Glaucoma is an eye condition in which the optic nerve, connecting your eye with your brain, is damaged. It can lead to serious loss of vision, and usually occurs when the fluid in the eye does not drain properly. This increases the pressure inside the eye putting pressure on the optic nerve. It can develop slowly, and in the early stages glaucoma does not have symptoms. Later it can cause blurred or dim vision, intense eye pain, headaches, tenderness around eyes, which can be red, seeing rings around lights. It usually affects older people, but can affect people of any age.


Conventional Medical Treatment for Glaucoma
As usual, I have used the NHS Choices website as a guide to the conventional medical treatment of glaucoma. It says that there are several different treatments for glaucoma, depending on the type of glaucoma the patient has, and these are described as


              * primary open angle glaucoma. usually treated with eye drops, or laser treatment or surgery if drops don't help.
              * primary angle closure glaucoma, which often needs immediate treatment in hospital with drugs to reduce the pressure in the eye, often followed by laser treatment.
               * secondary glaucoma, which is treated with eye drops, laser treatment or surgery, depending on the underlying cause.
               * childhood glaucoma, which often requires surgery to correct the problem in the eye that led to the build-up of fluid and pressure.


NHS Choices warns that "treatment can't reverse any loss of vision that has already occurred, but can help stop your vision getting any worse."


Eye drops
These are the main treatment for glaucoma, and there are several different types, all seeking to reduce the pressure in the eyes.
     •     prostaglandin analogues, such as latanoprost, bimatoprost, tafluprost and travoprost
     •     beta-blockers, such as betaxolol hydrochloride, levobunolol hydrochloride and timolol
     •     carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, such as brinzolamide and dorzolamide
     •     sympathomimetics, such as brimonidine tartrate
     •     miotics, such as pilocarpine


NHS Choices admits that these eye drops can cause "unpleasant side effects", including eye irritation, and also admits that some drops are not suitable for people with 'certain underlying conditions'. It says that patients may need to try several types of drop before finding the one 'that works best'!


Laser treatment
Laser treatment is used if eye drops do not work. A high-energy beam of light is used to stop fluid building up inside it. It is usually done whilst the patient is awake, but local anaesthetic drops are used to numb your eyes.


Surgery
Surgery may be recommended as an alternative to laser treatment in some cases, and several types of procedure is described on the NHS Choices website.


Homeopathic Treatment of Glaucoma
Homeopathy is a medical therapy that will avoid some of the side-effects and adverse reactions of conventional medical treatment. Homeopathy is the second most popular medical therapy in the world, and the most popular holistic system of medicine. Homeopathy is based on remedies made from a variety of different substances, all of which are known to cause symptoms of illness if taken in their normal form. However, homeopathy has discovered that substances that cause symptoms of illness can also cure those same symptoms of illness.


This is the principle of “Like cures Like” on which all homeopathy is based.


The task of the homeopath is to find a remedy whose symptom picture matches the symptoms of a person’s illness. These remedy symptom pictures have been developed over the last 220 years.


The selection of a homeopathic remedy is based on the individual’s symptoms of illness, not on any broad conventionally-defined illness. It is important to stress this. Homeopathy does not treat illness or diseases. Instead it treats an individual who has been diagnosed with a particular illness or disease. The distinction is important, and if you wish to read more about this, click on the chapter “Illness Diagnosis”.


As far as Glaucoma is concerned, homeopathy has highlighted a number of remedies that have been found to be useful in its treatment. The Dr Homeo website has outlined some simple remedy pictures for a number of these remedies. All the remedies mentioned are safe, and any remedy that matches the patient’s symptoms will be effective. These simple remedy pictures give some indication of the types of symptoms they will treat.


