How to stay Healthy with Homoeopathy is the most uncomplicated manual on homoeopathic treatment ever designed. It is an easy to refer book for the householder; for the health conscious busy executive; as well as parents who do not want their children to suffer from the side effects of medicines normally administered. Homoeopathic drugs, if correctly chosen, have no side effects. It is a book on healthcare for the cost conscious. Quality homoeopathic drugs are made in India and are readily available in the smallest town at an astonishingly low cost.

The book provides the reader with immediate medical advice at home. Even in emergencies, a patient can be looked after until appropriate medical counsel is available. In most cases, the latter is not necessary.

Chapters on the human body are arranged, for easy reference, in order of the location of the part starting with the brain. Each chapter has its own alphabetical index of symptoms and sickness.

The chapters begin with an illustration of the body part, followed by a short write-up. Suitable and easy to act upon instruction on personal care of that part follow.

Clear advice has been provided on dosage and potency in acute as well as chronic problems.

A unique feature is the way in which differentiation has been made, by highlighting in bold letters, symptoms that distinguish one medicine from another for the same sickness.

Instructive chapters based on the latest research have been written on 'Hypertension', 'Smoking' and 'Alchoholism'. There is an exclusive chapter on 'Children' and the problems related to them.

The chapter 'A short circuit to selection of Remedies' with 'A Repertory for Instant Reference in Home, Office and for Travellers', is self-contained and can be your constant companion.

Preface

It was a chilly December morning of 1979. A liveried bearer brought a tray with my morning tea and biscuits to the veranda of my room at the Secunderabad Club. He also brought red roses in a vase and laid the tray and the flowers with the sophistication and expertise of a man used to doing even such an ordinary chore with finesse.

In that instant, something happened. I exclaimed to my colleague who was sitting, something happened. I exclaimed to my colleague who was sitting in the chair opposite, "Avatar, I can smell the roses! My sinus has bee cured."

"What medicine have you been taking?" Avatar asked excitedly.
"Pulsatilla 30," I answered.

Both of us were familiar with homoeopathy and its medicines in a rudimentary manner. I told him how since my childhood I had suffered from a blocked nose, a bland discharge of yellow-green mucous and how no other system of medicine had been able to cure me of my chronic cold.

I had chosen my medicine on my own after studying the available books on homoeopathy and filtering one medicine after another according to my symptoms until I zeroed on Pulsatilla 30. It was fifteen days since I had started the treatment. This morning I could smell the fragrant roses, a faculty denied to me for years because of a stuffed nose.

The discharge from my nose had stopped a few days earlier. I continued taking the medicine for a few days more because mine was a chronic problem. The return of the sense of smell proved the efficacy of the medicine beyond all doubt.

Since childhood, I had suffered from chronic dysentery, mostly mucous, at other times with blood. Large ayurvedic mixtures prescribed by the Raja-Vaidya at Patiala did not help much. In later years, drugs given by the doctors in the Central Government Health Scheme helped but a few days later the symptoms returned.

In 1976 when I started taking an interest in homoeopathy, I searched for a cure for my chronic dysentery. I selected Merc Sol 200 as the medicine that suited my symptoms. Seven days and twenty-eight doses later, the chronic dysentery disappeared, almost never to return with any severity. Now, although rarely, whenever I sense the symptoms making a show, one or two doses of the medicine are all that is required.

Early morning in May 1980, I was awakened by my friend, S.R. Jha, commissioner of Income Tax, Bombay, who had come to attend a conference in Delhi. "R.K., can you come with a doctor to our guest house to look at S.Y. Gupte who has been vomiting and running to the toilet every few minutes?"

I was with Jha and Gupte in fifteen minutes.

"Where is the doctor?" asked Jha.

"I have the medicine. Gupte should take it now. I shall sit and watch for an hour. If I fail, we need hospitalization for which arrangements have been made."

I administered a does of Veratrum Alb 1000 to Gupte, a dear friend. His retching stopped. Soon, he was fast asleep. In the afternoon, to my surprise, he arrived at the conference room at Vigyan Bhavan.

The number of such stories is endless. Every homoeopath has his repertoire.

However, the roof of the pudding lies in eating.

Try for yourself. Start using this book. Persist with the effort at differentiating the symptoms and their remedies. The rewards are handsome.

I do not want to make any tall claims for homoeopathy. It does not cure malady. However, for that matter, which system does?

No surgical procedures are available in homoeopathy. No pathological laboratories work for the homoeopaths. No sonography. Neither 2-D echo nor angiography. No MRI. No Ct scans.

