Curse Of The New-Age Woman

As I continue to write this blog, I feel it’s time to take homeopathy to new horizons. The layperson knows little about this beautiful medical system and I feel that, through my work, I can introduce homeopathy to those who have either chosen this system of treatment but are not aware of how it works and those who would simply love to know more. Demystifying homeopathy will, hopefully, encourage more and more people to opt for it so that they can experience its wonderful and even seemingly miraculous healing effects.

Although homeopathy is very complex in terms of how the practitioner arrives at the right remedy for each patient, there are many aspects I will deconstruct so that you understand the fundamentals of this healing system. The most fundamental point I would like to make is that whereas conventional medicine cannot really cure disease, homeopathy can – completely and permanently.

1. Homeopathy is NOT a mysterious system of treatment whose ways are known only to an elite group of people who practice it. It may seem this way because it has been relegated to the sidelines by conventional medicine, which thrives on monopoly.

2. Homeopathy is NOT an unscientific discipline. Unfortunately, it has been tagged as such by conventional medicine, which has brainwashed us into believing that it is the only treatment approach that really works.

In this and subsequent posts, I will demonstrate, through cases, various aspects of this medical system in a way that is easy to understand.

Here’s something you can keep in mind while reading through the following case: ‘Our thought processes determine who we are and the diseases we develop’.

That is why homeopathy requires a detailed Case Taking. Our basic constitutional nature – ‘who we are’ – expresses itself through our thoughts, feelings and attitudes. The homeopath must get a picture of your constitutional nature in order to prescribe accurately, and therefore needs a wealth of detail about you, your childhood, family, social circle, etc. Remember, a homeopath does not play the role of a psychologist or counsellor; he/she is only trying to piece together your constitutional nature.

PCOS: A Disease Of The New-Age Woman

She knows what she wants and goes after it. She’s strong, speaks her mind and often slips into the ‘role of the man’. She is socially evolved – especially in the Indian context – and she does not hesitate to take the lead.

She is the woman of today.

The roles we play, our personalities and our accompanying attitudes and thoughts determine not only who we are, but also the diseases we develop. And even though what I am about to say may sound a little extreme to some women, you can’t argue with physiology. So here goes…

To start with, research has consistently indicated a strong link between Polycistic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and ‘androgenised’ women. While, sometimes, this literally means masculinised physical features such as excess facial hair and acne, indicating excess androgen or the male hormone in the body, it also includes ‘socially androgenised’ or ‘masculinised’ women. Typically, these are women who have assumed ‘masculine-type roles’ that require them to be tough and aggressive. But it’s not only the corporate woman who is prone to androgenisation. 

The 21st century woman is, overall, a tougher breed than women were in earlier decades. She operates on many fronts and has that much more to do. Life itself is more complex than ever before, and this calls on her ability to negotiate challenges while also juggling home and career. It’s a tough world, where only the tough survive.

But, surely, the brain and body are not punishing women for being assertive, self-assured, independent, decision-makers? Add to that, getting married later and having children after the age of 30.

The Body Is Old-Fashioned

Unfortunately, the human body doesn’t care for changing social mores, women’s rights and gender equality. The body is rather old-fashioned and has not adapted to ‘today’s woman’, whose forward-thinking brain and multi-tasking personality is at odds with her biochemistry. But since it is forced to adjust to her new-age persona, it results in fundamental hormonal and metabolic imbalances. Thus, women who are predisposed to androgenisation are likely to develop PCOS. In other words, the modern age is fertile ground for a genetic predisposition towards this disease to express itself.

PCOS is not just a ‘social disease’. It is also closely linked to obesity and insulin resistance. These are largely lifestyle diseases directly linked to diet, sleeping habits and stress levels, which are often derailed due to the pressures and demands of modern living. Remember, ‘positive stress’ is as harmful as ‘negative stress’. So too much of a good time to just as harmful simply because it overloads the brain and body and is interpreted as ‘stress’.

Balance is the natural order of things and is a prerequisite for health and well-being. This is a basic law of nature and it is the only way the body knows. When confronted with forces that overwhelm it and throw it out of whack, it automatically compensates. In the process, your biochemistry and metabolism are altered only so you can keep going. Simply put – to stay alive, you must fall sick!

Presenting Complaints

Let’s proceed to discuss a fascinating case of PCOS, where the patient was cured in a matter of months. (Who said homeopathy took years to restore you to good health?) Follow the case closely and observe the role of the mind and personality in producing disease.

Sheila was an Information Technology officer employed by a reputed company. Diagnostic tests had confirmed that the 32-year-old had PCOS. Her menstruation had been irregular for four years and doctors had told her she was infertile. Sheila had been a guinea pig for all sorts of allopathic treatment but drugs and hormone treatment only brought her temporary relief.

When she came to me, Sheila had not got per period for nine months. The drugs she had been prescribed had made her gain weight, which also upset her. She also suffered from painful and pus-filled acne.

