Because homeopathy works ‘with’ your child’s intrinsic homeostatic mechanism to bring greater homeostasis to every system of your child’s body, homeopathy can help.

When I sit down with a family challenged by this disorder, there are four protocols that I use:

• The Vaccine Clearing Protocol
• The Heavy Metal Detox Protocol
• The Psychotropic Medication Detox Protocol
• Constitutional Reinforcement

With my Vaccine Clearing Protocol we use homeopathically prepared vaccines to prompt the body to eliminate any toxic residues and to rebalance all systems. Homeopathically prepared vaccines do not contain any measurable amount of vaccine product but they do prompt the body’s homeostatic mechanism to react. Sometimes we see fevers or fatigue for a day or so. Sometimes behavior worsens for a few days. Then often surprising things happen…children talk, smile, listen. These amazing results make me wonder if perhaps we all could benefit from this particular protocol.

With lab tests indicating heavy metal contamination, my Heavy Metal Detox Protocol is fairly simple and straightforward. Once again we use homeopathically prepared heavy metals to prompt the body to eliminate any toxic residues and to rebalance all systems. Lab tests then improve. Behavior improves. Makes me wonder again.

If your child has been medicated with psychotropic drugs and you would like help with the transition away from such medications, we can do that. This Protocol is more involved and has more to do with the kind of injury those drugs have inflicted on the developing brain. Recently I helped an adult get off of several opiates and Elavil, all using homeopathics to restore brain cells and to lessen the systemic withdrawal effects.

Constitutional homeopathic reinforcement relies on appreciating your child’s basic inherited factors. To that end I insist upon interviewing both parents about their health, but particularly interviewing the younger parent for relevant health history and subtle constitutional traits. This can make all the difference in assisting your child towards health. Please see the works of the Reichenberg-Ullmans: A Drug-Free Approach to Asperger Syndrome and Autism.  Also see my blog article about how I work with children.

A team effort is usually necessary to help your child with this particular challenge. Homeopathy can be part of that team effort. Let me know how I can help.

When there are waste products, like urea in your bloodstream, your kidneys filter that urea out by producing urine. When there is carbon dioxide in your bloodstream, your lungs carry that out through your exhalation. When there are salts and drugs in your tissues, your perspiration carries them to the surface of your skin or the liver removes them from your bloodstream. Hence your skin, your liver, your lungs and your kidneys are all organs of elimination and detoxification. And yes there are things that you can do to promote that eliminative cycle, including homeopathy.

But when it is your toxic thoughts and consequently your unhealthy emotions, how are these removed? And first, how do we even know the toxic thoughts from the nontoxic thoughts? Pain, you say? Yes, when discharge from a safe place is impeded or restricted, that lack of ease (dis-ease) is experienced as pain, irritation and aggravation. So how do we open the gates of elimination for your mind and your emotions? How can we begin?

First we can acknowledge the reality of what is. And observe and report our thoughts and subsequent feelings. I call this Step 1: show up in your own life (notice that you cannot show up for anyone else).

Step 2 is to pay attention. As a homeopath I ask you to do this in the preliminary questionnaire and in the initial intake interview and in each and every follow up visit. Sometimes I even ask you annoying questions on the phone or in emails. I am asking you to pay attention.

Then Step 3 is to tell the truth… with kindness. Turn your thoughts around until you find the ‘kind’ truth, not the ugly truth or the brutal truth. Turn your thoughts around until the Wizard of Oz is unmasked and you know your own mind and your own heart and your own courage and your own way home.

Step 4 is to take responsibility for your part. Your part. Take responsibility for your thoughts, beliefs, projections, emotions, and behaviors. Yes that is a lot to take responsibility for. Notice how busy you will be taking responsibility for your part. Has to make you wonder how you ever had time to bother with what was other peoples’ business. Or with worrying about the future. Busy, busy.

And Step 5 is to let go of the outcome. Reality is much more fun when you are in agreement with it, when you are not ‘end gaming’ reality. Reality has way more possibilities, an infinite array of possibilities in fact, than you can ever ever think of or believe in. And all the hoping and wishing or bitching and complaining in the world won’t get you there. Things are how they are before they can be anything else.

