| If homeopathy here in the
United States has a leader at all, it has to be Dana Ullman! Chances
are the first book you bought on homeopathy was by Dana Ullman.
Chances are the first introductory course you bought on tape was
by Dana Ullman, and chances are the first time you ordered books
from a homeopathy catalog was from Dana Ullman's Homeopathic Educational
Services! The books Dana has written include, Everybody's Guide
to Homeopathic Medicines, Homeopathic Medicines for Children
and Infants, and Homeopathy A-Z. There are 7 books
in all. As a matter of fact, Dana created the curriculum in homeopathy
for Andrew Weil's Program in Integrative Medicine at the University
of Arizona! Unfortunately, Dana couldn't be with us today. Ha! Just
kidding!
Dana, you've written a book about treating
children with homeopathy. I find it hard to convince parents that
their children aren't being as well-served by their pediatrician
as they might think! Do you have any suggestions on how to talk
to parents about homeopathy?
"First, do no harm" was Hippocrates’ most famous
words, and they are particularly important in the care and treatment
of infants and children. Most people don’t know it, but most
conventional drugs are tested on adults, and then, doctors estimate
(or guess-timate) the appropriate dosage for children on such crude
measures as a child’s weight. Worst still, in the United States,
approximately 20% of pediatric visits leads to a prescription of
more than one drug at a time. Once a second drug is given to a child,
the doctor is not prescribing based on any research at all because
the original research was not conducted with multiple drugs. Further,
the doctor doesn’t know the interactions of the drugs together.
The fact that so many conventional doctors are experimenting on
our children is truly horrifying, and yet, few people and few doctors
are sounding the alarm.
It is quite fascinating that so many children are fearful of their
doctor, and I believe that these children are more sensitive and
aware of the problems that doctors are creating than we adults realize.
It is quite rare for children to experience this same degree of
fear when they enter the office of a homeopath.
The number one reason that parents bring their children to a homeopath
is because homeopathic medicines are so much safer than conventional
medicines.
The second main reason that parents bring their children to homeopaths
is that children respond so well to homeopathic medicines. You can
really change a child’s life, both physical and psychologically,
with the correct homeopathic remedy. And you can help make a parent’s
life much easier and much better.
I should also mention that I have a special place in my heart for
pediatric care. My father is a pediatrician, and I am a father myself.
In preparation for fatherhood, I wrote Homeopathic Medicines for
Children and Infants, which is the most popular guidebook in America
for teaching parents how to treat their children with homeopathic
medicines.
How do children respond to homeopathic remedies?
Children respond extremely well to homeopathic remedies, even when
the perfect medicine is not always prescribed. It is as though the
intelligence in their body is so high that their internal radar
is scanning for any energetic medicine that is even close to being
the best one. Famed astronomer Johann Kepler once said, "Nature
uses as little as possible of anything." The fact that children
respond so well to homeopathic medicines is one further example
of this.
I wish I had known that before consuming
an entire bowl full of chocolate mousse. What was I thinking? Anyway
Dana, the homeopathic interview with children, what is that like?
I call homeopathy "Dragnet medicine," named after the
popular American detective television show from the 50's: Who, what,
why, where, when?—these are the questions that chief detective
Sgt. Joe Friday continually asked. "Just the facts, ‘mam"
is what he insisted upon—he didn’t want any theories,
only facts.
I talk to the child as much as possible, and only later do I talk
with the parent.
I watch the child, both in the waiting room, as she or he approaches
me, and throughout the interview. I have a lot of respect for children,
and I try to show them this respect by talking directly to them,
and usually in a quite adult fashion. If they are at least four
years of age, I can carry on some type of interview with them. If
so, I ask them:
- What hurts the most?
- What things make the pain worse and what things make the pain
better.
- What other "hurts" they have and things make these
worse or better.
- I then do a "body scan" in which I list a specific
part of their body, and they tell me if they have been having
any symptoms with that part of their body.
The following questions help me understand the child him or herself.
I ask them:
- To describe themselves a couple of years ago.
- How might their brothers and sisters describe them.
- How would one of their friends describe them.
- How would one of their enemies describe them.
- These questions help the child to distance him or herself from
their reply in order to provide a more accurate answer.
- I ask them what is the worst punishment their parents could
ever give them.
For children who can’t talk, I observe them and ask many
of these same questions to the child’s parents. I also ask
them:
- What does your child seem to value most?
- What emotions does the child seem to experience and how is
it expressed?
- Tell me about the pregnancy and labor.
|