Abstract:
Palliative care and homoeopathy share a common goal to relieve suffering and improve quality of life. Both focus on individualized, symptomatic treatment and compassionate care. When homoeopathic remedies are carefully selected and used alongside conventional palliative treatments, they can help ease physical and emotional distress, enhance well-being, and add more meaningful, comfortable days to a patient’s life. This article highlights the supportive role of homoeopathy in palliative care and its potential to improve patient outcomes holistically.
Keywords: Homoeopathy, Palliative care, Law of similia, Palliation, Quality of life, Cancer, Paralysis, Terminal diseases, Holistic approach, Care for caregivers.
Introduction:
“Put life into their days, not just days into their life.” Ruth Wooldridge 1988
Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life- threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual⁽¹⁾
Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the palliative care movement, said:
“You matter because you are. You matter to the last moment of your life and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die” ⁽²⁾.
The basis of cure is the fundamental law of similars. The law of similars is the fundamental law also in the palliation of incurable states.
Either for palliation of incurable diseases or for the cure of the curable diseases the symptomatology of the remedy must simulate, in so far as possible, the disease picture in order to bring relief, and where periodicity or alternation is a part of the symptomatology the remedy must have the characteristic feature if we are to expect it to be effective⁽³⁾.
From this we can conclude that both palliative treatment and homoeopathy aim at symptom-based treatment irrespective of the disease name and as our stalwart’s mentioned palliation works on law of similar.
Need of Palliative Care:
Health professionals frequently concentrate on bodily issues, such as illnesses and their treatment. Palliative care acknowledges that individuals are much more than their physical selves; our thoughts, feelings, and spirituality are all a part of who we are. Therefore, a sick person’s and their family’s concerns are not limited to medical ones; they may also include psychological, social, and spiritual problems that are equally as significant as the sickness itself.
Palliative Care in Different Settings:
People with a wide range of illnesses can benefit from palliative care. Anyone suffering from a life-limiting illness, whether at home or in a hospital, young or old, rich or poor. Depending on the local needs and resources of the person, palliative care can be given at any place in any setting. Different settings can be inpatient care units, hospice, rehabilitation centres, day care support, hospital and even at home as per requirement of the patient.
Epidemiology of Different Diseases in Relation to Need of Palliative Care:
According to global atlas of palliative care, 2nd Edition, figure 5, worldwide need for palliative care for adults, by disease groups (20+ years, 2017) ⁽⁴⁾
Approach of Palliative Care:
Problems in one area can occasionally make others worse; for example, pain is frequently worse in persons who are having some deep unresolved grief. So, the method of treatment should be holistic.
The holistic approach looks at problems in four groups:
- Physical – symptoms (complaints: pain, cough, tiredness, fever)
- Psychological – worries, fears, sadness, anger
- Social – needs of the family, issues of food, work, housing and relationships
- Spiritual – questions of the meaning of life and death, the need to be at peace.
Holistic approach is what homoeopathy aims at. It is not the disease should be treated, the treatment aims at the individual, the person as a whole, which includes his physical complaints, mental makeup, family history, personal history, beliefs and thoughts.
Care For Caregiver:- Building a team is crucial for providing palliative care, as doing it alone can lead to exhaustion and discouragement, perhaps leading to failure.
Caring for people with chronic illnesses is very stressful, whether you are a health worker, a volunteer or a family member. Sometimes carers can become overwhelmed by the work and feel unable to carry on; this is called ‘burn-out’. It is important that we look out for signs of stress both in ourselves and in the families, we are caring for.
Signs of Stress: Tiredness Poor concentration, Loss of interest in work, Neglect of duties, Irritability, Anger, Withdrawal – avoiding patients and colleagues, Feelings of inadequacy, helplessness and guilt, Depression – lack of pleasure, tearfulness.
Many Homoeopathic remedies are indicated even for care givers. In homoeopathy palliative care can be provided along with regular treatment going on. The symptom severity of patients can be reduced. The pain patient is suffering from can be reduced and even the symptoms due to side effects of ongoing treatment can also be relieved by certain homoeopathic remedies.
In homoeopathy usually we have remedies with different symptomatology but there is also literature providing remedies directly indicated for palliative care.
