“I have used homeopathy for years. When I lived in New York, despite the fact that naturopathic doctors could not be licensed there, I sought relief from heavy bleeding and clotting during perimenopause and countless other day-to-day ailments that cropped up in our family. Thanks to a regimen of homeopathy and vitamins, I made it through that time without surgery or drugs. But my most dramatic homeopathic success story occurred years later after we had moved to Seattle.

“My son, at age fifteen, showed signs of an emerging mental illness. At first I attributed it to his being a teenager, but it became apparent that it was more. We took our son in for homeopathic treatment and, over the next year and a half, he was more stable. Eventually, due to the seriousness of his problem, we ended up with a combination of drugs and homeopathy that has worked quite well. Homeopathy enables us to keep the drug dosage to a minimum.

“This was an incredibly stressful time. There is no history of mental illness in our family and I just couldn’t believe my wonderful son had been so afflicted. One night the burden of his care came crashing down on my shoulders. I felt faint and could not breathe. When I went to bed, I asked my husband to please check on me periodically and, if I still was unable to breathe, that he take me to the local emergency room.

“It then became clear that I, as well as my son, needed treatment just to get through such a challenging time. I found the initial homeopathic interview to be much like a therapy session, with me blurting out my feelings through a myriad of Kleenex tissues. When I calmed down, I began to answer more general questions.

“As a side note, I mentioned my tendency to become seasick very easily. That was apparently of great homeopathic interest. As long as I can remember, being in any stuffy place, let alone on a boat, plane, or carnival ride, rocked my equilibrium to the point of my almost fainting. Sometimes even bending over would cause me to feel some imaginary wave, as if my feet were not on solid ground.

“Although it was anxiety and a type of nervous exhaustion that led me to Dr. Reichenberg-Ullman, she put all of my symptoms together. That led her to prescribe Cocculus. Under the description of a patient needing this medicine, she described, ‘One who is caring for and losing sleep over a sick loved one.’ Bingo. That, plus the motion sickness and a feeling of being wrung-out, fit me perfectly.

“The Cocculus helped calm me and kept my head level while I managed my son’s illness. I slept better and felt more hopeful and peaceful. The changes were subtle and it wasn’t until several weeks later that I realized that the woozy, rocking sensation that had plagued me had vanished altogether. One dose of the medicine lasted almost a year. I am grateful to report that my son is doing very well, and so am I.”

Christine has described her own case and the indications for Cocculus (Indian cockle) quite well. It is an excellent medicine for motion sickness, along with anxiety and nervous exhaustion after caring for or losing sleep over worrying about a loved one.

Women like Christine who need this medicine are quite sensitive to the needs of others, often at the expense of their own. Cocculus is also quite a common homeopathic answer to morning sickness. Since I began to see Christine four years ago, she has needed six doses of Cocculus in a 200C potency, as well as infrequent, self-administered doses of a 30C.