 Do you ever watch a movie or read a book and think, that character needs XXX remedy? I do! I love reading novels. It is without question one of my favorite things to do. I just finished an enjoyable book, My Friends: A Novel by Fredrick Backman. (He wrote another book I liked: A Man Called Ove. In my opinion, read the book, skip the movie.) One line from My Friends keeps playing in my head: “Getting stabbed with a knife is a trauma for the whole body, his leg was probably the part that healed quickest, it was other parts of Ted that were limping” (p 430). This quote so beautifully relates to homeopathy. One thing happens and we generally think only of the tip of the iceberg effects. We assume (incorrectly) that, as in this case, a stab wound affects only the leg, right where it happened. But that is so not true. That wound reverberates throughout the entire system: mind, body and soul… and may linger long after the actual wound is “healed.” I have listened to a lot of lectures* by Dr. Robin Murphy. (I highly recommend doing so yourself if you have anything more than a passing interest in homeopathy.) I was reminded the other day of Dr. Murphy’s thoughts on first aid prescribing while reading a blog post from Lisa Strbac, talking about Ian Watson quoting the great late Robin Murphy from “What Heals Podcast”: The highest form of homeopathy is first aid prescribing. You homeopaths… you think it’s all this fancy miasm stuff and chronic stuff and constitutional? It’s not its first aid [sic]. Almost every chronic case, if you take it back, where did it start? It started as a shock, with a grief, an accident, with a medical procedure that went wrong. It started as a first aid situation and if that had been properly treated in the moment, someone had a home ready kit and they know what to do, this whole chain of health problems would never have needed to happen. Today, I’m going to have a little fun and see how we can address “Ted’s” stab wound. (For this exercise, I will be focusing only on highly indicated remedies for this type of wound, though, in real life, I would look at all possible remedies. It’s important to note that there is also crossover between these remedies and symptoms. For instance, “anger” is a 4 for Staphysagria and a 2 for Ledum and Apis - therefore the rubric only shows up in my list under Staphysagria.) Homeopathically, there are a few big remedies to consider. Note: these would be the same remedies which would be useful in the moment, at the time of the stab wound. I have the added benefit of a little insight into Ted after reading this book and will supply relevant quotes when available. (If a symptom shows up in multiple remedies, I will only put the quote in the first instance, unless there are multiple quotes which fit the bill.) Other symptoms I will include simply from the general sense of the character from the book. It’s a little like taking a homeopathic case! Of course, there is so much more to this than I am writing here. People, even fictional characters, are highly nuanced. I have over-simplified this entire process tremendously… but I had fun doing it! We’re not entirely certain when this stabbing occurred, except we know he was an adult. Did Ted’s history play a part in the ramifications? Probably. All the background of a person will then lead to how a person reacts when such a trauma occurs… miasms, genetics, epi-genetics, environment, experience… it’s all in there in each of us. Looking up “stab” in Dr. Murphy’s Meta Repertory (found in Similia software**), five remedies show up as highly indicated (but I only included 4 of them): Apis, Calendula, Hypericum and Ledum. Those familiar with homeopathic remedies might be saying, “But what about Staphysagria?” Good question. keep reading to find out what I learned about this. For this exercise, I focused primarily on the big 3 or 4 point symptoms in MIND and GENERAL and a quick scan through other highly indicated rubrics from things I remembered from the book. In alphabetical order: APIS From Murphy’s Materia Medica, causations (among others): Grief. Fright. Rage. MIND:
