A Book for Every Woman Who is Planning to Have a Baby or Who Will Help Deliver One.
Midwives, physicians, nurses, homeopathic practitioners and pregnant women themselves will find this book to be an invaluable aid in solving, gently and naturally, almost every problem encountered during pregnancy, labour and delivery, as well as postpartum difficulties. It covers everything from pre-eclampsia to breastfeeding.
"Finally a concise but comprehensive therapeutic handbook for all phases of pregnancy, labour, post-natal and neonatal homeopathic care. This is the book that midwives and those caring for pregnant women and their infants will take to the clinic, birthing room and home to help them choose the homeopathic medicine for their patient's problems of pregnancy. The author has collected the most useful information needed by classical homeopaths to really individualize the required remedy." Jacquelyn Wilson, M.D., D.H.T., Past President, American Institute of Homeopathy; Past Board Member, National Center for Homeopathy; Consultant, Homeopathic Pharmaceutical Industry; Vice President, American Board of Homeotherapeutics; Member, Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia
"Sandra Perko's book is the most complete book on the subject yet to appear. Her descriptions of such remedy pictures as Pulsatilla, Sepia, Arsenicum, and Ignatia are vivid and unforgettable. I salute her!" - Karl Robinson, M.D., former editor of the Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, author of Homeopathy - Questions & Answers
If you practice Homeopathy and you assist pregnant women and their babies, this book is for you.
- Author: Sandra Perko
- ISBN: 9780965318747
- 406 pages
- Paperback
- Printed in United States
Reprinted with the permission of The Society of Homeopaths, from 'The Homeopath' Journal, Spring 1998 edition. Reviewed by Madeleine van Zwanenberg.
Sandra Perko has a background of twenty years experience in clinical practice and eleven years in classroom teaching experience of homoeopathy with the South Texas Education Center for Classical Homeopathy. So writes her husband Bob in the letter sent with this book. Sandra started teaching midwives in 1986 and it is from this beginning that the seed of this book was implanted, gestated and finally born. It has been a whole family affair too, her daughter encouraged her, her son designed the book cover and her husband published it. It is a hard backed book which opens flat for ease of use and is meant to be a practical reference, easily accessed in emergency situations.
It has been designed to be a working tool for the professional practitioner with quick keynote references and the use of more modern language. It is not a training manual, there is an expectation that homoeopathic theory, principles and practice are already understood.
At the beginning of the book the author has put in an explanation of how to make the best use of it, as it can be used and cross referenced in four different ways. this may seem a little daunting at first glance but in a very short while of using the book it is easy to find your way around.
It starts with an abbreviated alphabetical table of contents which tells you which chapter deals with which subject. You then have to turn to the next page for the expanded table of contents which goes chapter by chapter. It names each section and each sub-section that is contained in it along with the relevant page numbers. The sub-sections may be remedies that cover the condition. Remedies are compared for each condition covered and where there are several, they are also emphasised by triangular bullets. 000 indicates a remedy of major importance or one most often used for the problem being discussed. 00 indicates a remedy of importance or one which should be considered. 0 indicates a remedy which is occasionally used. No symbol indicates a remedy which is seldom called for, but one which may be needed in rare cases. It may sound quite complicated but in fact it is easy as the format is already known to us.
The Quick Keynote Reference section which makes up Chapter 11 looks extremely useful. When things are moving a:ong too quickly to repertorise, it is full of condensed information. To be able to select the area needed and do a quick differential between remedies and then maybe cross reference it to broaden the picture seems to me something of a godsend for those practitioners who are happy to be present at a confinement.
After the Keynote section there is an appendix which covers some homoeopathic philosophy about law of cure and return of old symptoms. This is followed by a list of useful remedies along with their potencies as a suggestion for a midwifery kit.
There is a glossary of terms used and a long list of references. The layout of the pages make them easy to read and there are spaces for you to jot down notes, as well as some blank pages at the back.
The information given in this book is good, honest, straight forward homoeopathy, nothing fancy or dangerous. For any situations that might arise which are inherently serious you are recommended to get immediate medical advice. Sandra knows her subject and gives us her knowledge in a very thorough and conscientious fashion. I do not know how she has made such a complicated subject look simple but she has. It has been written for the American market and so the addresses have no relevance for the UK, but that is a very small gripe indeed.
It has been a real pleasure to read this book and I think that were I to be asked to be present at a birth it would be worth its weight in gold. I realise it wont be a book that everyone will think of as essential reading but even though you may not wish to be present yourself at a birth, there is much to find in its - regarding day to day clinical problems like breast feeding, thrush, morning sickness, varicose veins etc.
I have in my library other books about pregnancy and birth but this book seems to me to be a most comprehensive treatise on the practical use of homoeopathy before, during and after childbirth. I would like to thank Sandra Perko for taking the time and effort to write this book and sincerely commend it to those of you interested in the subject.
