Liam Scollan Homeopathy

Here is an example of Homeopathy helping a client with sore throat that had persisted for over one week.  The symptoms were intense pain, lots of redness, swelling of glands and feeling of lump in throat together with ear ache.  The whole intensity of the symptoms suggested Belladonna 200c remedy to me.  So she took one pillule.  Very soon, after half an hour, she began to shiver and symptoms worsened then slowly improved until after 12 hours all that remained was a sensation of lump in the throat and slight pain.  At this stage I gave Lachesis in a 30c dosage. After a few hours all the symptoms were gone.

The initial aggravation after she took the Belladonna sometimes happens in homeopathy.  It is often a sign that the remedy is working.  Also readers should note that there are 100s of different remedies for such ailments as sore throat. It sometimes take a skilled knowledge to link the symptoms with the correct remedy.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a depression which develops in these dark months of winter and disappears in the spring and summer months.  It can take the form of fatigue, mood changes, tearfulness, more need for sleep, poor quality sleep and generally a feeling of low mood.

The change is often subtle and it can be helpful to know that you are not alone in this condition. Homeopathy itself is a subtle, safe and gently intervention.  The homeopathic consultation can be an opportunity to talk to someone about this, to explore what homeopathy can do and how the condition itself can indeed be a spring board for some positive change in your life. 

Image of Belladonna

I’d like to share an example of Homeopathy helping a client with a persistent sore throat of over one week.  The symptoms were intense pain, lots of redness, swelling of glands and feeling of lump in throat together with ear ache.  The whole intensity of the symptoms suggested Belladonna 200c remedy to me.  So she took one pillules.  Very soon, after half an hour she began to shiver and symptoms worsened then slowly improved.  After 12 hours all that remained was a sensation of lump in the throat and slight ache.  At this stage I gave Lachesis in a 30c dosage. After a few hours all the symptoms were gone.

Sometimes in homeopathy an initial aggravation, as seen above, can be an early sign that the remedy is working. also there are 100s of possible homeopathic remedies that could help with sore throat. However, we have to match the unique symptoms of each case with the exact remedy. This is why it often good to consult a qualified homeopath, especially if you are in doubt.

Grieving

In homeopathy there are many remedies to help you through a grieving period. Here are three of the key remedies with a little description of each to help you identify which one might match your symptoms the closest.
Of course there is nothing wrong or “to be cured” about grieving. It is a natural and healthy reaction to loss. It is when we become stuck in it and unable to act or move on that we may need support.
Ignatia
Ignatia is often used when people are in the immediate stages of grief, when emotions are intense, where there is much deep sighing, where there are periods of holding back from crying only to break into periods of uncontrollable sobbing. Ignatia is also preferred when grief is as a result of romantic loss or rejection.
Natrum Muriaticum
This remedy is often used when someone is experiencing prolonged grief and even depression. This remedy is very useful when people have failed to grieve properly before and come to deal with an old emotional wound later in life or years after the original event that caused it.
Phosphoricum Acidicum
Phosphoricum Acidicum is used when people are overwhelmed by grief to the extent that they are unable to respond, become apathetic to life and feel completely drained of energy and will to do anything. They are in a state of collapse.

November is a dark time of year. I am minded to share my thoughts on some of the remedies I have used over the years to support people who find themselves in a low mood or who, in conventional terms, feel depressed.
One remedy I have used in practice is Aurum Metallicum or homeopathic gold. This type of remedy suits patients who have suffered from big set-backs in their lives such as experiences of bullying in the past, abuse or business failure. The problem is compounded because these people also set high standards for themselves and can be idealistic.
Their mood can be one of deepest depression. I have worked with patients who, over a period of months on this remedy have found it in themselves to open up, to share memories that are painful but freedom giving in the sharing. I have seen them move on to reach out to loved ones for support when previously they kept their pain bottled up inside.
There are very many remedies in homeopathy which can support people in low mood. For me choosing a remedy is a matter of finding the exact way in which low mood is felt by the person, from the way they tell their story and even from some of the physical symptoms which can accompany their emotional state.
Another example is Natrum Muriaticum (homeopathic salt). Here I have had good results for people who come with low mood. These type of patients can be stoical. They make huge efforts to carry on life and support those around them especially close friends and family without revealing their state. I have often found that this remedy helps where the condition can be linked to a maternal relationship. Sometimes these are people who will crave to get away on their own and console themselves alone rather than among friends.
There are many more remedies in homeopathy for low mood and they are as varied as the different ways in which people present with this emotional condition. My strong advice though is to seek professional homeopathic advice or other professional medical support first since this is not a case where you can self- diagnose.

Traditionally Comfrey was a folk cure for healing bruises, sprains, fractures and scars. I have had some growing in my garden and testify to its sturdy deep root and leathery green leaves. It was commonly called “knit-bone” because of its ability to re-connect fractured bone.

It is not surprising then that the homeopathic version of this remedy called Symphytum works great with fractures of the bone or even surface fractures on the skin. A word of warning though. Make sure any fractures are properly set before taking Symphytum.

I have had much success with this remedy and recently a neighbour of mine called me to show me the incredible healing it brought to a skin abrasion she had suffered from a fall.

Doses are normally in 30c and it can also be taken topically as a cream.

