WHAT’S WITH PICKY EATERS?

Thoughts and Researches
Lucy Maness Warner
October 21, 2015


I had my first brush with a picky eater during my first marriage when I was picnicking in the back yard with my husband’s family. His nephew was around nine years old, a real smart-Aleck, full of hostility, and above all, wouldn’t eat anything except hot dogs. His mother dutifully cooked his hot dog (at his aunt’s house) where his mother didn’t even apologize for his behavior. He really had her trained. I formed the opinion from this experience that picky children are mainly just spoiled rotten.

That kid was at any rate, but these articles point out that many people are “selective eaters,” as it is now being called. It has also gained the official status of a psychological disorder. The articles below show that there are underlying psychological issues with the condition, and it’s not just an attempt to “get attention” or be irritating. Now I hold to the view that those teenage boys who loosen their belts so their derrieres will show are just being irritating. If one of those kids were mine I would “talk to him” to let him know that the behavior is NOT acceptable, and in addition tell him I’m going to take away one of his favorite privileges such as his cell phone until he starts to taste every food on the table with at least a teaspoonful, and then take him to a Psychologist if he keeps doing it. If he doesn’t want to be treated as an immature boy rather than a young man, that may be enough. If, however, he does actually need psychiatric counseling I would give it to him, of course. Some of these behaviors that kids go through are related to real problems.

The Picky Eater behavior may have many causes. See the articles below. I put the one on homeopathy in because it is written by an RN and is directly focused on the problem. Most psychiatrists do now consider it to be a real problem. I do enjoy asking Mr. Google about the various questions that pop into my mind, and as usual this article is quite interesting in my opinion. I’m sure you know somebody like this.



http://www.livescience.com/10301-adult-picky-eaters-recognized-disorder.html

Adult Picky Eaters Now Recognized as Having a Disorder
by Robin Nixon | November 28, 2010


He's 63 years old, but Bob Krause admits he still eats "a 4-year-old's dream diet."

Krause likes peanut butter, crackers, grilled cheese sandwiches, chocolate milk and little else. More adventurous meals look like "a plate of barf," he told LiveScience.

"If I could snap my fingers and change, I would," he said, explaining his pickiness helped ruin two marriages, limited his career options and makes most social occasions sources of stress

Researchers think Krause could be one of thousands suffering from a previously unrecognized illness: selective eating disorder, more commonly known as very picky eating. Instead of having a couple foods they'd rather avoid, the way most of us do, people with selective eating disorder feel there are very few foods they are even capable of eating.

"People who are picky aren't doing this just to be stubborn," said eating researcher Nancy Zucker of Duke University, explaining that extremely picky eaters experience food differently than the rest of us.

Zucker, who is also the director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders, first became interested in selective eating, because adult picky eaters were walking in, looking for help. Their eating behavior was getting in the way of their job or social life, or they were worried about being bad role models for their kids, she said. [How to Handle Kids' Picky Eating]

How many adult picky eaters are there?

Most people with this disorder are highly embarrassed by their limited food repertoire and will go to great lengths to keep it hidden, either by avoiding social events that involve food or drinks (which ones don't?), or by making up excuses to avoid eating, such as fibbing about an upset belly.

To get a sense of the problem's prevalence, in July 2010, Zucker and her colleagues put up an online registry, including a lengthy survey, for picky eaters. The initial response overwhelmed expectations: In less than five months, 7,500 people have fully registered. (More than 11,000 have started the survey without completing it.)

The researchers plan to do a formal analysis of the survey data early next year, but preliminary results suggest that selective eating disorder is separate and distinct from other disorders, Zucker said. The survey was carefully constructed to rule out conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or anorexia and bulimia, for example.

Nature or nurture?

Whether extreme pickiness has its roots in a person's biology or psychology is not yet clear. But there seem to be some common themes, suggesting either or both, among people like Krause.

Selective eaters tend to like similar foods, with an emphasis on the bland and processed. They love salt. French fries are a favorite. Bacon is the only meat many of them will eat. Fruit, vegetables and alcohol are snubbed for the most part — with light beer and raw carrots being possible exceptions.

