Podcast 132 — A Medic Firefighter with a Decisive Advantage: Practical Homeopathy®

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IN THIS PODCAST, WE COVER:

01:00   Introduction: A Medic Firefighter

04:21   A Childhood Chock-Full of Health Conditions and Stymied Doctors

08:38   Searching for an Alternative to Conventional Medication

10:19   Side Effects From Conventional Meds Were a Call to Switch to Homeopathy

12:04   Proof of Efficacy: Without Homeopathy, the Symptoms Returned

15:44   It All Started With The Gateway to Practical Homeopathy®

            Gateway to Practical Homeopathy®: A Guided Study Group Curriculum

            Gateway to Homeopathy II

            Allergic?! Escape Allergies, Chemical Sensitivities, Food Intolerances, and More with Homeopathy: Practical Protocols to Get Your Life Back

            The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®

18:44   Success Story: Avascular Necrosis

19:47   Success Story: Concussion

22:26   Success Story: Dental Surgery

25:15   Planning for the Future

            The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®

            Gateway to Practical Homeopathy®: A Guided Study Group Curriculum

            JoetteCalabrese.com

27:14   Closing Advice

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST:

Joette’s Learning Center

Joette's Study Group, Find Your New Study Group Friends

Joette’s Mighty Members

Joette Calabrese on YouTube

Kate:

This is the Practical Homeopathy® Podcast, episode number 132.

Joette:

Hi, I’m Joette Calabrese, and I welcome you to our health care movement — yours, mine and the countless men and women across the globe who have re-taken control of their families’ health with Practical Homeopathy®.

So, for the next few minutes, let's link our arms as I demystify homeopathy — what was once considered an esoteric paradigm — into an understandable, reproducible, safe and effective health care solution available to all.

This is the medicine you've been searching for — my unique brand of homeopathy, PRACTICAL Homeopathy®.

INTRODUCTION: A MEDIC FIREFIGHTER

Kate: (01:00)

Hi, I am Kate, and I'm so glad that you joined us today.

If you are new here, I want to welcome you and let you know that you are in for a treat. I have an inspiring guest with me today, and I can't wait for you to meet him.

If you've been with us for a while, I want to commend you for continuing to study homeopathy and helping those around you. You are inspiring in what you do.

So, on today's podcast, I want to ask you a question. Have you ever wondered if homeopathy really can uproot chronic illness? If so, this podcast is for you.

I'd like to introduce you to a sharp young man who has done not only just that but is now studying homeopathy to help others. In fact, he just graduated from The Academy of Practical Homeopathy® and will be starting the Mastery™ program soon. So, I'm very excited for you all to meet Nigel.

Welcome, Nigel, to the podcast.

Nigel:

Hey Kate, thanks for having me.

Kate:

We would love to get to know you a little bit. So, tell us about your life.

Nigel:

Alrighty then. Well, I'm a mid-20-year-old medic firefighter. I've been a medic firefighter now for about seven years. Got into it when my dad passed away. My brother convinced me to go through EMT, and then I ended up using that EMT to get my first job with a transport company.

Some other things that I've really enjoyed doing is the hobby farm that I've grown up on. Done a lot of outdoor stuff: shooting, construction and hiking. Those are some of my favorite activities. A lot of high activity, outdoors, lots of risk. I tend to end up injured.

Kate:

Oh, no!

Nigel:

Particularly with farm work. Lots of interesting injuries or just exposures to woods and stuff like that. So, that's really been useful to be a medic firefighter, put a lot of that into use.

So, yeah, that's basically where I'm at, what I do right now and the things that I'm interested in.

Kate:

Nigel, you're supposed to help other people in your profession, not have to use it with yourself!

Nigel:

Yeah, that's what most people think, and I've only had to use it on myself a few times, thankfully. But my siblings/friends had a lot of very interesting experiences, where out in the wild, people were getting bug bites, poison ivy, cuts — had some very, very unique stuff just in my close-knit group as we go through life together.

Kate:

Yeah. Oh, well, I wish you lived near me because it would be nice to have someone I knew in that profession, for sure. My family always tells me I tend to be accident-prone, but I don't think so.

Anyway, let's find out more about your upbringing and some of the chronic health conditions that you had that led you on this journey to healing and now to homeopathy.

A CHILDHOOD CHOCK-FULL OF HEALTH CONDITIONS AND STYMIED DOCTORS

Nigel: (04:21)

Yeah, so I've had a lot of health issues my entire life.

Besides the accident-prone self that I am, I have had chronic headaches since like 10 years old … food allergies out the window. I think the highest I ever got up to was 52 allergies. Ended up also becoming allergic to the cold — breaking out in hives and welts and stuff.

