Trauma is defined as either a physical injury and/or a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Trauma is dependent on the constitution of the individual, what is deeply traumatic for one may be insignificant to another. Trauma can include physical injuries, emotional shocks and exposure to toxins such as chemicals, vaccines and medications at any point in the individual’s life, including the unborn child during pregnancy.
Physical trauma
I remember getting my fingers caught in a refrigerator door lock as a child. Just thinking about it now still brings back memories of the pain and worse, the shock of feeling my fingers being squished by a cold, metal vice. I screamed bloody murder! Physical trauma always affects the mind as well and injuries can trigger shock and even death. On a couple of other occasion in later years I injured my fingers and actually fainted. I think we can all relate to incidences like this.
Homeopathy has a lot to offer for physical trauma and the shock that goes with it. Hypericum perforatum, knowns as St. John’s Wort, when prepared homeopathically, can be a great remedy for nerve injuries. Crushed fingers, injured tail bones and pain from dental procedures, even years after the original injury can be magically relieved. I’ve cured many cases of chronic pain in the tailbone from falls or childbirth with Hypericum over the years, a most reliable remedy for this kind of mishap.
Arnica montana, a remedy made from a little yellow flower is one of the most popular homeopathic remedies for injuries of all kinds. Most health food stores and pharmacies now carry it. It’s great to have on hand for falls, bruises and even more serious conditions such as heart attacks and comas, although in such cases I do recommend calling a professional.
Emotional trauma
Homeopathy also offers many remedies for emotional trauma. Fright, grief, anger and jealousy can all be traumatic to an individual if the emotions are strong and long-lasting. Suppressed emotions can affect us even more.
I remember a case of a woman who had a very high fever as a child, causing delirium and hallucinations. She ‘saw’ someone attacking her mother in the kitchen with a knife. This created such a shock to her system that she was in counseling for years after and was still affected when I saw her at age 32. A few doses of Belladonna, a remedy made from Deadly Nightshade, used for treating high fevers with delusions, were very helpful to her and would have been to her as a child.
One of my first MS patients who had been suffering for five years and was progressively getting worse was brought into almost instant remission with a remedy called Natrum muriaticum, a homeopathic preparation of table salt. Careful case-taking revealed that she had developed the disease shortly after her brother died very unexpectedly, which was incredibly traumatic for her. She had not been fully able to express this grief and it had somehow settled into her system triggering the MS.
I saw her occasionally for the next 15 years and the MS never came back, amazingly. I had only been in practice for a year and was extremely surprised by this result, having been told that MS was incurable. Natrum mur is one of our big grief remedies in homeopathy.
Infections
Infections can also be traumatic. Some people never feel well after a bad case of Mono of even the flu. A homeopathic preparation of the infection in question may help. Infections can also affect the brain and behavior; for example it is known that some people can develop severe anxiety after strep infections, which can look like post-traumatic stress disorder. The person may suddenly develop intense anxiety, panic attacks and become obsessive compulsive. Antibiotic therapy can be useful as well as diagnostic but may not totally clear the patient. In a case like that it may be helpful to use a homeopathic preparation of strep bacteria to ‘reset’ the system. Constitutional homeopathy would also be indicated.
Medication and chemicals
Exposure to chemicals, including those in pharmaceutical drugs, environmental toxins and pollutants can also be traumatic to the organism due to their toxic effects. Tylenol is well known for its ability to cause liver failure. I have seen several children who developed autism in part due to Tylenol exposure. One child actually ate a bottle of Tylenol at age three and almost died from liver failure, then developed autism afterwards.
Recent research on the effects of Tylenol examined the link between circumcision and autism. Circumcised boys were more likely to develop the condition. The culprit: Tylenol, used to manage the pain of the procedure.
Vaccines
Vaccines can also be traumatic to the developing nervous and immune system in a susceptible individual. Vaccines not only include weakened viruses or bacterial fragments or toxins but also formaldehyde, antibiotics and aluminum salts. Infectious agents alone can trigger auto-immune reactions and aluminum salts used in vaccines have been shown to do the same.
Fortunately there are homeopathic remedies prepared from all of these vaccines and medications to help. I have seen many children with autism, sensory processing disorders, anxiety, sleep-walking and chronic infections recover with these special homeopathic remedies.
One little boy under my care developed eruptions around the injection sites of his 12-month MMR and Varicella (chickenpox) shots within a month of the injection. After another month the eruptions had spread to this whole body and a few weeks later he started to bang his head, lost his speech, developed black diarrhea and only wanted to eat milk and meat. I started treatment with a homeopathic preparation of the chickenpox vaccine and he began to recover within days. Total healing involved clearing many other substances from his body, including other vaccines he had as well as addressing inherited predispositions, but nearly two years later he is a strong, happy and healthy young boy.
If you or a loved one have been traumatized in any form, homeopathy may be able to help you.
Anke Zimmermann, BSc, ND, FCAH
