Neurodegenerative Diseases: Prevention and Therapy Through Homeopathy and Natural Medicine by Dr. Joe Rozencwajg

Title: Neurodegenerative Diseases: Prevention and Therapy Through Homeopathy and Natural Medicine

Author Dr. Joe Rozencwajg

Publisher: Joe Rozenswajg, Paperback, 652 pages, 2022

ISBN 978-1-4716-1067-7

Reviewer: Vatsala Sperling

Neurodegenerative diseases ring a deeply ominous and loud bell in our mind when we even hear the words even though disease labels like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s have become as common as cancer and depression in the present-day vocabulary. In this scenario, ‘Neurodegenerative Diseases: Prevention and Therapy Through Homeopathy and Natural Medicine’, is a must-read book for practitioners of all stripes and affiliations.

This book is loaded with information but is easy to read and retain because the author, Dr. Joe Roezencwajg, has done a tremendous amount of reading and research for the readers. As you read along, you will find that there are no end-note numbers super-scripted amidst the text, that compel you to constantly go to the endnotes section and research the references.

To save you all the time and effort, Dr. Joe has done an elaborate combing through each of the literature cited, extracted content relevant to the topic and theme of this book and presented these in a coherent form throughout the book. What you get to read is exactly what you need to know. For this uncommon book writing technique, I would very much like to send Dr. Joe a high five and a smiley face.

Not only the book writing technique, but the author is unusual too. He has traversed the academia from medical surgical specialty, to acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, natural medicine, and homeopathy.

A practical genius of such high caliber can be anything but usual, as evidenced by his two prior books on Gemmotherapy and Fibonacci potencies, both of which I have had the pleasure of reviewing for HPATHY. As readers we benefit tremendously from all the decades Dr. Joe has invested in studying everything that brings him closer to holistic, alternative, and complementary medicine and homeopathy, and it behooves us that we take this book very, very seriously. Anything less will not do.

The chief strength of this book is that it not only very successfully gives us information, but it also gives us hope, and the idea that when main-stream medicine gives up the neurodegenerative cases as hopeless and incurable, we can do something tangible, positive, and upbeat with the tools and remedies we have at our fingertips.

In part 1, as a prelude to the actual treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Joe has presented a vast section on preventive measures we can follow and recommend to our patients. Take for example sugar, which is linked to Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and depression.

We can tell parents of even toddlers that instead of giving them sugar-laden treats, they can offer healthier alternatives in moderation so that potentially horrific diseases can be prevented. There are ways to prevent neurodegenerative diseases from taking root even before a couple plan to conceive.

The author nudges us to prepare the couple contemplating a family and restore them to health through life-style changes and a homeopathic approach. He lists some well-known food ingredients as forbidden and they are gluten, wheat and other cereals, sugar and carbohydrates, and dairy, He has supported this section with strong evidence from mainstream scientific research.

Apart from cleaning up what we eat, we are asked to look deeply into our environment and how it invades our vital force by way of heavy metals, and electromagnetic fields we are immersed in day and night. Both have a direct connection with neurodegenerative diseases.

Pointing out the villains is not all. Dr. Joe also writes expertly about what we can do to reverse and counteract the violations to our wellbeing by using cilantro and chlorella, activated charcoal, slippery elm and several other herbs that can be used for detoxification.

Dietary and environmental clean-up are just a part of a multi-pronged approach that includes exercise, sleep, and a healthy social interaction, as all these are proven to be directly connected with the health of our body, mind, and spirit, and are known to play a preventive role in development of neurodegenerative diseases.

What are the simple and small steps that can be taken toward attaining wellness of nervous system through wise choice of foods? We have learned what we must avoid. What can we take instead? There are plenty of options: different types of berries, olive oil, coconut oil, fatty fish, nuts, seeds, fermented foods, mushrooms, tea, coffee, chocolate, herbal teas, and spices.

Though Dr. Hahnemann has urged us to stay away from coffee and spices, the times have changed, and now all evidence are in favor of using coffee and spices if we want to prevent neurodegenerative diseases. And we could also include supplementation with vitamins to stay ahead of the curve.

These are all simple, doable, and inexpensive methods for prevention, stopping, and reversing the evolution of neurodegenerative diseases and with these practical measures in place, we do not have to consider neurodegenerative diseases as natural and foregone conclusion of life. In the list of to-dos, the author has also remembered to include herbal interventions, essential oils, and cranio-sacral therapy as well.

This rich and vast presentation on everything alternative that can be done to prevent, stop and reverse neurodegenerative diseases is hardly ever seen in one book, but Dr. Joe has pulled it all together adeptly. Up to page 459, this book is packed with information (and scientific evidence to support it) that you will find yourself using every day of your practice. This part of the book is useful for your patients too, particularly the ones who want to take an active part in their wellness journey and do not leave it all up to the doctors.

Now we come to part 2 of the book and this part is more clinical. It goes into individual neurodegenerative diseases, twenty in all: Dementia, Vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Batten disease, Concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Corticobasal degeneration, Cortical atrophy, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, Freidreich ataxia, Huntington’s disease, Werniuke Korsakoff syndrome, Lewy body disease / dementia, Motor neurone disease, Multiple sclerosis, Myasthenia gravis, Parkinson’s disease, Prion disease, Spinal muscular atrophy and Spinocerebellar ataxia.

These diseases have been described briefly, various alternative interventions have been explored, and very interestingly, the author presents repertorization charts from Complete Dynamics, The New Synthesis, Mac Repertory and Reference Works, and in using these software tools, he sticks to the common rubrics chosen from the cases with modalities and concomitants.

The emerging remedies include well-known polychrests as well as lesser-known remedies. But the point he is making strongly is that whereas conventional medicine considers neurodegenerative diseases as a death sentence, we can use a whole arsenal of interventions along with homeopathic remedies for prevention, stopping and reversing the neurodegenerative diseases.

He describes homeopathy as the deepest and most profound technique to be used because of its ability to focus on the individual person, both in its totality and within the boundaries of the actual complaint.

Personally, I found that this book, Neurodegenerative Diseases: Prevention and Therapy Through Homeopathy and Natural Medicine, gives a strong can-do energy. Instead of being defeated by the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, we can take a thousand little steps toward a state of wellness and freedom from dis-ease.  The author has adopted an often funny, all inclusive, evidence-based approach that examines everything from diet, environment, lifestyle, exercise, water, essential oil, craniosacral adjustments, herbal medicine, vitamins, and so on and while he goes into twenty well-known neurodegenerative diseases one by one, he shows how to use our repertory and materia medicas for highly individualized choice of homeopathic remedies. With all these strong points, I foresee that this book will belong in the public and private collection of books on healing all over the world.

As homeopaths, we must remind ourselves that our patients are generally health-savvy. They come to us for remedies, and they also do the rounds of every other alternative practitioner in their eternal quest for wellness. It is essential for us to be well-informed and fully knowledgeable about the multiple alternative healing modalities that can be used as a preventive for chronic ailments and use / recommend them as necessary along with the remedies in order to offer a well-rounded care for our patients. If this is your goal too as a practitioner, then Dr. Joe’s latest book, Neurodegenerative Disease: Prevention and Therapy Through Homeopathy and Natural Medicine is an absolute must-read for you.

Happy reading.