Some of the remedies given in different Materia medica for palliation are compiled together as follows,
Homoeopathic remedies and indications in palliation:
1.Aconitum Ferox– It has proved palliative in cardiac dyspnoea (with “Cheyne-Stokes” respiration).
- Amylenum Nitrosum – A valuable palliative in hypertrophy of the heart, with insufficiency of the aortic valves⁽⁶⁾.
3.Argentum Met– Palliative in scirrhus of uterus⁽⁶⁾.
4.Apocynum -It is this palliative power which gave it the name, among the early physicians, of the ‘vegetable trocar,’ meaning that its value was similar to that tapping.”-Hale. Renal dropsy⁽⁸⁾.
5.Aceticum Acidum– It has been known to palliate intense gnawing, ulcerative pains of cancer in the stomach with great burning and profuse diarrhoea⁽⁹⁾.
6.Acid Phos – It has proved a palliative in carries of the lumbar vertebrae⁽⁶⁾.
7.Bufo – It is a great palliative in cancer of the mammae⁽⁷⁾.
8.Camphora Officinalis- A palliative in many forms of fluent coryza, especially hay fever⁽⁶⁾.
9.Carbolic Acid – palliative in offensive, purulent expectoration in tuberculosis of lungs⁽⁶⁾.
10.Colocynthis – It has been found useful as a palliative of the pain of glaucoma and iritis, the pain extending into head, amel. pressure⁽⁶⁾.
11.Chlorum: Whitman recommends chlorine water as an efficient palliative in a fit of asthma⁽¹⁰⁾.
12.Chelidonium: Palliative in the passage of gall – stones⁽¹¹⁾
13.Jaborandi-In many skin diseases, as a palliative to soften up the tissues, it is invaluable⁽⁸⁾.
14.Kreosotum: It has been found extremely valuable (certainly as a palliative) in scirrhus of the uterus and epithelioma of the pudenda, with the peculiar burning pain as from hot coals and offensive discharge⁽⁶⁾.
15.Kali Brom: Only palliative in true epilepsy ⁽¹¹⁾
16.Lachesis – A valuable palliative in congenital cyanosis⁽⁶⁾.
17.Lilium tig – It has proved valuable, at least as a palliative, in some cases of chronic metritis, and curative in many cases of prolapsus and of both anteversion and retroversion, particularly with the pressure against the rectum⁽⁶⁾.
18.Lycopodium-Palliative in cirrhosis of liver.
It has proved palliative in strangulated hernia, with great distention and retching. Palliative in cancer of uterus⁽⁶⁾.
19.Manganum Aceticum: Palliative in phthisis of the larynx, especially with rawness and great hoarseness. Numerous skin symptoms have been palliated by this drug, notably lichen, pityriasis and psoriasis⁽⁶⁾.
20.Nux Vom – Palliative in epileptiform convulsions, especially when brought on by indigestion⁽⁶⁾.
21.Opium– It’s certainly of great value as a palliative in cerebral haemorrhage⁽⁶⁾.
22.Plumbum Met: A valuable palliative, at least in multiple Cerebro – spinal sclerosis, and locomotor ataxia, especially for the violent neuralgic pains⁽¹¹⁾.
23.Rhamnus Cathartica: Homoeopaths have found Rham. cath. í in doses of a few drops a useful palliative in cases of constipation⁽¹⁰⁾.
24.Secale Cor – It has acted so as to palliate hypertrophy of the heart from dilatation without valvular lesion⁽⁸⁾.
25.Solidago: Proved palliative in several cases of Bright’s disease⁽¹¹⁾.
26.Spigelia: Palliative of the pains accompanying conditions such as fever, any inflammatory conditions⁽⁶⁾.
27.Tabacum: One use he mentions is as a palliative for bee-stings and mosquito-bites⁽¹⁰⁾.
CONCLUSION:
The aim of palliative care is not to lengthen – or shorten – life but to improve quality of life so that the time remaining, be it days, or months, or years, can be as peaceful as possible. With its individualised and holistic approach, homoeopathy has the potential to alleviate physical discomfort, emotional distress that often accompany chronic and terminal conditions. By delving deeper into the rich homoeopathic literature, practitioners can uncover a wide range of remedies that address the diverse needs of palliative patients. As we continue to explore and apply homoeopathy within palliative settings, we open new possibilities for reducing patient suffering and enhancing their remaining life journey with empathy and care.
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