A natural alternative to asthma medication

As I mentioned last week, Moses’ lungs have been clearing. Yay!

But, Moses still needed extra help with his breathing twice this week (which is waaaay better than 6 times a day or more when it was at its worst). I’m excited to share that we discovered a natural alternative to his Ventolin puffer. We’ve been using RespirActin, which is a natural supplement that helps relieve breathing difficulties.  It contains purified water, rosemary, honey, witch  hazel, fenugreek seed, black seed, ginseng powder, damiana leaves, marshmallow, sage, juniper berries, chamomile flowers, clover, spearmint, cinnamon, thyme and potassium sorbate.

I’ve known about RespirActin for several years and have used it myself in the past, when I have experienced severe asthmatic symptoms (which, fortunately, isn’t very often — I can only remember two times needing it in the last 10 years). Due to Moses’ sensitivities, we hadn’t felt comfortable giving him this supplement since we didn’t know if he could tolerate all of the ingredients.

I know things have really changed because DH came home from the Natural Health Shop with this supplement (typically DH is the one who is reluctant to try something new). And Moses often doesn’t like the taste of many supplements, but happily, he liked the taste of this one, plus he told us it was more effective than his Ventolin puffer.

We’re sooooooo happy to have a natural alternative to use at home. We’ll get one for his dayhome as well.  I’ll have to find out if his school would be open to using it rather than his Ventolin puffer (I kind of doubt they will be since they only administer prescription medication, but I’ll find out…)

During his reflexology appointment this week, Kim detected some “fullness” in his lung points as well as his adrenal gland on his left foot, so I think he’s still clearing things through his lungs.

Healing angels

Well, it’s miracle week at Momastery, so I want to share a miracle of my own.

Last night, Moses was having a rough night. He was having difficulty breathing (maybe having a difficult time adjusting to this May energy). He needed his ventolin puffer again and again and again. I was afraid that we were going to need to bring him to the ER.

Moses was in bed with me and I silently prayed to God and the support of the Spirit world to help heal my son and to bring him ease. It was 2 am at this point and Moses was tossing and turning. Then, he sat up. I asked him to lie down and go to sleep.

He replied, “But look at all of the angels in this room. There are hundreds of them!” He laughed with delight.

“Wow — look at what they are doing — I love that they are coming together and forming the shape of the earth. Oh, wow, and now they are forming the shape of a snake*. Look at them coming in through the door. That’s funny because they don’t need to use the door — they can fly right through the door. Look, there are some behind me. They are all over the place. Look, they can fly!” He exclaimed with amazement.

He wondered which angel was his Grandpa Joe, and figured that Grandpa Joe was in Moses’ bedroom, where DH was trying to get some sleep. “Grandpa Joe is in my room, talking to Daddy in his sleep because Grandpa Joe is Daddy’s Daddy”, he explained.

Moses wished the angels a goodnight and he slept soundly for the rest of the night. This morning, he needed two more puffs of his Ventolin puffer, but was in good spirits and better health for the rest of the day.

A tangible and answered prayer. An everyday miracle.

* As a side note, snakes symbolize physical healing.

Life is getting easier – Round 4

We are in the middle of Round 4 of the Heilkunst treatment. During this 6 week period, Moses is being treated for month 2, 4 and 6 vaccinations (DTaP-IPV-Hib), and I am being treated for the ultrasounds that I received during my pregnancy with Moses, and in a week’s time I will be treated for the emotional trauma involved in the ending of my first marriage. (Typically, each round is 4 weeks, but we’ve been choosing to make our appointments every 6 weeks).

A week after starting this round of homeopathic remedies, both Moses and I had a healing reaction around the same time. Again, mine showed up as extreme fatigue and being in fog-like state. Moses showed up in his lungs. We gave him his ventolin puffer several times and it didn’t help his breathing, and he started coughing up phlegm. I was at the point where I was going to bring him to the ER, but called our Heilkunst practitioner first. She prepared three new remedies to help him through this, including one that contains the remedy for Tuberculosis (one of the chronic miasms, which often shows up in the lungs), one for Hib (the Haemophilus influenzae type B) and one to address his difficulty breathing. She thought that Moses was developing symptoms related to Hib, which was one of the vaccines that he was being cleared for. Moses’ condition was so bad that my plan was to pick up the remedies and then drive him straight to the ER. We left the house in such a state that I even forgot to put on Moses’ shoes and glasses!

