British Homceopathic Journal July 1988. Vol. 77. pp. 172-173

A few useful remedies in pregnancy, labour and the first few days of the babies' life

KATHLEEN G. PRIESTMAN, MRCS, LRCP, MFHOM

Only a few of the many homeeopathic remedies which are helpful in the above conditions can be mentioned here. It must never be forgotten that a patient will respond best to her constitutional remedy, but the following remedies have been used many times with great help to the recipients.

A trio of remedies, Sepia, Natrum muriaticum and Phosphorus, have a great reputation in this field. Dr Newport, in his Bertram Foster Memo- rial Essay for 1964, mentions that Phosphorus was the one he used most frequently, whereas I think I have used the other two more frequently than Phosphorus.

Sepia patients are often tired, depressed and dull, indifferent to their appearance, where before they had taken care; they have a sort of 'don' t care' or 'can' t be bothered' attitude, because everything is too much trouble, even getting a meal for their husbands at night. They are liable to severe headaches, worse near the menstrual period, and they are likely to com- plain of nausea which is better for eating. Hard exercise helps them, and they are usually very happy dancing, which they not only enjoy but it makes them feel better physically. Sepia is one of the remedies which help in vomiting of preg- nancy, the really early morning sickness, when the patient wakens with faintness and nausea, and if kept in bed and given some breakfast will soon feel much better and continue all right for the rest of the day.

During the later months of pregnancy, the patients may be troubled by a feeling that the baby is very low, they get almost afraid every- thing will fall out before the time of the birth.

Sepia helps conception where it may have been difficult, and where there is a tendency to miscarriage particularly in the middle months of pregnancy.

In appearance Sepia patients tend to be sallow with a rather greasy skin, and sometimes a yel- lowish or brownish 'saddle ' across the bridge of the nose, and there is a liability to recurring herpes or cold sores round the lips and mouth.

Natrum tour. patients are tense and with- drawn people who find their relaxation alone, sensitive to music; people who feel deeply, and tend to brood over sad happenings, who are deeply hurt by emotional stresses--but who want to bear them alone. They weep in solitude, and get very angry at attempts to console them, except by particular people.

There is either a craving or an intense dislike of sal t-- in my experience more often the former, and often a dislike of bread which gives them indigestion.

Like Sepia, Natrum tour. patients are very subject to extremely severe headaches, but these are not usually so closely related to the men- strual period as in the Sepia patient. Charac- teristically, the headache is throbbing, and starts on waking and often with visual disturbances. The pain increases till midday and then begins to decrease.

In appearance Natrum tour. patients also have a greasy skin, often a rather sallow complexion, a tendency to herpes round the lips and mouth, and sometimes a deep crack in the centre of the lower lip. (Sepia may have cracks at the corners of the mouth.)

In the field of midwifery I have found Natrum mur. most helpful where there is difficulty in conception, and I know of quite a number of children whose start in life was due, ! am quite sure, to a dose of Natrum tour. in a high potency being given to the mother.

Also, like Sepia, Natrum rnur. patients may feel as if the baby is very low, and suffer from severe backache which is eased by hard pressure into the lower part of the back.

Phosphorus, the third remedy in this valuable trio, suits tall, thin, sensitive, imaginative people with fine skin and hair, people who are full of nervous fears, of the dark, of thunder, of being alone, of being ill. They have an intense dislike of wind, and a tendency to haemorrhages.

Patients requiring Phosphorus have an unusual desire for ice cold things--ice cream, iced dr inks--and if they are not well there is a

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Volume 77, Number3, July 1988

tendency for these ice cold things to be vomited as soon as they have got warm in the stomach. There is a tendency to be hungry during the night, compelling the patient to get up and get something to eat.

Phosphorus is a most valuable remedy for the more persistent and severe forms of vomiting in pregnancy, with the curious symptom that the vomiting is precipitated by putting the hands into hot water - - so note here the contrast with Sepia. The Sepia patient can be helped by having breakfast in bed, the Phosphorus patient by having someone to do the washing-up for her, particularly of the breakfast things! During preg- nancy the Phosphorus patient may develop a great aversion to tea, though she normally enjoys it. Phosphorus is also one of the remedies which help when conception is difficult.

Another remedy which gives valuable help to many patients is Pulsatilla, characteristically changeable in mood, weeps easily, laughs easily, a tendency to peevishness, and they respond to sympathy. They are most uncomfortable in hot stuffy rooms and very hot weather, and get real relief from walking in the open air. There is nearly always an intolerance to fats and rich foods, and a marked lack of thirst. During preg- nancy the most troublesome sympton is usually severe heartburn during the later months, and during labour Pulsatilla will restore good con- tractions when they are beginning to get feeble and the mother is getting tired. In the words of one of my own pat ien ts - -a few minutes after a dose of PulsatiIla 10M: 'I don' t know what you gave me, doctor, but I feel it has given me my courage back' , and 30 minutes later her first baby, a boy weighing just over 9 Ibs, was born. In a low potency, the 6c, given half an hour before the baby is due to feed, Pulsatilla will maintain a

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good supply of breast milk in many patients, where it is diminishing.

Caulophyllum has a justifiable reputation for giving a quick and easy labour, and may be given either as a low potency, say 3x or 6c, twice a day for the last two weeks of pregnancy. If it is given in a routine way like this there will always be some patients whom it will not help, but if given during labour, when the labour pains are defi- cient from lack of tone of uterine muscle, and the patient is becoming exhausted and fretful, strong contractions and a quick dilation of the cervix will follow.

Almost all women will get great benefit from a dose of Arnica 200 as soon as the baby has been born. It helps to prevent shock, control haemor- rhage, and take away the general soreness and weariness. The new born child after a difficult birth or a forceps delivery, will also receive great benefit from a dose of Arnica 200.

Many babies suffer from windy colic during the first few days or weeks of life, with periods of screaming which disturb their parents both phys- ically and emotionally, and a vicious circle of broken nights, tiredness and irritability may develop. Colocynthis and Magnesium phos. are both very helpful in this condition. The baby requiring Colocynthis gets a little relief from very firm pressure on the abdomen, and really screams from the acuteness of the colic and does not get rid of the wind easily. The baby requiring Mag. phos. needs warmth as well as pressure to get relief, and is constantly bringing up and pass- ing wind, though this does not relieve.

It is always worth remembering that the best results in hom~eopathic treatment are obtained when each patient is considered as an individual, and the remedy prescribed matches the symp- tom picture most closely at the time.

Address for correspondence Dr K. G. Priestman 49 Pleasant View Road Crowborough Sussex TN6 2UU