When your homeopath listens to your story, that is what we hear, the thing in itself, and your reactions and beliefs about the thing in itself. And we hear your beliefs about reality, beliefs that are not necessarily true. Those beliefs, those thoughts are generously called ‘delusions’ in homeopathy. One of the most frequent delusions that I hear day in and day out is: “I am alone in the world or my mate does not love and honor me or no one loves me or I am unlovable”. First off, notice this within yourself right now. Pay attention. Is it true? Is it absolutely true? Sometimes I smile when I hear this from a client because it reminds me that I am hearing a delusion, an untruth about reality. How do I know that those thoughts are not true? Well, just biologically speaking, not only are you not alone in the world, but it is physically impossible to be alone, to be separated from all that is, all the billions of microorganisms that make their home with you and help you digest your food and form 2/3 of your fecal matter and eat the dead skin cells you shed constantly and keep parasitic organisms from overtaking your skin and……..

And this is not to mention the number of unseen and seen people in your life, who show up every day to make it possible for you to even flip on a light switch and have light or flush a toilet or wear pajamas when you feel so alone in the world. I cannot even think of 10 minutes in your life that are not populated by 10 billion living things making it possible for you to take your next breath. And if that is not love, what is? 10 billion beings loving you in less than 10 minutes, that is what you can be grateful for.

So now the delusion has disappeared momentarily, back into the collective dream from whence it came. And I will ask you about your dreams too. Not because the homeopath analyzes them in the traditional way, but because dreams are one of many ways that your thoughts and emotions can be released safely and gently. You might even say that dreams release your everyday delusions in a way we can all wake up to.

So this is your 2^nd opinion about your painful feet.

• First off, let’s all admit to wearing the wrong footwear: the sexy footwear, the high heels, the strapless sandals, the too narrow footwear, and the too short footwear. So first things first, stop wearing that stuff and stop telling the footwear industry that you want to buy that stuff. The footwear industry will change its offerings if you stop buying crap.

I hear the moans and groans already.

• Second, start rehabilitating your feet! There are many ways and methods to do this and it will take some effort on your part. Here are some choices and why they work:

• Stretching exercises: these are simple to do and help some folks. Doing these daily is what counts.
• Walk often on sand, dirt, grass, smooth pebbles, pebbly surfaces, and shag carpeting. Why does this help? Most of you have collapsed the arches of your feet. You CAN regain your arches by exercising your feet again. Take your feet out of their cast (orthotic rigid shoes) and exercise them. Pick up marbles with your toes. Push and pull a rag on the floor with your toes. Yes, exercise those muscles and you will have less pain. Additionally, walking on uneven and nubby surfaces increases the proprioception in your feet, making you less likely to fall and exercising those little muscles that have atrophied from being in rigid shoes.
• Regain your pelvic floor muscle strength! Yes many women (and probably men too) collapse their arches by having weak pelvic floor muscles. The pelvic floor muscles are the ones helped by Kegel exercises, by deep Yoga and by Pilates training. Improving your pelvic floor muscle tone has many side benefits including: less hemorrhoids, better sexual response, less urinary incontinence, better overall posture… and less aching feet.
• And after you get rid of your orthotics, what should you wear on your feet to rehabilitate them? Avoid rigid soles!!!  Ever since the invention of sports shoes and walking shoes in the 1960’s, there have been more foot injuries than ever. Avoid those shoes. Avoid rigid shoes, rigid soles and rigid lacing. Choose shoes with a very flexible sole or minimal sole like Nike Free brand, Vibram 5 Finger brand and shoes with Vibram 5 Finger soles. This will keep your toes wide and allow your feet to flex and move around inside your shoe. A shoe is really about protecting you from concrete and from sharp objects and oil, water, spittle, and dog poo. Other than that, a shoe can prevent your foot from moving and that will eventually result in the pain and strain of collapsed arches.
• Oh, and how should you walk? Should you walk heel toe, heel toe? I know that is what you have been taught. It is bunk. The Barefoot Running people know how to walk. The Alexander Technique people know how to walk. Do not do heel toe heel toe; that heel strike will create heel spurs and that will mean pain. And besides, the heel toe strike pattern looks like you belong to the Third Reich…not good, not sensible, and not pain free.
• Homeopathy can help you with the inflammation you have in the tendons and muscles of your feet. It can help acutely and it can help for chronic inflammation due to deeper factors like arthritis and fibromyalgia. Arnica lotion or gel is available at most Health Food stores and can be used safely by most everyone after a long day on your feet. A more personalized approach is needed for more chronic foot pain.        Let me know how I can help.

• Keep hydrated; you may need an electrolyte drink.

