Yesterday I talked about provings, today I want to share about the remedy itself that I helped prove. Ganoderma Tsugae is a mushroom -Reishi is the Japanese name, and in China it is called Ling zhi. The Reishi mushrooms are found all over the world – Ganoderma Lucidum, Ganoderma Tsugae and Ganoderma Sichuanese describe different forms of Reishi mushrooms. However
Homeopathy is not tested on animals. The information we have on our remedies can come from traditional uses and accidental poisonings, but largely comes from humans volunteering to take a remedy – these are called provings. That is even the way that Hahnemann first tested his theory that like cures like, by taking a substance (China) himself and noting the
This is a belated International Women’s Day post- written for Friday, but life is busy and I forgot to set it up in advance. A few days late, but this is my annual post about an amazing woman in the history of Homeopathy: this year I’m writing about Dr Margery Blackie, who was best known as the Homeopath to the
I periodically ask for ideas that people would like me to write about, and this is one that came up a while ago – “after school restraint collapse”. This is a really common phenomenon. Children go to school all day, hold it together, then get home and lose the plot. It can be emotional breakdowns with tears, it may be
It’s Valentines Day! So let’s talk about an important aspect of many relationships – sex, and specifically for women when there is a lack of libido. This is something that comes up in my clinic semi regularly, and this post is an overview of some of the issues that can affect your desire. The first point here is that women
This case was shared first in the NZ Homeopathic Society Newsletter. If you are not already a member – join! There are fantastic resources, you will be supporting Homeopathy in New Zealand, and there is a newsletter which always has a range of different things in it, including book reviews and cases. It is only $45 annually, and you can
These are regularly confused, and there can even be overlaps between the two, as Homeopaths will give lifestyle advice and Naturopaths use homeopathic remedies. When you go by mainstream medical definitions both are holistic forms of treatment that avoid the use of pharmaceutical medicines. Both health professionals have an in depth first consultation that takes time, and will often spend
Summer is here and with it the good old Kiwi Barbecue. One risk with barbecues and camping is food poisoning – something no one wants to deal with. The best treatment is prevention, so here is a reminder of the basic food safety rules: Wash your hands, especially after handling raw meat. Wash any utensils or chopping boards in hot
The summer school holidays are long. The first couple of weeks there is a lot of excitement- a busy term 4, then Christmas and new years, and by now, coming up 3rd week of January, some kids are bored, missing the routine of school, and there can be fighting with siblings, or just relentless whining and whinging going on. (If
I am not a New Years Resolution person, but for the last few years I have taken this time to reflect on the previous year, and then set intentions for the New Year. Reflection is a really important skill to foster as a Health Professional, and one that both the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths and the Pharmacy Council require
At the beginning of the year I set myself a number of goals, and shared them with you here to make sure I was accountable. You can read the whole post here. So let’s have a look at those goals and how I have done: Firstly, write a post every week – achieved, and sometimes more than once a week.
It’s 5pm on a Friday night, your child has started vomiting and you have only one or two Arsenicum pilules left. It’s a long weekend, your youngest has an ear infection, and you realise you forgot to replace the Chamomilla drops. You pull it out and there’s maybe one or two drops left in the bottom. You’re away at a
Yesterday I talked a bit about sugar and the effect in the body. Today I want to discuss the sugar remedies, as there are a few of them, and then I will talk about the remedy I use most. There are two main forms of sugar – that from Sugar Cane (which is the form of sugar that Chelsea Sugar
Sugar. It’s found in so many of our foods, and can have physical and mental effects, including spikes of dopamine our reward neuro-chemical. In homeopathy there are a few different sugar remedies, which we will discuss tomorrow. First let’s look at sugar itself and what happens in the body. Because this is impossible to keep small and then discuss
This is a common skin condition in teenagers, but does occur in adults as well. Our skin is out outermost layer, and healing here usually requires working from the inside out. In addition hormones have a big affect on the skin – the reason why puberty is the time acne often starts – so if you have done all you
It’s the final week of November, and only a few more weeks of school. Now is the time to get prepared before school ends, the silly season is upon us, and you can’t get the remedies you need over the Christmas and New Year period. So let’s talk about some good remedies to have on hand. Here are brief notes
I was recently discussing a case with a friend and colleague, and one of the things that came up was how different Homeopaths approach things, and it reminded me of the idiom that all roads lead to Rome – because there are many different ways of approaching healing, even within Homeopathy. Even back in Hahnemann’s day, there were differences in
It is once again Antibiotic Awareness Week. A time to reflect on how we use antibiotics, so that we are not over using these life saving medicines and contributing to antibiotic resistance. While we focus on appropriate antibiotic use in a medical setting, another area of concern is antibiotic use in agriculture: this is not my area of expertise, but
In September for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori language week) I did a post on New Zealand native remedies. I wrote about four, and then I had a number of people point out other remedies that I had missed and didn’t even know about! So this is the follow up, with a few more remedies. If you missed
It’s cake week in my house. The official celebration starts on the 5th with my birthday, and ends on the 12th with my eldest’s birthday. Cake week is characterised by celebrations, and lots of cake. Sometimes it stretches into cake fortnight, which is dangerous for diets and waistlines. This year cake week is a milestone for me – 40 years.
This is a remedy a colleague suggested for a case of mine earlier this year (thanks Anne!) and shared some materia medica with me. Since then I have used the remedy again and again with amazing results, so I really felt it was a remedy I needed to share. The remedy Apple Tree is Malus Sylvestris, and the write up
This post is a contrast to yesterday’s post about following the symptoms, and is about how sometimes you need to let things play out. The beginning of this term my 6 year old came home on Monday with sore nostrils and was rubbing them a lot- but no runny nose. Still I gave him Arsenicum Album as a single dose
One of the most important principles of classical homeopathy is finding the Simillimum – which means matching the symptoms of the person to the closest remedy picture. Generally when there is no response to a remedy it means it wasn’t the simillimum. This also means that when the symptoms change, it is time to change the remedy. I am sharing
Recently there has been a case of measles in Northland , which has brought measles back into the media (1). Regardless of whether or not you choose to vaccinate, it is useful to know how to support yourself or others if you develop measles. Before we talk Homeopathy, let’s discuss the basic supplements you can have on hand and use