I'm writing on behalf of my sister who has been 'diagnosed' as suffering from M.E. She has been ill with it for about 2 years. (She is 32 years old). She has recently had to give up working and is becoming more depressed. She is constantly tired and sometimes has no energy to even get out of bed. She can't take medication as this aggravates and makes her feel worse. She has given up coffee/caffeine products although occasionally she has alcohol which makes her feel dreadful next day. She uses a walking stick and is unable to drive. More recently she began having anxiety attacks as well - we sought help from a homoeopath in desperation. She was given Ignatia to treat the anxiety but it made her feel so ill she stopped taking it after only a couple of days. She has been to a spiritual healer a couple of times and this tends to clear her headaches completely but temporarily. We have been told that in order to get better (whilst taking homoeopathic remedies) she will feel worse to begin with but she can't bear to feel as bad as she did when she took Ignatia. Should we tackle the M.E. with homoeopathy first rather than the anxiety - surely she is suffering anxiety attacks due to the M.E.?

Many thanks for listening.

If the homoeopath your sister consulted was a 'CLASSICAL' homoeopath, he will most likely have based his prescription on your sisters entire mental, emotional and physical make up, also taking into account the ME symptoms and any underlying causes for the anxiety, not merely the symptoms of the anxiety. It is very common to experience an aggravation of symptoms after taking a homoeopathic remedy, but the best person to help your sister to deal with the situation is the homoeopath who treated her in the firt case. A homoeopath will want to know if you developed a severe aggravation after taking a remedy, and as this was the case, he will know how to overcome this problem by adjusting the potency, repitition of the remedy, or indeed the remedy itself. If this aggravation definately came from taking the remedy and was not just coincidental, this is a good sign that the choice of remedy was correct or at least a move in the right direction. Please contact your homoeopath.
Out of curiosity, you say that she was taking Ignatia every day. Do you know what potency the remedy was 6c, 30c etc., and how long she was to take it for?

This looks like a sulphur case.

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Homeopat MNNH Geir E.T. Marcussen
email: getm@eunet.no

It is not necessary to feel worse before you feel better with homeopathic treatment. There is a potency scale called LM, where the aggravation tends to come at the end of treatment (i.e. once you feel better) if at all (see post to this BB on LM potencies).

Everything Tim has said is valid and should be taken into consideration. Perhaps you could discuss the possibility of using LM's with your homeopath, or ask him/her to recommend a practitioner who has experience in using this potency.

I know of one practitioner who has had only 7 aggravations in a 6 year career, 2 of which were intentional and requested by the patient. This practitioner favours the LM potency scale.

Hi - thanks to you all for your responses.
My sister was on the lowest dose (whatever that is???) of Ignatia which was prescribed for 10 days. She took 2 pills every day for 5 days (she started feeling bad on the first day of taking them). She was also given Pulsatilla in reserve - these were not used.

Also, does anyone know of anyone who has successfully overcome M.E. and by what means?

Thanks again.

If you do not get results within a few days would you change remedy/potency???

I have seen ME cured by homeopathy but the treatment is different for each individual. In one case which I treated myself, I tried remedy after remedy for several months but to no avail. The remedy seemed to work for a while, then relapse. Their were 2 patients, husband and wife, both with similar symptoms. I was looking at all kinds of possibilities for the condition, even geopathic stress etc., but to no avail. During the initial interview I had asked if they ahd any illness before the onset of the ME symptoms to which they replied that they had none.A few months later I found out that they had had the flu about six weeks before the onset of symptoms, but hadn't thought it significant enough to mention (this was as much my fault as it was theres for not probing deep enough into the case). A dose of Influenzinum in a high potency saw a vast improvement of the case within days after which time I administered constitutional remedies with dramatic success. Having said this, although I have had many sucess stories with homoeopathy for this condition, I have also had a some failures. Having said this, I would put this down more to failings on my part than on homoeopathy as a whole. I still firmly believe that homoeopathy can cure this problem.
Dont expect overnight results. It has been said that for every year that a patient has had a particular medical condition, it will take a month for homoeopathy to start to have an impact, so for example, if a patient has had ME for 5 years, it will take about 5 months of treatment before the effectivity of the treatment begins to manifest itself (this is a rule of thumb. Some people respond to homoeopathic remedies within hours of them being administered. Others seem to take months in chronic conditions). Dont give up. Stick with the treatment!!

[This message has been edited by Tim McIlveen (edited 09 May 1999).]

I dont agree with the timeline of monts to get results, in my practice there are noticable changes in two days, and from there slowly or rapid amel, if the remedie is chosen rigth, and given in the rigth manner, each case is different, some may need dilution and changed potence rapidly, some goes fine with one dry dose, etc, all are individual. For reference: www.simillimum.com

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Homeopat MNNH Geir E.T. Marcussen
email: getm@eunet.no

Forgive my ... What is an M.E. ???

M.E. is an Acronym for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.