Kate:

The cold?

Nigel:

Yep. The cold … didn't know it was a thing.

Went for a cold plunge with some friends, and I came out glowing like a light bulb, looking probably pretty well welted, all of 'em from head to toe, just welts. So, yeah, no, I found that out. That was a very interesting experience, but I've done a lot of natural care for that.

Growing up, I went to my primary care doctor, and, basically, he said he didn't have anything for me because of my headaches and the allergies that I had. He said he could prescribe pain meds but nothing else.

So, with that, my mom — because I was so young — took me to a naturopath/chiropractor. I spent the next — I want to say — 10 years working with them, trying to address my health issues and trying to get my headaches under control, get my allergies where I could actually eat food. (‘Cause I had a super restricted diet.)

Ended up, once I got my EMT, I really wanted to join the military, and so, I'd been pushing myself, try and get myself physically ready, get some health issues addressed. And I took a year with my chiropractor/naturopath to really try to work on everything I could.

I basically said, “Sky's the limit for money. I want to get this addressed. I want to get where I feel better — good enough where I could join the military and go serve in a combat zone.”

So, she laid out a very detailed plan. I was meeting with her every month. We did a whole lot of physical training, dietary changes, just trying to nail it down. What was my cause, right? That's the biggest question that we all ask.

And in nine months, I had gotten worse. And that's uncommon when you're an 18-year-old, and you've cleaned up your diet. You're working out, and you're getting sleep, and you're doing all the things that you're supposed to be doing. It's just very uncommon to have that experience where you get worse.

Kate:

Right. Absolutely.

Nigel:

Yeah. So, the doctor looked at me and said, “Look, I think you have a bigger problem than a dietary issue or an environment issue or a physical fitness issue. I think you might have POTS, but I don't have the testing capability to do that. We got to send you to a cardiologist.”

And at this point I was trying to get out of the job that I was doing. I'd been working transport for a year at this point, seeing all these sick, injured people all the time, not being able to do anything for 'em.

And basically, I was explained that I probably would not be able to pursue any of the things that I wanted to do — military, fire department, or even construction at that point — because I was getting lightheaded, dizzy, all of that.

So, I ended up going to a cardiologist. Spent a lot of money at the cardiologist running tests and got a confirmation that I had POTS, which is, for everyone out there, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

That's basically where you become hypotensive just by standing, and your body runs in a chronic state of dehydration. So, a lot of interesting things that come with that: the dizziness, the blurred vision, gut issues.

So, yeah, it was like the key. You know what? I finally found the issue that was causing all my health problems — what most people hope to have, hope to hunt down. And the cardiologist did a great job. He was a specialist for POTS. He ended up getting me on a medication.

SEARCHING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL MEDICATION

Nigel: (08:38)

But in that time period of me spending all this time and money, my mom started looking for an alternative to the medication that my doctor prescribed for a lifelong issue … trying to reduce the exposure to medication because medications have side effects. And I'd been working in EMS at this point for a year and seeing all the laundry list of medical issues and how people just keep going up in medication. They start with one, and they get more as their issues just snowball out of control.

So, my mom was concerned. She was trying to find something that would address this POTS issue that I had. So, she came across homeopathy.

We had known a little bit about it just because of dealing with our chiropractic/naturopathic, but we had just kind of used it for acutes. Arnica was our main go-to. But outside of that, no real experience.

Came across a protocols for heart issues by the Banerjis. And after reading up on stuff, my mom suggested that I actually just start with some cell salts.

And this is about the time that the doctor gave me the green light for me to go through Fire Academy and pursue that … because I've been able to address my issue with the midodrine that he had prescribed me for the low blood pressure.

So, my mom started me on cell salts, and I made it through academy. I really didn't know anything about any cell salts or homeopathy — what I was doing — but I really appreciated my mom's support of me trying to make it through this process. I just kind of followed along.

SIDE EFFECTS OF CONVENTIONAL MEDS WERE A CALL TO SWITCH TO HOMEOPATHY

Nigel: (10:19)

But as I was going through academy and graduated from Fire Academy, which was about a nine-month process for me, I developed some side effects to the medication. They weren't there at first. They weren't originally a problem that I had, but they just started getting really bad.

One of them was leg cramps — very common side effect with midodrine — but they were getting bad — really bad for me. And I started working with my doctor — the cardiologist — trying to adjust what we could do, change some stuff.

Nothing was really working. If I dropped the medication lower, I got my headaches more frequently. And worse, if I took it back up to what it was, I got these other side effects.