• Eat ONLY the B.R.A.T. diet for 3 to 7 days. The BRAT diet consists of banana (for the potassium) + rice (for the easily digested carbohydrates) + applesauce (for the pectin that stabilizes the intestinal environment and the simple carbohydrates and the fluids) + toast (a simple carb again for energy). If you do well with this, you could add a vegetable broth or steamed veggies in a few days. NO fats, raw food, meat, dairy, eggs for several days at least. Norovirus can recur if you do not follow these dietary rules!

• Follow good hygiene at home so that you do not ‘share’ Norovirus. When the whole family gets sick like this together, it is, well, very difficult to manage.

• The leading homeopathic remedies to consider are the following. Remember, if a remedy does not help in 4 to 6 hours in this kind of acute situation, you may need another choice.

Veratrum album: The vomiting and diarrhea happen simultaneously. Yes you will be sitting on the toilet with profuse diarrhea and vomiting at the same time. When you need Veratrum album you will also feel very very cold, have cold sweat  and not be able to keep fluids down. Since this can be a dangerous situation, requiring intravenous fluids, be sure to use your best common sense in seeking medical care.

Chamomilla: Along with the vomiting will be diarrhea that looks greenish. You may feel very irritable and contrary.

Ipecac: Nausea and vomiting predominate when Ipecac is needed. And the tongue will be clean, not coated.

Jatropha: Sudden, profuse, watery diarrhea that is forcibly discharged. Very easy vomiting….what do I mean by that? You will have nausea and think you have time to get to the toilet, but then vomit immediately, without thinking. This remedy is not readily available in Health Food stores, but can be found at homeopathic dispensaries online.

If Noro virus visits your home please use common sense in seeking medical care if it is needed. Dehydration can be dangerous to very small children and to the elderly. Be safe.

Do you know there are no food allergies among impoverished peoples in Africa? There are no peanut allergies, no gluten intolerance and no milk allergies etc.  But in this country these things are becoming common. I want to ask why. I want to find the root cause. Here are some clues that I have discovered:

• Eat unprocessed food. What is unprocessed food? It is food that is not in a box, a can, a jar, or a plastic container or a microwave tray. It is food that is prepared from scratch by you. Fresh food. Processed foods have ingredients you do not need, like colors and preservatives and sugar and salt.

• Eat whole foods. What is a whole food? It is NOT fat free yogurt or 2% milk or reduced fat ice cream….you are just increasing your chances of diabetes cause of the increase in sugars those products have brought to you. Eat whole foods. If you eat beef, then free range organic is your choice. If you eat chicken, ditto. Eat whole grains, good fats, fruits and vegetables and high quality protein (yes that is fish, chicken, bison, beef, turkey). If I came to your house with garbage bags, how many would we use, filling them up with processed and unwhole foods alone?

• Eat seasonally fresh food. Why? When the seasons change, your body’s needs change. You need more juicy fruit and vegetables in the summer to provide enough hydration. You need more root vegetables in the winter to burn more calories to keep you warm. Potatoes not Prozac.

• Eat a breakfast that stabilizes your blood sugar, providing you with stable energy and stable alertness for the greater part of the day.  A big breakfast is your best defense against diabetes and mood disorders and ADD. Eat real oatmeal, applesauce or pear sauce, 4 oz. of a high quality protein, a banana…maybe some veggies… or a stew that has been in the crockpot overnight. Yum.

Why is food a big deal for allergies? Because what goes through your gut impacts your immunity. And allergies are a sign that your immune system is disordered, sick, out of whack, disturbed, imbalanced, hyperactive and unhappy. There are more localized immune cells in your intestines than anywhere else in your body. Just as your brain has more localized nerve cells than anywhere else in your body, so the intestines are the central focus of your immunity. What you put in your gut does count and I am not talking calories. I am talking food quality and food toxicity. Take care of your gut. If you suspect gluten or casein or lactose or egg allergy, stop eating those offenders for a long while to give your body a chance to heal with homeopathy. Just stop. There are many wonderful substitute foods that are wholesome and delicious. You can do it.

Yes deep cleaning can reduce allergies and asthma by 50%. Why? Because pollens are for the most part invisible and they cling to your ceiling, walls, carpet, bedding, stuffed animals, pillows, and upholstered furniture. Your carpet can be the worst culprit, harboring pollens, danders, dust mites and molds. If you clean up your bedroom, you could be giving yourself an 8 hour break from fighting allergies. Close the windows and clean. With your windows open you are just recoating your bedroom with invisible irritants. And then you wake up in the morning with a stuffy nose and a froggy throat.

