Arthritis

Arsenicum album (arsenic trioxide, white oxide of arsenic). In its crude form, arsenic is a deadly poison: when applied topically, it can literally corrode skin tissue; when ingested, it damages blood vessels and ultimately leads to organ damage throughout the body. However, in the right form and amount, arsenic is known to be a treatment for several different illnesses—and has been known as such since physicians in ancient Greece and Rome started using it. Samuel Hahnemann introduced arsenic to homeopathy in 1828, and it has been used as a remedy ever since.
Homeopaths generally prescribe arsenicum album to those people whose symptoms tend to be worse at night than in the morning, improve with heat and warm drinks, and include anxiety and fear.

Aurum metallicum (metallic gold). Similar to the gold compounds used to treat arthritis in mainstream medicine, aurum metallicum is a remedy for a variety of disturbances. Homeopathic gold comes in a fine brown powder which is prepared by a process called trituration. Trituration, which involves grinding down the powder and diluting it with milk sugars, is necessary because gold is not soluble in water or alcohol.
Typically, homeopaths prescribe aurum metallicum to arthritis patients who complain that the pain in their fingers or limbs feels worse from sunset to sunrise, is least problematic in the morning, and gets better during the day.

Bryonia alba (wild bryony, wild hops). Bryonia, which is derived from a climbing vine known as Cucurbitaceae, is one of the most effective homeopathic remedies for rheumatic conditions. It acts especially on fibrous tissues, including ligaments and tendons, as well as nerves. The illnesses usually associated with bryonia are more likely to occur in warm, damp climates.
A homeopath is most likely to suggest bryonia to an individual who seems sluggish and dull of mind, whose symptoms improve with exposure to cool, fresh air and worsen with movement and touch. Rest and a diet consisting mostly of cold foods may also be recommended.

Calcarea carbonica (Calcarea ostrearum, oystershell). Derived from the pure white portion of oyster shells, this homeopathic remedy has as its primary component the mineral calcium. The fifth most abundant element in the body, calcium is essential to the body's formation and repair of bone tissue. Calcarea carbonica, therefore, is especially useful for those people suffering from osteoarthritis.
A person for whom this remedy would be most helpful would have symptoms that improved in a dry, warm climate and worsened in the cold and with any type of exertion. Generally speaking, the calcarea patient tends to have pale skin and a plump figure, among other qualities.

Pulsatilla (windflower, meadow anemone). This remedy derives from the perennial herb known as Pulsatilla nigricans; it is prepared from the whole fresh plant when it is in flower. In addition to its use as a remedy for arthritis, it is also known to help in eye disease, uterine disorders, and menstrual cramping.
For those with arthritis symptoms, a homeopath is most likely to prescribe pulsatilla to someone who, like Marjorie, is warm and compassionate, complains about the heat, and (if female) has associated menstrual problems. Symptoms tend to worsen with heat and rich food, and improve with open air and cold applications.

Rhus toxicodendron (poison ivy). Derived from a plant with which campers, hikers, and adventurous children are all too familiar, this homeopathic remedy was first used by a French physician in 1798. It affects the skin, mucous membranes, and, of special importance to those with arthritis, fibrous tissue including joints, tendons, and sheaths.
People who do best with Rhus tox., as it is known, tend to be anxious and despondent and have symptoms that improve with warmth and warm, dry weather. Other common traits of Rhus tox. include frequent rashes, dryness of the mouth and throat, and a dry cough.

