Healing with Homeopathy

by Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, ND, LCSW, and Robert Ullman, ND

Now That Arnica Worked, There’s a Wide World of Homeopathic Healing for You

You Have Tried Arnica, Haven’t You?

If you have not yet tried homeopathy, listen up. There are few guarantees in life, but we can pretty much guarantee that you will be impressed, even amazed, by the results of Arnica montana (leopard’s bane). The story goes that a shepherd observing his flock of mountain sheep noticed that whenever one of the animals seemed to fall and injured himself, it quickly sought out and nibbled on this plant. Then it sauntered off as if nothing had happened. Arnica grows in the mountains of the northern hemisphere and has cheery, yellow flowers. It is a member of the Compositae (aster, daisy, sunflower) family, which has over 20,000 members. Many are quite well know to you, including absinthe or wormwood, chamomile, daisy, marigold, coneflower (Echinacea), yarrow, and dandelion. Arnica is the number one homeopathic medicine to consider for trauma of any kind, including scrapes, falls, contusions, sprains, strains, bruises, fractures, shock, and injuries with bleeding. It is so well known that even people who know nothing more about homeopathy have often heard of, or tried, Arnica.

We have heard and experienced personally many more Arnica success stories, than we have space to recount in this article, but we will recount a few.

Judyth, 30 years ago, was bustling to get ready for a meeting. Moving faster than her mind could keep up with, she tripped and fell on her ankle. An immediate excruciating pain kept her flat on the floor. Determined not to miss her meeting, she literally pulled herself, crawling, up a flight of stairs to retrieve a dose of Arnica 1M from her homeopathic kit. Within minutes, the pain subsided enough that she could carefully and slowly walk down the stairs and drive to her appointment. She elevated and iced her leg, took a second dose of the Arnica a couple of hours later, and was good to go. Her recovery was rapid and complete.

We received a call from a patient of ours from the emergency room. Her 8-year-old son had suffered an abrasion of his cornea when a tree branch scraped his eye. The doctor released him from the ER with pain medication, warning that, if the pain persisted, he would need to return the following morning for minor surgery. We instructed her to give her son as high a dose of Arnica as she could find.

She called the next morning to assure us that he was on the mend and had no need to return for the surgery.

Although Arnica is most commonly used as acute medicine, it can also be an excellent constitutional medicine. The following case, excerpted from our book, The Patient’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicine, was the first time we prescribed it that way.

Ashley, a 37-year old kindergarten teacher, was referred to us by her psychotherapist because of depression, profuse menstrual bleeding, chronic muscle pain, and a history of sexual abuse. Her presenting chief complaint was a painful whiplash resulting from a car accident a month earlier. In fact, she recounted a history of a series of car accidents. We noticed a broken blood vessel in Ashley’s right eye, also, along with the car accidents, the whiplash, bruising, bleeding, and muscle soreness, were highly suggestive of Arnica.

The muscle soreness reminded Ashley of how she felt following the sexual abuse. After each assault, the abuser pushed Ashley to the ground. She would feel sore and bruised the following day. Ashley then shared her fascinating dreams. One, which was recurrent, was of her being a frog, jumping from one lily pad to the next. Despite the soft surface of the lily pads, wherever she landed, she would feel sore and bruised. The other theme of Ashley’s dreams was automobile accidents. In order to better understand the origin of this theme of injury, we inquired about any trauma in utero or during labor. Ashley reported that she received a transfusion at birth, at which time she was separated from her mother.

After taking the Arnica, not only did Ashley’s muscle pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, and depression improve, but also, her dreams changed dramatically. Now she dreamed of backing up her car in a parking lot at the same time that another car did the same. Another car backed up at the same time and they nearly hit, but it was only a close call. She considered this remarkable because, in her past dreams, the two cars would inevitably collide. The following day, curiously, the very same incident occurred in real life, and an accident was miraculously avoided. This is the level of internal and external reprogramming that is possible through homeopathy.