Could they be supertasters? That is, people who, because of their genetic makeup, taste certain flavors more acutely than average tasters?

Maybe, Zucker told LiveScience, but that isn't enough to explain the selectivity. After all, strong tastes aren't necessarily bad tastes and many supertasters are not finicky eaters. And Zucker's research suggests picky eaters reject foods based on sensory qualities other than taste: They don't like the look or smell of certain (most) foods.

"Most foods do not look like food to my brain," Krause explained.

Grown-up picky eaters also tend to have early negative associations with food, Zucker said. Many report having had severe acid reflux as a baby or childhood gastrointestinal issues, for example.

Unpleasant associations may also be learned at the dinner table, she said.

Preventing permanent pickiness

Kids are at greater risk of becoming picky adults "anytime the food environment is coercive or tense," Zucker said,

Family meals should be fun, she said. They are not a time to argue, reprimand about grades, or harass about eating habits.

And dining together needs to happen regularly, she stressed, so kids can watch others enjoying a variety of foods and be exposed to different smells — even if they don't eat much themselves.

Registered dietician, author and family therapist Ellyn Satter agrees. Even if selective eating disorder has a biological component, Satter told LiveScience, it's a parent's job to help children learn eating habits that will serve them well as adults. [10 Controversial Psychiatric Disorders]

"Everyone has got something and everyone has to learn to cope. And children need to learn to deal with their predilections," Satter said. Otherwise, it can become a life-long problem, where they are embarrassed to eat in public, she cautioned.

Krause, however, thinks there is nothing his parents could have done to help him. And, as much as he would love a cure, he is pessimistic. He runs an online support group for picky eaters and among its 1,700 active members, he has heard only one success story: A selective eater was able to expand her food repertoire enough to find something to eat at most restaurants.

Even Zucker, who is actively treating selective eaters, admits, "We don't know yet how much they can be pushed."

Instead, Zucker focuses on helping picky eaters overcome their embarrassment and feel entitled to their own preferences. The most important component, she said, is teaching friends and family members "the person is not doing this to be willful and bratty."

Only in this supportive context may a picky eater feel safe enough to try something new — but there is no guarantee they will like it.

"We don't all have the same experience when we eat," Zucker said.




http://time.com/3981050/picky-eating-health-risks/

Why You Should Worry About Picky Eaters
Alice Park @aliceparkny Aug. 3, 2015


Despite the fact that many doctors dismiss picky eating as just a phase, a new study shows it may be a sign of deeper issues

Rare is the child who will eat pretty much anything. Most toddlers develop specific favorite foods and, of more concern, absolute no-go foods.

To a certain extent, that’s normal. But when eating preferences make it difficult for the child to eat with others that could be a sign of more serious sensitivities, say scientists in a report appearing in Pediatrics.

Nancy Zucker, director of the Duke University Center for Eating Disorders, and her colleagues looked into the implications of picky eating when she made a connection between more and more adults with eating-related issues who reported having been picky eaters as children. No studies had looked in depth at the longer term effects of selective eating during childhood, so Zucker studied 917 children two to nearly six years old who were enrolled in an anxiety study. The children’s parents recorded their eating habits, and the researchers conducted tests to determine how the children scored on measures of anxiety and symptoms of mood disorders.

About 20% of the children were picky eaters, meaning they either ate only a restricted number of foods or could not eat with others because of their limited range of food preferences. Only about 3% fell into the latter category of severe selective eaters. Those children were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression or social anxiety. Even children in the moderately picky eating group were more likely to show symptoms of depression, social anxiety or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder compared to children who weren’t picky eaters.

Zucker says the findings shouldn’t alarm parents, but should help them and their doctors to start being more specific about when picky eating is normal and when it should be seen as a sign of possible anxiety issues. What may be happening, she says, is that selective eating may be a symptom of a broader hyper sensitivity. So for certain children who see, feel, hear and taste their world more intensely, being picky about which foods they eat may be a way of coping with an otherwise overwhelming influx of sensory information. “The restriction and narrowness in eating is a way of simplifying their rich, overwhelming world,” she says.

