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Barbara Roberts, Homeopath, Kerikeri (2025)

09/12/2025

At the moment I am learning from Jeremy Sherr at the Dynamis School of Homeopathy, and it is amazing. There is something completely different about looking at the textbooks when you are a practitioner with experience, compared to learning something as a student. It allows me to look at cases that I have had- some that were great, some that I didn’t get it right, or things didn’t go well, and really understand what and why.

As well as the lectures, there are recommended readings, and I have been slowly working my way through Kent’s Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy. (I mean slowly- there are 36 and I’m not in the teens yet!) so you may see some posts inspired by what I’m reading, as this one is today.

In Kent’s 4th lecture, titled “Fixed Principles”, Law and Government from Centre, Kent talks about how disease is an expression of an internal disorder, which Hahnemann mentions in his 4th aphorism in the Organon. That haemorrhoids or tumours are only an external expression of the disease and while they can be removed they are not the disease itself, if we don’t deal with the underlying cause they can reoccur (or in some cases with suppression of a symptom somewhere, it moves elsewhere in the body).

However what prompted me to write this was this statement “…the coarser things are such as can disturb more especially the body, such as improperly selected food, living in damp houses, etc. It is hardly worthwhile to dwell upon these things, because any ordinary physician is sufficiently well versed in hygiene to remove from his patients the external obstacles.” (Emphasis mine).

While that may have been the case for Kent, in the early 20th century, unfortunately this is not the case in the early 21st century. Our medical doctors learn a little about nutrition, but not much, and while they may recognise a damp house as a contributing factor of it is brought up, there is no systematic discussion of contributing factors for disease (in homeopathy what we can call maintaining causes or obstacles to cure).

If our doctors did this, there would be no need for naturopaths. If our regular doctors learnt this, there would be no need for the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM), who provide training to doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals in these areas.

This is not a post denigrating our doctors- many of whom work extremely hard within the system they are in. In fact it is this system that is extraordinarily broken- a standard doctors visit is 10-15 minutes, so there is no time to have any meaningful discussion about lifestyle. In comparison, an initial consultation with a Homeopath, Naturopath or Integrative Doctor can be 1-2 hours, and particularly when looking at lifestyle there may be an intake form with a wide variety of questions.
Medical school is long, and covers so many other, important things, so doctors once qualified need to choose to do further training in nutritional and environmental medicine. My fellowship with ACNEM allows three years to complete it, and this covers foundations, key areas like environmental medicine, gastrointestinal and mental health, and a choice to learn more about 3 specific areas. I can see though that once I have completed it I won’t be stopping as there are so many areas with more to learn about.

It’s also a comment on our lifestyle in the 21st century:
* While in New Zealand we have access to amazing whole foods, there is also an enormous amount of ultra-processed “foods”, which provide calories but no nutrition. A recent study showed that the average NZ diet contains nearly 50% ultra processed foods, and this is a huge contributor to our chronic disease burden. (Link to a recent lancet article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01565-X/abstract)
* Pesticides and herbicides are another problem, even when eating whole foods- while organic can be out of reach financially, prioritising spray free, and checking out the Dirty Dozen list and the Clean Thirteen to see which ones to prioritise will also lower your chemical burden.
* There are still toxins in our environment- we have removed lead from our paint, but it is still in kids products, included glassware! Follow Lead Aware NZ for more information about this- particularly if you are buying new crockery and glassware.
* Mould is found in so many houses in New Zealand- and for people with immune dysfunction, inflammation or chronic illness, this may be a huge trigger. Remediation is difficult, and costly, and unfortunately our new buildings are not necessarily designed to minimise growth of mould. A ventilation system will help, but Nicole Bijlsma, in her book Health Home Healthy Family: Is Where You Live Affecting Your Help talks about what to consider if you are building a new house (some of which I wish I had known 11 years ago!)
* Our use of medication and vaccines can also have a profound effect on the body. Research has confirmed over and over the importance of our microbiome- which can be damaged by antibiotics, vaccines and other medication. This then becomes an area the needs to be worked on and restored, or it too can become a maintaining cause of disease.
* Electromagnetic frequency radiation (EMF) is something we are all exposed to on a much higher level than ever before. Some people are more sensitive than others, but even if you don’t feel an effect, have no doubt it is affecting us as a planet. Arthur Firstenberg’s book The Invisible Rainbow talks about the history of electricity and how that affected our health- and published a new book (which I have not read) in January this year, The Earth and I.