Phosphorus
This is described as the best Homeopathic remedy for Glaucoma with optic nerve damage, and on top of the list of top homeopathic remedies for Glaucoma. It is also indicated for Glaucoma when the optic nerve is damaged (atrophied). The main symptom guiding the use of this Homeopathic remedy is tiredness of eyes all the time. The eyes seem very tired even when they are not engaged in much work. The eyes seem to be exhausted. Along with the fatigue of eyes, the vision is blurred and the patient feels that every object is under the cover of dust when he or she looks at it. Halos around light is also an important symptom. Another key symptom is the slightly improved vision by shading the eyes with hands. By doing this, the objects that look blurred seem somewhat clear. Homeopathic medicine Phosphorus helps in improving the eyesight and the fatigue of eyes.


Comocladia
Homeopathic remedy for Glaucoma with fullness sensation in eyes. Amongst the homeopathic remedies for Glaucoma with pain. Comocladia is indicated in patients, who experience a fullness sensation in eyes. The fullness is mostly accompanied by pain in eyes. The eyes feel very enlarged. The eye pain gets worse by warmth and such a person feels relief in pain and eye fullness in open air.


Belladonna
Top Homeopathic medicine for Glaucoma with acute symptoms. Belladonna is the best for acute symptoms in a patient of Glaucoma. The main symptoms include sudden increase in dimness of vision. The eyes appear red. This is accompanied by a severe pain in eyes and head. The pain is very violent in character. Nausea and vomiting may also occur.


Osmium
This Homeopathic remedy is of great help in improving dim vision. The intraocular pressure is raised in persons needing Osmium. The important symptom listed by the patient is the display of various changeable colours of an object when looked at from different angles like a rainbow (iridescent vision). The patient may also have intolerance to light.


Physostigma
For an effective Homeopathic treatment of Glaucoma following injury, Physostigma is the best remedy. The symptoms may be dim vision, blurring of vision or partial blindness. Along with dim vision, the patient may suffer from pain in eyes. The pain is usually worse after using the eyes. Patients of Glaucoma with myopic condition also respond well to this Homeopathic medicine.


Prunus Spinosa
Prunus Spinosa is the ideal natural Homeopathic medicine for treatment of sudden pain in right eye as a result of Glaucoma. Prunus Spinosa works mainly for right eye pain. Pain in eye is so acute and violent that it results in a bursting sensation in the eyeball.


Cedron
In contrast to Prunus Spinosa, the action of natural Homeopathic medicine Cedron is centered on the left eye of a Glaucoma patient. Cedron is the ideal Homeopathic remedy for severe, violent pain in the eye, especially left eye. The onset of pain may show certain periodicity in its occurence. The pain may show radiation to the nose.


Many of these remedies can be found in simple home-use remedy kits that can be obtained from these Homeopathic Pharmacies. However, for an accurate, individualised remedy selection, patients should consult with a qualified homeopath. This increases the likelihood of matching an individual with a remedy that will work for them. A remedy that does not match the symptoms of an individual’s illness will not work, but equally will do no harm!


Scientific Evidence Supporting Homeopathy
There is a significant and growing amount of scientific evidence confirming that homeopathy is a safe and effective medical therapy. However, this evidence remains only the third most important proof of this.


The most important proof for the safety and effectiveness of homeopathy is clinical experience, that is the many millions of patients who, having suffered serious illness, have been treated successfully with homeopathy. This is going on throughout the world, and been doing so for over 200 years.


Homeopathy has also developed a voluminous materia medica. This contains the intricate details of the healing properties of several thousand substances used to make homeopathic remedies. The short remedy pictures above are just a tiny part of this knowledge.


