Disclaimer: Any views or advice in this weblog should not be taken as a substitute for medical advice or treatment, especially if you know you have a specific health complaint. Please remember that homeopathic remedies should be individually-selected to match the whole person, not just the unwelcome symptom. For chronic, severe or long-standing complaints, seek professional advice rather than self-prescribing.

Pop star Cheryl Cole’s marital woes have been filling the gossip magazine columns this week: the Girls Aloud singer has been reported as being devastated by her footballer husband’s alleged infidelity. Not surprisingly, she’s apparently been crying non-stop, feels totally humiliated, and has lost her appetite entirely, provoking fears for her health.

To a homeopath, the remedy choice to help a patient in this sort of emotional distress is very likely to be Ignatia, particularly if the patient’s grief and distress makes her sigh, makes her talk about little else, or means she stops eating properly.

Ignatia, made from a homeopathic microdose of the poisonous St Ignatius Bean, is the very first remedy most homeopaths would think of to help with the ill-effects of recent grief (chronic grief is more usually helped with Natrum muriaticum, although there are many remedies that might be indicated once the grief has crystallised into a chronic emotion).

A 19th century homeopath wrote that Ignatia is suitable for “anyone suffering from suppressed or deep grief, with long-drawn sighs, much sobbing etc, also much unhappiness, cannot sleep, entirely absorbed in grief, for recent grief at the loss of a friend, disorders of the mind in general, particularly if actuated by grief, sadness, hopelessness, hysterical variableness, fantastic illusions.”

Ignatia is also listed in the repertory (the homeopath’s main reference book) as being helpful for the grief and humiliation that follows deception, and for indignation: exactly what’s commonly felt when a partner has been caught out cheating.

Today, I prescribe the remedy in the clinic for anyone suffering from the effects of recent grief, shock, worry or bad news (including the bad news of a medical diagnosis or an infidelity), or where there’s a feeling that the world has just gone wrong. We all feel like this from time to time, and we usually get over it on our own, but if we get stuck in this emotional state, or if the feelings are severe, a prescription of Ignatia can help us to cope better.

I’ve even been known to give a dose of the remedy during the lengthy case-taking process at the initial consultation, and within a few minutes have noticed that the patient then tends to carry on more calmly, telling me about their problems without re-living them.

I’ve no idea whether the Girls Aloud bandmates use homeopathy (quite a few celebrities and pop stars do), but I hope, for Cheryl Cole’s sake, that someone suggests that she tries a dose or two of Ignatia, and that she’s soon putting her life back together again.

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