I'm looking for information (books, articles, cases,...) on homeopathic treatment of depression and/or asthma, especially treatment of depressed children who also have asthma. Currently, I am working as a research support specialist for a large NIH study. We're looking at the effects of stress and emotions on asthma in kids. This study will be over in 2 years and at that point we will be doing an intervention study-looking at what kinds of interventions work best to treat depression in asthmatic children. The principal investigators of this study are interested primarily in deciding which antidepressants to use for asthmatic kids but they are also interested in mind-body medicine and are open to trying some holistic interventions. They do have some curiousity about homeopathy but know very little about it.

After reading, recently, about the new warnings against using antidepressants for children and the consequent reluctance of doctors to use these drugs any longer in kids (as well as studies showing that one-on-one talk therapy alone has no effect at all on depression in children) I think that this is a good time to give the principal investigators on our study some information about successful homeopathic treatment of depression and asthma. I'm sure they will be open to considering the idea of a homeoapthic treatment group in their next study if I can give them some pursuavsive information.

If you know of any specific works on either asthma treatment or treatment of depression please let me know. Also, if you know of a good book introducing conventionally trained medical professionals to homeopathic principles I would appreciate information on that too. I seem to remember hearing about such a book a while back.

Thanks,

Karen

At 11:28 AM -0400 9/16/04, Karen Allen wrote:

snip

>Also, if you know of a good book introducing
>conventionally trained medical professionals to homeopathic principles I
>would appreciate information on that too. I seem to remember hearing about
>such a book a while back.

It was written by Michael Carlston, MD. Not sure of the title. I'm
sure Dana or MinPrice has it.

JW

I absolutely cringe at the data that are coming out re: antidepressant use..and clinical experiences of so many....in such strong contrast to my experiences with homeopathy. You are so on target about the timing of this. How great that you have principal investigators that may be open to this approach!

How fantastic it would be to have homeopathy evaluated in this context! (With appropriate research designs allowing for individual rx's). Could you please send info on the current grant?

For those of you who may not know - since it is NIH (National Inst of Health) funded, this is publicly available information.

Go for it! Let me know if I can be of assistance,

Kimberly

Kimberly Shaw, PhD
Lic. Psychologist PY004341
Professor, Director of Research and Graduate Training, Mailman Segal
Inst.; Coordinator, Masters of Health Science, Child Developmental
Specialist Track
Nova Southeastern University
3301 College Ave
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314-7796
Shaw@nova.edu

I believe that it is beyond doubt that asthma is the result of a depleted immune system.
How does an immune system get depleted ?. Thake a look at my bit on Biology!.
Vaccines are one method of damaging an immune system . Antibiotics another. Any substance that suppresses a symptom will drive the problem in on itself . Resulting in a worsening of the patient , even when the symptom vanishes.
Thus chronic incurable conditions are created by allopathic medicine . Curing depression chemically would be the worse thing you could do.
The use of antibiotics were urged on my grandson with CF , fortunately I used homeopathic remedies .

Most asthmatic problems or real asthma is result of suppression of skin-problems in the past. Also in acupuncture or TCM the connection between this problems is known.

Superficial problems (skin problems) are mostly the origin and also a result of disbalance in childhood. (problems in pregnancy of mother, rupture of relations, grief, death of parents ...) Mostly you find in the history problems with eczema (ex-aima or ex-loved ... the meaning of the word.
Suppression is mostly a result of corticoids as basic for allopathic treatment and pushes the symptoms in debt. The organism has no way to show the dis-balance and so the problem becomes the lungs (respiration). In asthma you have to hold-in your breath. Moretimes asthma is a result of chronicity of respiratory tract problems as result of suppressed corryzas, otitis, anginas with anti-biotics.
Also vaccination can result in suppression and dis-balance of resistance.
This last aggravates this state.

OK we are talking about asthma but consider it as a result of suppression...
Asthma can be treaten with homeopathy with very good results but it is a way to walk, finding the good simillium but also an evolution from inside to outside (from the lungs to 'again' the skin) .

If you want on the other hand to suppress the Asthma with corticoids you can come to depression (mental level) going to real suicidal tendency...



So ... little skin-problems ... eczema ... corryza, rhinitis, ... lung problems , asthma ... depression... suicidal... (Every homeopath can tell you this daily story...)

Do you take any different approach when the asthma was *not* a result of suppression? (My daughter's asthma was not preceeded by any skin trouble, and she never had any medications at all, except homeopathy, which had helped her but incompletely.) I realize you said "most", not "all", but I'm curious what your thoughts are on that?
Shannon

Shannon, interesting reply. I am always afraid to state things for 100 % but really in most cases there is suppression. Sometimes homeopathy can suppress also symptoms and push the symptoms on deeper level but not as allopathic drugs do it.

The origin from holistic approach can be allergy, as result of chronic inflammations, nervous origin from emotional shock (something that obstructed the breath -symbolic... death in family,friends,; affective problem, a certain phobia) , several cases of gastro-esophagal reflux mostly as result of difficult birth, smoking of parents and also the big problem of vaccinations (the starting of many respiratory problems.