Life Situation

As a child, Sheila was friendly and extroverted, and experienced a normal childhood. When she was doing her post-graduate studies, she dated a young man for three years. But since the relationship was going nowhere, Sheila eventually broke it off.

A few years later, the young woman married a man of her parents’ choice. Just three months into the marriage, cracks in her relationship with her mother-in-law developed into deep fissures. Sheila said her mother-in-law would insult her repeatedly and publicly but she received no support from her husband. “I felt as if I didn’t have my own identity in the house. They didn’t respect me. I didn’t get love and affection, which is what I had dreamed of receiving after marriage. Even my husband didn’t love me.”

Sheila felt alone and had no one to share her feelings with. It was only a matter of time before the situation became unbearable and she began to “hate” her husband and in-laws. Two years into the marriage, Sheila filed for divorce.

The divorce left a deep impact on her, and Sheila’s mind and body began to undergo some fundamental changes to adapt to her emotional state. The hormonal imbalances eventually caused her developing PCOS to surface.

Sheila grew indifferent towards everything. “I didn’t want to speak to anyone, I felt depressed and low. I basically lost interest in life as my dream of a happy marriage had been shattered.” She spent six months in tears before she began to grow ‘strong’. But what is often mistaken for ‘strength’ is usually a state of hardened indifference to potentially hurtful stimuli. This is one way to defend and protect oneself from emotional harm and injury. This is exactly what happened to Sheila. In medical terms, her periods had grown irregular and the flow was greatly reduced.

Key Sensitivity

This is a crucial aspect of every case analysis and I will write a separate post on the subject. In the meantime, read more about it here.

Key sensitivity refers to the issue/s that are at the very core of your being and the ones you are most sensitive to. It is there issues that disturb you most deeply and reverberate through your entire being.

When I asked Sheila what upset her most, she replied: “I feel bad when people are unfriendly towards me or when they don’t like me. I also want to settle down and have a happy relationship and I want to conceive a child.”

Rubrics

Some people may be familiar with this stage of the analysis. I would like to emphasise that only trained homeopaths are qualified to arrive at rubrics in a case. Do not trust a homeopath who says they can prescribe a remedy for a specific symptom such as migraine, the flu or arthritis. Homeopathy is a holistic system and it does not treat symptoms or specific diseases. It realigns a diseased constitution – the entire constitution as opposed to a specific disease, which is simply symptomatic of a larger disease process at work in the body. To achieve this, it is usually necessary to arrive at rubrics. There are other ways to practice homeopathy too but none of them offers symptomatic relief.

This is another reason why it is dangerous to attempt to practice homeopathy without formal training. So if you have been ‘dabbling’ in homeopathy or if homeopathy is a ‘hobby’, think again.

And yes, arriving at rubrics is the end result of that detailed Cast Taking! I am detailing the rubrics I arrived at in Sheila’s case to give the layperson an insight into the analysis stage of the case taking.

Rubrics In Sheila’s Case

A/F – Indignation

A/F – Insults, offences from

A/F – Rudeness of others

A/F – Disappoinment, deception

Aversion to husband

Aversion to family members

Cries when alone

Hatred towards person who has offended

Indifference to everything

Sensitive to rudeness

No love, care, nourishment from husband

No identity, no respect from in-laws

Interpretation

At the very core of her being, Sheila lacked a sense identity and felt complete only when she shared a close relationship with another human being. Without this, she felt empty, nothing, vacant. In other words, her identity was tied to another human being. For her, any break in relationships was tantamount of betrayal. Thus, when her marriage ended in divorce, Sheila was shattered but in order to not break down completely, she had to ‘toughen up’ and get ‘strong’.

Sheila’s constitution therefore compensated for her sense of emptiness and total lack of identity and developed PCOS (her defence) so that she could survive.

Our defences are therefore purely survival-oriented and, ironic though it may sound, disease is the constitution’s way of keeping you alive and ticking, albeit in a state of imbalance and sickness.

Homeopathy corrects your constitutional imbalance by reversing and rooting out the disease process and restores you to health and well-being.

In Sheila’s case, a month after she started treatment, she began to menstruate once again, which was a sure indication that the disease process that had led to PCOS had begun to reverse itself. She also shed excess weight. But perhaps most rewarding were her words, “I feel like a normal person now.”

A few weeks later, Sheila told me she was getting remarried and was prepared to start life afresh.

MindHeal Homeopathy goes way beyond curing the body. In fact, if the patient’s physical symptoms were to disappear without a corresponding change in his or her mental and emotional state, the treatment would not have worked. MindHeal Homeopathy thus brings about a complete transformation and restores you to a state of balance and good health.

Re-awaken the healer in you…

- Dr Anita Salunkhe, MD

MindHeal Homeopathy is an ISO-certified clinic based in Chembur, Mumbai. To find out more about The MindHeal Way, call: 022-25230530 / +91-9930363981. Or write to us at crm@mindheal.com Website: www.mindheal.org. We’ll be happy to answer all your queries.