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Dystonia (Involuntary spasms), Raynaud's (Numbness & Stabbing in hands & feet), Blood Platelets & Hives treated with Homeopathy

9/12/2021

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Case Study 2

Presenting complaints
44 year old Mary came to the clinic with a long list of complaints. Her primary presenting complaint was Dystonia, a condition where the muscles in her neck had involuntary movements causing her head to jerk around. She had this condition for many years. Botox injections every 3 months paralyzed the muscles in her neck, giving her relief from the involuntary movements in her neck, and her last injection was 1 and a half weeks ago.  She also had Raynaud’s disease where she had very poor circulation to her hands and feet causing numbness, tingling and cold. Mary would also get stabbing pains in her feet and hands, and it wasn't unusual for them to turn purple or orange/white at times. In the past two weeks Mary rated the intensity of this condition at an 8/10  which she had experienced every day. She also had intense cramping in her hands and feet, which she usually rated around 9/10, 24 hours a day, but after botox it lowered to a 6/10.
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Image sourced from flickr.com
Mary had been diagnosed with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) a rare autoimmune disorder where the blood platelets inside the blood are reduced and so the capability of the body to stop bleeding is reduced. She also had a history of migraines and although in recent times she experienced them only 1x every 3 weeks, she rated them as being very severe at a 10/10

Her cognitive function and energy felt depleted, and she rated the significance of this at 7/10. She had chronic insomnia where she woke frequently during the night feeling restless. Mary’s periods were regular although they contained lots of clots/tissue/fibrous bits along with a burning sensation over the past 3 months.

Mary had quiet a few other complaints that I have listed below along with their intensity as a rating out of 10.
CPTSD where she had a feeling of feeling stuck, restricted, trapped, freighted and couldn’t escape.
Dry hair 7/10
Ears became stuffy, on average 3 days per week rated at 6/10
Nose bleeds 6-7 days per week on waking
Voice had random weird pitch changes mid speech, which had been going on for a few years
Hives on her skin which Mary described as being very itchy and dry. She was able to control it temporarily with steroid cream, however as soon as she stopped using the cream the hives would return. This had been going on for 6 months and she believes it started occurring after she went in a float tank.
A history of very bad Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) but Mary was able to control this by sticking to a FOODMAP diet.
 
After assessing Mary’s face, coupled with taking all her symptoms into account, I selected Calc 30 as a homeopathic remedy to be taken once a day and to follow up with me in a months time.

Results at one month follow-up
At the one month followup Mary had some decent improvement. I have listed the progress of the various ailments at the one month mark below.
The Dystonia (spasms) she hadn’t noticed but the botox was still in effect.
Raynaud’s + cramping hands & feet now 2-3/10 started at 6/10 after botox.
Migraine – did have one but much less intense.
Cognitive energy improved so that the problem was rated at 3/10 but at the 1 month followup appointment mark came back to the original 7/10
Ears stuffy 0/10 was 6/10.
Nose bleeds – none, was every day
Voice pitch changing - doesn't know hasn't talked much in lockdown
Skin hives slight improvement
Sleep with frequent waking 85% improvement although still not super refreshed in the morning
Mary reported that her body didn’t feel as cold as it usually did

One negative thing Sally noticed was that her period came 1 week early, which was different from normal, she was usually very regular, however her period was less heavy. I explained that sometimes during the healing process things can change a bit, but overall she had some good improvements so we should continue with the prescription, but for the next month she should double the dose to 2x per day.

Results at 2 month follow-up
Next month when I saw Mary for her second follow-up she had improved further. She admitted that she had missed the 2nd dose of the medicine 50% of the time, but she still had made very good progress. Below i have listed her progress with her various ailments.

