Allergy is a fascinating and satisfying area to work in homeopathy. There is a great variety in the way people can present, and a challenging potential to significantly make a difference to their lives. A diverse group of patients is seen at both my clinics. An allergy could present in the following forms most commonly.
Asthma
Eczema
Food sensitivities/ intolerances
Multiple sensitivities
Just to name a few. An allergy can represent with symptoms in any part of the body.
Patients are often desperate due to a lack of effective treatment in conventional therapy. Homeopathy has great results in Allergies in general. For Asthma, the frequency & severity of attacks, use of medication, night-waking etc. can all be improved & even resolved by simple and gentle Homeopathic remedies. It’s not just about palliating the symptoms in Homeopathy for allergies, unlike conventional treatments, but actually keeping the allergies at bay, permanently.
Just to give an idea about what to expect when you book a consult with me for an Allergy case and what all information could be of value to me, I am giving a case example here.(*this could be something a person can click on if interested)
Sam (name changed), an 18 year-old boy, suffered from chronic atopy symptoms in the form of asthma, eczema and allergic kerato-conjunctivitis (severe inflammatory eye condition). Even with several months of immune-suppressant treatment (with corticosteroids and cyclosporin), his condition was almost the same. His parents were concerned about the impact on his confidence and life.
Sam has brown hair and is tall and bony with a very inflamed complexion and extremely dry, unhealthy-looking skin with cracks and excoriations. He came to the clinic with his mother and seemed quite reserved.
His skin problems started at 18 months-old with scratching behind his ears and itchy eyes. He is described by his mother as intuitive and sensitive to people, just as she is. He had an unfortunate experience of being bullied at primary school and had to move school, which resolved the problem. When he was eight, his mother was away from home during weekdays for two years. He missed her a lot and was anxious about it. He is the youngest of four sons and the only one still at home. Two brothers have eczema.
Sam’s skin condition is aggravated during really hot weather. He has a big appetite and is averse to fish, shellfish and spicy food. At the age of two, he had a very rapid onset of his face and eyelids swelling up and his lips puffing up with shellfish. If he puts fish like salmon to his mouth, he has spots on his tongue within a few minutes. He can only tolerate tuna, either fresh or tinned, which he likes. He loves fruit, salads, chocolate, meat and mild curry. He’s had a dental brace for 18 months.
When his skin flares, his eyes can flare up too. The inside of the lids can swell up and feel gritty and there is a yellowish-green discharge. It may be hard to open his eyes when he wakes up.
He has tried food exclusion diets with no real benefit. Recent skin prick tests showed reaction to horse hair, cat fur, pollens and a big reaction to house dust mite. Blood tests have shown levels of response to house dust mite “off the scale”!
His asthma is fine now and he takes a regular inhaled steroid, is not prone to chest infections and manages to perform sport, which he loves, to a high competitive level. He loves to shake hands at the end of the match. His mother says he is a gracious sportsman. He says he doesn’t like partying all the time!
Treatment
Sam is clearly distressed and embarrassed about his highly visible problems. He is anxious to relieve his eye symptoms. A constitutional remedy was strongly indicated by his appearance, demeanour and also the history of separation from his mother, which had affected him and may have coincided with the experience of being bullied at school. I also gave concurrent isopathic de-sensitisation . The LM potencies were used as they are much less likely to cause aggravation, an important consideration in such a sensitive and atopic individual.
Two months later Sam returned on his own to tell me his eyes had been good, the best for a while with no bad days since his last visit. His skin had been quite dry and itchy. He appeared much more relaxed (in retrospect and in contrast I realised how tight he had been) and his skin generally less red. His neck was a bit blotchy, perhaps an indicator of his emotional sensitivity.
He had left home and started his university course three weeks before and was returning to see his parents every weekend. He had managed to stop all his medication except the Opticrom. He felt he had had a good initial response with the homeopathy with his eyelids and was pleased about this.
I gave him his next course of medication according to this update on his condition.
Six months later His skin had been generally good with a slight recent irritation on his back after he wore rubber and fibre gloves to garden. His eyes had been fine, with some itching the previous week going to bed and redness on waking, which lasted a couple of hours. His studying was going fine and he had exams soon. He saw the ophthalmologist again who said his eyes are stable. Sam thought his eyes had been bad only a very few days since starting university. My impression was he seemed more relaxed and his skin was very calm. I gave a slight increase to the potency for his next course.