Yet, there is substantial relief available in homoeopathy for hundreds of ailments. Try Apis 200 or 1000 in cases of severe eye inflammation, whether Trachoma or Conjunctivitis. Relief sets in no time. Administer a mixture of Cimicifuga 200, Bryonia 200, Bryonia 200, and Cicuta 200 to a person suffering from Cervical Spondylosis. He will soon bless you.

Homoeopathic medicines are inexpensive. They have no side effects. They are easily available. This book makes their choice easy if you can identify the symptoms precisely.

To perform this feat you do not have to be a trained doctor. If you carefully go through the subchapters under various body parts where I have described the symptoms in detail, even at the cost of repetition, you will soon learn to identify the symptoms your patient is exhibiting. Once you have reached that stage, the choice of the medicine is automatic.

For instance, for chronic sinusitis when the mucous is flowing outwards, Pulsatilla is the remedy. Where ropy, tough, green mucous flows inwards, Kali Bichrome is the medicine of choice.

Blood dysentery requires Merc Cor30. Mucous dysentery responds to Merc Sol 200. Mucous dysentery with pain in the thighs can be tackled with Rhus Tox 200.

I have highlighted the distinctive symptom that can identify a remedy throughout the book. These are manifestations apparent to our senses. None can have a problem in understanding them.

I have pointed out when you need urgent medical advice. Do not ignore these warnings. Our purpose is to alleviate suffering. Whatever system is best suited and at hand, ought to be used.

I reiterate that anytime you are in doubt about either the nature of the sickness or you face difficulty in zeroing upon symptoms, please consult a qualified physician or surgeon as the occasion demands.

This book has been organized in a user-friendly manner. Symptoms and remedies are given under the various body parts in sub-chapters titled with the common nomenclature of the disease or sensations life pain, burning, and sweating or even body parts such as thighs. A reader can reach his problem by looking at the chapter index.

The section on Materia Medica deals in detail with forty-seven carefully selected remedies. This part is valuable reading for anyone who is interested in understanding the core of the homoeopathic system. For an exhaustive study of Materia Medica refer to books written by J.T. Kent, Dr. William Boerick or Dr. E.B. Nash mentioned in the Bibliography. All these treatises and many others are a source of priceless information. For me, reading these books has been a rewarding experience.

Please read Dr. Samuel Hahnemann's Organon of Medicine, often. He was a pioneer, a genius and a great writer. He had the courage of his convictions and explained his theories of homoeopathy boldly and fearlessly to a disbelieving fraternity of doctors.

I acknowledge my debt to Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, and to other great pioneers like Dr. C. Hering, Dr. T.F. Allen, Dr. J.T. Kent, Dr. William Boerick, and Dr. E. B. Nash. Their learned writings have been an inspiration.

For selection of symptoms, I have taken guidance from whatever original sources I could tap. There is an unavoidable reliance on original symptoms as recorded by the "Provers" and tabulated by Dr. S. Hahnemann, his colleagues and successors.

I have suggested a list of remedies that can be kept handy in every home. Another small list of remedies that can be carried by a traveler on his journey inland or abroad will be found at the end of the book.

An interesting section in this book is 'A Short Circuit to Selection of Remedies/A Repertory for Instant Reference in Home, Office and for Travelers.' This provides you with the essence of the book in a few pages. Make a copy and carry it with you wherever you go to work or for pleasure.

I believe that homoeopathy is a significant system of healing within its limitations. It is suited to all, the old, the young, the rich or the poor, men or women, people in developed countries or in the underdeveloped ones. India, the United Kingdom, most European countries, Latin American countries, use homoeopathy on a vast scale. The USA, where the system flourished a hundred years ago, is catching up.

Besides being inexpensive, homoeopathic remedies give relief fast. If in an acute case you do not get relief within a reasonable period, please recheck your choice of remedy. In a chronic case, the chosen remedy takes time to take effect.

My reply to those critics of homoeopathy who say that homoeopathic medicines cannot be tested in a laboratory is, "Every day they are tested in millions of effective doses in the human body, the most complicated laboratory designed by nature. Is that not enough evidence of the efficacy of the system?" May be one day we will have tools to scientifically test the efficacy of the minute homoeopathic dose. Until then let doubt not assail our faith in a proven system of healthcare.

In any case, homoeopathy has outlived its detractors for two centuries. Everyday it grows stronger! That is reason enough to raise a homoeopathic toast to the health of mankind.

In the making of this book my daughter, Bindu has helped me tirelessly with reading and suggestions. It was a labour of love. I record my thanks and appreciation.

My editor at Rupa, Sanjana Roychoudhury, has edited this book with her customary smile and dedication. Our interactions on e-mail have been thought proroking and invariable fruitful. I express my gratitude to her.

My publisher, and his son Kapish Mehra have taken immense interest in this project. So has Mrs. Mehra. She is barely interested in Homoeopathy. Sincere thanks to all there of them.