I gave him the remedies right away at the health centre (in Moses’ case, he just smells them), and he immediately started playing with the toys in the waiting room. He happily played by himself for an hour, as joyful as can be (we stayed so he could play). By the time we left the centre, his asthma had subsided considerably (there was still a faint wheeze, but it was nothing compared to the state he was in before we left the house). The new remedies that were prepared for him worked at immediately reducing his symptoms and we averted going to the ER!

With the exception of our healing reactions, which are becoming less extreme, I’ve been noticing that overall, Moses is more content, less apt to be set off and have tantrums, and has been a joy to parent. Overall, I’ve been feeling less stressed, more content and less worried. This all makes sense as part of the Heilkunst treatment has also been treating our “emotional diseases”. There are four main ones: old grief, old fear, anger and guilt. I’m being treated for all four of the emotional diseases and Moses is being treated for all of them except for guilt. I have to say that I am really feeling their effect in that, I am starting to feel more and more unburdened by these emotions. And, the less that I carry these emotions, the less Moses feels them and the less we set each other off, in the vicious cycle that we were on. It feels as though we have found the key to turn the cycle the other way — we are now cycling towards freedom.

DH isn’t being treated with Heilkunst, but I’ve noticed that in the last week, DH has also been less reactive. We are all healing as a family.

The change is slow and subtle though. So subtle that DH isn’t convinced that Heilkunst has done anything. DH believes that the changes that we are observing  (i.e., Moses throwing less tantrums and being happier) is simply an effect of him growing older (he’s now 4.5 years old). Moses’ skin is still reactive (although when we saw his pediatrician last week, she thought that it’s better than when she last saw him 6 weeks ago), and his lungs are still reactive as well (though overall not as bad as it has been in the past). DH is back to giving him Flovent every night, and we are using his Ventolin puffer every so often.

Still, I am convinced that we are healing as a family. It may be more apparent to me since I’m also being treated by Heilkunst so I am witnessing how my inner world is changing as a result of the treatment. I am less in a constant state of worry and despair. There is more time and space for me to contemplate things like “what’s my purpose in life” and actually start putting the ideas into action. I’ve been teaching more Reiki classes and offering more energy healing sessions. I’ve been a happier and fuller human being, not just in survival mode.

This seems to be typical of adults who are treated with Heilkunst — that they start to get into alignment with their purpose in life and passions. A quote one of the posts from the Arcanum Holistic Clinic’s blog reads:

Further into Heilkunst treatment, I will often hear patients saying things like, “I’ve left my high tech position to be a birthing coach full time,” or “my marriage isn’t serving me any longer, I need to get out,” or “I’ve begun making healthy cookies and selling them to other Moms for their kid’s lunches,” or “I need to move to the mountains as I don’t resonate with the flat, cold climate of Ottawa.” Often when I ask these individuals about their initial symptoms, they’ve completely forgot about them (sometimes they are gone and sometimes not) but their relationship to them has wholly shifted. They’re getting on with the “higher purposes of their existence” by following the direction of cure, “from the inside out.”

I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us as we continue to heal from the inside out.

Heilkunst case study

I found a Heilkunst case study online.  Sam was 2.5 years old when he started his Heilkunst treatment. He had severe asthma, multiple food and environmental allergies and could only eat pureed liquids and foods because of severe reflux. After a year of sequential treatment and one round of chronic miasms, Sam no longer needed any medications, his asthma was long gone, he was eating solid foods and a varied diet, and he no longer had any food or environmental allergies. It’s a phenomenal recovery, in my opinion, but from what I can gather from reading other case studies, virtually everyone who undergoes a Heilkunst treatment demonstrates a significant change in health.