She stresses that it’s only a theory, but in her study, there was evidence that for the severe picky eaters, and for some of the moderately picky ones, their aversion to certain food tastes and textures wasn’t just ‘yuck’ but involved gagging.

While Zucker doesn’t want to turn picky eating into a “medical” condition, she does feel that parents need more guidance from pediatricians about what to do if their children become selective eaters. Parents are already confused by advice from pediatricians that includes urging them to feed their children a varied diet, including fruits and vegetables, to help their development, but at the same time telling them not to worry if their child refuses to eat certain foods.

Her advice? “Try to get meal times back,” she says. That means not trying to force children to eat foods they don’t like at meals, since they’ll start associating the table with unpleasant experiences. Instead, try introducing them to new or non-favorite foods at different times, as part of food adventures, to help them become more comfortable with and willing to try new things.





http://blog.brainfacts.org/2013/07/the-biology-of-picky-eating/#.VifD0H6rQb0

The Biology of Picky Eating
Posted 13 Jul 2013 by Emily Jordan


Everyone knows a picky eater—a former classmate of mine ate only cereal, pasta and milk—but why does picky eating exist?

Humans are omnivores and when necessary, we can survive on a wide range of diets. The Miwok people of California traditionally subsisted on acorns, which they had to process by drying, shelling, pounding, leaching, and cooking to render edible. During the famines of the 1990′s, North Koreans resorted to eating tree bark to stave off starvation. Eating is a fundamental behavior and we derive both nutrients and pleasure from it. So why are some people unable to fully enjoy many foods?

One simply has to look at what people eat around the world to find evidence that food preferences vary extensively. In Iceland, a traditional dish called hákarl is made by fermenting the meat of a poisonous shark, while in Scotland, there is a holiday devoted to haggis. We learn to savor some dishes above others, but these preferences can also become extreme and limiting, as in the case of my pasta-loving classmate.

The roots of pickiness may lie in our past. Selective eating is especially common in children, with up to 50% of children reported to be picky.1 Pickiness may have evolved to keep kids from getting sick. When children start to walk, they do not yet know which foods are safe, so avoiding unfamiliar foods can prevent the risk of poisoning as they start becoming independent.

Picky eating also benefits other species. A classic example is conditioned taste aversion in rats, first described by John Garcia and colleagues, who found that rats began to avoid sugar when it was paired with a stimulus that made them feel sick.2 Sugar is almost universally beloved by animals, but unfortunately rats do not have the ability to vomit. To avoid dying from food poisoning, rats have evolved to be picky eaters. They take a tiny taste of new foods at first, and if they feel sick afterwards, they learn to avoid the food in the future. Conditioned taste aversion can also be found in humans, such as when chemotherapy patients develop food aversions due to nausea.3

Being picky around foods that could make you sick makes evolutionary sense, but as an adventurous eater myself, I have always wondered why otherwise normal adults sometimes refuse to eat perfectly healthy and tasty foods. Unlike people with other eating disorders, adult picky eaters usually maintain normal body weights but abide by certain rules, such as refusing to eat certain colors of foods, avoiding all vegetables, or sticking to only certain brands of their preferred foods. Often picky eaters find socializing difficult because they are embarrassed to eat in front of others.

On a trip to Singapore, I got a better understanding of what picky eaters may go through. I was keen to try durian, the fruit so stinky that it is famously against the law to bring it to public places. I was surprised to find that even when smothered in whipped cream, I found it inedible. My Singaporean friend finished our shared dessert, exclaiming “It’s so rich and delicious,” when all I wanted was to get the weirdly chemical taste out of my mouth. When extremely picky eaters try new foods, they seem to experience what I felt when eating durian—that whatever is in their mouth simply does not taste like food.