Sorry to everyone for temporary inconvenience when I had to move appointments to Collooney following a flood at my house. I have now resumed appointments as usual at Carrowmore. For new clients I will always email directions. Happy new year.

Please note that due to flooding I have temporarily relocated my clinic to Collooney. We will be back as usual in Carrowmore from 8th December. Clients can contact me for directions. Sorry about this temporary inconvenience.

The sound of the world on Saturdays
Starting from when I was six or seven years old I heard the sound of the earth mainly on Saturday mornings. Saturday mornings carried no school stress, no Mass fuss, no hurry, just a dawn of possibilities to be relished spending the day exploring haunts around our small farm holding in Leitrim.

Far away from any mechanical noise, I would lie for a while awake in bed loosing myself in the soft buzz that I understood to be some mysterious sound of the world.

Looking back at that time now, I see that the child was not just listening but also imagining and feeling as all children do and so coming to know and love creation in the wonderful way of the child.

Ear buzz or earth buzz the sound coming to me on those early Saturday mornings was enchanting.

The most beautiful sound on earth
Later in life I read stories of the Fianna discussing which their favourite sound was. Some said it was the sound of certain birds in flight; others loved the sound of foliage rustling. They finally asked Fionn who said his favourite sound was the sound of happening.

The written word came to Ireland 1,000 years after it came to the Greek world. It was through stories, dreams, imagining and reflection that the Celts and those before them knew the world. The word that describes this way is “mythos” from which we get mythology. It was a profound way, a circular, timeless way, a way that always left a window open to mystery. It lies in contrast to the later arrival of understanding purely through linear, rational logic. The stories of Irish mythology are powerful evidence of how our ancestors on this island understood the deepest essences of life’s happenings through story telling.

The sound of a people talking
My homeopathic room is place of story telling and mystery. People tell me stories from the present and as sound gives way to silence they tell me stories from the past.

I hear of present day trials not unlike the journeys taken by mythical heroes of the past. They tell of their journeys through life, riddled with challenges, with pain, with danger and a struggle to keep hope alive: sleeplessness, unrest, palpitations, blinding headaches, dizziness, back ache, eczema, alcoholism …. They struggle to find the will to keep going: fears of the unknown, panic attacks, unhappy relationships, feelings of complete worthlessness, desires to end it all.

A candle burns; lights streams through the window and silence sits around drawing in these incredible tales of heroic endurance. The only sound in the room now is the sound of human happening.

It is as if this sacred sound continues as my storytellers now tell me stories from somewhere else: a childhood where affection came only after they pleased their parents, where innocence was stolen, where they learned not to respect themselves, where they got a terrible fright, where they lacked an ability that placed them behind others racing ahead in life.

Mislaid fragments of life and sounds crying out in the wilderness come into a kind of unspoken harmony. The pounding headache and low hopeless mood at 51 find a place in a story with a fateful journey home from school at 15. The room is now filled with one light, one whole harmonic sound, the sound of the storyteller’s life. We have come into the mystery.

The sound of remedies
As we take our journey along the earth we encounter spirits from the kingdoms of animals, plants, minerals and all of life itself, each chiming its own special timbre to the symphonic hymn of the Universe. From deep below to high above, the earth reverberates with the sound of harmony and healing. We encounter deep within the earth the golden Aurum Metalicum which resonates with our feelings of utter dejection and yet points to sheer perfection. We encounter, growing up from the earth the plant Staphysagria which echoes of pain of being beaten down and humiliated and then speaks of our personal dignity. We encounter the bush master snake Lachesis, rustling along in the foliage, accepting our darker feelings of jealousy and competition and pointing to a harmonious balance in life. We see on our journey high above the eagle Haliaeetus. It speaks to our sense of indecision and confusion and infuses in us the spirit of clarity, vision and directness.

Aurum Metalicum, Staphysagria, Lachesis, Haliaeetus … sound out a homeopathic alleluia , a benedictus beneath, above and beyond our stories Where there is despair let there be hope, where there is humiliation let there be dignity, where there is jealousy love and where we are lost and confused let there be a way.

Finding soul through homeopathy
Carl Jung said that when we work with images we find soul. The stories, dreams and happenings we encounter in our homeopathic story rooms reveal images of the essence of life. The homeopathic dialogue imagines and reflects on all the fragments of someone’s story and from these fragments there comes an essence that resonates somehow with the eternal hum of the world. The homeopathic conversation can touch the soul and ensoul life.

Our deepest and most beautiful listening is to the sound of the Universe. Fionn MacCumhaill’s mythological answer still rings true. From that listening we can hear the sound of perfection happening. The Universe invites us to listen deeply to hear its own most subtle sound. Years after childhood Saturday mornings I sit hearing the sound of some person talking.

Liam Scollan
LicISH, ISHom

Be helpless, dumbfounded,
Unable to say yes or no.
Then a stretcher will come from grace
To gather us up.”

The words of the great mystic, Rumi.

Often I get clients who visit me in the pit of despair. It is as if life is hopeless for them; they even lack energy to try and change things; very often they cannot even describe what it is that burdens them.

I listen to their stories. As we set out on the journey ahead I often draw inspiration from that reflection from Rumi. I see people slowly and gently improve as if lifted up by the grace of healing from within themselves. I can only look on in admiration. The biggest miracle is theirs’ and it is in all of us.

Remember, grace is there to lift you up when you are at your lowest.