David,

Eventhough of course you are right that Shingles doesn't come out of no where, that there is a contitutional state that predisposes a person to such an outbreak, it is also true that the constitutional remedy may not necessarily be the acute remedy. It's like if you have a nat-mur. woman doubled over with menstrual cramps clutching a heating pad, you're justified in giving mag-phos for this acute eventhough she's not a mag-phos "person".

Snoopy

An outbreak of shingles IS NOT a true acute situation, it is an acute exacerbation of the chronic disease, as David made clear... I would not take the Apis.. take your untouched case to a Homeopath in your area or utilize one of sites offered on this BB like Dr Leela's...

I have personal experience with shingles and was successfully treated based on my chronic case in a matter of days... don't play around trying this and that, present your case untouched to a qualified Homeopath!!!! Denise

It is not a good idea to treat the common symptoms of disease with a remedy. Regardless of whether you classify a disease as acute or chronic, a blurry distinction at times, you must prescribe on the peculiar symptoms. The peculiar symptoms are always the ones that do not relate directly to the disease, either because they are not the expected symptoms (lesions with no pain, lesions with pain like stones being ground against the skin, lesions bluish in colour) or they are not associated with the illness (dyspnoea with the pain, urine smells like violets, dreams of being murdered).

The demands of a suffering patient are NOT an excuse for taking a poor case.Proper case-taking does not need to cover childhood, past traumas etc, but it must be comprehensive enough to make an educated choice of remedy.

While you might use Mag-phos for someone right in the middle of period pain, I would still attempt to take a proper case, noting the mental state, and any concomittants and general observations of the patient. You might also use Coloc or Nux-v or Ars or Nux-m or Opium or Puls based on the same symptoms. In fact, it might be safer to allow them to take painkillers so that you can have more time to take a full case. Period pain is definitely NOT an acute - it is a long standing chronic condition, and can be suppressed by using superficial remedies.

Although Ryan is obviously in some pain, it does not seem to be an emergency situation. Patience and care is needed if the shingles is to be managed so that he is actually better at the end. Any acute crisis is a gift to the homoeopath - it is an important moment which can provide valuable insight and opportunity for real change in a person's health.

__________________
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.

The other issue again here is that leading questions have been asked - don't give someone a list of possible answers - it corrupts the patients natural expressions. Just ask open-ended questions and then you can trust the answers you get (provided the person doesn't have a materia medica themselves).

eg. What do the lesions look like? What is the pain like ? Does anything aggravate the pain ?

Resist any pressure from the patient to provide them with answers to your questions. The moment you do, you have lost most of the value of the question. If a patient asks me what answer I am looking for, I just leave the question alone. They probably don't really have an answer for it.

__________________
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.

Ryan,

Are you still there? To find a good NY homeopath, see my post on Danielle's thread.

Snoopy

sorry. see below.

[ 22 July 2002, 01:42: Message edited by: Snoopy ]

Actually, Barb, I now think we have a complete case. The anger and irritability with the pains leads us to an excellent herpes zoster remedy--
Ranunculus Bulbosus (the buttercup). Hope Ryan will try it.

Snoopy

Ryan,

if the shingles got better on its own, then you did not need any treatment - which is the way it SHOULD be. We do not give prescriptions lightly - anything we gave also could have made things worse, so caution is ALWAYS appropriate.

You obviously don't understand what we are about here - you might be better staying with orthodox medicine. NO-ONE here offers instant miracle cures, many of us are qualified professionals who will offer the SAME ADVICE to all people on this BB. You may want to look at other threads to get an idea of how much detail and depth we go into in order to help people.

There is no shortcuts in homoeopathy - we are here to offer the other option, which is true healing from illness. Orthodox medicine offers the quick fixes - you must have got us mixed up.

You asked for a long term cure, then you chose to get angry at us when things weren't done immediately. If you weren't willing to listen to our advice, then why did you bother?

__________________
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.

It should also be pointed out that this is a Discussion site, not a free treatment site. Any treatment advice you might get here is a bonus, and we will take it as an opportunity to examine it from many sides and you will get several opinions. If this doesn't suit you, then you will have to see someone in person or pay someone who treats via email or phone.

Snoopy does a lot of work on cases here to help people out, and she, and all of us deserve a little more respect than that.

[ 22 July 2002, 04:28: Message edited by: DavidJK ]

__________________
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.

David,

Thank you for the kind words. I don't think you understood Ryan. He HASN'T gotten better, he's being SARCASTIC!

Snoopy