I am not aware of any scientific testing of homeopathic treatment on Glaucoma.
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Angelica Lemke, ND
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Many children with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis suffer from severe gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, including pain; in many of them, this may even contribute to or be the root cause of their developmental delays in speech and socialization. Homeopathy offers an effective, safe, and gentle way to address these GI disorders with remedies targeting very specific patterns of symptoms.
Because it can be difficult or impossible to get a detailed description of pains or other symptoms from a child on the autism spectrum disorder, I resort to other case-taking methods focused on the parents. The most valuable is having the parents close their eyes and visualize their child in pain, imagining the child’s posture, the sounds he or she makes, what makes the child better, and what makes the child worse. In most cases, and often to their surprise, the empathy of the parents allows for very insightful descriptions of the pain such as twisting, stabbing, squeezing, or even detailed analogies. Often, the type of symptoms the child experiences has some overlap with GI symptoms of the parent, usually the mother. I always ask mothers if they have or have had any history of food allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn disease, or other GI distress or pain, especially during the pregnancy. If so, a detailed investigation of the sensations of the mother’s GI pains or other symptoms will often help point to a remedy for the child if there is significant overlap.
Effective remedies that I have prescribed constitutionally for children with autism spectrum disorder whose main complaint revolves around GI disorders include Euphorbium, Dioscorea, Colocynthis, Chelidonium, Podophyllum, China, Cina, and Nux vomica. In most cases, I begin by dosing a 30C potency every few days and eventually move up to 200C, 1M, or even 10M potencies.
The differential diagnosis for GI pain sensations includes the following:
Euphorbium: Burninglike fire in the abdomen and stomach. Tied or bound-up sensation, with a desire to break free.
Dioscorea: Colic, which is better when bending backward, moving, or walking about. Twisting sensations and sharp, cutting pains in bowels.
Colocynthis: Violent cutting, stabbing, and tearing pains. Sensation of fullness in the epigastric region. Pain in the stomach, with toothache or headache.
Chelidonium: Nausea and bilious vomiting, with sick headaches. Sensations of heat or coldness in the stomach, as if a plug is in the stomach. Qualmishness, which is better after belching.
Podophyllum: Rumbling and shifting of flatus in the ascending colon, which the patient rubs for relief. Colic in the abdomen with cramplike knots, which is improved by flexing the limbs.
China: profuse, exhausting discharges and loss of vital fluids. Flatulence. Cold sensation in the stomach. Frequent vomiting of undigested food. Congestive migraines.
Cina: Colic with cutting, pinching pains; may be associated with worms. Can be accompanied by bed-wetting, teeth-grinding, or itchy anus.
Nux vomica: Empty feeling in the stomach, followed by dyspepsia. Heartburn with irritability. Nausea and vomiting every morning.
Amy is a 6-year-old girl with autism and PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections). According to her mother, she has always had trouble since the day she was born; she could not even get comfortable in utero. Her diagnosis was given at 26 months because she would not let anyone touch her, made no eye contact, and would flip through books for hours at a time. Over the years, she made some progress with speech and occupational therapy and with Defeat Autism Now (DAN) therapy.
At the time of her consultation, Amy was in an autism classroom but is very bright; she can read and write and has become more verbal. She still has a lot of sensory issues such as spinning when her body feels overwhelmed and is still quite socially limited. She gets bouts of diarrhea that are either yellow or black. She has issues with potty training and still wears a diaper. Sometimes, she will sit on the potty and just scream; it is hard to tell if she feels the urge to have a bowel movement or not. She also vomits, but instead of saying “I’m gonna throw up,” she switches it and says, “I‘m gonna throw down.”
Her mother describes Amy’s pain: “She is trying to push her belly away; it hurts, and she is twisting to get into a comfortable position, throwing her head back and belly out and screaming at the top of her lungs. It feels like she is stuck, stuck in her body with the pain; if I keep pushing, maybe it will get the pain out; everything feels like a jumble of knots.”
Her mother has a history of irritable bowel syndrome as well. She says that when her sister died her stomach was in such knots that people could hear the gurgling very loudly. Her irritable bowel syndrome feels like there is too much air in the stomach and that it could explode. As a result, the mother would avoid going in public for fear of having a bowel accident in front of other people. She would get diarrhea in the evenings when she got home from work.
