Homeopathy Papers

Proud Accomplishments

canadian college of homeopathic medicine
Written by Raymond Edge

CCHM Gradulates Discuss Their Proudest Accomplishments

canadian college of homeopathic medicine

 

Nick Mazolli

 

1. Which accomplishment/event/moment are you most proud of in your career as a Homeopath?

 

I remember my third year externship, particularly two of my patients, they were very sick and responded incredibly well to treatment.  One was a mother of three with severe digestive and menstrual disorders.  The other was a brilliant Harvard student with a debilitating anxiety disorder driving him to alcoholism.  There have been many moments since then but that was my first direct experience using homeopathic medicine in the treatment of chronic disease. The practice of homeopathy definitely has a way of humbling you, but what I am most proud of is that I have chosen a career which allows me to truly help others in a fashion that is little seen in the world of medicine.  There are my own experiences, but more so the many success stories of my colleagues along with the innumerable miraculously cured cases within the homeopathic literature that fill me with a deep sense of pride knowing that I am a part of this tradition of healing.

2. What 3 aspects of your Homeopathic education contributed the most to your success?

The first must be the foundation.  Learning homeopathy from the original source materials, studying Hahnemann’s Organon and then further incorporating other reliable works of old and contemporary masters who have contributed to homeopathic literature.  This core syllabus is vital to a good understanding of homeopathy.

The second would be the accessibility of our teachers in the form of feedback, guidance and encouragement.  Their willingness to guide you, correct you and point you down the right path of learning was essential.  At the heart of the school is a great nucleus of teachers.

The third would be seeing the mastery of our teachers in clinic and the classroom, having that experience along with their guidance and expertise was invaluable.

3. Share with us a recent and successful case treated with Homeopathic Medicine. 

One of my most recent cases was a young girl of nine years old with severe anxiety and panic disorder.  She would not touch her brother for fear of contagion and washed her hands immediately after; could not go outside for fear something would happen; could not eat normally or go to the bathroom easily without much anxiety. During the initial appointment she was constantly getting anxious and needing to be calmed, so that her breathing would normalize.  She was also very impressionable; you could not tell her that anything was bad for her as this had become an obsession.  There had been two very traumatic episodes in her life which contributed to this state.  The funny thing was that while engaged in conversation with me, her symptoms seemed to vanish.

Physically she was very tall for her age and thin; almost to the point of emaciation.  She had also developed very quickly from a baby, had recently gone through growing pains and even began sexual development before the age of 9.

Phos 200c was given, and after approximately 3-4weeks her parents reported that she was 95% improved in every way.  She began playing outside again, hugging her brother without fear, had no more anxiety attacks, began eating and defecating normally, etc. There was still some anxiety but now it did not inhibit her from trying new things.  I have yet to have a follow-up because her parents feel she is so much better that further treatment is no longer required.

 

Jack Gagliardi

 

1. Which accomplishment/event/moment are you most proud of in your career as a Homeopath?

 

 

Being able to help patients achieve their best state of health certainly feels like an important accomplishment. It is very satisfying to help patients recover from illness which allows them to become their best selves and live a fulfilling and creative life. In the end I’m most proud when a patient no longer needs my services because they are simply “well.”

 

2. What 3 aspects of your Homeopathic education contributed the most to your success?

Learning classical Hahnemannian homeopathy is the reason my practice can be considered successful. Understanding how to take a full and complete case with the benefit of the experienced instructors at CCHM was invaluable. The clinic setting at the school allowed us to observe how a proper classical case should be taken and how to effectively prescribe the most appropriate remedy. Instructors were always available to help in the learning process and encouraged discussion and debate in class.

 

3. Share with us a recent and successful case treated with Homeopathic Medicine. 

Here is an extra special case. The following is in the patient’s words:

When I began seeing Jack I was barely able to make it in to his office. I was extremely weak, in great pain, depressed and could barely make it through the appointment.

Jack patiently took my case and worked through each symptom of my case in great detail. Jack prescribed a homeopathic remedy for me and from that day the healing began. He watched over my case and progress with great care and changed remedies when needed.

