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What can Homeopathy do to help with fertility?
Sue Breetzke:
An increasing number of women today are finding that conception is not as easy they expected. While one factor is often that women are waiting longer to start a family, there is also the stress of modern life and an increasing exposure to toxins in our environment, which can create imbalances in the systems of both men and women.
Homeopathy offers a gentler and effective means to rebalance the woman’s body, allowing it to return to an optimal state for conception as well as to bringing her partner to a similar state of increased health and vitality. I employ a method used by homeopathic practitioners worldwide in supporting couples realize their dream of having a family….
Judy and Alec decided not to wait too long before trying for a baby. Judy at 31 felt that she was aware of ‘the clock ticking’. It was therefore a real blow when after 13 months of trying, she had not conceived. She saw her GP who carried out a range of tests on both of them, and pronounced them both fertile but that Judy’s hormone levels were not ‘quite right’.
Judy’s mother Anne suggested that before they embarked on a course of hormone therapy for Judy, they see a homeopath – possibly just for a detox, so that they were both really healthy.
Judy had been on the pill for 12 years and this might have been part of the problem. I offered them the option of a course of treatment that I have found really effective in optimizing conception.
I counselled them that I would only treat them for four months and if Judy had not fallen pregnant in that time they should seek medical intervention. As a minimum the treatment would really prepare Judy’s body for pregnancy by de-toxing her system and improving her health.
Judy and Alec were committed to the programme and to their great joy Samantha was conceived 12 weeks into the treatment.
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What can Homeopathy do for Crohns?
Sue Breetzke:
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease, the general name for diseases that cause swelling in the intestines.
Homeopathy offers an effective treatment for the symptoms of Crohns by looking at and addressing the triggers for flare-ups. It can also support the absorption of nutrients from the diet and help to address some of the damage caused by steroid use.
Kate was 18 when she was first diagnosed with Crohns. She had had a difficult year with a relationship that went badly wrong and on top of that she had been under a lot of pressure in her course at Uni.
Initially, the flare ups were so bad that she was hospitalised and doctors put her on immuno-suppressants and steroids to control them.
Kate first came to see me when she was 24, still experiencing periodic severe flare-ups and too nervous to go out anywhere new for fear of not being able to find a toilet if she needed one quickly. Weighing only 46 kilos Kate was so tiny and thin that she appeared anorexic and had no bust at all. A recent bone scan had identified early osteoporosis in her spine and hips, a side-effect of the steroids and poor absorption of nutrients.
Like most young women she wanted eventually to settle down and have a family, but the prognosis wasn’t good. Kate hoped that homoeopathy could improve her health and chances of having children.
We started with a gentle programme to support and stimulate the adrenal system which had been affected by the steroids, alongside a treatment to encourage healing of her bowel. We then looked at diet and I used remedies to optimise absorption of nutrients from her food - one of the problems with Crohns being poor absorption - and facilitate the re-absorption of calcium into her bones.
Kate gained 5 kilos in 3 months, her bowel settled down to fewer, firmer, motions a day and she started growing curves. Her periods returned 5 months after treatment began and she decided to make a long planned overseas trip - something she had only dreamed of being able to do. Five years later Kate still has Crohns, but she hasn’t had a severe flare-up during that time, her bone mass is now on the low end of normal, out of the danger zone, and she and her partner are planning a baby next year with the approval of her consultant.
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What can Homeopathy do for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
Sue Breetzke:
The exact cause of IBS is not known. It is termed a functional disorder, which means that the way the bowel works is affected, but medical tests often find no physical abnormalities that might explain the symptoms.
There is a lot of speculation about just exactly what lies behind the increase in IBS in recent years. Interestingly this is a complaint which is rarely seen in cultures which have little or no processed food in their diet and in which the pace of life is slower.
Homoeopaths look at the symptoms of the individual patient together with their life patterns, mental and emotional state to find a remedy which will bring the body into balance.