Picky eaters may actually sense taste differently to other people. Taste buds, which are comprised of groups of receptors on the tongue, are specialized to discern the basic tastes—sweet, salty, bitter, sour and savory—by detecting chemicals in food and relaying this information to the brain, where there are specific areas for each basic taste in a brain region called the gustatory cortex.4 Eating something salty activates one part of the gustatory cortex, while sweetness activates another, separate area.

Linda Bartoshuk, a psychologist at Yale, discovered that people who avoided strong tasting foods like alcohol and hot peppers actually have more taste buds than non-choosy people.5 These “supertasters” actually perceive tastes more intensely because their brains receive a stronger taste signal from their tongues.

Studies of Selective Eating Disorder (what some scientists are calling very picky eating) are still in their infancy (if you are a picky eater, you can participate in a research project here), but understanding why people perceive tastes in different ways may shed light on certain disorders. Autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety commonly correlate with problematic selective eating. If scientists understand how taste buds and the gustatory regions of the brain communicate, they may be able to help people with these disorders as well as help chemotherapy patients overcome nausea, selective eaters lead more socially fulfilling lives, and maybe even help me enjoy durian.

Mascola et al., 2010 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2943861/
Garcia et al., 1955 http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&UID=1956-02010-001
Mattes et al., 1987 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3677112
Chen et al., 2011 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21885776
Bartoshuk et al., 1995 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0031938494903611
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Emily Jordan
About Emily Jordan

Emily Rose Jordan loves reading, talking and writing about science, especially the neuroscience of animal behavior, which she comments on via brainfacts.org’s blog and on her Twitter feed @drsciencelady. She currently works as a healthcare analyst in London.

Emily earned a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar, and a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University. Her research focused on the neurobiology of social behavior and its role in addiction. Emily spends her free time traveling, especially to see wildlife and to try new cuisines.

View all posts by Emily Jordan →





https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/natural-remedies-emotional-health/201411/picky-eaters-emotional-or-physical-problem

Picky Eaters: Emotional or Physical Problem?
Natural medicines can relieve emotional and physical blocks to healthy eating.
Burke Lennihan R.N., C.C.H.
Posted Nov 09, 2014


When kids refuse to eat healthy foods, or refuse to eat at all, they tend to be blamed for bad behavior. Sometimes the problem is physical, though, and physical causes should be ruled out before considering the emotional factors addressed later in this article.

Kids often refuse food because they know the food will make them feel bad, perhaps from food allergies or the heightened sensitivities associated with sensory processing disorder. Some moms in my practice report that certain foods cause their children to double over in pain. Others report their kids spit everything out because it feels so gross in their mouth, perhaps as a hair in the food would feel to others. Still other children may suffer from severe diarrhea or uncomfortable gas distension from gut dysbiosis. Other kids may feel uncomfortably full because they are constipated.

Some kids refuse food simply because they don’t enjoy it, perhaps for a simple reason like a zinc deficiency. Kids who don’t eat enough tend to develop nutritional deficiencies; foods high in zinc like pumpkin seeds are not on most kids’ favorite-food list; so a vicious cycle develops because a zinc deficiency means they can’t taste anything.

If the picky-eater problem is physical rather than emotional, the best resource I have found is the newly-published Almost Autism by nutritionist Maria Rickert Hong. While Hong’s book is about nutritional solutions to Sensory Processing Disorder, it will benefit parents of children with allergies, ADHD, Asperger’s and a host of other common childhood conditions — as well as parents seeking good nutritional advice for healthy kids!

If the child is refusing food for emotional reasons, parents first need to find the cause. She may not want to eat because she is anxious, her anxiety in turn caused by her parents’ arguing. This child may benefit from the natural medicine Magnesia muriatica, known for supporting children trying to create peace in the family. (Of course this is an admirable tendency, but it can create too much stress and an inappropriate sense of responsibility in a small child.) Kids who need Mag. mur. are also likely to suffer from indigestion, abdominal pains, constipation, diarrhea, and gas, so they are likely to be averse to eating. Mag. mur. can help both the emotional and physical concerns.

