polycrest may improve the case, but you will often need a much more specific remedy for the patient to continue the cure.

Whenever a patient has symptoms that are not cured by a remedy, you must let go of your attachment to the "right" remedy and start looking for the correct one. A patient who is on the correct remedy does not keep getting sick. There is work left to do, and Nat-mur probably will not do it. Most people need a variety of remedies, rarely just one.

__________________
David Kempson.<br />Dip.Homoeopathic Medicine.<br />Lecturer Australian College of Natural Therapies (Brisbane Campus)<br />Member AHA, AROH, HMA<br />Member Australian Homoeopathic Association. Member#0442.

I have to say that the more I read about your husband the more I think that a dose of Carc. 200 will help. After that it will probably be back to the Nat Mur. When a well indi=cated remedy doesn;t work it is best to go to the suitable nosode as that may well clear a layer and then go back to the original well indicated remedy if it still shows up to be the best. It would be better if you didthis through a homeopath.

Anna - I trust you don't count yourself amongst the UK homeopaths you have a habit of putting down. The clue to a good homeopath in UK is to try to find a classical one who gives the minimum dose of one remedy at a time on a totality of symptoms rather than a mishmash of various remedies to be takem concurrently.

__________________
RSHom - Registered Homeopath

Inger, now that you write more about your husband, I can clearly see how he was given Ars. Alb! In particular, I'm referring to what you yourself say is unusual--his unfailing ability to stick to his restricted diet!

But, just to make a point, I will state again that Carc 200c would be a good next step--(as would arsenicum album, maybe in another potency)...see what I'm getting at? YOU may think that the Nat Mur fits your husband, but I have to say that it quite easily fits almost everybody. I was given the remedy once! I still laugh about that with my homeopath. Both these remedies mentioned look VERY much like Nat Mur...but the mental states of the 3 remedies differ clearly, if one can get passed the patient's compensation to see it. If you are close to your patient, as you are to your husband, you won't be able to do this well.
My point is, you are not really in a position to be objective here, and objectivity is what is needed.

Also, to some patients, it can seem like homeopathy is "trial and error", but in actuality, one remedy points out the next. A trained homeopath will know what to look for and how to analyse the results obtained through the remedies used. Remind your husband that his allergies are a result of a lifetime of events, which have resulted in a depleted resistance to any illness. If he continues to suppress his body's desperate attempts to shield itself from environmental influences by using allopathic drugs, his body will only become less capable of resisting anything. Do try and convince him to continue with homeopathy, and find an excellent practitioner for him to see, whether that be at home or abroad.

As for the 2 to 3 year time span for treatment, the case does need to be followed over this amount of time to be certain that the immune system response we know as allergy is no longer necessary. 2 or 3 years usually covers a number of seasons--even if only 1 remedy is used, we need to see permanent improvement in the case before we know allergies are no longer a problem.

I do hope you can convince him. If you do want to follow advice on the BB (which I don't recommend), Ricky's carc. 200c suggestion is a very good one, based on the info you've given and on treatment protocol. But, remember, it is no substitute for seeing Ricky in person!

Divina

__________________
...and deliverance has many faces<br />but grace<br />is an aquaintance of mine