Some patients find that they are far less sensitive after treatment and will only need to take the occasional remedy if they have a particularly stressful period. In others symptoms clear up completely.
Vera is a busy mother of two teenagers. She is 43 years old and began suffering with IBS when she was in her late 20’s. Her symptoms started after she discovered that her husband had had an affair. This left her emotionally devastated but she just ‘got on with it’ and coped because she had recently given birth to her daughter. A long-term wheat intolerance seemed to grow worse and she lost a lot of weight. Through counselling and relationship work Vera and her husband worked through their marital problems, but her IBS was still with her and she was very sensitive to wheat, tea, coffee, wine and sugar; all of which could trigger a bout of cramps, diarrhoea and bloating, along with some skin symptoms.
After 2 years of treatment she has no symptoms of IBD and is able to include many of the foods that would previously cause problems in her daily diet.
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What can Homeopathy do for Menopause symptoms?
Sue Breetzke
Menopause is positively recognised as a time of change and growth in many eastern societies, in our Western cultures we are only just waking up to the positives and tend still to be caught up in the negatives of this significant period in our lives.
Many women suffer from a range of symptoms both emotional and physical for which the only treatment option seems to be hormone therapy. Alternative medicine however offers a wide range of supports and treatments, amongst which is homoeopathy.
Treatment will depend on the symptoms experienced by the patient but I will always take the time to look in detail at diet, lifestyle and emotional health as these factors play an important part in the pattern of symptoms.
Asha had stopped menstruating at 49, but at 57 she was still suffering from debilitating palpitations, night sweats and exhaustion. She no longer had any sex drive and in fact found intercourse painful. She was offered HRT but didn’t feel that she wanted to go down that route.
I felt that she was experiencing hormonal symptoms associated with post-menopause but she was also suffering from depression as she had no energy or inclination to go out or socialise.
We looked at Asha’s diet and found that she was inclined to eat a lot of pastries, cheese, bread and meat sometimes late at night and her bowel was very sluggish. She also tended to go to bed after midnight and wake at 5am feeling exhausted but not able to get back to sleep. She wasn’t taking any vitamin or mineral supplements and wasn’t eating enough vegetables or fruit.
I prescribed a healthier diet, an earlier bedtime and a good vitamin and mineral supplement together with a remedy for the palpitations and night sweats. Her night sweats improved almost immediately and after three months she found that she was sleeping better and no longer waking with palpitations at 5am. Her friends were complimenting her on how good she was looking, she was painting again and was planning an exhibition.
Asha’s improvement had as much to do with a change in lifestyle as it did the homeopathic support. She needed to re-examine her needs and her body’s needs in this new stage of her life and working with a counsellor she also examined the issues she felt were keeping her in a dead end.
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What can Homeopathy do for panic attacks?
Sue Breetkze:
Anxiety is something that we all suffer from at one or another time in our lives. It is the degree, how it manifests and how we deal with it that is what can turn anxiety into panic. Many people suffer chronic anxiety without actually realising that that’s what it is.
The causes are as varied as the symptoms and many people will just ‘cope’ with what they are often too embarrassed to talk about.
Sarah first saw me when she was 40. She had begun having severe panic attacks and with debilitating physical symptoms, a cold sensation around her mouth, nausea, palpitations and rapid shallow breathing. She was unable to go to London by train, unable to drive further than 10 miles from her home and unable to be alone in the house without suffering quite severe symptoms. She told me later that it was a tremendous release to be able to tell someone about a problem she had been ‘coping’ with for at least 8 years. She had even managed to avoid going away on holiday for the entire period.
Through a series of consultations we worked together to find the root of Sarah’s anxiety during which time I was treating her with remedies. After treatment Sarah found that she was more confident in many areas of her life, her relationship with her husband had improved and she had faced up to issues that she needed to resolve at work. She recently flew to Sardinia on her own to visit a friend, doesn’t even stop to think about hopping in the car to dive long distances and frequently travels to London.
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