Dystonia spasms (60-70% improvement) on top of what she would expect usually this far out from her regular botox injections.
Raynauds + cramping hands & feet 1-2/10 now, started at 6/10 after botox
Migraine – none and no headaches either, started at 10/10 1x every 3 weeks
CPTSD (Feeling stuck/frightened) - gone
Cognitive energy got better than it did last month and stayed improved with the problem being rated at 2-3/10, started at 7/10
Ears stuffy – gone, was 6/10
Nose bleeds – gone, was 6-7 days per week on waking
Voice pitch changing –gone, voice is normal now,
Speech & word loss (3/10) was 5/10
Period back to 28 days and less heavy but still some clotting
Skin hives 1x small patch only and no steroids,
Hair Dryness – now rated at a 2/10, was a constant 7/10
Insomnia and sleep with frequent waking now dropped back to 50% improvement and still not super refreshed in the morning, was at 85% improvement last month, Body not as cold

Mary was really starting to make some significant progress now. I decided to increase the strength of her medicine to 200C so that it could provide more healing power, whilst she only needed to take it 1x per day.

Later followup
I have seen Mary since our last treatment, not for a Homeopathic consult but for Bowen Therapy. She says that her sleep returned to much improved, and more refreshing soon after we increased the strength of her medicine at her last appointment. I remember her telling me her skin/hives had been going really well without the steroids. The progress we had made had continued to hold and indeed continued to improve. She did report having a bit of a setback after having her COVID injection, but I advised her to adjust her dose and within two weeks she had recovered and continued to improve in many areas. She also mentioned to me that she had had a blood test and her blood platelets were in the normal range for the first time in 13 years, and the only things she had done differently in that time was take the homeopathic medicine and get the COVID jab.

Case Discussion
Using natural homeopathic medicine we were able to help support Mary’s body to be able to heal it’s self from conditions that western medicine were unable to treat as effectively as Mary would have liked. She previously had been coping by just doing less, and mentioned that her life was just getting smaller and smaller due to her inability to live life to the full because it would cause all her conditions to flare up. When I saw Mary last she seemed very happy and optimistic, she sounded like she felt in control of her health again. She had just come back from a long hike and was able to live life to the full again.

Homeopathic medicine is natural, and in 200 years of use has proved to have no side effects or interactions with western medicine. The remedies are cheap, costing only $10 for a month’s supply.

If you would like an appointment for Homeopathy in Geelong you can use our easy  Online Booking System here. We're open till 9pm on weekdays and Saturday
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All You Want to Know About Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)

25/8/2021

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What is Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)?

Eczema is a skin condition where an itchy rash develops on certain areas of the skin, or over the whole body. It is typically a chronic (long term) problem and can vary in severity from small patches to covering one's entire body. Eczema is most common in children but can occur in people at any age, and may be accompanied by asthma or hay fever.
The symptoms of eczema can vary widely from person to person, but they can include:
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By OpenStax College - Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/
  • Dry skin that may crack
  • Itching
  • Red, brownish or white patches on the skin
  • Small raised bumps, which can bleed or weep when scratched
  • Thickened scaly skin
  • Raw, or bleeding skin from scratching

​Eczema is not contagious and can not spread to other people or other parts of the body through touch. Healthy skin helps retain moisture and provides a barrier to protect the body from bacteria, irritants and allergens. With eczema this barrier can break down and leave the body more susceptible to infections etc.

What Causes Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)?

Eczema is caused by a combination of the immune system, genetics, environmental triggers and stress. The immune system can over-react to irritants in the diet or the environment and this overreaction can cause inflammation of the skin. Although not much can be done about  genetic factors, there are some things you can do at home to help the situation.

Some foods that can commonly contribute to eczema are dairy products, strawberries, chocolate, citrus fruits, and wheat products. While different people can be effected by different foods, the only way you can really tell if any of these foods is aggravating your skin, is by cutting these foods out of your diet for a period of 2 weeks and see if there is any improvement in your symptoms. If there is significant improvement after removing these foods from your diet you can introduce these foods again one by one and see which one is responsible for irritating your skin.

Since there is a lack of moisture in eczema prone skin, it can be helpful to avoid soaps, and instead use moisturizing body washes (or no soap at all), and frequently moisturize your skin. I share my recipe for my Intense Moisturizing Ointment for Super Dry Skin you can make at home here.

