Homeopathy in the Philippines

Poverty rules the lives of a small village on the side of Mt Mayon, an active volcano in the Philippines. As “chance” would have it an Australian man has set up a charity to help the people of this remote community. They live in primitive conditions with open fires for cooking, squat toilets, and pump water for their daily needs. 

The Charity founder is one of my patients, here in Australia, who has personally felt the benefits of homoeopathy. He invited me to go and treat these people and I am about to return for my 6th trip in just over a year.

The simplicity of case taking and the speed of cure can be seen in the following cases. I believe that treating those living in third world countries is like going back to the times of the Old Masters, where the obstacles to cure were not as strong. My interpreter Sarah and I limit ourselves to 22 patients a day.

CASE 1

Jo Jo had lost his brother 2 weeks previously from tuberculosis (TB). His mother died from TB when he was a teenager. This young man presented with extreme weight loss, as well as loss of appetite, high fever with saturating night sweats, and yellow green phlegm, which is difficult to cough up. He had pain in his stomach, green diarrhoea, and he vomited mucous in the morning. I treated him initially with Ignatia 1M and Arsenicum album 30 in liquid dose to use when his breathing was difficult, and asked him to see me the next day. He did not turn up so we walked to his home. 

When we arrived late morning, he was too weak to walk to see me - a 2 minute walk. At this stage, the amount of mucus that he vomited in the morning was reduced, sputum was slightly less, and he had a non-productive dry cough, which was wet in the morning. He had a slight return of appetite, the fever had gone, and he was now breathing better. He was still unable to sleep and had profuse perspiration and loose stools. He was, however, starting to feel better. I gave him Tuberculinum 30 and he was still taking the Arsenicum 30 in liquid, as needed.

The following morning, he came with his x-rays. The results were active TB, pneumonia, and calcification all through his lungs. When I examined him, his breathing was easier, no vomiting, no sweat or fever, and he had an appetite. 

My first visit was on the 30th May 2010, and on my last visit, in November 2010, he had no further problems with his lungs, he was putting on weight, and looking for work. He asked for more Arsenicum 30, as it immediately clears his lungs.

CASE 2            

Mariel is a young woman who had developed an infected finger, which was black and ulcerated. She is using a cream that is suppressing the suppuration; I asked her to stop  using the cream. There is little pain and only a slight itch. When she stands, she has vertigo with the room spinning around her.  

I had given her a few pills of Arsenicum album 30C and Calendula mother tincture to bathe her finger. This was the result 4 days later: the ulcers that were forming did not eventuate and had disappeared. A discharge started and the skin that was becoming purple stopped doing so. The vertigo disappeared.

These are the follow-up photos 12 weeks later. Once again, proper management could have given her back full movement but we are only there for 2 weeks then gone for 6 weeks or more. With correct physio there was a chance this woman’s finger could have returned to normal. Without homoeopathy, I believe she would have lost her finger, as further ulceration was apparent.

CASE 3

Ludivico is a man in his early thirties, who was diagnosed with diabetes and advised to have his foot amputated. He told me that he was born with 2 feet and that he would die with 2 feet. He had no symptoms of diabetes. He stands in water that is contaminated with buffalo manure and has no sterile water or bandaging. All through his treatment, his external conditions remained the same. He presented with his left foot badly swollen, painful, and infected. He covered it with local herbs, which slowed down the infection but did not improve the wound.  He could only sit, since walking was extremely painful. 

He returned 3 days later, after taking Calendula 200C twice. We told him to keep the wound moist with Calendula mother tincture, as often as he could. He stopped using the herbs and the swelling had reduced and he proudly hobbled around, bearing weight on his foot.

5 weeks later, he had run out of calendula pills but was still bathing with the mother tincture. The swelling has gone, the wound is smaller and the pain has greatly reduced.