So, my mom found the Banerji Protocols® at this point. And once again made a recommendation that … try out some of these other homeopathics, more than just the cell salt that you're taking.

So, I started on Crataegus, Hamamelis, Arnica and Lachesis — all very good homeopathic medications for cardiac issues and blood pressure issues and vaso-vascular.

So, I started on that. And then, my insurance changed, so I had to stop with my doctor. My doctor was no longer covered, as my employer transferred over to a different group. So, I ran out of medication.

I ran out of the midodrine that I was on and realized I really didn't have another option. And all symptoms that I was looking for to come back when I stopped my midodrine, came back with far less. And I was taking the homeopathic medications, and I was like, ah, coincidence … maybe?

PROOF OF EFFICACY: WITHOUT HOMEOPATHY, THE SYMPTOMS RETURNED

Nigel: (12:04)

But I ended up just forgetting to order — reorder — the homeopathics, and some of those symptoms came back. So, I was like, I'm actually experiencing a difference with these homeopathics that I wasn't experiencing with the medication.

Not only did my symptoms go away of the POTS, but also I wasn't getting the side effects that were coming along with the midodrine. So, I was at this point, sold that what I was taking was actually doing me some good.

And I did that for about a year and a half, and then almost all my symptoms are gone — completely gone.

I don't take any of them on a regular basis anymore, which is unheard of for POTS. “You have it and you're going to be with it for life,” is what I was told, and it just kind of gets worse if you don't manage it.

I have been ecstatic since then. So yeah, that's basically how I got with homeopathy and seeing what I was doing in the paramedic field and the fire EMS. I wanted to hopefully one day bring what helped me to the people I was caring for.

And that started me into looking into learning about homeopathy — trying to figure out what place to go to school, or even just find a homeopathic provider that could help me with other issues or help my family with other issues.

So yeah, that's the summation of my health issues and my journey to the start of homeopathy.

Kate:

So, what came next? How did you get connected with Joette and start going to school at The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®?

PRACTICAL HOMEOPATHY® WAS THE ANSWER

Nigel: (13:44)

Yeah, so the starting of the investigation of our school with my medical experience as a paramedic, I was really looking for a college or some sort of licensing agency that I could go to, get some experience with homeopathy, and get someone to teach me how to use it.

So, I started reading up a whole bunch about it, trying to find a school that got me where I wanted to go.

I was already paramedicine. I already wanted to be — or hoped to be — a doctor one day. I was becoming very interested in this other medicine that I really just didn't know a whole lot about. And I was not finding a lot of expedient, clear way to education for homeopathy.

And back to my mom, she had found the Banerji Protocols® in her search for caring for me, and I was really intrigued. And the Banerji Protocols® look like and act like the protocols that I use in the back of an ambulance — where a doctor's done all the research; they've done all the studies; they know, “Hey, these symptoms — nine times out of 10 or eight times out of 10 —  this is the medication that you're going to give, and this is what we want you to do.”

And the Banerji Protocols® was like an exact mimic of that. This is your symptoms; this is your issue; this is what you need to start with.

Kate:

Because the Banerji are doctors, and they're doctors and homeopaths. So, in India, you have to become a doctor — an MD — before you can become a homeopath.

Nigel:

Yeah. And just their clinical experience as a doctor, reading the X-rays, reading the test results, doing the cardiac exams, all of that information that I was used to seeing as a paramedic, and they had the information and science to back up why they were saying what they were saying. And that was really impressive.

IT ALL STARTED WITH THE GATEWAY TO PRACTICAL HOMEOPATHY®

Nigel: (15:44)

So, Joette was the only place that I could find that was giving any information and teaching more about the Banerji Protocols® and how they used them. And I got a Gateway book, and I sat on that book for about a year just sitting there. I had flipped through it. I hadn't really started in on this journey yet. It's all just still been kind of self-study, but I was really looking for a degree or some way that I can move forward in helping people.

As I just continued in my paramedic journey during COVID, seeing people not have any other information out there and me not being able to give them other information … me not being able to give them any hope that there was an actual solution to their health issues. I really started honing down on I need to go someplace.

Right about this time, I came across a study group for the Gateway class, jumped into that, and I loved it. I loved the group of people that I got to hang out with and the broad spectrum of experience.

The guy leading it was a pharmacist for years — retired pharmacist. So, he had a lot of experience, a lot of medical experience. He had seen everything that I had seen in the medical field, of the medications and the complications that I was having. So, it was really cool to just have his leadership as I went to the Gateway class.

Then I did Gateway II, and then I did a self-study with a couple of the other guys on the Allergic?! class. Really love that. Really got to put that into practice just with myself and my family with some allergies that we were dealing with.