So while I agree with many things that Kent says, I do not believe that we can leave lifestyle to “any ordinary physician”. At the very least, these issues will change the way we prescribe, but with identification and care we can support people to make different choices. This also comes back to scope of practice- dealing with these may well be outside my scope of practice as a Homeopath, (although my scope is much broader with my Pharmacy and ACNEM training), so I can refer to a nutritionist, naturopath or other integrative practitioner, particularly if there is a lot going on that needs more expert advice. I have a huge appreciation for these practitioners - not “ordinary physicians”, instead a highly trained health practitioners with expertise in what is sometimes now a very complex field.

30/11/2025

𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬

We are on the countdown now until the end of the year, Christmas and New Years holidays.

What this means is there really aren’t that many opportunities left to make an appointment to see me- I’m booked this week, busy with family next week, and have just a few appointments left from the 16th. Friday 19th December will be my last work day - this is to ensure I have time to do any analysis and get remedies in the post to you if needed, so they arrive before everything shuts down. I will be open for the odd appointment between Christmas and New Years, but remedies will not arrive until the New Year. I will be open again from Monday 5th January, however I have a week off from 15 January until 21st January.

You can email me if you need an appointment and I will see if I can fit you in, or put you on my cancellation list. I suggest unless urgent you also make an appointment for early January in case a time doesn't come up.

If you need an acute consult while I am unavailable, you can contact a Homeopath over the holiday period at acutecarehomeopathy.com or homeopathy247.com
For anything else feel free to email me and I will get back to you when I can.

23/11/2025

𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕

A few weeks ago I shared a post about Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa (you can find this here https://www.homeopathbarbara.nz/cannabis-indica-and-cannabis-sativa/) One of the interesting thing when I was looking at the two remedies, was the note from Roger Morrison that he could only find 3 documented modern cases of cannabis sativa, compared to 36 modern cases or case reports for cannabis indica.

This was really interesting and made me think about why - many of our homeopathic remedies are made from poisons or substances that have a biological effect in their crude form. There are remedies made from foods, but they are not used as often, or maybe it is just that I don’t know them so well! So I decided to do some investigating.

I wondered if this a case like Mithradates VI of Pontus, who took small amounts of poison frequently until they no longer had an effect on him. (He later tried to kill himself with poison after his kingdom was overthrown, but it was ineffective). It is still called Mithradatism today if you take small amounts of poison to build a tolerance.

However, non-poisons (foods) don’t generally have adverse effects for most people, and there are so many nutrients that have a synergistic effect in our food that are necessary for life, and you would not necessarily have a reaction from eating a new food, so it is not a case of tolerance.

We do have remedies made from foods, but many of them have small, quite specific pictures. Here are a couple of fruit remedies I found when I went searching (and I’m sure there are others I have missed, an opportunity for another time.)

𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦 is a remedy made from banana flowers (which you can eat, as well as the banana itself). The remedy, as described by Clarke, on proving had constipation and a feeling of fullness around the a**s - and bananas definitely cause constipation for some people. There was rumbling in the abdomen and flatulence, which made me think of the effect of high fibre if you normally have a low fibre diet. Interestingly it also had a curative effect for bleeding haemorrhoids in a case where other remedies had failed. There was also a dry, rough and astringent taste and feeling in the mouth, followed by an increase in saliva, which made me think of the time one of our banana bunches fell down before the bananas were fully grown. We moved it to the shed to ripen, and they did turn yellow, however when we tried to eat them they had a strange taste- astringent probably describes it- and left the mouth dry, tacky and strange for quite a while after eating. I didn’t notice an increase in saliva afterwards, but this makes sense as a secondary reaction to that drying sensation. The other, non gastrointestinal symptoms, were a dull headache, and discharge of mucus with urine and a full aching pain in the bladder are interesting as I have no reference for these symptoms with eating bananas.

