digestive problems

Homeopathy is excellent at treating all kinds of gut problems, from the diverse problems with digestive function of 'irritable bowel syndrome' to the serious inflammatory disease of ulcerative colitis. Homeopathy can easily clear up simple indigestion as well as pre-ulcerative symptoms of burning in stressed Type A personalities.

Here are just 2 examples of people who responded well to my treatment;

1. Ulcerative colitis/ Crohn's disease

Elena had been suffering from Crohn's disease for 11 years before consulting me, and on medication for the previous 9 years. She was unhappy about the immunosuppressive effects of these medicines, and the fact that she was needing to take more and more of them without them controlling the bleeding, mucous and diarrhoea properly.

Looking back over Elena's life, it was clear that the Crohn's had started when she left home to study at university. She came from a close knit family background and this was the first time she had been separated from her twin sister. Her beloved mother had died not long before.

"I didn't cry enough after my mother died. I have a habit of bottling things up.

I also had to work long hours on the course - I'm a perfectionist! I try too hard to do things properly and I have to learn to let go of things because the symptoms are always brought on by stress.

When I have bleeding I feel exhausted. I lose my energy and my confidence in my ability to cope.

I reduce eating wheat and dairy products because they aggravate the bloating and abdominal distension, and I've tried reflexology and kinesiology and taken up yoga."

I started her homeopathic treatment with remedies designed to help her let go of buried grief (which helped her feel more positive) and improve her self-esteem (which meant she no longer needed to work so hard to prove herself capable).

It took around six months for the symptoms of bowel inflammation to reliably improve, although they flared up around her period.

After a year of treatment, conflict with her line manager at work produced an anxiety state and an acute state of colitis with several bloody bowel movements a day. Previously she would have been on a course of steroids to suppress the bowel inflammation, but instead she had a fantastic response to the homeopathic remedy Mercurius Corrosivus. This remedy instantly stopped the symptoms every time they flared up, which they did for a few months as the problems at work came to a head. The homeopathic treatment kept her physically stable while she successfully negotiated her way through personality and power struggles to end up replacing her manager.

"I feel completely confident that a few doses of homeopathy could sort my Crohn's disease if I were to have a relapse, and the consultant is amazed I haven't needed to use steroids".

2. Sebastian

Sebastian consulted me because a portion of his colon was ulcerated and he had been on medication for 5 years with regular resort to steroid treatment for bad bouts of ulcerative colitis.

Every day he had to move his bowels at least a couple of times, urgently enough that he felt he couldn't stray far from a toilet. There was usually some bleeding and mucous, showing that the gut was chronically inflamed.

He had been diagnosed as suffering from heliobacter and taken antibiotics, but the colitis continued to progress. His liver function test readings were abnormally raised and had to be regularly monitored by his consultant.

Sebastian's symptoms had been triggered by the deaths of both parents over the same period that his children were born.

More recently, his symptoms were attributable to high levels of stress involved in running his own business, and increased levels of anxiety before public speaking or making presentations.

He described himself as intense, driven, perfectionist and tense. "I'm a moralistic person, and if I feel others do things that are wrong, I get very angry. For example, I can't bear people who make a public nuisance or drive over pedestrian crossings.

No-one sees my anger coming - I call it red mist because it suddenly descends on me. I can explode and hit a wall or an object."

Sebastian suffered frequent headaches and bouts of anxiety that made him breathless. "I hate to feel my body is out of control."

As soon as his homeopathic treatment started working, he came off the steroid medication.

His remedy improved his bowel symptoms so much that he has not needed any further conventional medication. Together with a herbal prescription, his liver function tests normalised, and over the course of the treatment he became calmer and more able to deal with numerous challenges that would previously have him reacting with angry outbursts. Instead of chewing over things he was able to distance himself from his resentments and enter difficult discussions in a reasoned way. He changed his working style radically until he described himself as feeling happy and in control of his life - without needing to try to exert control.