CALENDULA is another good remedy for wounds, but unfortunately, it has not been proven very well (in the traditional sense) but let’s see what we can find. Because of the dearth of level 3/4 rubrics, I opened this MIND search up to levels 1 & 2, as well. (Colin Griffith does have more information on Calendula in his “New Materia Medica Vol. 3,” but that’s a whole other topic which I will (happily!) get to one day soon.) From Murphy’s causations: Cuts. Punctures. Stabs. Surgery. Wounds. MIND:
Interestingly, those who may benefit from Calendula may be ameliorated by walking. HYPERICUM From Murphy’s materia medica: “It is called for in nervous depression following wounds, effects of shock and fright… Pain in old scars.” From Murphy’s causations (among others): ill effects of fright… punctures, lacerations… wounds, stab wounds Note: Hypericum has only one 3/4 level rubric under the MIND section in Murphy, so I added lower level rubrics for this one, too. MIND:
LEDUM From Murphy’s materia medica: “Ledum is for punctured wounds, produced by sharp-pointed instruments or bites, particularly if the wounded parts are cold, this is the remedy… Causations: ill effects punctured wounds, recent or chronic injuries.” MIND:
STAPHYSAGRIA
Has a reputation for “clean” wounds, not jagged, just as a knife would create. Dr. N.M. Choudury, senior professor of Materia Medica at Bengal Allen Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital in Kolkota, says: “We use it both internally and externally for injuries caused by sharp cutting instruments such as knife, glass, etc.” Why it’s not this clear in the repertories, I have no idea. I asked Viva (homeopathic) AI*** why Staphysagria doesn’t show up in the “stab wounds” rubric and it says, “Staphysagria is more commonly associated with emotional trauma and conditions resulting from surgical procedures rather than purely physical injuries like stab wounds. While Staphysagria can be useful for wounds, it is particularly indicated when there is a history of emotional trauma (which Ted has in spades) or when the injury is associated with feelings of anger, resentment, or violation.) To find appropriate rubrics for Staphysagria and knife wounds, one needs to search a little differently for that:
From Murphy’s materia medica: “Surgery. Lacerated tissues.” Causations: “Ill effects of anger and insults, anger suppressed or reserved. Humiliation.” MIND:
Julia Coyte, CHom Classically Practical homeopath #wellnessawaits * It looks like the Lotus Health Institute† may be moving some of their goodies around — I see a podcast and putting his lectures up for online listening. ** Similia has been kind enough to open up the full use of their software for me to play around with in exchange for any feedback I may have for them. Other than that, I have no affiliation with this company, either. *** Staphysagria info from Viva ai† cites the following: “These sources collectively contribute to the understanding of how remedies are classified and used in homeopathy, including the rationale behind the presence or absence of specific remedies in particular rubrics.” The sources cited are: Hahnemann’s Organon of Medicine; Materia Medica Pura; Andrew Lockie’s The Complete Homeopathy Handbook; Boericke’s Homeopathic Materia Medica; Clinical experience; Homeopathic repertories such as Synthesis or Kent’s Repertory “categorize remedies based on symptoms and modalities, providing insight into why certain remedies appear in specific rubrics while others do not.” † I have no affiliation with this or any other company.
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 I was on a plane, on my way to a wedding last week and the thought occurred to me that a homeopathic remedy kit would make an excellent wedding present.