Nigel: (17:29)

And because I had taken those little classes, I found out about The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®. And that was amazing! Like, hearing about it. And I was right there. And it was a nice, neat package of all the Banerji Protocols® and the experience that they had translated to the U.S., put into a year format.

And, you know, it's The Academy. It's a lot of schoolwork; it's a lot of money. But at this point I've spent well over probably a couple — a couple — college degrees and medical expenses at this point, trying to fix my issues. And I had gotten my issues fixed with 50 bucks of homeopathic medication.

And I was like, well, if this could have prevented me from spending the thousands and thousands of dollars — if I can help someone else prevent them from spending thousands of dollars — I wanted it.

So, I jumped in, and I got accepted and that was really exciting. And then I just graduated about what, two months ago? Something like that? And I'm really looking forward to putting it into practice. I've got some great stories already of times that I've been able to help people, and it's just making me want to go farther.

Kate:

So, tell us some of those stories. Give us a couple examples of what you've done.

SUCCESS STORY: AVASCULAR NECROSIS

Nigel: (18:44)

Ooooh, yeah, so I got a few good ones.

The most recent one was actually just a friend of mine or friend. They're having avascular necrosis, causing extreme pain. And avascular necrosis is where you're no longer getting blood flow to the bone, and it causes bone death — bone deterioration.

And he was just in a lot of extreme pain. And back during The Academy, I told him, “Hey, look, here's some homeopathic medications that might help.”

And he took it and kind of sat on it. He sat on it for about nine months, and then he reached back out to me and was like, “Hey, what are those medications again?”

I was like, “Hey, yeah, this is what they were.”

And he started them, and he is — like within 24 hours — his pain was gone. Gone.

He's like, “I'm still not a hundred percent — not back to full function — but the extreme pain that I've been dealing with for months is gone. And that's awesome.

SUCCESS STORY: CONCUSSION

Nigel: (19:47)

Then I had another friend, he reached out to me. He had been dealing with a concussion to the point where he couldn't work anymore for two months. And he'd been doing all sorts of stuff — doing what the doctor recommended: bed rest, avoiding lights. He couldn't look at his phone; he couldn't drive. His life had been just utterly shut down by this.

And I ended up making some recommendations. And the first recommendations — as we waited for the second recommendation to arrive in the mail — they gave some relief. They weren't magically, everything gone.

But then, when the second one arrived, he started on that one. And 24 hours, he could function again. He was able to go back to work. And then he'd been out of work basically for two months at that point.

So, those are just some of them.

Kate:

That's incredible. Right? Two very powerful, dramatic examples of how homeopathy really changed these people's lives. That's incredible.

Nigel:

Yeah. The medications cost $40 … $60 in total.

Kate:

Yeah, the homeopathy.

Nigel:

Yeah, for the homeopathy. For the couple of different homeopathic medications, and that was it.

SUCCESS STORY: SEPSIS

Nigel: (21:02)

Or I had a septic case. We were out doing some volunteer work. We were going to be there for eight days or so, when they got a septic infection on their leg. And it was really preventing them from working and doing what we came to do. And we were looking at going to the hospital.

And I had brought my homeopathic kit. And I was like, “Well, we can start with this.”

And it's sepsis. It doesn't turn around fast. But within a couple hours, we were able to address the main pressing issues, prevented going to the hospital, ambulance bills … $600 to $800, an ER visit’s a couple thousand. And we were able to prevent all of that and loss of time from our work that we were doing with the homeopathic kit that I had … that I had brought with me.

And there's just relief! No expenses! So, just another really cool experience to be able to see and be a part of.

Kate:

Wow. I know I never leave home without homeopathy. I'm sure you're the same because you never know what you're going to encounter. And these medicines are so powerful.

Nigel:

Yes.

Kate:

It's incredible. Before we move on, I know you've covered a lot, but I do want to hear about … there was a dental surgery that you had talked to me about earlier. Can you share that?

SUCCESS STORY: DENTAL SURGERY

Nigel: (22:26)

Yeah, so it was actually me. So, there's a dental emergency. I developed a cavity, and it was causing me some extreme pain. They had to go in, drill it out, and in doing so, they really came close to the nerve … if not hit the nerve.

Typically, when you're dealing with dental stuff, they prescribe you some medication — Advil or Tylenol, something like that, if not some other narcotics. But I started with some homeopathics beforehand.

Kate:

What did you use before? I'm curious to know.