Having verified that the few side effects from bananas are seen in the remedy, I started to think about strawberries (because I know some people have reactions to them, and also that there is a remedy). I decided to consider this the other way round, first look at symptoms and then see if this is in the remedy. Strawberries can cause allergic reactions for some people- itching and tingling in the mouth, gut upset with nausea, and a rash or hives. Strawberries also contain salicylates, for people who are intolerant they can cause respiratory problems including nasal inflammation or a blocked nose, and asthma, and gastrointestinal symptoms like pain, diarrhoea and gas. So let’s have a look at the remedy, fragaria vesca, the wild, woodland or alpine strawberry.

𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚 the remedy has symptoms of allergy - a swollen ‘strawberry’ tongue (pink with white spots like a strawberry), and skin rashes that are red or petechial (a darker non-blanching red), very itchy, and can come with swelling of the whole body. Clarke describes other allergic type symptoms, such as a reddish-blue face, bloating, violent colic and vomiting, and more severe allergy symptoms like a feeling of suffocation, as if having a heart attack, a small intermittent pulse and heart failure causing weakness and exhaustion, and distension of veins in the neck. There are also some really interesting symptoms - Lippe mentions Fragaria for tapeworms and ‘pain in chillblains during the hot season’, and Clarke mentions gonorrhoeal discharges in men and a decrease in breast size and drying up of breastmilk in women.

So while Boericke states for strawberry allergic reactions to give Fragaria in a high potency, it could be useful for any severe allergy, as homeopathy works on “like treats like”, not necessarily using the same substance that caused the reaction. If you had time to do a comparison, Carbolic Acid or Apis may be useful - but if you have Fragaria vesca on hand, it would definitely be appropriate to use.

So my conclusion is that the reason we don’t have these remedies from benign substances is because they don’t produce as many symptoms which can then be ‘cured’ by using the substance in potency. There are still some effects but the picture is small and often quite specific.

There are food plant remedies with a wider sphere of action- I’ve written about Apple Tree before (here: https://www.homeopathbarbara.nz/apple-tree/) which has a big trauma picture, and there is also Diospyros kaki Creveld, which is a persimmon tree, but specifically the one that survived the Nagasaki bombing at the end of World War II, and so has a huge trauma and radiation picture - this is more likely to be the effect of the bombing, rather than the persimmon.
Animal remedies are also interesting - there is Lac Vaccinum (cow’s milk), and Lac Vaccinum defloratum (skimmed cows milk), both of which have a wider symptom range than the two fruits above.

Interestingly, there are also flower essences made from fruits and vegetables- the biggest collection from Lila Devi in Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Flower essences work on a mental emotional level, so it is very interesting to see what the indications for these are. Banana essence is for calmness, humility and emotional balance, and Strawberry essence is for dignity, self-respect, inner grounding, and supporting confidence. I haven’t tried these (and they are a long way down my list of things to do), but if you have tried them I would love to hear more.

If you know of other food remedies, please let me know and I will add them to a list and do a new post sometime soon.

For more information about Mithradates: https://www.culturefrontier.com/mithridates-vi-of-pontus/
For the fruit flower essences: https://spirit-in-nature.com/about/

Image is the banana palms in my garden, including an early banana flower.

17/11/2025

Everything is winding up for the year, there are Christmas parties, and end of year celebrations all over the place. Sometimes though this can bring discomfort the next day, whether it is from eating things you don’t normally indulge in, too much sugar, too much alcohol, or not enough sleep. Here are a few remedies you can slip into your handbag (and keep handy the next day) to help with any consequences from the partying.

𝐍𝐮𝐱 𝐕𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚 – well known as the hangover remedy, you can take it regularly during the evening if drinking to help reduce the effects, or it is excellent the next day. Nux Vomica is also a good remedy for over indulgence in food, especially if you feel like you want to vomit but can’t.

𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟𝐟 – this remedy is made from sugar, and is useful to help deal with the behavioural and physical effects of too much sugar. These can include irritability, tantrums, hyperactivity, difficult concentration, and a ravenous appetite. My favourite symptom from Vermeulen (and definitely applicable to my own children at times) is that Saccharum is “compelled to touch everything”.

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐦 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐞 – if you are normally gluten free, but eat something that may or may not have gluten in it, this remedy, made from wheat, can help.

It is not a long term fix if you are gluten intolerant, but can be a help for an isolated incident.