Why? For myriad reasons, but the one that comes first to mind is based on the nugget I read many years ago that newlyweds are more prone to knife accidents in the kitchen. Why? Apparently newlyweds have never used sharp knives until they have been gifted some for their wedding*. (Perhaps this is old news and no longer relevant to today’s modern living with access to quality goods long before getting hitched, because I couldn’t find anything on my quick search of the internet.) Back to those cuts. If it’s a bad or deep cut — seek medical attention, otherwise, after cleaning the wound, try one of these: If it’s a clean slice, start with Staphysagria for relief and healing. If it’s a jagged cut, start with Calendula for relief and healing. If nerves are involved, you may need to add Hypericum for relief and healing. A while back, I did a doozy, and the details of that injury and how I handled it homeopathically can be found in that link. (If you are a recipient of some knives, be sure to give the kind gifter a penny, otherwise, as the saying goes, you are at risk of severing the relationship!) Stay on the safe side and give a homeopathic remedy kit, instead! For some ideas of kits*:
Now you're all set for wedding season gifting ideas Julia Coyte, CHom Classically Practical homeopath #wellnessawaits * I have no affiliation with any of these companies, I provide them here only for convenience.  We turned the page into 2022 and suddenly the acknowledgment of the shame that has been foisted upon us for the past 2 years is everywhere. As I am writing this, a news alert popped up on my phone: “Whoopi Goldberg stunned by testing positive for COVID: ‘I’ve done everything I was supposed to do.’” Earlier this week, a friend shared an article from American Thinker titled, “Shame as a Covid Strategy.” Later that same day, I logged onto Facebook and saw a post from the Autoimmune Protocol Diet talking about shame being at the root of disordered eating (here’s some recent research to go along with that thought — Nechita et al. 2021). Another article in the same day was talking about CNN’s editor-at-large Chris Cillizza saying, “But I do think societally we unknowingly turned having Covid into some sort of judgment on your character.” We certainly have done exactly that and we don’t yet know what the ramifications are of such a mass, unjustified shaming. Did you know people are being put in special camps in Australia when they test positive for Covid, (Cave 2021), or have a friend who tested positive (Barkoukis 2021) or where they wait until they can prove they don’t test positive? (Dixon 2021). We, in the US, thankfully, still have the idea of innocent until proven guilty, but we no longer have healthy until proven sick. Germs are gonna germ. Viruses are gonna virus. There is very little you can do to keep those germs and viruses from getting to you. (There are things you can do to keep those germs and viruses from taking hold of you, but that’s a whole other topic.) We don't segregate people because they may have other contagious diseases (unless they are being treated in a hospital). For the first time, to my knowledge, people are being blamed and shamed for getting cold and flu-like symptoms as a result of having contracted Covid. Once upon a time, if you were unable to attend a social gathering because you had the flu, the automatic reaction on the other side was sympathy. That automatic reaction is now full of aspersions. I find this very sad. Frederickson (2020) describes the difference between guilt and shame: guilt refers to a deed; shame to our being — “I am a bad boy” as opposed to “I did a bad thing”. He goes on to talk about shame being triggered in therapy sessions as a result of suffering “crippling shame over possessing universal, human desires or flaws.” This is most likely why shame has been such a useful tool to maneuver the population in regards to Covid — everybody has experienced shame and it is an easy ploy to manipulate behavior. Shame is ubiquitous. Show me someone who has never felt shame — I don’t think it’s possible to find someone who has never felt shame. What exactly is shame? My then 3-year-old once said to me, "My body feels like it did something wrong." I think that's an excellent description of how shame feels. Technically, though, “shame” has two definitions as a noun in the Oxford Dictionary (Oxford University Press 2021): 1. A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. 