Case 24: Valley (Medicinal) of Flowers: An Introduction
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2006
Dr Zubin P Marolia
'Pine

Health is a wonderful possession. It does not last forever although most of us assume it will. It is not until we lose our health that we seek diligently to regain it. Health is a "State of physical, mental and spiritual well being".

The fast paced life that we all live today disturbs the physiological equilibrium in our body, stressing our body time and again. Not getting complete sleep, over exerting, late office hours, fighting time to complete a certain project, rushing to catch a train, no time to eat proper food, these are some of the common stressors that we face daily. Our emotional state contributes a great deal to our well being eg getting offended or feeling hurt very easily, feeling sad due to the death of a near and dear one, thinking about past unpleasant memories, feeling desperate or despondent that all our efforts have been wasted or a feeling of uncertainty, hesitancy in your life.

Thought Patterns: The mental thought patterns that cause the most dis-ease emotional stress in the body are anger, resentment, insecurity, guilt. Anger turns into things that boil and burn and infect the body - Infections. Resentment long held festers and eats away at the self ultimately leading to tumours - Cancers, Guilt always seeks punishment and leads to Pain. We all know that the above mental states are all very common and occur daily in our lives. If these thought patterns are balanced by Positive Mental Attitude eg happiness, forgiveness, security, a sense of achievement and fulfillment then the impact of the Negative thought patterns is minimized.

Changes in our body under stress
Sudden emotions such as fear, anger or excitement stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal glands into instant action leading to the following changes:

·         Increase in heart rate and cardiac output

·         Increase in blood pressure

·         Increased rate of ventilation (breathing)

·         Breakdown of glycogen to glucose in liver leading to increased blood sugar.

Stress also initiates a release of the hormone 'Cortisol' by the adrenal glands which leads to stimulation of protein catabolism.

Interestingly when primitive humans were faced with emotionally exciting or physically demanding situations they had to be prepared to fight for their lives or to run to save themselves. This required action and placed demands on the body. The sympathetic nervous system enabled the heart and lungs to supply oxygen and nutrients to the body cells. Cortisol- the hormone enable people to forego eating for a lengthy period of time. The increased blood glucose levels and amino acids released by protein catabolism assisted in providing energy to the body. However urban civilization has made this Fight Or Flight Response obsolete whereas the autonomic nervous systems response remains the same. Thus it becomes virtually impossible to relieve the tensions within the body as the vigorous activities needed to neutralize hormone secretions is not possible.

How negative thought patterns affect health
A close friend of mine was suffering from a 'Stiff neck'. On taking the history I discovered that the neck represented being flexible on issues, turning in all directions, willing to see different sides of a question. This person was a very inflexible person often having a very 'rigid' viewpoint of life. This rigidity had manifested as a stiff neck. You might seem surprised at the co-relation that I have just given. Following examples will substantiate my view point. The above patient was given a Bach Flower Remedy understanding his mental rigidity and his stiff neck was cured. This brings us to a new therapy which understands human Emotions, Feelings, Thought Patterns and their resultant effect on the body. This is called as the Bach Flower Therapy.

Fears: One of the most common fears experienced is fear of examination in students or of animals, of heights.
Remedy: Mimulus.

Panic - Sudden Shock: A patient once came to me with ‘Acute headache’ which began after he came to know that the building in which his family was staying had collapsed and many family members died.
Remedy: Rockrose - Sudden Panic/Fear.

