Book Review – Homeopathy in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

Written by on August 30, 2020 in Book Review, Homeopathy with 0 Comments

Title: Homeopathy in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

Author: Michael Frass and Martin Bundner (Ed.)

Publisher: Narayana Verlag

Year: 2017 (2nd English Edition)

Book cover imageThis book is somewhat unique in that it shows, through a good number of cases, that homeopathy can be used alongside allopathy in treating serious disorders in intensive care and emergency. There are a total of 145 cases, of which 41 pertain to Intensive Care and the remaining 104 pertain to Emergency.

The authors are all doctors, with some of them having a formal degree in allopathy. To my pleasant surprise, the book includes contributions from three Indian homeopaths, Dr.Farokh Master, Dr.Jayesh Dhingreja and Dr.Edacheril Scaria Rajendran. A majority of the cases discussed in the book are presented by the editors themselves.

The entire material is divided into 4 sections. Section 1 provides the necessary background and covers the following topics: 

– Using homeopathy in clinical setting

– Important points to consider when using homeopathic treatment as an adjuvant in intensive medicine

– How to administer the remedy

– Choice of potency and repetition

– Combining conventional and homeopathic medicines

– End-of-life care

– How are homeopathic remedies made?

– A comprehensive table of homeopathic remedies typically required in ICU

Section 2 discusses various disorders pertaining to Intensive Care. The categories covered under this heading are

– Infectious diseases

– Disorders of Haemostasis

– Heart, circulation and blood vessels

– Lungs

– Kidneys

– Gastrointestinal tract

– Perioperative care

– Toxicology

There is a separate chapter for each of the above, starting with a good overview and followed by actual cases.

Section 3 is about Emergency medicine. It includes the following categories:

– Traumatology

– Cardiovascular emergencies

– Lungs

– Gastrointestinal emergencies

– Intoxication

– Neurological emergencies

– Psychiatric emergencies

– Gynaecology and obstetrics

– Urological emergencies

– Thermal emergencies

This section also follows the same structure as Section 2. It is nice that the editors have chosen to include even “Psychiatric emergencies”. I found the cases in this chapter quite interesting. 

The various cases presented in the book all have the following structure:

– Anamnesis

– Acute event

– Diagnosis

– Conventional treatment

– Homeopathic treatment

    • Repertorisation
    • Differentiation between remedies
    • Prescription
    • Progress

This structured presentation helps us to understand the context and the reasoning behind homeopathic prescription. In certain cases, as can be expected, the first prescription did not work well and additional repertorisations were required.

It is to be borne in mind that in situations as the ones described in the book, detailed case taking (sometimes lasting a few hours!) is not practical and one has to act swiftly and prudently.

Regarding repertorisation, different repertories are mentioned, including Kent’s Repertory, Complete Repertory, Synthesis, and even Card Repertory!

Section 4 contains a brief Materia Medica of the various remedies used in the given cases.

As you can see by now, this book contains a wealth of information on a wide category of Intensive Care and Emergency treatments involving homeopathy as an adjuvant system and where homeopathy has definitely proved effective. This makes the book quite special and one that all homeopaths must have in their bookshelf. I fervently hope that at least a small percentage of allopaths get a chance to read this book and understand how they can adopt homeopathy to get better results. The editors’ statement “One particular aim of this book is to deepen the dialogue between practitioners of conventional medicine and homeopathy” deserves to be taken seriously!

I have two other books in this category and both are worth reading:

1) Homeopathy for Acutes and Emergencies: A Practical Guide, R.S.Pareek and Alok Pareek, Narayana Publishers, 2012.

2) Homoeopathy in Emergencies of Medicine, J. Benedict D’ Castro, B.Jain Publishers, 1997.

Have a nice weekend!

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