“As a child I was raised in a very dysfunctional family. My parents fought often at the dinner table. This affected my eating habits greatly. Since I was a young girl, I have struggled with an eating disorder. My mother, not knowing what to do with me, considered putting me in the hospital. As a teenager I went through counseling and various antidepressants. Nothing seemed to work in the long run. Nothing seemed to help me live a “normal” life. I felt isolated, confused, anxious, depressed, frustrated, out of control, and ashamed. I was a professional woman who, on the outside, seemed to have everything. The medications the doctors had me on seemed to work for about one year and then my symptoms would return. They would increase my dosage, which only increased the side effects. Any change in my routine would set me on a hidden path of chaos.

“Out of desperation, I did some research about homeopathy and thought that maybe it could help me. After attending a weekend seminar, I made an appointment with Dr. Reichenberg-Ullman. She and I worked together as a team, looking at all my symptoms—not just the eating disorder, but what was underlying it. The first session felt a bit odd, and I wondered why she asked me specific questions that pertained to my physical, mental, and emotional states. Conventional doctors did not take the time to really ask me about myself and just sit and listen, only offering me guidance.

“For a year and a half Dr. Reichenberg-Ullman worked with me to eliminate my immediate symptoms, slowly progressing to the real issue of my eating disorder. During the catharsis, my remedy changed and some of my symptoms got worse, but we kept working together. Since I’ve been on my remedy, I feel in control of my life; and although crises have hit I have been able to ride through them with a sense of control. I am much more in touch with my body. I can sense when I’m in need of my remedy.

“Homeopathy has benefited me long-term by alleviating my symptoms and providing me with a sense of physical, mental, and emotional balance—something I was unable to ever feel before.

” I first saw Sally as a patient five years ago when she was twenty-eight. At the age of twelve, she began to throw up whenever she ate or else she wouldn’t eat at all, pretending to forget that she was hungry. After months of fainting every morning in her English class, her teacher finally figured out she needed food. Sally was butting heads with her stepmother at the time. Later on, she only threw up after eating fattening food or after arguing, which reminded her of her parents’ bickering when she was little. She found it impossible to eat in the school cafeteria amidst a din of loud voices. Yearning for a Barbie-doll figure, she roller-skated like crazy. As she grew older, she did not ever feel quite like she fit in. A high achiever, Sally was always working on improving herself in one way or another.   

In addition, Sally’s periods were irregular and very heavy, and her cramping was severe. She developed vaginitis, chlamydia, and carcinoma of the cervix, from which she fortunately recovered. She also complained of gas, bloating, PMS, anxiety attacks, and headaches.  

The two medicines that have been most helpful for Sally were Vanadium, an excellent medicine for women whose happiness depends on their degree of success or failure and who tend toward anorexia and bulimia, and Carcinosin (nosode), because of her perfectionism and fastidiousness. She’s not nearly as hard on herself now, her physical symptoms are considerably improved across the board, her eating is much more normal, she is in a terrific relationship, and she is pursuing a career she’s really excited about.