again about family planning

[roya a.ahmadian]

hello list

At first I wish to thank the members who spent their time to read my

letter and answered me,but I still have this question where the place

of family planning is in homeopathy.when patients ask us does

homeapathy agree with family planning or not,we must say,homeopathy

is the way of curing the patients and do not have any work with health

problems.Is there anyone who help me in which essential text of

homeopathy I can find my answer.Should we refer the patient to

allopath for tubal ligation or vasectomy.Are the barrier methods

natural way?

with best regards.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Dave Hartley]

Stated very plainly-

You cannot safely or reliably prevent conception with homeopathy.
You CAN consider homeopathy as being potentially very useful where
conception is desired, but not attainable.

You should do your own research probably, on other methods of contraception,
but from my own research barrier method is probably the one with the least
potential for negative side-effects (other than the aspirin [between the
knees] method)
Dave Hartley
www.Mr-Notebook.com
www.localcomputermart.com/dave
Seattle, WA 425.820.7443
Asheville, NC 828.285.0240

[Tanya Marquette]

as homeopaths, we also represent many other walks of life. and as such our practices will be varied--we bring all of ourselves to our healing work. i believe you need to figure our your personal position on these things. i know homeopaths who can sit impassively as a patient searches for answers and i know others who recommend all kinds of options or referrals. i think what is most important, is that you be clear with your patient as to what is homeopathy and what is not. personally, i have no problem in discussing patient issues on many levels. and consequently, i have no problem in suggesting others that they might seek out, or book they may read for information that is beyond my ken. i do feel that as a healer, my role is to be supportive of their entire life process.

so to answer you question simply, if family planning is an issue for a patient, i would want to know if there is an aspect of the situation that would be responsive to homeopathy and then work with that, and the remainder would need a different approach

tanya

[Rosemary Hyde]

This is an interesting issue.

First, a healthy person who has sexual intercourse when the woman is fertile
will have a baby. That's not a symptom or illness. Trying to use
homeopathy to disrupt that healthy response would amount to purposeful
action to disrupt the vital force. So in my opinion, homeopathic treatment
is not a valid option for contraceptive purposes.

I think tubal ligation and vasectomy are undoubtedly going too far for many
people.

Barrier methods that are temporary are one relatively natural way to avoid
contraception.

The Fall 2002 issue of Amer. Journal of Homeopathic Medicine actually
includes a review of a book called "Taking Charge of your Fertility,"
undoubtedly available from Amazon or similar sources for $23.95 US. Its
author is Toni Wechsler, MPH. Its benefit is that it presents a natural way
for couples to determine when the woman is actually fertile, based on
attending to patterns of cervical fluid emission, waking temperature and
cervical position. It works much better than the "rhythm" method either to
prevent or to encourage conception, because it's based on actual observation
and not hypothesis. And it works with the vital force, not against it. The
reviewer, Jacob Mirman, MD, DHt, CCH..., ends his review by saying, "Taking
Charge of your Fertility provides a great guide to understanding human
fertility and natural birth control. It is well written and easy to
understand for medical professionals and lay people alike. It is an
invaluable tool for all serious homeopaths and should be a part of all
office libraries."

Rosemary Hyde

[jpgregorich@aol.com]

You may consider Natural Family Planning. It seems to be the least invasive
method, but requires daily tracking of temperature and/mucousal changes. See
the book by Nona Aguilar "The New No-pill No-Risk Birth Control" for details.
ISBN 0-89256-300-1. This is a particularly useful method for clients who may
have a philosophical or religious disinclination to use the conventional
methods.

[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Roya,

One thing you can always offer is information.
Methods such as "the pill", which use hormones to disrupt the natural cycle,
can definitely cause problems, and are not really compatible with any sort
of "holistic" treatment, including homeopathy. That said, some patients may
find it unacceptable to stop using this method, becauase it's so convenient
and effective. In that case it is their choice, you can only offer the
*information* that this may present health issues, and/or may make their
homepathic treatment more difficult. (But in some patients it seems to work
out okay, at least in the short run?)

It's been my understanding that barrier methods are less apt to cause
problems, tho of course they have other disadvantages.

Someone mentioned Natural Family Planning -- for the woman to become
familiar with her cycle, and learn to recognize when she is or is not
fertile. This is powerful information to have! But has the drawback that
part of the natural cycle involves having the woman be most interested
and receptive when she is most fertile. Unfair, huh?

Whatever method a couple chooses, there will be compromises, and the choices
must be theirs.

Hahnemann did not (so far as I'm aware) address any issues such as whether
it's wrong to prevent conception, or whether a couple "must" produce lots of
children, or whether a couple has a duty to *not* produce too many children,
or any of those issues. He did, however, speak about "obstacles to cure",
which could include things such as use of hormones or toxic substances. For
some people (man or woman) abstinence can bring on problems. For some
people there are religious issues involved -- behaviors which are acceptable
and effective to some people, may be proscribed for others.

So you see, it's a complicated question!
I think what a homeopath has to do when asked about this subject, is invite
the person to explain what it is they would like to know, or like to
accomplish, and try to understand what the main issues are. Work out some
possibilities that might be acceptable to the couple, then choose from among
them. There isn't any one-size-fits-all answer to this one, sad to say!

Best wishes,
Shannon
on 11/21/02 5:32 AM, tanya marquette at tamarque@frontiernet.net wrote:

[Sara Klein Ridgley PhD]

Tubal Ligation: We have seen a strong correlation between tubal
ligations and cancers. I would definitely counsel against it.

There is a really simple and effective method, similar to the cervical
fluid examination (which is very effective as well) to find out peak
fertility. It uses the saliva. There are several models, more and less
sophisticated. All work very well and give the 'window' of fertility.
This can be used for both purposes: to conceive if that's what the
couple wants, or to avoid intercourse if pregnancy is not desireable.

Here are some links to this system:

http://www.zetek.net/
http://www.craigmedical.com/ovulation_saliva.htm

I hope this helps someone.

Sara

Rosemary Hyde wrote:

[Dave Hartley]

I had a friend who worked at "Planned Parenthood" a nurse-practitioner
(legally works with only the most minimal supervision of physician) whose
professional opinion was that the method in this book is far from "no risk"
in terms of the risk of unwanted pregnancy (of course Planned Parenthood
*is* in the business of dispensing pills)

I have had a partner in the past become pregnant when she was (probably not
properly) following the book's instructions.

My take on it is that it is not exactly no-risk, and that it requires
religious attention to detail... thus practiced, & combined with abstinence
&/or barrier method it could come 'close' to 'no risk'
Dave Hartley
www.Mr-Notebook.com
www.localcomputermart.com/dave
Seattle, WA 425.820.7443
Asheville, NC 828.285.0240