Grief is the most common emotional reason for refusing food. In the life of a child, any loss can cause major grief: not only the loss of a parent through death or divorce, but even the loss of a pet, the loss of a best friend moving away, or moving from their childhood home – which may entail the loss of familiar surroundings, friends, and pets all at once. (I can see how apparently minor losses can cause longterm grief when I read my clients’ timelines in which I ask them to list the major traumas of their life.)

Natrum muriaticum and Ignatia are two closely-related remedies which can release the grief underlying a refusal to eat. Nat. mur. is for “silent grief”, suppressed grief, in which the person becomes emotionally withdrawn in order to protect against being hurt again. Kids who need this medicine tend to be serious and aloof, perhaps refusing their mom’s attempted hugs. If they lose a parent or friend, they may find solace in a pet, trusting the pet never to leave them. They tend to be overly responsible, serious about their studies, and unable to relax and have fun. Nat. mur. can release this pattern, allowing them to enjoy hugs, play and food.

While Nat. mur. tends to work for a past grief, Ignatia can be used for both recent and long-ago griefs. If recent, the person tends to sob hysterically and perhaps indulge in emotional eating, trying to fill the emptiness within. This would not be the picky eater! But if the grief is more longterm, the Ignatia child can act like the Nat. mur. child, more withdrawn and sulky while refusing to eat. Physical symptoms can help guide the choice: a Nat. mur. child may be constipated or get cold sores, while an Ignatia child may have cramping pains or psychosomatic ills.

But what if a young girl refuses to eat because she is worried about being too fat? Natural medicines can help people who have an unrealistic sense of their bodies, like my teenage client who thought she was too fat because the inside of her thighs touched at one point near the top (she was on the thin side of healthy). Finding a natural medicine for someone with an eating disorder, or a tendency heading in that direction, requires the assistance of a professional and you can find one near you at www.homeopathic.org (link is external).





Ignatia

http://www.herbs2000.com/homeopathy/ignatia.htm
Homeopathy
Ignatia
Ignatius Bean


Ignatia amara syn. Strychnos ignatia

The native people of the Philippines have been traditionally wearing the seeds of St. Ignatius bean in the form of amulets with a view to keep off as well as heal different types of ailments. The seeds were introduced from East Africa into Europe for the first time in the 17th century and the credit for this goes to the Spanish Jesuits. These seeds enclose a potent poison known as strychnine and when ingested it works on our nervous system. Later, the homeopathic remedy Ignatia prepared from these seeds was proved as well as published for the first time by the German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in the documentation of his works Materia Medica Pura (1821-1834).

The homeopathic remedy Ignatia is most appropriate for people, particularly womenfolk, who are suffering from very powerful emotional problems, for instance, any severe grief following a death or a relationship gone astray. People who require this medication most are those who are often emotionally weak, touchy and artistic. They are also inclined to mood swing and suffer from self-pity. In addition, such individuals may have a somewhat delicate air, usually found laughing as well as crying simultaneously. In case they try to hold back their emotions, it may often result in hysteria. These people generally have very high expectations from people who are close to them and even when they are disheartened in love, they find it very hard to break all ties with their partner.

In general, Ignatia is an effective homeopathic remedy for incongruous physical symptoms, for instance, indigestion which is eased when one eats something, or a tender throat getting better after swallowing some solid food. Usually, the symptoms are accompanied by intense feeling of pain and having an inclination to sigh and yawn too often. People who respond to Ignatia well are those that have a loathing towards crowds, suffer from a phobia related to birds, particularly chicken. In addition, this homeopathic remedy is also employed to cure ailments that have their origin in emotional trauma. These conditions may include digestive disorders like queasiness and vomiting; headaches; tender throats; and nervous spasms and shuddering.

Parts used

Seeds.

