Phase 2: An Alternative Approach

One of the hardest parts of being diagnosed with Ross River Fever was being told there was nothing the doctors could do. It was simply something I needed to ride out. I could take anti-inflammatories and pain killers to mask the symptoms but essentially I was to be stuck with this disease for the next six months or so.

I decided to take matters into my own hands. If there was nothing that modern medicine could do, I may as well see what the alternative fields had to offer. Growing up in Northern N.S.W I was surrounded by natural cures and the people who used them. To me they were the norm. Today, as an adult working in an upper-middle-class suburb of Melbourne it's often difficult to explain to those around me what that is like. It's hard to explain that I donned a tiger's eye bracelet before exams to help me concentrate. That my mum took me through

visualisations and pressure point therapy to help me sleep. That arnica was put under my tongue to stop bruising and naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture and iridology were the norm. It's hard to make people understand what it's like to complain of an ailment and watch your mum peruse her essential oils handbook. To sniff lavender before bed and use homeopathic drops to ease anxiety. It's difficult to explain to people who did not grow up this way what it's like when this is the norm. That you weren't the only kid wearing tiger's eye and dropping homeopathics under your tongue. That your mum wasn't the only one who carried calendula with her. That you and your essential oils were the rule rather than the exception.

When I finished high school alternate therapies was one of the industries I was drawn to. Instead I used my grades to get me into a sought-after journalism degree before blowing it off, going travelling and landing in teaching. Today, as a twenty nine year old, I find myself again drawn to the alternate therapies of my childhood.

I contacted a homeopath in my hometown of Pottsville that I had seen as a child. She had always struck me as extremely intuitive so, when a local contact suggested she had helped another Ross River sufferer, I contacted her immediately. After a consultation via phone and another via email, today I am just over one week into my prescribed regime. I'm taking a herbal tonic for immunity, pain management and energy boosting. Additionally I have two homeopathic medicines, both to help my body detox the virus itself. I'm also taking boswellia tablets that are specific to inflammation.

Herbal formula: 1tsp of a herbal formula dissolved in as little water as possible (because it tastes horrible), three times per day

Homeopathic drops: 5 drops under the tongue, three times per day

Boswellia tablets: 1 tablet, three times per day

Homeopathic pills: 3 tablets dissolved under the tongue, twice per week

In addition to the curcumin tablets and magnesium which I take for joint pain and inflammation, that makes 10-11 dosages each day. It's keeping me busy fitting each dose in, especially when some need to be taken with food (curcumin) and others can't be taken within 20 minutes, either side, of food (homeopathics). But, if it means I rid myself of this disease a little earlier than expected, I'll find a way.