Four months later … When I next saw Sam, he had spent time in the summer with his parents who had moved to an old and dusty house. His skin got worse and he had two courses of antibiotics for impetigo. Since returning to his new student flat which is clean, his skin was much improved! He told me his ophthalmologist had been thrilled. He was told that no one examining his eyes now would think anything had been wrong with them! He now has an annual follow-up for his eyes.
I gave him his next course, and advised he could try tailing this to use every two days or less, with the option to increase again if needed. I offered a review for six months. It has been very instructive to meet Sam and understand something of his experience of this relatively rare and distressing condition of allergic kerato-conjunctivitis. Certainly, there was a change in environment and many life circumstances, but homeopathy and isopathy played a part in the dramatic improvement in his long-standing condition and he certainly seemed to lighten and blossom too.
He actually became less competitive in his sport and seemed happy that it did not seem to grip his life so much. He had been promoted to a higher team, but actually found it too much of a strain and enjoyed the second team more. He seemed more playful and life was more fun.
Perhaps he will even end up partying longer, despite his original assertion!
CASE 2
This is a case of a 15-year-old boy who does not live locally. I have never personally met him and we have always done the consultations only on video call. His mother wanted me to treat him for his long-term allergies and asthma as she is fed up of putting him on nebulizers, steroids and antibiotics all the time.
The boy had respiratory distress at birth and was put in an incubator. He is intolerant to dairy so could not be breast-fed, instead was put on soy formula milk. When he was 6 months old, he was diagnosed with asthma. At 3 years of age, he was diagnosed to have severe nut allergies, especially walnuts, peanuts, lentils, chickpeas, egg-white, even cookies. When taken to the physician, he told them that he will get pneumonia and he was prescribed Pulmicort (steroid inhaler) and oral prednisone. He is able to eat chicken and vegetable stews and soups.
He is sensitive, studious, soft-spoken, independent, helpful and very kind kid. He has sensitive to criticism, argumentative and stubborn. He has interest in music, plays the piano. He plays football as well. He does not always like to follow rules, like would be gaming on school nights or talking to people on the internet etc. He craves for sugar, chips, pizza etc. He is sensitive to cold and comfortable in the sun. He is organized and keeps his things neat. No specific fears and dreams. He likes to have his small circle of friends. He is full of energy and keeps playing until he is breathless. He is very observant and a quick thinker. He showers in the morning even in the winters. He is a little secretive at times. There is a family history of cancer, bronchitis and asthma. While sleeping, he keeps kicking his covers off. He grinds his teeth and twitches during sleep.
He is currently on Albuterol / Pulmicort (corticosteroid) now, one puff morning and night, Loritidine (anti histamine)
PERSONALITY ANALYSIS
The strong hereditary background of asthma which he developed during the first few months of birth is very important in this case. He further developed multiple food allergies within the first 3 years which shows a strong genetic influence leading to the development of his allergic constitution and the need for a remedy which can deeply influence this case to help him long term.
He has a strong need to please everyone, always putting others needs ahead of their own. He is very responsible right from childhood so he is a precocious child. He is sensitive to rudeness; affectionate and friendly. He is artistic by nature.
The remedy was given on the basis of this analysis in a potency which is known to produce no aggravation which is very important in any case of allergy. Repetition was done under my close supervision.
50 days later
He felt better, no wheezing now. 80% better already. It was spring time which was a worse time for him but not this year. This improvement started about a week into the remedy. He felt better while playing and the overall energy levels improved as well. The daily dose of Pulmicort was stopped by the mother herself since 20 days.
Use for relapses or any acute situation as and when needed, under my supervision
1.5 months later (summer)
He had one asthma attack which was mild. The same remedy helped for it. Before treatment, the attacks were twice or thrice in a month, now only twice in the past 4-5 months.
The mother was also counseled to give him more space and not try to make decisions for him. Just to let him be independent at this age is very important.
3 months later.
No attack since months now. He even tried eggs with no reaction this time, just little quantity 2-3 times in the month. No other allergies have been observed lately.
I suggested introducing yogurt and probiotics in his diet instead of milk.
He was getting chest tightness only occasionally if he ran a lot. He started drinking milk in small quantities, without getting the skin rashes.
The winter went smoothly. He is able to eat organic eggs a few times a week without any symptoms.
One year into treatment.
Asthma is at bay, only when he exercises a lot. Stamina has improved now. He is not on Pulmicort or any other steroids. His doctor reluctantly accepted that he is doing much better now.
There is hope to heal with Homeopathy.
You can heal.