Nigel:

I started with Hypericum and Arnica. And the reason why is because I was already in pain. Hypericum is great for pain. And Arnica … I knew that they were going to be …

Kate:

There's trauma …

Nigel:

… trauma going on. They're going to be doing the lidocaine. They're going to be drilling, holding my mouth open to be able to do the work. That's just kind of what I went with. And then, coming out of that, they gave the lidocaine so they can do this. So, it's numbed up.

And so, I immediately — as soon as I got out there — started taking some homeopathics, but I wasn't really focused down, or I just took some Hypericum, the Arnica again.

And about the two-hour mark past my dental care, I developed excruciating pain, and I really had to jump on it with something.

And I was like, well, I got to do something for this. Started rapidly taking some Hypericum, ended up also taking Symphytum and Ruta because the biggest part was the fact that I’d had my mouth open for four hours. It had locked up my jaw and everything like that.

And within an hour or so, the pain was down to a manageable level. And I was able to go through the following week with just homeopathy taking care of it. No ibuprofen, no Tylenol, no hydrocodone or any other narcotic for the pain.

In my experience with the 911 stuff, is all these medications — particularly the narcotics — cause addiction. They cause other issues. You have to take other medications like Zofran to go along to prevent you from getting nauseous or vomiting with them. And it was just really cool not to be able to have to do that.

Or the alternative was that it was causing pain and do the root canal. That was going to be, potentially, if I could not get ahold of the pain with something else (because of them hitting the nerve, because they thought they had hurt the nerve). And I didn't want a root canal — cause lots of pain — potential for a lot of stuff to go wrong. So, I was really, really excited that I was able to take care of it with homeopathy and avoid a root canal.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Kate: (25:15)

Homeopathy has really impacted not only your life, but people that you know. And I'm excited for you to continue your studies in Mastery™ and see where you go from here.

Can you just briefly tell us what are your plans going forward?

Nigel:

Jumping into Mastery™ with Joette again to try and get a head start on me putting what I learned in The Academy into practice.

And I'm really hoping to be able to start reaching out and possibly help teach some of these Gateway classes to my friends and family and other people who are interested — coworkers — to try to give them some alternatives.

So, I just really want to be able to help people be able to help themselves.

Kate:

Nice.

Nigel:

And that's my goal. Mastery™ is right there with that and making it more proficient for me to do that.

Kate:

So, for those of you listening who have never heard of The Academy of Practical Homeopathy® or the Mastery™ Program or Gateway to Homeopathy, we're going to provide some links for you with this podcast on the notes … so on JoetteCalabrese.com, her website where the podcast will be located.

So, don't worry if you're in the car driving and you want to find out more, but you don't have anything to take some notes that those will all be there on the podcast notes on JoetteCalabrese.com.

So, The Academy, like Nigel was saying, is a year-long program. And then there's Mastery™, which is 11 months, which takes you from your foundational learning of homeopathy to now — like Nigel says — you're learning, going deep into repetorizing and case-taking.

So, I'm excited for where this is going to take you, and I look forward to hearing about your adventures in another podcast. Let's meet again. Let's get together.

As we end today. Nigel, give us some words of wisdom. What would you like to share with people or leave people with today?

CLOSING ADVICE

Nigel: (27:14)

I would say take courage. There's a quote that I really enjoy and let me see if I can get it real quick. It's by C.S. Lewis — big C.S. Lewis fan — and it's this, it says, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of the highest reality.”

And medicine health issues, they get scary; they get intense; they will test your metal and your desire to do good and your will to continue your life freely. And you're going to need courage to get through it to search out the right answer for you and your health journey.

So, those are my words of advice.

Kate:

I can tell you're a deep thinker, Nigel,

Nigel:

Thank you.

Kate:

Yeah, it's been great. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, and I look forward to meeting with you again.

Nigel:

Alright, I look forward to meeting with you again, Kate.

Joette:

It's my honor to share many lessons on this simple method of using homeopathy for free —without affiliates or advertising — here in my podcasts, but also my blog posts and Monday Night Lives.

But it's critical that you learn how to use these medicines properly. These podcasts should serve as only the beginning of your training. Peruse JoettesLearningCenter.com to find fun study group opportunities and in-depth courses developed by subject.

So, with the proper training, you can join the thousands of students before you in developing the confidence and competence to protect the health of your family and loved ones with my brand of homeopathy, Practical Homeopathy®.

Kate:

You just listened to a podcast from internationally acclaimed homeopath, public speaker and author, the founder of The Academy of Practical Homeopathy®, Joette Calabrese. Joette’s podcasts are available on all your favorite podcast apps.

To learn more and find out if homeopathy is a good fit for your health strategy, visit PracticalHomeopathy.com.