𝐂𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 – this remedy is known as for “night watching” – when you stay up late to look after a loved one. However it is also great for any lack of sleep that leaves you feeling irritable. You can be oversensitive to noise, touch and smell, may have a headache or nausea.

𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨 𝐕𝐞𝐠 – The old books state this is for “high foods and rich living” – so if you have overindulged a bit this may be the remedy for you. You may have bloating and either burping or flatulence. You can be so bloated feeling that you don’t want any clothing covering your abdomen. There’s a definite feeling of not enough air in the room, and better for cool air.

Have fun socialising, and I hope these remedies will help you enjoy the fun without having to deal with consequences afterwards!

09/11/2025

𝐒𝐨𝐥, 𝐒𝐮𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧!
It’s that time of year again, it’s warming up and the sun is out - making sunburn a real risk.

This is the time to start using the remedy 𝐒𝐨𝐥. Sol is made from sunlight- and while there is a Northern Hemisphere version, Sol Britannica, we use 𝐒𝐨𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬, from Australia, Southern hemisphere, which is much more intense than the Northern Hemisphere version.

I recommend using Sol for exposure to the sun, either as a preventative, or (if needed) a treatment for the adverse effects of too much sun.

In my family we try to avoid the hottest part of the day and therefore not need to use sunscreen, but if we will be out all day Sol is an important part of our routine and we will repeat several times through the day. How often you need to take it will vary between people- someone who is very fair will need to take it more frequently than someone with olive toned or darker skin.

I use a 30c before exposure and repeat every couple of hours- but Homeopathy is individual and you may need more or less frequent dosing depending on your skin and susceptibility to the sun. If very fair a higher potency like 200c for less frequent dosing may be appropriate. If you make your own sunscreen you could consider adding a few drops of liquid Sol to your cream – make sure to do so at the end and not to heat the remedy.

Sol is also useful if you do slip up and end up red, hot and sunburnt. Belladonna can also be useful here for redness, heat, or throbbing feelings with the sunburn, and if needed you can alternate the Belladonna and Sol to treat the sunburn.

With all of the sun safety, avoidance and sunscreen talk, it is essential to remember that safe 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭!
We need sun exposure to form vitamin D in the body. It is essential for so many processes in the body. These include (1):
* Calcium and phosphorus absorption balance, keeping our bones healthy
* Supporting immunity, including the defences against pathogens, and reducing allergic reaction
* Reducing the risk of developing autoimmunity, (very well published for Multiple Sclerosis risk
* May increase muscle strength, particularly in the lower limbs in the elderly
* Supporting those with type II Diabetes, with insulin regulation and cell functions.
While some of those effects can be utilised with vitamin D supplementation, there are also non-vitamin D positive effects from sun exposure. Sun exposure reduces all-cause mortality (2). There has not been a lot of research into this area, however sunlight supports the release of nitric oxide, which reduces cardiac risk (2). People with high blood pressure have low vitamin D levels, but supplementation makes no difference, and a non-vitamin D mechanism - such as the mobilisation of nitric oxide from stores in the skin - is likely responsible (2). There is also a reduction in inflammation, and potential changes for eyesight (myopia) from time indoors (2). Blue light into the eye (not shielded by sunglasses), also helps set the circadian rhythm, including the production of melatonin which not only helps sleep but also has other actions with low levels of melatonin increasing chronic disease and cancer risk (3).

It is also important to note that it takes time for the body to make vitamin D, and this depends on how fair your skin is. One theory is that the skin became more pale as humans moved to areas with less UV radiation or colder climates requiring us to cover up more, in order to increase the production of vitamin D (2). The NZ Ministry of Health consensus guideline suggests avoiding the sun between 10am and 4pm from September to April, and recommends sun exposure around noon from May to August (4). However there is also a calculation to figure out how much sun exposure you need in minutes at different times of the year in different parts of the world! (5) This publication even has a supplementary table at the end that suggests the length of time needed for maintenance of vitamin D levels at midday with 35% of the skin exposed - for people with fair skin that is 1-2 minutes for November to February, however with darker skin this could be 5 minutes or for black skin 8 minutes (using an average of 40° latitude for the whole of New Zealand)(5). However, earlier or later in the day, or with less skin exposed more time would be required.

