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Alternative to Immunization Cassandra Marks MA, LCH; RSHom eMail: info@emotionalhealing.co.uk Tel No: 020 8444 0594
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Homeopathic
alternatives to vaccinations.
by Cassandra Marks RSHom
A reader has asked whether homeopathic remedies can be used in place of
immunisations. I have given this matter some thought over the years, and
when I did my degree in medical anthropology I researched travel
immunisations - which are just as dubious to my mind as those
recommended
for children. For this article, I contacted homeopathic colleagues about
their views on giving homeopathic remedies as prophylactics
(preventative
strategies), and have found the consensus view is the same as my own.
They do work if your child is brewing up an infection.
Remedies work by rebalancing your energy body when it is already
destabilised by coming into contact with an illness. When you are in a
particular pattern of illness, then the correct remedy will help you.
But
if your pattern does not match the curative pattern of a remedy (we call
this a 'proving') - then taking a particular remedy will do nothing for
you. The art of homeopathy is that of matching the remedy patterns to
your
own. If the remedy is not properly matched, it will have no effect on
you.
(Incidentally, that is why you could safely take a whole bottle of a
homeopathic remedy and it will have no harmful effect on you. If it is
not
appropriate to your condition it is like taking unmedicated lactose
tablets).
What is a nosode?
In homeopathy there are a class of remedies prepared from disease
products
- these are called nosodes. Some homeopaths use nosodes to try and
protect
your child from illness, as an alternative to conventional immunisations.
Examples of such remedies are Pertussin, made from sputum infected with
whooping cough bacteria; Haemophilus B made from the influenza type
virus
responsible for the haemophilllus influenza infection that can affect
young
children, and Meningitis C , made from secretions csarrying the
meningitis
infection is a risk for adolescents, or very young children in day-care
environments.
Although nosodes sound disgusting, their preparation in the pharmacy
(which
involves a lengthy process of successive dilutions and potentisations of
the original material) means that no molecules of the crude substance
remain in any homeopathic remedy diluted higher a 12c.
Some people assume that homeopathic nosodes must work rather like
vaccines
since they are made from disease products. However, whilst conventional
vaccines work by exposing the immune system to the specific virus,
thereby
alerting immunological cells to attack any disease cells they later
encounter, homeopathic remedies do not contain a single molecule of the
disease product but work on an energy level - correcting the energy
imbalance in the individual that results in the symptoms of illness.
Some homeopaths take the position that it may be worth giving a nosode
even
when your child has not come into contact with the disease. Roger Savage
suggests: "Giving nosodes when no disease is present is bad theory
but may
work in practice. I use them for people going to India and though people
who've done nothing have had diseases like typhoid, no-one who's used
the
'preventives' has caught any of the dread diseases. Whether this is due
to
the wonderful potent action or whether to their good fortune is an
imponderable! Children who have these nosodes may be helped specifically
or
may be boosted generally or perhaps just weren't ever going to have
those
diseases anyway. So this isn't any kind of proof, merely suggestive of
the
kind of peripheral help homeopaths can provide."
Homeopathic Alternatives to Vaccines
If you treat an illness just before the onset of symptoms you can
moderate
or prevent its progression. The nosode will work in a majority of cases,
but because the methodology of homeopathy involves matching the
individuality of the person's response to illness to the patterns of
different remedies there will always be occasions when another remedy
might
be more appropriate.
I have described a range of homeopathic remedies (in earlier issues) for
treating measles, mumps, whooping cough and chicken pox.
If your child has had surgery or serious health problems
you would
give them a nosode if they came into contact with any child with an
infectious illness.
…
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| In her book Homeopathic Alternatives to Immunisation Susan Curtis
describes
the preventative remedies used to ward off childhood illness, as well as
remedies that can be used to treat the illness once your child gets it.
The incubation period for childhood illnesses such as measles, german measles, mumps, chicken pox and whooping cough is between one and two and half weeks. Accordingly you would give your child a dose of the relevant nosode once a week for 3-4 weeks. Homeopathic nosodes; whooping cough - Pertussin . Chicken pox - Variolinum Measles -Morbillinum Mumps - Parotidinum German measles - Rubella The incubation period for Hib, meningits is much quicker. Susan Curtis recommends 3 doses of the relevant nosode over the first 24 hours - and then repeating the remedy in a week The Haemophilus Influenza nosode is called Hib. The meningitis C nosode is called Meningitis C Tetanus, polio and tuberculosis; Tetanus - Susan Curtis recommends givingLedum 30 three times a week as long as any wound is healing poorly. For polio, she suggests giving Lathyrus 30 once a week In the case of contact with tuberculosis you should consult a homeopath. We would probably prescribe the nosodebacillinum. |