Impatience: We normally face many people who are extremely impatient, hurried in all their activities, wanting to do many things in shortest possible time. This stresses the body leading to many problems like acidity etc.
Remedy: Impatiens

Lack Of Confidence A chronic arthritis patient with osteoporosis was interviewed by me. Note that bones represent 'support' in our body. Weakness in our bones (Osteoporosis) can be due to lack of calcium but it also stems lack of support that we experience in our life. She told us that she did not have the confidence to do the smallest of tasks and relied on some support from her family.
Remedy: Larch

Hatred, Jealousy, Envy A very common human emotion which plays a major role in breaking human relations. A patient once came to me with a chronic sharp pain in the throat. During the interview it was revealed that she was jealous of her sister who she thought was getting better things in life resulting in a feeling of hatred towards her.
Remedy: Holly

Uncertainty, Discouraged Feelings There are people who are easily discouraged when things go wrong and difficulties confront them. They become sad and pessimistic towards life. Many of the cancer patients experienced this feeling when they feel the treatment is failing.
Remedy: Gentian

A Feeling Of Disgust - Self Dislike A young boy had massive scarring of the face due to pimples. These eruptions were filled with pus and they looked very ugly which resulted in a state of extreme anger and irritability in him. The family could not understand his changed mental state which affected the boy’s academic performance. On interrogation I concluded that there was feeling of disgust and a strong dislike in this boy which lead to his state of anger.
Remedy: Crab-Apple. It has cleansing action on the body, soothing unpleasant ugly thoughts about oneself.

Exhaustion A brain tumour patient had worked very hard from a young age, taking responsibilities of the entire family, through extreme financial difficulties. He was completely exhausted in mind and body, drained of all his strength.
Remedy: Olive

Bitterness, Resentment A hypertensive patient had conveyed to me strong feelings of 'Bitterness' in his life due to broken friendship, broken love, harboring these strong negative feelings - blaming others for his mis-fortunes - a deep resentment.
Remedy: Willow

Desperation A mother once came to me with a acute constipation and pain in rectum while passing stool. She was having severe difficulties with her daughter, who would not listen to her, back-answer her and a physically handicapped son with many health problems. She was a divorcee and she felt that despite all her efforts nothing was working for her. She had even attempted suicide and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Remedy: Cherry-Plum

Change In Life Any change in our life like change in occupation, change in house, change in relations or a change in our physical body - teething, puberty, menopause etc. can bring about difficulties due to lack of adjustments.
Remedy: Walnut.

Emergency Or First Aid Remedy Any emergency like acute pain, injury, accidents, panic, burns, fracture, before medical aid arrives, the rescue remedy helps in comforting and supporting the body. It is worthwhile to have a bottle of this remedy in the house.
Remedy: Rescue

Bach Flower Therapies are not used to change any persons nature but only to heal the mind and the body so that the harming effect of negative mental state is abolished.

A patient has to undergo a full LIFE interview which is done by Homeopathic Doctors wherein every aspect of human life is understood. Such a sensitive interaction is needed so that the emotions and feelings are properly understood.

If this article awakens within you the ability to contribute to your own healing process to strengthen your mental attitude about life, to rejoice in living. it would have served its purpose.

Healing With Bach Flower Remedies

Case 1: A Case Of Recurrent Viral Fever
A young boy, seven years of age, was suffering from high fever, 103-104o F every 2 to 3 months along with upper respiratory tract infection. He was put on heavy antibiotics for the duration of the fever which would only control the attack but after 2 months, the fever would recur. The parents did not want any further antibiotic and therefore consulted me. The full history of the young boy was taken. He was a very sensitive, obedient and a highly conscientious person. He would obey everyone, do his homework daily, pray regularly. Too good a child. As the family entered my consulting room, the boy held the door open for both his parents then he came in after them.. He greeted me "Good Morning Doctor" and opened his book and started studying. His mother then told me that he was so sensitive that if he missed even a small portion of his homework, he would cry, feel bad, "Guilty" wakeup at night and finish it. He would be honest to admit to his teacher sometimes that he had not done the homework with his full concentration. If he did not listen to his parent's instruction he would immediately say "Sorry".

 This state of heightened conscientiousness was the main stress factor in this young boy. Remedy: "Pine" - - Extremely conscientious nature with a feeling of guilt. It was given in daily doses for a mth.

The fever hasn't recurred since the past three years.