Today I am better than my old self. I am off all my prescription medications. I no longer need my asthma puffers, I am able to walk, shop, paint and work on my crafts and I have my energy back. My emotional state is better than it has ever been, I am off my heart medications and I haven’t had a seizure (which used to happen almost daily) in over 10 months. Jack actually saw the last seizure I had because it occurred in his office. He acted accordingly, kept me safe and from hurting myself. The seizures usually lasted anywhere from 10-20 minutes and were very violent. Jack actually prescribed for me on the spot and administered the remedy while I was in seizure. Miraculously the seizure was aborted in 30 seconds. Since that dose, I re-dosed once and have never had another seizure.

I am so grateful to Jack for helping me get my life back when the doctors continued to tell me that my condition would not change and that I was going to have a life of constant medication with a poor quality of life. Friends, family and even my pharmacist (who used to see me very regularly) can’t believe the change.

I still continue to see Jack regularly to make sure I keep myself in the best health possible. “

Mary, Toronto

“I began seeing Jack Gagliardi in 2008. I was plagued with 20 years of extremely poor health. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Asthma, a Heart Block, Arthritis, Restless Legs Syndrome, Depression and a Seizure disorder.”

4. Do you have anything else you would like to share?

I can’t stress enough the importance of learning and practicing classical Hahnemannian homeopathy. CCHM is the best place in Ontario to learn the proper time tested way of practicing homeopathic medicine.

 

 

Helen Vuletin

 

1. Which accomplishment/event/moment are you most proud of in your career as a Homeopath?

To me, being a homeopath highlights the unbelievable resilience of the human body and spirit, in both astounding and quiet ways. It is a privilege and an honour to witness these events, both large and small. My proudest moments so far as a homeopath include two events; one is an astounding testimonial of the body’s ability to heal itself and the other, a poignant moment of intense emotional connection.

One of my patients was in the hospital breathing through an emergency tracheotomy and coughing up blood due to pneumonia. Prior to my consultation, she’d been in the hospital for several weeks, after having been placed in a medically induced coma due to multiple organ failure. She was told that she should expect to remain in the hospital for a minimum of two to three more weeks. Within 10 minutes of receiving the homeopathic medicine selected for her case, she said that the pressure on her left side had lessened and that she could breathe more deeply. When I returned 5 days later for the follow-up appointment, she was being discharged from the hospital.

 

Recently, I went to a patient’s home for a second follow up. This 4-year old patient had been diagnosed with autism. He was not able to speak until 2 years of age. His speech stopped around the same time he received some routine vaccinations. Before this follow up, the patient had not made any eye contact, or any contact with me at all really. He usually just watched the television during my visits. That evening when I arrived, he was waiting at the door with his father. When his father opened the door for me, my young patient looked me directly in the eye. I was touched and hopeful to hear about his reaction to the latest homeopathic medicine selected for him. Throughout the consultation, he continued to make eye contact with me while he sat on his father’s lap. As I said good-bye to him at the end of the consultation, he threw his arms around my left leg and hugged me tightly. That moment was so powerful and moving it nearly brought me to my knees. There was such a profound sense of connection between me and my patient and his family, and a palpable feeling of hope.

2. What 3 aspects of your Homeopathic education contributed the most to your success?

1) The Externship Process

The externship process was the perfect springboard to set myself and my practice for success. It is a safe haven for prescribing because I was backed by an experienced supervisor, and it served as the perfect venue for helping me determine what kind of practitioner I wanted to be when I  graduated.bFor me, putting theoretical learning into practice by observing patients responses to remedies was the greatest teacher of all.

2) The Internship Process

Being able to watch other experienced homeopathic practitioners conduct consultations was also very important. This process provided valuable tips for how to ask questions, as well as work with silence comfortably during a consultation. It also allowed me to clearly identify my practitioner biases, and then work on removing them.

3) Solid Education in Hahnemannian Fundamentals of Homeopathy

As a lover of languages and speaker of several, I know the importance of learning the fundamentals of grammar. To me, a solid understanding of Hahnemannian homeopathy, the founder of homeopathy, is an essential foundation for further learning, much like grammar is to the study of language. CCHM focuses the bulk of the curriculum on studying Hahnemann’s Organon of Medicine so that students have a solid foundation on which to build other styles of homeopathic practice if they choose.