Stressors like teething, becoming run down or catching a cold may play a role in causing eczema flare-ups. 

To get the best results for clients with eczema, Louis targets the problem from both directions. Homeopathic medicine can help correct the over-reaction of the immune system as well as changing the way your body responds to stress, allergens and irritants, so the actual internal cause of eczema is addressed. Then  intense moisturizer can be applied to help the skin recover now that the internal cause of the problem has been relieved.

When to seek Treatment for Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)?

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Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW) By Heidi Akselin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101700845
Eczema needs to be controlled to avoid skin infections, however initially when eczema first starts it's probably worth just applying moisturizing creams to see if that remedies the problem. Heavier creams, ointments and intense moisturizers are the best options because they stay on the skin for longer, lotions are absorbed too quickly and then the skin becomes dry again. Applying moisturizers after a warm bath is good because the pores of the skin open up and 200-300% more cream can be absorbed by the skin.

When my daughter had severe eczema I tried every cream there was, and even tried making a few different ones, which over the years I tweaked and improved. What the hospital recommended was similar to Vaseline but I found although it kept the skin moisturized for longer, it did 
nothing to improve the health of the skin. My homemade Intense Moisturizing Ointment for Super Dry Skin (which you can download the recipe for free right here) was full of nutrients from natural ingredients, and it kept my daughters skin moisturized longer than anything else we tried. Because there was nutritional content in the cream, the skin actually benefitted significantly more from having this cream applied and she experienced faster healing. It is certainly worth trying to make up this cream, as unlike any other cream we could find at any pharmacy, this home-made one has no chemicals or toxins in there - it is actually fully edible.

Doctors typically prescribe steroid creams for eczema, which can be very effective at relieving the eczema rash, but in many cases because the cause of the eczema is not addressed, once the steroid cream is stopped the eczema soon returns. Also when steroid creams are used for an extended period of time they can cause Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW - see picture above), which is where people get eczema like symptoms when they attempt to stop using steroids because their skin has become addicted to the steroids. The steroids can actually end up causing eczema symptoms worse than the original eczema symptoms. There are also a lot of more serious side effects of long term steroid usage, especially if taken orally.

For people who would like the cause of their eczema addressed, homeopathy can be very good at improving the general health of the body so that long lasting relief can be experienced. Also, in cases where even strong steroids or medications are not able to control eczema, because it works in a different way - homeopathy may help.

Homeopathic medicines are safe for everyone including pregnant women and newborn babies. In over 200 years of use there has been no interactions with western medicines and these natural medicines also have no chemical side effects. In England 42% of doctors actually refer their clients to homeopathic care, and homeopathy is covered under their NHS (Australia's Medicare equivalent). The Queen of England uses homeopathy, which seems to keeping her well into old age, as well as the entire Royal Family having used Homeopathy for 3 generations.
​
​You can download our Health Proforma Here, then book an appointment for Homeopathy in Geelong with Louis using our easy online booking here, or call 0430 795 666.

Why Louis Learnt Homeopathy...

In 2019 my daughter had very severe eczema. She started to get it a few months after she was born (2016), and with steroid cream from our GP we managed to control it. As she got older it became more and more severe. We were given stronger and stronger creams to control it but despite these stronger medications, over time it seemed like we were loosing control of the situation and I was beginning to panic. I tried a skin specialist, pediatrician, allergen specialist, accupuncture, kenisiologist, lazer accupuncutre, bowen therapy, natropathy, dietition, and every cream under the sun yet apart from steroid creams nothing helped significantly.

