Homeopathy for Mother and Baby

Review

This book review is reprinted from The Homoeopath with permission from Nick Churchill of The Society of Homoeopaths.

reviewed by Roger Lichy

Dr Roger Lichy MFHom practises homoeopathy and obstetrics in Penzance and Truro. He is currently writing a book on Water Births.

Miranda Castro has written an excellent sequel to her bestselling The Complete Homeopathy Handbook.

Her new book, is primarily a do-it-yourself guide for the lay reader who wishes to help herself during pregnancy, birth and the post-natal year. It will also be useful for both student and professional homeopaths and should prove very popular with midwives wanting to prescribe homoeopathic remedies.

However, it is much more than a 'hunt-the-remedy' book. About a third of the book gives clear, practical, self-help suggestions on how to avoid, or at least cope with, the problems of motherhood. In other words, it provides the kind of information we should all like to give our patients, if only we had enough time.

A friend of mine in her ninth month of pregnancy browsed through my review copy and was impressed because it was the first book she had ever seen that said that such tedious 'symptoms' as extreme tiredness and haemorrhoids were normal during late pregancy. She found it very reassuring.

I admire the way the book is quietly enthusiastic about natural childbirth, but still manages to be polite and realistic about medical interventions. There is a particularly useful part of the book which deals with birth plans, which stresses the need to be flexible, and to be able to negotiate and compromise if problems occur. I also liked the advice on dealing with post-natal blues which wisely cautions women not to wait till they are desperate before asking for help. New mothers will find the two pages of dos and don'ts about crying babies particularly helpful.

I was disappointed that birthing in water did not get a mention in the section on pain relief in labour. Yes, I know it is a hobby horse of mine, but it is now generally accepted that warm water bathing in childbirth promotes relaxation and reduces labour pains. A water birth also helps the homoeopathic prescriber because it provides pain relief without clouding the remedy picture. When pharmaceutical forms of pain relief have to be used, it makes it difficult to select the correct remedy and may result in the depressingly familiar 'cascade of intervention'. For example, if pethidine is given for pain relief, labour may slow down, so a syntocinon drip may be needed which may cause foetal distress, resulting in an emergency caesarean section.

In a homoeopathic book for the lay reader the writer always has to steer a fine line between giving not enough detail for the person to find the right remedy and confusing them by being too complicated. I think that Miranda Castro has done an excellent job of steering through this minefield. There is a good section on understanding and using homoeopathy and the instructions on taking the case history include twelve amusing and instructive sample cases. The heart of the book, nearly half its length, consists of a detailed materia medica of over 100 common and not-so-common remedies together with an easy to use repertory of mother and baby rubrics.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book for the lay reader but I yearn for the day when a book of this calibre comes out to help the professional obstetric prescriber.

The Homoeopath Vol.12 No.4 1992

This book review is reprinted from the British Homoeopathic Journal Volume 82, Number 2, April 1993, with permission from Peter Fisher, Editor.

These are the days of change: fission-like growth in information technology and matching speed of information dissemination have reduced demi-gods to mere mortality. The individual has embarked on a voyage towards self accountability in spirituality and health. The undeniable need for direction in this uncharted ocean has led to exponential growth in the advice and self-help industry. DIY therapy will never replace the person-to- person reassurance and customized problem solving.

In this 300-page self-help manual the author claims to make the reader think twice about the use of conventional medicine for minor and other ailments of pregnancy and to educate her correctly in the logistics of case- taking and selection of the appropriate medicine by repertorization. Mirando Castro, mother and homoeopath, is the author of a previous title, The Complete Homoeopathy Handbook. Her new book is arranged in 6 sections, beginning with an overview of homoeopathy. Preparing for life after birth: Pregnancy: Birth: Post-natal period follow. The work is completed by a repertory and materia medica of 106 medicines.

The introduction begins with an historical vista from Hahnemann to the Society of Homoeopaths, mentioning on the way that GPs are suspect when it comes to practising homoeopathy. Theoretical concepts of disease, susceptibility and cure lead to an explanation of case-taking and simple repertorizing, illustrated by case histories. In addition to promoting homoeopathy, Castro extols the virtues of self-growth and learning to rise above passive consumerism of health care.

By taking responsibility for what happens in our bodies we begin to create for ourselves the balance we want in our lives and tune into our own feelings, our inner sense of what is wrong. By developing a positive approach towards creating a healthy life we can move away from automatically taking a defensive position towards illness.

The next 4 sections dovetail into one another, comprising a really first-class antenatal group syllabus. The material is arranged by alphabetic headings, with punctuated lists of Dos and Don'ts appended, and, where appropriate, indications to seek help. Attempting a straight read through, to me, was a vertiginous experience, but the book is intended for reference and lends itself to casual dipping into. The format is reminiscent of Lockie's Family Guide to Homoeopathy, which incidentally was reviewed by Castro in a publication of the Society of Homoeopaths several years ago. Unlike Lockie's work, she only suggests appropriate medicines in a minority of complaints, and when this is done, a caveat about proper study of the whole case is given. The style is cosy and chatty.

The book provides common sense methods of averting or ensuring that complaints are short-lived. There is a wealth of knowledge for the lay reader on normal and abnormal pregnancy, labour and puerperium. I was alarmed to read a list of 3 medicines, Phosphorus 200, Ipecacuanha 200 and Belladonna 200, proposed as first-line management of intrapartum haemorrhage, although such advice might be useful to a sympathetic obstetrician. 'Problems of babies' covers the usual topics and there is an extensive Dos and Don'ts list for the crying child.

As a self-help book it is difficult to see what advantage it has to offer over a good antenatal group. I would recommend the book to mid- wives and I would buy it for its repertory and obstetrically slanted materia medica, but it is at the non-essential end of the shopping list.

[NAME OF REVIEWER NOT GIVEN]

British Homoeopathic Journal - Volume 82, Number 2, April 1993