It has been a difficult winter, with some severe illnesses going around. One of the difficult things to manage particularly at this time of the year is coughing. One of my children used to have a propensity for coughs (fortunately we have worked on that over the years, and her immunity is a lot better, colds no longer go to her chest). I certainly remember the nights with a child coughing regularly keeping everyone awake. Over my years working in …
There is currently a high risk of Dengue Fever in the Pacific, affecting the islands of Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Tuvalu, Tonga, Kiribati and Nauru. Samoa has had over 2000 cases, and in the last year there have been 208 cases of dengue fever in New Zealand, all acquired overseas. There is no risk of contracting Dengue Fever in New Zealand – we do not have the mosquitos here that can transmit dengue virus, and you …
This week I’m sharing more of my learnings from the HRI Conference, and this one is a subject which comes up all the time in homeopathy – but how does it work? Dr Alexander Tournier, who is the Chairman of HRI, gave a presentation on a recent publication of a scoping review of what published articles suggest as the mode of action of homeopathic remedies. They looked at 216 published papers, which suggested 72 different frameworks for how homeopathy works. They …
I recently watched a webinar by Dr Taryn Jacobs from CHE Online, the Centre for Homeopathic Education based in the UK. The webinar was titled The Wisdom of the Female Hormonal System and was eye opening in many ways. The Female Hormone cycle is an ancient, natural and sacred cycle. There has been a modern belief that some parts of the female cycle are dysfunctional and not ideal, whereas Taryn talked about the natural and medicinal aspects of the cycle. …
I often find conventional medicine mechanistic- like a mechanic different parts of the body are looked at individually, and even mental health is often considered more on a physical level, giving antidepressants to change the physical brain chemistry. I don’t like looking at health and wellness in this manner, I prefer a more holistic approach to health, which is one reason I am a Homeopath. We are fortunate in New Zealand to have the Māori models of health not only …
This is a word which has become more and more important in the last few decades. If you give consent you are agreeing to the act or procedure. Of course in medicine we talk not just about consent but about informed consent. I wrote a post about informed consent in 2019: https://www.homeopathbarbara.nz/informed-consent/ What that post didn’t go into was parental consent. It has been the general view in New Zealand that age 16 is the age of consent. You …
Let’s talk about the Germ Theory of disease. This, primarily, is that disease is caused by bacteria and viruses. The Germ theory means that sickness is imposed on us. It takes power away from the individual and puts it in the (metaphorical) hands of malicious bacteria and viruses, and the hands of the doctors and conventional medical professionals that can fight them and heal us. The Germ theory doesn’t explain susceptibility. We all know them, those people who are never …
This article fascinated me for two reasons. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=12267835&ref=twitter One is the notion that scabies is a bigger problem than expected. Samuel Hahnemann, 200 odd years ago came up with the theory of “miasms” which were reoccurring patterns of disease, and that you needed to treat the underlying miasm to clear disease. The first miasm? Psora or “itch” from the scabies mite. (Ever get the feeling that Hahnemann was ahead of his time? I do.) The second was the link to …
Analysing studies is not easy, you cannot tell at a glance if a study is good. It takes time, reading the entire study and looking at the method, the study population and comparing it with the general population, with other studies, as well as the outcomes. Junk science is a real problem (like the study that showed chocolate can help with weight loss (1)), and in pharmaceutical research and evidence based medicine there is publishing bias, meaning that studies that …