​We had kind of worked out over the years which foods aggrivated her condition, and we avoided those, but in the tests with the allergen specialist some of these even 
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My daughter when her eczema got infected and went to hospital
came up clear! None-the-less even after avoiding all her triggers she continued to get worse, until in 2019, when she was 3 years old, she ended up spending a week in hosptial on IV drips and strong medications because of her eczema, where it got infected. Her whole body was covered in eczema and even though I tried everything I could possibly do (my life revolved around it) with strict diets, moisurising 3x a day, steroid creams 2-3x a day, bleach baths 2x a week, wrapping her up in wet bandages and pyjamas to go to sleep in, to try get the moisture back into her skin, I really felt sad and defeated that I could not let my little girl feel better. It was the worst feeling you could have being a parent.
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My Daughter wrapped up in wet bandages and moisturizer to sleep in after her bleach bath in hospital.
​We had a pediatrition assigned from the hospital who was lovely, but all she could do was prescribe the strongest steroid cream (which we were already using) and just said we are not using enough steroid, we needed to use more. A skin specialist said the same, we needed to apply more steroids, and even gave us a prescription that the pharmacist even questioned us about and said 'Do you know this is known to cause skin cancer?' Luckily we didn't use that particular cream and didn't give up trying to find a solution. We started seeing a famous homeopath in Melbourne and my little girl started to heal. The amount of steroids she was using would have caused a normal person without eczema to get Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW) symptoms, similar to eczema symptoms if they suddenly stopped, and so over time we managed to ween her off of the steroid creams.
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​6 months after we tried homeopathy this is what she looked like.. It was a bit slow to begin with, and we had to try a couple of different medicines, but there was progress. After 6 months of treatment with the homeopath we were at the point where her skin was clear, and she had totally weened off of the steroids and bleach baths. We still had to be careful about what she ate but her skin was clear! Over time she just got better and better - and can even eat chocolate now (one of her triggers).... and like her treating homeopath said, 'a life without chocolate is not worth living!'

..... So after having ran a busy Bowen Therapy clinic since 2015, I decided I needed to learn homeopathy to be able to help other people with problems like my daughter, so other families can have a happy ending too! :)
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All You Want To Know About Hay Fever

12/10/2017

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What is Hay Fever?

Hay Fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, is an allergic disorder due to an exaggerated immune response to pollen and other such substances in the air. Hay Fever is considered to be hereditary in nature. People with eczema or asthma are more prone to developing Hay Fever.
Hay Fever symptoms include violent sneezing, itching and painful nose and throat, coughing, watery and itchy eyes, ear pressure and fatigue.
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What Causes Hay Fever?

When one inhales dust, pollen or other such particles, the immune system treats them as dangerous foreign substances, causing the body to release histamine and leukotrienes, which inflame parts of the nasal passage, eyelids and can trigger sneezing.
All these symptoms are meant to protect one’s body by either trapping or expelling the allergen. At times, the closure of nasal passages may block sinus drainage openings, causing sinusitis.

Treatment for Hay Fever in Geelong

Hay Fever treatment is best managed with prevention. There are some effective measures you can take early on before spring arrives that can prevent later hay fever outbreaks. You can learn about these in my free online program for hay fever.
​Once spring has arrived, if one is aware that they are allergic to seasonal pollen, they can try to reduce outdoor activities at that time of the year. 

Bowen Therapy can also be used to relieve hay fever. Some researchers have found that the nervous system may play a significant role in hay fever sufferers. This may help explain how the Bowen Technique, which works with the fascia and nerves of the body, can help relieve hay fever symptoms.
Often clients have reported substantially reduced hay fever symptoms after Bowen Therapy treatments, and in some severe cases, Bowen has helped to make life a lot more comfortable, especially for those whom have had limited relief from medications.


You can read Reviews from Louis's clients here, or Book Online here for a Hay Fever Treatment in Geelong using Bowen Therapy..

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    Louis Attard
    ​Dip BT, Bach Comp. Sci

    Local Bowen Therapist.
    ​Clinics in Grovedale and Breakwater, Geelong
    Victoria, Australia
    ​Ph. 0430 795 666

    After hours & Weekend Appointments Available
    Click to BOOK ONLINE

    Whilst I believe it's excellent to be involved with your own health, it's important to know only medical doctors can perform a medical diagnosis. 

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