If you are new to homeopathic treatment you may find the information below helpful. Please take a moment to read. 

The Homeopathic Interview

Essential to effective homeopathic treatment is the information that you provide to your homeopath. The homeopathic interview involves extensive questioning that may cover unfamiliar ground for those who are used to a few quick questions from a busy doctor. To better prepare you for the consultation, the kinds of information the homeopath requires are described below.

You will be asked to describe in your own way and as fully as possible, the conditions that bother you, the ones that have caused you to seek treatment.

Probably the most crucial information to the homeopath concerns what makes your complaint better or worse. Does you condition vary with the time of day or night, or the seasons? Is it affected by your position (sitting, standing, lying, etc.) or by activity (motion of any body part, walking, vigorous exercise, rest, etc.)? How do temperature, weather, eating, and sleeping affect your condition? Anything that clearly influences the intensity or pattern of your symptoms will be very important.

Anything that regularly occurs in association with your symptoms should be mentioned. For example –

• Do you feel nauseous when you have a headache?
• Does your skin clear up when you get your menstrual period?
• Do you sweat with the pains?

Can you associate the onset of your condition with any particular stress including: an emotional upset

• prolonged or pronounced mental or physical stress
• lack of sleep
• exposure to weather
• an injury
• drug use
• surgery
• any other factors

In addition to information about symptoms, the homeopath will ask about you in general in order to understand how energetic you feel on the whole, and how your sense of well-being (not any particular symptom) changes as a result of environmental or emotional factors.

• How are you affected, in general, by temperature, weather, time of day, activity level, eating, and sleeping?
• What makes you feel good and healthy and what doesn’t?
• This may be different from what makes a particular symptom better or worse.

Your homeopath will also be interested to know which kinds of foods you love and which you strongly dislike.

Finally, the homeopath will want you to discuss your emotional nature, for example:

• During what activities or in which situations do you feel most happy?
• What are the most characteristic emotional patterns you experience?
• Are there any emotional responses which limit your ability to fully express yourself?
• How expressive of emotional states are you, and in what ways do you express them?
• What about your memory, clarity of thought, and so on?

The Homeopathic Remedy

Based mainly on the information you provide; a remedy will be selected that fits you and your symptoms best. This remedy is designed to stimulate your own healing process.

What to Expect when taking your Remedy

Homeopathic medicines are designed to stimulate your body’s natural ability to heal itself—to act as a catalyst for healing. A homeopathic remedy doesn’t cure as such; it works rather like throwing a pebble into a pond sending out healing ripples to every part of you.

The process of healing varies from person to person, depending on how ill you are, on your level of vitality, and on the accuracy of the homeopathic remedy itself. In the weeks after taking the homeopathic remedy you may find that you feel better in yourself: you may experience an increase in energy and/or your complaints may improve.

With an acute or recent illness your improvement can be quite swift. Or it can be a more gradual or even prolonged process, especially if you have been suffering from a long term, or chronic illness. In general, the longer you have been ill the longer that process takes.

Some people experience a slight worsening of their symptoms after their treatment. This usually occurs within the first two weeks of starting a remedy and is usually a good sign. This type of healing response mostly does not last long, is manageable and is often accompanied by an increased sense of well being.

People sometimes experience a ‘return of old symptoms.’ Symptoms they had in the past may return, and these are generally a sign that the body is clearing out an old disease pattern. They are generally short-lived – lasting about a week. If you fall ill after your consultation ask yourself whether your symptoms remind of something you had in the past.

If they don’t, it may be that you have an acute illness: a flu, a cough or urinary tract infection, something that has occurred as a result of additional stress in your life. If your symptoms are serious you will need to consult your doctor (or even the emergency room). It may be possible to treat your complaint homeopathically so email me to find out. In any case please let me know if you are considering any other form of medical treatment between homeopathic consultations.

The following are some common responses to a constitutional homeopathic remedy:

You feel better in yourself:
In the weeks after taking the homeopathic remedy you may feel better in yourself: with an increase in energy and an improvement in your complaints.

You feel more tired than usual:
This could mean your body is concentrating its energy on the healing process and you can help by resting and/or sleeping more (going to bed earlier at night and/or taking a nap in the day). You may also want to cut out all caffeine and alcohol to encourage this healing process further.

You experience a worsening of one or more of your symptoms:
This is usually a good sign and short-lived. Keep notes of what happens and email me if you are concerned.

Your moods are changeable or surprising
Some people find that their moods are more unpredictable after homeopathic treatment. You may feel calmer, or you may experience an increase in irritability or sadness. Feelings that have been suppressed can surface. This can be an uncomfortable process but is always transitory i.e. it will pass fairly quickly. Please email me if you need information or reassurance about what you are going through or are experiencing difficulty in expressing your emotions.

You experience a return of old symptoms:
These are usually a good sign and short-lived. If you become ill in between consultations with symptoms that are familiar to you please contact me if you are concerned about how long they will last, or would like advice on how to manage them.

You fall ill with an acute illness:
Get in touch if you would like homeopathic treatment, or to let me know if you need other medical treatment for an acute illness.

Healing using homeopathic remedies can be a very different experience to treating your symptoms with other medications. Treatment is addressing the why, rather than removing the symptoms and it is working WITH the body’s own natural healing ability. If you have any questions about your healing progress please ask.