HOMEOPATHY AND DIETARY CURBS

TAKING MEDICINES, THE RIGHT WAY

It is mandatory that one should not touch homeopathic medicines while taking them. Taking the medicine on the palm before consuming should be avoided as handling the medicine may reduce its potency as well as purity by exposing it to unhygienic conditions.

Further, it is recommended that patients must refrain from eating or drinking anything 15-30 minutes before or after the intake of homeopathic medicines. That is simply a matter of timing and has nothing to do with avoiding the intake of a particular food product for a lifetime. The reason for this gap between eating or drinking and taking homeopathic remedies is based on how homeopathic medicines work. The underlying principle is somewhat similar to that of recording body temperature.

For example, there could be times when your doctor may have asked you to record your early morning body temperature as soon as you wake up, by placing the thermometer beneath your tongue. The doctor makes it clear that the temperature must be taken before you eat anything or even before you rinse your mouth with water. This is done because eating or drinking anything before taking body temperature may provide false temperature results. A similar logic applies for homeopathic treatment as well.

Homeopaths recommend that one has to keep the medicine on the tongue so that it comes in contact with the nerves. Homeopathic medicine, as many of us know, is absorbed through the tongue and the inner lining of the mouth [buccal mucosa]. This is one reason why some homeopaths suggest that you should not to eat anything for at least 15 minutes before or after taking the medicine so that the tongue has nothing else that interferes with the absorption and action of the medicine.

MEDICAL RESTRICTIONS

It is recommended that while on a course of homeopathic treatment, patients should avoid strong flavours such as mint, including toothpaste, coffee, or camphor. Black coffee acts as an antidote to homeopathic medicines. Certain acidic foods should not be consumed in case a person is suffering from hyperacidity diabetics should refrain from having sugarbased foods; and people intending to lose weight, should naturally avoid sweets and high carbohydrate diet.

One should not smoke, chew tobacco, or drink alcohol, while taking homeopathic medicines, as they may have a nullifying effect on the medicines. But these are, in any case, harmful for health, so their avoidance should not be considered specific to homeopathy but rather a general health or treatment guideline.

Besides this, there are hardly other dietary restrictions in homeopathy. You can continue your normal lifestyle, consume what you like and regain your health the painless way through homeopathy without worrying about excessive or rigid dietary restrictions.

TAKING ALLOPATHY ALONGSIDE

If you are a high blood pressure, diabetes, or epilepsy patient, and if you are taking certain allopathic medicines, it is not advisable to stop them abruptly as you may encounter problems. However, once you start responding positively to homeopathic treatment, your homeopath will advise you to taper, if not give up, your allopathic medicines.

Allopathic medicines are often palliative or suppressive. For example, if a patient with a headache takes a painkiller, his symptoms would get masked and, therefore, his homeopath would be unable to suggest an appropriate prescription for his headache. While homeopathic medicines expel toxins, certain allopathic medicines tend to only suppress their effects rather than cure them. Therefore, it is better and safer to take homeopathy alone.

In case of ayurveda, most of the medicines, like homeopathic medicines, have the same source; only the preparation differs. Thus, it is better to inform your doctor what ayurvedic medicines, along with its contents, you are taking. If those medicines react adversely, your homeopathic practitioner may advise you to restrict the ayurvedic medicine.

Certain strong tasting and smelling food products or stimulants [e.g., coffee, onion and garlic] should be restricted for some time before and after every dose of homeopathic medicine. However, total abstinence is not at all necessary, as these may have become a natural part of your diet.

It is, however, imperative that certain dietary restrictions as cited for diabetics and hypertensive patients are a must due to compelling medical reasons. In such instances, things that could aggravate the condition should be restricted, until the person responds to the homeopathic line of treatment. One may restart consuming them once one responds to homeopathic treatment with the approval of your doctor along with regular monitoring.