What about 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤?
One of the major concerns with skin cancer is sun burn - repeated incidences of sun burn over your lifetime increase your risk of melanoma(6). I want to be clear here than I am advocating for safe sun exposure, which includes time without sunscreen early or late in the summer day to allow the conversion of vitamin D, but I am NOT recommending doing nothing and allowing yourself or your children to burnt to a crisp.

In terms of 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧, there are two options: physical and chemical blockers.
Physical blockers, usually zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, provide a barrier on the skin that reflects the sun’s rays. Many physical blockers can have a whitening effect, and they are often in a thick, natural base so that they stay on the skin, however there are nano versions that will absorb into the skin and are usually as effective as the more waxy version.
Chemical blockers feel more like a moisturiser and sink into the skin. The active ingredients can include avobenzone, octinoxate, octocrylene, or oxybenzone, or other chemicals. However there are some serious concerns with chemical sunscreens. The environmental working group discusses how some of them are not safe at the amounts used, that they are absorbed and found in the blood stream (and other parts of the body, and how some sunscreens are endocrine disruptors, affecting hormones (7). They state that out of 16 sunscreens tested the FDA only recognised zinc oxide and titanium dioxide as “generally recognised safe and effective” (7). Some chemical sunscreens are implicated in the destruction of coral reefs, leaching nutrients and damaging the marine ecosystem, and oxybenzone and octinoxate are now banned in some places (like Hawaii) (8). However, our physical blockers are not necessarily safe either, with Zinc Oxide being implicated for chemical reactions causing hydroxyl radicals (9). Selecting a ‘reef friendly’ sunscreen is not necessarily safe for marine life, as there is no regulation overseeing that as a claim (8), and now with the increasing research shown zinc oxide is unsafe for marine life many of those products considered reef friendly may no longer be (9). The research for what is and isn’t safe is still developing, so hopefully in the future there will be more clarity about what is and isn’t going to damage our ecosystem.

My recommendation, when you need to use a sunscreen on land, is find a physical blocker that contains titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. If you don’t like the residue on your skin, look for a nano version. If you are going to be in the water, covering up with long sleeve rash vests and shorts, and for sunscreen choice balance the personal effect with the effect on marine life. Personally we are currently using a sunscreen brand called Earth’s Kitchen, but I will also get an Invisible Zinc option for my older kids who dislike the whitening effect, and I’m considering Skinnies for marine use (but more research required).

If you would like to buy some Sol for your family, or you would like a link to order Earths Kitchen sunscreen, please email me at barbara@homeopathbarbara.nz

I hope you have a fantastic summer and enjoy the sun without consequences!

References:
1. Rebelos, E., Tentolouris, N., & Jude, E. (2023). The Role of Vitamin D in Health and Disease: A Narrative Review on the Mechanisms Linking Vitamin D with Disease and the Effects of Supplementation. Drugs, 83(8), 665–685. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-023-01875-8
2. Sunlight: Time for a Rethink? - ScienceDirect. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2025, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X2400280X
3. Wahl, S., Engelhardt, M., Schaupp, P., Lappe, C., & Ivanov, I. V. (2019). The inner clock—Blue light sets the human rhythm. Journal of Biophotonics, 12(12), e201900102. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbio.201900102
4. Consensus statement on vitamin D and sun exposure in New Zealand. (2012). Ministry of Health.https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/2012-03/vitamind-sun-exposure.pdf
5. Globally Estimated UVB Exposure Times Required to Maintain Sufficiency in Vitamin D Levels. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2025, from https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/10/1489
6. Dennis, L. K., VanBeek, M. J., Beane Freeman, L. E., Smith, B. J., Dawson, D. V., & Coughlin, J. A. (2008). Sunburns and risk of cutaneous melanoma, does age matter: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Annals of Epidemiology, 18(8), 614–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2008.04.006
7. Sunscreens, E. G. to. (n.d.). The trouble with sunscreen ingredients | EWG’s Guide to Sunscreens. Retrieved November 8, 2025, from https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/report/the-trouble-with-sunscreen-chemicals/
8. Miller, I. B., Pawlowski, S., Kellermann, M. Y., Petersen-Thiery, M., Moeller, M., Nietzer, S., & Schupp, P. J. (2021). Toxic effects of UV filters from sunscreens on coral reefs revisited: Regulatory aspects for “reef safe” products. Environmental Sciences Europe, 33(1), 74. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-021-00515-w
9. Battistin, M., Pascalicchio, P., Tabaro, B., Hasa, D., Bonetto, A., Manfredini, S., Baldisserotto, A., Scarso, A., Ziosi, P., Brunetta, A., Brunetta, F., & Vertuani, S. (2022). A Safe-by-Design Approach to “Reef Safe” Sunscreens Based on ZnO and Organic UV Filters. Antioxidants, 11(11), 2209. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox11112209

