Autoimmune Illness

The Man Whose Face Was On Fire

A man in his mid-30's we'll call Rashad consulted with me complaining of severe burning pain in his face.  It began suddenly about a half-year earlier.  He just woke up one morning and it felt like his face was on fire. The episode lasted nearly a week then disappeared.  Ever since, the burning returns without any discernable pattern either in terms of the timing, duration or the area of the face, excepting the fact that it was always symmetrical.  Along with the burning, his face felt extremely dry and the skin stretched tight.

Rashad went to a dermatologist who put him on a series of medications: analgesics, anti-anxiety pills, muscle relaxers and even steroids, but these had no effect on his condition.  An antidepressant lowered the intensity of the burning, but it still was barely tolerable and appeared randomly.

Autopathy

15 years ago a Czech homeopath by the name of Jiri Cehovsky unveiled a unique form of treatment that he called 'Autopathy'.  With antecedents in a number of ancient healing arts as well as drawing heavily on the principles of homeopathy, autopathy - as the name implies- is a form of self-treatment that is applicable to a broad range of ailments both acute and chronic, physical and mental.  Amongst many conditions that can be treated, it has been shown to be especially effective in the treatment of skin diseases like eczema and pathologies of uncertain cause such as autoimmune diseases. 

Treating an Autoimmune Headache

  It will be fifteen years ago next month when a patient we’ll call Pat first came to consult with me. A mild mannered, hard-working woman in her mid-sixties, she complained of ongoing weakness, breathlessness and dizziness that had been bothering her for years. She also had unstable blood pressure for which she had already been medicated for over 30 years.

From a homeopathic perspective, her case was fairly clear at the time. The lack of energy, vertigo and the breathlessness that was especially exasperated when climbing the stairs or walking up hill along with her salt of the earth yet timid nature was enough to suggest the remedy Calcarea Carbonica.

A Case of Fibromyalgia

  Wade is in many ways your classic Vermonter. Old school classic. Not one of the expatriates from the coastal regions who fled some alloy of the congestion, affluence and boredom of their native sub/urban life and whose taste for progressive views and Subarus have today come to define ‘Vermonter’ in the mind of much of the rest of the country.

Bona fide old school.   A hardscrabble youth produced a self-described hellion who left home in his early teens, eventually found his way into the army for a few years, and in due course became a trucker before ‘retiring’ to a life of carpentry and woodworking.   Largely self-educated and self reliant, Wade maintains a keen curiosity about the world and especially the people who inhabit it.

A Case of Rheumatoid Arthritis

When Miriam was a freshman in college, she became acutely ill at the end of the first semester and landed in the school infirmary for a week. Although there was no diagnosis and no antibiotic treatment, in retrospect the symptoms indicated it was probably strep throat. Miriam did get over it and went back to school.

Her illness had actually been the culmination of a turbulent year. As a senior in high school, she had developed full body hives that were treated with prednisone. Then, the summer before college, her boyfriend was paralyzed after breaking his neck. Even though she was soon off to college, Miriam was dedicated to helping him through the tragedy. She 'poured everything into giving him a lift' that first year away.