Have you or your family members including your pets ever been diagnosed with any chronic diseases? Have you popped pills as if they were candies? Have you been trying to recover rapidly but feeling weaker and more exhausted with every passing day? Every time you go to the physician, are you prescribed a different medicine for each symptom – and yet, you only seem to move 2 steps ahead and then backward – in a loop? Have you been referred from one doctor to another, to look at various parts of your body?

If yes, then it is a good idea to take a step back and introspect. What makes you ill?

As homeopaths, we approach diseases and patients a bit differently. We adopt a holistic approach where we listen and learn as much as we can to get to the root of the issue.

Your immune system is an important factor.

Instead of looking at any disease as one affecting your stomach, joints, hormones or as a myriad of external factors like allergens, viruses, bacteria, fungi and such, we approach it from inside-out – what makes an individual fall ill? Almost always, the immune system takes a hit before any infection or disease sets in. If your body lets its guard down, you fall sick. Which illness occurs, depends on environmental and genetic factors as well as the lifestyle of the individual (whether human or animal).

Well, what about allergies? Allergy is an over-active but misfired or altered immune response, unlike bacteria, fungal, or similar ones which occur due to deficient immunity. If your body adversely reacts to otherwise benign environmental substances, it is an allergy. Thus, your body’s immune system plays a significant role in allergies, as well.

Emotional stress and its impact on immunity

When we are under emotional stress, the body’s functioning and balance is disturbed – there can be alterations in the immune system, hormonal system, sense of wellbeing, nervous system, or mental health itself. How does this happen? This is a complex mechanism, but we know that each emotion is associated with biochemical changes in the body.

For example, when we are happy, our bodies secrete more endorphins and serotonin. When we are angry, we have more adrenaline, when are bonding with our pets we are typically having more oxytocin. For more on this, you can read https://www.amrita.edu/news/hormones-and-chemicals-linked-our-emotion. Each of these chemicals or hormones have a profound impact on the functioning of the body, impacting blood sugar levels, metabolic rate, blood pressure, immunity and sense of wellbeing, and so on.

Therefore, unless we address these biochemical changes, and also, importantly, why these emotional changes occurred, we cannot bring lasting cure or a solution to the disease. In order to do this, we understand the individual (both human and animal)’s nature, disposition, fear, preferences, etc., and also their life situation and incidents or events preceding the disease, whether it is acute issues like viral fever, tick fever or the body not healing from injuries, or chronic issues like arthritis, asthma or skin problems.

Hence, the next time you seem trapped in an endless cycle of visits to physicians, side effects from multiple medicines and yet not find a lasting solution, consider homeopathy, which will gently restore your body’s immunity and therefore, health.