DYING

  Birth and death are the entry and exit to this world. In western culture death has been a subject that is avoided at all cost. There is so much emphasis on preserving life in western medicine that little thought is given to the process of death. In the orient the process of death is studied with the same enthusiasm as the processes of life. Over the 16 years that I ran free clinics in north India I learned much about the subject from the Tibetan lamas and Hindu yogis and yoginis. I had witness how they die, and I can tell you from personal experience, it is vastly different than western people. I have seen more than one approach death sitting in a meditation posture with their minds complete focused on their inner experiences. For them death is a gate to another dimension and they do their best to pass through it consciously. The Tibetan's lamas have a religious scripture that records the process of the death before the breath ceases, after its cessation, as well as after the spirit leaves the body. This may sound ridiculous to some in the skeptical west, but with the study of the near death experience by psychologists, hypnotherapists and physicians, the subject is beginning to open up.

  When a person is approaching death it is best to make them as comfortable as possible and keep the environment quiet and supportive. In the same way that we have birthing coaches at the start of life, it is best to have a death coach present during death to guide the person in the right direction. A hypotherapist, meditator or priest with a good knowledge of creative visualization is often the most equipped to help those in the death transition. The family should be instructed not to hold on to the dying person and to say things like "please don't die" or " we can't go on without you" as this only makes the situation worse. A state of prayer, quiet contemplation, or meditation should be taken up by all those present including the attendant health practitioners.

  In emergency situations where medical procedures are being carried out to try and save life, care should still be given to the mind of the sufferer. Talk to them as if they can hear you because subconsciously they can. Tell them what your are doing and why in a calm a reassuring manner as you carry out your procedures. Do not say things around an unconscious patient that you would not say to them if they were conscious. In homeopathy there are remedies that relieve the pain associated with death and help the person die. This may be called "homeopathic euthanasia", but the remedies do not kill the patient or assist in suicide. The remedies just reduce the pain and mental suffering and help the person let go at the right time. If the patient is capable of recovery, these same remedies may initiate the process. Death is something we will all have to face some day so the best time to prepare for it is while we are alive. As an old Himalayan yogi once said to me, "Death is a door to enlightenment, better take advantage of it!"

Materia Medica

ACONITE (2). Fear of death, but believes is will happen soon, predicts the time. Great anxiety, fear and worry. Panic and terror. Fears the future and what it while bring. Anxious restlessness and tossing about. Delirium, characterized by unhappiness, worry, fear, raving, sufferer is rarely fully conscious. Dry, burning heat, fever, and thirst.

ALUMINA (1). Confused as to his identity. Suicidal tendency on seeing a knife or blood. Low-spirited, fears loss of reason. Old people who lack vital heat, or prematurely old, with debility. Worse < periodically, in afternoon, morning of awaking, warm room.

ANT-T (2). The death rattle, great rattling of mucus but very little is expectorated. Coughing and gasping consecutively. Edema and impending paralysis of the lungs. Drowsy and comatose condition.

ARSENICUM (3*). Great anguish and restlessness with great prostration. The patient is very weak but still wants to get and walk the floor although they can not. The suffer fears death, and of being alone. Thinks it useless to take medicine. Fastidious, wants everything done a certain way. Suicidal. Worse < at night. after midnight, cold drinks. Better > warmth, from the head being elevated.

COCCULUS (1). Time travels too quickly, absorbed in reveries. Profound sadness. Sensations of hollowness, or emptiness, as if parts had gone to sleep. Heavy and stupid. Can not bear contradictions. Worse < eating, after loss of sleep, open air, touch, noise, jar, after emotional disturbances.

CUPRUM MET (1). Fixed ideas, malicious and morose. Uses words not intended. Spasmodic affections, cramps, and convulsions. Worse < contact. Better > drinking cold water.

LATRODECTUS MACTANS (3). Anxiety, screams with the pains. Extreme breathlessness, gasping respiration, fears losing his breath. Skin cold as marble. Heart attacks.

OPIUM (2). The dying person wants nothing. Unable to understand of appreciate his suffering. Complete loss of consciousness. Painlessness of all complaints. Heavy, stupid, sleep with irregular, noisy breathing. Frightful fancies, daring, gay and bright. Hot, damp, skin. Worse < heat, during and after sleep. Better ?> cold things.

PULSATILLA (1). Tearful, sentimental, has a hard time letting go of loved ones. Wishes to be held and like sympathy. Fears to be left alone. Religious melancholy. Must have open air or they feel suffocated. Suits passive, changeable females or gentle men. Worse < heat, closed warm rooms. Better > open air, cold application, cold food and drinks.

RHUS TOX (2). Extreme restlessness, with continual change of position (ars more anxious and prostrated). Sensorium becomes cloudy. Great apprehension of the night, wants to get up out of bed. Dreams of great exertion. Thought of suicide. Worse < during sleep, cold, night, at rest. Better > warm, motion, change of position.

TARENTULA HISPANIA (3). Averse to company but want some one present. Sensitive to music. Extreme restlessness, must keep in constant motion even though walking aggravates. Destructive impulses, moral sense relaxed. Lasciviousness reaching almost to insanity. Ungrateful and discontented. Worse < motion, contact, noise. Better > open air, music, bright colors, rubbing affected parts.

VERATRUM ALBUM (2). Delusions of impending misfortune. Attack of pain, with delirium driving them to madness. Cursing and howling all night. Violent mania alternating with refusal too talk. Collapse, extreme coldness, blueness, and weakness. Cold perspiration on the forehead. Worse < at night. Better > warmth.