Only to say that it is important to look and more difficult ... finding the origin.

In the real symbolic interpretation you find the inability to expire the bad air and so taking not enough fresh air. If the person expires he get in spasm.
Mostly you can relate the difficult birth-proces with the asthme.
In this way we have also in homeopathy to intensifie the self-confidence in people to give out in place to hold in... the real idea of asthme. (central idea)

Normally homeopathy must work on the whole person and must stop the asthma. So you can control it but deep working must cure !

Conclusion : in the story of asthma there is suppression but not always from skin-problems. Sometimes it can be hard to find the origin but in a lot of cases mental perceptions as new-born, baby or child are important. Also vaccinations can be the beginning of all problems...

HOMOEOPATHY FOR ASTHMA.

JOHN BRADLEY
It was the sudden onset of asthma in a close relative that gave me my first interest in homoeopathy some 30 yrs ago. My GP gave her large injections of steroids. Only later , in an article ,did I read of the dangers of steroids. I was in a corner where my doctor seemed to be endangering this individual.
At first homoeopathy looked to be the ideal DIY medical therapy, and for minor complaints and prevention that is the case. But in dealing with deep rooted and hereditary complaints the situation is more complex. It was about 10 yrs before I began to see clearly the complexity of the relationship between the Homoeopathic remedy and its interaction with the individual life force or vitality of the patient.
Now, with the hindsight of 25 yrs I realise why my efforts did little more than relieve the asthma of my relative. In that time I have cured some cases and relieved others.I know the power of the correct homoeopathic remedy - bearing in mind that it is possible to be totally sure of only one thing in life - - - uncertainty.
Checking the recent updated position on asthma , in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine confirmed little change in the orthodox view. There are enormous chunks of uncertainty.
"What is Asthma?." is a question that has a million answers. Simplistically it is a cramp or spasm of the circular muscle fibres of the small air tubes that drastically reduce the amount of air available to the 300 million alveoli which exchange deoxygenated air for oxygenated air,also involved is a watery secretion that inflatesthe mucous and has a 'plugging' effect on the already restricted airway diameter - giving rise to breathlessness and in bad cases cyanosis where the lips go blue. It's classified in textbooks as an abnormality of the immune response,and is the response of a damaged or depleted immune system.
It is only possible to treat the condition realistically if we know the cause of the spasm.Here we arrive at the ragbag nature of Asthma.
Extrinsic Asthma - brought on by external factors is similar to hay fever and may be seasonal if due to pollens at specific times of the year , or all year round if due to such things as domestic pets, dust or house mites. This type is at present more normal among young people and is esentially an allergic reaction to external factors.
Intrinsic Asthma happens spontaneously and the hypersensitivity is triggered by many factors. Also it tends to be "late onset" starting after some trauma/stress outcrop in 20/30's or midlife.
When I first came across Asthma I used to say that no one dies of Asthma. I soon realised that was not strictly true. Asthma associated with syphilis either primary or inherited could kill , but this was very rare.
Only in the post 60's did non syphilitics start to die of Asthma.That timing is in my view very important and should be kept in mind.

In the past I have treated asthma along strict homoeopathic lines. I ask myself what are the signs of imbalance that I see in the individual. One then tries to match those signs to a particular remedy - and bring the individual back into a natural balance.
In more recent times I have taken an interest in TB and AIDS as they have a bearing on the basic theory of Homoeopathy. Because of that interest I have become more aware of the essential underlaying part that the immune system plays in all physiological problems.
There are many ways to get asthma and I will list a number of those , but for now I'd like to trace one particular path leading to Asthma as being , in my view, typical of the many roads leading to that condition.
SEE BELOW;-

addition;-
Dr D. Foubister was a Consultant at a London Hospital for many years. He was a noted homoeopath who published many books and pamphlets and died in 1988. He pointed out that one of the basic roots of all illness is inflammation.
Mutiple Sclerosis is condition resulting from inflammation which has disseminated along neural pathways damaging and scarring the myelin sheath.Any disease ending in '- itis' indicates an inflammatory condition - meningitis; of the brain and spine - endartitis; of the artery - endocervicitis; of the cervix - endocarditis; of the heart - proctitis; of the rectum - colitis; of the colon etc.
To quote the Oxford Textbook of Medicine "The pathology of Asthma is characterised by the infiltration of the airways by esinophils and other inflammatory cells which migrate in response to chemotactic factors released by mast cells macrophages and lymphocytes.
Esinophils contain a substance, which damages the airway and is responsible for the large amorphous pink masses in the muscous and submucosa seen in patients who have died of Asthma." So inflammation is a characteristic of Asthma, which accounts for the widespread use - in the past - of steroids in their anti-inflammatory role.
Let us for a moment look at the reason for,and function of, inflammation in disease of all kinds. I quote a medical dictionary
"Inflammation is the defensive reaction of tissue that has been attacked and is the start of the natural process of healing. Inflammation is instigated by the immune system and is essential to the proper natural bodily process of healing. - It involves pain, heat,redness, swelling and loss of function of the affected part. Blood vessels are dilated so that the local blood flow is increased. White cells enter the tissue to engulf bacteria and foreign particles. Similar cells from the tissues remove and consume dead cells and the process of healing commences."
Before man came down from the trees - in evolutionary terms - inflammation has been essential to the natural process of healing and is today correctly shown to relate to the body's basic defense system and to the immune system.
However since the mid 40's [i.e. approx 50 years] antibiotics have been used to abort or short circuit the natural healing of the inflammatory process. I have often said to people that antibiotics are ok in the role they were originally employed - in life threatening conditions and NOT otherwise.
It has long been established that whatever provokes an attack of asthma , the condition itself is due to a defective or underactive immune system .