Uses

St. Ignatius is a small tree that has been named after the saint who patronized retreats as well as exercises and it provides us with the St. Ignatius bean, which supports us emotionally as well as physically. Ignatia, the homeopathic remedy prepared from the bean, helps in curing an assortment of symptoms that are likely to be a result of emotional disorder. In effect, any powerful emotional disorder has the ability to trigger a wide range of symptoms in our body. These strong emotional turbulences may include prolonged and extreme study periods, losing a dear one, chronic stress, homesickness, trauma (usually one that has been suffered in recent times) as well as broken hearts.

Besides facilitating in bringing out all held back emotions, the homeopathic remedy Ignatia is also effective in treating the qualms of heartache or ordeal. It is also effective in curing the symptoms of emotional distress, such as insomnia, aches in the belly region as well as the waves of tenderness that may be accompanied by tumultuous emotions, and also to avert these issues later on - for instance, colds attributable to stress on the immune system of the sufferer. Colds that are cured by Ignatia may begin with a sensation that you have a lump in your throat, while the cough healed by this homeopathic remedy may start out with a tickling sensation in the throat. In case the cold develops into a fever, people said to be belonging to the Ignatia temperament are likely to feel somewhat thirsty or have an itchy feeling accompanied by colds. The other symptoms experienced by the Ignatia type may include a headache that may cause a sensation like a nail is being drilled into the head as well as the unease becomes further intense when they lie on the side of the body that is aching. In addition, the patient may also experience a bitter taste in his/ her mouth, have hiccups, and suffer from queasiness, vomiting and pain in the upper portion of the abdomen. All these symptoms are likely to be alleviated when the patient eats something - as is the case in all other instances where Ignatia is required.

As far as the emotional aspects are concerned, the homeopathic remedy Ignatia works exceptionally well, especially when the patient is suffering from silent grief. However, it is also effective for people who are just on the contrary - such as constantly crying, suffering from nervousness and terror. People who belong to the Ignatia type usually have a very sensitive nervous system and hence, it is not amazing that bodies of such people easily respond to emotional strain accompanied by convulsions, shuddering and also a feeling that they have developed a lump inside their throat. In addition, such people usually also suffer from sleeplessness and nervous headaches. Ignatia is also effective for curing symptoms like nervous weakness attributable to any loss, prolonged aggravation and disappointment, living under tension and also studying for extremely long hours.

In addition, people suffering from health conditions owing to intense emotional anxiety, for instance, distress, anguish, resentment and holding back of such feelings may also find Ignatia beneficial. In effect, this homeopathic remedy is vital for easing grief accompanied by hysteria, mood swings and sleeplessness. Ignatia is also useful for curing additional emotional conditions of the mind, such as self-pity, self-guilt, becoming tearful all of a sudden, the fright of being forced into doing something undesirable, held up reaction to violence or anger as well as apprehensions and depression.

The homeopathic remedy Ignatia is also useful for treating headaches, especially where the sufferer has a heavy sensation in his/ her head and perhaps light-headedness too. Such headaches normally deteriorate further when the sufferer is lying on the side of the body that is aching, nervous headaches attributable to emotional strain and in case of children, the headaches deteriorate when they take foods containing caffeine and the condition is eased when they are exposed to heat.

Ignatia helps to cure illnesses that occur together with unpredictable as well as ambiguous symptoms, such as tender throats that heal on consumption of solid foods; queasiness and vomiting that improve when the patient eats something and so on. In addition, this homeopathic remedy is also effective for conditions like fever accompanied by cold and which bring on thirst; tickly coughs; sensitivity to pain; becoming unconscious in suffocating conditions; having an intense desire for unusual foods when ailing; and pain in the upper portion of the abdomen.

Ignatia is especially beneficial for women and is prescribed for women suffering from a prolapsed or displaced rectum accompanied by a sharp and shooting pain that moves upward; throbbing spasms of the uterus throughout menstruation; lack of menstruation, hemorrhoids and constipation set off by emotional turmoil.

Some of the condition specific uses of the homeopathic remedy Ignatia are discussed briefly below.

