More than Poppin’ Pills- From Broken Warriors to Whole Medicine

By Juju Angeles

As Mama Tiny says, "You cannot just put a roof on our homelessness."

You can't just pop a pill, either. From dealing with fractured bones to recovering from alcoholism, Pachamama has the antidote to our continued healing.

A few months ago, Israel Muñoz quit drinking cold turkey. He wanted to change his life for himself and his son. He tried to quit drinking before, but it didn't work. As a community, we decided to send him to a detox program because we didn't know how his body would react to quitting abruptly.

The detox program we could afford didn't offer alternative herbal support despite the bougie ones offering homeopathy. The one reserved for Medi-Cal folks or unhoused poor folks just provided drugs.

Being a revolutionary yebera, I put him on Nux Vomica 200c. I instructed him to take the homeopathy herbs whenever he desired to drink.

Homeopathy is a well-researched form of healing. It has been documented on its use. You can find countless scientific articles on the efficacy of homeopathy and drug abuse recovery.

Initially, he took homeopathy 4-5 times a day. He started declining his use after 2-3 weeks, some days taking none and others taking a dose. As his intake began to decline, I gave him a lower strength. He went from 200c to 30c. After 3-4 weeks of taking Nux Vomica, he has not taken it anymore. He was in detox for five days and has not taken one sip of alcohol or any pharmaceuticals for ten weeks.

Allopathic medicine is just a couple hundred years old, while traditional medicine is over 60,000 years old. According to the World Health Organization, about 70% of the world's population incorporates traditional healing modalities to treat chronic issues. That is evidence that traditional healing is something that helps. This makes sense because traditional healing contains the whole person. It looks at their needs, environment, mind, body, and soul.

As folks dealing with medical trauma, freeing the land is also tied to our healing and wellness, our respective medicines, and being held in our healing community. Studies show that an integrated approach to healing from all ailments and life transitions shows quicker recovery and a decrease in addiction.

Mama Tiny had a bike injury and was hospitalized because she sustained a fracture, bruising, and a minor head injury. Aside from taking conventional allopathic pain relief, she has also used Arnica, Comfrey, and bodywork from our community curandera. The community and the plants rallied around her. When she returned to her doctor's appointment, her provider was shocked at how rapid her recovery was.

It is important to emphasize that healing is all about integration. Studies show that traditional healers like herbalists and allopathic doctors do not get along or even like each other. I find that to be so sad. We need meaningful opportunities to not only learn and grow from one another but also serve the full spectrum of severity in our community.

We need a horizontal approach from all our healthcare workers, abuelos, and herbalists. We need our community and family to provide the support that healthcare cannot offer in the home. We need the land to do all of this.