The Download
Homeopathy is highly specialized. Your homeopath will spend from one to two hours on your initial intake downloading information, and that’s just the beginning. Your homeopath will ask about your physical history of disease, emotional and mental health picture, inherited predispositions, and current symptoms. They will also ask a long list of strange and peculiar questions such as, “Do you sleep with your feet under the covers or out?”
The Devil is in the Detail
Homeopaths want to know as much detail as possible about your current symptoms. What makes them better? What makes them worse? If you are depressed, they may ask if you like fruit, if you suffer from seasonal allergies, they may ask how you feel about furry animals, if you have indigestion, or weather you prefer your drinks hot or cold. These seemingly unrelated questions direct them towards or away from specific remedies. So before your appointment, start to pay attention to the details of your symptoms. Perhaps at the change of weather, your rheumatic pains become worse, perhaps you only get a headache after being in the sun for a few hours. Perhaps the pain in your back is worse when you rest and better when you move. Also, become aware of the details of your symptoms. Is the pain burning or throbbing, does it move from one side to the other, is it stitching, or smarting, does it feel like a tight band around your abdomen or is it in one small spot?
Do you like fruit & how do you feel about fury animals?
The Sum of the Whole
The organism is highly complex and all systems feed into one another so it will come as no surprise to learn that your emotional and mental symptoms are as important as your physical ones. Your homeopath will inquire about it all in order to build a well-rounded picture and to help them chose the best remedy. Homeopaths may not all be therapists but much therapeutic work is done through Homeopathy. Your homeopath will ask about your emotional and mental states, your memory, your mood, your passions, and your interests. Some of us are more dramatic or more sensitive than others. Some thrive on attention, they need it, they demand it, others have to express themselves freely, and some are simply more pragmatic, they just take care of their responsibilities and don’t give their emotional lives too much attention.
Often a homeopath will support a patient emotionally as the remedy works deeply to restore balance. And sometimes the behavioral changes may be quite sudden. A person who was previously emotionally suppressed may start communicating their feeling more vocally or someone who was highly anxious will be able to move through their fears. Ultimately though the patient will move towards independence from the homeopath, as the remedy strengthens the emotional, physical, and mental bodies.
In homeopathy there is no judgement, only observation
Triggers and Stress
Homeopaths look at your history of disease as a continuum. The diseased state is always triggered by a stress event. That event may also be passed down through generations; a genetic predisposition or in homeopathic terms, a miasm may be grafted into the system by trauma, disease, pharmaceuticals or vaccines. The stress event is important, so try to remember what was going on when symptoms first showed. They may have been triggered by the suppression of a previous condition, by frequent use of antibiotics or steroids, so keep that in mind too. They may have been triggered by emotional stress, grief, the loss of a loved one, a relationship break-up, moving, changing jobs, witnessing or remembering a trauma or even going out in the cold.
Untangling the Sequence
The organism is constantly trying to bring balance, and even more so after a disturbance. The symptoms of that process, are our compass, our guide to the action the organism takes to try to restore balance. If those symptoms are suppressed, the disturbance may be pushed further into the organism. Further physically but they may also be pushed into the emotional or mental bodies. It is the job of the homeopath to untangle this sequence of events. In re-strengthening the organism's innate integrity, previously suppressed symptoms may return. If the remedy is correct, they should be milder, but always let your homeopath know if you experience a return of old symptoms.
What to Expect?
It’s hard to know what to expect with Homeopathy because it is so individualised. If you take an antibiotic, you expect to feel better within 48 hours and if you don’t, that’s your cue to go see your doctor again, but often your follow up appointment with your homeopath may be set for a month away and you may not really know what to expect or what to do in the meantime.
Some Guidelines
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If your homeopath is treating you for a chronic or constitutional issue, expect that it will take time, possibly months, for the organism to find a new balance. If anything urgent comes up, let your homeopath know. If it’s life-threatening, get yourself to Emergency Care immediately. If it’s not, manage it the best you can, naturally, till you hear back from your homeopath. An acute episode, following the treatment of a chronic disease, is VERY IMPORTANT. Do not treat it with homeopathy on your own or you may interfere with the curative process.
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There is a direction of cure. The direction is downwards and outwards, from the mental to the emotional to the physical, but there are multiple layers and complex systems to consider, as well as the return of old symptoms and general state of health of the patient, so don’t panic and freak yourself out if strange things are happening, everything will settle.
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Keep notes - your homeopath may ask you if you are feeling better generally. As we become healthier, we forget the niggling pains and problems, the moods, the crankiness. Keeping a journal will allow you to look back and see if you have actually made progress or not. Even the smallest improvements can tell your practitioner much about your next treatment, potency, or remedy.
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Often you will be asked to be patient while an old symptom seems to express itself, and this may be terribly uncomfortable. But if you are generally feeling better, if your mood is improved, stick with it. The results will be a restoration of your health.
Homeopathy at Home - Family Treatment
The results from Homeopathy can be so impressive that families often move towards it as a preferred method of treatment. There is much information available online and home treatment is recommended for minor and acute symptoms. These include the treatment of minor cuts, bumps, bruises, burns, stings and bites, stomach bugs, common colds and flues, fevers, teething, nerves, minor anxiety, period pains, growing pains, stomach cramps from excessive or poor eating, stomach cramps from nerves, performance anxiety. If however, you or your child is under the supervision of a homeopath for chronic or constitutional care, do not interfere because you may confuse the picture.
Home kits are available from many of the reputable Homeopathic suppliers, and it is always advised that you educate yourself about the basics before starting. Your homeopath will be happy to advise which kits or courses to take, or which books to read.
Go low and slow - start with low potencies 30c or 200c and give one pill under the tongue just once. Wait and see, and be patient. If there is no change after an hour, revisit, but after even the smallest change, there is no need to give a remedy again until symptoms return. In acute emergencies, such as burns or stings, you can try a water dose. Give one sip from a small glass of water in which the remedy has been diluted, every fifteen minutes for a total of 4 doses and then wait and observe. If there is a movement towards healing, STOP, if not, you may give the same remedy again or try a different one.