Phoenix Homeopathy

Modern life

In the last 200 years, the Western world has changed beyond recognition, yet our nervous systems haven’t had time to evolve to cope with increased, prolonged stress. The pace of life is faster, we’re surrounded by noise and stimulation, subject to man-made electro-magnetic influences, often living in crowded cities among strangers who might turn on us at any moment, and far removed from nature. As a species, we’re not used to living like this, so it’s no wonder that we often feel jittery, unhappy, fearful or ungrounded.

Fight or flight

William Bloom’s core energy management techniques can help. In ‘Feeling Safe’, William explores the effect of modern day stresses on our body’s tissues, explains why telling yourself to ‘pull yourself together’ simply won’t work, and provides exercises and tips that we can all use to take ourselves out of potentially harmful longterm ‘flight or fight’ body chemistry.

Drawing on observations of how wild animals respond to stress, and touching on taoist principles that he calls ‘holism’, William’s book is a guide to managing the stress and anxiety of modern day living.

Easy to read

William’s a gifted group facilitator and teacher (I was lucky enough to join his group for a New Year’s retreat a couple of years ago), and the book is written in William’s accessible style.

Buy your copy by clicking here.

Deaths from medicines soar

As the modern pharmaceutical industry has grown, so deaths from conventional medicines have soared. According to a special report in The Independent newspaper, experts estimate that, at any one time, 5,600 UK hospital beds area occupied by patients suffering from drug reactions, at a cost to the NHS of over £450million a year.

We all know that orthodox medicines can be a life-saver, although they often help suppress the symptoms rather than tackling the real root cause of illness. But too often, for hard-pressed GPs with too many patients and too little time, they’re the first port of call, even before a proper diagnosis has been made.

A case of drugs before diagnosis

A member of my family recently developed severe menstrual problems and some double vision. Blood tests revealed that levels of one hormone were excessively high. From the clinical presentation, doctors were understandably convinced that she had a pituitary tumour, and strongly advised that she start taking Bromocriptine (Parlodel) straightaway, a heavy-duty drug used to treat Parkinson’s, with an enormous list of side effects (69% of patients taking the drug experienced some side-effects), including nausea, abnormal involuntary movement, hallucinations, confusion, dizziness, drowsiness, faintness/fainting, vomiting, asthenia, abdominal discomfort, visual disturbance, ataxia, insomnia, depression, hypotension, shortness of breath, constipation and vertigo. Nice.

Not wanting to risk upsetting her body chemistry unless and until she found out that this treatment was the only, and an essential, treatment option, and unwilling to take a drug like this on an unconfirmed diagnosis, she quite rightly insisted on an MRI scan to find the suspected tumour and confirm the diagnosis, first.

She had the scan, no tumour was found, and doctors now consider that the high hormone level is probably due to polycyctic ovary syndrome, meaning that Bromicriptinene would have been entirely the wrong drug for her to have taken, and she would have unneccesarily risked serious side-effects.

Find out if you’re at risk

Deaths from adverse reactions from suspected adverse reactions to prescription drugs has more than doubled in the past 10 years, so if you’re taking conventional medicines, especially if you’re taking more than one, or are elderly, make sure that you know what side-effects to look for and let your doctor know if you suspect your drugs are making you ill.

And if you’d like to discuss finding a natural way to get your body back into balance, contact Phoenix Homeopathy.