Image credit: Megapulse on Pixabay

04/11/2025

There is still a chance to get tickets for this seminar on 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟐 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫.

I have been looking at the lineup of speakers and I'm not sure what I want to learn about most - nutritional and environmental factors, oral myofunctional therapy, medicinal cannabis, emotional links with disease, mental health, a functional doctor, and physical therapies.

Don't miss out on your chance to see a range of fantastic practitioners: www.ginawilson.co.nz/seminar

02/11/2025

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐙𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤

At the moment we have an outbreak in New Zealand… of fear. There is a lot of effort going into scaring the population about measles and its complications, and pushing MMR vaccination.

My personal opinion is that vaccination is a personal choice- and if you consider all of the risks for the disease and the vaccine, and you choose to go ahead with vaccination I am happy to support you- this includes with homeopathy and targeted supplements like vitamin C and cod liver oil (for vitamin A and D) to support the production of antibodies.

But first let’s address the fear.

Here is the most inflammatory news post I have seen: “The potentially fatal measles virus has broken out…” (1)

So let’s have a look at that. “Potentially fatal” - the last time there was a death in New Zealand was 1991 - it is hard to get accurate numbers for this outbreak, because measles did not become a notifiable disease, but there was an estimated 40,000-60,000 cases, and 7 deaths - so 0.0175% to 0.0117% of people died from measles (2).

The last measles major outbreak in New Zealand was in 2019, with 2190 cases (3). There were no deaths. Of those, 80% were unvaccinated, but of the 20% of vaccinated cases, 35% had received their two doses (and therefore were considered “fully vaccinated”) (3). There were 678 hospital admissions for measles, and 108 for “other relevant diagnoses” with measles as an additional diagnosis. ESR calculates this as 35% of cases, however they also note that “Hospital admission data may include multiple admissions (to the same or different hospitals) for the same case” (3). I remember seeing after this an official information act request that showed that a hospital admission was counted as a certain number of hours at the hospital, whether or not you were ‘admitted’, however I have no reference for this.

I would like to acknowledge that the NZ outbreak of 2019 spread to Samoa, where there were many more deaths. In my opinion this is likely due to poorer nutritional status and lifestyle factors, similar to how there are many more deaths from many communicable diseases in Africa and Asia for similar reasons. It does not make it any less tragic, but we need to be careful about extrapolating data to New Zealand.

Physicians for Informed Choice is a US based website, run by doctors, that considers the real risks of a range of disease, and the vaccines themselves. I highly recommend reading their information on measles, but here is the highlights. Their data is taken from the CDC, so is based on the US population.

“Research studies and national tracking of measles have documented the following:
* 1 in 10,000 or 0.01% of measles cases are fatal.
* 3 to 3.5 in 10,000 or 0.03–0.035% of measles cases result in seizure.
* 1 in 20,000 or 0.005% of measles cases result in measles encephalitis.
* 1 in 80,000 or 0.00125% of cases result in permanent disability from measles encephalitis.
* 7 in 1,000 or 0.7% of cases are hospitalized.
* 6 to 22 in 1,000,000 or 0.0006–0.0022% of cases result in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE).
* 1 in 93,000 or 0.001% of measles cases with normal levels of vitamin A result in permanent disability or death.” (4)

So just to clarify here - their data verifies my numbers from the 1991 outbreak in New Zealand for fatal cases of measles. The other complications they mention - seizures, encephalitis, and SSPE are RARE.

Most importantly, vitamin A is protective and reduces the risk of permanent disability or death SIGNIFICANTLY.