A consultants handbook points out that -" Both humans and animals have an apparent relative immunity against a second infection if they are left for 6/12 weeks before being treated. However if antibiotics are promptly given in the early infection no such immunity develops and immediate reinfection is then possible". Obviously we have here a direct relationship between inflammation and the immune system - both being natural bodily processes .
But the short circuiting of inflammation has many affects. From a homoeopathic point of view the inflammation does not disappear under antibiotic treatment. It is dispersed from its original local intense and painful site - where the immune system is busy healing the body - and driven along the path of least resistance. Where it takes up a chronic character such as tennis elbow,trapped nerve, neuralgia, rheumatism etc. Its function as part of the healing process is defeated and the immune system is affected.
In some individuals the immune system becomes underactive and results in lethargy - M.E. - and numerous minor infections 'the never well syndrome'. In other individuals the immune system becomes overactive and gives rise to many allergies due to its supersesitivity. Among the many immune/allergic effects is Asthma.
It has been shown that in TB, and particularly in AIDS , it is possible to inherit a damaged immune system. That being taken in conjunction with the time span since the 40's we now have a third generation of people treated with antibiotics. It is interesting that the first generation had few allergies - that the second generation in the 60/70's had increasing degrees of allergic response and that some of the third generation now die due hypersensitive allergic response.
It would also be of interest if a study could be carried out to see if the rise in Asthma was paralleled by the rise in the uncontrolled indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
So having shown a homoeopaths view of the mechanism of asthma and identified antibiotics as one of a number of culprits let us look at other aspects and culprits listed in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine [15.142 tab 1.] as;-
"Drugs which may produce or exacerbate asthma."

"Pharmacological effects;- ORAL
Cholinergenic agents e.g. carbachol pilocarpine
Cholinesterase inhibitors e.g. pyridostigmine
Prostaglandin F2alpha
Histamine release e.g. curare derivatives
Beta sympathetic antagonists
Idiosyncratic effects;-
Analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents
Asprin
Idomethacin [inlcudes] Artralin
Imbrilon
Indocid. Indoflex. Indomod.
Kap-ind. Rheumacin.
Mefinamic acid[inc] Ponstan
Flufenamic acid
Phenylbutazone
Fenoprofen [inc] Fenopron. Progesic.
Ibuprofen [inc] {Apsifen. Brufen. Ebufac. Fenbio {Ibular. Ibumetin. Iboslo. Inabrin
Ibuprofen (cont) Maxagesic. Motrin. Novaprin.
Nurofen. Paxofen. Proflex.
Relcofen.Seclodin. Uniprofen.
Diclofenac [inc] Volterol.
Naproxen [inc] Laraflex. Naprosyn. Synflex.
Paracetamol.
Tartrazine-containing compounds (used to color medicine & food ;E102 food additive)
Carbamazepine[inc] Tegretol
Idiosyncratic;- BY INJECTION
Penicillin
Aminophylline[inc] Phyllocontin
Hydrocortisone [inc] Cortisol. Cortril. Dioderm
Hydrocortone.
N-acetyl cysteine
Idiosyncratic;- INHALED
Ampicillin
Benzyl Penicillin
Cephalosporins[used intransplant ops to suppress the immune system
Alpha-methyl dopa
Cimetadine[inc] Tagamet
Piperazine[inc] Antepar. Ascalix.
Psyllium
Pancreatic extract
Pituitary snuff
Ipratropium bromide(hypotonic solution)[inc] Atrovent."
The Oxford Textbook of Medicine also points out;-
"The potential exacerbation of Asthma by drugs used to treat it presents a particularly acute dilemma as drug effect may be difficult to dissociate from spontaneous deterioration. Apart from potential problems related to tartrazine there are well documented cases of worsening asthma after both aminophylline and hydrocortisone, the latter may be particularly aproblem in asthmatic patients with analgesic sensitivity. -- Bronchodilator and other drugs formulated as a dry powder sometimes have an irritant effect , as also may the propellants used in pressurized aerosols."

Hi Shannon,

I recently treated a case of asthma in a 30 year old woman with no h/o suppressions of any skin eruptions . Based on her symptom totality, Hist was given with gratifying results. The case came to me after tretment by 3 homeopaths and losing hope in homeopathy she resorted to allopathy and was using asthalin spray + many other drugs.

with best wishes,
V.T.Yekkirala
As I am far away form my town I had unsubscribed to the lists recently.