Remove carpeting if possible and replace with hardwood or marmoleum or tile.  Fake wood flooring is a plastic that may off gas harmful VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds). New carpeting  and the glues and the underpad used are even worse for off gassing VOC’s; the formaldehyde in these products is directly linked with asthma and the off gassing can take months to years.

Choose washable bedding in natural fibers. Wash new bedding before using it since the fabrics are all too often coated in fabric finishes that contain formaldehyde. Wash your bedding weekly in hot water. Every week. Only hot hot water kills those dust mites.

If you are allergic to animals danders it just makes good sense to NOT sleep with your pet. Once your immune system is re-set with constitutional homeopathic care, you will be able to tolerate more. But first, give yourself a break .

In cleaning your bedroom (or anywhere else in your house) think simple cleaning products and avoid strong chemicals. Dust with a damp rag, vacuum with a clean vacuum bag, steam clean for a deep clean, scrub with non-chlorinated scrubs. I personally use the Shark steam cleaning devices. Love them love them love them. I also use a scrubbing stone made by Earthstone….works well on calcium deposits on glass, on toilets, in sinks, in ovens, on glass cook-wear, in the pool… and no chemicals.

Once you have your bedroom clean, keep it clean and uncluttered. And yes, get those 8 hours of sleep your immune system needs. Your immune system recharges it’s battery pack between 10pm and 2am with you asleep in a dark room. Without that time asleep in a dark room, you are setting yourself up for serious immune deficiencies. Get to bed folks!

This is one of the most readily available and easiest things you can do for your allergies.

There are many good brands out there, both at your local health food store and in many pharmacies and supermarkets. You want to be sure that the probiotic has the strain: Lactobacillus rhamnosus in it. There are many other strains that are good for the flora of your gut, but rhamnosus is especially good for folks suffering from allergies and eczema.

So why would I have you take something for your gut when it is your nose, eyes, throat that are itching, running, swollen with allergies? Because your gut is the gateway to your immune system. If your gut is compromised…and I will get to why that probably is…it allows too many foreign proteins to pass into your bloodstream. And then your immune system over reacts to those foreign proteins as invaders and then you have an allergic response and then other foreign proteins can easily set off that response.

In allergy therapy we talk about thresholds. We all have a threshold over which we will response to a given antigen/foreign protein. Some folks have a low threshold and are allergic to many many things: pollens, molds, danders, and foods to name the big ones. Some folks have a high threshold and only respond when facing huge numbers, like on a windy pollen day here in Sacramento. Taking a probiotic every day helps to make you less reactive. Taking a probiotic every day fortifies your threshold, making it harder to trigger allergies. Taking a probiotic every day changes the permeability of your gut and prevents foreign proteins from invading.

Why is your gut compromised in the first place? What we eat is compromised with antibiotic laden foods,  too much gluten in American wheat, too many refined and processed foods that are inflammatory to the gut.

Contrary to conventional medical opinion, allergies are curable. Yes, curable. Not just manageable, but curable.  Allergies are certainly curable by homeopathy because homeopathic remedies, when chosen for their deep acting constitutional action, reset the immune system.  When you have allergies, your immune system is over working, over sensitive, and over reactive.  This is not a balanced state of health no matter how healthy you otherwise appear to be or think yourself to be.  And if you use medications like antihistamines, decongestants and steroids to control your allergy symptoms, you risk developing side effects and damaging your immune system further.  Many antihistamines have a warning on their label that alerts the user to the fact that they may become more susceptible to viruses when using the antihistamine.  So then you contract a cold or a flu and end up using more medications to chase the symptoms. Homeopaths consider these medications suppressive.  Suppression is like putting a blanket over the kitchen garbage, you don’t see the symptoms anymore but later on other problems develop.  Suppression can surely create a stink.

Many folks don’t realize that allergies and asthma and eczema are the same disease, the same imbalance.  They are the three faces of an allergic inflammatory disorder. Under suppressive medication these ‘symptoms’ of immune imbalance will often just rotate places, around and around.  Eventually you may have all three simultaneously and find yourself on heavier doses of suppressive medications.  Pharmaceutical companies make billions on keeping you coming back for more medications.  So what can you do?  In the following weeks I will be sharing the checklist that I review with clients.  This checklist supplements their homeopathic care and makes healing easier.

http://www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/content/alternative-pain-treatments-homeopathy-arnica-on-dr-oz-show

Let me know what you think about it.