If you read the full case study, you can get a sense of how Sam’s various traumas were treated sequentially, how the chronic miasms were treated and what his healing reactions looked like during the course of treatment.

I’m at the point where there is no doubt in my mind that Heilkunst is working in our family, but it’s still confirming to read case stories such as this one, especially since Sam’s symptoms actually presented far worse than Moses’. Plus the fact that we are still in the beginning stages of healing — it’s encouraging to know the potential of what lies ahead for us.

Genetic predisposition and triggers for autism

The development of autism requires two factors: 1) a genetic predisposition for autism, and 2) toxic overload and other stressors that act as a trigger for autism (typically multiple vaccinations).

Or as one mom of an autistic child succintly put it:

Genetic predisposition + Environmental Toxins = Autism

1) Genetic Predisposition for Autism

According to McCarthy and Kartzinel’s Healing and Preventing Autism book, children with autism generally have families with methylation problems and/or auto immune problems. Examples of diseases and disorders that fall into both categories are listed below (from pp. 299-300).

Methylation problems

• dementia
• schizophrenia
• bipolar disorder
• autism, ADHD, ADD
• Alzheimer’s
• depression
• alcoholism (note: A scientific study has found that 39% of autistic children had alcoholism in the family tree.  I was very interested to learn this since alcoholism is actually within my family tree).
• constipation
• suicide

Auto Immune Problems

• Crohn’s disease
• Fibromyalgia
• Leaky gut
• Chronic fatigue
• Celiac disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• lupus
• multiple sclerosis
• diabetes
• MBP antibodies
• rheumatoid arthritis
• Addison’s disease
• Graves disease
• thyroid disease

Verspoor and Smith’s book, Autism: The Journey Back, also provides information about the Heilkunst view of inherited factors involved in autism in Chapter 6 of their book. In the Heilkunst view, there are eight main chronic miasms, which are archetypal chronic diseases that are hereditary and most people are born with to a greater or lesser degree :

• Psorinum (Psora),
• Malaria (Malaria),
• Tuberculinum (Tuberculosis),
•  Ringworm (Ringworm),
• Medorrhinum (Sycosis),
• Carcinosin (Cancer),
• Syphilinum (Syphilis),
•  and Lyme (Lyme).

These miasms are named according to their origins or how they were discovered. These chronic miasms generally lie dormant within us until they are activated by certain shocks. In particular, the sycosis and syphilis miasms are common miasms within children with autism and also with their parents. Signs of these miasms include: “a tendency to sensory disturbances, allergies, gastrointestinal problems, depression, obsessive compulsiveness, epilepsy, ADHD and strong anxiety” (p. 73).

Other diseases that are associated with the sycosis miasm include: Abscess. Acne. Alcoholism. Alopecia. Aneurysm. Anxiety. Bone pains. Compulsive disorder. Headache. Insomnia. Leukorrhea. Malignancy. Mouth ulcer. Neuralgia. Psoriasis. Scoliosis. Skin ulcer. Astigmatism. “Growing” pains.

Other diseases that are associated with the syphilis miasm include: Adenopathy. Alcoholism. Allergy. Alopecia. Amenorrhea. Arthritis. Asthma. Astigmatism. Autism. Behavior disorder. Bronchitis. Bruxism. Colds. Compulsive disorder. Connective Tissue disease. Croup. Enuresis. Flushes. Headache. Hodgkin’s disease. Hyperactivity. Lymphoma. Malignancy. Meningitis. Menopause. Mental retardation. Osteomyelitis. Pneumonia. Respiratory infection. Rheumatoid arthritis. Scoliosis. Sexual disorders. Systemic or discoid lupus. Tinea. Upper respiratory infection.

This information is from Annex A of Autism: The Journey Back, which is excerpted here. There’s also more information about the chronic miasms here. Dr. Luc also discusses the miasms and triggers that can lead to autism, based on a classical homeopathy approach.

(Note: Researchers have recently found a gene that predisposes individuals to both autism and epilepsy. One-third of individuals with autism also have epilepsy).

