I have [insert disease name here]- can Homeopathy help? Does Homeopathy work for xyz?
These questions, and others like them are frequently asked, but they are not straightforward to answer.
For one thing, it is illegal for Homeopaths to say that they can “cure” anything – even with our founding document, Hahnemann’s Organon stating that our sole purpose is to return the sick to health.
Secondly, Homeopathy works in an entirely different manner – not by treating a condition, but matching symptoms and finding the simillimum, which stimulates the vital force to heal. While even homeopaths at times fall into the trap of ‘you have this condition, therefore you take this remedy’, true classical Homeopthy is individualised. This means five people with the same disease may get five different remedies depending on their personal presentation.
The name of a disease can also be a red herring – it is easy to assume the common symptoms with that condition, and yet this can vary as well. If someone gets recurrent migraines with aura, I still need to ask all the questions about the aura- when does it come on, what does it look like, etc as well as the migraine- sensation of the pain, where in the head is it, concomitant symptoms. If I heard Migraine and didn’t ask questions I could assume it was a throbbing pain – which is common, but instead they could have a stabbing pain, or localised in one area. The aura also can present differently, with blurriness, lines, zig zags or something else. All of these factors will assist me to find the remedy that is most similar, and therefore most effective at stimulating a healing energy.
There is an exception to this, and it is what we call the “genus epidemicus”, something we see with infectious diseases. When the symptoms of the disease fit a small range of remedies, Homeopaths can discuss and together pinpoint the few remedies that help most people. However, for chronic disease, the individualisation which is a foundation value of Classical Homeopathy is so important.
If you have not had a Homeopathic consult before, then this is your opportunity to be really listened to. To talk about the details that you don’t get time to share when you go to your GP, and then to talk about all the other things that may or may not seem connected, from physical, to mental and emotional, and the stress and lifestyle factors that impact on you now and when you first developed your condition.
This all adds up to you being treated as an individual, with lived experience, not as a walking disease or condition.
Because you are an individual, Homeopathic treatment is different for each person, and your reaction will be individual too. Unlike herbs or medicines that have a specific action on one or more parts of the body, homeopathy is working to stimulate your own vital force and prompt a change. The remedy is merely the catalyst, the master at work always comes from within.
It can make it hard to predict what will happen, as what will improve for one person may not change for another, but at a followup appointment we are always looking for movement or change in one or more areas. This could be physical, mental or emotional, a change in energy, appetite or sleep, or something that seems unrelated. Whatever has happened it is a sign of what the vital force is doing, and a step on your journey to better health.
If you are ready for a holistic therapy that embraces you as a whole person, more than the sum of your parts; if you are ready to be treated as an individual and not someone with a particular condition or disease; if you are ready to move forward towards better health; then now is the time to try Homeopathy.