Hollywood Homeopathy: Meatloaf Learns a Lesson in Dosage

Meatloaf is a wonderful man, full of life and energy. He has great charisma and a work ethic not to be believed. While we were in Halifax filming, the very funny and horrifying, “A Hole in the Head, he was writing for his band that he brought to town. They were often recording on weekends. He even flew to gigs on some weekends. And playing a wild and different character for the film. A ton of work..

He is a very good actor and has such an excellent memory that he can remember what he physically and emotionally did on every take. It was uncanny when we came to do close-ups, he would ask which of the wide shots was best and could repeat the actions precisely.

One night we put up rain towers outside a door for a climactic scene where he stabs someone in the downpour we created. We rushed like the devil to finish but ran out of time and only got the two takes of the wide shot and no close ups. The next night when we came back to do the close ups and he showed us his actions for both the mastrer takes of the night before so Richard Leeds our director could choose which set of movements were best. Not too many actors can do that after being rushed and wet and cold the night before.

One day he came into my office that was on the main floor of a deserted mental hospital in Dartmouth across the bridge from Halifax. It surely was odd and spooky to make a movie about the horrors of Lobotomy’s in a hospital that used to perform them. Meatloaf said he heard I had some good stuff for sleeping. I did not have to ask much to know he could not turn his mind off when he needed his sleep. Overactive at bedtime is a clear symptom. I gave him a baggie of the little pellets (coffea cruda 30C) with the instructions to take one globule a half hour before going to bed. The next day he came to me all happy. “That stuff really worked. I took about 8 of them and was asleep in no time.

I was angry and said he disrespected me by taking more than one pill as I had prescribed. I told him that it did not change anything by taking a whole bunch that did nothing to increase the potency. It is an elctro-magnetic signal that gets no stronger no matter how many globules are taken. He had just wasted 7 pills and what amounts to wasting money.. He apologized and said he would follow my directions and only take one in future.

Two days later he was on set again and we greeted each other. When he came on set he took the focus immediately and announced his arrival with laughter and hellos to all. Of course being me I got to speak to him alone and asked if he had taken the Coffea again. He smiled and said yes and that one pill worked just as well as the bunch he took. Yes! One is as good as the whole bottle if taken at one time.

It is hard for people to understand that it is how often the remedy is taken that counts and not how many globules are taken at one time.

— John Board

Coffea cruda – coffee

Symptoms of someone needing Coffea are similar to symptoms produced after one drinks too much coffee: for example,  a racing and alert mind, extreme nervousness and oversensitivity to stimuli.  In homeopathy, this is called a proving: using a substance that creates symptoms in a healthy person.

Coffea is the remedy for insomnia from racing thoughts or for waking  at the slightest noise.  The mind is usually excited, and thoughts are racing.  The remedy is very helpful for those who have worked very late, and are unable to sleep from too many thoughts.  It is also indicated for insomnia or other bad effects from joy, surprise or grief.

The nervous system as a whole is affected in Coffea, both within the mind state (oversensitivity, insomnia) and nerves (tooth-aches, head-aches).

It is helpful for people with an over-stimulated nervous system, who react strongly to noise, touch or any of the senses.  It can help with nervousness from drinking too much coffee, or from general ailments after the abuse of coffee (in acute situations).

It can be used for tooth-aches, which feel better from cold water, and for head pain or facial neuralgia that are better from cold applications.  Also useful for extreme head pain or migraines,made worse from any type of noise or music.

As in the accompanying story, compare this remedy with Nux Vomica.  Coffea usually has a more excited state of mind (racing thoughts, oversensitivity), whereas Nux Vomica tends to be a more sluggish state (exhaustion or chronic ailments from over-indulgence).

For neuralgias (tooth or head), take 1 globule every hour for up to 4doses, gradually increasing intervals between doses and then take asneeded.

For insomnia or racing thoughts, take 1 hour before going tosleep.

Or take immediately if one wakes and is unable to fall back asleep.

Notes from John:

Coffea is effective to calm a mind that is overflowing with thoughts, I have used it during the day on people who were feeling scattered, andbefore bed for those whose minds will not stop racing.

Giles Bellanger,  a Producer on the “The BookfairMurders,”  took Coffea for his ever-thinking restless mind about a half-hour before going to bed,  and said it helped.  He was also the first person who told me that using it during the day was a good way to stop the mind from flitting about.

Meatloaf couldn’t sleep when we were working together on “A Hole in One.”  He was acting, writing music and recording, and he could not seem to get his mind to shut down when he went to bed.  I gave him some globules of Coffea with my usual instructions to take one about a half-hour before bed.  The first night, he took several globules thinking that taking more than one would make the remedy stronger.  He got to sleep.  I told him that taking several globules all at once was no different than taking just one, as it was all about the qualityof the remedy and not the quantity taken.  He took only one globule the next night and was amazed that it worked just as well — he got right to sleep.

Tim Southam, the director of “The Bay of Love and Sorrows,” used both Coffea and Nux Vomica at different times and for different reasons,  to help him both work and sleep better.  He used Coffea if his mind was racing, and Nux Vomica if he just felt overtired and overworked.  Nux Vomica is called for when sleeplessness is accompanied by a hung-over feeling the next morning.

Whenever I try to explain the theory used to prescribe Homeopathic remedies, I use Coffea as an example. Coffee jangles the nerves and gets us going at a fast pace.  Coffea which is made from a minute dose of coffee calms and settles the individual.  Like treats like.  What will cause a symptom in a large dose will cure symptoms that are similar when given in a tiny dose.

More Information

To find out more about John and his experiences with homeopathy in Hollywood, visit The John Board Hollywood Survival Kit.