Digestive disorders

Ignatia is useful for conditions where queasiness and vomiting are alleviated when the sufferer eats something. Such conditions are usually accompanied by symptoms like hiccups, burping and copious formation of acidic-tasting saliva in the mouth. In addition, the patient may have a hunger that is unsatiated. This homeopathic remedy is also effective in curing other conditions, including constipation, diarrhea or even hemorrhoids that may have been started out owing to some kind of emotional strain.

Nervous disorders

This homeopathic remedy works excellently for nervous disorders accompanied by symptoms like shuddering, nervous spasms or lack of sensation in the limbs and face, perhaps worsening to hysterical paralysis, seizures, or chorea (a condition wherein the patient experiences unsystematic trembling of the limbs and face). It is important to note that Ignatia is only given provided the symptoms endured by the patient are set off by grief, shock or any other powerful emotional turbulence.

In case you notice that you are constantly engrossed in thought regarding painful conditions and you also take deep sighs quite often, you will find the homeopathic remedy Ignatia very useful. Everyone who has lost a dear one or broken up in a love relationship commonly suffers from sleeplessness and nightmares and their only remedial option is Ignatia. The symptoms cured by this homeopathic remedy are inclined to be somewhat unpredictable and irregular, and they are likely to tighten as well as release frequently while the body and the mind endeavour to reinstate balance. People suffering from health conditions that are treated by Ignatia normally feel better when they eat something and when they are exposed to warmth. On the contrary, their symptoms worsen when there is any type of emotional turbulence, when they drink coffee and are exposed to cold breeze.

Irrespective of the fact that they are normal to the person or have been brought on by emotions, individuals who require the homeopathic remedy most are those who are generally very sensitive, impractical and, at times, mysterious, and their moods are likely to change very often. For instance, they may be laughing at one moment and crying in the next. In fact, such people conceal or hold back their feelings so cleverly that you can only get a hint about what are happening within them when they take deep sighs. Over a period of time, such people may possibly turn out to be extremely self-protective, distrustful, envious and also boorish. It is worth mentioning here that the line differentiating Nat. mur. and Ignatia for treating grief as well as held back emotions is very narrow. The difference may be explained by saying that as far as the responses of these two homeopathic remedies to sympathy are concerned, people belonging to the Nat. mur. type are likely to take exception to it, while those having Ignatia temperament will simply like to be left alone. Therefore, when an individual is besieged by any recent anguish, one should first consider giving Ignatia to the sufferer.

Source

Ignatius beans, which form the basis of the homeopathic remedy Ignatia, are found growing throughout south-eastern Asia and are very widespread in countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.

To prepare this homeopathic remedy, one needs to collect the seeds of the Ignatius beans and pound them into a powdered form. Subsequently, the powder is macerated in alcohol and when it is infused with alcohol, the resultant solution is filtered and watered down to the desired level making it a non-toxic substance. The final product is the homeopathic remedy Ignatia, which does not retain even the slightest trace of the original seeds.





Natrum muriaticum

wiseGEEK -- http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-natrum-muriaticum.htm
clear answers for common questions

What is Natrum Muriaticum?

Natrum muriaticum is a preparation which is utilized in homeopathic medicine. Like other homeopathic preparations, Natrum muriaticum is more properly referred to as a “remedy.” Remedies are available directly from homeopathic practitioners, and also from health food stores and markets which stock supplies and preparations used in the practice of alternative medicines.

Remedies are made by taking a substance and diluting it to an extreme level, such that active ingredients can rarely be identified in chemical testing. According to the principles of Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who developed homeopathic medicine, “like cures like,” and homeopaths use remedies derived from substances which cause symptoms to treat those same symptoms when they are observed in patients. Natrum muriaticum is known as a polychrest, meaning that it can be used to treat a wide variety of conditions.

In the case of Natrum muriaticum, also known as Nat-m or Nat. mur., the remedy is made from common table salt which is diluted. It can be found in tinctures, pellets, and tablets in varying concentrations. This polychrest is used to treat people with symptoms which are related to emotional distress, which can include emotional disorders along with digestive complaints, poor skin, and ulcerations.