CASE 4

Monica is 71 years old and has had a stroke one month ago. When she came to us, she had to use the walls for support while walking. She is weak, dizzy, and has double vision. When she walks, she feels as though she is going to fall over, her eyes weep all the time. Her feet are numb, she has constant pain in her shoulders, and numbness in her right arm and both legs. When she walks, she can only shuffle. We tried Arnica, then Phosphorous with no benefit. One dose of Nux Vomica 30C cleared the vision within minutes, the strength and movement improved before our eyes. Her eyes still wept. We changed the medicine to Conium 30, 6 weeks later, which gave more strength to her arms and legs.

Now, 4 months later, her right arm is good, the numbness in her feet is gone, she freely walks around the village with no limp or shuffle, her thinking is clearer. Her eyes still weep and are blurry, which are the only remaining symptoms. Great improvement from being house-bound to becoming an active member of the community. 

CASE 5

The first time we saw Rowena was on the 9th of October, 2010. She was unable to sit in her mother’s lap due to loss of strength; if the mother let her go she would slide to the floor. She has a hereditary disease, which her sister suffered from but was cured by conventional medicine. Unfortunately, Rowena did not respond to conventional treatment. It is obviously a disease of the central nervous system, as the weakness increased until she could no longer walk or hold her head up. She can raise her arm to give you a ‘high five’ and she can partially lift her head, but it flops down again.

I gave her Phosphorus 30 in dilution to take weekly for 6 weeks until I returned; the Phosphorus also matched her vibrant happy nature. I increased Phosphorus to 200 and eventually to 10M. She can now walk a dozen steps unaided, not with a lot of control but she is strong enough to walk. She can walk around the house holding onto the walls, she can sit in a chair unaided, hold her head up by herself and is starting to feed herself. She can now play with her sisters on the floor and is much stronger in every area of her body.

CASE 6

Azia is 21 years old and has come with a mammary gland abscess on the right breast. This is her second pregnancy and the first child is 6 weeks old. She walked in holding her right shoulder 6 inches higher than her left due to the pain; any movement, even breathing, increased her pain. The right breast was three times the size of the left breast and there was an open wound half the size of the breast. There was little discharge, just a burning, sore pain. I gave her Bryonia 30C and advised her to expect a discharge later that night. Within a minute. her breathing eased and the breast started to discharge green pus; it was literally dripping from the breast and she was pain free. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed this was possible. As long as she repeated the Bryonia, the pain eased and disappeared. She was told to keep the wound moist with Calendula mother tincture, as often as she could.

I saw her the following day and we talked a little about her life. Her mother had died when she was 7. Her father remarried and Azia said that no one could replace her mother. I believe this was the causation for the abscess, just as she was about to become a mother again. Natrum muriaticum 1M helped the healing.

4 days later, we took the first photo and instead of pus dripping it was milk. You can clearly see the milk in the photo. Here again, there is no sterile water for bathing, no bandaging, just calendula mother tincture. We now changed the medicine to Calendula 200C every other day, three doses. The first dose of Calendula reduced the pain immediately.

I wonder if we might have been able to reduce the scarring had we stayed and continued the treatment. We first saw her on January 20th; the second photo was taken by my interpreter on April 15th. She had only had the few pills of Bryonia, Calendula, and Nat-mur, as well as the mother tincture.

CASE 7

Demarie, aged 12. Her complaint was an enlargement of the heart. There was a family history of heart problems, with an aunt also suffering from this complaint. She had a constant sniffle and sore throat. She fainted easily from loud noises, fright or exertion. When she arrived, she was a sullen little girl. She could not walk anywhere or play with her friends, as she tired easily. She often missed school as it was too much for her.

With Syphillinum 1M the sniffle disappeared within minutes; her colour and breathing also improved.

Four months later, a bright, happy child came for a cold after getting wet. I did not realise she was the same child. She has no problems with her heart, she has the same energy as any child of her age; she no longer faints and does not have the constant sniffle.

Three and a half months later, she is still thriving. She is the brightest girl in her school and has been given a sponsorship for high school. This child has a wonderful future, whereas before homoeopathic treatment, she had no quality of life and no chance of a job, as she would never have finished school.

Photos: Felicity Nutting