Looking after your Health, Why Homeopathy?

It’s easy to take health for granted until something happens.

When was the last time you really thought about your health?

We take care of our cars, clean them, inside and out, service them and ensure they have a yearly MOT. When was the last time you took so much care of yourself? Is it perhaps time to consider regular servicing and Mot’s?

The WHO defines health as :-

“a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

To me, health encompasses physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Generally physical symptoms seem to get our attention the quickest. You may be quick to take action or are you someone who tends to ignore symptoms, hoping they will go away?

Have you considered that symptoms may be your body’s way of communicating with you, highlighting that something is out of balance?

The body is remarkable in how it works

Different organs communicating with each other. One action naturally triggering another. How our hormones are so intricately balanced and rely on each other. We breathe 26000 times each & every day, without having to think about it. The body also has amazing powers to heal itself given the right opportunities. Despite this the number of people living with chronic diseases is increasing yearly. It is now said that 1 in 2 of us will develop a cancer in our lifetime. Emotional stress is recognised as one of the main causes of disease. Unresolved grief and anxiety increase our susceptibility to chronic disease more than any other cause.

How often do you spend listening to yourself?

When was the last time you just stopped and sat. We live in a world of technology, fast pace and contactable, if we choose, 24/7.  Do you ever feel as if you’re on a treadmill, unable to get off – no time to stop, too much to do? I know in the past I have. This is not a good place to be. You may think you’re OK and coping but over time your health may give way to something, unless you make the choice to review your lifestyle.  Life is a journey, and to me, about balance and choice. We are the choices we make.

My story to homeopath

I came to homeopathy following the sudden death of my Mother, soon after I had become a Mum myself. I still miss her, and think about her lots and always will, but that’s OK. At the time I turned to my GP, who offered me anti-depressants. I wasn’t depressed but having had a baby they concluded I must have postnatal depression. Thankfully I knew taking anti-depressants wasn’t the answer for me, I was grieving. That was when a friend suggested I see a homeopath and I have never looked back. I knew I had to learn more so, 9 years later I began the 4-year homeopathy training, qualifying in 2013.

Conventional medicine

Don’t get me wrong, our NHS is great. I’ve been a trained Nurse, Midwife and Health Visitor working for the NHS for many years. We are lucky to have the NHS, especially for emergencies but is it the right place for everything? Conventional medicine generally continues to view symptoms in isolation. From my experience, few Doctors consider the patients as individual’s or the impact their health is having on their life.

The difference with homeopathy

Homeopathy works with you, treating you as an individual with unique symptoms. The consultations allow you the space and time to talk about yourself – your symptoms, what is happening in your life, stresses, worries.  We work with you, and consider you as a unique person, physically, mentally and emotionally. When was the last time you had the opportunity to talk about yourself for an hour or more?

Homeopathy also offers you Consistency

Consultations are always with the same person, who gets to know you and works with you. Together we look for root causes. When did symptoms first start, what else was happening in your life around the same time? The root cause is what needs to be treated for long term healing to occur. Depression is frequently treated with anti-depressants by GP’s. This method doesn’t always address the reason for the depression. The real issue can still be there beneath the surface.

Homeopathic Remedies

Alongside the Consultation, homeopathic remedies are prescribed. These are chosen specifically for you and your unique situation. Homeopathic remedies nudge your body to start healing. Being natural and gentle they are suitable for all ages. They are also safe alongside conventional medicine.

Your Journey

As a homeopath, I can support you on your journey to better health but I can’t do the hard work for you. You’ll will need to take responsibility for your health. You may also need to consider lifestyle changes. Examples may be the need to slow down; consider dietary changes, or making more time for yourself. I can’t wave a magic wand and make everything better or offer you a quick fix solution. But, I can support you along the way on your journey and be there for you.

Remedy selection and choosing the best fitting remedy can be a tricky business. Often you will choose a remedy and Bingo!..... it has all the symptoms we’re looking for and so prescribing is easy. However, sometimes two or three remedies share the same symptoms and look equally relevant to the person we’re trying to help.

This is a very common issue when using Homeopathy. We spend time gathering the details of the symptoms for the condition of the person we are trying to help, we check our resources in search of the best fitting remedy and find that there are two or more remedies showing the symptom picture, we try to narrow it down as best we can but sometimes find that we’re still left with two or more that fit the bill. So how do we decide which one is the best remedy selection for now?

Making sure we have the right Information to help with Remedy Selection

Sometimes we can have too much or too little information and that makes if difficult to narrow down remedies.

When gathering the information we look for symptoms that are different from the person’s normal state.

We discount symptoms that are normal for the person, e.g. if they are thirsty but they are normally a thirsty person then we remove this symptom.

Is there a striking or unusual symptom? For example, a Dry mouth but with no thirst?

C.L.A.M.S.

CLAMS is a very useful acronym to help us remember what information to collect.

Concomitants – this is a secondary symptom that occurs alongside the main symptom, but may not seem related, e.g. Main symptom headache with back pain.

Location – where is the ailment being felt – where is the main complaint? e.g. A sore throat – which side is it? Does the pain extend to another location like the ear?

Aetiology – Is there an identifiable cause for the complaint. Was there an accident that caused a physical injury, was there exposure to elements like cold winds or excessive sunshine, was there an emotional trigger, perhaps a shock such as receiving bad news or having an argument with a friend/relative.

Modalities – what makes the symptoms better or worse? e.g. stomach pain that is better for having heat on it or headache that is worse for lying on left side.

Sensation – what sensations can be felt? Is there pain, if so is it stabbing, sharp, stinging, burning? Is there throbbing? Is there tingling? Does it feel hot? Does it feel cold?

ONCE CLAMS INFORMATION HAS BEEN GATHERED

We always prioritise the symptoms – what are the most important ones, for example the main symptom and/or the strongest symptoms. Is there an unusual symptom, something striking? These go high on our list. Our chosen remedy covers these symptoms and will often lead us to one remedy only.

We go through the rest of the symptoms placing them in priority order and then compare remedies to see which one fits the best.

To compare remedies we look through a book about remedies known as a Materia Medica or we can use specialised Computer software to help us choose.

Sometimes, despite our best research, two remedies remain equally well indicated.  They will be very similar in their actions and therefore it’s likely that they will both be useful in treating the condition, so really there is no wrong choice here.

In these situations, we will give the first remedy, and if that doesn’t quite work to complete satisfaction, we’ll give the second one.  Giving the body 2 very similar remedies can be just what is needed to affect relief for the condition. Remember, homeopathic remedies are highly diluted substances and so trying a remedy and then finding it hasn’t helped as much as we hoped is completely safe.

At SWIFT, our team will continue to support you throughout your journey and work for a good outcome every step of the way.

Author: Vanessa Pimblett

For more information about how Homeopathy can help you with your individual symptoms, please head over to the SWIFT Team page and connect with one of our Dedicated Homeopaths.