I hear this question so often, I’m surprised no one else has written about it! “Do you treat fibroid tumors?” “How many cases of asthma have you cured?” “When will I be cured of psoriasis?” “Can you assure me that you will cure my eczema and it will never come back?”
These all seem like reasonable questions, but people have to understand the following:
There are cures in the homeopathic literature for virtually every disease you can name, including even the worst ones like MS, Autism and Polio. Does this mean that it will inevitably cure your case as well? I wish I could flatly say yes; but, there is no guarantee and here’s why. No case of disease is like any other case of disease!
You may assume that if you’ve seen one case of Asthma, you’ve seen them all! But you have no idea how different these cases are! The triggers are all different–some episodes come on from rainy weather, some in dry weather, some have a known cause like exposure to dust, for others the cause is unknown; some patients are athletic and energetic while others are weak, fragile and have many other conditions to contend with at the same time; the number of variables in these cases is endless! Do you see how overly simplistic it is, then, to ask, “Can you cure this disease?”
Believe it or not, there is actually no other case like yours. The case has to be taken: What does it consist of, what’s happening, what is the story? How is a homeopath supposed to know these things in advance? The only real question is, Does the homeopath know how to take a case? That’s really all you can ask of him, to take a proper case. You might say, “How difficult can it possibly be to find out what’s wrong with a person?” but that’s not what a homeopathic case-taking consists of! That’s what the doctor needs to know, because when he knows that, he knows what drug to give. What we need is peculiar information that leads to one of our 3,000 homeopathic remedies.
Never think the issue is: “In order for the homeopath to cure my disease, he has to have seen this disease.” No. In fact, we will have never seen your disease! We do not treat “diseases”, we look for “remedy pictures”. If we see indications for a remedy, we give it, the name of your disease could be anything, it’s not what we go on.
Common symptoms of a disease do not lead to homeopathic remedies!
This is why you must answer the homeopath’s somewhat unorthodox questions or he/she will not be able to help you. Once this information is gathered, the homeopath consults the index of symptoms known as The Repertory and hopes to find that a single remedy runs through all or most of the information you gave. Even if I’ve never seen your disease before, I know Arsenicum when I see it! I know what Calc-carb looks like, I know what Belladonna looks like, I know what Rhus tox looks like.
I know it’s hard for you to believe, but, the same remedy picture can show up in asthma, the flu, food poisoning… you name it.
In terms of whether or not you can be cured, here is a general rule: The more recent your complaint is and the less drug treatment you’ve had, the better your chances are.
I should also add that the skill of the homeopath matters too! Get references, read his or her cured cases, see if he or she graduated from a school of homeopathy and that homeopathy isn’t just a side-line or a hobby. People tend to assume that if the homeopath is an MD, they’re in really good hands! Actually, if the MD did not go to a school of homeopathy, there is no reason to assume you’re better off with him.
Here are the factors that go against you…
1. Chronicity
2. Complexity (many things wrong at once)
3. Non-nutritious eating (processed food.)
4. Suppressive drug treatment
5. Badly trained homeopath
***
The best possible scenario for success:
1. The complaint is recent and uncomplicated
2. You know what caused it
3. There are clear symptoms
4. No drugs suppressing the case
5. You’re relatively healthy other than the chief complaint
6. The homeopath comes highly recommended and/or has graduated from a school of homeopathy
We run into trouble when the patient can’t remember the cause of the complaint or there are too many possible causes and too many diseases and prescription drugs clouding the true nature of the case and the patient isn’t good at giving information, thinking that the name of the disease and the common symptoms should be enough since they were enough for the doctor. This combination would surely not bode well for the case being solved.
There’s something else I’ve seen in chronic cases, they often resist treatment; the body just seems to get used to them, the way you no longer feel a splinter after a day or two; or like a bad habit that your body just seems to “make room for”. The moral of the story is: treat symptoms when they’re new, when the case is acute, when your body really doesn’t want them and is fighting them tooth and nail! That’s when you will make the best use of your homeopathic remedy!
You’ve probably noticed that in the beginning of an illness, your body puts up a strong fight! It runs a fever, it coughs, it discharges, it inflames. After a time, though, it just gives up, and you’re chronically ill! Look at smoking for example: You start out trying to smoke but your body fights you every step of the way, making you dizzy, nauseous, coughing, etc., but you persist in smoking anyway! Day after day! Each day you get a little less dizzy, a little less nauseous; the coughing gets less and less; finally your body just says, “OK, I give up!” Suddenly, there are no more symptoms! Your body has learned to accommodate the intrusion and stopped fighting. Years later you may try to quit but your body will oddly become furious and block all your efforts! “Oh no you don’t,” it will say, “you can’t do this to me! I’ll get even!” At this point, your body is no longer supporting health, it’s gone over to the other side! It’s like when the orthodontist tries to straighten crooked teeth, what happens? The teeth keep trying to go back to where they were! More and more pressure has to be applied by the orthodontist to make the teeth stay in their new position. This is what you’re up against in chronic disease: your body protects what it’s gotten used to; meaning that if you’re giving a homeopathic remedy, you’re going to need to give it in repeated low doses of graduating strength to continually push, push, push away at the disorder to get it to leave. One dose will either be ignored or followed swiftly by a relapse.
