SEVERAL laity and some chemists have begged me to write on this subject from the homoeopathic standpoint. Chemists tell me that they are daily asked for “counter-prescriptions” because there are not any homoeopathic doctors within easy reach.
It must be made clear that “sleeplessness” starts long before medication is sought. Lest some say that I am seeking notoriety I will counter that by simply saying that my age and other factors preclude this. I am only interested in proving that homoeopathy is safe and sure, whilst orthodox treatment is anything but that. Standard orthodox works emphasize the dangers in their commonest drugs, nearly every one of which should be debarred for human usage.
“Sleeplessness” must be viewed from many angles before resorting to medicines. Per se, it is treated far too lightly by the allopathic school. Sir William Oslers Principles and Practice of Medicine (thirteenth edition- on my desk) does not even mention “Insomnia, Sleep or Sleeplessness”. Perhaps he knew too well the dangers of any drugs he would have to offer which are common to allopathic employment, so he preferred to ignore the subject entirely.
As opposed to this caution of Oslers Dr. Rehberger (of Johns Hopkins University) in his Quick Reference Book of Medicine and Surgery (ninth edition : Lippincott)-also on my desk-is bold enough to list twenty-three drugs daily given by allopaths to make people sleep, or to produce a “stupor”, which really masks all the symptoms proclaiming a danger, and which every patient should be left the power to state; of these twenty-three drugs given, at least twenty-one of them have their (poisonous) symptoms clearly set forth in the same standard work, and to show that these are highly dangerous I beg leave to quote briefly some of these dangers, if one iota too much ever be given a patient.
Amongst other symptoms the following may occur at any time, in any “sensitive” person, as stated by Rehberger. “Collapse, respiratory paralysis, somnolence, catalepsy, coma, cardiac failure, loss of reflexes, depression, delirium, obscene dreams, talk and reactions, and destructive tissue changes in the cortical substance of the brain, so you will not be surprised when some of the drugs can actually produce INSANITY !!”
Many of these twenty-three common allopathic drugs can produce several or many of the above lesions, so I earnestly advise the laity never to take any allopathic prescription for “sleeplessness”. I believe that Osler was honestly afraid of the drugs in general use by his orthodox school.
The best standard orthodox works have little or nothing to say of general measures to encourage sleep. Anybodys grandmother could have made a better show than these standard works, but Rehberger does naively give one bit of advice which would have scared a Victorian grandmother stiff, and which measure is beyond the powers, and finance, of 99 per cent. of all patients. It is this- “the sleepless patient should try TENT LIFE IN THE WOODS.” This is practically his sole hint to obtain “fresh air for the sleepless”, which brings me to a most important point which I have never seen dwelt on in allopathic works.
Now this subject of FRESH AIR to induce sleep is no slight or laughing matter. Many a time, in questioning patients about this “fresh air in the bedroom” I have found this sort of thing. The top half of a window i lowered three to six inches, with three inches being general, but-I have also found that inside these windows there was usually a drawn blind of woven material, and more often than not, curtains were close drawn over such blinds, thus doubly reducing the entrance of fresh air.
This sort of thing is rubbish if health is any object. I live in Maine, U.S.A., and we believe in fresh air so much that I have often swept up drifted feathery snow off the waxed floor in the early winter mornings. Wounded French soldiers who never caught colds in the trenches, very often started colds and coughs when placed in hospitals, however much we tried to ventilate such wards. Lack of fresh air was responsible.
I know in England, where I was born, that driving rain must be kept out, and this can be done by an yawning outside (never mind what the neighbours “think”; it is your health which is at stake). Somehow, manage to keep a window wide open. If your windows are so placed that some “peeping-tom” is likely to be trouble-some, a folding screen or some draped material hung on a wire in the room, to block a clear view, will spoil the sport of any such moron. Breezes will bring many to health without any medicine, and with health your normal sleep. Did you ever notice how baby sleeps out of doors, when it is eternally fretful in its stuffy overheated rooms ? Then take your lesson from baby.