Amy is prescribed Podophyllum. The starting dosage is 30C twice a week.
One month later, Amy’s stools are better formed, she is a little clearer in speech and more interactive, and has fewer tantrums. Three months later, we move up to Podophyllum 200C once a week; as a result, she potty trains herself successfully, and her stools have completely normalized. Six months after regular dosing of Podophyllum, her mother states, “She is doing great; she is more engaged, more with us in general, and talking more, socializing more…. Nothing is really holding her back.”
Jaya is a nonverbal 5-year-old girl with an autism diagnosis whose parents immigrated to New York City from Tibet. Her mother says, “She was always throwing up when she was born, sometimes so much her nose would clog and she couldn’t breathe. She would cry for hours like someone was beating her; she was in so much pain.” Jaya did not crawl a lot, and eye contact stopped at 1½ years old after a series of ear infections. She is constipated all the time; stool has to be pulled out. She is still in diapers. She has had minimal reaction to speech therapy and DAN protocols. She is very restless in her body and constantly wants to be in a swing or stroller. Jaya is always climbing onto tables and chairs. She also has very itchy rashes, with sandpaperlike skin.
Her mother says that during her pregnancy she had a bowel obstruction that was really intense. She went 4 to 5 times to the emergency department, and they gave her painkillers for it. She said it felt “heavy and twisting; I was bending over, stretching myself, squeezing my tummy, twisting side to side. It felt like a heartbeat pumping.”
She says, “I came to this country, a dream country, with nothing; it was really stressful. I didn’t have money and was worried how I would support the baby. I worked as a cashier in a deli, and the boss would yell at me like a little kid in front of the customer. I was scared to work for him. We had bedbugs in the house and roaches, so I spent half the day killing bugs. I was stuck in a very bad place.”
Jaya is prescribed Dioscorea. The starting dosage is 30C twice a week.
Dioscorea was given primarily based on the description of the pain. This remedy is in the “malarial miasm,” which is described by Rajan Sankaran as a feeling of “stuck, feeling persecuted, with intermittent colic.” Other GI remedies such as Cina, Colocynthis, and Podophyllum also fit this miasm. Within the first month, all of Jaya’s GI pain stopped. The mother says, “Her poop is better, she is not jumping and climbing, she is more calm, and she plays with her toys more properly now. Her eye contact is much better.” Her rash had worsened, however, so a few doses of Psorinum were given based partly on the mother’s own fear of poverty and the skin symptoms, which cleared up nicely. Jaya continued to take Dioscorea in a series of increasing potencies, with improvement in speech and socialization.
Highest Priority—Address the Gut
In many autism spectrum disorder cases where GI distress is severe, developmental delays in speech and socialization may be unblocked once the severe GI pain and symptoms are healed. In these patients, addressing the gut may be the highest priority, and homeopathic prescriptions can uniquely capture specific pain sensations and other identifying features. The resolving clue to the disharmony in the child’s GI disturbance may come from the mother’s own physical and emotional health history. A well-chosen remedy may allow these children to feel comfortable and happy in their bodies, sometimes for the first time in their lives, and the benefit often ripples across all their autism spectrum disorder symptoms.

Angelica Lemke, ND is a graduate of Bastyr University (Kenmore, Washington) and Georgetown University (Washington, DC). She has been a speaker at the Autism One convention and the National Autism Association convention and has a large international clientele spanning 15 countries. Most of her consultations are done via Skype. E-mail: drangelicalemke@gmail.com

A:  Yes and no.
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Alcohol is used as a stabiliser and preservative in the manufacturing process of liquid homeopathic remedies.
Sugar pills are then medicated with this liquid but the alcohol evaporates off them during the drying process so they are then alcohol free.
If homeopathic remedies are supplied for use in liquid form, alcohol may have been added at the final stage of preparation to preserve this liquid.
If you don’t want alcohol in your remedy, ask your homeopath to prepare it on water only. Then, to stop the growth of microbes, keep it tightly sealed in a dark place or chilled in the refrigerator.
If your liquid remedy already contains alcohol, leaving it uncapped for 1 – 2 days will allow the alcohol to evaporate off the liquid so that only water and sucrose (or lactose, depending on the manufacturer) remains. The remedy should then be capped and refrigerated to avoid microbial growth.

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