Why I Love Homeopathy

By Louise N. Edwards, ND, LAc
AANP 2011 Vis Award Winner

Having been invited to write a post for the AANP blog (Thank you Mandisa), I logged in to see what other topics had been covered.

The most recent post by my dear friend Dr. Shiva Barton was titled, “Why is homeopathy dead?” I found this question startling and disturbing.

Once I read the post about how fewer naturopathic graduates are using homeopathy and the reasons why, it became clear to me what I wanted to write about, which is why I love homeopathy and the “slightly twisted” trail that brought me to this point. I am hoping that this will inspire some of you younger docs to lose the fear and embrace the therapy that I love the most!

To give some context, let me share a bit about my practice. I graduated from NCNM in 1988 and the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (OCOM) in 1989. I’ve had a general family practice in Colorado where I occasionally see patients and now primarily teach naturopathic medicine at Bastyr and NUHS.
My practice is based on traditional naturopathic philosophy, always focusing on re-establishing the basis for health by correcting the underlying imbalances such as diet, hydration, sleep, exercise and mental state and then supplementing with other therapies. The therapies that I use include herbal medicine from both the western and Chinese traditions, nutrient supplements, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, manipulation, counseling, cell salts and homeopathy.

During my time at NCNM, we were only required to take 2 courses in homeopathy, both on acute prescribing. Unfortunately my instructor did not impress me with the value of the remedies, so I didn’t take any of the elective classes in homeopathy.

When I began my practice in Colorado, I occasionally prescribed homeopathy based on the acute prescribing I’d been taught in school. No prolonged histories or deep analysis just simple acute prescribing, such as Arnica for trauma, and I witnessed remarkable results! I saw profound, fast and clear responses to the remedies.

This happened so consistently I couldn’t ignore it. I began to regret that I hadn’t taken those electives because I was ill prepared to use this powerful medicine. I needed more training.

So I started studying, books and notes by George Vithoulkas and Dr. Eizyaga. I attended intensives with docs such as Drs. Paul Herscu, Robin Murphy and Rajan Sankaran. I went to conferences sponsored by the Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians and National Center for Homeopathy.
During these years, I was exposed to many different types of prescribing: high potency, low potency, single doses, repeated doses, single remedies, combinations, families, constitutional, miasmas and more acute prescribing. I also encountered many strong opinions about which were the right ways to prescribe. Intriguingly, I found that most of these folks, prescribing in a diversity of ways, were having consistently good results. So, I experimented with all the methods, learning and refining my techniques of choosing remedies and dosing. I became ever more impressed with the phenomenal healing capacities of homeopathy. I witnessed significant pathology resolve and even more impressive to me, I observed significant and often deep seated psychological disorders resolved.

Practicing holistically, I’ve always focused on the patient’s state of mind as a central feature of their overall health. As I mentioned above, I do quite a bit of counseling. It is not uncommon for patients to tell me that they have had counseling, that they know what the problem is, the causes of their disturbance, that they have tried many times to change and that it “feels cellular” and they can’t seem shake it. This is where the correctly chosen remedy can work miracles. Literally, hundreds of times I have seen people’s state of mind transformed by the right remedy, freeing them from years of suffering. I keep hoping that the field of psychiatry will finally accept homeopathy because it will transform the practice.

For many years, there has rarely been a patient that gets out of my office without a remedy. Like Dr. Barton, I use it in combination with all the other therapies in my toolbox, including necessary pharmaceuticals (although these can often disrupt the remedy, so I have to use repeated doses). I do recommend to my students that when they are learning any therapy, that they use them singularly, so that they understand the effects of that herb, nutrient or remedy. However, once they have experience with each of them, then I encourage them to combine them, when appropriate, to optimize the treatment of each individual.

In all my years of practice, I’ve missed the remedy a few times.  I’ve seen a few provings when I gave the wrong remedy for too long (which is easily corrected), but I have never witnessed harm and am so sad to hear that students are told this is a risk. If someone were to tell me that I could only use one therapy in my practice (in addition to basic nature cure) I would choose homeopathy, because in my experience, there is no other therapy that has such profound and broad effects. That’s why I love homeopathy.

Why is Homeopathy Dead?

By Shiva Barton, ND, LAc

2011 AANP Physician of the Year

Despite what they may have heard about me, I have quite a few naturopathic students and young doctors that visit my office. My most recent visitor was Dr. Laura Chan, a recent graduate of Bastyr U, a smart, dedicated and enthusiastic new practitioner. She is excited, dedicated and enthusiastic about almost all the aspects of being a practitioner as she embarks on her new career. One of the things she was most notably not enthusiastic or excited about was homeopathy. Dr. Chan was interested in homeopathy when she first arrived at Bastyr. However, her training in homeopathy led her to believe that homeopathy was too complicated to use as a treatment modality in a general naturopathic practice. Now, I would like to think that Dr. Chan's experience was an anomaly, but it is not. Almost all of the students that I have been a preceptor for,  no matter the college, have had an experience like Dr. Chan. So my question is, “What's up with the way the ND schools are teaching homeopathy?”

Classical or Bust?

Is this the idea, then, that the only way you can do homeopathy is to do classical prescribing? Homeopathy, evidently, is a very serious endeavor. It seems like the version that is taught in the ND medical colleges is something similar to the following:

1.    You have to take a 1.5  - 2 hour intake and get every minute detail to be effective.

2.     Homeopathy doesn't mix well. You can only prescribe a homeopathic remedy. You can't mix it with other treatments because:

a.    The other stuff messes up the homeo.

b.    You can't tell what is working if you give homeo with something else.

3.    You have to wait a month to see if it works (this alone is a good strategy for unemployment and/or starvation of the practitioner).

4.    You can really do incredible, irreparable harm to a person's vital force if you pick the wrong remedy. I mean, we are not just talking about vital force, for gosh sakes. We are talking about VITAL FORCEhere. You don't want to screw with someone's VITAL FORCE, do you?

So, the combo platter of taking too long, waiting too long, too much danger, too little income and too many rules scares people from using homeopathy in their practice.

Homeo, Homeo, Where Art Thou Homeo?

I hate to break it to you, but homeo (okay, it has a nick name now. How serious can something be with a nick name like Homeo?) is a valuable tool for the general ND practice. I encourage all of you newbies to throw out the homeo philosophy books (really!) and stick to the basics: match the remedy to the person with the symptoms.  Corresponding to the point numbered above you will find:

1.    You can use homeo in the context of a regular 1 hour new patient office exam or shorter follow up. Just take a minute to change your thinking towards a homeopathic remedy. That's really all it takes.

2.    You can use it – no, you SHOULD use it – with any other modality.

a.    The other stuff doesn't interfere with the homeo effect (by the way, neither does coffee, nor usually does mint).

b.    Homeopathy creates an “Aha” reaction, much different from the slower slope of improvement with botanicals or nutrition.

3.    Homeo works very quickly – acutely within hours and chronically within a day or two. Nothing else generally works this fast. If you don't see a change this quick, recommend another remedy.

4.    You can have side effects from any naturopathic intervention. The side effects from homeo are generally fewer and less intense than from other treatments.

Use It or Lose It

So, you new grads/new docs: give it a shot. The current rules are dogma. Let your karma eat your dogma. You can use combination remedies. You can use one remedy at a time. You can use two at a time (I double dare you!). Your patients can use mint. They can use coffee. They can take homeo right before they eat. They can take it right after they eat. They can even take it WHILE THEY ARE EATING. Just use it. You will find your groove. Mostly, you will find a very valuable tool to help people get well, which is why we took this job, isn't it? Maybe the ND schools will catch on sooner or later.