2. A regrettable or unfortunate situation or action. As a verb: make (someone) feel ashamed. Tell me, what, definitionally, could possibly be shameful about “catching Covid?” The shame and stigma and shunning that people have suffered over the last 2 years simply because they, or a family member, were diagnosed with or tested positive for Covid is simply shocking. Cândea and Szentagotai-Tăta (2018) found that “external shame (perceived negative evaluations of others) seems to be more strongly associated with social anxiety symptoms than internal shame (negative self-evaluations)”. Philosopher Jean Paul Sartes points out that a mild embarrassment in one can induce mortification in another (Lyons et al. 2018). If shame is not dealt with, it can have damaging consequences. Deep-seated shame plays an important role in many self-destructive ways. We saw above that it plays a role in eating disorders. Shame is also linked to psychotic experiences, particularly paranoia (Carden et al. 2020). It is not my intention to equate the societal Covid shaming to the deeper shame which some people carry with them. However, we don’t know how this newest layer of shame may affect the population. When society lays a blanket of shame over huge numbers of people (especially without true justification), many will likely be adversely affected by that shaming. Again, we simply don’t know what the ramifications of these last two years will be but a recent Telegraph article may tell us a little about what may be headed our way: "Number of children admitted to hospital for eating disorders surges 70% since pandemic." Is shame to blame for this increase? We don't yet have that answer but I wouldn't be surprised to see those dots connected at some point in time. The Lancet’s Stories of Shame notes that doctors don’t talk much about shame (Lyons et al. 2018). Psychiatrist Aaron Lazare said, “it is shameful and humiliating to admit that one has been shamed and humiliated.” Doctors may not talk about shame, but homeopaths do. Homeopathy recognizes the destructive force that is deep-seated shame. Referencing Murphy’s repertory (n.d.) shows us the rubric: Mind - SHAME, ailments from. Front and center in the 9 remedies listed is Staphysagria, in bold-type and underlined. Homeopathic Staphysagria is made from a tincture of the seeds of the Delphinium plant, also known as Larkspur. We know Larkspur from Greek Mythology. Ajax the Great was unable to live with his shame, and in anger he fell upon his sword and the Larkspur flower sprang from his blood (Greek Legends and Myths; Theoi Greek Mythology). C.M. Boger (et al. 2008) talks about the morbidly sensitive person who is easily offended in regard to one who could benefit from homeopathic Staphysagria. Which came first? Did that extreme sensitivity result from the shaming or was the sensitive person highly susceptible to the shaming? "Sheepish, sensitive, imagines insults.” The person who could benefit from Staphysagria is worse for emotions, chagrin, vexation, indignation and quarrels. Let’s be fair here. Who is actually better for these? True, but when differentiating homeopathic remedies this person would be markedly worse for experiencing these circumstances. There are plenty of people who can roll with some embarrassment or chagrin, but the person who would most likely benefit from homeopathic Staphysagria is not that person. Staphysagria is also known as “a great germicide” and it has been used allopathically as well as homeopathically, to treat lice (Vicentini et al. 2018; Choudhuri 2016; Farrington 2018; Tyler 2003), a condition which most certainly can historically be considered “shameful”. Physically speaking, aside from treating lice, homeopathic Staphysagria is known to help with surgical wounds (Alecu et al. 2007). "Incised wounds, it is the best remedy … where there is a clean cut as after surgical operations" (Tyler 2003, p. 767). "Similarly, after surgery when the tissues have been 'lacerated' there is a great sense of violation … and Staphysagria is one of the first remedies to consider (Pitt 2015, p. 362). Tying back to shame is the connection of words which can "cut deep." Humiliation, insults, shameful attacks -- they all can cut deep and have a wounding effect on a person and their well-being. Don’t accept the responsibility of carrying somebody else’s shame because you, through no fault of your own, contracted a highly transmissible virus. Put that silly idea away! However, if you or someone you know is dealing with deep-seated shame, humiliation or suppressed anger, please consult and work with a professional homeopath. Julia Coyte, CHom Classically Practical homeopath #wellnessawaits Reference list Alecu, A., Alecu, M., Marcus, G., Brezeanu, R., and Cojocaru, A., 2007. Effect of the homeopathic remedies Arnica Montana and Staphysagria on the time of healing surgical wounds. Cultura Homeopática, (20), 19–21. Barkoukis, L., 2021. Australia Is Throwing People Who Don’t Even Have Covid-19 Into Internment Camps [online]. Townhall. Boger, C. M., Bradford, T. L., and Tiwari, Shashi Kant, 2008. Boenninghausen’s Characteristics Materia Medica & Repertory With Word Index With Corrected & Revised Abbrrevations & Word Index. accessed through Radar Opus software. B Jain Pub Pvt Ltd. Buck, H., 1997. The Outline of Materia Medica and a Clinical Dictionary. accessed through Radar Opus software. B Jain Publishers. Cândea, D.