2) Toxic overload / stressors that act as a trigger for autism

If your family are poor methylators or have a history of auto immune disease in your family, or if the sycosis or syphilis miasms are present in your family, your child is at a high risk of developing autism with the stress of  major stresses on the body (e.g., vaccinations, toxic overload, major emotional shocks and traumas).

Generally in our society of multiple childhood vaccinations (30 vaccinations before children are five years old containing toxic substances [e.g., mercury, aluminum and other adjuvants]), the main factor that acts to trigger autism is frequent and multiple children vaccinations. I’ve compiled a list of other injuries that vaccines can trigger, including brain damage and death here. I’ve compiled a list of scientific studies that document that vaccinations can increase the likelihood of  brain damage, allergies, anaphylaxis, developmental disorders, asthma, gastrointestinal distress here. If you still wish to vaccinate, read some considerations and precautions that may reduce the risk of vaccine damage.

That’s not to say that vaccinations are the only trigger for autism. They are simply the main trigger for most children who have a predisposition for developing autism.

More reading: Read Dr. Mercola’s article, the Toxic Origins of Autism, which discusses both the genetic predispositions for autism, as well as toxic overload that trigger autism.

3) Healing Autism

I believe that children with autism can be healed through homeopathy (I highly recommended Heilkunst homeopathy), but I know that other parents have had success with classical, CEASE and sequential homeopathy. Some parents have also had remarkable success with biomedical treatments. In my opinion, a combined approach of homeopathy with biomedical treatments is the best and most effective course of action, especially for children who require deeper healing. Do seek a homeopath who has personally had success with treating children with autism. Stories of parents who are healing their children using homeopathy and biomedical treatments, including parents who have recovered their children from autism here.

Our story:

As I’ve mentioned before, my family has many of these risk factors, and in the Heilkunst view, the syphilis miasm runs strong in my family (and my husband’s family as well). In knowing what I know now, I thank God that we only chose to selectively vaccinate (oh, how I wish we could turn back the time and had completely opted out of vaccinating). I also thank our lucky stars that there was a guardian angel watching over us when Moses was one years old and the public health nurse actually refused to vaccinate him with MMR based on his history of allergies. The full story is here. I strongly believe that the vaccinations that he did receive were added shocks to his already sensitive and taxed system, and I strongly suspect that if he had received an MMR vaccination back then, we would likely be dealing with far greater health problems than we have been.

Both Moses and I are taking the syphilis homeopathic remedy (among others)  in order to start to heal this chronic miasm. After we are both done being treated for our history of traumas, we will be treated sequentially with each of the chronic miasms. Depending on how deep the miasms are in us (and I suspect with both of our histories, they are deep), we may need a few rounds of treatment for each of the miasms. When we are done this work, we will essentially be healthy (in body, mind and spirit). A month by month documentation of the story of my son’s healing journey with Heilkunst homeopathy is here.

Update (January 2012) – If you come from a “poor methylating” family, then I highly recommend Dr. Rob Keller’s Original Glutathione Formula, which  increases the body’s intracellular glutathione levels (both Moses and I have recently started taking this supplement). I have noticed a remarkable increase in my own mental clarity, emotional stability and increase in energy levels since I started this supplement four weeks ago.

Healing with Heilkunst – Round 1

We are seven weeks into our healing with Heilkunst homeopathy journey. I really feel like we are on to something, though we’re still in the initial stages of healing.

Essentially the homeopathic remedies remove the underlying causes of disease. The thing about it is that sometimes during the healing process things get worse before they get better. The mother who introduced Heilkunst to us cautioned me about this. After taking a particular remedy, her son regressed so severely that she was frightened by the process.  The Doctor of Heilkunst Medicine assured her that this was part of the healing process and he came out of it after a few days.

I’m very familiar with healing reactions from my experience with other types of healing (e.g., fasts, cleansing, Reiki attunements).  Sometimes things get worse before they get better.  I’ve heard the analogy of it’s like when you are washing out a caked-on frying pan — the pan seems to get a lot “dirtier” when you are scrubbing the pan, but within a few minutes, the pan is clean.