It occurred to us to inquire at this point as to whether Ashley’s mother experienced any trauma or accident during her pregnancy with Ashley. She didn’t know the answer, but promised to call her mother to find out. Ashley got back to us the next day with some intriguing information. When her mother was four or five months pregnant with her, she and Ashley’s father were driving to an obstetrician appointment when a trailer truck pulled out and headed straight towards them. The only way to avoid a head-on collision was for him to veer off the road immediately. It was a frightening experience for both of them and appeared to trigger the domino effect of years of subsequent events of trauma in Ashley’s waking and dream lives, until she was given the Arnica.

Other Compositae

Homeopathic Chamomilla (chamomile) is quite well known for the painful teething pain experienced by many infants. Calendula cream is used widely, with great success, for scrapes, cuts, and rashes. You may not know that it was also used homeopathically on the battlefield to assist soldiers suffering from terribly painful battle wounds, gunshots, and gashes when no other pain medications were available. Yarrow (Millefolium) is famous for its hemostatic (stopping of hemorrhages) properties. In all of these cases, the common sensations are hurt, injury, and pain. Those needing homeopathic plant medicines in general tend to be highly sensitive, but the specific sensitivity to injury is characteristic of those needing Compositae. Obviously, all 20,000 members of the family have not been proved and prepared into homeopathic medicines, but many are available in our pharmacopoeia.

What stands out about patients needing members of this family is their frequent references to hurt, injury, and pain. They may refer to burns, bruises, injuries, or any other type of causation of pain. But, what is most important is the sensation – what they actually experience. The following words are taken from an initial case taking of one patient, a landscaper from Oregon, for whom we did prescribe a composite. What we wish to call to your attention is not which medicine we gave, but how the patient tells us that he needs a medicine from this family.

pinching

spasm

pain

stiff

sore

tight

squeeze

pull

twist

stab

raw

wince

trauma

hurt

in so much pain

it cracked me open

ripped open down to the core

thrown around

jab

ache

Differential Diagnosis of Plant Families

There are three other plant families with somewhat similar sensations that are worth clarifying.

Compositae: The emphasis, as we have discussed, are hurt and injury rather than a violent attack. The response is one of either shock or numbness rather than retaliation.

Papaveraceae (poppy family): Great sensitivity to extreme, excruciating, even unimaginable, pain and suffer, such as one experiences during war. It can be associated with death and dying. It has been likened to a hell-like state. The response may be one of analgesia, anesthesia, fainting, coma, or even painlessness.

Solanaceae (nightshade): The response is one of fear and fright or fight or flight.

There can be sudden, explosive violence, even life or death. The response may be terror, panic, rage, striking out, or, again, fight or flight.

Umbelliferae or Apiaceae: Sudden, unexpected attack or assault in the form of a blow that comes from nowhere, as seen in riots, accidents, or stabbings. The response may be a violent attack, escape, stupefaction, or paralysis.

Try Arnica Now If You Haven’t Already

If you happen to be one of those individuals who, prior to reading this article, never knew about Arnica, now you are informed, so be sure to have it on hand. At the first sign of a fall, bruise, sprain, sprain, injury, take it as quickly as possible and as often as needed. You will see your black and blue marks recede more quickly than you would have thought possible. Your pain and discomfort will be promptly relieved.

You will recover from the injury much sooner than you would have imagined. It is fine to use any additional first-aid measures in addition to the Arnica and, in case of an emergency or severe injury, seek out immediate care in addition to the Arnica. We would love to hear your Arnica success stories. You can send them to the e-mail address in our biography below.

Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Robert Ullman are licensed naturopathic physicians, board certified in homeopathy. Their books include Prozac Free, Homeopathic Self-Care: The Quick and Easy Guide for the Whole Family (companion self-care kit), Whole Woman Homeopathy, Ritalin-Free Kids, Rage-Free Kids, A Drug-Free Approach to Asperger Syndrome and Autism, The Patient’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicine, and Mystics, Masters, Saints and Sages: Stories of Enlightenment. They live on Whidbey Island, Washington, and in Pucón, Chile, and practice at the Northwest Center for Homeopathic Medicine in Edmonds, Washington. They treat patients by telephone and videoconference as well as in person, and can be reached at 425-774-5599, drreichenberg@gmail.com, or drbobullman@gmail.com. Their website is www.healthyhomeopathy.com.