Understanding Homeopathy

In the early nineteenth century, a German scientist named Samuel Hahnemann developed a revolutionary theory of health and medicine. Derived from the Greek work homoios (meaning "similar") and pathos (meaning "suffering"), homeopathy remains a striking alternative to the way that modern medicine looks at health and disease, particularly chronic conditions such as arthritis. Inside every human, Hahnemann believed, was a "vital force," a life power, that animates and rules the body, keeping it in balance and health. Disease occurs when a disturbance of this vital force takes place. Homeopathy considers symptoms of disease to be the external evidence of the vital force's internal attempts to bring the body back to a state of balance. An aching hip or knee, for instance, might represent the body's effort to release accumulated toxins and waste products from the muscles.
Furthermore, Samuel Hahnemann was a deeply spiritual man who believed that a physician's role should be to help a patient's own body heal itself, that true healing could not take place by simply administering drugs that would, in essence, override the body's natural processes. To a homeopath, a "disease" consists of the symptoms produced by the body in its own efforts to heal itself. To help the body achieve that goal—to strengthen its vital force against an illness—a homeopath administers remedies designed to match these symptoms, not to alleviate them as Western medicine attempts to do. This principle is known as Hahnemann's Law of Similars, or "like cures like." By making symptoms worse, a remedy attempts to strengthen the body's own power to heal itself. In fact, according to homeopathic theory, any therapy that attempts to suppress the free flow of symptoms—including the use of painkillers—will actually prolong the underlying disturbance since it prevents the body from being able to heal itself.
Another theory of homeopathic medicine is known as the Law of Infinitesimals. First developed by Hahnemann in order to reduce the side effects of often potentially toxic chemicals, this theory states that the smaller the dose of medicine, the greater its potency and its effect on the body's vital force. Homeopathic remedies are extracts derived by soaking plant, animal, mineral, or other biological material in alcohol or water to form what homeopaths call the "mother tincture." This tincture is again diluted with alcohol in ratios of one part tincture to 10 or 100 parts of alcohol or water shaken vigorously, then diluted again.
This process of shaking and diluting, repeated several times, is known as "succussion." Many researchers believe that through succussion the vital energy of a substance is transferred to the tincture. Therefore, the more times the solution is passed through succussion, the more potent the remedy, even though there appears to be no trace of the original herb or mineral left. Finally, the resulting solution is added to tablets, usually made of sucrose and lactose.
As you know from reading about Marjorie Williams's experience, homepaths write prescriptions only after they carefully evaluate a patient's particular set of symptoms and physical and emotional make-up. Indeed, a session with a homeopath may be a unique experience for those of us accustomed to Western medicine's approach to diagnosis and treatment. Generally speaking, a homeopath will spend much more time talking to a patient about symptoms and lifestyle factors, and look more carefully at her demeanor, personality, and coloring, than would a mainstream physician.
According to homeopathic tenets, mental and emotional disturbances are more serious than physical illnesses, primarily because they can themselves cause physical disease. High stress levels and the emotions they provoke (such as anger, anxiety, and irritability) may cause or exacerbate the pain of arthritis. A homeopath will spend a great deal of time talking to you about stress and your ability to cope with it before she prescribes a remedy.
In fact, the way a homeopath treats chronic conditions like arthritis pain depends entirely on an individual's particular pattern of symptoms: not everyone with inflammation of the finger joints, for instance, experiences the same kind of pain at the same time or in exactly the same place, or for the same reasons. While a conventional, mainstream physician would probably offer roughly the same treatment to almost everyone (usually a combination of painkillers, exercise, or surgery), a homeopath recognizes several different symptom patterns and has corresponding remedies for each one. The homeopath then matches the patient's symptoms with the pattern of symptoms produced by a remedy. The more closely the remedy matches the total pattern of the patient, the more effective the remedy will be.
Furthermore, the symptoms that first bring someone to the doctor (called common symptoms in homeopathy) are rarely the most important symptoms when it comes to selecting a remedy. Instead, homeopaths give general symptoms, which include the patient's state of mind and mood, more weight in determining a treatment. Other symptoms, called particular symptoms, are those that pertain to any given organ or structure of the body (muscle pain, for instance). They, too, are less important than the general symptoms. Most important of all are what homeopaths call strange, rare, and peculiar; as their name implies, they are symptoms that are completely unique to the individual describing them. A man who says that his knees feel as if they are locked in place and a woman who feels as if her fingers are on fire are examples of two people with strange, rare, and peculiar symptoms. Even if each of them also has been diagnosed with arthritis, they would probably be given different remedies by a homeopath.
One more important aspect of homeopathy is the Law of Cure, which postulates that symptoms disappear in the reverse order of appearance. In other words, the last symptoms to appear will be the first to disappear with treatment. If someone has had many health problems in his life, he may find that symptoms of past problems reappear as homeopathic treatment continues. Someone who comes to a homeopath with arthritis, for instance, may find that she briefly develops symptoms of bronchitis, a previous illness. Marjorie found that her cough, due to an unknown underlying problem, briefly emerged but then disappeared. Slowly but surely, working backward in time, the homeopathic remedy or remedies will restore strength to the vital force and balance to the internal environment.