3. Share with us a recent and successful case treated with Homeopathic Medicine. 

In the winter of 2011, I received a referral for a patient who had been diagnosed with the flu. She’d received Tamiflu for that diagnosis. Later that evening, she collapsed and 911 was called. She remained unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital. All of her organs failed, and she was placed in a medically induced coma for two weeks. After being revived from the coma, she underwent temporary kidney dialysis for two weeks. When I saw her in the hospital, she was breathing through an emergency tracheotomy, and had left-sided pneumonia and was coughing up blood.

After taking her case, I had a few remedy candidates in mind that were well indicated. I did a brief physical examination as part of my differential diagnosis, checking her pulse and the temperature of the skin on her legs below the knees. Her pulse was stronger than I expected given all that she’d been through, and her legs below the knees were also warmer than I expected. Although these two pieces of information did not reinforce my remedy choice of Carbo vegetabilis, I prescribed it anyway in a 30C potency, trusting my intuition.

Given her delicate state, I was concerned about giving her a dry dose of the remedy and prescribed it in water. The only water available was hospital tap water and it was provided in a styrofoam cup. Not my ideal choice, but I work with the constraints I’m given. Within 10 minutes of taking a teaspoon of the remedy, she said the pressure on the left side of her lung was lessening and that she could breathe more deeply. She asked me if it was her imagination. I said the only way to know for sure was to give the remedy a few days to act. I told her I’d be back to see her on Wednesday, five days after our initial visit. Before I left, I instructed her to take a teaspoon of the remedy again if she felt the pressure on the left side of her lung returning.

When I returned 5 days later, I thought I was in the wrong room. My patient was walking around the room and all of her tubes had been removed. She looked at me and said “I’m being discharged today. Helen, you look surprised.” Unable to hide my astonishment, I said I was. I was fairly confident that homeopathy could get her out of the hospital in two weeks, but a discharge in five days completely exceeded my expectations. I asked her more about her symptoms. After two days, they had removed the tracheotomy tube, and she had also stopped coughing up blood. I asked her how many times she had re-dosed with the homeopathic medicine, and she said twice.

 

 

Sandra Chadsey

 

www.sandrachadsey.com

1. Which accomplishment/event/moment are you most proud of in your career as a Homeopath?

 

My homeopathy career is still rather new and exciting. I continue to be in awe when remedies work perfectly and improvement or healing comes swiftly.  I love watching the body respond to a well-chosen remedy and sort out how it became distorted or stuck in a disease pattern.  I would say that what I am most proud of in regards to my success and journey as a homeopath is that I have stuck to the path that most resembles who I am.

I went back to school in my 40’s and that came with some challenges, but I had the attitude that I can learn from every situation and every teacher. I also believe that my life experience and personal journey of homeopathic care adds depth and encouragement for many of my patients. I have created a growing practice that fundamentally involves homeopathic healthcare, but also includes life style management, crisis care, education, nutrition, and a few ounces of friendship. I have become a life coach to many of my senior patients who have spent decades in the medical system without someone who took the time to care.  I have become a mentor to many young moms who need support and examples to follow.  I am often ‘taken back’ with how much opening myself to my patients and giving them a few ounces of love mixed with homeopathic care has changed a life even before the remedy takes effect.  It’s an aspect of our medical system that has been missing for a very long time.

2. What 3 aspects of your Homeopathic education contributed the most to your success?

Variety: Having a variety of different teachers always adds flavour to education. CCHM does a great job providing a variety of teaching perspectives.

Beginnings: One thing that I learned at CCHM is that what is taught in class is only a morsel of what you will need to know in everyday practice. It is a teaser to get you thinking, reading, studying and researching. CCHM gives the foundation: a solid foundation for a new homeopath to get started. From there, one will quickly see that there is more to do and learn, but with the right foundation, learning is quick and relatively painless.  I developed a variety of perspectives to consider with every case, and I have practiced consistently the solid Hahnemannian principles taught in class.  There are multiple ways to practice Homeopathy; some are better and more effective than others (which we debated in class!); regardless, I was taught clearly how to approach a case, how to “take a case,” and how to analyze a case. The rest comes with experience and study.

