Further evidence that disease starts in the mind: optimistic and cheerful people are much less likely to suffer a heart attack. Even more definitive, being happy cuts your risk of any heart condition by up to 50%! Researchers from John Hopkins[1] tracked people whose siblings had suffered a heart problem; with a positive outlook on life, the siblings’ risk of a heart problem all but disappeared.Further evidence that disease starts in the mind: optimistic and cheerful people are much less likely to suffer a heart attack. Even more definitive, being happy cuts your risk of any heart condition by up to 50%! Researchers from John Hopkins[1] tracked people whose siblings had suffered a heart problem; with a positive outlook on life, the siblings’ risk of a heart problem all but disappeared.

Dying of a broken heart is not just a poetic metaphor – it is a recognised though not widely known medical syndrome termed stress cardiomyopathy. The body suddenly releases a massive shot of adrenaline, stunning the bottom half of the heart’s main pumping chamber, so that it is paralysed, obliging the upper portion to overcompensate. So instead of the heart pumping faster and stronger in the classic ‘fight or flight’ response, the adrenaline causes weakness. Thus sadly, some people die in the few days after an unexpected and devastating loss. Often someone experiencing intense grief after losing a loved one will wonder how to possibly survive the emotional pain. Any intense shock can trigger the condition, not only extreme fear or pain – winning a lot of money on the lottery can be experienced as intense shock, even if it is ‘good’ news.

And what is the connection with homeopathy you might ask? Firstly, as a form of holisitic medicine, homeopaths believe that most disease starts in the mind. Emotions and experiences that are not healthily processed, fester and transmute into physical conditions, warning signs that all is not well. So much of our language confirms it, such as:
I have a broad back (Feeling burdened)
I cannot stomach him/her/it (Sick to your stomach/belching)
(S)he/it is a pain in the neck (Tension or lack of movement in the neck area)

Furthermore, our remedies can help ease processing grief and loss. Shock and grief cause some to withdraw, unable to cry or speak, others to sob hysterically and to speak of their loss incessantly. As homoeopathy translates to similar suffering, each person will be adressed according to individual symptoms and their intensity.
Some individualising symptoms of grief:

• Causes pain in the abdomen
• Causes smarting pain in the back
• Causes epilepsy
• Fear at night with
• Hair falls off
• Heart problems with
• Causes palpitations
• Causes weakness
• Sighing with
• Silent grief
• Undemonstrative

Physical pains that manifest concurrently with or as a result of grief and loss can also be alleviated by homeopathy. Ensure you first urgently check with a physician that symptoms of chest discomfort, upper body or stomach pain, shortness of breath, breaking into a cold sweat, nausea or light-headedness are not signs of a heart attack.
When the bereaved cannot move on, have difficulty functioning, either close themselves off for fear of further pain or, conversely, become overly reckless homeopathy can gently help redress their imbalance.