Joette Calabrese
I'm asked quite often about bedwetting and incontinence. Until now I've hesitated to write about it in a general blog. After all, there can be more behind this issue than meets the eye. I would, however, like to use these two conditions as an example for a fundamental question I plan to explore more closely this week.
So let's start right at the beginning. It is very, very important to me that people understand one thing: many ailments — not all, but many — are extrinsic. That means the symptoms are caused by something outside the body that influences the way we deal with those symptoms.
What do I mean by that?
Well, just because you have been taking the same over-the-counter medication for your allergy for five years doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't suddenly cause problems now!
Just because you've been taking the contraceptive pill since you were 20 doesn't mean the effects of that hormonal manipulation couldn't show up in your late thirties.
And just because you've drunk three cups of coffee a day throughout your adult life doesn't mean that stimulant can't have negative consequences for your body today.
Antagonism and Homeopathy
Bodies change! Mother Nature is ingenious; we just have to look closely.
Yes, homeopathy tackles the problem gently and sustainably at its root. But if we give our body something every day that is antagonistic to our wellbeing — something that worsens our suffering — we cannot always assume we can simply cancel out the persistent stimulus we expose ourselves to daily.
That makes sense, doesn't it?
What does bedwetting have to do with chocolate?
So let's look at the two examples. Did you know that bedwetting can be triggered by chocolate? Did you know that coffee, tea, wine and spirits can cause incontinence?
All of these are stimulants and diuretics! They are extrinsic factors and we continually ask our bodies to cope with them. The objection "I used to be able to tolerate that" doesn't apply here. Again… bodies change. We must adapt to our bodies over the course of our lives.
As a teenager I, for example, ate a chocolate bar every day! On the way home from school we always bought something sweet. Always, every day!
Today I wouldn't get away with that so easily.
The importance of extrinsic factors
The first step in assessing an illness is therefore to find out which extrinsic factors are present — everything that comes from outside and makes our symptoms worse. At this point I'd like to share a little piece of wisdom I've learned over the years. The one thing to which you react sensitively and say, "Oh, I could never give that up in my life!", that one thing is usually the culprit. This also applies to medications and drugs, by the way. But I'll save that topic for another blog post.
"What? Take away my daily piece of chocolate?! Never!"
Now, I'm not saying you should never eat chocolate again. But you should at least consider whether it could be the extrinsic factor contributing to your condition. If we want to treat our complaints optimally, we will probably have to find out what is making us ill and how we can resist the temptation to reinforce those complaints day after day through our behaviour.
People tend to make up logical reasons. Often we don't rethink our past choices. If we want chocolate we tell ourselves it has never harmed us and we can be perfectly relaxed about it. But as I said, bodies can change. We should constantly reassess how external factors influence us here and now.
So if you have already considered all the irritants that might predispose you to bedwetting or incontinence, then you may entrust yourself to homeopathy, which will gently restore your body to balance.
Homeopathy for incontinence
An excellent remedy for bedwetting (and at the same time for leakage and incontinence in general, not only occurring during sleep) is Cantharis 30, which in most cases is administered twice daily until the problem is resolved. Should the symptoms reappear at a later date, the remedy can be taken again.
At this point I want to make an important remark: I'm not saying that Cantharis only works if you completely give up chocolate, coffee, wine, etc., but I advise all readers to think about what might be causing or worsening their symptoms so they can also intervene accordingly.
This elegant homeopathic remedy can be taken by young and old alike. So it does not matter whether the person affected is a child or very elderly. I hope my students are clever enough to look up in a Materia Medica whether Cantharis 30 is suitable (for more information on dosage and potentisation read here). Undoubtedly it is one of the first remedies to consider.
But please always remember that, as with many other conditions, there is more than one way to Rome when it comes to bedwetting and incontinence.
Stay attentive and listen to your body. Don't do things just because you've "always" done them that way. It's astonishing how many approaches to a solution hide in extrinsic details.
Homeopathy helps — spread the word!
Warm regards,
Yours
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