Clinic: all the case work we did was some of the most valuable education. I valued time in clinic and with my supervisor because the real learning happens in the daily work of patients in the office.

 

3. Share with us a recent and successful case treated with Homeopathic Medicine.

This past September I had two sisters come into my office with the chief complaint of Molescum. They both had approx 50 warty blisters from their groin down to their ankles. The eruptions had been present for just over a month and mom had used a harsh medicated cream to attempt to eradicate the molescum, which did not help.  The eruptions started at the same time after summer camp and presented identically, but as to be expected, I treated them separately.

Sister #1 is 5 years old; She is gutsy, impulsive, headstrong, determined and pushes limits and rules. She had energy, curiosity and filled the room with her personality. She was smart and picked up concepts and abilities easily. She develops rashes and eruptions easily that are always worse in the heat and water.  She experiences nightmares, has foul breath in the morning, and is very warm blooded, sleeping naked and always throwing off her blankets at night. She experiences very foul flatulence and is always very thirsty. Her molescum was primarily in the inner thigh area and very itchy.  I gave her Sulphur 30c to take every second day for 3 doses.

She returned 2 weeks later to show all molescums were gone and no scars were left. She continued to have many nightmares, and there was an increase in lying and temper tantrums (she was not holding in her anger any more). Her verbal and reading skills at school had seen a sharp increase, and her over-heating at night had balanced out. I prescribed 4 doses of Sulphur 200c to take once a week for a month. She returned reporting that she was rarely having nightmares, no more lying or temper tantrums, and her teachers felt she was engaged, sensitive, articulate and strong in math and reading. All behavioural and sleeping issues were gone, as were the skin eruptions, and mom felt her daughter “was in a really good place right now.”

Sister #2 is 8 years old; She is quiet, easily worried about her family and others, and she has anticipatory anxiety (expressed especially at night before bed). She works at things slowly and methodically until everything is perfect. She sweats at night, especially on her head. She has cracks on her lips, feet and hands; she also licks her lips when anxious causing chaffing and chapping. She continues to suck on two soothers at night and loves to feel cozy with blankets and have company around her. I prescribed Calc Carb 200c to take every second day for 3 doses.

She returned 2 weeks later with all the molescum and scars gone (they flared up, looked angry, then disappeared 24 hrs after the third dose). Her anxiety was mildly improved, but she had started to lick her upper lip constantly at school causing chaffing and chapping.  I gave another dose of Calc Carb 200c

She returned 2 weeks later to say her anxiety at night over people and horrible stories had improved, her skin was no longer cracking, the molescum was still gone, and her sleep had improved.  I wasn’t happy with why she was licking her lips so much (anxiety), so I repeated the dose once every 2 weeks for the next month.  She returned a month later with less tendency to worry about her family and continued decreased anxiety at school; a calendula salve easily healed the lip chap (previously nothing helped healing this), all skin was clear, she was more vocal and communicative, and she decided it was time to throw out the soothers.

4. Do you have anything else you would like to share?

As a graduate, just start working, start caring for patients, and start studying Materia Medica when your office is empty…it will fill up. The foundation you receive from CCHM is fantastic, and the resources they provide after graduation will be there for you during times of struggle. Trust in what you have learned and how you have been taught. Take charge of your post graduate education, you will always be learning. Listen to Joe, Lisa, Kim and Monica – they know what they are doing and they will help you flourish as a homeopath.

 

About the author

Raymond Edge

Raymond Edge is the founder, dean and resident homeopath of the Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine. Raymond began his career in the healing arts as a medical herbalist, graduating from the Dominion Herbal College in 1978. He has been studying, practising and lecturing in homeopathy since 1987. He graduated from the School of Homoeopathy on-campus program in Devon, England and was the director of the Mirianog West Children’s Clinic in Wales, providing low-cost homeopathic treatment for underprivileged children. He is a core lecturer and clinical supervisor at the Canadian College of Homeopathic Medicine.

1 Comment

  • Mr. Gilardi,
    I am aholistic nurse of 47 years and have cared for so many children and adults plagued by epilepsy.Please share more info re your “Extra Special Case” of what what helped and eliminated the severe violent seizure, lasting 10-20 minutes. I realize each person is very individual.
    Thanks and Blessings,
    Mary Ann

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