Page 63 - Spring2015

Homeopathy Journal

PERSONAL POLLUTION: THE NASTIEST KIND
By Joette Calabrese, HMC, CCH, RSHom (NA)

Pollution is a problem. Foods contain pes- disappears within days after commencing the
ticides. GMOs are everywhere. Formaldehyde drugs. All is well, right? But then, wham!
is coated on our clothing and flame retardants Perhaps a month or two later, Dolly begins
infuse our mattresses. And then there’s radia- to feel not so well. Her belly aches after eating,
tion reaching us from the other side of the globe. constipation sets in, and she begins to notice a
We’re doomed, right? creeping sadness that soon settles into depres-
Yet consider a different take on pollution, sion. Small matters that never troubled her before
one that may be much more important than the become dismal and heavy. She also finds that
randomly emitted sort. It actually might be the certain foods cause embarrassing gas, one of
most vicious, as its overuse has become the num- which is her beloved yogurt. Dolly has devel-
ber one killer in the U.S. today. Remarkably, we oped chronic illness. And these sufferings may
willingly accept this kind of pollution. In fact, the not dwindle over time, regardless of how soon
public has been convinced to respect it enough she stops taking the drugs. If their effects are
to pay for it! And it’s brazenly sitting right there not fully addressed, they will be commensurate
in your medicine cabinet. with the amount of time she ends up taking
What is it? By now you must have guessed: I them. Dolly has traded a minor skin condition
am speaking of prescription medicines and over- that could have been treated with a homeopathic
the-counter drugs. Pharmaceuticals. These drugs protocol for a new life of lasting gastrointestinal
are euphemistically called medicine instead of discomforts and frank depression.
what they often are: pollution of a most personal Like an innocent, well-trained poodle, Dolly
nature. drags herself (did I mention that she now suffers
Allow me to demonstrate the devastation fatigue too?) back to the prestigious clinic in her
that occurs in the wake of having taken, in many prestigious university where, never fear, more
cases, only a round or two of one of these pollut- up-to-the minute drugs are prescribed. This time
ants. she is given a psychotropic drug for her depres-
Meet Dolly. She is a plucky ingénue attend- sion and a pain reliever for the gastrointestinal
ing an Ivy League university where she pursues pain. There is simply no responsible argument
her major in piano performance. She has lived her for the use of psychotropic drugs in the case of a Remarkably,
sparkling nineteen years with nary a thought to- young woman whose equilibrium has been upset we willingly
wards health. She eats organic fare at the school’s by birth control pills and antibiotics.
upscale cafeteria, enjoys full-fat, organic yogurt, This, my friends, is a case of neglect and pol- accept this
and wouldn’t dream of consuming a Big Mac, lution of the most sobering sort, and, moreover, kind of
yet her skin has become an issue of late. Each one that is entirely avoidable. It only takes a visit pollution.
month she is visited by blemishes. And since she to drugs.com to accumulate enough vital facts
performs regularly on stage, she wishes to have regarding side effects of each of Dolly’s drugs. To In fact,
flawless skin. So she takes a trip to the infirmary find what I call the “unofficial” short- and long- the public
on campus to get an expert’s opinion. We already term effects takes only a few key strokes to reveal has been
know what the doctor will say, but because of the forums of people suffering from drug effects
her age, Dolly is unsuspecting. She leaves the as they share their misery. Had Dolly thought to convinced
clinic with two predictable prescriptions: one do this, or if the clinic doc had conscientiously to respect it
for an antibiotic and the other for birth control warned her, she would have found that the side enough to
pills. Her “acne,” that was in reality little more effects of her prescribed drugs sounded not un-
than a monthly show of pimples on her cheeks, like nuclear winter warnings. pay for it!
Wise Traditions SPRING 2015 Wise Traditions 61

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