Question:
Has anyone here had any experience with homeopathic allergy remedies?
In particular, I am allergic to dogs (asthmatic), and have noticed a
homeopathic remedy for dog allergies in the health store. I have also
read that the treatment of allergies is one of homeopathic medicine's
most agreed-upon successes. Comments?
Answer:
I have _not_ heard that treatment of allergies is a strong point for
homeopathy. Allergies tend to be very deep-seated conditions so I
have heard that they are difficult to treat, though it is possible.
I have no personal experience with such treatments. The homeopathic medicines that you find in health food stores are
generally combination remedies and only provide symptomatic relief.
Try one and see if it helps with your symptoms. There was a controlled
study of the symptomatic relief of hayfever using homeopathic medicine
in Great Britain (*). Homeopathy can also cure allergies, but the cure requires a
knowledgable homeopathic doctor and may take several years to
complete. To find a homeopathic doctor in your area, contact the
National Center for Homeopathy. The book "Homeopathy: Medicine that
Works", by Robert Wood, describes the author's problems with hayfever
and how they were cured by a homeopathic doctor, Dr. Bill Grey. You
can get the book from Homeopathic Educational Services. I have worked with a homoeopathic physician for a number of years (5+)
as my main medical source, and I can verify that when *diagnosed
properly*, homoeopathic remedies work wonders with allergies. The problem I see with your question though is the use of the homoeopathic
"allergy" remedies that are found in a lot of healthfood stores. They
tend to use a shotgun approach - providing several homoeopathic remedies
in a single solution. From my understanding of homoeopathy, choosing a homoeopathic remedy
for some ailment/dis-ease isn't the same as choosing an asprin for a
headache. In homoeopathy, the homoeopath is not treating the effect (the
headache or the allergy), but rather he or she is trying to treat the
cause behind the effect. This may be different in different individuals;
therefore perhaps requiring different remedies. In classical
homoeopathy, a single remedy is given at one time and the reaction is
studied before another remedy is given. Now, going back to your original question about the homoeopathic
allergy remedies, I have heard from friends that they have had some
success with them. Whether the success came through their belief that
it would work, I can not say. From personal experience, I can say
that I have not had success with this approach. I even brought one of
the allergy remedies to show the homoeopath, and after he looked at
it, he just sort of shook his head and suggested that we try something
else. You mentioned that your sister had some success with constitutional
homoeopathic remedies, was she under the care of a homoeopathic
physican? From my experience, a layperson can do relatively well in
treating an acute problem. When the problem is more cronic (ie.
long-term) the treatment takes a little more knowledge, and when the
problem is of a constitutional type (ie. if I remember correctly,
constitutional refers to a body type (body in the wholistic sense)),
it takes a well trained person to successfully work through one's
constitutional issues (problems, dynamic (or whatever words would
describe all the interrelatedness)).