Homeopaths who breezily say, “I don’t treat acutes!” show they have no understanding of chronicity and how it resists treatment! The fact is, the best shot you’ve got against any illness is when the immune system is still fighting; in other words, when it’s acute! This is when homeopathy really shines!
To make matters worse, people with chronic disease often also have “drug diseases”–side effects of drugs–side by side with their complaint; so, now their case is not only chronic but complex–a tangled web of diseases and disorders.
People who have allowed themselves to get to this state need to do more than look for a magic bullet to set everything straight, they need to begin the unenviable but necessary task of detoxifying and nutrifying! Read my article called “Convalescence” for details on how this is done:
I have cured many people with nutrition alone. So I would suggest to everyone: turn over a new leaf! Start right now! First of all, buy a 30C homeopathy Emergency Kit, like the one you see below–just google Homeopathy Emergency Kit.
Buy an acute prescribing book, like this one here–though there are many and usually people have more than one:
so that you can spring into action as soon as an acute illness or an injury pops up and get rid of it the natural, permanent and easy way with homeopathy so that these acute complaints don’t go chronic and so that you can avoid drugs which are toxic and only make you worse in the long run; and do start eating in a way that doesn’t lead to disease! Click below to see all my articles on food including the Convalescence article I mentioned earlier:
https://elainelewis.hpathy.com/food-fight/
No one believes me when I tell them, “It’s the food; that’s why you’re sick!” or “This is a side-effect of the drug you’re on!” Proper eating–and I might add, Juicing— and homeopathy, together make a powerful one-two punch in getting well!
To find books, courses and lectures on homeopathy, have a look at this website: www.homeopathic.com .
I hope I haven’t dampened your enthusiasm in any way. My teacher, Robin Murphy, always used to say, “If a disease is incurable, all the MORE reason to try homeopathy, you have nothing to lose!”
________________________________________
Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.
Elaine takes online cases! Write to her at [email protected]
Visit her website: https://ElaineLewis.hpathy.com
Aphorism 5 which says find “the most significant phases in the history of the chronic disease”. This point is useable for the doctor when treating chronic patients. compare paragraph 153 also–the most striking, strange, rare and peculiar symptoms in the case are to be preferred over the common symptoms of the disease.
Yes, Aph. 5 of The Organon by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, is really important; and just like we call Aphorism 153 the “Strange, Rare and Peculiar” clause, we should call Aph. 5 the “Etiology” clause of the Organon, because what Hahnemann says here is, Get all the phases of the chronic case in chronological order so that you can determine the underlying CAUSE! He’s saying: Make a time-line, and find the cause! Why? Because of our “Ailments From” rubrics–aliments from grief, ailments from windy weather, etc. These “Ailments From” rubrics are often the most important rubrics in the case and often solve the case for you! So, thanks for reminding us of Aphorism 5, Kanj Kumar.
This is an excellent article Elaine! There is no question that the skill of a homeopath surely ‘matters’. But perhaps as you rightly point out and I know this from experience that,”The more recent your complaint is and the less suppressive treatment you’ve had, the more likely you are to be cured. The longer you wait to try homeopathy and the more suppressive treatment you’ve had in the meantime, the less your chances of cure are.” Well said…I agree!
Good article as usual Elaine 🙂
I might dare to add that by the time a sick person seeks a homeopath all other avenues have been tried and have failed.
This said,you have a person in front of you with layers and layers of allopathic suppression,a loaded closet of iatrogenic symptoms on top of the initial symptom.
“So can homeopathy fix me ?”
A massive undertaking for any practicioner dealt this deck of cards.
Sadly this is what we have to work with in a world of patients who love popping prescription meds,yet finding no relief…….. until homeopathy
I know Gina! Most of my cases are nightmarish with multiple afflictions and many prescriptions…you’ve got the medical system and the processed food industry both working against the very people they serve, literally making them sick, and nobody gets it until it’s too late.
DEAR DR,
DOCTOR MAY FAIL BUT HOMEOPATHY NEVER FAILS
THANKS
Elaine, your explanation is fabulous. Many a time people approach homeopathy when they are on the death bed. It is close to impossible, at such a situation. Its a misery that homeopathy is never tried as the first option by many, when a person falls sick. This is because people go right to the doctor, they need instant results. Suppression is a way to feel better fast, giving instant results, but leaving the roots of the illness in the body. The roots will surely sprout out with new diseases with another name. Thus a vicious cycle of diseases goes on…..
I do agree that healthy food plus homeopathy is a powerful one-two punch against disease….
– Thanks
Vamsi
Thanks for all your great comments!