It may also be that you have too many bed-coverings, or too heavy. This may hinder sleep. These should be adjusted very carefully. Sleep may be delayed by being slightly too cold, which even the poor can change by sewing paper between sheets, as I have seen advocated in a famine time, many years ago in North Britain.
A poor sleeper should aim to maintain normal bodily temperature, so you see that there are many things you must consider in order to obtain normal sleep before resorting to drugs, another of which should certainly be the taking of extremely deep breathing exercises to inflate the lungs to the limit of their capacity. I have seen this act well in many patients who always told me that they experienced a sensation of having taken some anaesthetic, when they went to sleep before they knew anything. Try this “deepest breathing” when striving to go to sleep.
Another very important thing is: “How often do you eat during the twenty-four hours ?” Many people “stroke-up” six or seven times daily. Three meals, one being very light, are enough for any stomach to take care of in twenty-four hours. Every persons capacity differs. The intake, including the “mixture” must be accurately gauged, and every excess stopped. If there is the slightest indigestion it is Natures warning to change the “mixture” or to take less food or less often.
The greatest of these is the horrible “mixture” you ask your stomach to turn into “food”. Transgression in any respect will result in lost sleep and nerve force, everything getting worse and worse. Your stomach is not able to digest well unless the very thought of food causes the saliva to gush into the mouth. The clock should not govern the hours of meals, if you are suffering from loss of sleep and indigestion.
Some may find it best to “FAST” one whole day or more every week, when nothing but water should pass the lips. Such may find it best to start their fast after the evening meal, the next food to be taken at the evening meal on the next day. To miss all three meals in one whole day, means that there is a fast of some thirty-eight hours at least, which is too long for most busy persons.
The “MIXTURE” taken at any meal is almost more important than eating too often, and the individual must cut out any article which it is found causes some distress. Some cannot digest white sugar. Why continue to take it ? Try Demerara or honey instead.
Some cannot digest pastries, etc., so why continue to drop them into your stomach ? Many are healthier without much or any meat, especially of the tinned or smoked variety. “Smoking”is often done with “liquid smoke” as the advertisements read, which means some form of kreosote. This is capital for dog-kennels and railway-sleepers, but taken by human beings will finally destroy all normal sleep by rotting the teeth and digestive organs. To judge of the “mixtures” you are daily subjecting your body to, make this test.
Some day drop into a big bowl equal portions of all foods which you take at one meal. At the end of the meal, stir that mass, inspect it, and see if it does not nauseate you ! and yet this is what you have asked your stomach to work on, to your own undoing, eventually to end in sleeplessness.
For loss of sleep due to mental strain homoeopathy can do much, but even here you must help your doctor by avoiding such mental “overstrains” as far as possible.
There is another angle and cause of sleeplessness which must be noted. This is due to uterine-reflex-irritation acting on the brain, and it is more common than is surmised. If this is suspected I beg the sufferer to go at once to a homoeopathic doctor who can cure this without doing your body any harm whatsoever. Do this before it is said to be “too late”.
I must present two other angles, but merely mentioning them. Dont injure your nervous system with “synthetic perfumes”. Pure flower perfumes have almost disappeared from the markets because chemists can make more money out of “coal-tar” perfumes, which cannot be classed as nerve soothers.
If such are used merely as a matter of overcoming a “B.O.” as the advertisements vulgarly put it, this is another reason for seeking out a homoeopathic doctor, who will cure your body which is producing such a “warning signal” As for the sleeplessness which is brought on by reading filthy and suggestive books, which is very common knowledge to very elderly doctor, then the remedy is in the hands of the patient,though it is for the adults to guard and guide their dependents. This trouble is seen in many phases and in all degrees. Many of the “new-generation” will sneer at this; if they dont heed this warning they must “pay the piper” in later life.
