Healing crises are symptoms thrown up by the body as it heals. The symptoms can be sudden and severe, and can really test your faith in the process of getting well. Conventional doctors are accumstomed to viewing healing crisis as something to be suppressed, normally with drugs and you end up back where you started. Remember conventional medics rarely see any strong and rapid true healing of chronic diseases in their practice except when someone withdraws from drugs, tobacco or alcohol. In these cases the symptoms are termed withdrawal symptoms. Simply, withdrawal symptoms are the body ridding itself of poisons a person has been consistently exposed to.
So imagine that you add foods that are good for you into your diet, you take herbs to clear out debris from the liver or intestines, you release the effects of long held emotions using one of many techniques. The body has more nutrients to work with and less blockages stopping it from working. IT WILL USE THIS INCREASED ABILITY TO FUNCTION TO RID ITSELF OF TOXINS THAT HAVE BEEN LONG ACCUMULATED. For “withdrawal” symptoms we have removed an obvious toxin, for healing crisis we have increased the body's general ability to remove toxicity. The effects look the same.
So how do we tell if symptoms are healing symptoms rather than disease symptoms? Common healing crisis symptoms include:
| Fever | mucus discharge | tiredness |
| Skin eruptions | inflammation and pain | nausea and vomiting |
| Bowel disturbances | aching muscles or joints | swelling |
| Coated tongue | cystitis | thrush |
| Weakness | cramps | headaches |
| Cold and flu symptoms | sore throat | cough |
Obviously these match many disease symptoms, and the possibility should not be overlooked. Healing crisis is more likely if:
- You have just taken something negative from your diet or environment (which could include taking a holiday!)
- You have just added something positive to your diet
- You have just done or are doing a cleanse of the body using herbs, juices etc.
- You have just taken a homoeopathic remedy or had another powerful healing technique performed
- You felt exceptionally GOOD the day before the symptoms started
- You are experiencing a return of old symptoms which have previously been suppressed with drugs or otherwise you have “grown out of them” or perhaps they just vanished some time ago
- You have emotion surfacing that you have not felt in a long time – not just anxiety about the symptoms
- You have something nasty looking or smelling coming OUT of the body through the bowel, urine, skin or mucus discharges – particularly if it smells of chemicals or drugs you came into contact with some time before you can be sure it is a healing crisis
- You have a fever such that when a hand is placed on the forehead and taken away an inch, it feels like there is a cool draft under the hand (heat under the hand indicates a dangerous fever)
- The symptoms are ACUTE (came on suddenly) rather than the result of a slow decline
- The symptoms have occurred within 2-3 weeks of the Spring or Autumn Equinox
When it is in a healing crisis THE BODY EXPECTS YOU TO KEEP DOING WHAT GOT IT THERE TO GET THROUGH IT. If you have changed your diet or are taking a powerful supplement or herb, do not stop it. This is in contradiction to what happens when a person gets acute disease symptoms from toxic overload - the body needs them to stop doing whatever they have done to get them there.
In healing crisis you can however assist the body to eliminate the stirred up toxicity. Most toxicity leaves the body through the bowel, so aiding this exit route may be of great benefit. If there are nausea or liver symptoms, a coffee enema can often help to take it away in minutes; certain herbs can help mucus to flow easier or e.g. epsom salt baths could be taken to pull toxicity through the skin. Simple techniques can immediately ease what would have been days of suffering.
If you have symptoms in the above list that may be from a life threatening condition e.g., severe headaches; black faeces; high fever; pain or prolonged weakness and YOU ARE NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE THEY ARE PART OF A HEALING CRISIS, SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP. IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE TO HAVE SYMPTOMS FROM SEVERE INFECTION OR POISONING ETC. THAT HAVE ALL THE MARKS OF HEALING CRISIS, BUT THE BODY IS NOT ABLE TO WIN THE FIGHT UNAIDED.
Continue to Levels of Balance and the Healing Crisis