Fear, anxiety – Alopecia- homeopathic rescue

 

Alopecia is commonly known as baldness. It is an autoimmune disorder, i.e., it is one of the conditions where the body mistakenly attacks itself. In alopecia, the hair follicles are attacked by the body.

Types of alopecia –

These are the common types of alopecia: –

• ALOPECIA AREATA – The most common type. In this, there are one or more-coin sized patches of hair loss that are present on the scalp or any other part of body where hair grows. There are some classifications of alopecia areata, which are as follows: –
  • ALOPECIA BARBAE – when hair of the beard falls out
  • ALOPECIA TOTALIS – when all the hair on the scalp falls out
  • ALOPECIA UNIVERSALIS – when all the hair of the entire body falls out
  • DIFFUSE ALOPECIA AREATA – sudden thinning of hair rather than hair loss in patches
  • OPHIASIS ALOPECIA – hair loss in a band shape around the sides and back of the head

Besides these, there are other hair loss conditions as well. For example-

• CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED ALOPECIA (CIA) – as the name suggests it is hair loss after chemotherapy sessions
• SCARRING ALOPECIA – it is a group of conditions that destroy hair follicles and replace it by scar tissues and causes permanent hair loss
• TRACTION ALOPECIA – in this hair falls out because they are pulled in the same direction very tightly for many years. Like in girls who always have a tight ponytail
• TRICHOTILLOMANIA – as this word with mania suggests it is a psychological condition where a person can’t resist herself from pulling out her hair and causes hair loss. Common sites for pulling the hair are scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes

Factors which aggravate hair loss conditions are –

• Family history
• Age
• Stress
• Medical conditions – like hypothyroidism, diabetes, anaemia, etc.
• Poor nutrition

Hair loss and regrowth of hair in alopecia are not same. In some people, it is cyclical where hair loss and regrowth occur again and again. In others, hair regrows after falling out, and doesn’t fall out again. But hair follicles always remain alive, so regrowth can happen even after many years. There is no cure for alopecia in modern medicine but as it is said, where there is no cure of any disease, the action of homeopathy begins…

Herewith I enumerate my case of stress and alopecia –

A lady aged 40 years, working with an IT firm for the last 10 years, came to me with a lot of anxiety for the treatment of her problems.

Present complaints –

• A big patch of hair loss on the left side of her scalp – noticed a few months back
• Tingling and numbness of the left side of her cheek, aggravated after exertion and when thinking of it – present for 1 year
• A lot of loud burps all day, (she told even a person in the other room can hear it), after eating as well as on an empty stomach
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) more in the left ear, aggravated when tired and if she talks continuously for a long time – present for 1 year

Past complaints-

• Nothing significant but she was a fearful and anxious person since childhood who used to get disturbed on small issues.

Physical generals –

• Stool – thirst – normal
• Sleep – very disturbed, keeps thinking about her problems
• Fear – very fearful of heart disease as most of her complaints are of left side
• Anxiety – about her health, about death
• Desires – home cooked food
• Chilly patient, always covers her head

Mental generals –

She was fine until one day she got the news of sudden death of an actress (her favourite one). It was in the news for long time, and she became incredibly stressed and fearful. After that, the first symptom she got was ringing in the ears and she was not able to sleep. She went to the conventional doctor who finally said that there is no treatment for this and gave her medicines for depression and sleep.

After a few months, she noticed a big patch of baldness on her scalp, which made her more anxious. I asked her if there is anything which is troubling her, she said that there are some family issues and when she asked her parents to support, they said that she is on her own now and they can’t help in it which made her feel betrayed, lonely and she felt there is no one in this world for her. I repertorized the symptoms on Synthesis repertory.

 

 

Action taken-

1. An empathetic counselling – helped to give her comfort
2. Advised regular yoga & breathing exercises/ meditation – helped to clear her mind and destress
3. Recommended new diet chart – change of food habits viz. stop junk/frozen food, avoiding gap between meals etc. helped to stabilise her gut health/digestion
4. I prescribed her:

• Staphysagria 1M – 1 dose (ill-effects of suppressed anger, grief, insult)
• Phosphorus 30 – 2 times a day for 15 days (fearful, over sensitive to external impressions, dread of death, worse from physical and mental exertion)

After 15 days, her mental state was better. She felt relaxed, the tingling in her cheeks reduced, she was able to sleep at night, tinnitus was reduced a bit though there was not much change in the bald spot and her burps too continued.

I continued with the medication for one month + added another:

• Staphysagria 1M – 1 dose every 15 days
• Phosphorus 30 – morning
• Cinchona 30 – after lunch (worse slightest touch, after eating, and it’s one of the trios of gastric complaints)

Her burps and tinnitus were better, and her bald spot also started reducing. I continued the treatment and after 6 months her alopecia patch was completely gone.

Conclusion– according to me, in this case, the most important were the mental symptoms, and we saw how her fear and anxiety caused her so many physical problems. But If treated correctly, we definitely get results.

So, remember if we are not getting results in our case, its because of our wrong choice of medicine. Start working again on the case and with correct similimum we will surely get results.

About the Author:

Shruti Singhal {BHMS, CNCC, MD(AM)} is a homeopath with over a decade of practising homeopathy. She did her BHMS from National Homeopathic Medical College, Lucknow, India followed by MD in Alternative Medicines. She has been quite active in supporting community healthcare initiatives for instance organised camps and successfully cured 100’s of patients during ChikunGuniya outbreak in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (India); has been briefly engaged in teaching profession (taught her favourite subjects of Materia Medica and Physiology to students of medicine); and most recently (in COVID-19 era), finds herself indulging in many social events viz. focused webinars, sharing knowledge & spreading awareness about different diseases. She is a firm believer of homeopathy and thinks homeopathy is no less than a miracle if applied in its true form.