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A few useful remedies in pregnancy, labour and the first few days of the babies' life

1988; Elsevier BV; Volume: 77; Issue: 03 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0007-0785(88)80076-0

1476-539X

Kathleen G. Priestman,

Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin Pregnancy

Only a few of the many homeeopathic remedies which are helpful in the above conditions can be mentioned here. It must never be forgotten that a patient will respond best to her constitutional remedy, but the following remedies have been used many times with great help to the recipients. A trio of remedies, Sepia, Natrum muriaticum and Phosphorus, have a great reputation in this field. Dr Newport, in his Bertram Foster Memorial Essay for 1964, mentions that Phosphorus was the one he used most frequently, whereas I think I have used the other two more frequently than Phosphorus. Sepia patients are often tired, depressed and dull, indifferent to their appearance, where before they had taken care; they have a sort of 'don' t care' or 'can' t be bothered' attitude, because everything is too much trouble, even getting a meal for their husbands at night. They are liable to severe headaches, worse near the menstrual period, and they are likely to complain of nausea which is better for eating. Hard exercise helps them, and they are usually very happy dancing, which they not only enjoy but it makes them feel better physically. Sepia is one of the remedies which help in vomiting of pregnancy, the really early morning sickness, when the patient wakens with faintness and nausea, and if kept in bed and given some breakfast will soon feel much better and continue all right for the rest of the day. During the later months of pregnancy, the patients may be troubled by a feeling that the baby is very low, they get almost afraid everything will fall out before the time of the birth. Sepia helps conception where it may have been difficult, and where there is a tendency to miscarriage particularly in the middle months of pregnancy. In appearance Sepia patients tend to be sallow with a rather greasy skin, and sometimes a yellowish or brownish 'saddle ' across the bridge of the nose, and there is a liability to recurring herpes or cold sores round the lips and mouth. Natrum tour. patients are tense and withdrawn people who find their relaxation alone, sensitive to music; people who feel deeply, and tend to brood over sad happenings, who are deeply hurt by emotional stresses--but who want to bear them alone. They weep in solitude, and get very angry at attempts to console them, except by particular people. There is either a craving or an intense dislike of sal t-in my experience more often the former, and often a dislike of bread which gives them indigestion. Like Sepia, Natrum tour. patients are very subject to extremely severe headaches, but these are not usually so closely related to the menstrual period as in the Sepia patient. Characteristically, the headache is throbbing, and starts on waking and often with visual disturbances. The pain increases till midday and then begins to decrease. In appearance Natrum tour. patients also have a greasy skin, often a rather sallow complexion, a tendency to herpes round the lips and mouth, and sometimes a deep crack in the centre of the lower lip. (Sepia may have cracks at the corners of the mouth.) In the field of midwifery I have found Natrum mur. most helpful where there is difficulty in conception, and I know of quite a number of children whose start in life was due, ! am quite sure, to a dose of Natrum tour. in a high potency being given to the mother. Also, like Sepia, Natrum rnur. patients may feel as if the baby is very low, and suffer from severe backache which is eased by hard pressure into the lower part of the back. Phosphorus, the third remedy in this valuable trio, suits tall, thin, sensitive, imaginative people with fine skin and hair, people who are full of nervous fears, of the dark, of thunder, of being alone, of being ill. They have an intense dislike of wind, and a tendency to haemorrhages. Patients requiring Phosphorus have an unusual desire for ice cold things--ice cream, iced dr inks--and if they are not well there is a