How Homeopathy Deals with Diagnoses, Part One

“My throat hurts!!! What remedy should I choose?”

Whoa! Not so fast. You need a bit more information before you can make an informed decision. First, you need a diagnosis. In fact, the method that I teach actually requires a diagnosis.

In my work as an educator, mother, and homeopath, I choose each remedy by deciding which best fits the answers to all three of these questions:

1) What disease do you have?

2) Which organ is affected?

3) How do your symptoms present?

By answering these three questions at home, you can choose the correct homeopathic medicine to uproot you or your loved one’s condition.

This week, let’s examine question number one: What disease do you have?

Do you always have to go to a doctor to get the diagnosis? No, not always. If you have a clear understanding of what is going on — for instance, say with common breast pain, an ear infection, or eczema — then many times you can make the diagnosis yourself. But, if you are perplexed in any way, it is quite useful to get a diagnosis from a medical professional.

Of course, we have to be intelligent, prudent, and responsible and seek help when we need it. As I’ve said before, we don’t ignore important signs! But, let’s not be so acquiescent that we can’t make our own decisions.

For example, let me tell you about a mom who has five kids. Years ago, her firstborn was very sick with a severe sore throat. Being cautious, the mom scooped him up and took him to a pediatrician. The doctor took a culture and diagnosed it as strep throat.

The second time he fell ill, she suspected strep throat again but wanted to be sure. So, she repeated the same steps: doctor — culture — diagnosis of strep throat But … this mother was observant. She happened to notice that both times he had been diagnosed with strep throat, there had been an odor to her child’s breath; his tonsils had been red with white spots; he had been lethargic leading up to the illness.

So, what happened the third time he became sick? Did she need the doctor? No! She was confident in her observations and her own diagnosis. She knew it was strep throat. And, she treated it accordingly.

Now, carrying that knowledge forward, she doesn’t need to run to the doctor for any of her younger four children’s strep throats. She’s become qualified to diagnose it accurately because of her observations and experience.

By the way, during each of her children’s brushes with strep, she used Hepar sulphuris calcareum 200 (or Hepar sulph for short) twice a day until they were better. And each time, it worked. Every time. Period.

Please know, however, that there are other important remedies to know when Hepar sulph doesn’t act for strep throat. Belladonna 30, Mercurius sol 30, etc., should also be considered based on symptoms that we’ll discuss next week, so stay tuned.

It takes guts, spunk, and moxie to make your own diagnoses. Just keep in mind you have to know when you’ve hit that tipping point — that point at which you just don’t know what’s going on and need help from a medical professional. (You might find some helpful information in my podcast, When to Use a Doctor; When to Trust Yourself.)

Next, I want to discuss the other two questions:

The importance of pinpointing the organ affected and concentrating on how the symptoms present.

But I know how busy you are with your family. So, rather than get too long-winded, please join me right here on my blog site next week, when we will continue our discussion on how homeopathy deals with diagnoses to choose the correct remedy.

Until then …

Warmly,

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P.S. Some thoughts on my new materia medica …

Any time you're working to choose the remedy that will do the best work, it's always dependent on having just the right amount of information. Not too little as to leave you with too little direction and not too much as to muddle your thinking.

I am so pleased to announce that my spiral-bound book, A Materia Medica: Practical Homeopathy® for Busy Families. is available for sale. 

I’ve done my best to write in everyday language: concise, fast, modern, and easy to understand. But most importantly, to give you what you need, for practical use. I sincerely believe it will be helpful as you become self-sufficient and confident.

Below is a comment on FB that I responded to.  It might help you make the decision to either buy my book or not.  For those who are on the fence, I hope this helps, one way or another.

Question:  For those that have Joette's earlier materia medica from her “How to Raise a Drug-Free Family” course: do you think there is enough info about each remedy? While I would love to have her mm, as a newbie with only Boericki mm, would it be better to spend a little more money and get a larger more comprehensive one like Morrison or Murphy, or is hers the perfect one for someone in my position? Hers looks like it really focuses on the main uses of each remedy versus a description of every aspect of a proving.

My answer:   One of the problems with using a materia medica written for classical use is that there are so many details and is so voluminous that it's easy to become lost and confused.

The whole idea of my works is to make homeopathy practical, straightforward and everyday-usable, instead of theoretical and for professionals.

Because homeopathy is such a vast subject, finding the everyday simple solution can sometimes be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

How do you parse out the superfluous? That's what I believe I've done for my readers.

Remember this is a materia medica … a reference book to help you make your final decision on which remedy once you've narrowed it down to a few. This is particularly valuable when you either don't know the exact protocol or when you must choose between a couple of different ones.

Having said this, I hope you'll plan to invest in more than one materia medica through the years. I own 34. Each author offers a different perspective. As a beginner, owning 2-3 is a good number to move you along nicely to the next stage of learning.