Homeopathic Management

Homeopathy is Imperative

Homeopathy is imperative for Dr. Janikula’s success in treating bipolar disorder. Dr. Janikula sees no other therapy work faster for acute depressive, manic, or mixed states and homeopathy is free from side effects. Dr. Janikula’s entire treatment method revolves around homeopathy while all other therapies (including medications) are used to support homeopathy’s healing power.

What is Homeopathy?

Homeopathy is a system of medicine based on the law of similiars (“like cures like”). Basically, a patient’s symptoms are taken and then matched to the symptoms a homeopathic medicine produces. When a match is made, the medicine rapidly stimulates the body's own healing process in a gentle way.

What is a Homeopathic medicine?

Homeopathic medicines are prepared by strict FDA guidelines. They come in several forms, but the most common is small, round pellets. The pellets are dissolved under the tongue and can be taken daily or as a single dose. Currently, there are over 3000 homeopathic remedies available for use.

What is an example of a homeopathic medicine?

A good example is the homeopathic medicine Sepia officinalis. Sepia is made from the ink of the cuttlefish. This ink is fairly toxic and produces symptoms that are common to the depressed phase of bipolar. Below is a list of symptoms that Sepia produces. If you have the EXACT same symptoms as sepia you will get better.

Depressed mood, with apathy, indolence, and irritability.
Marked indifference to things loved the most: especially family, occupation, etc.
Irritabily and indifference towards loved ones.
Sadness, with desire to be alone, consolation makes them feel worse, hates pity.
Depressed with fatigue in the morning, evening, and from 2-4 pm.
Sadness when walking in the open air.
Mood always better when occupied or busy.
Mood very much improved by exercise
Stomach feels empty, nausea, better eating.
Chilly, and better from heat.

What is the history of homeopathy?

The law of similars was known since the time of Hippocrates but it was not until the late 1700’s that German physician Samuel Hahnemann developed homeopathy into a system of medicine. Hahnemann, a brilliant physician, was disillusioned with the current practice of medicine and began experiments using the law of similiars. He found success and over the course of his lifetime developed a method of using homeopathy. The success of Homeopathy spread and by the early 1900’s there were 22 homeopathic medicial schools, 100 homeopathic hospitals, and 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies.

Why have I not heard of using homeopathy for bipolar disorder?

First, there are few quality homeopaths practicing in the United States. Therefore there have not been enough people treated by good homoepaths to create a name for itself. Furthermore, there are no studies on the effectiveness of homeopathy in bipolar disorder. Dr. Janikula is in the initial stages of setting up a study to demonstrate the success of homeopathy with bipolar disorder.

Dr. Janikula included a case example.

Case example. (names are changed to protect confidencility).

John is a 20 year old male who came to see Dr. Janikula because he has been having problems with irritability. He would have 4 days periods of intense agitation, and irritability and he in no way could be nice to anyone including his family. He would wake up angry and would quarrel with his wife and felt like she was doing something wrong to him. Occasionally he would dip into a bad depression and feel things were so bad that he contemplated suicide. These depressive episodes frequently lasted for 2 weeks and he would hide under his covers and felt he could not face the world. He was very talented in his field but in the last year had gone through many jobs because of conflicts. Most interestingly he felt better whenever he was in the mountains hunting. This would alleviate both his depressions and his hypomanias. In fact, he would spend all his time in the woods. He also had a very strong craving for smoked meats.

These symptoms are very clearly produced by a remedy call tuberculinum. He was given a single dose of 10M and immediately slept 12 hours and his mood stabilized. He needs another dose every 5 days to keep his mood stable and if he misses a dose all the irritability returns. His wife stated that John is the sweetest he has ever been in our 3 year relationship.

John is lucky as he was diagnosed and treated early on in the course of his disease. He will most likely need 1-2 more years of treatment until he is all better. He is off to a good start and homeopathic improvement is progressive.

Second Case Example

This second case is a much more complicated case of a 30 year old male with very rapid cycling bipolar II.

Pete is 30 year old male who came to me with previously diagnosed rapid-cycling bipolar II. These patients are very difficult to treat because there mood can shift weekly. This is a typical one month sketch of his treatment. Prior to see me he tired lamictal, depakote, Zoloft, lexapro and saw no benefit. He had a poor reaction to lamictal, and said the antidepressants made him worse. When he saw me he was on 50 mg of seroquel which was greatly helping his sleep but he was suffering from wild moods. I put him on bright light therapy in the morning and dark therapy in the evening. I also placed him on high-dose thyroid therapy and this further stabilized his mood. With these therapies his moods become more stable and here is a one month depiction of his homeopathic management.

Date 2nd of the month. I feel depressed, lonely, and without hope. I have thought about suicide and the thought makes me feel much better. I spend time with my friends and feel more alone, so I just want to be by myself. Sometimes I get really irritable and everything and everyone annoys me.
Dose: Aurum Metalicum 30C 3 pellots every day.

Date 3rd. I feel much better, no suicidal thoughts and I like my friends again. I am having fun and actually love being alive.

8th I think I am getting a little too high. Today I woke up and my mind was racing but it was not as fast as my body. I have been so busy all day and I cannot sit still. I think I have gotten 10 days of work done in 3 hours. Now I want to relax but I can. I have run, biked, and danced and I still have energy.
Dose: Tarantula. 200C 3 pellots every day.

9th. That dose worked fast. I relaxed and I even felt tired. Slept well and today I am more calm. However I miss the productivity but I don’t miss the restlessness.

16th. Today I woke up depressed and I just don’t care about my work. I heard my brother is having a hard time and I don’t even care about him. I went for a run and it made me feel a little better. I am so fatigued that I needed a nap at 2 pm and feel really cold.
Dose: Sepia 1M 3 pellets every day.

17th. Woke up feeling better today. Back to work with enthusiasm. Called my brother to check on him and actually care. Nice feeling.

25th. Depressed again. Not as bad as last time but still feel hopeless. I have an occasional suicidal thought but it is not strong. I am slightly irritated with my friends again.
Dose Aurum 200C 3 pellets everyday.

26th. Feel much better again. Not depressed and feel balance.

You can see that these patients are a lot of work but when managed for long periods of time each mood episode gets smaller and the interval between gets longer. It is really important to keep close contact.

Homeopathic Physicans

Dr. Janikula has prepared a page to help educate homeopathic physicians to better use homeopathy in bipolar disorder. This page includes management stratagies, materia medica, and helpful pointers. This page is detailed and does not provide much background information so if you are new to homeopathy it may be difficult to understand.

Read more