Pneumonia is the most common cause of hospitalisation from measles, and the protocol for anyone hospitalised with measles is high dose vitamin A for two days: From the starship website
* 200 000 IU for children ≥ 12 months of age
* 100 000 IU for infants 6-11 months of age
* 50 000 IU for infants younger than 6 months of age (5)

I hope this dose of real life facts has reduced your anxiety around the complications of measles.

In the case of measles infection, I would also recommend vitamin C and the appropriate homeopathic remedy. Some of the common ones are:
𝐴𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒– this is your remedy for first stages of anything. You can also use it if you have been exposed and anticipate getting measles, to reduce the severity. Symptoms include a high fever, especially coming on late at night around midnight, thirst and eyes may be painful.
𝐸𝘶𝑝𝘩𝑟𝘢𝑠𝘪𝑎– swollen, streaming eyes, with tears that may irritate the face, as well as a runny nose, may have a headache and chills.
𝑃𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎– when the rash is slow to appear, and it is more like a cold, with thick yellow mucus, and may have a chesty cough. They feel better in the open air and want company and sympathy.
𝐵𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑎– also when the rash is slow to appear. May have a painful Cough, a headache and feel worse when moving, so want to stay perfectly still. They can also have a fever with chills, a dry mouth and be thirsty.
When the rash appears you may consider
𝐴𝑝𝑖𝑠 – burning, stinging rash, may appear shiny or puffy. Rash is better for cold applications and worse for getting hot (like in bed). Person is thirstless.
𝑅ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑇𝑜𝑥 – rash is very itchy, and feels better from warmth. The person is very restless and can’t sit still, they may have fever with chills, and feel better from warmth and motion.

Prevention of measles with homeopathy, aka Homeoprophylaxis, is also possible. If you would like to discuss your personal situation, ask questions and come up with a plan, please make an appointment at www.homeopathbarbara.nz

1. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360871899/measles-outbreak-one-case-auckland-grammar-school
2. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/111238229/people-have-forgotten--past-measles-epidemics-killed-hospitalised-hundreds
3. ESR Notifiable diseases annual surveillance summary 2019, https://www.phfscience.nz/digital-library/notifiable-diseases-annual-surveillance-summary-2019/.
4. https://physiciansforinformedconsent.org/measles/
5. https://www.starship.org.nz/guidelines/measles/

Image credit: Dan the Librarian on Pixabay

EDITED TO ADD:
In case you don’t read the comments, here is some updated 2025 data about the incidence around the world.
Measles in the USA: the 2025 case fatality rate is 0.18%: 3 deaths in 1648 cases, https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html
It’s interesting to note the US data shows a much lower level of hospitalisation than here in New Zealand, only 12%, compared to 35% in our 2019 outbreak. I have many questions about why this is, and note the difference in the way healthcare is provided in the USA compared to NZ. Unfortunately the CDC does not provide further information about the deaths to better understand what happened.
However, this report from the last big outbreak in 2019 showed 1249 cases and zero deaths in the USA. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6840e2.htm

If we are looking at 2025 data, let’s also consider Canada, which up til October 18th has had 5,109 cases and only 2 deaths, an incidence of 0.039%, both of these babies who contracted measles in utero. https://health-infobase.canada.ca/measles-rubella/

In the UK, the 2025 case fatality rate is 0.061% (2 cases in 3268 cases)- however only one of those is from acute measles, the other is a death in an adult from late effect of measles (and no indication of age or other health issues in the adult). This puts the correct case fatality rate for the acute outbreak at 0.031%. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-historic-confirmed-cases-notifications-and-deaths/measles-historic-confirmed-cases-notifications-and-deaths -notifications-and-deaths-in-england-and-wales-1940-to-2025

Our closest neighbour, Australia, is also experiencing a higher number of cases this year, currently sitting at 146 cases, the highest in a year since 2019 when they had 284 cases. https://nindss.health.gov.au/pbi-dashboard/
In this report, they note that there were 4 deaths between 2020 and 2022. I added up all the cases from the above monitoring, and in those 22 years there were 2347 cases, which gives a case fatality rate of 0.043%.
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/a4adb0e5-6f93-49b4-80ba-ba38989c35fa/aihw-phe-236_measles_2025.pdf

Barbara Roberts, Homeopath

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