I was apprehensive about what “worse” would look like for Moses, but I also felt that if this process would help him, it would be worth it. We are still in the middle of Moses’ healing process, but I’ll share with you a bit of what the first few weeks looked like.

• Within days of starting the homeopathic remedies, his lungs cleared and we were able to take him off all his asthma medication (i.e., Singulair, flovent and ventolin).
• Within a few weeks, his stamina improved. He didn’t tire as easily from physical exercise and when we went on a family walk, he walked a good couple of kilometres (something he’d never done before as he always tired quickly).
• He developed a small cyst on one of his eyelids, but has now been reabsorbed and is just about gone.
• Within a week, his eczema got very bad. The worst it had been for a long time. But within a few days, it seemed to have a different quality than normal. I hoped that this was a good sign. His Heilkunst doctor assured us that his eczema was a cleansing reaction and encouraged us to allow his skin the opportunity to rid the body of the toxins that it was getting rid of. If we were to suppress it with corticosteroids, the toxins would seek another way to leave the body (i.e., through the lungs, which would then make his asthma worse). 
• Within a few weeks, his skin completely cleared up and was the best condition it had been in all his life.
• Within a couple of days of his skin clearing up, he developed bilateral pneumonia (i.e., the clearing moved to his lungs on its own), but thankfully, it was a mild enough case of pneumonia for us to treat him with antibiotics at home. (All of the other times, he was hospitalized when he had pneumonia). We also put him on an additional homeopathic remedy to help him heal from the pneumonia. Our Heilkunst doctor explained that the antiobiotics would slow down the process of the healing that the homeopathic remedies were doing, but she also understood that we felt the need to intervene with antiobiotics.
• Within a few days of being off antibiotics, the clearing moved back to his skin and his skin became enflamed.
• After about 6 weeks of using the initial homeopathic remedies, we had a follow up appointment with the Doctor of Heilkunst Medicine and she was prescribed a different combination of remedies to work on the next layer of healing.
• When we visited his allergist on Friday, his lungs were completely clear and she encouraged us to continue what we were doing (we didn’t tell her we were using homeopathics, but she knows that we are minimizing medications).  She was very happy with his progress. She thought he needed to be on an antihistamine for his skin, but we are not following this advice since we are wanting his skin the opportunity to move the toxins through and out.
• Moses is now in the middle of another healing reaction given the new homeopathic remedies that he is on. I’m hoping that he will pass through it within a few weeks. I’m feeling a bit more comfortable now that we have been through a few healing reactions, and are know a bit more what to expect. We are also encouraged that we are seeing other signs of health increase as a result of the remedies (e.g., his lungs clearing and stamina improving).
• One of the homeopathic remedies was prescribed for Moses’ night terrors. Within a few seconds after giving him a drop of this particular remedy, he is able calm down and come out of the night terror. It’s remarkable to witness.  The first time, I thought it was a fluke, but it consistently works.
• I’ve also started to see the Heilkunst doctor to work through some of my own “stuff”. Essentially, the remedies work on removing underlying issues related to EVERYTHING from a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. We will basically work backwards through time, removing the energetic imprints of the most recent “traumatic” events until we get to birth and the homeopathic remedies even help heal events that occurred before birth (such as our experiences during utero, karmic or even past life experiences).

I’m feeling very optimistic that we have found a path of healing that we really feel will help Moses. Even DH, who is more cautious about things, is open to this method and feels that overall, it is helping.

I think the conventional medical system is really great at some things (like saving people’s lives in life and death situations). But, I believe that the medical system does a very poor job of treating the underlying causes of disease. I’m glad to have found a few systems of healing (such as  Heilkunst homeopathy, shamanic healing and some other forms of energy healing) that treats for the underlying cause of disease.

I’ve read that for more complicated cases, it can take as long as 1-2 years to complete the first level of healing, although good improvement is normally noticed within 3 to 6 months. As always, I’ll let you know how things continue to unfold for us both.

To find a Doctor of Heilkunst Medicine where you live, there’s a directory here. There seems to be more of them in Canada than the U.S. (at least according to this directory). I know that some of them do distance work if there isn’t one in your area.