-M. and Szentagotai-Tăta, A., 2018. Shame-proneness, guilt-proneness and anxiety symptoms: A meta-analysis. Journal of Anxiety Disorders [online], 58, 78–106. Carden, L. J., Saini, P., Seddon, C., Watkins, M., and Taylor, P. J., 2020. Shame and the psychosis continuum: A systematic review of the literature. Psychology and Psychotherapy [online], 93 (1), 160–186. Cave, D., 2021. Australia Is Betting on Remote Quarantine. Here’s What I Learned on the Inside. The New York Times [online], August 20, 2021. Choudhuri, N. M., 2016. A study on materia medica : an ideal text-book for homoeopathic students. accessed through Radar Opus software. Noida, U.P., India: B. Jain Publishers (P) Ltd. Dixon, R., 2021. I finally made it home to Australia. Washington Post [online], May 22, 2021. Farrington, E. A., 2018. Lectures on Clinical Materia Medica in Family Order. New Delhi: B. Jain Publishers, LTD. Frederickson, J., 2020. Shame: The Disavowal of Our Shared Humanity. Psychiatry [online], 83 (1), 33–35. Greek Legends and Myths, n.d. Ajax the Great in Greek Mythology [online]. Greek Legends and Myths. Lyons, B., Gibson, M., and Dolezal, L., 2018. Stories of shame. The Lancet [online], 391 (10130), 1568–1569. Marlee, S., 2022. CNN’s Chris Cillizza just discovering Covid shaming; Twitter reality-checks him hard · American Wire News [online]. American Wire News. Nechita, D., Bud, S., and David, D., 2021. Shame and eating disorders symptoms: A meta‐analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders [online], 54 (11), 1899–1945. O’Brien, T., 2022. Shaming as a COVID Strategy [online]. www.americanthinker.com. Oxford University Press, 2021. Oxford Dictionary of English. 14.1.1.47 ed. Oxford University Press accessed through mobisystems.com app. Pitt, R., 2015. Comparative materia medica : integrating new and old remedies. San Francisco, California: Lalibela Publishing. Theoi Greek Mythology, n.d. PLANTS & FLOWERS OF GREEK MYTH 1 [online]. www.theoi.com. Tyler, M. L., 2003. Homœopathic drug pictures. New Delhi, India: Indian Books & Periodicals Publishers. Vicentini, C. B., Manfredini, S., and Contini, C., 2018. Ancient treatment for lice: a source of suggestions for carriers of other infectious diseases? Le Infezioni in Medicina[online], 26 (2), 181–192. Further reading on shame: Ellenbogen, S., Colin-Vezina, D., Sinha, V., Chabot, M., and Wells, S. J. R., 2018. Contrasting mental health correlates of physical and sexual abuse-related shame. Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health [online], 30 (2), 87–97. McElvaney, R., Lateef, R., Collin-Vézina, D., Alaggia, R., and Simpson, M., 2021. Bringing Shame Out of the Shadows: Identifying Shame in Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure Processes and Implications for Psychotherapy. Journal of Interpersonal Violence [online], 088626052110374. Seidler, Z. E., Rice, S. M., Kealy, D., Wilson, M. J., Oliffe, J. L., and Ogrodniczuk, J. S., 2021. Men’s Shame and Anger: Examining the Roles of Alexithymia and Psychological Distress. The Journal of Psychology [online], 1–11. Shaughnessy, M. J., 2017. Integrative Literature Review on Shame. Nursing Science Quarterly [online], 31 (1), 86–94. Further reading on Covid death rates:
Berezow, A., 2020. COVID Infection Fatality Rates by Sex and Age [online]. American Council on Science and Health. Ioannidis, J. P. A., 2020. Infection fatality rate of COVID-19 inferred from seroprevalence data. Bulletin of the World Health Organization [online], 99 (1), 19–33F. Mahase, E., 2020. Covid-19: death rate is 0.66% and increases with age, study estimates. BMJ [online], m1327. Salzberger, B., Buder, F., Lampl, B., Ehrenstein, B., Hitzenbichler, F., Holzmann, T., Schmidt, B., and Hanses, F., 2020. Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2. Infection [online]. |
Julia Coyte, CHomI am passionate about homeopathy and I love sharing this passion. Having a working knowledge of homeopathy shouldn't be kept a secret. If people have the ability to help themselves, their children and their friends when they have minor ailments, life just gets better for everyone. That is the purpose behind Ruminating on Remedies. Archives
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